After Willow's shocking admission, she went home to change clothes, promising we'd meet up later in the evening. I remained in my room until I was certain everyone had gone back to sleep or left the house. With the protection charm around my neck, I didn't need to avoid Harmony, but I wasn't in the mood for round two. Which, truthfully, shocked the hell out of me. I'd spent years wishing to face my sister on equal footing.

Halfway across the dining room, I paused as a rustling sound reached my ears. Someone was in the kitchen leaving me with two options- soldiering on or backing up. With a shaky breath, I stepped back. Once. Twice. Nearly to the foyer.

"Hey pumpkin," my father greeted me, popping his head through the door between the kitchen and dining room.

"Dad," I said, grabbing my throat as I jumped, "you just scared the bejesus outta me."

He smiled around a mouthful of cereal, milk dripping from the spoonful held aloft over the bowl he carried. My surprise turned to concern as I studied him. With a strong, square jaw, straight nose, and cerulean eyes, Basil Wych was thought to be quite handsome. Even Clemmy would admit as much, though she often muttered he was too handsome for his own good. Right before she transformed him into a rat.

He went about in a constant state of dishevelment, but it usually toed the line of absent minded professor. Today, his button up was stained and stretched over a belly I couldn't remember being so round, his socks didn't match, and his blond hair, normally short and thick, was thinning and curling around the collar of his shirt. The whites of his eyes were shot through with red streaks, and the skin beneath them was a muddy purple.

"You okay, Daddy?"

"Sure thing, pumpkin. Just hungry and tired."

Accepting his hug, I inhaled deeply. He still smelled like my father- tobacco and mint, though it was somewhat muffled by a sour body odor. Letting go, I fixed a bowl of cereal for myself and joined him at the dining room table.

"Did you sleep on the porch again?" He'd not been there when I went to bed, but most Mabon festivities would've been in full swing at the time.

"Yeah, ran into Clemmy last night at the Barry's. Alma was busy checking on Remy."

"What did you do this time?"

"Do I have to do anything?"

We laughed together. "No, I guess you don't."

Dad looked into his cereal bowl, lines forming on his forehead as he stirred the pink milk with his spoon. He was thinking awful hard or working up the courage to say something. Either way, I knew better than to push him. Rushing Daddy was the quickest way to slow him down.

"You been alright, pumpkin? School going good?"

"Yes, sir. Except for math, but I still have time to bring up the grade."

"Good, good. That's good."

"How's Mabon? Outside of being turned into a rat?"

"It's Mabon," he said, scratching his chin. "Sometimes I feel like we've lost sight of what the festival is all about. Giving thanks and giving back."

Having never participated in any of the rituals or attended any of the parties, I didn't have anything to say. Most of my knowledge came from indirect sources, overheard conversations. When the other witchlings and young warlocks went to school at the Francis Barrett Academy of Witchcraft, I went off to St. Augustine's Preparatory School for Girls. While Willow learned the histories of the supernatural world, I learned about the Revolutionary War. While she learned which parts of a toad to use in a healing elixir, I dissected frogs and cataloged their organs in Biology.

Mama insisted I know about important things. Like the Harvest Festivals- Lughnasadh, Mabon, and Samhain. Or the differences between hobgoblins and redcaps- one would hide your shoes, the other would feast on your organs. Like I said, important things.

There'd been a time when I'd pursued knowledge of the magical community. Inhaling everything I could get my hands on- at first with the hope of discovering a way to unlock my magic, but later with the desire to understand why I was powerless. When I decided it was time to let it all go, to accept I was what I was, I turned my back on nearly everything to do with the supernatural communities.

"Earth to Rosey."

Dad's fingers wiggling in my face caused me to jump again, and I gave him a mocking glare. "That's twice today."

"Sorry pumpkin," he said, standing and ruffling my hair. "You done?"

Tipping the bowl back, I drained the milk and handed him the bowl. Instead of using magic to clean the dishes, he went back to the kitchen and washed them the old fashioned way. This, more than his appearance, worried me.

"Guess I ought to head home," he said, wiping his hands on his pants as he came back into the dining room. "Alma's not going to be happy, and I promised I'd watch Remy so she could attend a class on herbalism at the Academy. She's doing a demonstration at the Gardner's tonight."

"I can't really see Alma needing a lesson in herbalism. Even Mrs. Gardner is in awe of her."

Dad rubbed his nose and sighed. "You and me know she's amazing, but some folks around here-"

"The Council?"

Winking at me, he continued, "some folks around here don't take to practices they aren't familiar with. Speaking of, I've left a box of glass bottles on the porch. Alma  said the blue ones in the crepe myrtles are starting to look a bit faded."

"I'll be sure to tell Mama."

"You could hang em yourself."

"I could, but they wouldn't do us any good then. No magic." I held up my hands and smiled weakly.

Daddy flinched as if I'd tried to strike him. He stared at my hands, watching my fingers move as if they were vipers. He didn't come around often, at least not in human form, and I tended to forget my powerless state affected him more than any of the others. Sometimes, I wondered if I was the reason my parents split. Maybe Daddy blamed Mama for birthing such a weak child, or maybe, he just couldn't stand to be around me for longer than necessary.

I put my hands behind my back, breaking the tension. He sighed and pulled me into a hug so tight it made my chest ache.

"Pumpkin, the magic is in the bottles. Anyone can put em in the tree." 

Willow's words came back to me: Magic exists in everything.

"I'll make sure they go up."

"Thanks." He stopped at the door, his knuckles whitening as his grip on the doorknob strengthened. "Rose?"

"Yeah, Daddy?"

A heartbeat passed. "I love you."

"Love you too."

I stopped the door from swinging shut behind him, and I watched as he walked down the driveway, shoulders turned in and head hanging. Why wouldn't he just teleport? The heat I'd predicted last night was back in full force, turning the soggy air into a sauna. Already, moisture was spreading across his retreating back, but I didn't say anything. Maybe he just wanted exercise.

But as I put the bottles in the tree, I couldn't help but replay every moment of our encounter. Something was wrong, but I didn't know who to talk to. Not Mama. As much as she loved Alma and Remy, I couldn't say her feelings for my father were very amicable. Clemmy would probably transform him for being moody, and Alma didn't need that kind of worry to add to her plate. Especially since it could be nothing other than my tired brain trying to create problems where there were none.

Putting the last bottle on a branch, I nodded to myself. I would worry about my father later. For now, we had bigger problems. Like trying to figure out what was in the drink Willow had at the party. I'd messaged Flannery before bed last night, asking her if she'd talked to Allyson, but I'd yet to hear back from her. It worried me, and I hoped she wasn't angry.

"Probably not a bad idea. Could use some bottles in the trees around back too."

I shrieked, running forward and slamming into the tree. Rage simmered in my gut as my fingers massaged my already tender nose. When I saw Clemmy's laughing face, the anger boiled over, making me very glad I didn't have access to magic because I was quite certain I'd  do something regretful.

"Oh, that was fabulous," she cackled, clapping her hands together.

"What the hell happened to announcing your presence? Is that just something y'all don't do anymore?"

Hands on hips, Clemmy's gleeful expression morphed to icy disapproval. "First of all child, I do not care for the way you're speaking. It is not y'all, it is we. Like it or not, Acantha, you are part of this community."

"Only because of your stubborn pride. If you'd just admit to everyone I'm a magical dud, then I could move right along with my life as a human."

"I will do no such thing because it isn't true. A child with my bloodline cannot be powerless. It's not possible."

"Stubborn. Pride," I reiterated, stomping into the house and letting the door close behind me. Hopefully, on her nose.

"Secondly," she said, appearing by the dining room table, "I did announce myself. Perhaps not loudly, but if you'd been paying any sort of attention you'd have heard the chime. Not, that I am required to do so. It's a courtesy, not a commandment."

"My bad. I'm going upstairs to shower. I have plans tonight."

"Good. I hope they're with the Goodwin boy."

Thinking of the way Ash had comforted Willow as she slept off her high, I turned to face my grandmother, my expression grim. "I don't want to spy for you anymore. It's not right."

"Then give me the necklace."

My hand went to the locket, and the pace of my breathing increased. "I'd rather not. Besides, you said it was a gift."

"It is. One you can have when you turn seventeen. Unless you're going to behave like a good little girl."

"Why didn't you tell me what it was when you gave it to me?"

"Ah, your sister must've tried to hex you already."

"This morning. After she beat me with a pillow."

A flash of sympathy crossed Clemmy's face. "Harmony has always been a bit impulsive."

"Ya think?"

"Tell me what happened at the party, and I'll let you keep the locket. That was the agreed upon arrangement."

She was right. I had given my word, and after experiencing life without constant fear, I wasn't quite ready to return to my former life as a complete weakling.

"Nothing happened. Not with Ash. He danced with Flannery, then got us some drinks."

"You said not with Ash. So something did happen?"

"Someone drugged Willow's drink."

"I see." Clemmy paced the room, her champagne skirt swishing about her ankles. "Is the girl okay?"

"She is, but we think whatever was in the drink was magical in nature."

My grandmother didn't seem surprised. A hard gleam entered her odd eyes, and she stopped moving, pinning me with the intensity of her stare.

"Were you with Ash the entire time? He didn't leave your sight?"

"No... well, uh, there were a few minutes where I didn't see him."

"I see."

"He didn't do anything. Willow said she got the drink from a girl named Allyson." I sat on the bottom stair. Gathering my hair over one shoulder, I twisted it as I waited for Clemmy to respond.

"What did the drug do to Willow?"

I explained it to her, even relaying Willow's description of the high. If I'd thought her gaze was intense before, it was a hundred times sharper now. Every line of her willowy frame had gone rigid.

"Have there been any other reports of this? Other friends in the human community who have experienced this drug?"

"I don't know. I don't really go out with the others. But, I've seen it here." My gut clenched, and sweat broke out on my forehead. Harmony was really going to hate me now.

"Who?" It came out like a hiss. Deadly.

"Harmony came home the other night. Her pupils were blown, just like Willow's. We didn't pay attention to anything else so there's a chance it could be something different, but my gut says it isn't."

"Thank you. You did very well. That'll be all for now."

My mouth dropped open. "We're good, then?"

"Yes, as long as you understand you're to tell me if anything like this happens again."

"I'm not spying on Ash." Though, she'd watered the seed of doubt by pointing out I'd lost track of him at the party. It wasn't a comfortable feeling.

"I'm not asking you to spy," she said, her face softening. With unusual gentleness, she pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. "I'm asking you to tell me if anything like that happens again. Regardless of who you're with."

"Okay." I rose to my feet and started up the stairs, needing to put some distance between myself and this stranger who'd taken over Clemmy.

"And Rose?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Don't take that necklace off. Ever."