The Blue Woods (5 page)

“Hey!” I tried to sit up straight, but the overly squishy couch cushions wouldn't let me. “I resent that. I would've held out.” I pointed my finger at her. “And actually, by your reasoning, if the
Concilio
knows we all know each other's identities, then
they
could be tortured for that information too.”

“She's right,” Jeff said.

Nerina looked thoroughly annoyed that we'd out-reasoned her. She threw her arms up in the air. “Fine. I won't tell them. Let's get past this. We need to figure out our next move.”

“We should go in tonight,” Mr. Sands—Jeff—said. “With a complete Clan, I'm sure we could retake it.”

“But we are not a complete Clan,” Nerina said. “We are missing the Lynx.”

“We have you,” Jeff replied.

“Yes, but technically I am not a member of the Twin Willows Clan. The spell will not work,” Nerina said. “Besides, we will be even stronger if we can find the Lynx's replacement and go in with six of us.” She ran her hand through her hair, making the ends twitch with static. “It may even take more than that.”

“What do you mean?” Cora asked.

Nerina and Heath exchanged looks. “You saw the Harpy at the battle the other night,” Heath said.

“Their entire
Concilio Argento
is here,” Nerina added. “We cannot go up against that many Malandanti, even as a complete Clan.”

“But why is their entire
Concilio
here?” Cora asked. “The Waterfall isn't the only site they've lost. Why haven't they spread out to the other sites we control?”

“Presumably, they will,” Nerina said. “The only way we will know if they have left is if one of our
Concilio
members tells us they've been spotted at one of the other sites. So until that happens—”

“We wait,” Jeff said.

“We wait, and we train the Lynx's replacement as soon as he—or she—is Called.” Nerina paced in front of the fireplace against the wall. “We heal,” she said, nodding at me, “and we plan. The Malandanti will be out for blood in the wake of the Guild's downfall. We cannot underestimate what they might do.”

“Um, I have a question,” I said, raising my hand slightly. “Where the hell am I supposed to stay? I can't go home. They know where I live.”

“Neither can I,” Alessia said. “Or Heath, or Nerina, or my mom. When they found Nerina's place, the whole farmhouse became compromised.”

“Someone can stay with me,” Cora piped up. “I think my place is still safe.”

“But it's in Willow Heights,” Jeff said, naming the next town over. “I'd feel a helluva lot better if everyone were close by.” He scrunched his face up, looking around the room. “You can all stay here.”

“That's going to call attention to you,” Heath said.

Jeff shrugged. “The farmhouse has mold,” he said. “Black mold, deep in the walls. You're all staying here until they get rid of it.”

“My mother would eat canned tomato sauce before she'd admit to black mold in her house,” Alessia said.

“Well, then she's going to eat canned tomato sauce, because that's all we have in this house anyway,” Jenny said.

“Nerina and Cora can share the upstairs guest room. Lidia can take the pullout in the den. Heath can sleep on the couch. And Bree and Alessia can bunk with Jenny.” Jeff winked at the three of us on the couch. “You girls will be up all night giggling anyway.”

I tightened my jaw. I did
not
giggle. I glanced over at Jenny, who had folded her arms across her chest and was shooting her dad a daggered look. Between us, Alessia slumped deep into the cushions. I was sure she was thinking the same thing I was. Eight people crammed into a three-bedroom house. She, Jenny, and I sleeping in the same room. Nerina without her fancy espresso machine, forced to drink drip coffee. If the Malandanti didn't do us in, that certainly would.

“I'll let Barb know the arrangements,” Jeff said. He pressed his lips together. “And I guess we oughta call the school to tell them you three will be out today. That might raise some eyebrows.”

I stared into the cold, ash-swept fireplace. The school probably cared more about me being absent than my parents did. They hadn't reported me missing in the two days I'd spent in the Guild, or come to the hospital. Dad was probably holed up in his office, trying to figure out his next move to cover his ass now that the Guild was in shambles. And Mom . . . She was probably totally obliterated. Both their kids were gone. What the hell was wrong with them? I hardened my jaw. I could take care of myself. I'd proven that in the basement of the Guild, holding out against that bastard Malandante mage.

“You'll probably be out of school for a while.” Alessia broke into my thoughts. “You can't go looking like that.”

Jenny leaned across her. “If you're going to be rattling around here all day long, you'd better not get into my stuff.”

I smirked at her. “Don't worry, Sands, I wouldn't dream of borrowing your cherry-flavored Bonne Bell lip gloss.”

“I don't wear
Bonne Bell
, thank you very much. I
have
seen the inside of a Sephora.”

“Coulda fooled me.”

“Oh, my God, you guys!” Alessia threw her hands up. “Look, it sucks, okay, but we all have to deal with it. So can we please just get along?”

Jenny slumped back into the couch and folded her arms. I would've done the same if I didn't know it would cause a riptide of agony. Instead I took a deep, dramatic breath and held my hand out to her. “Truce. I won't play with your toys.”

Jenny rolled her eyes, but she sat up and took my hand. “Deal.” When we let go, she tilted her head at me. “Those bruises do look really bad. My mom has some like super-hippie homemade ointment that actually works pretty well. Want some?”

“That would be great. Thanks.” When she got up, I turned to Alessia. “But I want to at least go back to my house to get some stuff. You do too, right?”

“Well yeah, but I don't know if we should risk it.” Alessia chewed her lip. “Pratt—the Raven—showed up there right after we left.”

“I was thinking maybe I could use a masking spell,” I said. “I could probably pull one off long enough for each of us to pack a bag.”

“You need to be healing, like Nerina said. I don't want you to overexert yourself.”

“Well, I am not borrowing Jenny's underwear,” I said. I glanced around to make sure no one was listening, but Cora, Heath, and Nerina were deep in conversation and Jeff had left to get Barb. I lowered my voice anyway. “Nerina told me what happened in the basement. About Jonah.”

Alessia looked down at her hands in her lap. “Did she tell you everything?”

I cocked my head. “I don't know. What's everything?”

She knotted her fingers together. “We could talk to each other, Bree. Even though we were transformed.”

My heart did a little spin inside my chest. I'd suspected. “Did he say if he heard me? At the Waterfall, during the battle?”

“Yes.” Alessia raised her gaze to my face. “He heard you.”

I breathed in deep, the corners of my mouth turning up. “I knew it. I knew it was possible.”

“He thinks it has to do with connection. Your connection because you're twins . . . our connection . . .” She looked down at her fingers again.

“Ugh, stop.” I held my hand up. “I don't need to hear about your, ahem,
connection.
” I reached out and nudged her shoulder lightly. “But this is
huge.
It means that we can communicate with him during a battle. Even if he can't fight against the Malandanti while he's still one of them, he can still tell us what they're going to do before they do it. This could be super helpful, Alessia.”

She scrunched her forehead. “What do you mean, he can't fight against the Malandanti?”

Before I could answer, a glass smashed to the floor. Alessia's mother stood at the edge of the living room, her arm stretched out, her finger pointing straight at Nerina. Her whole body shook, and her face was contorted with disbelief and white-hot anger. The only other person I'd ever seen in a full Italian rage was Nerina, and Lidia definitely looked like she could give her a run for her money.

She took one trembling step toward Nerina, her lips pale. “
You!
”

The Truth at Last

Alessia

I jumped off the couch. “Mom! What's wrong?”

But Lidia didn't answer me. She stalked toward Nerina, her face white as moonlight. Nerina stood, her back straight and her expression haughty, but I could see something in her eyes, something like regret. “Lidia,” she said, “after so many years, we meet again.”

She had switched to Italian. She didn't want the rest of the Clan to hear. But she had to know that I would.

“Is this your fault?” Lidia asked, answering in Italian. “Did you bring my daughter into all this?”

“You had to have known,” Nerina said. “You knew what she would become the moment she was born. It was destined.”

“Destiny is nothing,” Lidia said. “We choose our own destiny.”

Nerina stared at my mother so hard that Lidia flinched. “Like you chose yours?” she said, very softly but with an edge that could kill.

Lidia raised her chin. “Yes. As I chose mine. And I stand by that choice.”

Nerina's lips twisted. Before she could speak, I stepped between them. “Enough,” I said, also in Italian to make sure they knew I'd understood what had just been said. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I was going to find out. I grabbed Lidia's arm and dragged her out of the living room and into the den.

Barb had gone a little overboard with the manly Daniel Boone theme in the den, which was ironic considering she and Jeff were vegetarians. All four walls were padded with faux leather, including the back of the door. When I closed it, all sound from the living room was shut out. Lidia collapsed onto the plaid couch and buried her face in her hands. I came around and knelt on the braided rug in front of her. “Mom? What was that all about? Do you know Nerina?”

Lidia raised her head. Although her face was streaked with sorrow, her eyes were clear. She cupped my face, her calloused palms warm on my skin. “I'm so sorry,
cara.
I never wanted this life for you. I never wanted you to be a Benandante.”

I jerked away from her. I'd long suspected that Lidia knew about the Benandanti, but to hear the word tumble from her lips with such ease was still startling. I took a few long breaths. “You knew.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I knew.” She tried to touch my face again, but I moved back far enough that she couldn't reach me.

“You've known about the Benandanti all this time, haven't you? How?”

Lidia dropped her hands and turned her head so that I could see only her profile. She stared at the singing bass that hung on the wall that she'd always called tacky but that Jenny and I thought was funny. She was seeing something far beyond that silly little fish—something in her past. “She came to me,” Lidia said. I didn't need to ask who the
she
was. “When you were born.”

“Why?”

Lidia swung her gaze back to me. Her dark hair, which she had messily put up into a bun when we'd rushed from the farmhouse, tumbled in front of her eyes. “Because she'd come to me once before. When I was sixteen, like you.”

My breath caught. I couldn't move.

“Nerina came to me,” Lidia said. “Called me, told me I was destined to be a Benandante. Gave me the choice that all Benandanti get.” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and peered deep into my eyes. “I refused.”

Breath crept back into my body as my mind curved itself around the truth. “You're a Refuser.” It all made sense. “I bet Nerina didn't like being told no.”

Lidia's mouth pinched. “No. No, she did not.” Her gaze narrowed and shifted to the door, as though she could see her on the other side of it. “And she had her revenge. Seven years later, when you were a year old, she came back to me. She told me that you would be chosen to fulfill the destiny that I had denied. I fought with her,” Lidia said, her voice raspy and low. “I said I would not allow my child to be put in that kind of danger. And she replied that the Benandanti would come back for you when you were old enough to make the decision for yourself. That night, I told your father that I wanted to move to America.”

I pressed my hands to the sides of my head, trying to wrestle this knowledge in with all the other secrets I'd been keeping. “Did Dad know?” I asked, finally saying aloud the question that had haunted me for months. “Did he know about the Benandanti?”

Lidia nodded. My chest squeezed tight, and I couldn't say the thing I feared most. Had he been a Benandante too?

“He knew about them because both of his parents were Benandanti.”

I came off my knees and eased away from her. I had no memory of my paternal grandparents; I had always been told that they died when I was a baby. That was why my dad had returned to Twin Willows with his new wife and child: to run the farm that they had left behind. “Did they . . . die in battle?”

Lidia swallowed hard. Her eyes were shiny with tears threatening to spill over. “Yes. It happened about six months after we came to Twin Willows.”

Six months. So I
had
met my grandparents. Or rather, they had met me. Try as I might, the only image of them I could conjure in my head was the picture of them, kind-faced and surrounded by goats, that we had on the mantel at home. My brain spun as all the pieces of the puzzle finally began clicking into place. That was why Nerina had built her lair on our farm, why she'd placed the amulet in the basement of the farmhouse. Bree didn't know how right she'd been when she once called my home Benandanti Central.