Page 61 of Bewitched By the Djinn
“I hate you.”
He smirks. “No, you don’t.”
I kick my shoes off and dump them over the side of the bed, wiping off a few bits of dirt I brought with me when I leaped inside the net.
He puts the tray between us, breaking off a piece of bread and handing it to me. We sit side by side, sharing food under the glow of the fire.
“I’m sorry about your mother’s ring.” I pick up one of the copper cups he’s already filled with water.
He’s looking down at the hunk of bread in his hands. “It’s okay. It’s just an object. Helen is more important.”
“Still. It sucks.” I would be absolutely devastated to lose something of value that belonged to either of my parents.
“Yes. It does.”
“Maybe we can find a way to get it back, once all this is over.”
His eyes lift to mine. “That would be nice.”
He turns back to his food and we eat for a few minutes in silence.
“What do you think they meant when they said, ‘the ones you seek have crossed the veil’?” He wipes a crumb from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“You heard that?”
He nods. “Though it felt like they were speaking to you. I don’t think it was about Helen and Delores. They are still in the mortal world.” He rubs the back of his head. “Do you think they were speaking of your parents?”
A bite of cheese lodges in my throat and I cough. “My parents? You think that’s what they were talking about?” How could they still be alive? Crossed the veil but not to Hades... cryptic much? I force words out over a suddenly bitter tongue. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
I’ve spent years clinging to the idea that my parents will walk through the door, or I will be handed a neat explanation and a happy ending.
I’ve longed for the day when Jackie will suddenly wake up better. When life will make sense again.
But hope, when it’s unanswered, starts to hollow you out.
Miracles don’t happen. Not to me.
His gaze sharpens. There’s a beat of silence before he asks, “Will you tell me what happened to them?”
“They went missing.” My voice is flat. I stare down at the food tray. “I don’t know where they are, if they’re alive or dead or what. We’ll probably never know. We tried everything. We went to the cops. I used my magic, but that went nowhere. I asked Richard for help, but even he couldn’t do anything. Kevin asked his ghost friends. We thought maybe they...” I trail off, unable to finish the sentence.
They have not met Hades.The witches’ words echo in my mind.
“We put flyers up all over town,” I continue. “Even got the news to report on it. No one had seen them. They disappeared into thin air.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice softer now. “The authorities were unable to find any hints at all?”
“The cops were useless,” I mutter. “They didn’t say it outright, but they thought my parents bailed on us. Thousands of people go missing every year. Some end up dead, some are never found. Some don’t want to be found.”
Silence stretches between us. The bread in my hands has turned to dust in my mouth, dry and tasteless. I set it down and take a sip of water, but it does little to ease the tightness in my throat.
After a moment, Bennet asks, “Did they have magic? Your parents?”
I take a sip. “Mom was a spellbreaker. Magic didn’t affect her. She could block anything tossed her way, and she could break any ward or negate any spell even directed at people around her.I think that’s why Richard liked her, or was fascinated by her. He couldn’t affect her like everyone else.”
Bennet listens intently. “And your father?”
“His power was similar to mine.”
