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“Can I see King?” I asked, tilting my head. My father was a Kiznitch, only not like King, Kohen, Killian, Kyrin, and Keaton’s parents, but my sister Dove and I weren’t allowed around them sometimes. The Brothers of Kiznitch were originally from a small town called Kiznitch in Romania. Essentially, my father was a civilian, so I didn’t actually know how he became involved in this world. But the Kiznitch brothers were all part of a founding family. The Axton family, Cicero, Nero, Cornelii, Kournikova—all founding families who created Kiznitch. Back in the 1600s, a show called Midnight Mayhem was created by the Patrovas to entertain the people of Kiznitch. Well, that’s what Daddy told me, but King told me the shows covered up all kinds of evil. The Kiznitch families were all branded as babies and now wear their patch with pride in the art of a tattoo. Cartier was getting hers soon, and she’s two years younger than Dove and me. She’s just lucky she had Kyrin as a brother. He always protected her, and Kyrin didn’t care about anyone, but we all knew she had a big crush on Keaton. Kyrin once tried to drown me when I was four years old. That was the first time King broke his nose.
My mom clipped my chin with the tip of her finger, edging my attention back to her. “Yes. King and Kohen will both be there.”
“Yay!” Dove said, running down the staircase. “I didn’t see Kohen last night.” I rolled my eyes, not because I didn’t understand her and Kohen’s bond, because, of course, I did. If anything, King’s and mine was stronger. We shared a crib together as babies, shared everything together. But the older King got, the more I witnessed him shift. As time passed, he was turning more into his father. I figured, as long as he had me, he would always keep the part of himself that I loved open.
Something was off with Mom today, though. She never wanted us to see Kohen and King. In fact, she despised the entire family of Kiznitch, even the branched-off families. I’d hear whispers and people called Mom a witch. An evil witch. I could see where they were coming from, but in all of my nine years, she was still my mom. She would say that it was because she was an outsider, and they didn’t allow outsiders into the cult. She called it a cult too, but Daddy said it was more like a family.
I was on the fence. I knew King, Kohen, Kyrin, Keaton, Killian, and Cartier were my family, but that’s about as far as I got.
We made our way out to the car. When Mom pulled out of our driveway, I turned back in my seat to watch as my father grew smaller and smaller the more we pulled away.
I couldn’t help the ball that sat in my throat.
Something was wrong. Off. Mom never drove us to the beach house, and Father never let us out of his sight with her for too long. I turned to face Dove, who was watching the trees pass, but I could see it on her too—the uncertainty. She faced me just as I thought it and her eyes glassed over.
“Dove,” I whispered, my hand coming to hers. Dove was troubled. Papa had said that she sometimes wouldn’t be “all there” in the head. That she had a different personality sometimes, and that, at times, she could even be dangerous. I had seen those sides to my sister many times, but not once had I ever been afraid. I thought she was more misunderstood than she was insane.
She squeezed my hand as my eyes went to the rearview mirror. Mother was already watching me, her dark eyes turned to slits. My heart thundered in my chest as she continued to drive us. She took a turn that wasn’t in the direction of the beach house and continued to drive just as she reached into her brown handbag that was in the passenger seat of the car.
“Mom?” I asked, because I was always the inquisitive one and Dove the demure. “Where are we going?”
She didn’t answer. Her fingers flexed around the steering wheel of our Aston Martin as she drove.
“No, no, no!” I scream, tossing and turning. “I don’t want to! I don’t want to remember!” My voice is hoarse, ripping out from my dry throat and shredding my voice box.
“I have to keep going, King. She’s almost there. As soon as she remembers that day, everything else should be unlocked. Trust me, son.”
Mom pulled onto a long gravel road, and I swiped my tears away to finally see where we were. It was the beach house, only from a different access. Maybe she was bringing us here and I was wrong. Maybe she had a surprise for us since we were only a couple days away from Halloween.
