“Your grandfather. Wait here.”
My grandfather? I squinted to get a closer look. That was him? He didn’t look frightening, but a dark, electric force seemed to pressurize the air around him, similar to what one might feel before a storm’s arrival. I shook my head, still unbelieving that the man who had elicited months of silence and hate between my parents was only a stone’s throw away.
Boaz was saying something to him while pointing his finger toward me. My grandfather repeatedly shook his head.
I took a deep breath. Time to go see what this was all about. I moved to step across the street, but was interrupted.
“You are to stay with us,” said two feminine voices from behind me.
I turned around, surprised that someone had spoken to me like that, and came face to face with identical twins. Their blonde, almost white hair was cut short, framing their pointy chins. They had large noses to match, but nothing was as unnerving as their eyes. Their irises were narrow slits swimming in luminescent sea-green eyes—the exact same color as my own.
“Who are you two?” I asked.
“We are your cousins,” they said in unison.
“I’m Helen,” the one on the left said.
“And I’m Harriet.”
I glanced back at Boaz. “How are we related?”
“Our mother is your father’s sister,” Harriet answered.
This sparked my interest. “I didn’t know my father had a sister.”
The twins looked at each other and then back at me. “She is much stronger than your father.”
“Awesome,” I said and snickered. As if I cared. I hadn’t thought about my parents for weeks. “You know, it’s great that I have cousins, but I’m sort of busy right now. Let’s do this another time.”
I turned to leave but found a force blocking my path. Startled, I pressed my palms against the invisible wall. Magic.
I swiveled around. Both girls were smiling, their noses pointed downwards, dipping into their wide grins.
“Going somewhere?” Helen asked.
“Trying to get away from us?” Harriet added.
“Um, you guys are creepy. I need to go talk to Boaz.”
At the mention of his name, a far off look filled the twin’s eyes, and air escaped their lungs in a long drawn-out sigh. The invisible wall weakened, and I quickly moved to take a step forward, but both girls reached at the same time and took hold of my arms.
“You are not to speak to Boaz,” Helen said.
“Ever,” Harriet added.
“Let go of me, freaks!” I said, struggling against their surprisingly strong grip. I tried pushing them away by using magic, but somehow they managed to block my attack. This frustrated me even more. No one had ever stopped me from using my abilities before.
“You can’t use magic against us.”
“We’re too strong for you.”
My gaze went to Boaz. His back was to me as he was still talking to my grandfather. The girls spun me around, away from him.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“To prove to Boaz that we are more powerful than you.”
“To get what is rightfully ours.”
“You can’t be serious.” One look at each of their faces told me that they were very serious. “Boaz is a grown man. He can choose whom he wants to be with.”
“Boaz will choose who is most powerful,” Helen said.
“And it’s not you,” Harriet added.
“That’s ridiculous. Boaz will choose whom he loves.”
Both girls laughed; the sounds were ugly and cold, sharing pig-like grunts between the both of them. Without warning, their laughter stopped as they eyed our grandfather. I turned around in time to see him nodding at the girls.
“Time to go, cousin,” they said.
“Go? I’m not going anywhere.”
They tugged on my arms.
“Boaz!” I called.
Boaz turned around slowly, his expression blank.
“Boaz, help me!”
Still, he did nothing.
One of the twins opened the rear door of a nearby vehicle, while the other one shoved me in, making me fall onto my back. Why wasn’t Boaz doing anything? Without my legs being visibly touched, they were pushed in and the car door slammed shut, banging my knee. I whirled around and put my hand against the back window. “Boaz!”
He stood next to my grandfather, arms at his sides. The street lamp above cast an eerie light upon him, stretching his shadow beyond what I thought it should be. He stared at me, unblinking, his face no different from a stone statue.
As the car drove off, I startled when it appeared that his shadow detached from his body and followed after me. I must’ve imagined it, for when I looked back again, only the darkness of the night remained.
Chapter 15
We were the only people on the road and had been for miles. A forest on each side of us pressed up against the pavement, never giving me a clear view of what lay beyond.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
Neither twin answered.
I sighed. “Come on, girls. We’re family. Can’t we at least be nice to each other?”