Family Magic by Chloe Price (old books to read .txt) 📖

barely offer myself.

“No, Simon, I’m sorry. I don’t. Okay?”

I knew it took a lot for him to approach me, to step up. He took the risk for his little posse, opened the door. I felt bad I slammed it shut on him, on them. But I was tired of people all together.

They were better off without me.

That was when I noticed everyone had fallen deathly silent, not only our table. Everyone.

Everyone that is, except Page. She continued to laugh as I gathered up my things. I fled the stares and judgments poisoning the air of the cafeteria. Chapter Fifteen

I made it through the rest of the day without having to turn down any more offers of best friendship, so I felt a little more emotionally stable by the time the last bell rang. I was free to escape. I could only guess Alison went home for the rest of the day because she wasn’t in any of my usual classes nor at any of her typical haunts during breaks.

Guess she was sick or something.

I knew how she felt.

I tried to talk to Brad after school but missed him. I know he saw me, but he drove off with his buddies before I had a chance to say anything to him. It felt important I know one way or another if he was angry with me.

Part of me was mad at him anyway. He brought this on, after all. And how dare he be angry with me for standing up for myself? Brad could go piss off, if that was the case.

The other part of me, the part that wished things could be different, wanted to know Brad did everything he could to help but his friends wouldn’t let him.

Yeah, right. Even I wasn’t that clueless.

I dragged my gaze from the retreating SUV and turned to leave, catching Quaid staring at me. That was about to stop and never happen again. I squared my newfound aggressive tendencies and marched up to him.

He smiled at me, really smiled. His chocolate brown eyes smiled too.

It took me by surprise. And knocked the anger out of me.

Still, I had to try.

“Something funny?” I demanded.

Quaid grinned, showing perfect white teeth. His black hair glowed in the sunlight, tall, lean body totally at ease. Wow, he was hot.

“Not sure what you were going for,” he said in that velvety deep voice of his, “but at least they’re all afraid of you now.”

“I wasn’t going for that,” I said.

“Really?” His lips twisted to the side, eyes still sparkling. I was having trouble concentrating for some reason. Oh right. My stupid demon side was panting over him. That made it very hard to concentrate on despising him. And if I found out he was using magic on me, I had plans to kill him.

No such luck. Just hormones and a randy demon, damn it.

“Really,” I said. “In case you hadn’t noticed in your little friendship with Alison, I’m not exactly the most popular person around here.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I got that. And she’s not my friend.”

“You seemed pretty chummy yesterday,” I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

He laughed, a deep, warm sound wrapping me in something that had nothing to do with magic.

“We’re different that way, Syd,” he said. “You try to fit in. I don’t.”

“Then why the whole Alison thing?”

“I wondered what she had to offer,” he said. “Not much.”

Wow. That was cold. Still, I agreed with him, sadly enough.

“Least you could have done was stay out of the way,” I complained. “You didn’t have to help her along.”

“Sorry if I gave you that impression,” he said.

“So you were using her, is that it?” I’m not normally so skeptical, but the last few days taught me some things.

“You could say that.”

“Yeah, right,” I challenged him.

“Really.” He let the full weight of the truth hang between us. I had to admit he at least believed what he said, even if he was deluding himself.

“At least I’m honest about my motives,” he added. “Unlike some.”

I didn’t take long for me to look away.

“I don’t have motives, except being left alone.”

“Hm-hm. No revenge, no desire to have them run from you?”

There was the rabbit image. But this whole day was so much easier than any other day I ever experienced since I started high school. Part of me knew he was right. Their fear was my freedom, whether I liked it or not.

“Fine,” I said, “if they’re scared of me, better than being pushed around.” I meant it.

“Don’t you sometimes wish we could...” he drifted off, mischief on his face, still smiling. But there was a darkness to him that worried me.

“What?” I said back. “Let loose?”

He laughed, cynical and jaded well beyond anything I had experience with. But with parents like his, I hardly wondered where that attitude came from. I’d be pretty dark too if I had Batsheva Moromond for a mother.

I had to plant that image in my head, didn’t I?

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it,” I admitted. “But I’d never do it.”

“Never?” His dark eyes challenged me, still smiling while my demon half pushed me to agree with him.

“Never,” I made it a firm no in spite of her. He laughed again.

“Yeah,” he almost whispered. “Me neither.”

We exchanged a moment that made me uncomfortable, all the more so because he felt so open and raw to me. I didn’t want that glimpse inside him or his life. I didn’t want to know how troubled he was or that his life sucked more than mine. I almost had the impression he was asking for more than just a conversation. Was he really reaching out?

Damn it. I had my own problems. But my demon wouldn’t let me walk away.

“You’re doing a good job for someone who says he doesn’t want to fit in.” Was that resentment showing its filthy head? Probably.

That made him laugh again, as harshly as before. “You could say that, I guess.” His dark eyes drifted away from me, expression bored. “I could if I wanted to. And I don’t. I’m not sure why it’s so important to you.” His gaze snapped back to me. “Why take crap they hand you when you’re so much better than that?”

It couldn’t have been a compliment. “In case you hadn’t noticed, that’s exactly what I did.” It was like he purposely tried to goad me. But my anger had faded, replaced by curiosity of my own tied to wondering about how his attitude could affect the family. I wondered if I should bring it to Mom’s attention.

He shrugged, the smirk coming back. “The thing about old habits is they tend to come back.” Like he expected me to revert? Never. Or was he talking to me at all?

Quaid didn’t look dangerous or like a loose cannon. Mind you, I didn’t think I did, either. My demon really liked him but I wasn’t trusting her as a good judge of character. Still, maybe it was normal high school angst? If anyone could understand that, surely it was me. Still, I decided to keep a closer eye on Quaid Moromond, just in case.

That made my demon incredibly happy.

Since when did I care? Guess even the suggestion of a threat to the coven brought out protective feelings in me and made me wonder if I really wanted to be cut loose after all. Or did I want my cake and eat it too?

I hated it when I doubted myself. And this was a big one.

I walked away from Quaid and headed home on my own, leaving him to grin after me like he knew something I didn’t. I had a feeling regardless of whether he was a danger to the family or not, Quaid was a threat to me and the way I thought about the world. I was starting to understand his presence was going to be more of a challenge to my choices than I first thought, not to mention the sulking my demon did every time I made her leave him behind. Why I would let some strange boy affect my way of thinking, I had no idea, but the way he pushed me to admit the truth to myself pissed me off more and more the further I was from him.

My mental conversation turned so heated I stopped halfway home and turned around to confront him. I pulled myself back to reality almost immediately. Kind of a stupid thing to go charging after him when I had absolutely no idea where he lived.

When I let it drop, reality rushed in. It was Wednesday, and that meant because of my little chat with Quaid I was about to be late for soccer for the very first time ever.

I ran the last block.

I tore through the kitchen and up to my room, dumping everything to change into my uniform. Somehow Mom managed to get the chocolate out of my jersey. Probably magic, but at the time she could have chanted it out with a smoking stick of incense in her underwear and I wouldn’t have cared less.

Well, maybe not in her underwear.

I hit the kitchen at a full run and ran into my mom. Before I had a chance to dodge her she stopped me with a hand on my arm. For the first time, I noticed the way she was dressed.

Fear punched me in the stomach so hard I had nothing to say.

Normally, Mom dressed in flowing skirts, blouses, large silver jewelry. She didn’t get she looked like the stereotypical witch right down to the delicate pentagram she wore around her neck. I’d tried, Erica tried, I think the whole coven mentioned to her gently at one time or another she could do with a wardrobe change. But nothing influenced Miriam Hayle and her sense of style.

Until now. I groaned at her ensemble of cute blue yoga pants and matching cropped jacket, her white tank top peeking out from behind the shiny sparkle zipper. A ponytail held back her long, wavy black hair. Trendy little sneakers graced her feet. My mother was in sneakers. She couldn’t possibly be thinking what I thought she was thinking.

Oh, the horror of it all. My mother was trying to be cool.

“Meira said today is one of your last soccer games,” Mom said.

No, please, no. I nodded, not trusting my voice.

“I’d like to come watch you play.”

She said it. She said the words that sealed my doom and meant the end of the only thing in my life I had for me and me alone with no interference. How did I tell her I didn’t want her there? I knew this was painful for her, too, this effort she made to be someone she wasn’t, to be the mom I wished I had instead of the one I got.

Oh, crap.

“Okay,” I whispered.

The tension in her eased. “Wonderful,” she said. “Let’s go.”

I followed her out the door, dragging my feet, terrified at the implications of what was about to happen. I shook myself. What was I expecting? It wasn’t like she would break out into magic or anything. Looking at her, she screamed normal Mom. What was I so worried about?

She opened the door of her beautiful convertible and climbed in. I