Bound By Blood (Book 7)

Chapter 4

"You know, sometimes you've got to trust the people you love. You've got to trust that if they're good people, they'll make good decisions." - Janette Rallison

--xxxxxx--

'Morning everyone.' Katherine came into the kitchen the next morning and greeted them. They were all there apart from Lauren, which she noticed. 'Where's Lauren?'

'Oh she stayed the night at Stephanie's place.' Amy said.

'And no one thought to tell me?' Katherine scolded.

'It was late when we got back.' Dani shrugged. 'And she's with Aunt Steph, chill.'

'No Dani, I'm not going to chill.' Katherine said. She picked up her phone and dialled Lauren's number. 'Hey, where are you?'

'Oh, Steph and I are getting breakfast. I'll be home soon.'

'Fine, but we need a chat later. When I'm back from work.' Katherine said. 'You can't just not come home.'

'Calm down.' Lauren said. 'I'm fine. The others knew.'

'Yeah, I'm going to shout at them now.' Katherine said, hanging up the phone.

'What did we do?' Lisa asked.

'You let her.' Katherine said. 'Aunt Steph has been gone for a while, we don't know if she's the same person she was.'

'She's family.' Amy said. 'And I couldn't feel anything negative from her.'

'That's not the point.' Katherine said angrily.

'Are you still mad about the credit card thing?' Dani wondered.

'Yeah, and you should be too. She's playing with fire and The Supremes could be back down any minute. We don't need to be involved in anything like that right now.'

'Okay, we get it Kath. We're sorry.' Lisa held her hands up. Katherine let out a long breath.

'I need to go to work. Tell Lauren to text me as soon as she's back.' Katherine left the room and they all sat in silence.

xxxxxx

Lauren and Stephanie came through the door a few hours later. They were laughing but it quickly faded when they saw Amy's face. She and Dani were the only one's home. Lisa left for work shortly after Katherine but Amy was on a weekly rotation at the hospital so had a few more days off. 'Oh dear.' Stephanie said. 'Are we in trouble?'

'Yeah.' Lauren told her. 'Sorry.'

'It's alright.' Stephanie said. 'Girls, what's the problem?'

'Katherine wants you to text her Lauren.' Amy instructed. 'Now please.'

'Fine.' Lauren pulled out her phone and sent a message to her sister.

'Katherine was mad that Lauren stayed out all night without telling her.' Dani said.

'Well she's got her own mind, she can make her own decisions.' Stephanie said. 'I just wanted to come in and say hi, I have to go and get myself a new couch.' She smiled. 'Bye girls.' She left the room and Lauren was left to defend herself.

'You guys said it was fine last night.' Lauren reminded them.

'I know, but apparently we were wrong so, just tell Kath next time.' Dani said.

'Okay, I guess I can do that.' Lauren surrendered.

'What did you guys do last night anyway?' Amy asked, Lauren following them into the kitchen.

'Nothing much. We chatted, had some wine.'

'You're not old enough to drink wine.' Amy reminded her.

'It was just one glass.' Lauren defended. 'And she showed me how to levitate stuff.'

'Who are you Harry Potter?' Dani joked.

'No, I couldn't do it, but I tried really hard.'

'How can she levitate things?' Amy wondered. 'Her power is teleporting, always has been.'

'It was with a spell.' Lauren said.

'Have you guys noticed that everything she's done has been with the help of a spell. She hasn't teleported home, or anywhere, since she got back.' Amy realised.

'Maybe she's all teleported out from her years of travelling?' Dani suggested.

'Maybe.' Amy agreed, but she was not convinced.

xxxxxx

Christina had finished her case work for the day and stopped by the house. She went inside and found that Amy had gone to the grocery store and Lauren and Dani were studying with the television on in the background. 'Hey guys.' She said as she took her coat off and entered the room.

'Hey, no more work?' Dani asked without looking up.

'All done for the day.' She confirmed. 'Lauren, can I talk to you?'

'Not you as well.' Lauren sighed. 'Kath has already called and yelled at me.' Christina looked at her blankly and Lauren realised. 'I mean, what do you want to talk about?'

'Let's go back to Kath yelling at you first. What did you do?' Christina lent on the back of the couch.

'I might have stayed at Aunt Steph's last night and forgot to tell her.' Lauren said.

'Laur, you can't do that.' Christina said.

'The other's all knew.' Lauren said again.

'That doesn't matter. We need to know where you are, especially if you're staying somewhere that isn't here.'

'I know, I know. I won't do it again now can we move on.' Lauren said.

'I don't appreciate the attitude but yes, we can move on.' Christina sat next to her on the couch. 'Why won't you agree to go to dads for dinner?' Lauren closed her book and sighed.

'He's an ass.' She said.

'Okay.' Christina took her hands. 'I didn't tell you what he was like for you to start hating him. I told you because you deserved to know, you all did.' She looked to Dani who smiled. 'But we aren't going to get anywhere if we just cut him out because of it.'

'Are you going?' Lauren asked.

'I am if you are.' Christina confirmed.

'Fine, then I'll go.' Lauren gave in. 'But he's still an ass.'

'That we can agree on.' Christina hugged her. 'How was the night at Aunt Steph's?' She asked, changing the subject.

'It was fun, she taught me, well tried to teach me, some new spells.' Lauren said.

'You know you need to be careful with her right? Some of the stuff she's doing, the spells, aren't what being a witch is about.'

'Kath told you didn't she?' Dani asked.

'She did.' Christina confirmed. 'And I don't want you guys copying her, thinking it's cool. We need to respect our magic.'

'Got it Chris, don't worry.' Dani assured her.

'You too Lauren.' Christina looked at her.

'Yeah, got it.' Lauren said.

'Great. I'm going into town, does anyone need anything?' She asked, standing.

'No I think we're good.' Dani said. 'See you later.'

'Bye.' Christina took her jacket and left the house.

'Hey, do you think we should see if dad wants to invite Aunt Steph to dinner too?' Dani asked.

'You can do whatever you like Dan.' Lauren picked up her books and went upstairs. Dani followed her with her eyes before thinking to herself, tapping her fingers on the table before taking out her phone and calling their father.