Chapter 137: Worst Timing
I was so speechless I stood there for a minute like an idiot while Mom swept to her feet with a strained smile on her face. At first I was sure she'd told Pain everything and was grateful I wouldn't have to do it, only to realize her look and the slight shake of Mom's head meant she hadn't. In fact, was ordering me to keep my mouth shut.
Fine. At least while she was in earshot.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hayle." Pain smiled at me a little, the tension in her face easing somewhat. "I've been getting headaches," she explained to me. "Your Mom gave me an herbal remedy. It seems to be doing the trick."
Herbal my butt. More likely Mom used magic and gave her oregano out of the cupboard. But whatever worked.
"I'll leave you two to talk. Syd," Mom hugged me fast and hard, just long enough to whisper 'Don't' in my ear before vanishing with a swirl of her long skirt down the basement stairs.
We'd just see about that.
"I'm sorry to just drop in like this." Pain shifted in her chair, as if uncomfortable in her own skin. I sat down across from her.
"No worries. Any time. Was there something you wanted to talk about?"
Pain hesitated. When her crystal eyes met mine, I flinched a bit. Cydia's eyes, from the dream. Turns out I wasn't the only one remembering.
"I just... I can't tell anyone else. About. You know." She shifted again, fingers drumming on the table over and over. She looked clearly nervous. "You didn't tell anyone? Your mother?"
I shook my head. "Not a chance. I was looking for you, actually." That admission made me squirm for a change. "I was at your house yesterday, but no one was home."
She flinched slightly, eyes dropping. When she spoke again, it was a whisper. "I had my appointment," she said.
Had to be therapy. I just hoped they weren't shocking her or something. Who knew how modern psychiatry would treat a blocked witch? And how she would react if she suddenly found herself free of those walls while in the middle of a treatment.
Shudder.
"Is it awful?" I wanted to reach out to her, but held my own hands firmly in my lap.
She clasped her dancing fingers together for a moment before they loosened and returned to their endless tapping. "No, not awful. Just... I wish they believed me, you know? Like you do."
"Pain," I said, fully intending to spill everything. Until her eyes met mine again and I knew I couldn't. Mom was right. This wasn't for me to do. As fragile as she was, if I told her now without help and support, she'd snap like a dried out twig. It just wasn't fair. Who would do this to a little girl, letting her grow up to be half of herself?
The same person who did it to me?
The hell with it. She needed to know. Fragile or not, crazy because of it or not, no one deserved to stay in the dark this way.
I opened my mouth to go on and didn't get the chance. Strong hands settled on my shoulders, long nails digging into my skin through the cloth. Gram hunched forward over my shoulder, breath smelling like chocolate but faded blue eyes locked on Pain's startled face.
"The enemy is here," she said. "But she is no enemy. The past is lost." Gram's fingers tightened so much I knew I'd be bruised, but I didn't dare pull away. I could see the struggle in her, feel her body vibrating with the effort it took her to keep her sanity long enough to deliver her message. "But the past will solve everything."
"Gram," I said ever so softly, not wanting to break her control, "is what's happening to Pain the same as what's wrong with me?"
She stood there a long moment, trembling with need, lips working over and over as she tried to form the words. Gram's eyes met mine, the spark of who she really was reaching for me through them. I clung to her hands on my shoulders, begging her with my own gaze to stay with me, but watched with sadness as that part of her faded, lost into the depths of the damage in her mind.
Instead of wandering off as she usually did, however, she spun me around to face her fully, this time her grip making me cry out. I heard Mom's footsteps on the basement stairs just as Gram shook me so hard my head wobbled on my neck.
"Give it BACK!!!" She slammed me against the wall, more strength in her thin old body than I'd ever given her credit for. "I need it, you can't have it anymore. Give it back!"
Mom was suddenly there, pulling Gram away. The old lady sobbed like a child, staring at her trembling hands as if touching me harmed her instead of the other way around.
Mom hustled her down the hall and out of the kitchen while I pulled myself together. Only then did I remember Pain. She stood a few feet from me, her chair tipped backward on the floor like she'd simply shoved herself out of the way and let it fall.
"Pain," I reached out to her, "I'm sorry. My grandmother, she's nuts."
But Pain was shaking her head, horror on her face. "She's me," she said. "That's me, Syd. Where I'm going. They keep telling me I'm not crazy while they treat me like I am. And now I know what is going to happen to me." She sobbed once, backing up another step. Another. I didn't dare rush her, knowing it would just drive her away faster.
Whatever connection she'd felt with my grandmother was making things worse.
"Please, just come back and sit down." Mom could erase the memory at least and give her some peace. This proved to me I was in no position to tell Pain anything.
Before I could stop her, my troubled friend spun and ran out the door, letting it bang shut behind her.
Mom appeared a moment later. "What happened?"
Furious, I spun on her. "Gram happened. Had one of her lucid moments, right in front of Pain, must have let some magic out. And now Pain is a wreck. Mom, we have to tell her! You have to tell her. Help her understand she's not insane."
Mom hesitated. I could see the need in her face, knew she wanted to act. Right. The stupid coven rules.
"Pain's birthday is in four days, Mom." I ground that detail in. "Would you rather a sane and prepared young witch or a basket case who could go off at any second?"
Mom looked suddenly horrified. "The Wild," she whispered. "This couldn't be worse timing."
Something about that made me pause. Not because she was right, but because it triggered a memory, one I was unable to unearth completely. Mom went on before I could finish the train of thought, breaking it in half so I lost it.
"I'll do what I can." She sighed deeply, her weariness clear on her face and in the set of her shoulders. "You're right, of course. I can't break her blocks, but maybe I can ease her mind."
A miracle. Mom listened to me.
"For now," she said, "I have other things to deal with. I promise I'll visit her later."
She meant tomorrow. After the coven dealt with the storm once more. What kind of shape would Pain be in by then? But at least Mom agreed to do something. And when it came down to it, she did have her priorities straight.
After all, there wouldn't be a Pain to talk to if the Wild was allowed free rein.
Frustrated and unable to help anyone, I went up to my room. My cell phone was doing a merry dance across the top of my dresser. One guess who was texting me. Alison, naturally.
BD ParTay 2mr Nght f/ P b4 lkhs Jnyz
Right. Pain's birthday was Friday and we'd be gone. Nice of Alison to arrange something at Johnny's before we left for the lake house with her mother. Still, I wondered if Pain would even be up to it.
I texted my agreement back. Of course I'd be there. If only to see if Mom kept her promise or help if Pain had a meltdown.
***
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