Part 28 (2/2)
”Are you saying I'm a witch? Because I'm not.”
How can you be so certain?
I didn't know much-anything-about witches, but Jeremy did. And he'd said- ”Witchcraft is a birthright.”
True magic, the kind you have, is pa.s.sed through the blood. Blood magic is the most powerful kind.
”No one in my family is a witch.”
”That's because your family isn't your family.”
The voice was real. Not in my head. Not Pru's.
I leaped to my feet, spun, blinked, then blinked again at the woman standing in the entryway to the exam room.
Jeremy had been right. Except for the color of her hair and eyes, she did look exactly like me.
”Hi, Pru.” She nodded to the empty corner. ”Henry.”
”Y-y-you see him?”
”Always have.”
”You hear her?”
She shook her head. ”That's your gift, not mine.”
”Who are you?”
”Raye La.r.s.en. Kindergarten teacher from New Bergin and-” She glanced at the corner, shrugged, turned back. ”Your sister.”
”My sister's name is Melanie.”
”She's not really your sister.” Raye waved between the two of us. ”You can see that now, right?”
”Everyone has a twin,” I said desperately.
I felt like the earth had s.h.i.+fted beneath my feet. I was dizzy and hot, yet I s.h.i.+vered. Everything was changing. My fingers clenched and unclenched. I wanted to hold on to something but I was afraid that no matter what I grasped it would crumble to dust just like my world.
”We aren't twins.”
At last she spoke sense.
”We're triplets. Just haven't located sis number three yet.”
”How-how-”
”I was found on the side of Interstate Ninety-four, halfway between Madison and Eau Claire. Naked, without even a blanket. At least it was July, otherwise I'd have been dead.”
I'd been born in July. Didn't mean anything.
”I saw ghosts. Still do. From the moment I could talk, I spoke to them. Freaked my parents out.” I must have made a movement because she lifted an eyebrow. ”You too?”
”No.” I hadn't seen ghosts. I'd heard animals. But it had freaked my parents out.
”How-” I began again.
”How'd I find you? Magic.”
”I was going to ask how you got in here.” I'd locked the door.
”Same thing.” She wiggled her fingers, and the surgical instruments I'd cleaned and set out to dry lifted into the air and hung there, then settled back where they'd been.
I sat down. I had to.
”You're crazy.” Or I was.
”I thought the same.” Raye tilted her head as if listening. ”Okay.” She crossed to the wolf.
”You probably shouldn't-”
”You have magic too, Becca, and I can prove it to you.” She knelt next to Pru and beckoned. ”Touch her wound.”
”It's an open wound. Nothing and no one should touch it. Including her.”
”Afraid I'm right?”
”About what?”
”Your touch can heal.”
I had a sudden flash of what I'd thought I'd seen during the surgery-Pru's wound seeming to mend faster than it possibly could have.
But that hadn't been real. Had it?
”Why do you think your patients get better faster than any others?” Raye asked. ”That you've never lost one yet?”
My gaze narrowed. ”How long have you been in town?”
”Long enough to hear a reputation that's nothing short of mythic.”
”I'm good at what I do.”
”You're that good for a reason.”
”I am not magic.”
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