with this right now,” Mom said, choking up on the last few words. “How can you sit there and be so composed when you know she is going to be the death of us all?”
“Now, Sylvia—”
“And when I think about one of my poor boys falling victim to her unintentional seduction, I just . . . my mind can’t process the outcome.” She sobbed, and Dad sat there, doing nothing to console her. He almost seemed annoyed that she was taking the news about a prediction so seriously.
I had so many questions. What was this prophecy they talked about? What did it mean for the rest of us? Who was the new girl they were so worried about? I needed to know the answers to all these questions, and more.
“Can we talk about this another time?” Dad inquired.
Mom wiped the tears off her face and responded, “Oh, you would want to drag this out. We don’t have time to waste. She’ll be here shortly; some of the Followers have already foreseen her arrival. And the worst part is that she’ll be attending the same school as our boys.”
“She’d only be attending with Benjamin had you not decided to hold back Cameron and Ethan,” Dad said tightly, his lips pursing.
Mom sliced through him with a disgusted look, and they both sat in silence for a matter of minutes.
“Fine,” Mom said, “we’ll discuss this tomorrow.”
Dad nodded.
I’d never seen my parents appear so exhausted; it was like they’d been secretly dealing with this problem for a while, and only now did they realize the problem was figuratively on their doorstep. That was the point where I decided to step in and find out what the hell was going on.
Slipping around the corner from the hallway into the kitchen, I surprised both of my parents. “Hey, I was, uh . . . just coming to grab a snack.”
Mom frowned. “You should be in bed, honey.”
I hesitated, unsure of how to word the questions burning in my mind. But I wanted to learn more about my parents’ chat, and more about the girl.
“I’m not gonna lie—I heard everything. Who is the Lowell chick, and why is she so important? What prophecy are you guys talking about? That sounds like something straight out of a fantasy movie.”
Mom and Dad swapped a glance that told me everything I needed to know, and then some: this girl, whoever she was, was bad news.
“Benjamin, dear, this is a topic for discussion some other time,” Mom said. “Not now; it’s late.”
Crossing my arms, I didn’t budge from my defensive stance. “I want to know, and I’m not going to bed until you two explain what’s going on.”
I was surprised Dad didn’t knock me over the head, but I guessed he understood my position more than I gave him credit for, because he didn’t say a word. Mom, however, was visibly shaken and wanted nothing to do with the subject. I could totally see her mentality shift between telling me and not telling me.
Finally, she spoke up. “The only important piece of information I can give you right now is the girl’s name. Tomorrow, we’ll sit down and have a family meeting, where we can openly discuss what’s going to happen in the coming months.”
“Okay . . .” A name was better than nothing, I supposed; it was a start.
Exhaling a weighty sigh, Mom continued. “Her name is Candra Lowell, and she is going to destroy the very foundation we’ve built our lives upon.”
“The Meeting”
I’d been thinking about the family meeting we had just a few days ago, involving both my immediate relatives and our Followers. Mom and Dad explained the prophecy to us, how there was a witch who cast a spell on the Conway and Lowell lineage five hundred years ago. Specifically, she directed the spell at Alaric, who was an Ancient . . . and one of my great-grandfathers.
Mom said she fully expected Alaric to show his face within the coming months. After all, they were terrified the spell would be broken, and either one of my brothers or me would fall head over heels in love with Candra. I didn’t believe a word of this prophecy, until everyone at school talked about the new girl in town. It was safe to say we hadn’t received more than five new students at Conard High School in the four years I’d been here.
Mom and Dad were right: changes were coming. I could almost feel a shift in the atmosphere.