"Put your faces on. We're going to have company."
Chapter 8
Betrayal
There are plenty of things that can hurt a person, but betrayal is one of the most unforgivable.
By the time we pulled up at my house, we had almost overloaded Amelia's brain with information—things that seemed impossible. It was a lot to digest all at once.
"So I'm going to live forever?" she asked in a hoarse rasp, still pale.
"Not yet. Your immortality will be a gentle transition, though. It won't be painful like ours was," Henry reassured her.
My head whipped around in surprise. No one had made me aware that there would be any pain involved, so that was news to me and slightly unsettling to hear.
"So... you're all a bunch of witches?"
She still wasn't processing everything fully. Her face was bruised badly now. After the long ride, the wounds had time to fully surface. I was going to ask her some questions about her abusive father, but we were greeted by my family, as well as the Verdan family, before I could.
Tallis flashed around to my side to open the door for me, and Henry did the same for Amelia. I walked around as Iris stepped in front of Henry to examine the new addition to her coven.
Iris was in her old lady form as she took Amelia's hand gently, helping her out of the back. I could see the excitement beaming in her eyes as she gazed at Amelia in disbelief, treating her like an exotic creature she had longed to see.
Amelia took her in, frowning before turning to me and whispering, "So I have to live forever as an old lady?"
I heard Iris laugh before she answered, "I see you've already filled her in. No need for the masks then."
The sea of deceptive faces around her dropped their aged facades, and youthful images emerged in their places. Amelia stumbled backwards, her eyes wide with shock, but Henry caught her before she fell. It was a lot different to hear about it and then to see it.
"So this… this is really happening. I'm not on some prank show?"
Tallis laughed as he slid in behind me, wrapping both arms around my waist as if gravity refused to let him be close without touching me. It sent waves of conflicting emotions through me, torturing me and exciting me at once. But then he realized what he was doing and quickly released me, stepping away before he crossed some arbitrary line.
Iris smiled warmly at Amelia as I warred with my emotions. She looked so giddy about the anomaly we had brought home.
"It's as real as real can be. There's still a lot to discuss. You have to hear everything, and then we'll have to make sure you are protected. I don't know the rules with empaths. I can't smell you at all, but I can feel your presence. It's strong because of your bond to Aria."
Amelia sniffed herself, and I stifled a grin.
"Smell me?" she mouthed, realizing now that it was safer to be silent, since they overheard her whisper earlier.
I just shook my head. That was the least of her worries at the moment.
We had talked for hours and finally got to the subject of Amelia's family. Iris had been the one to bring it up. Amelia had tears in her eyes the whole time. I could tell she was accidentally letting some of her power carry her emotions around the group. I could feel her pain of loss. Then I felt her tragic life as an abused foster child.
"My mom had me at nineteen. She and my dad got married right out of high school. I don't know where any of my other family is, because my mom lied about her name on my birth certificate. I really don't even know if I have any more family. My mom and dad were killed in a crazy arson fire one night when I was two. The only thing I know about them and my past is what the social workers have told me."
"Fire?" Iris asked, keeping her expression neutral. "How did the fire start?"
Amelia shrugged as she stared at her fingernails, her attention focused on them only to escape the intensity of everyone's gaze.
"They never found out what started it. It seemed like a freak accident with no real point of origin. They don't know how I got out."
I could see everyone exchanging glances. They all knew it had been a blazer. Amelia didn't notice the silent exchange as she continued talking.
"I was bounced around from place to place before they stuck me with Quinton. He's the worst person I've ever known, but no one else would keep me. It was either live with him or live in the orphanage. There wasn't a good option. I chose the lesser of the two evils.
"Eventually, I just gave up hope. I thought for sure he'd kill me one day. I never thought I would end up some magical being. It's all still a little bizarre. Well, it's more than a little bizarre. I'm still contemplating on whether or not I'm actually stuck in a dream right now."