Induction by T.K. Eldridge (howl and other poems TXT) đź“•
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“Hi, Jolie, how are you?” Sin asked as she set a pitcher of iced tea on the table.
“Good,” Jolie said, tone short and cold. She went back into the kitchen and left us alone.
Grandma sighed. “I’m sorry about that. You’d think she’d have learned by now.”
I put my hand over hers and squeezed lightly. “It’s fine, Grandma. We’re used to it.”
“You shouldn’t have to be. You two didn’t ask to be born special and your parents fell in love in spite of it all. A person can’t choose who their heart picks.”
I thought about her words while I ate my soup with the bread. Mom had told me when I was younger that she and Dad had met while he was on an investigation. They’d been friends for a couple of years before they realized they wanted more than friendship. Both had dated other people but couldn’t get each other out of their heads so they ended up together and were happier that way. Sin and I had only dated humans so far, trying to play it safe. The last thing we wanted was to upset one side or the other by dating a gifted one.
Sin’s spoon rested in his empty bowl as he reached for more bread. “Grandma, did Mom say anything about Dad?”
“She only said that they were split up after the first two days and she didn’t see him again.”
“Our grandfather Boudreau said that Dad escaped and had gone back to the house. They burned it down, hoping to get him, but no bodies were found in the rubble, so he’s still out there, somewhere,” I told her.
Grandma’s expression tightened, “Do you believe him?”
I shared a look with Sin, and he answered. “We believe him about that, at least. But we won’t be voluntarily socializing with him again. Not after today.”
“I won’t ask what he did this time,” Grandma said. “He’s always been a racist, misogynistic asshole, so I’m assuming it was something along those lines.”
“You called it,” I said.
“I do feel for him in that his child is missing. I’m grateful mine is alive and back with us, so I can give him that much. But if he treated you poorly, Siddie, then that’s all he gets. My sympathies for his worry over his child and nothing more.” Grandma reached over and poured us more tea before she continued. “He spoke down to your mother once, in front of me, and I gave him a case of hives that made his life interesting for a little while.”
“Grandma,” I gasped, then burst into laughter.
Sin choked on his mouthful of tea, trying not to spray it as he laughed.
Grandma shrugged. “Well, men tend to like to scratch their privates a lot. I just gave him a reason to be doing it.”
It felt good to laugh with Sin and Grandma like this. We’d not had a lot to laugh about the past few days. Knowing Mom would be okay was a huge help too. Now we just needed to find Dad.
“Sin, could you call Benny and tell him about Dad? Maybe they could keep an eye out for him. We know he liked to run the woods around the lake.”
“Sure, sis. I’ll take care of that. Let me go do it now,” Sin said as he got up and put his dishes in the kitchen.
Grandma reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You two are doing well through all of this. I’m proud of you, Siddie.”
“Thanks, Grandma. I’m just trying to do my best, is all. Most of our friends are planning for graduation and we’re trying to keep our parents alive.”
“I know this has been a sore subject before, but have you considered getting more training?”
I sighed. “We’ve been talking about it. I still want to go to law school and Sin wants medical school, but if there’s another war coming, we need to be better prepared.”
“I pray to all the Powers That Be that there will not be another war, but I, too, am seeing the signs of unrest. I think being better trained would help you two stay alive longer. You know I’m a blunt speaker and having you two as targets isn’t going to change.”
“I know. This mess with Mom and Dad is just the worst we’ve had to deal with so far.”
“Just think about it, Siddie. I’ll support you no matter what your decision. You and Sin are smart kids and will make good decisions about this.” Grandma gave me a kiss on my forehead, and it felt like a benediction.
Sin jogged back into the room, “Sid, we’ve gotta go. Benny said someone tried to get to the cabin and Stefano got hurt.”
“It never triggered the wards,” I said, trying to understand what he was saying.
“They never got that close. Candace and Stefano were on patrol and caught them before they got into the yard.” He paused and looked at Grandma. “They were witches, Grandma. Can Auntie Sett come to help us?”
Grandma nodded. “I’ll get her. We’ll also get your things. You two can live in your Mom’s cottage for now.”
“Wait, Grandma…” I started to say and Sin shook his head.
“No, Sid, she’s right. Who knows what crap Grandpa will pull now that we’re standing up for ourselves. I’ll ask Benny if we can get a couple of guys and a trailer to move the garage stuff. You focus on the house stuff. But for now, let’s get over there and make sure Stefano is okay and find out what happened.”
Grandma left the room while we got cleaned up and ready to go. Before we left, she handed me a set of keys. “These go to the cottage. The others are to the storage barn out back. You can put stuff in there. It’s climate-controlled for the herb packages.”
“Thank you, Grandma. Let Mom know we’ll be back if she wakes up?” I asked.
“Sure, honey. You two get a move on. It’ll be dark soon.”
We pulled up to Benny’s garage first, to check on Candace and Stefano. Out behind the garage was a small clinic that he used for the pack when needed. There were a couple of vehicles outside the clinic, so we pulled up there.
“Sin, do you think we should stay at the cabin or go to Grams?”
“Go to Grams. We have the finances now, and let’s be honest, the wards at Grandma’s place are better than anything we could put up.”
“True, because they’ve been built on for generations. Hundreds of years.”
“Do you want to stay here and just let me go in?” Sin asked me, expression worried.
I shook my head. “No, I’ll go with you. I need to get past this block of mine sooner rather than later.”
We got out of the car and headed to the clinic. A pack member stood by the door inside and nodded to us when we went in. I took a deep breath and all I could smell were shifters and blood. My hands started to shake so I shoved them in my jacket pockets and followed Sin into the next room.
Stefano lay on a table with the doctor standing over him, checking an IV that fed into the patient’s arm. Candace was seated beside the table, holding her husband’s hand.
Benny came up to us as we stepped into the room and urged us back out. “Hey, you two, he’s going to be okay. Whatever the witch did to him, it forced him out of his shift and knocked him unconscious. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Hey, Benny. Glad to hear he’s going to recover. Our Aunt Cosette is coming by to help if you need it. She is going to stay out in the car until you say it’s okay. We don’t want to step on any toes,” Sin said.
“She might be able to ease whatever aftereffects the spell attack left behind and make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises that pop up later,” I told him.
“Geeze, I didn’t think about that. You two and your Mama are the only witches I ever got to know. Is your Aunt cool like you?” Benny asked.
I laughed a bit. “Auntie Sett is the coolest person ever. We wouldn’t have brought her along if she wasn’t, Benny.”
Sin looked at his phone. “She’s parked outside. Want her to come in?”
“Let me go check with the doctor and Candace,” Benny said. He disappeared back into the clinic while Sin texted Sett.
I leaned against the wall, practicing my breathing. I had to stay calm. See, Sin was pretty comfortable with his shifter side. He’d been training with Grandpa B for years, but I had to work with what Sin remembered, and then eventually, with Dad. Dad had worked so much, he wasn’t around enough to train us when we were small – and he thought Grandpa was training us both. Yeah, not so much. When I hit puberty and the urge to shift got to be too much, I did it alone, in the garage. It was traumatic and when I shifted back, I refused to shift again, until it got to be too much. We were supposed to shift a couple of times a month, at a minimum. Something about the balance of our human and animal sides. It wasn’t a moon thing, more of a yin-yang thing. I still hated shifting. Being around more than one or two shifters made it hard for me to control the urge to shift, so I spent more time with the witch side of the family or just mundanes.
That’s why Sin was worried about me being here, around a bunch of shifters in a heightened emotional state. More pheromones in the air meant more stress on my ability to control my shift.
Benny came out and nodded to Sin. “Go get your aunt. The doctor can’t figure out why Stefano isn’t waking up yet and Candace said she trusts you and your family.”
I held my hand up. “I’ll get her, be right back.” Fresh air. I needed it. I darted out the door, over to Auntie Sett’s sedan. “They’d like your help. Stefano isn’t waking up.”
Sett nodded, got out of the car, and paused. “You look pale, you okay?”
“Yeah, just a lot of…smells.”
A wry smile and she patted my shoulder, then handed me her keys. “Mint and lavender in the trunk. Go grab a little and you’ll feel better.”
I headed for her trunk while she went inside. A black case was in the back and I opened it to find a miniature herbal apothecary. Color me impressed, because I was going to get Auntie Sett to help me set up one of these. Sin and I could both find a lot of use for something like this. I found the catnip mint and lavender and put a little of both into a mesh bag. Crushing it between my palms, I rubbed it under my nose before just breathing through the bag a few times. The pressure eased and I felt my shoulders drop. I gave myself a moment before I closed up the case.
I tucked the bag into my bra, adjusted my shirt, and headed back inside. The guard at the door wrinkled his nose at the strong scent of mint and lavender. I just smiled at him and headed to the back. By the time I got back there, Auntie Sett had done her work and Stefano leaned back against the raised end of the table as he chatted with the doctor. Candace shook Sett’s hand as she thanked her profusely.
Sin stood near Benny, so I headed over there.
“So, if we
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