Emily walked over to her dad. She was solemn now. “Are you all right?” She reached out to his right hand and pulled it to her. His hand was a purplish red color. As she touched the burned area, Dad flinched and hissed.
“It’s nothing.” He tried to sound macho. He attempted to withdraw the hand, but his daughter wouldn’t allow it. She was already overwhelmed with guilt, her eyes watering as she saw the charred flesh. It was his right hand. Dad was right-handed. He couldn’t accomplish much with his left hand. And she had gone ahead and set it on fire.
“It’s not your fault.” Dad placed his other hand on her shoulder to soothe her. He only succeeded in making her angrier with herself.
You can correct it, Selena piped up.
How? Emily was already used to Selena dropping a comment here and there as she pleased.
Watch, Selena whispered.
Emily frowned a bit, wondering what she was supposed to be watching. The singular action caused a few drops of tears to seep out of her brimming eyes. The moment the tears dropped on Dad’s charred hand, they steamed and suddenly vanished.
“What the . . . ?” Dad muttered.
Right before their eyes, the charred skin suddenly dissolved, and new skin replaced it.
Emily looked up at Dad, surprised. He looked back at her, stunned. He pulled his hand away and kneaded it with his other hand.
“The pain is totally gone,” he gasped, unbelieving. He flexed his hand again and again. “Totally gone.”
“Hey, what’s happening over there?” Michael called at them. “Come on, we gotta get going.”
Dad ignored the young man. “How?” he asked Emily again.
Emily shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose I have healing tears?” The inflection in her voice made it sound more like a question than a statement. But it sounded reasonable enough to her. Like if she could fly, why not magical tears?
Dad was still shaking his head with wonder as they got into the car and continued on their journey. When Michael noticed Dad’s new hand, he asked him what the heck happened.
“I’ll be damned if I knew how she did it,” Dad replied, still sounding awed at the healing. Emily’s mind had moved to other things, but his response brought her back to the issue. Like, why was he so surprised? Or was that awe? Fear-inspired awe?
Emily didn’t think healing was a big deal. She’d seen Aunt Anastacia heal before. So why did Dad look like he wasn’t already enmeshed in their weird world of the supernatural? Even his daughter, Emily, was The Owl. Duh.
Michael looked into the rearview mirror and right into Emily’s eyes. A sneer stretched to the corners of his lips. The contempt in his eyes was very visible. So much so that Emily felt his gaze like a dagger in her heart.
She turned away. She didn’t want to estrange Michael. On the contrary, she wanted to get to know him better. She wanted a relationship with him—a relationship as brother and sister. She’d always longed for a brother. Now that she had one, she didn’t want to push him away. Nonetheless, it would seem that Michael wanted the exact opposite. He consistently said things that pushed her away. And the last straw had probably been the fire demon chasing him through the woods. Would he ever forgive her for Zee’s response?
Emily shrugged imperceptibly.
“How?” Michael spat, as if talking to her was a damnable enterprise.
“I think I’ll go with my dad on that one,” Emily said with a slight chuckle. “I’ll be damned if I know.”
That must have been really funny to Dad because he cracked up so bad he had to gasp for air. Soon, Emily joined him. Michael wasn’t too far behind. It was the first time they all laughed together, and for a moment, Emily felt like her family was complete. Even though Mom was gone, she had her brother and her father.
Their mirth disappeared when the dirt path ended at a lonely asphalt road. Emily didn’t recognize where they were, but she felt the powerful presence of magic. She felt it so powerfully that her heart began to thump in her chest.
They were back in New Haven.
Dad whistled softly as Michael glanced up and down the lonely deserted road before turning to the left and heading north.
“Are we near Crook Twist?” Dad sounded very surprised. Michael managed a smile. He, too, could feel the magic in the air—it was a bitter reminder of what they were up against.
“Yeah,” Michael muttered. He reduced his speed and turned off the headlights.
Who knew where the Alfreds were? Who knew who was watching?
28
“What’s Crook Twist?” asked Emily. She’d lived in New Haven all her life, and she didn’t know what Crook Twist was. Apparently, it was a thing since Dad knew it, and Michael apparently did as well.
“Crook Twist was a crossroads in New Haven back in the time when New Haven was a small village,” Michael explained. “Back when America was just a fledgling Union.”
Emily didn’t know New Haven’s history went that far back. “That long ago?”
“Mm-hmm,” muttered Dad. “A great battle took place there. And it was so named because all the major dirt roads from neighboring towns met there. There was even a bus station there, and you could get a bus to almost any place in Texas.”
“Like Mr. Davies said, there was a huge battle,” reiterated Michael. “It was during the civil war. Thousands of men and women were killed. A lot of them unjustly so.”
“Let me guess, it’s haunted,” Emily wondered out loud—as if magic and healing tears weren’t enough.
Michael gave her a knowing grin.
“When the world moved on from the war and technological advances were made,” continued Dad, “New Haven moved on as well. The town developed a good distance away from Crook Twist. New road networks were built away from it, and soon it was forgotten.”
“Not to us,
