Page 69 of Black Willow Witch
‘He said it can be as soon as you like.’
‘Tell him I’m happy to do it asap.’ Paisley gave a little clap, her smile bright as the sun. ‘I’m so excited. It feels a little surreal. I wasn’t sure it would ever actually happen.’
‘Alwayscopying me,’ Kage muttered tauntingly.
His sister’s eyes narrowed. ‘One thing. Name one thing you’ve done that I’ve copied.’
‘Okay.’ He lifted his chin. ‘When we were five, you got so jealous I could talk to “invisible people” that you invented an imaginary friend.’
Paisley’s head jerked back. ‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Oh, you forgot Echo?’
‘He was real.’
‘Then how come I couldn’t see him?’
‘Because you weren’t looking hard enough, and he blended with the background – that’s what geckos do.’
Kage’s brows flitted together. ‘Wait, he was a gecko?’
‘Yes.’
‘Back to what we were talking about just now,’ Emberlyn again interjected, ‘would you like me to come with you while you break the news to your mom and dad, Paisley?’
She sighed. ‘No, I like you too much to put you through that. Speaking of parents . . . Michael’s will hear that Ripper scent-marked you. Since it’s not something werewolves do lightly, they’ll guess that you two are sleeping together. I don’t think they’ll react well to it. Just saying.’
Emberlyn sighed, her shoulders dropping. ‘I kind of wish you hadn’t.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Driving toward the manor after she’d finished her shift at the hub, Emberlyn felt her brow crease. A familiar vehicle was parked outside her home, and an equally familiar couple leaned against it.Ethel and Thad.
She doubted they’d been sent here by her family or Reena on some mission to convince her to give up the manor. Emberlyn had never been close to the twins’ parents, so she’d have no reason to oblige them in anything. While they weren’t rude to her, they weren’t pleasant toward her, either.
Pulling up outside the manor, Emberlyn switched off the engine, nabbed her purse and then unfurled from the vehicle. ‘Ethel, Thad,’ she greeted.
Wearing weak – and somewhat awkward – smiles, they took slow, tentative steps toward her.
As always, Ethel had styled the same russet-brown hair she’d passed down to her children in a severe high bun. Like Paisley, she was short and curvy.Unlikeher daughter, she had a strident, haughty, off-putting manner.
A single look at Thad was enough for a person to sense that he was positively meticulous. Well dressed and clean shaven, he kept his thick dark hair short and neatly combed. She had no clue where Kage’s tall build came from, because Thad was average height.
Emberlyn locked the car with her fob. ‘I’d invite you in, but . . .’ It would be senseless. They’d never set foot in the manor, too opposed to the crafts that had been practiced there.
Ethel cleared her throat. ‘We’re fine out here.’ She paused. ‘I’m sure you know of Paisley’s sudden interest in taking the Change.’
Emberlyn wouldn’t say it wassudden. More that the couple in front of her had dismissed Paisley’s ‘interest’, not taking it seriously – until now.
‘I can see why she would wish to do this,’ Ethel went on. ‘She and Kage may bicker frequently but they are exceedingly close. It is only natural that she may feel left behind now that he has altered his lifestyle.’
Altered his lifestyle? Such a minor term for ‘becoming a werewolf’. A process that had changed him on a molecular level.
‘It is not surprising that she might feel driven to close the gap between them by following in his footsteps,’ said Ethel, ‘but it’s no true reason to take the Change.’
‘It wouldn’t be something she could undo,’ Thad cut in, a hard glint in his moss-green eyes – the only physical trait that the twins had inherited from him. ‘You’ve seen what happens to witches who turn werewolf and regret it. They miss their connection with their magick so much that they start fighting their new reality – shifting as little as possible, resisting the urge to run with their clan on full moons, isolating themselves from other werewolves.’
Emberlyn had witnessed for herself just how tortured these people could become. Some had turned up on her doorstep, hoping she might know some spell that could reverse the Change. Unfortunately for them, no such spell existed.
