ROTTEN LOVE

VACATION| 45

"Get her on the phone," I almost flip the table with a sense of adrenaline. A dark feeling emerges from the inside.

I've about had it with everything and everyone. I have been double-crossed and lied to by everyone I held dear.

Jason pops his head up from my shoulder and looks at me, "Calm down. You know we can't call home without Maddox or Marisa."

I tilt my head to the side to hide my annoyance. The two-step security system for communicating with Vales comes to haunt me. It was my idea.

Essentially, anybody can write a note but to get it sent to Vales the letter has to touch a Malfattos hand. Then, poof. The spell I placed instantly makes the letter disappear from the sender's hand.

Those in Vales do the same thing but it must touch Amara's hand. She is the one in charge and has seniority. This was how Vales was kept safe.

Charms and spells keep it hard to communicate and infiltrate Vales. You can't find it either if we don't want to be found.

"She knew, Jason, and didn't tell us."

"It says that she discouraged mom from looking into it. What is there to tell?"

"Oh, I don't know, that it didn't work. That mom figured it out and fucked us in return," I snap at him.

He nudges me toward the journal, "Keep reading."

I roll my eyes but we resume our old position.

I get stronger each day that passes by. Amara says I am learning at an unprecedented rate. She thinks I have surpassed her. I'm glad. I have to. I've been feeling unwell recently and I fear for what that means. Has my time run out? Under no circumstances can Nathaniel find out. He is not the same since Alpha and Luna died. They were the closest things I had to parents and they were snatched from us by those bloodsuckers. I will avenge them... I've looked more into the other magic. I will not name it for fear of someone finding out. There is a warning everywhere I look. When casting the spell, depending on how big the power is needed, it might even sacrifice the wielder itself. If I ever want to participate in this type of magic, then I need to make sure it is worth it. I would only have one shot.

I take a second to think about the implications of what I have just read.

"She did not practice blood magic. She did it once and that's it."

Jason has a confused look on his face. I sighed.

"Jason, she says she does not want to risk it. The wielder can perish at the use of it. And she did," I zoned out.

The time she used it to bond us was the day she died as she predicted.

I resume, "She died because she connected us."

"No. Someone broke in and killed her."

"It's a coincidence then that she believed that using this magic once can kill the witch and the day she happens to use it, she dies?"

Jason stays quiet and then formulates, "Maybe, she wasn't ever going to go through with it but because we were attacked, she figured she was dead anyway."

That is a good theory. I think I like the way that sounds better. Perhaps, she had it all as back up but she never intended to use it. They gave her no choice.

I can see the gears in Jason's head turning. He remains quiet. I study the way his shoulders tense and his hands fist.

"What," I ask.

"Listen, I am hoping that is the case."

"But," I poke because he wants to stop himself from saying whatever it is he is thinking.