Free The Oath by Apryl Baker

specifically referenced. She tried to save them. Mr. Martin, Kay’s father, found out and killed Emily.”
    “Wait, CJ”s best friend’s father killed her sister and then tried to kill her?” And here I thought my life was screwed up.
    “Gets worse,” he said. “CJ’s mom was in on it all.”
    “Damn.”
    “Pretty much sums it up.” He took a drink of his Mountain Dew. “You know, it’s weird that both you and CJ had your sisters murdered.”
    “Things happen all the time, Jeff. It’s not weird. We just live in a messed up world.”
    “If we were random, normal humans, then yeah, I’d agree with you, but we’re not. We’re witches. We don’t do random.”
    He was right about that. Coincidence in anything in our world was rare.
    “Plus who could have guessed Ethan’s place would catch fire the exact same week you came home, and we’d end up staying at your grandmother’s house?”
    My frown deepened.
    “Maybe you and CJ are supposed to be here at the same time, to, I don’t know, to accomplish something? She’s working on a mystery her sister gave her. I think it’s just too coincidental that you are trying to destroy a force responsible for your sister’s death, and she’s trying to stop some oncoming darkness. Could be related.”
    “It wasn’t a force. It was a group of wannabe witches.”
    “Wannabes?”
    “There isn’t a magical bone in their body. They’re humans playing with witchcraft.”
    He nodded thoughtfully. “Again, maybe they’re being guided by a force, and it’s the same thing CJ is looking for. Might want to talk to her about that.”
    “I don’t know,” I told him, troubled. I could see his point, but I didn’t want anyone else involved in this.
    “Think about it,” he said. “She’s great, she won’t judge you, and she might just empathize with you because of Emily. You might find a way to do what you want without killing anyone, Melinda. Taking a life, let alone several, will eat your soul.”
    “I will,” I told him, more to get him to shush about it than anything, but he did have some valid points. I would think about it, but they would still pay for what they did with my sister. No one, not even the sweetheart across from me with his warm blue eyes, would deter me from that.
    “So aside from mayhem and murder, what else do you do for fun?”
    I blinked, the question catching me off guard.  I picked up my strawberry milkshake and took a long pull from the straw. “Science. I’ve won the national science fair the last few years.”
    “So, a geek like me, huh?” he laughed. “Math geek here.”
    I laughed at his smug look. Most witches were math and science geeks. We had to be in order to be good at our craft. Spelling involved a lot of things, including mathematical equations sometimes, and our potions had to be exact.  Chemistry was a forte of most witches. To be fair, though, most of us didn’t really do anything with it. We just used it in our craft. I planned to work for NASA. Star Trek Junkie that I am.
    Jeff’s phone chimed, and he pulled it out of his pocket. CJ’s face appeared on the screen. He stared at it for a minute, then shoved it back into his pocket. I felt like a proud mama just then.
    “So how long have you known her?” I asked. Maybe if I could get him to talk about her more, I could figure out how to best help him.
    “For forever,” he said and shrugged. “We moved in next door to her right before we started kindergarten. I met her that first day of school.” A grin crossed his face. “I stole her blocks, and then Kay, her best friend, hauled off and kicked me. The two of them have been inseparable since.”
    “This is the best friend whose dad tried to kill her?” I questioned. “If my best friend’s dad wanted me dead, I’m not sure we’d still be friends.”
    Jeff’s looked uncomfortable.
    “What?” I asked. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
    “Well, Kay kinda sorta went along with the