because I was terrified to think of what might happen to him if I left. I’m overjoyed that he is finally happy and with people who understand him and make him feel at home, I really am. But now that I don’t need to constantly worry and look out for him, I’m not sure what to do.” As soon as I finished, I realized how horrible I sounded. I was coming across like some self-centered psycho who would rather her brother be miserable so long as it meant she had something to do. God, why did I have to tell the truth? Why didn’t I just lie and say, “Yes, Ryland is great and I couldn’t be happier” like I had to Mom? It wasn’t even a lie. “You must think I’m horrible,” I mumbled, not looking up.
I felt Chloe take both my hands in hers and give them a squeeze. I hesitantly glanced up to see nothing more than compassion and sympathy in her eyes. “You know what I think?” she said gently. “I think you are an amazing sister.” I smiled, if only out of relief that she didn’t think I was nuts. “I also think,” she continued, “that you have spent enough of your life putting other people first. You’ve spent years worrying about Ryland. If he is doing well on his own, then maybe it’s time to start worrying about yourself. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I guess I should head home soon. Mom is alone now, and…” I stopped at the sound of Chloe’s sigh.
“You’re missing the point,” she smiled. “I don’t want to hear what you think you should do, I want to know what you want to do. Your Mum is a grown woman. I think she can handle herself. And I think what she wants most of all is for both her children to be happy. Both of her children.” She squeezed my hands again. “Not only Ryland. Now, stop worrying about everyone else for a minute and tell me what you want.”
I took a breath and thought for a second. What did I want? College? A real job? That’s what normal girls my age had, so is that what I should want?
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
“That’s all right,” she grinned. “The first step is thinking about it.”
As she gave me a warm smile and stood, gathering up the rest of the hair paraphernalia and putting them back into her dresser. I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of doing something only for myself, and while it was a pleasant thought it was also oddly terrifying and more than I was ready to ponder for the moment, so I looked for a new topic of conversation.
“Do you think they are done with their meeting yet?” I asked, eyeing the clock on the wall and realizing how late it had become.
“The Order? Hard to say. From what I heard, there was a lot to go over. They’ll discuss Ryland of course, which could take a while, plus Min’s guards have been tampered with and they need to decide what do to about that…”
She continued, but for some reason my mind hung on the “guards” comment. “Wait.” I stopped her. “Min’s what?”
“Hmm?” She stopped, thrown off a bit. “Oh, the guards?”
“Yeah, what is that? Min is the older lady you were telling me about, right?”
“That’s her. Her ability allows her to cast spells and charms, one of which is a guard charm she can place around places to protect them. She always keeps several around the school for the safety of the students.”
“And someone has been tampering with them?” I asked. “Like, trying to get in?”
“Oh, no, I’m sure that’s not it,” Chloe said, obviously seeing that I was anxious. “Besides, Min knows the moment something interferes with any of the charms she casts, and can fix or reinforce them almost instantly. Not to worry,” she assured me with a smile. “Whatever it was, it’ll have been resolved by now.”
“Sure,” I said, letting my anxiety loosen just a bit. It was good to know that they had special security in place, though the idea that someone was messing with it was bothersome. Regardless, supernatural Holder protection had to be better than the security most schools used, so I figured I couldn’t really complain.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder why someone would want to break in…
“So what now?” Chloe asked with a sigh, glancing around her room for a