He hung his head. “I know. It’s not a very good excuse. I can promise you, I’ve kicked myself for the way things went down for years. Had I known what the future would hold, I certainly would have done things with Auggie and your mother differently.”
“Did I hear my name?” said a voice from the doorway.
33
Granddad boxed at his eyes while Reign and I bounced off the sofa and onto our feet. Quickly we spun around to face the door.
“Auggie, dear,” said Granddad, shoving his glasses back onto his face in a hurry. He walked towards her, his outstretched arm trembling. “You’ll never guess who’s come to visit me.”
Auggie raised a brow as she gave Reign and me a once over. “I imagine it’s quite obvious. She’s the spitting image of her mother, and he looks like my s—like his father.” Her tone was harsh and biting. As Merrick’s mother, and now my grandmother, she certainly didn’t seem excited to see her grandchildren.
Granddad beamed at his wife. “After all these years, isn’t it wonderful to get to see Linda and Merrick’s children?”
She pursed her lips. “Mmmm,” she groaned. “It’s something alright.”
“Mother, what did you want to see me about?” said another familiar voice from the hallway.
And then, just over Auggie’s shoulder, I saw Sorceress Stone’s head poke into Granddad’s den. She was alive! While we’d guessed that she might be, since classes were now in session, to see her alive and in the flesh was a shock to the system.
So we’d indeed done everything we’d set out to do. We’d helped Jax become a witch. We’d brought Sorceress Stone back to life, and now there was no need to search for her murderer.
It seemed we’d done everything we’d set out to do. All was well with everyone. Except…
My grandmother was dead. My mother had grown up without her mother, but instead with a wicked witch as a stepmother. Merrick Stone—er, Smith—was my father. Auggie Stone was my grandmother. And Jax was a mean girl. My heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces inside my chest. I didn’t think I could handle Sorceress Stone being my aunt right now.
“Reign, I think we should leave,” I whispered as Auggie welcomed Sorceress Stone into the den.
“Yes, SaraLynn, I thought it important for you to know that Merrick’s children have finally decided to pay Clark and me a visit. I believe one of them is a student of yours, is she not?”
Sorceress Stone’s ice-blue eyes turned on me then. Ignoring my brother completely, she glared down at me. “Yes. I am quite aware that Merrick’s progeny attends my institution. It is what it is. We’ve made it work.”
I bit the inside of my lip, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. I wouldn’t give Auggie and Sorceress Stone the satisfaction of seeing me so vulnerable. Without moving my lips, I growled under my breath at my brother. “Reign, I want to go. Now.”
He squeezed my arm and then pretended to glance down at the nonexistent watch on his wrist. “Granddad, it seems we’ve run out of time to visit. Perhaps we’ll stop back again sometime when there isn’t such a crowd.”
“Oh, no! You don’t have to run off. Maybe Auggie can give us a few minutes to visit alone?” He looked to his wife hopefully, but when he saw her face screwed up into a scowl, he knew he wouldn’t be granted any alone time from the evil witch. “Right. Well, at least let me walk you out.”
“No need,” snapped Auggie. “Wallace! Our guests are ready to be shown to the door!”
Seconds later, the butler appeared in the doorway. He bowed deeply. “Right this way.”
Granddad stared after us as we left, and for a split second, I stopped in the doorway and looked back at him. Just like that, my relationship with the grandfather that I’d wanted had blown up in my face. Now, not only didn’t I have a grandmother, but I didn’t have a grandfather either.
I clung to Reign’s arm as we walked down the long hallway towards the foyer. “I wanna go home, Reign.”
He patted my hand. “I know. I’m taking you home.”
“No, Reign. I don’t want to go to Smith’s Room and Board. I want to go to Habernackle’s Bed, Breakfast, and Beyond. Please?”
He looked at me sadly. “I don’t think I can do that, Mercy. I’m so sorry.”
Later that evening, after dropping Libby and Cinder off at their dorm rooms for the evening, I lay motionless in my frilly pink-canopied bed. Staring at the pop music posters on my walls, I wished I could just crawl into a hole and never wake up. I felt worse than I’d felt since I’d seen my mother’s face when I was arrested for shoplifting on Christmas Eve. And I’d thought that had been an all-time low.
Sweets, Holly, Alba and my brother all stared down at me, waiting for me to say something, but I couldn’t speak.
“Come on, Red, you gotta say something,” begged Alba, poking me with a finger.
I mashed my lips together. How could I tell them how brokenhearted I was? Mercy Habernackle was supposed to be one of the strong members of the Witch Squad. Jax, Sweets, and Holly were the sensitive, emotional ones in touch with their feelings and all that. I was more like Alba. I was tough and strong. I knew how to keep my guard up. I didn’t cry all the time. I didn’t wear my heart on my sleeve. But today, I felt like I’d snapped. Things were so messed up that I didn’t even know how to begin talking about it.
Sweets looked at me with concern-filled eyes. “Yeah, Mercy, you can’t keep it all bottled up inside of you. It’s not good for you.”
Reign sat down at the foot of the bed. “Leave her alone. She’ll talk when she’s ready to talk.”
Holly put a hand on Reign’s shoulder. “Well, just know that we’re all here for you, Merc. Anything you need, okay?”
Reign nodded. “Yeah, just like Holly said. We’re here for you. I’ll do anything you want me to do to make you feel better.”
I looked up at Reign then, and I realized the answer couldn’t be any clearer. What good had come of everything we’d done? My grandfather was alive, but he hadn’t gotten to be my grandfather. Jax had her powers, but she used them for evil, not good. Sorceress Stone was alive, but she hated me. What was the point in what we’d done?
I looked up at all of the faces staring at me and inhaled a deep breath. “I want it all put back.”
“You what?” asked Alba, staring at me incredulously.
“I want it all put back. I want my Gran brought back to life. I want my mother to have grown up without her father, but with a loving mother instead. I want Jax never to have gotten her powers. I want Sorceress Stone to be dead again. I want everything put back the way it was before we stuck our noses into it!”
Alba sucked in her breath, her eyes wild. “But then your grandfather will be dead!”
“Yes, I know,” I whispered, hanging my head sadly. “But Gran will be alive.”
“But we went to all that trouble!”
I leaned forward in bed. “So what?! It was one day of our lives wasted. Big deal! Look at all the damage that we caused! Nothing good came out of it.”
“We’re full siblings,” said my brother. “That’s not good?”
“Reign, I told you that I don’t care about that. You’re my brother whether we have the same father or not.”
“But then Sorceress Stone will be dead!” said Sweets. “It can’t be right to undo what we’ve already undone.”
“So what? Either we’ll figure something else out or…” I threw my hands up into the air. “Or, it’ll just be the way that it is. The universe put it that way in the first place. We didn’t kill her.”
“But even if we could figure out a way to redo the curse, I think it would be like killing Sorceress Stone ourselves, even if we weren’t the ones that did it,” said Sweets.
“If you look at it like that, then we have to feel responsible for killing my grandmother! Because she was alive yesterday and now she’s not. We are responsible for that, then!” I argued emphatically. I had it in my mind now, and it was clear as
a bell. We had to undo all this. I wasn’t about to take no for an answer.
“Listen, Red, I get what you’re saying, but isn’t undoing everything again begging for more trouble?”
“How? How could things possibly be worse than they are now?”
“Well, in that scenario, Stone’s still dead. So now we have to tell Jax that not only is she’s not getting her powers, but her mother’s dead too. That’s pretty bad.”
“So? What’s the alternative? Jax gets her powers and her mother, but both of them are epic a-holes?”
Alba nodded. “I see your point.”
“Thank you!”
“I just don’t know how to do it.”
“Are you kidding?” I bellowed. “The answer is simple. We left the time machine running. It’s out there in the field, remember? We kept it going just in case Sorceress Stone was dead when we got back. Let’s get back over there and go back in time again. We’ll tell ourselves to abort mission!”
“Can we do that?” asked Holly, looking at Alba curiously.
Alba made a face. “I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t see anything about it in that book, but then again, I didn’t read the whole thing. It sounds like it could work.”
I looked in the mirror, pulled off my glasses and wiped away my smudged eyeliner. I readjusted my braid and then stood up. “What are we waiting for? This needs to be done, and it needs to be done now.”
My brother touched my shoulder. “Mercy, it’s almost dark out.”
“Yeah, Red. We can’t do this in the dark.”
“Then we’re doing it first thing tomorrow morning. I don’t want to be Merrick Smith’s daughter a single moment longer than I have to be!”
“Fine,” said Alba. “If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I want!”
Alba pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “Alright. I’ll text the twins and tell them to meet us at the time portal at the crack of dawn.” When she’d fired off a message, she peeled off her jacket. “We should get some sleep.”
“Good idea,” said Reign.
Alba looked around. “What room am I sleeping in tonight? Because I’m certainly not sleeping in this ridiculous froufy bed of yours. You know, Red, full disclosure, this is the real reason I’m okay with putting things back to normal. I can’t handle having you as a friend if you’re into this froufy crap. You know that, right?”
I grinned. “Alba, whatever reason makes you sleep at night is reason enough for me.”
34
The sun had barely broken the surface of the horizon as we stood looking at the time portal we’d constructed.
Holly stretched her arms up over her head and yawned. “I can’t believe we’re up this early. I don’t think I’ve been up this early on a Friday since the last Black Friday before online shopping was a thing.”
“Lucky. I’m up before the sun comes up every morning. A baker’s life,” Sweets said with a shrug. “But you know what they say, the early bird gets the worm!”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Eww. Worms are gross. The early bird can have the worm. Mornings are dumb.”
Reign chuckled. “I must say I have to agree with Holly. Mornings definitely aren’t my thing either.”
Holly looked surprised. “But you get up early to make breakfast at the B&B every morning!”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s my job. I have to. But in real life, I’m a night owl through and through.”
She nodded her head emphatically. “Me too.”
“Alright, can we focus now? We have a lot to accomplish today,” said Alba. Shaking her head, she stared at the portal. “I can’t believe we’re gonna go back there again.”
My heart felt like it stopped beating for a second. “You’re not changing your mind about helping me do this, are you?”
Alba swatted the air and adjusted the straps of her backpack. “Nah, I’m not changing my mind. I just can’t believe we wasted all that time.”
“How were we supposed to know the chain reaction that was going to happen?” asked Sweets.
“There’s no way we could’ve known,” said Reign. “But now we do, and we just have to fix it. That’s all.”
I nodded, thankful for my brother and my friends. I didn’t know what I’d do without them. Despite my exhaustion, I rubbed my hands together in front of myself. “So, let’s get going.”
We all entered the steam sauna once again. By now we’d done it so many times that we knew the drill well, and we all took our spots, shoulder to shoulder.
A fatal potion was concocted,
And soon thereafter a murder plotted.
Take us back to the place and time
Auggie Stone committed her heinous crime.
We waited for the wormhole to change directions, then stepped through the slit in time and walked single-file through the tunnel of lights. In under a minute, we found ourselves exiting near the same little brook at the bottom of the grassy hill. My grandparents’ small house sat just as it had the day before. The laundry on the clothesline blew in the lilac-scented air. Everything was just as it had been when we’d been there earlier. We’d made it back!
As I trained my eyes on the house, I noticed something different. The playground sat empty. There were no children playing on the swings, and no one on the slide. “Guys!” I breathed, pointing towards the empty backyard. “Look! Mom, and Merrick, and the rest of the kids aren’t there anymore.”
Alba’s face went white. “Oh no! Maybe the portal sent us to the wrong time!”
“We better get up there. Come on.” Reign led the way. This time, we weren’t as careful about staying hidden as we had been the first time we’d been there.
My pulse raced as I followed my brother, hoping that we’d find out we weren’t too late. But when we approached the house, we saw them. They were peering in the windows, watching as Auggie prepared the potion. I saw Alba duck walk across the back deck. I saw another version of myself glancing down at her. It was a surreal feeling looking at myself in the past, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Things were going to move fast from here on out, and if I hesitated at all, I might miss the opportunity to stop things.
From the outer perimeter of the yard, I crouched down in the tall grass and hissed at the girls on the deck. “Mercy!”
The back-in-time me looked down at Alba and then held a finger up to her mouth to shush her. She thought it had come from her.
“Alba!” I hissed.
Back-in-time Alba looked at back-in-time me.
“Alba!” I hissed again.
This time, it was obvious the voice hadn’t come from the deck. She looked around. Immediately, our whole group waved our hands in the air at her.
Alba’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw all the doppelgangers crouched down in the tall grass. She made a startled noise, and back-in-time me looked down at her. Alba nodded her head towards all of us in the grass. I watched myself turn and look at the group of us waving. My eyes bugged out just as Alba’s had done.
Together, we all beckoned the old Alba and Mercy to come to us. They looked around in confusion but slipped down the deck, careful not to be seen, and came to us. Back-in-time Libby and Cinder, who had been peering in the side windows, heard us hissing and came too.
“What in the world is going on?” breathed the old Alba. “Why are we seeing duplicates of ourselves right now?”
The old me nodded, staring directly into my matching green eyes. “Yeah, my mind is blown right now.”
“We’re here to tell you to scrap the plans,” I said.
“Scrap the plans?” said my duplicate. “What do you mean?”
Alba shook her head. “We don’t have a lot of time to explain, because in a few minutes you’re gonna stop Clark from drinking that lemonade.”
“You know about the lemonade?” old me asked in shock.
“Of course we do. Why do you think we’re here? We’re coming from the present.”
“No, no, no
, we’re coming from the present,” argued the old Alba.
“Yeah, well, we’re a day older than you are,” said Cinder.
Alba nodded. “Listen, just do as we say. Don’t stop Auggie from giving Clark the lemonade.”
The old me widened her eyes. “We can’t do that! If we let her give it to him, Granddad will die!”
I sighed. “If Granddad doesn’t die, then Gran dies instead.”
“Gran!” the old me screamed. “How?”
Without having seen it with my own two eyes, I’m not sure that I would have believed it either, and we didn’t have much time to explain. “We’re not sure of the exact details. All we know is that if Auggie finds out that Granddad will die if he drinks the potion, she decides to kill Gran instead.”
“Well, then, we’ll warn Gran instead of Granddad!”
I shook my head. “If you alert Auggie to any of this, she’ll just do some kind of brainwashing spell. Listen, we know what we’re talking about. We saw firsthand the damage that was done by reversing this curse.” I looked the old me dead in the eye. “Mercy, if you reverse the curse, Merrick becomes your father. Jax gets her powers, but she’s a mean girl and you two can’t stand each other. Reign is this weird preppy kid. And Gran is dead. It’s a horrible reality that we came back to stop from happening.”
Alba nodded. “And you sleep in a froufrou bed with a pink frilly bedskirt and a sheet over the top. And you have a poster of Carly Rae Jepsen on your wall. It’s ridiculous. Save yourself the embarrassment and just leave things alone. Don’t tell Clark about Auggie. Just let things happen as they happened before we messed with anything.”
“But—” began the old Alba.
The new Alba looked at her day-younger self sternly. “Listen, who’s got two thumbs and is the only person in the world that knows you better than you know yourself?” She pointed at herself with both thumbs. “This girl. I’m a day older and a day wiser, and I’m tellin’ you, you don’t wanna reverse this curse. Got it?”
The Witch Within Page 25
