Summoned By Magic by Lexie Scott

Chapter 2

By morning, the earthquake was forgotten, at least for Brielle and Aiden. When I walked into the kitchen, my sister was in her highchair, chattering happily to herself while smearing a light pink substance across the tray in front of her. I kissed the top of her head and fluffed her wild curls.

“Hi, sweetness.” I traced a heart in the center of her artwork.

She giggled up at me like I’d just done the silliest thing. “Emmy.”

I licked my finger, confirming my suspicion it was strawberry cream cheese. “Did any of that make it to your mouth?”

“Nope,” Aiden answered with a loud pop of the “p”. “She took it off and ate her bagel plain.”

“Obviously, that was the better option.”

He nodded in agreement. “She thinks so.”

I walked behind his chair and stole a kiss on his cheek before he could wave me off. Despite always being little in my eyes, he was determined to be a big kid, and kisses and hugs from his sister were for babies. My heart only broke a fraction each time he told me that, but I was still faster and stronger. I’d pin him down and tickle him if he tried to stay away from me for too long.

“What did you have?” He was busy building some dinosaur or airplane or something out of Legos, so I only had a small portion of his attention.

“Eggs,” he answered, without taking his eyes off his work.

I opened the fridge and looked inside for something that sounded appealing. “Where’s Mom and Dad?”

He didn’t reply, so either he didn’t know or he made a gesture I missed. I took out the orange juice and filled up a glass.

I expected a discussion when they got up, but so far, I hadn’t seen them. Mom sometimes went walking with a few of the other women on the street in the mornings if Dad was around to take care of the little ones, but I hadn’t heard her call out that she was leaving.

“Dad?” I yelled as I headed down the hall toward the garage. He was probably out there tinkering on one of the cars that seemed to always need something repaired.

When I opened the door, I paused. The garage door was open, filling the space with morning light. Mom and Dad stood at the back of his car talking to someone. I stepped out and ran over as soon as I recognized my aunt.

“Masie!” I flung myself into her open arms and closed my eyes as she held me close. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too.” She rubbed my back before taking a step back to look at me. “You’ve grown at least an inch, I swear.”

“That’s what happens when I don’t see you for nearly a year. How have you been? What have you been doing?” I rushed out my words before realizing I interrupted her conversation with my parents. I glanced back at them and took in their concerned expressions. “What's going on?”

“Let’s go inside, Saige. I want to see my other babies too.” Masie hooked her elbow around mine, and we walked together through the house to the kitchen. I stepped back as she gave Aiden a hug. Apparently, he wasn't too big for her. Then she kissed Brielle’s chubby cheeks.

“Aunt Masie!” Aiden slid off his chair and reached for her hand. “I have to show you my room. I built a whole city!”

Before anyone could stop him, they were heading up the stairs, leaving me with my parents.

“Why didn’t you guys tell us she was coming?” I asked, grabbing my glass and finishing off the juice.

Mom hesitated. “It was a last-minute thing.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Is something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, nothing like that.”

I didn’t believe her. My gut screamed at me that something was coming, but I couldn't figure out what.

“How long is she staying?” I went to the sink to rinse out my cup.

“Not long.” Mom answered as the water started.

Masie was Mom’s little sister, and since their parents passed away before I was born, she was the only extended family we ever saw. Dad wasn’t close to his family. His parents lived somewhere remote in Maine and only visited once since Aiden was born. They hadn’t even come to see Brielle, so I didn’t count them as family.

“Oh, bummer.”

“We have something to talk to you about.” Dad’s tone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I froze, waiting for him to continue. My heart pounded in my chest. Something was wrong. I knew it. Something bad. My hands shook and the glass slipped from my grasp. It crashed into the sink with a loud clatter, but the water that had filled it stayed suspended in the air, as if the cup was still there.

“Saige!” Mom’s scream startled me, and I flinched away from the ball of water in front of me.

“Are you guys okay?” Masie came running back into the kitchen with Aiden on her heels.

I looked from her to my parents, then back at the sink. The water dropped and splashed up the sides but didn’t reach me.

My breath came in pants. Were they going to tell her?

“What happened?” she asked, taking a small step toward me.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure.”

“Aiden, why don’t you go play in your room for a little while,” Mom suggested. He looked like he wanted to argue, but the tension on her face and in the air changed his mind. He glanced around the room one more time before turning and heading back up the stairs.

“The water. It was floating there. Just a mass getting bigger and bigger.” Dad’s wide eyes stayed on me.

“Saige, did you do that?” Masie asked as if that wasn’t the most insane question ever.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

“She caused an earthquake last night,” Mom said quietly.

I stared at her. She thought I did that too? I expected her to come up with some random explanation to make it all seem normal.

“Earth and Water?” Masie muttered to herself. She stared down at the tile, lost in thought until her eyes snapped up to mine. “Has anything else happened?”

I shook my head, but Dad answered. “Her nightmares have been getting worse. She refuses to sleep now. She thinks she’s causing the disasters.”

Masie’s face softened, and she reached her hand out to me. I stepped toward her, and she put her arm around me. “Anything else unusual?”

Anything else? Wasn’t what we said enough? There was clearly something seriously wrong with me, and she was acting like there should be more.

I shook my head. Even if there was, I intended on keeping it to myself. The last thing I wanted was to give my parents more reason to have me locked up.

She let out a slow breath. “And this just started?”

“Not the nightmares,” I answered.

“Right. Let’s go sit down.”

Mom picked up Brielle and followed the rest of us into the living room. Dad sat in one of the armchairs while Mom took the other, leaving me and Masie together on the couch. She sat close to me with my hand in hers.

“We hoped this wouldn’t happen,” she murmured, almost to herself.

“What?” She didn’t immediately respond, so I looked to my parents. “What is it?”

Mom offered a sad smile. “Please remember how much we love you, Saige. No matter what.”

I narrowed my eyes and turned to Dad. “What’s going on?”

He rubbed his hands over his jeans as emotions filled his face. He sniffed and finally looked up. “We have a lot to tell you, but before we start, you have to understand that we didn’t want to keep this from you. If it had been up to us, we would have told you years ago, but it was a matter of your safety.”

I bristled at that word. Yet another thing they were protecting me from. For my own good. I wasn’t even sure what was going on, and I was already annoyed.

“You need to stay calm too,” Masie said. “Your emotions are what’s causing the earth and water to react.”

I flinched. “What?”

She patted my hands. “We’ll get to that.”

Mom and Dad shared a look, and I nearly snapped. Dad started speaking again. “We’ll start from the beginning.” He swallowed, and his gaze drifted to Masie. “You know that Mom and I met in college.”

Why were they telling me this? I knew the story of how they met.

“We met our best friends there too. Amber was Mom’s roommate, and Peter and I joined the same fraternity. Starting from freshman year, we were inseparable. They were like family to us. We got married just six months after them.” Dad sucked in a breath, and Mom smiled sadly. “A year later, they were killed in an accident.”

None of this made sense. I’d never heard them talk about anyone named Amber or Peter. If they were so close, then why hadn’t they ever mentioned them?

“The night they died, Masie showed up at our apartment.” Mom took over. I glanced over at my aunt, and she gave my hand a firm squeeze. “She brought you to us.”

My mind wasn’t comprehending her words. I opened my mouth, only to close it again.

“You’re adopted, sweetie,” Dad explained. “Your birth parents are Peter and Amber.”

I gasped as the world was torn out from under me. I stared at my parents, trying to understand. They weren’t really my parents? Not by blood?

Masie jumped in. “I’m still your aunt. I’m Amber’s sister, not Melissa’s.”

The sound of Mom’s first name jarred me from my spiral. “What?”

“They asked us to be your godparents, and when they passed away, we adopted you,” Mom repeated the news, but it didn’t help the meaning sink in.

I focused on taking in several slow breaths to give myself time to process the information. I was adopted. My birth parents were dead. Killed in an accident? Was that what Dad said? Masie was still my aunt, but she wasn’t related to Mom.

While this was all overwhelming enough on its own, something stood out to me.

I turned to my aunt. “You said you hoped this wouldn’t happen. What did you mean?”

She bit her lip before speaking. “We were hoping some of their traits didn’t pass down to you.”

If I had to ask “what do you mean one more time”, I was going to break something. The ground started shaking, and Dad jumped up. “Honey, calm down.”

My attention went to him, and the rattling stopped.

Masie sucked in a breath, “This is going to be a problem.”

“Please, just tell me what’s going on! The bits and pieces are making me crazy.”

Mom blinked at me with watery eyes, Brielle asleep in her arms and blissfully unaware of my life falling apart. “Honey, we will.”

Dad sat back down and nodded toward Masie. “Why don’t you take over?”

She shifted to face me. “Right, let’s start with my family. After Amber died, my parents closed themselves off even more than normal. They’re very traditional and didn’t support her and Peter being together. When you were born, they started to change their minds, but then your parents died. They blamed Peter. I think they were in too much pain to think clearly, but they decided then to remove themselves from your life.”

“So, they’re still alive?”

“Yes.”

I had grandparents, people who knew and loved my birth mom, but they didn’t want to know me? They never wanted to meet me over the past seventeen years? It shouldn’t bug me. I didn’t even know they existed until two minutes ago, but it hurt to think that they’d been out there all this time and never once reached out.

“What about my––Peter’s––family?”

She sighed. “His parents and younger brother died too. Around the same time as your parents. They were very sweet people and were so excited when you were born.”

Her sad smile sent a punch of loss that hit straight in my gut. They had loved me? Would they have wanted to be in my life if they were alive? How would things be different if they were still around?

Did it matter now?

“Why didn’t your parents like Peter and Amber together?” It sounded like it was a one-sided problem rather than mutual hatred.

“Well, Peter’s family is very different from ours,” she answered vaguely, looking at my parents. Dad nodded, and she continued. “His family are shifters, and mine are witches.”