I jerk awake to sunlight filtering in through the open shades of the windows as I lie in the middle of my bed, my comforter piled around me. There is a tightness around my throat, along with pain and I reach up to touch the bruises that still ache. I lie still for a long moment, basking in the sunlight before I sit bolt upright.

  I'm late for class.

  I throw back the sheets only to pause as I look around, I'm not in my dorm room.

  I'm home...but...

  The events from last night leach their way into the present and I shiver as I resist the urge to crawl back under the covers and hide from the day. But I still get dressed, sensing that I need to get up since I can smell the sweet aroma of chocolate chip muffins. Mom doesn't make them very often because they're really only my favorite and everyone else likes blueberry, so I don't take long to make my way downstairs.

  I pause in the doorway to the kitchen as I take in the sight before me. The pile of papers on the counter has been neatly organized, a shocking sight to behold as Connor sits on one of the stools at the bar, a tiny wyvern perched on his shoulder. Mom is leaned against the counter, her eyes trained on the oven as she gnaws on the corner of her lip thoughtfully, her gaze unfocused like she's in the midst of Seeing.

  She has yet to see me and in that moment, I realize that she's aged. There are wrinkles on her face that I haven't taken the time to notice before and on the far wall there is a picture of her and my father on their wedding day. The difference between then and now is striking, not in a way of saying she's aged a whole lot but she looks...jaded now and it shakes me to my core as she suddenly looks up at me.

  "Kara?" she steps quietly across the kitchen, lifting an oven-mitt clad hand to cup my face as she looks deeply into my eyes, "are you okay honey?"

  "I'm fine," I murmur.

  Her eyes crinkle at the edges as she draws me into a hug that makes me want to fall apart. Connor gives me a strange look as he glances from me to mom and I shake my head at him. The oven buzzes then, interrupting her as she promptly lets go of me and opens it before she withdraws the trays of muffins and sets them on the counter.

  "So why are you home?" Connor asks suddenly, "and why does mom want me to stay home today?"

  My mother looks from him to me before she sighs and shakes her head.

  "We'll talk about it later, Connor," she promises him, "go sit," she tells me.

  She turns away without another word and begins to extricate the muffins out of the trays before she starts to set them on plates. I sit down next to Connor, the tiny, silver-colored wyvern cocking its head as it crawls across his shoulder toward me, its golden eyes glimmering with curiosity.

  "What did you name it?" I inquire as Indigo enters the kitchen.

  "Spike," Connor says proudly as he reaches up and touches the wyvern on its head.

  There's a tiny box set on the counter next to him and he opens it briefly to pull out a cricket, which he offers to the wyvern.

  "Did you look up whether or not it was a girl or a boy?" Indigo asks as she walks over and reaches out to pet it.

  "Noo...," Connor draws out, "do you know?"

  "The silverfish wyvern species have either eight spinal spikes if they're male or five if they're female," she recites as she holds out a hand for the wyvern to climb onto as it reaches out with its tiny clawed feet.

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  Once the creature is settled in her hand, she starts to count the spikes on its back while my mother sets plates of muffins on the counter. I greedily grab for one of the plates and set to work on peeling the wrapper off of one of the muffins, my stomach growling with hunger.

  "It's a girl," Indigo announces.

  "Nu-uh," Connor protests as Indigo smiles and passes the creature back to him.

  "Trust me, females are easier to take care of," she assures him.

  "Do I need to change her name?" he asks as he stares down at the wyvern.

  "I wouldn't worry about it, I think that it's a fitting name for her," Indigo replies and he smiles.

  "Mom, can you make a bow for Spike?" he pleads.

  "We'll see," my mother says faintly as she walks back over to the muffin trays as my father enters the kitchen.

  He's in casual clothes this morning and I realize then that everyone is probably going to be staying home today.

  Which means that there's probably going to be a big conversation later.

  ****

  When we've finished eating breakfast, my mother shoos us all into the basement, that is, all of us minus Connor, who is confined to the upstairs. This likely being due to the fact that my mother wants all of the details of what has happened, much of which will not be the best for Connor to hear. He protests as mom shuts the door and locks it before she draws a couple of sigils on the door and we head downstairs for the table in the alchemy lab.

  "Alright girls, tell it to me from the top," my mother says once we've gotten seated at the table.

  "Well..., Finn Delacroix was murdered and I'm the only witness," I begin.

  "You saw him get killed?" my mother asks, her eyes rounding with concern.

  "No, I was there, right after he-, right after he had died," I mutter.

  "Where was this?" my father inquires.

  "I had gone to a Coven of Midnight meeting at midnight, when I came out of the gym, I heard a scream and when I ran around the corner he was lying on the sidewalk...um, dead," I elaborate for them and my mother nods slowly.

  "And then what happened?"

  "I was in the headmaster's office and he had a police officer pick me up to talk with me," I tell them and my father dips his head.

  "What was his name?"

  "Her," I correct him, "Officer Marshall, Salem PD."

  "I'm going to have to call them up some time so I can speak with her," he murmurs.

  "I have her phone number," I offer.

  "Write it down for me to use later, what happened at the questioning?" my mother interrupts.

  "She asked me if I saw anyone or if I had any issues with Finn, she doesn't think that I'm his murderer," I assure them and my mother relaxes slightly.

  "Okay, anything after that?" my father asks, his voice quiet.

  "I was...I was attacked at Topsfield fairgrounds," I say and my mother puts a hand to her mouth.

  "Kara, what do you mean you were attacked?" she rasps and I'm puzzled.

  "I thought that Indigo told you," I argue.

  "Indigo hasn't told us anything," my father replies as he shares a look with my mother.

  "But she...she told me that she was going to talk to you after I had told her what happened," I say as I remember our talk at dinner last night, along with the fact that she had gone outside.

  "Well, she lied," my mother says as she lifts her hands in a helpless motion before she cuts her gaze over to my sister.

  "I didn't want to scare you yet," Indigo retorts, "I wanted to meet with you personally last night, but there was a farewell ceremony for Finn and you know the rest."

  Our mother sighs heavily at this as her nostrils flare with irritation, "Kara, why didn't you say anything earlier?"

  I hunch down in my seat, not knowing what to say in my defense.

  "I don't know," I tell her honestly, "there's too much...too much that happened."

  "I want to know why no one at the school called me either about Finn, did you tell them not to call?" my mother accuses and I'm shocked by the accusation.

  "No, no, mom, someone should have...," I pause as the pieces scatter and refuse to add up.

  Why did no one call my mother?

  I think back to the fact that Violetta and Sophia had known, but Ms. Laroche hadn't called my mother about the Finn incident.

  "Someone should have called you," I tell her as I come to a sudden realization, "but they didn't, I think...I think someone at the school is hiding something."

  "I understand that, but why didn't you call me?" she pries and I shake my head.

  "I don't know," I whisper as I realize that I hadn't even thought about calling them, I had made no effort and it makes no sense.

  My mother tilts her head suddenly, like she's Seeing something. She leans forward over the table and hovers a hand over my forehead without saying a word as her eyes become unfocused before she moves on to Indigo.

  "You've both had a spell cast on you, you didn't say anything to me because you've had a spell cast so you'd be inclined not to speak to me unless I told you to."

  "But who would do that?" Indigo asks as she shares a confused look with me.

  "I don't know, but I think that there's more than one person involved in these murders," my mother warns, "and I think that they want Kara dead."

  I shiver as I think about the implications, who cast a spell on me?

  And most of all.

  Who's trying to cover this up?