Burned

Chapter Nine

I woke up to Dara poking me in my side. Yelping, I threw a punch, then fell off my bed. Rubbing my forehead, where a bruise no doubt would form, I saw her staring down at me. She had her backpack hitched up on her shoulder and wearing one of my black t-shirts and skinny jeans. My mind slowly put things together.

"Is it Monday? Are we late for school?" Panic set in and I jumped to my feet. Dara rolled her eyes.

"No you idiot, it's Sunday! Can you take me to Gemma's?" It wasn't Monday? Oh, right it's Sunday. Today is the day we bind Scarlett's powers -- whether Mir knows it or not. The potion needs to have three Witches cast the spell over it while it bubbles, or it will go bad. We then have 24-hours for Scarlett to drink it. 

Basically, we were on a time crunch.

"Okay, I'll do that if you do something for me. You're my back up." Dara didn't know anything about binding Scarlett's powers, but if Mir backed out gain I was going to have to tell Dara. She was a Witch and would work as the third Witch for the spell. I didn't really want to tell Dara. That would make another thing I was lying to Mir about.

"Weird, much? Okay, sure whatever that means." She checked her phone. "Shoot, I'm already late. Can you please take me now?" I didn't understand the rush.

"Where's mom? Or Dolls?" I listened to the house: silent.

"Mom's at Gellar's and Doll's," she trailed off. "I didn't want to ask her. Can we go?" It was my turn to roll my eyes. Thankfully, I had slept in sweatpants and a t-shirt, so I didn't bother on changing. I ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and hair. That was about as much time I had before Dara asked if we could go-- again. 

Turns out, I was actually really thankful for Dara waking me up. It was already half past noon. I needed to call Mir and see what the plan was. I knew she was planning on coming over here so we could talk, but we never set a time. It helped that the ride to Gemma's helped me wake up. She didn't live too far, but far enough that Dara couldn't walk. Her house was nice. It wasn't one of the original houses, so it looked fairly modern. 

It was a simple light blue house: two stories with a brown front door. The front yard was small, but it had a nice driveway. It was one of those that twisted into a full circle, making it easy to leave. I pulled behind another car and put my car in park. Dara already had her hand on the handle.

"Dara?" I asked her. She sighed, then looked at me impatiently. 

"Yes?" Her tone short. 

"Is Gemma a Witch?" The thought had never occurred to me until today when Dara started freaking out that we were late. I had seen that type of behavior before from Kate and Mir when they were late to Ivelyn's Coven meetings. If Gemma was a Coven Leader that would explain a lot. I wouldn't judge Dara, but I knew how she felt about magic. The last we talked, she didn't want anything to do with magic.

"W-what? No!" She stuttered, barely making eyecontact. I tilted my eyes to the side and narrowed my eyes. She was lying. 

"Dara," I warned.

"Just stop, okay? I've got it under control. Don't worry about me. Okay?" Her eyes darted from me to the front door. 

"If she's a Witch--

"She's not, okay? Just please go, please." She pleaded with me. Her eyes looked like she was about to cry. If Gemma wasn't a Witch, then what was she? And why was Dara so panicked about me knowing?

"I just want to help," I told her steady. She was still my little sister and I was very protective. I wasn't going to lose anyone else. My knuckles went white against the steering wheel. Dara noticed.