Page 66 of Son of a Witch

Mom let out a whimper.

Janet gave my girl a grim smile.

Supergal took her cue to leave and led the kids away with a guard hot at their heels. I let out a relieved breath that she took Jack away from the frightful beasts.

“This is how you met Astra,” Mom muttered. “Not in New York.”

Janet jabbed her thumb over her shoulder “A co-ed prison?”

Questions. Balance betrayed me as I danced on the edge of a knife. I glanced up at the watchers. Tattlers.

“This is a low-level security facility. No murders or rapists.” The scripted lie tasted sour, and I swallowed it down. “There are separate wings for accommodations. During the day, we’re given free rein. There’s plenty of security for safety.”

Mom’s eyes burned a hole in my soul to get to the truth. “Tor, how did you end up here? What trouble did you get mixed up in?”

I stopped her dead in her tracks with the warden’s strict lines. “I can’t talk about that. My case is on appeal and anything I say might be used against me.”

Janet sighed and scrubbed her forehead. My sister saw through my bullshit well. “Don’t lie to us, Tor. We deserve to know.” She glanced over her shoulder, leaned in, and whispered, “There’s strange men watching our house. Following the kids and me home from school, work, and the doctor. Everywhere we go. We’re frightened.”

Shards of ice stabbed me in the gut. I had to be careful what I said here. “What kind of men?”

“Tattooed. Muscled. Mean.” Janet swiped at her cheek beneath her eye. “With teardrops here.”

Fuck. Prison gang members. Associates of Devon and Edwardo. This changed everything. I bit my tongue, swallowed hard, and white knuckle gripped the edge of my chair.

It was Mom’s turn to bombard me now. “We think it has something to do with why you’re in here. Are you a drug dealer? Do you know something?”

I choke-coughed at that, shocked my mom thought I was that kind of lowlife.

“Did… did you get into a fight with someone? Got on someone’s bad side? Is that why you’re…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

I raised my palms to placate them. “No. This was an accident.” I ran my hands down my body. “Plain and simple. No one’s fault.”

“When are you getting out?” Fuck, the two of them were like a tag team.

“It depends on the success of my appeal.” Another tough swallow. “Eight years or less.”

Mom sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, Tor. My beautiful boy.”

I rubbed her hand to warm it. “I’m okay, Mom. Truly. I have Astra. A few friends.”

Mom sniffed and wiped her nose with a tissue. “What did she do? She’s too sweet to be in a place like this.”And I wasn’t?

I got into my fair share of trouble growing up. Playing pranks in middle school with licking gummy bears and putting them on my teacher’s seat and laughing when they stuck to her ass. Raising more hell at high school and sticking it to the jerk teachers and students. Down to a few drunken fights at college. Nothing to deserve this life, that was for sure.

I laughed nervously. “She stole a document from the company she worked for and was jailed for fraud.”

Liar. Bad liar.

Mom pressed her tissue to her mouth. “Oh, God, Tor. I always knew you were trouble.” Her word slammed into my breast like a sledgehammer. My own mother thought I was no good. That I warranted this.

Fuck. It hurt too much to breathe.

“Mom, that’s not fair,” Janet protested, shifting to the chair next to me, rubbing my back. “She’s upset, Tor. She doesn’t mean it.”

Too late. The damage was done. Her words burned into my mind forever like a tattoo. A knot formed behind my ribs, tightening, squeezing whatever hope and confidence I had left out of me.

“Of course, I’m upset!” Mom’s voice bounced off the walls and the watchers trembled with the need to turn their heads in our direction.

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