"Holyshit, Dot! What the hell. Don't do that to me!" She huffed and covered herheart with her hand while she tried to get her breathing under control.
"Sorry.Didn't mean to scare you."
"Bullshit."
"Okay,maybe a little." I chuckled.
"What'sgoing on?" She looked around, trying to calm her nerves. It wasn't herfirst trip into the realm of shadow, but one didn't exactly ever get used toit. Unnerving was a good way to put it.
"Neededto highjack you for a bit. We need to have a talk."
"Ohfuck. What did you do?" She shifted her weight onto one leg and put theopposite hand on her hip.
"It'snothing I did, or you did. Just have something to tell you," I answeredand grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the café. If she were going to goballistic or have a meltdown, I didn't want her to do it any place public.
Itonly took a few heartbeats to traverse the distance to Ashville. Since we'dmoved, she hadn't been back, and I thought she might want a bit of familiarity forher conniption. We stepped from the shadows of the pines of the grove used bythe Coven of the Black Well. When we were younger…hell, right up until we movedto Cedar Falls, whenever we snuck out to drink, make out with guys, or just getaway from our mothers, we always went to the grove. I couldn't think of abetter place to drop the bomb on her.
"Oh,my goddess!" She squealed and ran to the rock, the one we always sat on,and hopped up to sit in her usual spot. Then her face darkened. "Oh, shit.This is bad, isn't it? It's really, really bad. For you to bring me all the wayhere…"
"Notbad. Kind of awesome actually, but I won't lie to you, it's big."
"Bigas in epic or big as in you're about to crush my heart and tell me somethingcompletely life altering like Candace is my sister and I can't marry her."She frowned and scrunched her eyebrows.
Shegave me the perfect lead in. "No… Not Candace…"
"Oh,thank the goddess. I can't even begin to tell you how gross that would be.Sister…shudder. Wait, what?"
"Candace isn't your sister…"
Shestared at me blank faced for a moment while she processed the words. I wasfully prepared to give her a few minutes, but it sunk in. "She's not? Whois? Princess Leia?" She scoffed. "Juke, I am your father," she raisedher arm and pinched her fingers together while making heavy breathing noises.
"Josie,focus."
Shelet her hand drop slowly and cocked one eyebrow at me. "What? Don't tellme you're my sister!" She scoffed.
Iremained silent.
"Dot…"
"Josie…I am your sister."
"Oh,come on. Quit joking around." She slid off the stone and started walkingtoward me. "We've known each other our whole lives, shared almost ahundred birthdays. Lived through depressions and wars and… I mean it's just notpossible. You're not being funny, you're being mean." She frowned as shestopped in front of me. "I mean, we can't be sisters. You're perfect. You'rebeautiful, funny, powerful. You're a fucking Blackwell for goddess' sake. I'mjust me. Josie. With a mom from hell. Okay, we kind of share that, too, but stop kidding around,Dot."
"I'mnot. And I won't say I wish I wasn't. You know I've always thought of you as a sister… Well, it turnsout we are."
"That'snot possible. You're telling me we're twins and I got adopted off…" Shewas starting to get angry.
Iput both my hands on her shoulders. "No. We have different mothers, butthe same father."
"You'retelling me my dad is your dad. A god? Sorry, Dot, try again. The only godlything about me is my ability to screw up."
"You'renot a screw up, Jose. Knock it off." It was my turn to get angry.
"You'retelling me that yourdad cheated on your mother with my mother? Nobody's that fuckingstupid, Dorothea Blackwell."
"Notcheated on… See, your mom, my mom, and my dad went to a party…"
"Oh,gods. I'm going to be sick." She dropped low, crouching down in front ofme and wringing her hands through her hair as she stared at my kneecaps. "No…no…no.That's just fucking wrong." She started shaking her head, not letting goof her hair. I couldn't blame her, either. I kind of wanted to put bleach in myeyes when I had my first visual, too.
Icrouched down and gave her a crooked smile. "Try not to think of the deed,just the result. It helps."
Shelifted her eyes. "How long have you known?"
"Notlong. I was just trying to figure out how to tell you."
"I'mnever going to be able to look at your mother again. Or mine. Oh, goddess…"
"Iknow. Kind of hard to believe, but I'm glad they did."
"Howcan you be glad? I may never have sex again."
"Yeah,right. And what do you mean how can I be glad? Josie Barton, you're my sister. My flesh and blood sibling. Howcan I not be glad? That's fucking awesome!"
Shesmiled for the first time and nodded. "That explains the same age andbirthday, huh? We've always wondered about that."
"Yep.Mystery solved." I laughed and hugged her.
"Dot?"
"Yeah,Jose?"
"Thankyou."
"Fortelling you?"
"No.Well, yes, but thank you for never succumbing to my hitting on you. Oh,goddess, I'm going to be sick again."
∞∞ ∞
Islipped the seven letters stuffed into seven envelopes into the pen drawer ofmy desk and pushed it shut. Well, it used to be my desk. It was Jason's now.And after the night I was about to have, the whole store might be his, too. Asingle tear fell and landed on the already worn surface of the wood surface.Quickly, I wiped my eyes and stood up, nearly shaking with fear. Reaching in mypocket, I let the warmth of the giant gem holding my father's power warm myskin. If everything went right, it would be his again soon.
Openingthe door, I squeaked and caught my breath after nearly colliding with Jason. "Sorry,Dot! Didn't mean to scare you."
"Noproblems, Love. I'll see you later," I managed to mumble and tried to walkaround him.
"Wantto grab some dinner?'
"Uh…can'ttonight. Taking Candace wedding dress shopping," I lied smoothly. Aftertelling Josie that I was her actual sister, I used it as an excuse to stealCandace away
