Clover was waiting for her to come back so she could try to talk to her. She’d thought that Autumn would cheer up when she realized it hadn’t been her fault that the social services witch had come after them. No such luck. If anything, Autumn was getting more and more withdrawn these days. When she wasn’t out jogging, she was sitting in her room.
Clover peered down the road, looking for her younger sister. To her surprise, she saw a car, which she recognized as Sapphire’s, heading off the main road and towards the boarding house.
Sapphire pulled up, parked and got out of the car. She had an armful of shopping bags and a big, fake smile plastered across her pretty face.
“Clover! I am so sorry about last week,” she said. “I was just having a really bad day. To make up for it, I come bearing gifts. For everyone. I got you the most beautiful dress – it is to die for. And I got brand-new laptops and smartphones for all the kids.”
“You’re making an awful lot of money as a waitress at a dive bar,” Clover said skeptically. And that skank biker dude who ran out on you sure isn’t keeping you in this kind of style, she thought but didn’t say out loud.
Sapphire’s smile slipped a notch. “I am trying to make amends and spend more time with my family,” she said. “There’s no need to imply I’m doing something wrong.”
“Sapphire, I don’t think you understand how horrible and unacceptable your behavior was,” Clover said. “I dropped everything and brought our family down here when I barely had a cent to my name and I was already dealing with the fact that our parents had to go underground and suddenly I’m the full-time caretaker of four kids. To get down here I spent almost everything I had on gas for the car and meals for the kids, and showed up here with nothing. I’m lucky that Imogen agreed to house us and wait for me to earn money to pay her back. Otherwise I would have had money for one night at a motel and that would have been it. I did all that based on your lie, and I stormed into Sam McCoy’s office and accused him of being a total asshole and lots of other things. Not only that, but when I finally caught on, you had the nerve to try to act as if I’d done something wrong.”
Sapphire’s face had grown more and more sullen as Clover’s voice rose in anger. Clover was surprised that Sapphire was still standing there; normally she would have turned on her heel and stalked off at the first hint of someone calling her on her B.S.
“Fine. I tried.” Then her fake smile reappeared. “Hey, guys!” she called. Clover turned to see Lennon and Moonlight and Twilight walking towards them.
“Hey, Sapphire. I thought I heard you,” Lennon said. “Long time no see. What are you doing here so early?”
“I wanted to make sure you all were home. I missed you guys! Guess what I have? Brand-new laptops and cell phones for everyone!” she sang out, holding the bags out to them. “Hey, where’s Autumn? Go and get her so she can get her presents!”
The kids all shared one laptop and their cell phones were a couple of years old – they still worked fine, but there was nothing like shiny new technology to set them slavering.
They started rushing towards her to pick up the bags. “Stop!” Clover yelled.
They froze and turned to look at her. “What?” Twilight asked.
“You can’t give them those gifts until you tell me where you got the money for them,” Clover said firmly to Sapphire.
“I am a waitress. I used my tip money.” Sapphire glared at her.
“No, you did not earn thousands of dollars-worth of tips in the last couple of weeks at that tiny little bar in the middle of nowhere.”
“No new laptop?” Moonlight looked wistful.
“I’m sorry. Go back in the house.” Reluctantly, they turned and went back in, glancing back over their shoulders.
All traces of good humor had vanished from Sapphire’s face. She’d turned from sweet, conniving Sapphire into temper-tantrum Sapphire. “This is bullshit. I’m their sister too. You can’t keep me from giving them gifts.”
“Since I am their court appointed legal guardian, yes I can. You need to leave.”
“Not until I see Autumn.” Sapphire’s jaw jutted out stubbornly, and she started marching towards the boarding house. “I need to tell her that I wanted to give her these gifts and spend time with my family, and you refused. So she knows that I still care about her. And you can’t stop me.”
“The hell I can’t!” Clover lunged forward and grabbed her arm. Sapphire swung on her with a snarl, and her snout shot out. Fur rolled over her skin.
Clover did the same, growling and snarling as she shifted. She shot up in height, her clothing falling away as her claws curved out of her paws. Sapphire was a huge brown bear, almost seven feet tall, but Clover matched her in bear form. With a roar, she swiped at Sapphire, who swiped back.
The two bears circled each other, snarling and snapping at each other for a minute until Sapphire finally shifted back into human form.
“Fine, I’m leaving,” Sapphire said angrily, and stomped back to her car, naked.