Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot) (25 page)

“So,” I said, eager to change the subject. “Madison, what’s going on with you?”

She only hesitated a second or two before taking a deep breath. “I don’t know where to start. I’ve been overwhelmed since yesterday, after the concert. Nicolas keeps calling me, and I don’t understand any of it.”

“Do you want me to tell him to back off?” I asked gently.

“I don’t know. He’s the least of it. My father’s been mad since he saw the article about the concert last week. I told him I wasn’t going to sing. I thought I wasn’t, but the kids talked me into it. He went crazy, and that was before he found out I planned to student teach music in the fall. I knew I couldn’t keep it from him forever, but when he found out...”

“What?” I had a bad feeling. I knew her father didn’t approve of her singing, and that she had defied him in college, partly at my urging, but I never understood why. Maybe I did now. Did her father know about her gift, and did he have some kind of problem with it?

“He told me I had to the end of the month to move out,” Madison said.

“At least he gave you notice,” Kaitlin said, looking significantly at me.

“I suppose,” she mumbled.

I didn’t think the notice provided much comfort, especially when it seemed her father was casting her out, much as my parents had done. I felt as if the entire town must have drank the same poisoned punch.

“He also said,” Madison continued, “that he’s not paying my tuition this fall, and that he wants me to pay him back for the rest of college, since I lied to him about my degree.”

“He can’t do that,” I said, outraged on her behalf. “You don’t have to give him a thing.”

“Yeah,” Kaitlin said, “he might not give you the money for next semester, but you definitely don’t have to pay him back.”

Madison nodded in a way that told me financial worries were the least of her problems. I quieted down, and waited for the last bomb to drop.

“My father also told me he adopted me. Apparently, mom was already pregnant when he met her, doing some headline show in Branson.”

And channeling your gift,
I thought.
Or maybe, her mother had the gift all along
. These things often ran in families. I wondered if that had anything to do with her father’s problems. Her mother had died when she was six or seven, possibly breaking a spell she’d had on her husband for years. Not that any of that mattered to Madison, now that the man who had raised her as his own all this time didn’t want her anymore. I thought that was much more relevant than the adoption part, which was just an excuse. The surge of resentment I felt for Mr. Carter contained all the hatred I felt for my own parents.

“What’s his problem with you singing?” Kaitlin asked. “It’s not like you’re singing in bars, hoping to get noticed. You’re going to teach.”

Madison bit her lip. “I don’t know, exactly. He’s never really made sense about that. He says mom bewitched him with her voice, and he won’t let me do the same thing.”

“You sing really well,” Kaitlin said. “It’s pretty moving.”

“Thanks, but I’m not a witch.” She darted a quick glance my way. “No offense.”

I shook my head. I hadn’t taken offense. If anything, I had felt a twinge of jealousy, because from a certain point of view, she might be. Odds were good she didn’t have any talent, since gifts were far more common in the general population than the ability to manipulate magical energies, but with such a strong gift, it hardly mattered.

I pushed aside the feelings. “I’m so sorry, Madison. I have no idea what to say. Guess we need to form a support group for people who have been abandoned by their parents.”

“He hasn’t abandoned me,” Madison said quickly. “I mean, I guess I can see why you would think so, but it’s all about the money. He says he refuses to fund me singing, and he said if I changed my mind, and decided to teach math, I could stay home.”

She turned her face away. I scrambled to get a box of tissues from the bathroom, handing them wordlessly to her. Kaitlin took a few of her own.

The oven timer sounded, so I went to take the brownies out of the oven.

“I don’t know why he picked now to tell me about the adoption,” Madison said, after she had composed herself a little. “I think he was angry. He apologized for telling me this way, but now it’s all mixed together in my head.”

“Do you know who your biological father is?” Kaitlin asked.

“I didn’t ask,” Madison said. “I don’t even care. Well, maybe a little, but it’s all too much right now. Does that make sense?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “And now, I think we should eat the brownies before they’re too cool to burn the roofs of our mouths.”

As I served up the brownies, Kaitlin asked the question I had been dying to know the answer to. “What were you doing with Evan the other day?”

Madison glanced at me, looking guilty. “I’m not entirely sure. You and your brother showed up before he could say much, although he told me I was in danger.”

“From what?” I asked.

“He said the Travises were following me, and that they’re killers.”

“They are.” He had also told me they were following me. Perhaps he hadn’t been sure who they were following?

We ate in silence for a minute or so, before Kaitlin put a weepy chick flick in the DVD player, and we all cried at somebody else’s pain for a while. I didn’t pay much attention to the movie, because I kept trying to decide if I should tell Madison she had a gift. She deserved to know, but I wondered if, right then, it might be one burden too many.

About halfway through the movie, Kaitlin retreated to her bedroom, saying she had a killer headache. A few minutes later, I heard retching coming from the bathroom. When Madison asked if she should leave, I shook my head.

Madison and I had nearly finished the movie when my phone rang. It was my brother, Nicolas, and he had even more bad news. I knew it from his tone, and maybe that sixth sense you get when someone calls with troublesome tidings.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Mom’s in the hospital.”

I nearly dropped the phone. You have to understand that my family doesn’t do hospitals. Or any mundane medical care, for that matter. Even if we hadn’t had Juliana in our midst, we had centuries of magical wisdom passed down through the generations, all designed to keep us healthy and heal injuries.

“Why?” I managed to ask.

“She won’t wake up, and we’re out of magical options.”

“Oh. I–” I had no idea what to say.

“Will you come?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, finally. “I–just–keep me posted, all right?”

I
MAGES OF MY MOTHER HAUNTED ME
during the night, almost as if she
were calling me to her. Which was why, when Nicolas called early Monday morning to report no change, I already knew.

“Please come,” Nicolas said. “I know you’re mad at Mom and Dad, but the rest of us need you here.”

“I-I’ll think about it.”

After that, I focused on getting ready for the day. Kaitlin wasn’t up when I got into the shower, so for once I managed to grab a few minutes of hot water. When I finished dressing and made my way into the kitchen for breakfast, Kaitlin was still in her bathrobe, staring intently at a can of peaches.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “You’re not taking another day off of work, are you?”

She shook her head. “I switched to lunch and dinner, since morning is the worst. Although evening isn’t always that great, either.” She sighed. “I sometimes get a few good hours in the middle of the day.”

“Did you tell your mom?”

Kaitlin nodded. “She asked if I wanted to move back in with her. When I said no, she started rattling on about the cost of formula and diapers.”

“There’s always cloth diapers and breastfeeding.”

“Ha! Don’t tell that to my mom. She saw your mom nursing a two-year-old in public once and went on for a week about weirdos nursing their high school kids.”

For a second, I was caught between amusement and anger. But then I thought of my mother lying comatose in a hospital and reached for my typical sarcasm defense. “I assure you, we were all weaned by the eighth grade.”

Kaitlin’s face fell at the look on my face. “How’s your mom doing?”

“Not well.” I sat down at the table across from her and nodded at the can of peaches. “Are you going to open those, or just stare at them?”

“Oh, um.” She set the can down. “I was just trying to... decide if I wanted breakfast or not.” I was pretty sure that wasn’t what she had been going to say, but I left it alone.

* * *

I spent the morning at the sheriff’s department filling out paperwork, so I could officially return to work tomorrow. At lunchtime I found myself at Kaitlin’s Diner, heading for my usual booth and the comfort of a cheeseburger.

Madison smiled when I sat across from her. “How’s your mom?”

I shrugged.

Madison’s mouth fell slightly open. “Haven’t you been to see her?”

I shifted uncomfortably, thinking of my conversation with Nicolas that morning. “I know I should, but how can I? Last month, they kicked me out of their lives because I didn’t measure up to their expectations.”

Madison gave me a wry smile. “Yeah, I sort of know what that’s like.”

“So, what would you do?”

“I would visit my sick mother in the hospital, and help get my brothers and sisters through this.”

Sometimes, there’s nothing more annoying than a friend willing to tell you the absolute truth. Closing my eyes, I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go after lunch.”

“Now,” Madison said. “Before you find some other reason to talk yourself out of it.”

When I opened my eyes, I saw Madison digging in her purse. She took out a couple of ones and left them on the table.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’ll come with you.”

Kaitlin swung by then, wearing a small frown. “What can I get you?”

“Nothing today,” Madison said. “Cassie suddenly remembered an urgent appointment.”

“You going to see your mom?” Kaitlin asked, softly.

I nodded.

“Good luck.” With that, she walked back to the kitchen.

“You don’t have to come with me,” I said to Madison. I knew she was uncomfortable around my family, and it didn’t feel right to make her face them.

“I know I don’t have to,” Madison said.

“Nicolas might be there.”

Madison paused at that, her face looking a little pale. “Do you know why he’s... what he–?”

“Do I know why he’s interested in you?” I asked.

Madison nodded.

“Because you’re an interesting woman,” I said.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, we strolled through the hospital corridors to the ICU waiting room. I hadn’t even had to ask directions, since as soon as I’d approached the front desk, the receptionist had identified me and pointed me in the direction of my family.

The waiting room was a blue and white rectangle with a large row of windows overlooking the busy street below. A dozen chairs, four tables, and countless magazines decorated the room. Christina and Adam were on the floor when I arrived, playing with cars and trucks. Elena sat in a chair by the window, staring out at the sky. Isaac and Juliana were reading. I didn’t see Nicolas, but Edward sat by the door, pretending to read a magazine while he kept one eye on the children.

For a minute, all I could do was linger in the doorway. Then Madison pushed me inside.

They all seemed to see me at once – all except Elena, who didn’t seem to see anything at all. Christina’s eyes went big and she hid behind Adam, who did not, as he was prone to do, run up to me and wrap himself around my leg. Isaac scowled at me. Juliana glared.

Edward was the only one who smiled. “It’s nice to see you, Cassandra.”

Now that I was there, I had no idea what to say. The evil looks my brothers and sisters were giving me were enough to make me wilt.

“Nicolas is in with Mom right now,” Edward said. “They don’t want more than one of us in with her at a time. When he comes out, would you like to–?”

Stiffly, I nodded. Then I cleared my throat. “How is she?”

“She’s still here,” Edward said, as if that said it all. And in truth, it did.

I took a seat in one of the chairs near the door. Madison sat down next to me, her expression uneasy.

“You haven’t introduced your friend,” Edward said, obviously trying to keep the conversation pleasant.

“This is Madison.” Then I went through everyone else in the room, for her benefit. “There’s Christina, Adam, Elena, Isaac, Juliana, and my-um, and Edward Scot.”

“Nice to meet you,” Edward said.

Madison nodded shyly. Luckily, we were saved from more small talk by the return of Nicolas, who looked exhausted. He slumped into a chair next to Edward without immediately noticing us.

“Who’s next?” Nicolas asked.

“Cassandra,” Edward told him.

Nicolas sat up straight, relief written all over his face at the sound of my name. Madison gave me a tiny nudge, and I made my way out of the waiting room and down the desolate corridor to my mother.