Power Struggle (Book 3)

Chapter 14

Kate was sitting awkwardly in the Cimorelli living room, the rest of the girls not really knowing what to say. They had boarded up the windows again and swept up the glass. Katherine was facing her, smiling gratefully as Amy put a pot of tea on the table and began pouring. Christina was sleeping next to Lisa, who was keeping an eye on her. Amy handed Kate a mug of tea. 'Thank you.' Kate said, cradling it on her knees.

'You don't have to be nervous.' Amy assured her, picking up on what she was feeling.

'Can't really help it. My sisters are trying to kill you, and I almost helped.' She smiled awkwardly.

'The important thing is you didn't.' Katherine reminded her. 'Now you can help us. We don't want anyone else to get hurt, including your sisters.'

'Why do they want to bring your mother back so badly? We understand you miss her, but there are other things you can do.' Dani said.

'I don't know really.' Kate thought back. 'We heard that some witch covens had spells to raise the dead and Natalie got this idea. We haven't looked back since.'

'Didn't you ever think what you were doing was wrong?' Lauren asked.

'No, Natalie told us what to do and we did it. That's how covens work.'

'It's not how ours works.' Lisa said.

'What do you want me to say?' Kate shrugged. 'Nat was all I knew once mum died. She taught me how to use my powers. Our dad was useless, he left when I was three.'

'We're sorry about that.' Amy said. Christina began to stir next to Lisa and she pulled herself into a sitting position.

'That was a quick nap.' Dani commented. Christina lent her head in her hands and ran them through her hair.

'I can't sleep.' Christina admitted. 'This feels horrible.' She said to Kate.

'Lucy's power affects everyone differently.' Kate said. 'Honestly I've never seen it knock someone out the way it does you.'

'Lucky me.' Christina said as she poured herself a mug of tea.

'Do you know anything else about what Natalie might be planning?' Katherine asked.

'We had one idea but it didn't really work out.' Kate told them.

'Why not?' Lauren asked.

'Well, when Lucy asked Lisa for a job we had an ulterior motive.' Kate said. 'We knew you could see ghosts so we thought you might be a necromancer. She was going to try and get close to you that way.' Lisa looked at her shocked.

'I'm not a necromancer.' Lisa said. 'I don't know the first thing about it.'

'You knew you needed one for the spell?' Katherine asked. 'If you knew that, why did you take us to your mother's grave?'

'We couldn't find a necromancer, and Natalie was getting impatient. She suggested trying to trade a life for mums and she was confident it would work if we traded someone powerful enough.' Kate said.

'More like deluded.' Amy said.

'So why don't we just tell Natalie I'm not a necromancer, and that the spell won't work without one, and then she can give up?' Lisa suggested.

'Unless her power has corrupted her too badly.' Christina said. 'All consuming power is hard to resist and I don't think she'll be able to.'

'Hopefully your potion worked.' Kate said. 'That's the only way she'll give up.'

'Do you know anything about your mother? What happened when your grandmother stripped her power.' Amy asked.

'No, mum didn't like to talk about it.' Kate admitted. 'But she must have done some really bad shit if granny felt the need to strip her powers.'