I thought about that spell my mom had cast on Bryan to make him forget about the void. Was she powerful enough to enhance an elemental’s powers? Not that she’d ever do something like that. Then again, I never thought she’d drug me to keep my powers from manifesting, so there was that lovely doubt plaguing my thoughts.
No, no way would my mom have anything to do with the shit storm taking place. Her reappearance had to be purely coincidental. She’d come back to save me, just as she’d disappeared to save me. Everything she’d done, she’d done for me.
Even stealing my title, which I still hadn’t confronted her about. But I would. In fact, maybe I should head over to the infirmary to pay her a visit. I pushed out of the chair. “I’m heading out.”
“Curfew isn’t until ten o’clock.”
I needed to talk to my mom alone and didn’t want him offering to escort me to the infirmary, so I didn’t tell him where I was headed. “I’ve got a big day ahead of me. Besides, none of us got much sleep last night. I need a solid night of peaceful slumber.” Not that I’d get one if the creepy void paid me another visit in my dreams.
After we said our good-byes, I shuffled outside, down the path leading to the infirmary, and paused when a shadow out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Was that someone over by the warded barrier? The sun had set, and darkness settled over the grounds, so I couldn’t tell.
I didn’t want to go anywhere near the barrier until I knew my hand wouldn’t start glowing again. How would I explain that to the Council? Oh, don’t worry about me. It’s only a little darkness magically forced into my body through a cut that’s no longer there but still lights up whenever I’m near the barrier. No big.
I stepped off the porch and slowly approached the shadow. If someone was messing with the wards again, I’d cut them down. It took the professors over a week to bring the barrier back up to full force after Jules had used Vanessa to bring it down.
The closer I got, the more I recognized the silhouette. Long chestnut hair pulled back in a braid. Black Cat Woman suit covering her athletic frame. She had her hands up, and when I drew close enough, I heard her chanting softly.
“Mom?”
She whipped around and lowered her arms. Her eyes were wide at first, but she quickly recovered with a quick nod in greeting. “Hello, sweetie. What are you doing here?”
“I live here. How about you?”
“I live here too.” She flashed a forced smile. It took her several seconds to lower her bitch guard. Memories of all the uncomfortable silences and awkward avoidances flooded my thoughts. Growing up, I remembered her having this setting and also remembered how bad it’d gotten, especially leading up to when she left.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m great,” she exclaimed, way too exaggerated. “I mean, what’s not great about this? I’m no longer in hiding, worried about the Council’s agenda when it comes to you. I’m here. I’m with you. I can protect you now. It’s everything, Katybug. Everything.”
I so wanted to hug her right now, but considering how much we’d hugged in the past twenty-four hours, I held back. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too.” She drew in a deep breath and studied the wards. “There’s so much to do. Sorry we didn’t get a chance to go house hunting today. Tomorrow’s not looking any better. Until these tribunals are over, we’ll probably have to put the hunt on hold.”
Disappointment weighed me down on her canceling our first outing as mother and daughter since she’d returned, but I didn’t blame her. This was on the Council, not my mom. “Fair enough.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve got a job to do. The garbage isn’t going to take itself out.”
Odd statement. I’d hardly refer to the MEs we’d encountered today as garbage. They were just a bunch of scared little kids with no clue that they’d been magically enhanced and were now residents of the elemental prison. I seriously hoped they had a special ward for them, like a school with a playground.
“Why does the Council think sending them to Carcerem is the answer?”
“We can’t have them intermingling with real elementals.”
“They are real elementals,” I defended and crossed my arms. “It’s not their fault someone forced an element into them using dark magic. Sending them to prison is overreacting a bit, don’t you think?”
“No. They deserve to be locked up.”
I slowly lowered my arms as my mouth fell open. Did she really just say that? “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m absolutely serious, Katy. They have no place in this world and should be kept separate from those of us with naturally superior powers.” Her forced smile was gone, replaced by a cool, steely expression.
It made me shudder to the point I had to turn away to regroup. I hated that look and had grown up avoiding it at any cost. I finally returned my attention to her. “Forever?”
“No, silly.” Her warm expression returned, giving me whiplash at how fast she went from hot to cold to hot again. “Just until we find a more appropriate place to house them permanently.”
“House them? Mom, they’re not criminals. They have homes. They have families. You’ve taken all that away from them.”
She brought up her hand and turned her head, shutting me down. “I’m through arguing with you about this, young lady. I am the prophecy and my decision is final.”
Whoa. That escalated quickly. I never had that kind of power when I’d been the prophecy—like, oh, last week when I’d saved our world from annihilation again. Knowing arguing with her would get me nowhere
