Chasing Power

by Sarah Beth Durst

  “Katie, I promise you’ll understand after—”

  “You look like you’re going to prom in this one.” They were in tuxes and gowns. The two girls had corsages on their wrists. There was an extra boy in the shot, but he stood a few inches away from the rest of them. All of them had awkward, frozen smiles on their faces. “I can’t believe you went for a pink cummerbund. And who is that boy with the ruffles? Mom looks beautiful, though, doesn’t she? Did you dance together? Slow dance? Cheek to cheek? Did you go to an after-prom party?”

  “This is hardly relevant,” Amanda said. “Why isn’t anyone telling her to shut up? Oh, wait, yes, I am. Katie, shut up.”

  Still ignoring her, Kayla turned another page. “Ooh, look at this one. Graduation? I bet you guys tossed your hats in the air and then promised to stay friends forever, didn’t you? I bet you promised that nothing would ever change between you.” She lifted the album higher, holding it over her head, so that all of them could see. “Selena and I made promises like that too. Even shared blood once. Blood sisters, that’s what we were. Is that what you were? Best friends? More? Well, there’s blood now, but if you go through with this, one of you will die.”

  “It’s the price that must be paid,” her father said.

  “Is that what these people would have wanted?” She shook the album. “Is that what you wanted? You didn’t know about the ‘price’ then. You do now! One of you will die!”

  A wind whipped against her, and the album was yanked from her hands. It flew into the murky water and was submerged. Algae closed over it as if swallowing it. Amanda waved the gun in Kayla’s direction. “Nice try, Katydid, but you don’t understand. You’ve been living a lie for years.”

  Kayla met Moonbeam’s eyes and then looked back at her father. “Then enlighten me. Explain to me why it’s okay to murder my mother, the woman you once loved. Or Daniel’s mother, your best friend. Do they mean so little to you now?”

  “Of course not,” Kayla’s father said. “They mean the world to me.” He looked as if he wanted to say more. His eyes slid to Amanda and then back to Kayla. His expression was pleading, but he didn’t say anything else.

  “See, that’s what I don’t understand. If you care about them or even care about the memory of caring about them, why do this? Do you really need this power so badly?” She kept her eyes glued to her father’s face. She had his blue eyes, she noticed. Amanda had Moonbeam’s green. “Are you planning to found an empire? I really don’t think the world needs a new empire. Besides, power isn’t all that. Look at me. I use my ‘special skill’ to rob ATMs and jewelry stores. Really noble, right?” Moonbeam’s eyes widened. But Kayla ignored her and plowed on. “And look at Amanda. She’s Superman-strong, yet she uses her power to be a super-powered thug, nothing more.”

  “Excuse me, I am not a thug,” Amanda said.

  Kayla nodded at the still-unconscious Daniel. “Tell that to him.” He’d started to moan and shift, but his eyes hadn’t opened yet. “Getting more power isn’t going to solve whatever personal issues you have. You’re still going to be a messed-up dad and a horrible husband. Dad, please, think about it. Best case: It works and you’re the one who gets the magic slam. Now you’re an all-powerful murderer. Yay! Do you really think you’ll be happy full of power stained with the blood of someone you used to love?”

  Dad opened and then shut his mouth, and for an instant, Kayla thought she was reaching him. He was listening to her, which had to count for something. At last he said, “This is the only way to make things right.”

  “By killing someone you love? How’s that right?”

  “Father, don’t listen to her,” Amanda said. “This is your destiny. This is what we’ve worked so long and so hard for. This is our chance at greatness! Every great achievement requires a great sacrifice.”

  “What fortune cookie did you read that in?” Kayla asked. “Destroying someone you love doesn’t sound like such a great achievement to me.”

  Lowering the knife a few inches, Dad covered Moonbeam’s hand with his free hand. Kayla tensed, ready, though she wasn’t sure what she was ready for. She didn’t have a plan.

  “Jack, listen to her,” Moonbeam said softly.

  “You’re afraid,” he said to Moonbeam. “But you don’t have to be. Once we do this, you don’t ever have to be afraid again. We’ll have everything we ever wanted, the way it was supposed to be.”

  “Not true,” Moonbeam said. “One of us will be dead.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, just do it!” Amanda cried. “I don’t understand why you’re all even talking. If it would help, I’ll shoot her.” She swung the gun to point it at Kayla.

  “Amanda, no!” Kayla’s parents both rushed forward to the edge of the pool. Free from the knife, Evelyn raced out of the water to Daniel. She cradled him in his arms. She called his name, but he didn’t wake.

  “See?” Kayla said. “Amanda just proved my point. Thanks, sis. You do care about me, Dad. You care about your family! You stop this, and we could be a family again. You do this, and you lose that chance forever.” She held her hand out toward her father. “You lost years with your wife. You lost my childhood. Do this, and you lose again. Stop, and maybe we can make things better. Now, we have a chance to begin again!”

  Amanda scowled at her. “That is really screwed up.”

  For once, Kayla agreed with her sister. But she continued to smile hard, as if she thought reconciliation was possible, as if she ever wanted to see the psychopath who had threatened her mother again. As soon as she had Moonbeam safe, she was going to ensure they never saw him again. They were going to flee to the farthest reaches of the world and hide themselves more thoroughly than ever before. But for now, she smiled, as if she believed they could all be one big happy family, like the family in Mexico. “Please, Dad, haven’t you lost enough?”

  Moonbeam touched his arm. “Jack.” She put a world of emotion into that one syllable. “You don’t have to do this. We can find another way.”

  He stared at the knife in his hands as if seeing it anew.

  “Are you serious?” Amanda asked. “Are you freaking serious? Because I did not do all of this, all the training, all the … everything, so you could be a coward at the last minute.”

  “Does she even know about the side effect?” Kayla asked. She turned to face Amanda. “Do you know if he completes this spell, we lose our powers? It doesn’t summon new magic. It takes our magic and puts it into one of them.”

  Amanda’s mouth dropped open. “You’re lying.”

  “Tell her the truth,” Moonbeam urged. “Why are you doing this? Why take this risk?”

  He locked his eyes on Moonbeam. “I want to fix what we broke.”

  Kayla felt her jaw drop open. He wasn’t doing this to make himself powerful? He wanted to take their power?

  Amanda’s voice was a shriek. “Dad?”

  “You need to trust me,” Jack said. “This is for the best.”

  Amanda began to sputter. Her face reddened. Kayla understood what she was feeling. Both of them had misjudged Dad. And Kayla wasn’t sure this was any better. He was endangering her mother and Daniel’s out of some messed-up sense of regret.

  Jack looked at Kayla, then Amanda, then Daniel. “This will fix you. All three of you.”

  “But it won’t,” Moonbeam said gently. “It won’t turn back the clock. Their power is part of them now. You can’t take it from them. This isn’t the way.”

  Kayla couldn’t believe it was Moonbeam saying this. Moonbeam. The one who always made her hide her power. The one who made her pretend it wasn’t part of her.

  “This is the only way! It took me a long time to see that. A long time to see what the magic has … what I have … done to our daughter. To both our daughters and to Evelyn’s son.”

  Moonbeam shook her head sadly. “It’s too late.”

  “You’re lying.” Amanda’s hands were shaking. The gun wavered. “You’re all lying! This is for more power! So yo
u can fulfill your dreams! So we can make the world better, help the helpless, all of that, all the things you used to say! Not for taking my power! The spell grants magic; it doesn’t take it!”

  “Completing the spell will reallocate the magic, consolidating it into a single person,” Evelyn said. “Or at least that’s the theory, and it’s supported by—”

  Amanda swung the gun toward her. “Shut up. All of you, shut up.”

  “Amanda, put down the gun.” Their father began to wade out of the water. Kayla held her breath. “I can explain. Years ago, Evelyn, your mother, and I cast a spell that we didn’t understand and it had consequences we didn’t—”

  “I won’t let you take it away from me. And if you’re not in this for the magic … then I’ll take yours too.” Aiming the gun at Dad, Amanda squeezed the trigger.

  Chapter 26

  The gun obliterated all other sound. Every bird fled. Every insect was silenced. But Kayla had reacted even faster. As Amanda squeezed the trigger, Kayla threw her mind at the bullet. As it exited the barrel, she knocked its tip. It veered off course and slammed into a tree on the opposite side of the swimming hole.

  Moonbeam was screaming, but Kayla barely heard her. She felt as though every fiber in her body were vibrating. She clenched her hands into fists and held herself still. Ready.

  Amanda fired again—this time, Kayla hit the bullet in the air before the sound even registered in her ears. The bullet ricocheted and embedded itself in the rocks. Walking forward toward her father, Amanda shot again, and Kayla plucked the third bullet out of the air. She let it fall to the ground.

  Amanda pivoted and shot at Kayla.

  Without any hesitation, Kayla smacked the bullet to the ground. She then lifted it up with her mind. It arched through the air and landed gently in her palm. “Enough, Amanda.”

  “You’re really taking me on, little sis?” Laughing, Amanda tossed the gun into the bushes. “Okay, then, let’s play.”

  “I’m not fighting you,” Kayla said. “I just don’t want you to shoot anyone.” But Amanda wasn’t listening. She lifted one of the tires out of the muck and flung it at Kayla as if it were no heavier than a Frisbee.

  Kayla dove to the ground as her father charged out of the pool. He was followed closely by Moonbeam. Switching her attention to them, Amanda flicked her hands, and Dad flew across the water to land in the trees on the opposite side. Moonbeam flew after him, crashing down on top of him in a tangle of limbs. For good measure, Amanda also grabbed Evelyn and chucked her as well. She landed beside them. Using Amanda’s distraction, Kayla scrambled behind the large rock that they’d first hidden behind. She’d need to fight smarter—

  The rock shifted, wiggled like a loose tooth, and then rose into the air.

  Crap, Kayla thought. She retreated fast and smacked backward into a pair of waiting arms. The world flashed white then green. Instantly, she was home in the garden. The torn-up bushes were in front of her, and the garden gnomes lay at her feet. She spun to face Daniel. “Take me back,” she ordered.

  “She’s trying to kill you!” Daniel said.

  “You jump our mothers out of there while she’s distracted with me, then come back and save me.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Queen Marguerite barrel out of the house.

  “Did they start the spell?” the voodoo queen asked.

  “Yes. There’s blood on the stones. What do I do?”

  “All of them?”

  “Only two.”

  “Then it’s not too late.” Drawing a pouch out of her pocket, Queen Marguerite tossed it to Kayla. “Cleanse the blood off the stones with water and salt, then bring your mother safe to me. You hear me, girl?”

  Catching it, Kayla said, “Now, Daniel.”

  And the world flashed. Instantly, they were back. This time, Daniel had deposited them behind a different, larger rock. Clever boy, Kayla thought. He was learning to be careful. About damn time.

  Kayla peeked around the rock. Dad was on land, but Amanda, Evelyn, and Moonbeam were hip-deep in the water. Each held a stone. Amanda had a knife in her other hand.

  The gun was floating in the air, aimed at Moonbeam’s head.

  Dad’s eyes were fixed on the gun, but Moonbeam’s were focused on the knife. Kayla thought of Queen Marguerite’s relief that only two stones had blood. She had to act before the spell was complete.

  Amanda might have brute strength, but Kayla had precision. You can do this, she told herself. She spotted one of the discharged bullets on the ground, lifted it up, and jammed it into the barrel of the gun. And then she waited for her moment.

  On the edge of the pond, their father was pleading, “Don’t do this! You could die! One in three chance.” His face was contorted in anguish. Kayla tried to imagine what it would have been like to be raised by him. Had that twisted Amanda, or had she always been like this?

  “And a one in three chance of true power.”

  “Amanda, don’t—”

  Without another word, Amanda sliced the palm of her own hand with the knife. Ready, Kayla caught each drop of blood and veered them away from the stone. They landed in the water instead. “Not funny, Katydid!” Amanda called.

  Kayla stayed hidden behind the rock. She focused on the water trickling down the rock face. She carried it in a steady stream toward the stones, washing the blood from Evelyn’s and Moonbeam’s stones. She then opened the pouch of salt and sent the grains flying toward the stones. The stream of grains split, some for each stone.

  “You shouldn’t have come back,” Amanda said. A rusted car door rose out of the water and flew at the trees. It impacted and shattered only a few feet from Kayla. She kept the salt flying. “I know you’re near. You’re not as clever as you think. There aren’t many places to hide.”

  Salt landed on the stones, mixing with the water, cleansing them.

  A tree cracked and crashed on the other side of Kayla, and Kayla flinched. Other trees began to fall, one after another. Taking advantage of Evelyn’s preoccupation, Daniel appeared in the water, clapped his hand on his mother’s shoulder, and they both vanished—with Evelyn’s stone.

  “Amanda, please, don’t!” Moonbeam said. “She’s your sister.”

  “My sister’s dead,” Amanda said. “She died when you stole her from me!” Shoving, she knocked Moonbeam back. One of the tires flew toward Moonbeam and landed on her, pushing her down. Water closed over her face.

  Kayla screamed. “Mom!” She burst out from behind the rock. “Amanda, stop it! Leave her alone. Come on, you know you really want to go for me.”

  Dad tried to yank the tire off Moonbeam, but Amanda was holding it in place. He strained as he pulled, shouting at Amanda to release it.

  Grabbing a bubble of air, Kayla forced it into the water. She pushed it through the water and into her mother’s mouth. Distract her, Kayla thought, and she’ll let go. Amanda couldn’t hold multiple things at once—even the corpses in the catacombs had flown one at a time. “You hate that our father wants to change you. You hate that you aren’t enough to make him happy. You hate that he kept looking for me even though he had you.”

  “You little—” Amanda reached out with her mind and grabbed the rocks on the cliff. In order to do this, as Kayla had hoped, she released her hold on the tire that was drowning Moonbeam. Moonbeam burst to the surface. Kayla’s father reached for her, and Moonbeam lunged away—into Daniel’s arms.

  Moonbeam and Daniel vanished as Dad yelled.

  Amanda didn’t seem to notice. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She hurled rocks at Kayla. One of them clipped Kayla’s shoulder as she tried to dive for cover. She cried out and fell to her knees. Several other rocks were hurtling toward her.

  Kayla’s father launched himself into Amanda, knocking her over. Her control over the rocks broke, and Kayla ducked as the other rocks smashed harmlessly around her. She popped up again to see that Amanda was crying harder—and hitting her father over and over again with her right fist. He was holding her back,
and her fist landed only lightly on his chest.

  Daniel appeared beside Kayla. “You all right?”

  “I don’t know whether to help him, or help her,” Kayla said. She got to her feet and dusted off her knees. They ached from where she’d hit the ground, and her shoulder throbbed.

  “Why not leave them to each other?”

  Her father caught Amanda’s wrist. She sagged against him, still crying, still clutching the third stone. Dad stroked her back and murmured to her as he looked up at Kayla. His eyes met hers.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Kayla said to Daniel, and the world flashed around them.

  Chapter 27

  Kayla blinked fast, trying to force her vision to steady so she could see where she was. She recognized the room in seconds: she was in Selena’s house, specifically the media room. The TV was on, paused in the middle of a random car chase scene, and a bowl of edamame was on the coffee table. The shells were littered over the rug, as if they’d been spilled. Moonbeam and Daniel’s mother were there, collapsed on a couch and wrapped in towels, their backs to Kayla and Daniel. In front of the TV, Selena was pacing back and forth.

  “Smart,” Kayla said softly. Neither Amanda nor Queen Marguerite knew Selena’s house.

  Selena rushed over to her. “Not smart. What if my parents come home early? What if your father comes here?”

  Moonbeam jumped to her feet. “Kayla! You’re alive!” Beside her, Daniel’s mother twisted to see her and asked at the same time, “What happened? Is Jack all right?”

  Talking over them in her loud-as-a-trumpet voice, Selena continued, “Why are they here? And why are there gobs of algae on my couch? Kayla, what is going on?”

  Kayla faced her mother. She plucked the stone out of Moonbeam’s hands. Moonbeam didn’t resist. She reached her empty hands toward Kayla. “Kayla …”