Chapter 1
I'm Planning
Cora; Ten years old
“Hush now, darling, you must listen closely,” Mother whispered to me. “I’ve seen what is to come, and there isn’t much time. Protect your sister, whatever you do. She’s going to need you to be strong. Do you understand? You must protect each other.”
I stared up into my mother’s midnight blue eyes. Father had always said I looked just like her—my mother. We had the same dark hair, the same ocean deep eyes, and the same quiet demeanor that was truly anything but what it seemed.
We weren’t quiet, we were planning. We were watching. We weren’t shy, we were smart—always learning and absorbing. I mentally repeated what Father always told me. “I’m not shy, I’m smart. I’m not quiet, I’m planning.”
A sudden pain in my arm brought me back to what Mother was saying, her eyes growing hard and stern.
“Cora,” she growled, her voice becoming angry in a way it never did with me.
That was the tone she normally reserved for Silv.
But Silvana wasn’t here right now—she hadn’t been for a while now—and everything seemed to be falling to me in a way I didn’t feel prepared for.
“Are you listening? Protect your sister.”
I nodded my head. “Of course, Mother. I’ll always protect Silv,” I whispered to her.
She yanked me into her arms and hugged me tighter than she ever had before.
My mother had never been an affectionate parent, but I wasn’t sure what was happening to make her act this way.
Silvana had been taken by a male—Father had sold her for money, which Mother still hadn’t forgiven him for.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to protect Silv though.
I thought that’s what older sisters were for, that’s how it was for the other girls in our old school, and Silv had seen nine more winters than I had.
A loud noise came from the kitchen and I jumped.
“Cora, go hide under your bed, darling. Don’t come out,” Mother said urgently.
I stared at her, lost in confusion as to what was going on.
My father’s screams filled the small dwelling I’d called home for the entirety of my life, the sounds piercing my ears in a way nothing else had in my few short years.
Bolting beneath my bed, my fists clenched as I hid there like Mother told me.
Trying to tell my heartbeat it could be calm now, Mother wouldn’t let anything happen to me, but it did little to bring me peace tonight.
Everything felt off. Mother’s behavior, my dreams, even the smell in the air was wrong.
I’d been so wrapped up in my breathing techniques, I didn’t notice the footsteps as they entered my room. Mother let out a gurgled grunt, but I was too deep in my own head to react now. A puddle of crimson liquid flowed closer and closer to me, but I didn’t move.
A little tickle in my stomach tried to break my concentration, but I ignored it the best I could—just like I always did. Just like Mother always told me too.
“Ignore the magic, baby, it isn’t safe,” she’d whisper whenever it started rising within me. As if she could feel it too. Maybe she could. I’d never stopped to think much about it until now.
I was so busy watching the blood flow across the hardwood floor and trying to focus on remaining calm, that it took me longer to react when two large hands pulled me from beneath the bed.
My pretty blue dress smeared right through my mother’s blood.
I looked up and realized it was the male that Silv had been living with now.
“Oh, don’t look over there, Cora. Did you see anything?”
I shook my head, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip. My fangs were still tiny, easily hidden. But he knew, right? He knew who I was? Mother said Silv and I were rare, but me even more so.
“Would you like to come stay with Silvie and me? She misses you terribly. She asked me to come and collect you,” he said. “I arrived just in time too.”
He tried to make his voice sound kind and gentle, but he wasn’t. I could see the darkness in his eyes. The tickle of my long, hidden magic coming through stronger. Swallowing harshly, I ignored it the best I could.
What if he doesn't know? Keep it hidden, Cora.
Father liked to tell us to assume no one knew anything you didn’t wish for them to know, unless they proved otherwise. That was the power of a good secret keeper.
“Silv is with you?” My voice came out quiet—ever the quiet daughter. The quiet sister.
His face lit up as he nodded. Taking my hand within his, he guided me out of the small house.
The snow sank into my light blue slippers, the material not meant for outdoor wear.
Mother wouldn’t be pleased when she—I stopped myself.
Mother wouldn’t care. She was bleeding out on the bedroom floor right now.
I tried to remember her words.
Protect Silv.
The male lifted me atop a horse, following close behind. His chest against my back as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled the reins tight as if we were hugging. We rode out of the small town, silent for a few moments before he leaned down next to my ear.
“Never speak of this, Cora. It’s very important. This town doesn’t exist anymore, and neither will your sister if you speak of what you saw tonight,” he whispered.
Once more, his voice sounded kind and calm—but that little feeling in my belly told me it wasn’t right. Father would sound like that when he’d get angry but didn’t want us to be upset while he scolded us. Mother would say it was in those moments he was trying to teach us something about life.
But I had a feeling this male wasn’t trying to teach me much of anything. His tone sounded as sinister as I’m sure he meant it to, even with the calming measure of his voice.
Nodding, I stayed quiet as we rode out of the small town that had been my home for the last nine years.
Silent as I watched males I didn’t know, who appeared armored just as the male behind me was, slit the throat of the baker who always made me special chocolate cookies when the boys in town teased me and made me want to freeze their toes off.
I watched as the small inn where Silv and I used to go with Mother to help the owner wash sheets was lit on fire.
I watched as the school where Silv and I learned to write our names and read our favorite stories was ransacked and then also lit aflame.
By the time we reached the edge of town, all the snow around our streets had melted and all that was left was ash and the dead. The screaming finally ceasing to be heard, replaced by the snaps and crackles of the blaze.
My home was gone.
My parents were gone.
Silvana was all I had left.
Mother’s words once more echoed within my mind, and I promised myself I would always protect Silv. No matter what it cost me.