Half Mad (Sequel to Half Bad)

Chapter 14

        I gaped at her for a long time, my mind jumbled and my thoughts stringing into incoherent run-on sentences. Was this woman being serious right now? Expecting me to believe things she said? My mother wouldn't have lied to me about being hers. She loved me... right?

        Suddenly, I found myself looking to the floor at the possibilities of this being true. Mum always told me I was different from other witches, from other kids at school. I thought she told me that as an act of self-confident reassurance. Could she have merely been lying to cover up the fact that I did not truly belong to her?

        I was shaking my head, jaw clenching in seconds. "No," I grumbled under my breath. "You're lying. Stop lying!" I'm not sure why I yelled, but conflicted emotions would have been a good guess.

        "Am I?" Cecilia's eyes narrowed on me now, her gaze almost appearing to be dangerous. "Leah Styles not only gave you away to protect herself, but to keep you away from people like me. People who thrived for others that had such power. She thought she was being smart by disposing you to her best friend and yet it was the stupidest thing she'd ever done."

        Leah Styles.

        The name rang through my ears, familiar. I had heard of her many times, actually. We learned about her in one of my history classes. She had lived long ago, though, nearly the middle ages and was hung for suspicion of witch craft. There was no way she could have conceived a child and it still be living today.

        As if reading my thoughts, Cecilia's eyes crinkle as she smiled once more. "Yes, Harry. You are immortal. All of those times you nearly died, you wouldn't have anyways. Unless your head is ripped from your shoulders, you're going to be around for a very long time."

        If she thought that had cleared things up, she was horribly mistaken. If anything, I was more confused than before.

        Cecilia began to wave her hand at me dismissively as my eyes remained on the floor, mind swirling with thoughts and attempts to depict emotions. I couldn't focus on any one in particular - there were too many; betrayal, confusion, resentment; the list went on.

        "As for you, Rosalie. That man who abused you all those years was not your father, either. In fact, your real mother had given you up for protection the same reasons Harry's mother did - people like me. I suppose the man who housed you was just bored out of his mind which led him to hurt you and for you to eventually run away. 

        "Yet all of that anger you had towards him only fueled your power. The power you already had. And now with it and the necklace..." Cecilia laughed darkly, seeming to believe she would be victorious in her malicious plan. "Oh, we three will be indestructible."

        Rose scoffed. "You already have an entire country under your supposedly pure rule, what more could you want?"

        Cecilia chuckled. "Oh, dear. Why have one country when you could have them all?"

        The statement seemed to have lingered in the air for a while, Cecilia snapping to Hilary that it was time to check on her latest experiments. I didn't bother asking what that meant. I didn't bother looking up. My mind was still in a frenzy, my stomach churning from every thought that trampled me.

        "Oh, and one more thing." I heard Cecilia's feet stop at the door and she came back around behind her desk. "I have a surprise for the both of you. Other pawns in my game, so to speak."

        At the snap of her fingers, the door opened and Rose's gasp laced with terror and disbelief had me look up, only to regret doing so.

        There before us both stood Marcus and Jessie, looking more alive than ever.