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“WHAT?!” My quiet exclamation was echoed from all corners of the room as Persi, Rhi, and my mother all reacted identically.
“That can’t be right,” Persi said.
“Can you… what does that mean?” Rhi stammered, her hands fluttering anxiously like startled butterflies.
“It means exactly what it says,” Lydian answered.
“But—”
“NO! Absolutely not!” my mother cried.
“Read it again!” Persi demanded, “You’ve read it wrong, old woman! You’ve made a mistake!”
“Read it yourself, Persi, if you don’t believe me,” Lydian said coolly, holding the paper out to her.
Persi shot forward and snatched the paper from Lydian’s claw like hand. I watched breathlessly as she scanned the text for herself, her mouth moving silently. Her eyes widened as the truth settled over her. “Impossible.”
“Improbable, perhaps, but clearly not impossible,” Lydian said, her lips quirking into the slightest of smirks. “I was surprised myself, but it wasn’t my place to question Asteria’s final wishes, and she was very clear about them. And before you make one of your dramatic gestures, Persephone, you should know that I have multiple copies of this document. Ripping it up or tossing it on the fire will change absolutely nothing.”
Persi growled and shoved the paper back at Lydian, who took it and settled it neatly back on the stack in her lap. My aunt then shot such a vicious glare at me that I shrank away from her in terror.
“She can’t do this!” my mom said, standing up, Diana dropping from her lap to the floor with a loud, resentful hiss before stalking away.
“She can and she did,” Lydian replied.
“Wren is a minor! She can’t inherit property!”
“I assure you, Asteria was aware of the age restrictions, which is why she arranged to have it all put into a trust to be overseen by myself and you, Kerridwen, until Wren turns eighteen,” Lydian said.
“Oh, perfect, so now Kerri can just toss us out on our ear, I suppose, when she hasn’t so much as visited this place in years?” Persi snarled.
My mother fired up as well. “I would never do that!”
“Yeah, well, you also said you’d never come back here, so you’ll excuse me if I don’t put total faith in your sweeping declarations,” Persi shot back.
“Don’t be absurd, Persephone,” Lydian snapped, and Persi turned her glare on her. “She can do nothing of the sort. Her only role is to carry out Wren’s requests.”
“But this is our home,” Rhi whispered, more to herself than to anyone else. She was looking imploringly at the sodden handkerchief in her hands as though it was going to explain everything to her.
“Okay fine, then, so the kid gets to kick us out and Kerri has the privilege of slamming the door?” Persi ground out between tightly clenched teeth. I half-expected her to crush the flask in her hand like a soda can.
But at last I managed to find my voice, hoarse and trembling though it was.
“I don’t want it!” I cried. “I… I don’t want to…” I looked from my mother’s ashen face, to Rhi’s tearful one, to Persi’s thundercloud of an expression. “Can’t I just give it back?”
“Give it back?” Lydian asked, peering at me.
“I’m in high school! I don’t even live here!” I said, my voice rising hysterically with every word. “Can’t I just… just give it back to my aunts?”
“The trust is binding until you turn eighteen, at which point, you may presume to do what you want with it,” Lydian said. “But until that time, Lightkeep Cottage legally belongs to you.”
“You said ‘associated properties,’” my mother said, her voice muffled behind her hands. “Does that mean…”
“Yes. Sedgwick Cove Lighthouse also belongs to Wren.”
My mother swore. Persi walked right across the room, opened the front door, and slammed it behind her, the colorful glass panes rattling. Rhi blew her nose into her handkerchief and gave me a weak attempt at a smile.
“It’s not your fault, Wren, honey. No one blames you,” she said.
