I hesitated.

“Who was that?”

“No one special, just Dr. Copeland’s assistant.”

“What are you doing at 10:00 p.m. with Dr. Copeland, for heaven’s sake?”, I cautiously said. At this, images immediately popped into my head that I had not intended to evoke. 

Confused, I shook my head.

Was it possible that this Dr. Copeland and my mother...?

No. Impossible. Besides, she had told me to stay away from the Copelands. That had been a woman just now, and this appointment had sounded way too professional. Or was I wrong about everything?

“The hospital also gives out appointments for evenings...” Mum laughed sheepishly. “Not everyone is an early riser.”

“Evening?”, I huffed, and somehow it was getting more and more suspicious. Ten o’clock was almost night...

Mum started spinning the phone in her hands, avoiding my gaze again.

Was this what it was all about all along? Had she built a new life here, and I didn’t know about it yet? Was that perhaps why I should stay away from the Copelands?

I was about to ask if there was anything else she wanted to say to me when a loud male voice rang out from downstairs.

“Diana?”

It had to be Mr. Bardot.

“Wait, I can hear you so bad up here, I’m coming down,” Mum shouted louder now, smiled at me again and disappeared downstairs in a hurry.

She was such a bad liar. And as always, she left me with endless questions. Questions upon questions and I got no answers to any of them.

I had only been here five days and had gotten to know my mum from a completely different side. A side that scared me because it showed me that Mum had secrets and kept quiet about it. 

A mother with a thousand secrets, weird citizens in a hillbilly town where people disappeared and massive wild wolves ran around, an annoying playboy neighbor and a best friend who didn’t even check in with me for my birthday.

I would wait until tonight. Maybe she would call me after all. In the end, it wasn’t even her fault, and it was this fucked up network out here.

Chapter 10

Julian

I had to be careful not to step on one of the many pieces of wood that were still lying around from the weekend. We had had three days to fix up this hovel, and the result was depressing. The fence had received a new coat of paint and now shone in the morning sun. But that was it already. Yesterday morning, we had to replace a few weathered wooden boards on the front of the house, which were now scattered all over the front yard and the porch. The same porch that was still creaking as I walked up to the front door and knocked on it. I had accidentally ripped the doorbell out of the wall yesterday.

Ashamed, I tried to conceal the spot by leaning against the wall, which creaked just as unpleasantly.

To be honest, I would have rather helped my father with this house instead of going to Vanderwood. Just at that thought, my stomach clenched.

The door opened, horribly loud as always, and Ms. Adams smiled at me as if that hadn’t burst her eardrums.

Too often, I forgot that not everyone was as sensitive as my kind.

“Good morning, Julian. Bay will be here in a minute. Wait...”

She turned around in her simple outfit of rather classy gray pants and a white blouse and headed for the stairs.

I wondered what she was up to as a molecular biologist at DLSC. I just couldn’t imagine one of the witches working for the DeLoughreys. The Quatura and the Ruisangors did get along, but only as long as it wasn’t about the property dispute in town. Otherwise, they avoided each other with generous suspicion.

“Bay, come on down! Julian’s here!”

I heard an annoyed groan from upstairs, then footsteps. A loud “I’ll be right down!” followed, and then a door was thrown into the lock.

Ms. Adams rolled her eyes before turning back to me.

“Why don’t you come in? It’ll probably be a few more minutes.” 

She went into the kitchen and poured hot water into a pot, and immediately, the pungent scent of mint hit me.

The sounds and smells here were pretty darn intense, and you didn’t have to be a supernatural being with very good hearing to notice Bay’s extremely good mood.

Since the Adams had moved here, you could hear doors slamming and angry voices. The house had already had a creaking life of its own before, and – of course – we had other neighbors, but they were retired and on vacation for what felt like more than half the year. The loudest thing you ever heard from them was a lawn mower or soft music from Elton John. The Adams, on the other hand, were a very lively family, even though there were only two of them.

I looked at Ms. Adams, who gestured to the kitchen with an inviting hand wave.

“Very nice, but my sister is waiting outside.”

I didn’t mean to be rude, but I could sense Mia’s impatience from here. She wanted to get to school earlier than usual for whatever reason... 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Ms. Adams said in a rush. “Bayla! Hurry up now, please. You’re not the only one who has to be on time today!”

“Yes, Mum, I’ll be right down!” 

This time, she sounded like she had something in her mouth. A toothbrush? The thought made me smile.

“I’ll be right outside. Have a nice day, Diana,” I politely said goodbye and left the house without closing the door behind me.

“You too, Julian,” Ms. Adams called after me.

Indeed, she was the complete opposite to the other witches, and I was beginning to wonder if she was even one of them. 

I didn’t care about the Quatura. As long as they left me alone, I would play by their rules.

A glance at the car told me that my sister had overheard everything. She grinned at me from the back seat. Then she turned back to her cell phone, busy.

I got in on the driver’s side.

“She doesn’t like you, Julian,” it came immediately from the back.

“You must know,” I groaned, looking through the mirror at her mischievous face. Her eyes sparkled playfully. Who had she inherited that from?