The Opal Witch

Chapter Nineteen: Brooke Bailey

"You're Brooke Bailey?" In all the chaos of discovering she was a witch, Lux had forgotten about her murdered schoolmate. It suddenly made her problems seem very small.

"Yep. The only Bailey girl left in town. Except my mama, of course."

Lux shifted on the bench, clenching her hands in her lap. Her southern upbringing urged her to offer consolation, but condolences never went very far as far as actual consolation was concerned. Words were an ineffective tool against sorrow, even more so when the loss was so fresh and unexpected. Brooke wore her pain about her like armor, her pointed chin thrust out as if to prepare to receive Lux's disappointing apology.

"I knew Corinne from school. She was always real quiet, but I never saw her say a mean thing to anyone," Lux said instead of saying I'm sorry.

Brooke lowered her jaw. Calculating eyes latched onto Lux as she replied, "Corinne was always the good girl. Mama never had to get on to her. Not like she does me. See, we were only nine months apart. Irish twins mama called us, but besides sharing a last name, we're about as different as can be."

"You seem nice enough to me." She said it jokingly, but Brooke shook her head emphatically.

"I'm not nice. Or at least I'm not gonna be when I find out who killed my sister. She didn't wrong anyone, and I'm going to make them pay."

The temperature dropped, Brooke's truth giving the summer breeze an icy bite. Lux shivered. "Brooke... be careful. Even if Corinne was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that person won't hesitate to kill again if they feel threatened. That kind of thing is best left up to the police."

"You think they care about some girl who lives in a trailer park? The police think she was running away, and a vagrant targeted her. They said the murderer is likely gone, but Corinne wasn't running away. Mama sent her to get rid of the demons in her. The ones we all get on our seventeenth birthday."

Lux's stomach clenched. A Knowing overcame her, but she asked anyway, "Brooke, why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because the last place we knew Corinne was supposed to be going to was the store I saw you walk in a few weeks ago. Amulets. You're mixed up in all of this. I've been trying to talk to you for weeks, but this is the first time you've been alone."

Lux shot to her feet. "I don't even know what you're talking about. I've gotta get back to my friends. They'll be worried."

It looks like a place to be murdered... Did Corinne Bailey die at Amulets?

"I feel the panic coming off of you. I know you know the truth. Mama said those feelings are from the devil, but if they help me get answers, I'll send my soul to hell."

Feelings. Demons inside of her. Corrinne and Bailey were witches.

"Why me?" Lux asked instead of continuing to deny the girl. "Kitty was with me too. My mother and grandmother. You could have talked to any of us."

Brooke hit her thigh with a clenched fist. "Cause I Know you're the one to help. My gut told me not to trust Kitty, and most adults treat me like I'm still a kid. I Know you will help me."

Refusal was on her lips, but it faded away as the teenager before her shook with tears. She wasn't capable of helping her Circle, but just maybe she could help this girl. A girl who was likely supposed to be a member of the First Circle one day. But like her and the other girls, no one had taught her.

"Tell me what you want from me."

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