“There you are, sleepyhead. Did you have a good time with Rochelle?” Mom smiled up at me. Cautiously, I nodded. Dad set his coffee cup down and looked at me with a slight grimace, and I braced myself.
“You know I really don’t like you spending so much time with that girl. Has she made her declaration yet?”
Before I could answer, Mom jumped to my defense. “Oh, let it go, Richard. They’re best friends, and there’s nothing that says Black and Green Witches shouldn’t be friends.”
It took a minute for her words to sink in, but when they did, I asked, slowly, “Black and Green, Mom?”
She laughed. “Of course. You think we don’t know that Rochelle is going to follow the Black path?” She patted my foot with her dirt-covered hand.
“It’s been pretty obvious,” Dad hissed under his breath.
“But you said Black and Green. What are you talking about?”
Dad looked up at me in concern. “Are you feeling alright?”
Mom rose, dusting off her legs swiftly. “She’s probably just tired. You know girls, Richard, they stay up all night talking, then pretend that they were asleep the whole time.” Mom kissed my cheek as she turned to go inside. “But I hope you aren’t too tired to remember your Dedicancy ceremony. Dad and I are so proud of you!”
As she went into the house, I looked at my dad. “What ceremony?” They couldn’t possibly know the details of last night, could they?
He looked up, surprised. “I think you do need to lie down! It’s all you’ve talked about for a month. You declared to the Green path last month, on the night before your birthday. I don’t think I want to know what you girls were doing last night if you can’t remember something as important as that!”
Shaking, I raced up the stairs to my room. I shut the door and looked around. The athame and the mirror sat side by side, right where I had left them. I dug through my backpack, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found the three pomegranate seeds in the bottom. Clearly, I wasn’t the one who was going crazy. With that thought, my relief left me. What in the world had happened? My parents were acting as if the last month had never happened, and what was worse, they seemed to have a whole different set of memories than I had. It was like I had stumbled into some kind of alternate universe.
I grabbed my phone and texted Justin a quick question. “What path do I follow?”
My phone buzzed almost immediately.
“Justin,” I answered quickly, “tell me.”
“Calm down, Darlena. What’s wrong?”
“Just tell me what kind of magic I practice.”
Justin paused. “I don’t know if that’s something I should say over the phone. What if she’s listening?”
“Who, Justin?”
Silence.
“Can I come over?”
“Give me ten minutes, Darlena.”
“I’ll give you five.”
I hung up. I paused for a second, remembering that I still hadn’t showered. I didn’t want Justin seeing me after the mess in Atlanta. I shuddered when I thought of the truck driver and what had almost happened. Deciding that a few minutes wouldn’t make a difference, I sent a quick text and headed for the bathroom.
I turned the water up as hot as I could, letting it scald my skin as I tried to forget everything that had happened last night. Why in the world did my parents think I had declared to their path? It didn’t make any sense. Unless, I thought, not noticing the shampoo running into my eyes, someone had made them forget. But who would do that? And, a bigger question: why bother screwing with my parents’ memories but leaving mine intact?
Chapter Nineteen
Dad winked at me when I told him I was going to see Justin, and I tried to smile, but my stomach felt hollow. My mind was racing, but the streets were quiet. I realized that it was Sunday afternoon. Sundays in the South are like a whole summer vacation packed into one day, and I felt my steps slowing despite the frantic pounding of my heart. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the chill in the air that reminded me that fall should have already begun.
By the time I got to Justin’s house, I was feeling a lot less frantic. I hesitated for a minute, considering jumping the fence again, but I decided it was best if I acted like a normal person. I fought back a laugh at the thought; was anything normal anymore? I walked up the front steps, but Justin answered the door before I even touched the doorbell.
“What’s going on?” Worry filled his face as he pulled me inside. I shook my head, aware that we were in the open foyer and could be overheard. Once we were safely inside Justin’s room with the door sealed and warded, tears spilled out of my eyes.
“Darlena!” Justin’s shock was obvious; in all the time we’d know each other, he had never seen me cry. I sobbed harder, feeling the pent-up energy and fear of the past few weeks bubble to the surface without stopping. “Tell me what’s going on. What happened after I left last night? You never texted, and I was so worried that Hecate—” Justin broke off and pushed me into the chair at his desk. He knelt on the floor beside me, keeping hold of my hands.
“First,” I managed to say, “I need you to answer my question. What kind of magic do I practice?”
Justin’s eyebrows knit together. “Did something happen with Hecate? Is that what this is about?”
Hope rose in my throat, but I shook my head, refusing to speak until he confirmed what I thought I knew.
“You’re a Red Witch, Darlena. How could you forget that?”
The relief I felt at those words turned quickly to fear, and I began to cry harder. “My parents don’t know.”
Justin looked confused. “I thought they found out when you got kicked out of school. How have you managed to keep something like this a secret?”
I shook my head, frustrated. “I didn’t. They knew, they’ve known since the beginning. But this morning, it was like none of this had happened. They acted like I hadn’t run away.”
“What?” Justin exploded and stood up beside me. “You ran away? When did that happen?”
I waved my hand. “That doesn’t matter. My parents are acting like nothing has changed.”
Justin sat back down, frowning in thought. “Tell me exactly what happened after I walked you home last night.”
Taking a deep breath, I told him everything. He almost broke my hand when I talked about the trucker, and his mouth gaped open when I told him about my vow to Aphrodite, but he didn’t interrupt me. I didn’t tell him about finding Rochelle in the kitchen when I got home, or about the glamour and the mirror. My first lesson with Aphrodite came a little too close to the night we broke up, and I didn’t want to remind him of that. When I was done, I felt like I had run a marathon, and I collapsed against the back of the chair, totally drained.
For a long time, Justin didn’t say anything. He sat on the floor, holding my hand tightly and staring into space. I closed my eyes and let him think, relieved that I had told him. At least Justin knew I was a Red Witch; maybe I wasn’t going crazy. My brain felt empty, and I sat in silence, just happy to listen to Justin’s breathing beside me. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Justin shook himself like a dog after a swim and looked up at me. I opened my eyes and stared back.
“Darlena, the only thing I can think of is that someone altered reality for your parents.”
“But you know I’m still a Red, right?”
“I do.” He squeezed my hand and I felt a little better.
“So why would anyone wipe Mom and Dad’s memories, but leave yours?”
He paused, considering his words carefully. “Maybe they don’t want you to have any help.”
“But you’re helping me!” My voice shook, and I braced myself for his declaration that he didn’t want to have anything to do with my problems anymore.