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“There’s some history between them, apparently. I’m not sure about the details. Headmaster Goldstein isn’t giving in to their demands, though. He insists the staff is more than capable of watching out for you and your education. He said they’re overstepping as sponsors. I think he’s suspicious about your real connection to them and is pushing for them to confess. Little does he know they're the most stubborn people on Earth.” She sighed. “Don’t worry about any of that though. I’ll make sure they keep their distance.”
I didn’t necessarily want a relationship with the people who chose to ignore my existence for the last seventeen years, but if there were things they could tell me about my mom, I wanted to know.
Then again, Masie could probably answer any questions I had.
“I want to know more about my parents. You guy dropped a bomb on me, and I never got to ask you––”
“I know. I’m so sorry about that. Nothing about last weekend went how I imagined. Well, I never really thought it would happen in the first place.”
“Masie,” I cut off her ramblings. “Please, can you tell me about them? Why they left the academy? What happened to them?” My fingers ached to work on a braid, but I needed two free hands.
She sighed. “They were both more interested in building a life together in the norms’ society than staying where there were so many expectations put on them from outside sources. Your dad wanted to be a writer, and your mom was an Earth witch with a strong specialty in vegetation. She wanted to grow her own flowers and open a shop.”
I could almost picture them. It sounded like a quaint, happy life they had planned. What went wrong?
“They didn’t agree with the prejudice against hybrids and mixed bonds, obviously, and didn’t want to raise a family where they knew they would face discrimination. They had friends who felt the same way, and after they graduated from their fourth year at Drexel, the group of them left.”
“Where did they go?” I wished she was here now, so we could have this conversation face to face.
“Seattle.” She sounded so sad. “Their group was mostly interspecies couples, and they kind of formed their own pack or family there. I was still in school, but during breaks, I went to visit them. They were all so happy, Saige. I wish you remembered that time, but you were too young.”
“Their friends.” I was almost afraid to ask. “Where are they now?”
She cleared her throat. “Most of them are dead.”
Some part of me expected this. Like I knew what the answer would be, but I still felt sick. “What? How? Why?”
“Accidents, like your parents’.”
That didn’t make sense. What were the odds so many would die young in accidents? “Is that really what happened, or is that just what people were told?”
“You’re too smart for your own good, sweetie.” She sighed. I could hear in her voice this wasn’t easy for her. “The car accident that took your parents was caused by their brake line being cut. Their best friends were killed in a house fire caused by the gas on the stove being left on. Another family was killed when their car went off a bridge. Most of the accidents were easy to explain away, but when I stepped back and looked at the bigger picture, it was easy to see that they were connected. Someone was targeting and killing them.”
I covered my mouth, holding in a gasp. “But why?”
“Because of what they were. Who they loved. They were breaking the rules, and a lot of people had a problem with that.”
“But they left. They were starting over.”
“I know. People didn’t like that.”
“Do you know who?” I couldn’t believe my parents were murdered, along with so many others.
“You cannot ever repeat this information, Saige. I’m serious.”
“Okay.” I could feel the gravity of her words.
“I believe it was members of the council. Have you heard about them yet?”
“Yeah, they’re the governing body over the supes.”
“Right, I think they were the ones who wanted your parents and the others killed. They didn’t want hybrid children around. They still don’t know enough about hybrids to understand their powers or the full extent of their abilities. They fear them, so they had them killed.”
But Theo? He was a hybrid. And me. “Then why didn’t they kill me?”
It was such a morbid question. One I never thought I’d ask.
“They thought they did. You were supposed to be with them that night. At the last minute, Amber called and asked one of their friends to watch you. They were going to dinner with friends, but you got sick. It was a miracle you weren’t with them. Their friend called me the night they died, and I came and picked you up. I knew it wasn’t safe for you to stay in Seattle with their new family. I couldn’t take you to my parents either because they’re too connected to the council. You would be noticed, so I called your godparents and drove you across the country to Pittsburgh. Jason had just gotten a job out there, and I figured you would be safe. It was far away, and they were norms. No one would think of looking for you there.”
