Before Adrianne could respond, Vivian grabbed her wand, then closed her eyes and began to chant. It was then that Adrianne noticed the wand in her hand that was beginning to sparkle.
Mother’s wand.
“What in Heaven’s name are you doing, daughter?!” hollered their father, now raising the gun towards Vivian. “Put that down!”
Vivian stopped her chanting, pointed the wand towards their father, and whispered a single word. “Die.”
His face turned white and then red. He dropped the gun and clutched his chest, staring at Vivian in anguish. “Viv, what have you done?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Die,” she repeated, this time with much more venom.
Adrianne screamed in horror and ran towards their father, who now lay writhing on the ground, howling in horrendous pain. She kneeled down and took his hand. “Stop it!” she yelled, staring up at her sister. “You’re killing him!”
Vivian smiled darkly. “That’s the point.”
Chapter One
(Now – 25 Years Later)
Bayport, Michigan
“Kendra, for the last time, wake up!” hollered my mother, who was now standing outside of the bedroom door, tapping her nails impatiently against the doorframe.
“Fine,” I groaned, turning over. I looked at the clock – seven o’clock, and I only have twenty minutes to get ready. That was barely enough time to find clean underwear.
My sister flounced into the room, dressed in her new pink skinny jeans and white lace top. She plopped down next to me on my bed and shook me. “Get up, lazy bones! Aren’t you excited? I just love the first day of school.”
Summer was officially over and both Kala and I were starting twelfth grade. She was excited and I was resigned to the fact I still had nine more months of school before my “Great Escape.” June couldn’t get here fast enough.
“Yay,” I mumbled, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. As always, she was a little too chipper for me to handle this early in the morning.
“So, what are you going to wear?” she asked, hopping off of the bed.
I yawned. “Um, clothes?”
Kala laughed and then started digging through our closet. She pulled out one of the new outfits my mom had chosen for me and held it out. Unlike both my mom and sister, I loathed shopping.
“Here, you should wear this purple hoodie with your white cargo pants,” she said. “It’s super cute.”
I snorted. “Cute? Sure, on someone else.”
My sister frowned. “Don’t be so negative. It does look nice on you. In fact, if they would have had it in my size, I would have snatched it up in a heartbeat.”
Kala, my skinny twin sister, never had to worry about clothes. Being a twig, everything always looks awesome on her.
“Fine, I’ll wear it,” I said, grabbing the outfit. I brushed past her to the small bathroom we shared and hoped I could still fit into the pants. Locking the door, I turned around and stared at my reflection in the mirror, wishing it was someone else – long brown hair, ghostly white skin, and blue eyes, which, actually… weren’t half bad.
I sighed. Who was I kidding? Nobody even noticed my eyes with this double chin.
“Don’t forget, we only have fifteen minutes,” she called through the door. “I’ll be downstairs in the kitchen.”
Groaning, I quickly got ready, stuffing myself into the new clothes. When I finally got the zipper up, I stood sideways and groaned at the result. Although they were a size fourteen, they were much tighter than the last time I’d tried them on. Even the hoodie looked tight.
Crap.
Shuffling out of the bathroom, I grabbed a pair of sandals and looked longingly towards my soft bed, wishing I could just crawl back inside and veg out for the entire day.
“Hurry up, Kendra!” bellowed my mother’s voice from downstairs.
“Hold your horses,” I mumbled, wondering if I could talk her into online schooling.
God, that would be awesome.
Online, nobody would notice the thick roll of skin above my waistband or the way my legs jiggled when I moved too quickly. I’d be just another faceless student in pajamas, trying to finish up my senior year until I went to college, which to me, didn’t seem quite as daunting. I’d never heard of any bullying in college, just stories about all of the crazy drunken parties and an occasional date rape.
Eh, come to think about it, online college was starting to sound more interesting, too.
Sighing, I decided to run the online idea by my mom later and went downstairs to the kitchen. I crossed my fingers, hoping that she’d made her famous chocolate-chip pancakes for our first day of school. It was an annual tradition.