Wicked Sense (45 page)

“Why do you think that?” I ask.

“She started asking questions,” Mona says, “very specific questions about the Craft.
Now, Pain is not one to be pushed around, and she told this Jane character to
piss off
. Jane
just stood
there, asking more and more questions,
being
scary
nosy,
until Pain slammed the door
i
n her face.
We watched Jane linger around on the street for a while.
Then she climbed on her bike and left.
That’s when Pain said she thought Jane knew about me.”

I ask, “What about you? Did you know about t
he…
witchcraft?”

“I’ve got to tell you something, Drake…”
Mona
says and
lowers her eyes.
“
I’m sorry.”

“About what?” I ask.

Mona doesn’t answer
right away
. She looks at her stuff on the dresser, all back after being knocked out by the quake. I wait patiently.

W
hen I’m about to open my mouth, Skye jumps in.
“About the fire,” Skye says.

“Hey, it’s just school,” I say
, trying to lighten
up
the mood.

Mona looks at me with
pleading eyes. “Sky
e means
…
our old house.”

My stare shifts from one to the other.

Oh!

Mona’s words come in a hurry. “I’m sorry that you thought you had caused the fire. It took me a while to understand—to accept—what ha
d really happened. But then I c
ouldn’t
tell
anyone. Who
would have
believed me?
”

I’m having mixed feelings about this. Sure, I’m glad
it turned
out
I
’m not guilty of ruining
our lives, but Mona
could’ve told me before. At least make up a story
.

I
don’t want to think about it. I
ask Skye,
“How did you know that?”

Skye shrugs. “I had a h
unch
. B
ecause of the school fire. T
his morning I
asked your father the date
your house burned down
. Same day the Singularity’s energy was released.”

My mind
reluctantly
accepts the logic.
“Yeah, about that
:
wasn’t she supposed to flip the switch at fifteen?”
I ask.

Skye nods. “She did. It was the earthquake. The first outburst she had, at thirteen—I’m guessi
ng—was just a pre-release. Like
a valve letting steam off because of too much pressure. I’ve never heard of a pre-release before, but now we know Mona’s magic doesn’t follow the old rules. Her true powers, like the Allure Charm, didn’t manifest until she had her Daybreak.”

The unblemished, beautiful new face of my sister catches my attention. It’s just one of the many things
that
change
d
.

“What happened
that
day
, Mona
?” I ask.

Mona
’s tone is timid
. “
I just felt this burning inside, like my body was in flames. I remember the curtains
catching
fire before
I passed
out.” She looks away.

“Now we know fire can’t harm her,” Skye says
with admiration.
“This is a
new Charm, as far as I know.
”

“After the fire,” Mona continues, “I was lost. I couldn’t
tell
anyone, and I didn’t know
what had happened. I read a lot of
books about mysticism and magic, but only Wicca had something that remotely mad
e sense. So I started
practicing
it, and Pain got interested too. When I felt I could trust her, I told her everything. She’s been helping me figure this out ever since.”

For two years she held that secret. Wow. My sister
is
tough.

She goes on.
“When Jane showed up talking as if she knew about me, I panicked. Pain
tried
to calm me
down, but I was so out of whack!
I wouldn’t listen. Then I felt the burning inside, the same burning that had started it all
. I couldn’t
control it and control my nerves at the same time. I was so
freaked out
I couldn’t even explain to Pain what was happening.”

Mona’s eyes become wet, and she reaches for a tissue from the dresser. Skye moves to sit by her side and puts her arm around my sister.

“It was bubbling up, and I thought of the fire, and I
yelled
to Pain to get away fro
m
me… It was a mess of screams and
pain, until I felt something…” She doesn’t finish.

“Horrible?” I ask
.

“Wonderful,” Mona says.

Skye shows a knowing smile.

Mona’s voice almost chokes
. “It was like I was detached from reality, soaring above the ground. I felt a wave of happiness inside me. I can’t…” Mona looks at Skye. “I can’t explain.”

“Nobody can,” Skye whispers, nodding her head.

I’m fe
eling very, very left out. “And?
” I ask.

“
I was just wishing it—whatever
it
was—didn’t cause a fire. It w
as all very confusing, but I tried
to hold it in. Then
… poof
.
I remember
waking up at the gym. T
hat’s it.” Mona’s expression seems to ask for forgiveness.

I
stare
at Skye.

“What?” she asks.

“What do you mean, ‘what’?” I say. “Fill in the blanks.”

My girlfriend sighs. “
Jane
probably got
suspicious when
she
saw your s
ister
dabbling in
mag
ic without emitting a signature
.
Maybe she
confused
the Wiccan stuff
,” Skye says, pointing to some books scattered on the floor,
“
with
the real thing.
Then the quake hit
,
and Jane had a bike accident. At first I though
t
she fell because of the quake, but it wasn’t that violent at the beginning
, remember? Jane’s a good biker;
she wouldn’t just fall for no reason.”

“Maybe a car hit her bike?” I
suggest
.

But Skye shakes her head. “I think she fell because of the impact of the
Singularity’s
energy hitting her.
I sense
d
it from here, and I almost fainted.
It
must have
been overwhelming to
Jane
, since
she
was
so
close to ground zero.
W
hen Jane woke up, she called
Brianna
to ask
about Mona
.
Brianna
found
out that
Mona
was
at the hospital
and
brought her car over, helped Jane kidnap Mona, and they
drove
to school.”

I can see where things fit.
It woul
d be hard for Jane to take Mona away without help, or transportation.
That’s why Brianna’s car was at Greenwood High.

“But why was Jane at Pain’s?” Mona asks.

I raise my hand, “I know this one.” I ignore Skye’s chuckle and continue before any of them takes away my moment of glory. “Jane knew Skye could sense her, so she tried to get back at me by
going after
you. She
must have
followed you to Pain’s
. She might even have
been spying through the windows before knocking on the door.” I
look at Skye, who nods her approval. Pride invades me.

“We
were
pray
ing right before Jane showed up,
” Mona says.

I give a ‘See?’ look at Skye, but she just rolls her eyes.

She turns to Mona.
“Okay. Now we have a problem. Jane and
Brianna
both know you’re the Singularity. We don’t have to worry about
Brianna
for now.”

“But she’ll talk when she wakes up,” Mona argues.

Skye answers her.
“
She’ll be busy with her own problems
. First, she’ll have to defend the arson changes. And she
won’t dare to
mention magic to police or
to her
family.
Who would believe her?”

“What about the covens?” I ask

“
I told the
Mothers
that
Brianna
was the Singularity. T
here’s no way to di
sprove my claim. O
r to
prove
it
.” Skye
is
very
happy with herself. “It’s a catch-22, really. The Singularity only emits a signature when using her powers—the Sisters believed that because of the supposed
D
aybreak, two years ago, and the earthquake. But
Brianna
can’t use mag
ic, since she doesn’t have any.
”

Mona
says
, “Still, at some point she’ll tell them I’m
the one
they’re looking for.”

Skye shrugs.
“They’ll think
Brianna
is just trying to deflect attention from her
self
.
They won’t believe her
. Remember, her credibility is not at an all-time high right now. I think the Mothers will stay away until the arson incident is cleared up. They’ll watch her, for sure. They’ll never let her disappear.”

S
h
e gives Mona a meaningful look and rests
her
hand
s
on Mona’s shoulder
s
. “And that’s why I’m not telling them about you. You have to understand this: once the Mothers find out about you, your life is over.”

Skye’s voice
has
never
sounded
harsher. Mona is looking straight at
her.

“They can’t afford to let you
lo
ose
. They
believe
the type
of magic you can do
is
so
conspicuous that the Veil will be compromised forever. So far
,
we
’ve been
lucky
you had the
outbreaks in private spaces
,
with
only
Sisters or
K
nowings
around. If you had one in a public place, where an army of phone users can tweet about it and post
pics
and
videos online, the Veil would be history.”

“I would be
outed
, but the other witches
… Can’t they hide?” Mona asks, her voice quivering.

“It’s much easier to hide when nobody is looking for you,” Skye says. “If the Veil is broken, anyone suspect
ed
of using
magic will be subjected to an unprecedented level of scrutiny.
Like
paparazzi times
a thousand. Imagine how much Pe
ople
magazine
would pay for a witch tell-
all?”

“Can
’t
the magazines do that now?” I ask.

“Now they’d be laughed off. After Mona produces a bonfire out of thin air around her,
everybody
is going
to see it on YouTube and believe in magic
. But that’s not the worst part. People are afraid of what they don’t understand. Minorities are always persecuted. And we witches have a histo
r
y of being executed.”