"What the hell?" I said, marching back up to the kitchen door and tugging on the knob.
I could see Nina, Jeanie, and Nicole talking in the kitchen, ignoring me. When I banged on the glass, the curtains on the door closed. And when I pounded on the door, Nina's magic enveloped me and tossed me onto the rocky beach.
I glared at the house, still visible from where I sat. But then the strangest feeling of déjà vu came over me. The way the waves crashed against the shore, the smell of the ocean (similar, but different from the sparring beach). The feeling like I should be meeting someone here. I walked eastward until I came across a newer house in the midst of all the old ones. Something about it seemed wrong, like it didn't belong there. Like some other structure should've been there instead.
"What the hell are you looking at?" Marie asked, appearing beside me.
I broke from my trance and shook my head to clear it. "Where've you been?"
"Staying out of sight of Gram," Marie said. "She's such a b…"
"Bitch?"
"I think she's magicked my tongue," Marie said, casting furtive glances at the house that loomed above us. "But seriously, what the hell are you looking at?"
"Nothing," I said after a long silence. "Want to go exploring?"
"Better than staying in this dump."
Since neither of us wanted to figure out how to summon Marie's car from Florida, we had to settle for exploring on foot. We didn't really speak to each other, but that also meant Marie wasn't being awful to me, so I didn't mind it.
I wasn't sure what I'd expected in a magical village, but I found myself a little underwhelmed. It looked awfully…normal. I didn't know if I'd expected dragons or wyverns or spells shooting across the street. The only thing half-interesting was that each house boasted what might, in the summer, be a sizable garden, but now was nothing more than a patch of dead leaves and vines.
"Did we live here?" I asked Marie after we'd rounded the block and came onto a main street.
Marie made a noncommittal noise and shrugged.
"Are you magically compelled not to tell me about this stuff?"
"What stuff?"
"About living here, about Gram. Not telling me about magic for fifteen years. All the secrecy—"
Again, she made a noncommittal noise and shrugged.
"I'll take that as a yes."
My mood soured considerably as our short journey ended, and we stood on the street, watching Gram's house bustle with activity. People arrived in puffs of different color smoke, grinning and hugging each other as long-lost friends. Others left their houses with casserole dishes in hand, and children chased each other through the brown, dead grass. No one seemed bothered by the cold, chatting with each other with bright, warm expressions.
"This is going to be painful," Marie said, pursing her lips. "I don't know these people and I don't appreciate them acting like we're all close and shit."
"Yeah," I said with a nod, glad that she wasn't magically compelled to not speak ill of Gram.
"And Gram just showing up and ordering us around like she's the queen of England."
"Yeah!"
Marie shrugged. "That's why I'm moving out."
"Are you…really?" I risked a glance at her. She was completely serious. "Really?"
"Yup."
Somehow the thought of Marie leaving made me sadder than I'd expected. Even though she didn't speak to me or act any differently toward me now that she was healing me after sparring lessons, we'd still spent a lot of time together. And despite everything, she was my sister.
"And she won't have any control over you?" I asked softly.
"Neither of them will. I'm so tired of Jeanie's bullshit. And Nicole's just a pushover and does whatever she says." Marie's face grew darker. "When I turn eighteen, they won't have any power over me."
"They won't?"
"Not if I renounce the clan."
I chewed my lip. That didn't sound so terrible.
"Maybe I should do that, too."
Marie shrugged. "Do what you want."
We stood in silence, watching the crowd ebb and flow in front of the house. Twice, Jeanie walked out to greet someone, and they hugged like family.
Nicole appeared on the stoop and spotted us. Wrapping her coat around herself, she hurried over, a frown on her face.
"Where the hell have you two been? I've been stuck making dinner for the past three hours."
"Nina kicked me out of the house, if you'll recall," I said, channeling a bit of Marie's attitude.
"Don't start with me, Alexis," Nicole barked.
"Then why don't you tell me the truth, for once?" I snapped, storming toward the house.
Before I even got through the front door, the smell of Thanksgiving hit me. In Florida, we usually had a small meal together which Nicole had made for the past few years. But I'd never seen such an assortment of food as was in the dining room. Three turkeys, rows and rows of casseroles and vegetables and rolls and cranberry sauce. I lost count of the number of seats crammed around an impossibly large table. Even more tables were stashed wherever there was a place.
"Ah, Lexie," Nina's voice pulled me from my amazement. "This is my seventy-fifth Thanksgiving, and the sight of all these people never ceases to amaze me. We just keep getting bigger and bigger every year."
I half-smiled, the memory of her kicking me out before I could ask more questions about my father fresh in my mind.
"Now, you'll be with the rest of the children," Nina said, pointing to a table already prepped with high chairs and booster seats. "I used to have to sit at the kid's table when I was younger. When Irene took over the clan from your great-great uncle, I got to move to the main table." She sighed, glancing at the nondescript chair at the front of the room. "He was such a fun man. I still remember he always had candy in his office when I came to visit."
"How is that decided?" I asked. "The Clanmaster?"
"Power, prestige, age, wisdom…and, of course, the support of the clan itself. We Carrigans are quite powerful when you get us all rowing the same way. The problem is, of course, the rowing." She tittered to herself. "We're nearly five hundred strong, you know."
That got my attention. "Five hundred? I have five hundred family members? And they're all coming here?"
"Oh, heavens, no. When you get to fifth and sixth cousins, it tends to dilute the familial bond, don't you think?"
"Do they all live here?"
"Some do, others with more distant limbs on the family tree have established offshoots out west. But most of the northeastern clan lives here in Salem, except, of course, for you girls."
I glowered at one of the three turkeys. What made us so special that we'd been cut off from the rest of the family? "And does that mean that everyone else knew about magic before they turned fifteen?"
"Why, of…oh that's right, Jeanie didn't tell you until your Magic's Eve, did she?"
"No, she did not."
"Well, dear, we have our reasons for doing things."
I turned to face her, straight-on. "Did my parents live here before I was born? And why did we move to Florida, and—"
"Darling, all of those questions would be best answered by your Gram," Nina said, patting me on the head and floating away as if on a cloud.
My anger boiled, and out of the corner of my eye, a boat of gravy rose off the table. I released it gently, and took three deep breaths. It wouldn't be very smart of me to lose control, so I found what I presumed to be the kid's table and sat down in a hidden corner to cool off.
But the longer I sat and watched the room fill with people, the more my anger simmered. They all seemed so close and welcoming, as I caught snippets of conversations about jobs and sports tournaments. Nicole, Marie, and I were the only strangers in this house, which, again, made no sense considering that the woman who owned it was our grandmother.
I was joined at the table by an eight-year-old named Beth and a ten-year-old named Mark, who apparently belonged to my third cousin. They reminded me a bit of myself and Marie, who'd taken a seat across from me, although their insults were more along the lines of who was going to turn whom into a toad when they got magic. Their arguments only served to turn up my anger, because it reminded me that I was the only one in this family who hadn't known about magic until she was fifteen.
"Attention, attention." Gram's voice floated through the enlarged space and all conversation ended as we turned to look at our Clanmaster at the head of the table. She was surrounded by men and women who seemed, if possible, twice as old as her.
I looked around for Jeanie and saw her at the other end, crammed into a corner with Nicole.
"I want to thank you for coming to the Clan Carrigan Thanksgiving feast," she said. "We have several announcements that I'd like to get out of the way before we begin our meal. First, a moment of silence for those in the clan we lost this year. Nan, Hartley, and Milton." The collective group bowed our heads for a brief moment and an older woman dabbed her eyes. "We've welcomed a few new members of our clan by marriage, Ira and his nonmagical wife, Luella." The couple stood, the wife looking like a deer in the headlights. I guessed they hadn't been married for very long. "And Robby and Harvey, who recently got married after a very long waiting period."
Nina clapped loudly for that one.
"We had a boom of children born this year. Erin, Christa, and Don and Leon, the twins. We can't wait to see what sort of trouble they get into, if they're anything like you, Teresa."
The woman sitting in-between two baby carriers blushed and laughed.
"And we've had two come into their magic this year, who we formally welcome into our clan. Rachel and Jonathon." Two teenagers about my age stood and waved nervously as they received loud applause.
Wait a minute…
"Mom, didn't you forget about someone?" Jeanie said.
"Right, of course." The look on Gram's face said she hadn't forgotten about me; she intentionally hadn't mentioned me. Which I wouldn't have minded, except for the mountain of evidence that said she was doing everything in her power to make me feel not welcome.
"Alexis has also grown into her powers."
A ripple of curiosity swept through the room and I didn't understand why until I realized that she hadn't specifically welcomed me into their clan. And based on the way everyone had begun whispering, that was significant.
"Mom—" Jeanie began.
"That's enough, Jean. Now, everyone—"
"Hang on a second." I found myself on my feet and addressing a room full of strangers. "What the hell is your problem with me?"
"Lexie," Jeanie hissed.
Gram stared me down from across the room. "Alexis, sit down. We will discuss this—"
"No, we're going to discuss this right now. Like why you guys never told me I had magic. Like why my sisters and I—your grandchildren, I might add—have been banished to Florida while the rest of you guys just wander around this stupid magical neighborhood."
"Alexis, sit down."
I could feel the magic in the room rising, and I wasn't so sure it wasn't just my own. "I'm not in your clan, apparently, so you can't order me around." I leveled my stare at her. "Why wasn't I told that I was magical?"
She rose from the table. Jeanie and Nicole had turned pale, but no one made a sound.
"It was for your own good," Gram said.
"My good, or yours?" I spat back.
She shot a look at Jeanie, who looked stony-faced and then turned to me, furious. "If you don't sit down—"
The words died on her tongue, and her gaze drew to my hands. I didn't need to look to know that they crackled with unused magic. I'd never been this angry in my entire life, and I was dangerously close to losing control.
"Lexie, sit down," Marie whispered, scared.
Instead, I concentrated on a spot very far away, and let my magic pull me out of the room.