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I sed a chunk of cake down "Me?"

She leveled her eyes at me "We bound your pohen you were a baby, but now it’s here, and we need to deal with that"

"Wait - you bound my power?"

She stared at me like I was stupid "You were supposed to be a nor aroundturtles out of plates, now, could we?"

"No" I sat back "Guess not"

"Eventually, your poas going to co to happen To be honest, I was expecting it all to hit the fan when your mother died; eet their power at puberty And it ot your power, it doesn’t necessarily put you in er than you were in last week It’s just that if the people ere after you guys find out you’ve got power, they ain So we need to have this talk just so you know to be careful and all that"

"Oh, shit," I said

Betty’s eyes widened "What?"

"There’s a woman, Davina Last Friday, she showed up here and threw a stinky gyic and that I should be what I a like that"

Betty’s eyes widened "And you’re just telling et insane people in CCB’s every day But last night, she caic, and I turned my phone into a bat"

"You turned a phone into a bat in front of someone?" She shook her head "Way to bury the lead, kid"

"There’s more"

She put her hand to her forehead "Oh, Christ in a bucket"

"Sunday, I buuy in the alley outside Happy Larry’s, and I turned a trash can lid into a dog in front of him" I sed "Davina said his name is Cain, and that he wants to kill her"

Betty stared at me for a while, then pushed up fro to the airport"

I stood up as well "Wait LetYou’re going to Europe in a feeeks anye’ll just change your ticket e get there and send you now"

"Wait How did you know about Europe?"

"Tobias told o, and I said no, but right now, I say yes You go"

"I can’t go now"

"Why not?"

"Because we don’t knohat these people want, or who they are Davina actually seems kind of nice A little crazy, but nice And she protected me when Cain surprised o through erous, but running away isn’t the answer If they found me here, it’s just a matter of time before they find oing to need to figure out another solution"

Betty stood there for a ain "Any ideas, Mary Poppins?"

"Wellyou said you bound ain?"

Betty stared at me for a moment, then shook her head "No"

"Why not? You did it before"

"No Your father did it before Gotta be a blood relative, and even then, things get coht There’s free will to be ic It’s not a good place to go"

"But it’s my free will," I said "I will it And coht? I mean, the spell worked well into ot to be a blood relative, Liv You’re kind of short on those"

"I have a father and a sister out there soht Fa people who don’t want to be found I tried when your mother died, I wanted to tell them, but I couldn’t find them And I hired a real private detective Fro to Europe Not yet"

"Okay" She reached across the table and pattedelse, then In the h, you’re officially on sabbatical I want you hoether"

There was a longout a chunk of chocolate cake and stuffed it in ood"

It took a moment, but eventually she smiled, then picked off a small chunk for herself "I know"

I sipped my coffee, which was still hot, and out of the corner of ic square

"Hey, Betty?" I pointed to the square "Is it reallyto see what I was pointing at

"The sparkly square," I said

She laughed "The what?"

I pointed "That sparkly square When I was a kid, you toldsquare And then you told me it wasn’t But I ht of recent events, I thoughtic linoleum?" She shook her head "No That’s just crazy"

It takes awhile to accept that you have ical power, and here’s why: It’s insane

It’s insane to actually believe that your father was not Soical Guy Named Gabriel

It’s insane to believe that you can create little woodland creatures fros

It’s insane to believe that your boss can conjure baked goods up froer in town can bust open your power by throwing a ratty gyht possibly be here to kill people

It’s insane

And it only took about fourteen hours foronbunny and a destroyed, lifeless bat phone I didn’t eat I didn’t sleep I didn’t go to the bathroom I didn’t even really think thatbunny,bunny

The truth finally settled around me only once I was in the dark, onbunny scooting aroundoff the s it, re Then it tuasped and caught it and drew it to led it, and that’s when I knew That was the moment when I accepted that this was all real, that there were people in the world that had ical power and I was one of them

"Huh," I said out loud to no one in particular I patted thebunny in its shoebox on the floor so it wouldn’t get hurt, and I stu at the clock on the wall in the kitchen as I went into the refrigerator; it was only nine-thirty It felt like it should be later, that soe appealed toof conjured pastries Betty had sent me home with I wandered out into the hallway, but they weren’t there I searched the living room: nada Finally, I went out onto the porch, flicked on the light, and there was the big brown paper bag Betty had stuffed full for

Huh I couldn’t even reain, when I’d stu, I’d been in so, pulled the top Styrofoa and opened it

Chocolate cake Eight gazillion calories of glorious, chocolaty goodness Then a thought hit me, and I wondered if conjured food has the same calories What if it had no calories? A h me, and then I caination that far

"Liv!"

I looked up to find the source of the voice, and there was Peach, running in place on the sidewalk in front of my house Her blond hair bounced behind her in a ponytail, and her running outfit clung to her perfect curves as she jogged effortlessly in place I hesitated at the thought of talking to her while digging into chocolate cake withon a dirty pipe