I crept around to the back of the house and slid in through the kitchen door. It was quiet. I heard the muffled roar of the TV coming from the direction of the living room. With any luck Dad would be passed out by now and I'd get upstairs without notice. Mom had made herself scarce so it must have been a pretty bad fight. I looked in the trash can and winced. Grandma's crystal vase lay in shattered ruins. It was Mom's most prized possession.

I grabbed myself a Coke and a Lunchable from the fridge. I had a ton of homework to do and I needed to figure out what to wear to school tomorrow. Ethan said we'd go eat right after school. I still couldn't believe he'd asked me out on a date. Just...wow. I figured I'd have to do some unobtrusive hinting first, but no, he'd shocked me, and asked me out.

"Where the hell have you been?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before turning around. Dad stood in the doorway, a beer gripped in his hand. His golden eyes were bloodshot and he looked furious. Not a good sign.

"I had some stuff to do."

His eyes narrowed and he stepped closer. "Did you go to the hall, CJ?"

"No."

"Then where were you?"x

"I went to visit Emily." I reopened the fridge. "I'm gonna make a sandwich. Do you want one?"

I replaced the Lunchable and started pulling out everything I needed. Just keep him talking, I told myself.

He grunted and sat down at the table. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye. He frowned and ran a hand through his reddish brown hair, his eyes suspicious.

"You're sure you didn't go to the meeting tonight?" he asked, his voice hard.

"No, Dad, I never go, same as you."

I slathered the sub buns with mayonnaise and piled on our favorite fixings. "Is NC State or LSU winning?"

"LSU," he said in disgust. "Seven to nothing. Damn fine coach they got themselves."

I nodded and set his plate down in front of him. "I need to do some homework. Is there anything else you need? A Coke or some water?"

"Get me another beer."

I cringed. He so did not need another beer, but I knew better than to argue with him. I took one out of the fridge and handed it over. Hauling up my bookbag, I started to get my own food when he stopped me.

"Sit down, CJ. I want to talk to you."

I eyed the doorway and contemplated escape. Instead, I picked up my plate and sat down across from him. I took a bite of the turkey sandwich and waited. He seemed uneasy. He was drunk, but it was more than that. He looked almost...afraid. Nervous eyes scanned the room and he drummed the fingertips of one hand on the table. His other hand shook as he took a drink.

"Do you go see Emily a lot?"

I swallowed hard. I hadn't expected that.

"I do," he continued. "At least once a day."

"I didn't know that," I whispered. Maybe he wasn't as drunk as I thought.

"I lost her, CJ. I can't lose you too."

"You're not going to lose me, Dad. Why would you think that?"

"You're almost eighteen," he said. "They'll be pestering you to start coming to the meetings soon. You can't go."

"Why would they..."

"You're almost eighteen," he interrupted. "Don't go near them."

"Why does it matter how old I am?" I asked, confused. "They always pester me to go and I don't. It's all just a bunch of nonsense."

"Doesn't matter if you believe in it or not," he shook his head. "They'll try and get you there one way or another. Don't do it."

"Why?" I asked. I didn't understand. Why didn't he want me to go? He'd been a loyal Coven member for as long as I could remember. After Emily's accident he'd stopped going, but I'd figured it was because he was in pain. She loved everything about the Coven and I thought the meetings had reminded him too much of that. Now, I wasn't so sure. He looked frightened at the thought of me going to one of them. "What's wrong, Daddy?"

He grabbed my wrist in a death grip, his fingers crushing. "You will never go near the Coven, Cassie Jayne. Do you understand me?" Anger boiled in his voice. His eyes turned black in their rage. He scared me.

"Dad, you're hurting me," I cried and tried to pull my hand away. All I managed to do was wrench not only my wrist, but my shoulder as well. Pain shot all the way up to my shoulder. He let go of me, his expression a little crazy. I rubbed my wrist. Ugly red marks decorated it. That was going to bruise.

He looked at me with wild eyes. "You don't understand. You're almost eighteen..."

"Roger."

Our heads whipped around. Mom stood in the doorway, glaring holes into Dad.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, blue eyes flaming with anger. She took one look at my wrist and her face paled. "Roger, what did you do? CJ, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

Dad was staring at my wrist. He looked horrified at what he'd done. "CJ..."

"It's okay, Dad. You didn't mean to do it." I knew he hadn't meant to hurt me. No matter how drunk he'd get, he'd never lifted a hand against me or Mom. Ever. No, it was fear that had caused him to lose control. But fear of what?

"No, it's not okay." Mom slammed the top of the freezer shut. She wrapped the ice pack in a dishtowel and handed it to me. "Put that on your wrist, honey. It'll keep the swelling down. Why don't you go to your room? Your dad and I need to talk."

"Mom..."

"Upstairs, Cassie Jayne. Now."

Uh-oh, the MOM voice. I grabbed my bookbag and left without another word. Upstairs, I dropped my bag on my bed and changed into some pajamas. I let the ice sit on my wrist for a few minutes before checking it. Sure enough I could see the faint tinge of purple that heralded the onset of an ugly bruise. It hadn't hurt all that much until I looked at it. Now it ached up my entire arm and my shoulder pulsed with pain from where I'd wrenched it trying to get free. How was I going to explain this at school?

My stomach growled and I let out a frustrated groan. My food was still on the kitchen table downstairs and I was starved. No help for it now. Homework, I thought. I'd try to do some homework. AP chemistry, however, did not take my mind off my aching wrist or my dad.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. He'd been almost fine one second and then the next, bam, he'd turned into a lunatic. His eyes had scared me. I'd never seen him look like that before, not even the night Emily died. He'd flipped out then, too, but nothing like he'd done tonight. He'd never hurt me before.

I knew he didn't mean to do it. I'd seen the shock and disgust at what he'd done on his face. It was the thought of my going to the Coven meetings, I realized. That's what had sent him over the edge. But why should he care? He was a member or at least he used to be. Dad had been the Coven Master until he'd stepped down after Emily's accident. He'd always been proud of the Coven, that his family took such an active role in it. What happened to change that? He didn't want me near it. Why?

I remembered Emily's whispered words. Don't go near them, little sister. Stay away. Promise me you'll stay away! They echoed in my mind. I'd never questioned her request before, but Dad's odd behavior made me start to rethink the whole situation. Did he and Emily know something I didn't? What, though? It had to be important for them to warn me away from the one thing they both loved.

There was a soft knock on the door and Mom came in. Emily had always looked so much like Mom. They had the same facial structure, the same blue eyes, and the same smile. She set a fresh sandwich and a Coke down on my desk before settling herself beside me.

"Honey, I am so sorry." She took my hand to examine it. Mom was a nurse for the ER department at the hospital in Statesville. She ran her fingers over my wrist and up my arm before she let out a small sigh. "It looks like you're going to have a pretty bad bruise." She wrapped it in the Ace bandage she'd brought up. "This will help with the swelling."

"Really, Mom, it doesn't even hurt that bad," I lied.

"So I guess you don't want the Motrin I brought up?" She pointed to the bottle sitting beside the plate.

"I wouldn't go that far," I smiled at her.

"Sweetheart, your father..."

"Didn't mean it," I cut her off. "I know he didn't, Mom."

She sighed. "He's just been under a lot of pressure lately and with the fifteenth coming up...I..."

"Mom, please, can we just forget about it?"

She stared at my wrist and I knew there was no way in hell she was going to forget about it anytime soon, but she nodded. "I heard what you're father was telling you when I came in, and I think you should at least go to one meeting before you decide to completely write it off."

"Mom, you know I don't believe in any of that stuff."

"I know, but I still think you should at least give it a chance. It's a part of your heritage, honey. You owe yourself the opportunity to see where you come from."

I frowned. This was beyond bizarre. First Dad was screaming at me to stay away and now Mom was urging me to go to a meeting? What was going on today?

"Can I ask you a question, Mom?"

"Of course," she smiled.

"What did Dad mean about me being eighteen? What does that have to do with anything?"

Her eyes became hooded, guarded. "Absolutely nothing. I think it's just because of Emily he's gotten so paranoid. She was eighteen when she died."

"No, I don't think so..."

"Emily's death hit him hard, CJ. She died coming back from a Coven meeting. Of course he doesn't want you near it. It's as simple as that."

No, it wasn't that simple. There'd been no Coven meeting the night Emily died. Mom knew that. My stomach gave a queasy little flip. Why was she lying to me?

"Just think about going, please? I want you to have the same experiences your sister had. She loved the Coven and everything it represented. Don't you think you owe her that much? To go and see what was important to her?"

Mom was right about that. Ems had loved the Coven, treasured everything about it. I needed to know why she'd changed her mind.

"I'll think about it, Mom, okay?" I told her. I saw the relief in her eyes.

"Good." She kissed my forehead and stood to leave. "Try to get some sleep, honey."

I would think about going. Something was going on and I intended to find out what.