These Lying Eyes

by Allen, Amanda A.

  Mina leaned her head back, stared at the ceiling, and thought about how angry she was that she was in this office. How her Dad’s momentary softness had beguiled her and this visit was worse than the one before. How she was sure that a relative was trying to kill her sister. That she feared they’d switch to a triplet or even Erik before long. How she was a witch now, and she knew about an unseen world that was available to everyone if they would only look.

  Look and trust.

  “Chocolate.”

  “Chocolate?” Dr. Seal asked. Her narrow lips were very expressive. And right now they were sending a mean little message.

  Mina hid her satisfaction as she started talking about the variations of chocolate and her preference. Milk. Unless it was expensive. Dark chocolate was amazing if it wasn’t cheap.

  * * *

  Mina parked her Vespa outside, under the overhang of the house, so it was protected, but she didn’t have to open the garage to use it.

  “Are we going to have to start taking things away from you?” The anger on her Dad’s face was tight and powerful. He stood next to the wide porch, and he’d been waiting for her.

  “Like what? My self-respect? Oh shoot. You already got that one.” She knew when she’d planned at Grace’s that Dad would be mad, but he seemed almost frenzied.

  “Stop being overly dramatic.” His voice made Jocelyn’s seem kind.

  “Stop being bi-polar on me. I can’t anticipate you. Mean, mean, mean, nice for weeks and then mean again.”

  “You are hardly abused.”

  “Who said I was?” Mina shouted. “I never did. I don’t complain. All I want is to be treated like your other kids!”

  “Then act like them!”

  “What? You want me to sneak out for parties on the beach like Kate did? Sleep with the boyfriend I don’t have in the tree-house like she did? Flunk out of my classes and then cheat on my final papers like Jase? Be a giant jerk all the time like Erik? Why can’t you be happy with me? I’m smart. I ace my classes. I work ahead. I’m not a criminal. I’ve never done drugs. I’ve never had booze. Why can’t you look at me and see someone who isn’t trash?”

  The fury in Dad’s face colored his face a brilliant red. His eyes were stuck on the tree house as he yelled, “I have had…”

  “Enough.” Mom’s voice was quiet and full of steel. Mina and her dad turned to Vienna Roth in shock. Her face was white, her cheeks flushed in fury, and her lips were pressed together.

  “Mina you will go to your room. You will go now. Lucas you will calm down.”

  “Did you even…”

  “You will not destroy our relationship with our daughter. Wilhelmina Franzizka Roth, go to your room. Now.”

  Mina rushed past her parents, slammed the door, and raced through the house. She stood in the center of her room panting. The sprites had taken to the shelves to give her time to just breathe.

  But minutes later, her door opened. Erik, Sarah, and the triplets entered without speaking. Sarah had a platter of sandwiches. Ams carried a bag of cookies. Annie and Aly held hands and carried their blankets and were crying. The sound of their parents yelling at each other filled the house.

  No one said anything as they entered Mina’s room. Sarah set the sandwiches on the table, turned on Mina’s radio—loud—and grabbed a spare blanket to spread it over the floor. She knelt and patted the ground next to her until the triplets, Annie and Aly, still crying, joined her on the floor.

  “You know more about me than that,” Erik said, handing their little sisters a half of a sandwich.

  “So.” Mina, not eating, just pressing her face into her knees.

  “You didn’t say anything.”

  “You still live here.” Mina didn’t bother to elaborate. She didn’t need to. Kate and Jase were in college and spent much of their time away, even holidays, if school or work demanded it. Now they were in Europe and would be fine until Dad’s fury abated.

  “Kate’s revenge will be fierce.” Erik said, running his hand over his face at a particularly loud shout from their dad.

  “Probably.” Mina agreed.

  “I’d sleep with your door locked.” Erik’s voice paused when a particularly loud shout filled the room and made Aly hiccup.

  “Yeah,” Mina said. “I’ll do that.”

  The argument faded before long, but their parents didn’t come looking for them. It was late when Erik, Mina, and Sarah each carried a triplet to their bedroom. The door to the office was closed, but angry music came through the door.

  “Thank you.” Their mom’s voice was stark and low in the darkness of the living room as they shut the triplet’s bedroom door.

  “You’re welcome,” Sarah said, lingering and waving Mina out.

  “Mina,” Mom said as soon as Mina tried to fade. “We love you.”

  Mina hadn’t forgotten her fury. “I’m not going back.”

  “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “Whatever.” Mina ran up the stairs. In her room, the sprites waited for her. But Mina slipped into the bathroom to shower the taste of the hurt away. It didn’t work. When she’d returned to her room, the covers of her bed were pulled back, the lamp was on next to her bed, but the overhead light was out. The sprites were on their little beds on the top of her shelves, and Mina climbed into bed.

  “We potioned your brotherz and sisterz,” Hitch said, voice low.

  “Thank you.” Mina replied softly, burying her face in the pillow and forcing her mind blank.

  * * *

  The first thing she knew was the burning. She had to move.

  Move. Move. Move.

  Faster.

  If she hurried, they would make it stop.

  Her hands were a blur in front of her. She couldn’t see what was happening. All she knew was that she mustn’t stop.

  Go, go, go.

  “Mina!”

  Go, faster, don’t stop. Hurt, hurt, hurt.

  “Mina!”

  Run, move, jump, hurry, hurry, hurry. Everything was blurred in darkness.

  “Shiz, Mina!” A small body latched onto her wrist. “Poppy, Zeez, the same we did with Sarah.”

  “We don’t have Mina this time to hold her down!”

  Her fingers curled. She had to go. Make them stop. Stop them. She couldn’t see them, but she could feel them.

  Her wrist pulled away from her. That little body swung her back. Burn, burn, burn.

  The pain. Oh, the burning.

  She would crush it; she would pull off that body, and she would crush it. Her fingers curled; she would dig her nails into its body. She would feel its spine between her teeth.

  She almost had it when two more bodies grabbed her other hand; her head arched back and she shrieked. The sound was loud, high, animal, and it wasn’t enough.

  Go, go, go.

  But she couldn’t. The burning intensified. Worse now.

  It hurt. It must be stopped, but she had to get there. They would make it stop.

  There was a buzzing in the air. She shrieked, biting out, seeking back and forth for anything. But they avoided her. They held her back. Those little fierce forms. One was on each hand, holding her back, stopping her from running. One had disappeared.

  Hurry, hurry. Burn, burn, burn.

  “Don’t go near her face, Zeez. She’z biting.”

  “We’re the stupidest spritez on the planet.”

  “Bind her feet.”

  Burn, burn. The pain. Must hurry. It would stop, if only she could get there.

  She kicked her feet, but she couldn’t reach anything. She kicked, and she swung.

  “We have to keep her in the air. It is the only way.”

  She couldn’t see now. The dark had gotten worse. All was black. She shrieked, but then, something was in her mouth.

  There was pressure against her legs. Against her burns. And then she was moving. Faster and faster. But she wasn’t touching anything.

  Go, go, go. But it was the wrong way. She shrieked
and shrieked again against the gag.

  There were more hands. Bigger ones. They touched her, and she called for those who would make it stop, but they didn’t come.

  It hurt.

  Burned, burned, burned.

  She must hurry. If she got there it would stop.

  Go, go, go.

  “Oh, Mina. Oh, no.”

  The gag came out, and she could shriek again. It was more animal. A high pitched bear.

  It demanded. Let me go.

  Hurt, hurt, hurt. Burn, burn, burn. Go, go, go.

  “Take her feet, Grace.”

  She was lifted. The hands hurt.

  Hurry, hurry, hurry. It was bright. It hurt her eyes, even through the darkness. Hurry, go, burn.

  “Set her inside. What should we use to close the circle?”

  “Salt, sage, and apple blossoms.”

  She tried to move, but her feet were still pressed together. She tried to worm, but then, before she could move far, a light rose up around her. She pressed against it, wiggling and shuffling, and as she did the burning stopped.

  A jagged breath escaped her. Now it was ants. They were crawling on her. Biting her. She could hear a voice that spoke thunder, it spoke the rush of wind, and it snapped as lightning, and when it did, her eyes worked again and the ants left her.

  Mina looked around. She was in the great conservatory at Grace’s.

  “Grace?” Mina pressed her hand against the wall of light between her and her friends. It burned, but she hid it.

  “It’s still on her.” It was Penny, and her voice was tight, angry.

  “What’s happening?” Mina let her voice shake, tremulous and weak.

  “I know.” Grace said. “We can’t let her out until she can touch her magic. Until the sprites smell only Mina.”

  Mina shrieked. She pounded against the wall of light. It rose from the circle surrounding the pentagram. She ran at the part that was just the herbs and salt. She would kick it out of the way, but it blew her back, slamming her against the other side of the circle. The wall of light held her for a moment, and it burned her wherever it touched. Slowly it released her, and she slid slow-motion to the ground.

  A hum rose from Zizi and Poppy. Hitch joined in. Penny and Grace added their voices. The dragon’s low rumbly purr accompanied them next. Her four friends from earlier. Mina hissed at them, but one idly coughed fire at her.

  Mina shrieked. Like an eagle, angry and high. Like a bear, deep and angry. She screamed, twisting until her face was pressed against the cool ground. She kicked at the wall, but there was no give.

  “I guess she wasn’t wrong about the spell,” Jocelyn said.

  Mina turned, her black, black eyes focused on him, and she growled loud and angry, flashing her teeth. If she could get through this light, she’d pick him up, pick him up and feel his spine between her fingers. She’d press it to her lips, dripping in blood, and lick it clean.

  “The way her veins are black and against the surface of her skin is interesting.”

  Hitch spit at Jocelyn.

  “Enough.” Penny ordered. “Mina is not a science project.”

  “The spell, however, is,” Jocelyn countered. “Assuming you want to break more than this episode of it.”

  “How long did it take you with Sarah?” Grace asked the sprites, wiping a tear from her face and pressing her hand against the wall of light.

  “Hourz.” Hitch answered flatly, immediately humming again. Letting his voice rise and fall.

  Zizi dropped to the ground and walked around the circle, as she walked she told stories. Mina could remember them. She could remember being a bird with Max in the trees. She could remember swimming with the Water Fae. She could remember a S’mores marathon with the sprites and Hailey. She could remember dancing in the moonlight with Zizi and Poppy.

  The memories burned in Mina’s head, and she just needed to take Zizi and pull off her wings and shove them down her throat. If Mina could do that, then maybe she could think.

  She growled, a low constant rumble.

  Hitch took over as Zizi’s voice faded. Reminding her of other memories. After a while, he read to her. But she didn’t feel like herself until Zizi said,

  “Oh son of a…” She disappeared and came back with a thin orange volume. “On the 15th of May, in the jungle of Nool.”

  The sounds of the jungle appeared as Zizi read, and Mina watched the shadows act out the story. Zizi read it once.

  “Again.” Mina growled, slobber rolled down her face, but she no longer wanted to pull off Zizi’s wings. Mina gagged, staring at her Zizi’s thick orange mane, her delicate wings—the idea of her being hurt…it made Mina hurt in her chest.

  Zizi told her the story again. The illusions intensified until a see-through Horton walked through the pentagram with Mina. Again. Again with the angry monkeys.

  Once more, and Mina could feel the rumble of Horton’s voice along her skin. And finally, Mina stood, holding her hands out before her. The nails she could remember trying to dig into Hitch’s back were gone.

  The memory even of the burning was gone. The urgency had passed, and she was shaky with the relief of it. Mina pressed her hands against the light. Pressed her forehead into it, letting it fill her, burn away the touch of the other that had possessed her.

  “Is it gone?” Mina asked.

  Grace and Penny looked to the sprites.

  “I believe that there is still a hint in the air. Perhaps we could air the room out?”

  Penny nodded. She spoke a word, and the skylights opened. Wind rushed in, flooding the room, caressing Mina, and she reached for her magic. She found the Air first, pulled it in, and swept it through her body pushing the few traces of darkness out. Fire was next, and Mina set herself alight. Burning, burning, burning the dark. Killing it. Leaving no room for anything but Mina, her self, her magic, and her love.

  “It’z gone.” Hitch said.

  Grace blew, and the salt, sage, and apple blossoms were swept away. The wall of light winked out, and Mina stepped over the circle, dropped to her knees in front of the sprites, and lifted each one, carefully, gently hugging them close.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For forgetting you were a witch too?” Poppy asked. Her dark chocolate face had faded and aged. “For not potioning you.”

  “For saving me.”

  Chapter 23

  Mina woke early. Her cell phone was on the bed next to her, and several texts appeared on the screen. With a relieved grin, Mina and the sprites hurried to potion her family, get dressed, and escape to meet Grace before school. Her friend needed locks of hair, freely given, from her siblings.

  And Mina needed the spell to be done. Grace thought a few weeks would give her and Jocelyn time to track the maker of the spell, destroy its effect on her family, and set up new protection spells. So close. So close, and it would be over.

  Mina traded chocolate for hair with the triplets and simply asked Sarah who’d shrugged, and cut Mina three pale chunks.

  It was Erik who was trouble. She made her way to his basement bedroom, stood at the door, and considered. She wanted to just have one of the sprites take hair, but it had to be freely given.

  She took a deep breath and knocked. Grace hadn’t said Mina couldn’t lie.

  “Hey, I need some hair from my siblings for a science project,” she said as she entered.

  “What for?”

  Mina paused; she hadn’t thought that far. She glanced around his room, with its nearly knee-high mounds of foul clothes mixed with trash.

  “To look at through a microscope.” Zizi prompted.

  The walls were cement, the floor was covered in dirty area rugs, and there were dishes everywhere. She must have let her disgust show on her face because he flicked an old tissue towards her.

  Mina stepped back as she said, “It’s for microscope stuff.”

  “That sounds like BS.” Erik loaded his book bag with sports gear and a couple textbooks.
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  “Why would I lie?”

  “Why would I give it to you?”

  Mina scowled before reminding herself that even though he was a jerk he was her brother, “What do I have to do for it?”

  “Twenty bucks and clean my room.”

  “Are you insane?” Mina glanced around the room again. The high windows were covered in filth; it stank in here. The room made her feel dirty just standing there.

  “Do you want my hair or not?”

  “It is his life on the line.” Zizi said as she examined the mess of the room, face disgusted.

  Mina stared at her brother, hoping that guilt would hit him.

  It didn’t.

  “You’re a jerk.”

  “Now you’ll need to do my laundry.”

  “Why would I do that for hair?”

  “Why would you want my hair?” Erik scoffed. “I heard you getting it from the Ams and Annie.”

  “So you’re going to extort it from me?”

  “You’ll feel guilty for the rest of your life if something happenz to him.” Poppy’s husky voice was furious. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it.”

  “Oh, he deserves something.” Zizi landed gingerly next to a stack of dishes. Her face was horrified, but she said, “But he does not deserve to be drained for being a foul, revolting, idiot.”

  “Haven’t seen any sign that the spell haz been on him.” Hitch landed on Mina’s shoulder as he spoke, and his hand provided an anchor to keep Mina from screeching at her brother.

  She took a deep breath and handed Erik a twenty without a word. He sat down in front of her, and she pulled out the scissors.

  “I shouldn’t let you have it before you clean my room.”

  “Did you want me to stab you? And there is no way I will ever clean your room without that hair.”

  “Give me those.” Erik snipped three small locks of hair for Mina, rubbed his fist against the top of her head, and jogged out of the stairs leaving a trail of wicked laughter.

  “We’re doing something mean to him,” Mina said, kicking at his dirty clothes.

  “Probably should wait until it isn’t obviouz it’z you.” Poppy huffed.

  “But we are doing something mean to him.” Zizi agreed.

  * * *