“The driver is waiting. Time to go,” Tío Javier interrupted.
Panic rose inside me. This was it. I was leaving the only home I’d ever known. Papi was dead, and I was enslaved to my crazy, monster hunting family whom I barely knew.
Things couldn’t get any worse.
Inside the limo, I glared at my tío, who did a superb job at ignoring me. Every time I tried to get out the words to express my loathing, the bracelet bit into my flesh, inciting me further.
Wanted to keep me quiet, did he?
Javi sat next to me, guilt stamped on his face. “If you just calm down, he won’t be so hard on you,” he whispered.
I swiveled toward him and shot him a dark look.
Calm down? I wanted to drive my fist into his jaw too. Heat spread across my face. You didn’t tell a girl you were freaking kidnapping and mind controlling to calm down. My body trembled, the muscles burned, aching to escape whatever freaky hold my tío had on me.
Javi glanced toward his father, his posture stiffening. His face hardened as Tío Javier ignored him too. A thought came to me. What if I could use his guilt? Get him to help me break free? I studied him, weighing the outcome.
It could work. Javi was dying for a chance to rebel against his tyrant of a father. A smile lit my face. Maybe, I wouldn’t have to wait too long after all.
In no time, the car stopped and we arrived at an airplane hangar. I followed the others out, nose crinkling. What were we doing there?
I didn’t have to wonder long as a small, sleek, black plane came into view. My mouth dropped open. I knew my uncle was rich, I mean he lived in Malibu, but I didn’t realize he was private jet rich.
Javi flashed me a tentative smile. “Ready?”
I flushed. My stomach was doing flip flops. I’d never flown in an airplane before, but that wasn’t something I wanted to admit to my cousin.
“Yeah.” I pushed down my nerves and strode inside.
4
Smooth, black seats greeted me. There was a leather cushioned bench seat beneath the small square windows. Sunlight streamed in, illuminating the narrow aisle.
I looked around and whistled. “I guess hunting monsters pays well.”
Javi grinned. “Hell yeah. But it’s not an easy job and not just anyone can do it. We’re special. We can see through the glamour and veil.”
He led me to two seats down the aisle.
“The veil… is that what you mean about the sight?”
His face lit up. “Yes.”
“Does that mean we have… magic?” My nose scrunched up. Were we really having that conversation?
He frowned. “No. We’re sensitive to it unlike the other ordinaires, but we can’t use it in its raw form.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what any of that means.”
After the horrific event of last night, we still didn’t get around to having the talk that was a long time coming. The jet jolted, making my stomach lurch. I turned to stare out the window as we took off. My stomach leapt into my throat and a ringing filled my ears. I let out a breath as we evened out.
I was flying. Excitement stirred inside me, followed by guilt. This wasn’t freedom. I was on my way to whatever cage my tío had waiting for me.
Javi broke the silence. “Magic is way too powerful for humans to use. It would destroy our bodies and minds. Only with the help of a conduit, like an enchanted weapon, rune, or a silver or iron object, can we use it.”
He held out his hand to me proudly. “This is mine.”
I blinked at his chunky gold ring. There were words written in another language carved around it.
“Gold magic. There are different types of magic because the nature of the magic changes depending on what elements it unites with. There’s gold magic, earth magic, fire magic, silver magic…”
I held up my wrist to him. “You mean like this bracelet?”
He winced. “Yeah. That’s silver magic.”
My fingers traced the thin metal. It didn’t look enchanted or magical. I frowned as I inspected it. If I was a GRIMM like Javi said, shouldn’t I be able to sense or feel something?
I had so many questions, but my fear and resentment stopped me from voicing them. Everything I’d known about my past and the world was wrong. My cousin knew more than I did, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of explaining it to me. It was petty and childish, I knew, but I was still angry with him. How long had he been carrying that bracelet for me?
“There’s a lot, I know, but I can show you everything.”
I turned away from him and looked out the window. Clouds filled my vision and the roaring of the jet drowned Javi’s next words. I pressed my face against the cold glass and stared at the puffy whiteness below. It wasn’t so hard to believe in magic as I stared out at the billowing cloud world around us. In some strange way, it even made more sense. I mean the stories, all the fairy tales and stuff had to come from somewhere, right?
“You said the spell is worn off, right? My mom’s spell.” I continued watching out the window.
Javi shifted closer. I turned to hear his answer. He nodded, his eyes searching mine as if to judge how much he should reveal.
“So, my mom and dad. They put the spell on me. They were GRIMMs?”
His gaze shifted toward his parents and back to me. He sighed. “Not… exactly.”
I frowned. “Then what exactly?”
“Your mother left the GRIMMs and joined a coven. Your father was just a regular ordinaire.”
My scowl deepened.
He flushed. “No, I don’t mean that like an insult. He was like, you know, a regular human. He couldn’t see through the veil.”
“But he knew about my mom?”
Javi bit his lip, his eyes darting away. “She left the GRIMMs and then
