“We’ll be on the road a while,” Grandpa said, leaving the choice up to me. “You need some rest before we reach the Fates. God knows, you’ll need it.”
I drank until the thermos was empty. The warm liquid stung the back of my throat, but I was so numb I didn’t care. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, tossing the book aside. “What are the fates?”
“Who are the Fates, you mean,” he corrected me. “There are three, to be precise, and we’ll visit them soon enough.”
Good grief. They must be part of the magical woo-woo world he and Dad told me about back at the house. It was bad enough that I didn’t completely understand what happened. Hell, it was bad enough that I tried to murder my sister. Now I had to wrap my head around magic existing too.
“You started a fire, Sheridan,” Dad said.
I shook my head. Out of all the awful things I did, I wasn’t to blame for the fire. It started along the curtains in Riley’s bedroom, nowhere near where I stood.
“Riley lit candles,” I said. “One of them must’ve been knocked over—”
“You started it, Sher, and not from a candle. You started it with your mind.”
I looked out the window, letting my gaze settle on the dark road ahead, still trying to piece together those last few hours at home. That fire had drawn me out of my all-consuming rage and broken up the fight. I remembered looking around for the candle, but I never could find it. Thankfully, Dad rushed into the room with a fire extinguisher before it had the chance to get out of control. Later, when Grandpa arrived, the two of them sat me down to talk.
“You’re a descendant of Ares,” Dad said, his tone very serious. “Our entire family, on my side, are descendants of Ares.”
Dad taught Greek mythology at our local community college. There was only one Ares I’d ever heard him reference: the ancient one.
“As in, the god of war? That Ares?”
“Humans touted the Greek and Roman gods as holy figures to account for their unique abilities. In actuality, they were powerful mages. Or guardians, as we like to call ourselves.”
I checked his pupils and the whites of his eyes. “You’ve been drinking, right? Did you take too many of those pills the doc gave you for your blood pressure?” They looked pretty clear and normal as far as I could tell.
He ignored me and continued with his explanation. “War is in our blood. It’s why your grandpa, your great-grandpa, and even your great-great-grandpa were military men. We’re led by passion, we thrive on competition, and God help anyone who crosses us. Your anger grew to an uncontrollable level, Sheridan. It provoked you to attack your sister. Not only that, but…” He took a deep breath. “You influenced energy. That’s how you set the room on fire.”
I assumed the poor guy was losing touch with reality. Punishing me was foreign territory, whereas with Riley it had become commonplace. Now he had two out of control daughters, and my actions finally sent him over the edge.
When it became clear I didn’t believe anything he said, Dad looked to Grandpa, one of the most practical, logical men I’d ever met. If anyone could make sense of this, he could.
But Grandpa didn’t say a word. He simply drew his hands together and created his own fireball.
Right there in our living room.
Right there before my eyes.
Undeniable proof.
Seeing that shook me to my core. I was already in shock over the fight that went down with Riley. Then, seeing Grandpa manipulate fire, I couldn’t speak for several hours. I just sat on the edge of my bed, hugging my pillow, trying to make sense out of the inexplicable.
I didn’t have enough time to process everything. The two of them whispered worriedly in the background as they packed me into Grandpa’s truck, and I was dazed by how swiftly they’d managed it. When it was time to go, Dad stood outside the passenger door and spoke to me through the open window.
“I knew this was possible,” he said, sounding defeated. “I just never thought it would be you.”
“How do you know it was me who started the fire?” I said, leaning out the window. “If Riley is an Ares descendant too—”
“I just know.”
Beneath my chest, whatever was left of my heart tightened. I hurt for everything he’d been through—everything I put him through—but at the same time, I hated him for sending me away. Sure, what I’d done was awful. Monstrous, even. But I was still his daughter too, dammit. The past seventeen years should count for something. What about every good decision I’d made before this awful one?
I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “Make sure you set reminders to take your meds,” I said, knowing he’d forget without me there to tell him. “You don’t want to have another stroke.”
Before this, I’d always been the one to defuse the tension. I’d always been the mediator, the voice of reason, the one who could calm everyone down. Now, I’d be gone, and we both knew Riley was only capable of chaos, not peace.
He winced, his eyes tightening at the corners. “This isn’t forever, baby girl. This isn’t goodbye.”
Except it felt like it was.
Grandpa raised the volume on the car stereo, drowning out my rampant thoughts. In the last several hours, I’d experienced one shocking revelation after another, and I was grateful to escape the memories.
I still didn’t know where I was going. But no part of me cared to look in the rearview mirror as the
