“Mika!” her sister called up. Claire’s voice echoed in the empty
mansion. “Are you ready to go? We’ve got to get you settled today!”
There was so much to take care of…it felt like they’d just barely gotten everything turned in after winter solstice and yule.
Starting in the spring semester…Mika wasn’t looking forward to it.
Instead of responding she grabbed her things and dragged them down the stairs.
Claire
grabbed the trunk from her when Mika hit the main floor. Her sister
tried to smile. “Don’t worry. You’re going to love the university. It’s
like high school, but a thousand times better.”
Mika gritted her teeth together and still didn’t say anything.
She’d
hated high school and everything about it. If Selene was a prodigy,
then Mika was the most mediocre, average witch to ever attend their high
school. She was the same age as Selene and lightyears behind her in
magical skill.
It didn’t really matter though in the long run.
She’d just barely passed the entrance exams to the University of
Morgana. At least she hadn’t completely tarnished her family’s name.
Mika
had gotten a perfect score on the theory of magic. It was so
unprecedented they’d tested her again with a proctor watching every move
she made.
The test had been completely different, and she’d still aced it.
But the practical? Ugh, she didn’t want to think about that. Actual magic had always been
meh for her. Lighting a candle took concentration on her part. A three-year-old could do it with barely a thought.
“The
door to the university is in the coven building,” Claire explained as
they made their way through the foyer. “I’ll go with you, but you’ll
have to cross on your own. Someone needs to look after Grandma until she
decides to rejoin the land of the living.”
“She’s still alive,” Mika murmured. “That’s more than we can say for our parents and brother.”
“That’s
not fair,” Claire snapped, letting the driver open the front door for
them. “Dad and Jacob are still alive. They’re just stripped of their
powers and shunned.”
Mika popped open her umbrella and glared up
at the never-ending rain. Where she was going would be colder, but at
least it wouldn’t be raining. “Dad and Jacob are dead to me after what
they did to us and Mom. Let’s not pretend we’d ever have them over for
dinner.”
Her sister didn’t say anything to that, and Mika didn’t expect her to.
It
wasn’t
fair on Claire, but she was still so angry. Mika lived that moment over
and over and had been all fall and winter. Then sitting at her mother’s
side for months and simply watching her waste away…
No matter how
much she loved her mother, Mom hadn’t loved them enough to fight and
live and…just be around. She’d given up on everything even though Mika
had been
right there every, single, day.
Claire followed
after her to the fancy black car without an umbrella, letting the rain
mess with her perfect hair. She let the driver take Mika’s trunk from
her and stood there in the rain. Mika knew in that moment she should say
sorry, but she was just so angry and bitter and devastated. It would
only rip her apart even more to apologize for saying what she felt.
Once
everything was loaded up, Claire kissed Mika on the cheek gently and
stepped back. “On second thought I should stay with Grandma. Who knows
what an empty mansion will do to her. I wish you the best of luck, baby
sis. Write home and all that.”
Mika held her sister’s gaze and it
was like looking in a broken mirror. They both had the same nearly
white-blonde hair that was their family signature, ice blue eyes, and
skin so smooth and creamy people often stopped them and asked them what
their secret was. Their next question was if they were twins.
Claire was only an inch taller than her, but she had the better tits.
“If
you need anything or…” Mika trailed off. She almost couldn’t say it out
loud. “If anything else happens, call me. My phone is always on.”
Her
sister nodded and Mika got in the car. Claire didn’t slam her door
closed, but it was forceful just the same. Mika flinched and regretted
those words she couldn’t take back, even if she wanted to.
The last six months had exacerbated everything she’d been hiding for the last three years and now…
It
felt like everything she’d shoved down and ignored was all frothing to
the surface, ready to boil over and she couldn’t pretend anymore.
Mika didn’t know how to pretend to be happy, or how to be…normal.
What was normal in the witch world anyway?
Kenzie was a void witch after spending most of her life a pariah – an abomination.
And
up until she’d announced it to the coven no one had even known void
witches existed or what a void was exactly – a witch who didn’t have
powers, but could take them. Something the universe had created for
balance no doubt. Mika didn’t know the details of a void’s skills, but
knowing someone could take her magic…
Things were changing. She just had to get through this and onto the other side.
It would get better. It had to.
“Take
me to the coven building, please,” she asked the driver, words barely
above a whisper. Speaking out loud always seemed so harsh in the sudden
quiet that had befallen her family the moment her mother had fainted in
that fateful meeting.
As soon as Mika got settled on campus she
would call her sister and apologize. But right now she was still pissed
and the only thing that would come of her calling her sister was an
argument. Claire didn’t deserve that – not with everything she had to
deal with now.
Claire was going to be the next Marshall matriarch, and thank the Fates.
Mika didn’t want it.
She didn’t deserve it.
