Free The Coven by Cate Tiernan Page B

she led the way back to the foyer. Then the image was gone, and I thought I must have imagined it.
    At the front door she patted my arm, and I thanked her again. Then I practically floated to my car, not feeling the slightest bit of November wind, November chill. I felt absolutely perfect all the way home. I didn’t even wonder where Cal had been.

10
    Split
    August 14, 1981
    The coven over at Much Bencham has three new students, they tell us. We have none. Tara and Cliff were the last to join Belwicket as students, and that was three years ago. Until Lizzie Sims turns fourteen in four years, we have no one. Of course, at Much Bencham they take almost anyone who wants to study.
    I say we should do the same—if we could even convince anyone to join us. Belwicket chose its own path long ago, and it is not for everyone. But we must expand. If we stick to only blood-born, clan-born witches, we will surely die out. We must seek out others of our kind, mingle clans. But Ma and the elders have shot me down time and again. They want us to remain pure. They refuse to let outsiders in.
    Maybe some in Belwicket would rather die.
    —Bradhadair
    When I got home that night, my parents’ light was already out, and if my car’s rumbling engine woke them up, they didn’t show it. Mary K. had waited up for me, listening to music in her room. She looked up and took off her headphones when I poked my head in.
    “Hi,” I said, feeling a deep love for her. After all, she’d always been my sister, if not by blood, then by circumstance. I regretted hurting her.
    “Where did you go?” she asked.
    “To Cal’s. He wasn’t there, but I talked to his mom.”
    Mary K. paused. “It was awful after you left. I thought Mom was going to burst into tears. Everyone was really embarrassed.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said sincerely. “It’s just that I can’t believe Mom and Dad kept this to themselves my whole life. They lied to me.” I shook my head. “Tonight I realized that Aunt Eileen, and our other relatives, and Mom and Dad’s friends all know I’m adopted. I just felt so stupid for not knowing myself. I was just . . . furious that they never told me when all these other people know.”
    “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that,” said Mary K., frowning slightly. “But you’re right. They would all know.” She looked at me. “ I didn’t know.You believe that, don’t you?”
    I nodded. “There’s no way you’d be able to keep a secret like that.” I smiled as Mary K. aimed her pillow at me.
    The blanket of peace, forgiveness, and love that Selene Belltower had wrapped around over me was still cocooning me in its comfortable embrace. “Look, it’s going to be pretty awful for a while. Mom and Dad have to tell me about my past and how I was adopted. I can’t stop till I know. But it doesn’t mean I don’t love you or them. We’ll get through it somehow,” I said.
    Uncertainty played across Mary K.’s pretty face. “Okay,” she said, accepting my word.
    “I’m happy about Aunt Eileen and Paula,” I said, changing the subject.
    “Me too. I didn’t want Aunt Eileen to be alone anymore,” said Mary K. “Do you think they’ll have kids?”
    I laughed. “First things first.They need to live together for a while.”
    “Yeah. Oh, well. I’m tired.” Mary K. took off her headphones and dropped them on the floor.
    “Here, let me do this.” Reaching over, I gently traced the rune for comfort on her forehead, the way Selene had showed me. I felt the warmth leave my fingertips and stood back to see Mary K. looking at me unhappily.
    “Please don’t do that to me,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be part of it.”
    Stung, I blinked, then nodded. “Yeah, sure,” I mumbled. I turned and fled to my own room, feeling dismayed. Something that had given me joy was only upsetting to my sister. It was a clear sign of the differences between us, the growing space that pushed her in one direction and me in another.
    That