But something told me he knew more and wasn’t saying.Maybe because it was an old wound he didn’t want to reopen.There was no knowing.
It was another secret I would have to crack open.
Things must have started to go wrong for Alice after I left for college.Or maybe things were going wrong for her all along and I didn’t know it.
She’d changed her will to leave me the estate.She’d written me the letter telling me I was the only one she trusted.She must have known that something was going to happen to her and she had to find a way out.Someone to avenge her death or at least discover who the true killer was.
“How did Alice die?”I asked.
“Heart attack,” my father said.“You know that.”
So he must not know the truth.Only I, Owen, and Mr.McAllister did.And how much did my father know about the town anyway?
“Alice was always secretive about some things, Piper.I’ve been worried about you ever since you inherited her estate.”
“There’s nothing to worry about, Dad,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him there were shadow-things out to kill me.Or an open crossing in the woods.Or that I was the new Guardian of this magical place.He may not believe me.And if he did, he’d try to talk me out of it.
“Be careful, okay?”
“I promise.”
But the promise rang hollow even as I said it.
Garrat hadn’t come looking for me by accident.He’d appeared at the antique shop to test if the grimoire answered me.He’d appeared here to weaponize the truth about Alice.
Someone had known who I was long before I did.Long before Alice died.
And now that I knew the truth, I had the sickening certainty that whatever was hunting me had only just begun.
Chapter Eighteen
“I’lldriveyouhome,kiddo.”He snuffed his pipe in the nearby ashtray and then rose.
I got to my feet, trying not to acknowledge the pounding exhaustion through me.“You don’t have to do that.”
But what was my alternative?Walking home in the late afternoon heat?The thought made me wince.
“Piper, it’s much too hot for a walk.”He was already reaching into his pocket for his keys.
I didn’t argue.
“How did you know I walked?”
“I didn’t hear a car drive up.”He gave me a knowing grin.
Together, we walked out of the house and climbed into his truck.I said nothing as I buckled my seatbelt and we were away, leaving the house I grew up in behind.I wasn’t sure if I’d ever go back.Why would I?There was truly nothing there for me.
As we drove to the other side of town, I saw Hickory Hollow with new eyes.Though the town hadn’t changed, I had.
Alice was my mother.Alice was a witch.
It was a hard thing to accept.The gaping hole of loss I felt when I learned of her death was bigger now.More substantial.More meaningful.I hadn’t lost the aunt who loved me best.I lost the mother I’d never known and always wanted.
