My pain bloomed like an African daisy, a flower that opened and closed each day; but instead of the regularity of the sunrise and sunset, my wound tracked Dad’s unpredictable memory. Each time he faded into a stranger, it felt like I lost him all over again.
I swiped at my cheeks. I shook my head and tried to shut the tears down, but it was a minute before I could get myself under control. When I could, I stared right at him and clasped my hands in front of my chest, hoping that he’d take my directions right now, even when he wasn’t quite certain who I was.
“Dad, I need you to go back to the Pinnacle.”
He blinked several times and took off his hat, staring at it. I couldn’t tell if he was listening to me or not. But I had to try.
“Dad, I need you to shadow Edward Newsome. I want you to see if you can find that spell he uses to open that vault that holds the serum.” I tried to speak slowly and clearly, but my throat was still a bit clogged.
Dad gave a faint nod and disappeared. I stared at the spot where he’d sat for a minute, wistfully, my heart a brick inside my chest, cracking my ribs.
I set down my laptop and leaned back in my seat, breathing deep, trying to reset my emotions. I reminded myself that I was another step closer—closer than I’d ever been. And this time I had Tia’s help. I focused on that for twenty minutes, visualizing my next steps until my stomach fluttered like I was sitting on top of the roller coaster. It’s finally happening. I pictured Malcolm, Grayson, a mystery man, and myself all standing at the base of the Pinnacle, staring up at it. Then I looked down into my hand, where I held the glowing green vial of serum.
I texted Tia one last time to make sure she’d pull through with Academy Metamorphose.
-Did you talk to your aunt?-
-Frothing much? Yeah. She sent your mom a packet.-
I fucking fist-pumped and then gave a thumbs up like a nerd, though there was no one to see it.
-When?-
-Last week.-
-Yes!-
This was more thrilling than that time when I was twelve and idiot Evan had lent me his signed comic book and brushed his fingers against mine. It was twice as intense as the last two mediocre orgasms I’d had with random hookups at Medeis.
I looked out at the scenery rushing by, and a name for this venture popped into my head. Because I was going to MAD and I was going to convince three guys who didn’t know me from Adam to join me, ‘Madness’ seemed like the perfect fit.
Chapter 5
I took a couple deep breaths, squared my shoulders, and slid out of the town car. I brushed off my skirt, straightened my tights, and slid my defiant teenager mask into place.
Round ten was about to go down. And I was in it to win it.
I slammed the front door behind me, letting the echo boom across the polished marble floor. I kicked off my Mary Janes, but kept a wide, confrontational stance. I hoped someone besides our maid, Maria, was here, or else I’d look like a jerk for slamming doors.
I didn’t even have a chance to move before my “stepfather” pulled open the door to his study. Just the sight of him made spiders crawl up my spine. Claude leaned against the door jamb, his ice blue eyes making me freeze. He was near fifty, but wrote spells to slow his aging, so he appeared closer to forty. He had a gut, even though he was tall. And he had turned out to be just as sweet as the home-brewed moonshine he made as a hobby. Everything about him made my throat burn. Particularly now that I knew he was also a cheater.
“Hayley,” he uttered that one word and it felt like ropes had coiled around my wrists. The room grew cold with mutual loathing, and goosebumps formed along my arms.
“Claude," I mocked his reprimanding tone as I crossed my arms. I scanned his over-starched shirt and two-day, grey beard. There’d been a time that I’d thought of him like an uncle, back when I was young and ignorant. He and Dad had been so close before he’d broken off to start his own company and focus on magical weapon manufacturing. But now, I didn’t know how my mother could stand him. "Where's Trudy?" I asked. He hated when I called my mother by her first name, thought it was the height of disrespect. Which was why I always used it in front of him.
Claude took a step toward me, letting his power fill the air and send the room plummeting to below-freezing levels. His natural-born gift was Icefire. He could control heat and cold, though with me, he always seemed to choose ice. Maybe he thought it was the more painful option. Or maybe he just didn’t want to burn down the precious mansion he’d bought with money he’d essentially stolen from my father.
“How’s your secretary?” I sneered. “Or should I say sex-cretary?”
Claude’s power lit the room with a pale blue stream of light as coldness slammed into me. My skin prickled painfully.
But I was used to it. Unknown to my mother, the Clod often liked to vent his ire with me using cold burns, or tiny fire burns that could be explained away by things like curling irons. My skin was dotted with gifts from him, scars he’d given me over the past two years whenever I didn’t bow down to his magnificence. My neck was his favorite target.
I saw him lift his hand, his eyes dropping to my throat.
I unleashed my own power. A pale purple stream of light, ten times stronger than Claude’s pathetic power, filled the room. At the edges, my power flickered with the shades of the rainbow, while the main beam grew so bright that Claude had to shield his eyes with one hand, meaning he could only use the other to cast. His blue beam dimmed to half its previous power.
"Fuck!" Claude grunted as my light rays seared his skin.
I pushed harder, letting my light beams flip over from visual light to the UV spectrum and grow brighter; I tried to ignore when Claude’s grunts turned into yelps of pain.
I recalled the first day I’d met Claude. The first time he’d seen my Darklight power, he’d just laughed and called me rainbow girl. Until I’d used my darkness to take away his sight. I spread my hands apart and decided he’d had enough light. My beam disappeared and blackness filled the room. I could see perfectly, but I knew the change from light to dark would blind my stepfather.
His grunt proved me right.
And right then I wanted to crow at him, to lord it over him that I knew about him. His stupid affair was only the tip of the iceberg. I knew about the Alchemiken studies he oversaw. I wanted to tell that fucker that I could see every fucking encrypted Pinnacle email about shields and amulets he was sending. The fucking asshole had only gotten a council seat by riding my father’s coattails and then taking—
“You worthless piece of shit, Hayley,” Claude moaned. “What a waste of potential, that could be put to better—”
“Worthless? Which of us can’t see well enough not to piss on their own shoes right now, Claudia?” I taunted.
“Your mother’s right. You’re fucked in the head.” The words hit me like a nine-iron to the gut. I didn’t even notice when he lifted his hand and a tiny jet of flame, as narrow as a laser, shot out at me. He burnt a line onto my stomach, through my shirt.
Damn! The fire cut right into my skin and it felt like I was getting stabbed. I twisted away and the flame sputtered out. But the scent of burnt flesh remained. My fury rose like an inferno. “You want to see fucked in the head?” I screamed. “Dad!”