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“They found me after school to torment me with insults.”

“Such as?”

Young Leda shrugged. “The usual. They called me a dirty orphan. Said my parents were monster-blood-drinking freaks and that’s why when I was born, I was cast out by the Pilgrims for being a dark, evil child. They said the Pilgrims banished me to the Black Plains, where a pack of wild wolves raised me until you found me.”

“That is nonsense.”

Young Leda looked up into Aradia’s eyes. “What did happen to my parents?”

“They died shortly after you were born. They were friends of mine. And they certainly did not consume monster blood.”

“How did they die?” young Leda asked.

“It’s an unpleasant story, one you don’t need to hear at your age. Someday, perhaps, I’ll tell you. But rest assured, they were not evil people.”

Nice how she twisted the truth to avoid lying. Yeah, my parents weren’t evil people. They were evil, power-hungry deities who’d made me in order to create a powerful living weapon.

Young Leda blinked her big, wide eyes at Aradia. “I’ve always wanted to know more about my parents.”

Maybe my first foster mother would have indeed told me the truth someday, but if so, she’d never gotten a chance. She did not long outlive this conversation.

“You shouldn’t allow the other children to goad you,” she told my younger self. “They’re only looking to make themselves feel strong by pushing down the weak.”

“I am not weak. And I showed them that today. I showed them they cannot insult me. As you said, actions have consequences.”

“You threw the first punch?”

“No. After they called me all those names, I informed one of the bullies that his real father is actually his next door neighbor. And I told the other bully that I knew his mother had actually shoplifted everything they had in their house.”

“How could you possibly know all of that?” Aradia said in surprise.

“It’s obvious. Anyone with eyes could have figured it out. The first bully looks nothing like his ‘father’—and exactly like his next door neighbor. And I regularly see the second bully’s mother walking around town in the middle of the day, so she obviously doesn’t work. And she’s always wearing a big and bulky coat, even in summertime. She could fit a lot of stolen merchandise under that coat.”

Aradia looked her over for a moment, then declared, “You’re too smart for your own good, Leda.”

“Hey, I didn’t tell them anything until they insulted me. They just wouldn’t stop. I had to make them shut up. And they were pretty silent for a few moments after I told them their family secrets.”

“Until they attacked you,” Aradia pointed out.

“Right.” Young Leda frowned. “I really thought they’d run straight home and confront their parents.”

“Not everyone wants to know their past like you do, Leda. Most people are content to ignore all the dirty little secrets in their family tree. They really don’t want to know these kinds of things about themselves. And they will do anything to not face reality. That’s why those boys attacked you. To distract themselves from the truth—and to punish the one who’d delivered that unwelcome truth to them.”

“People are dumb,” Young Leda declared.

“What happened after you tripped the boys with the rocks?”

“They were pretty upset. They got up and ran at me, but I was ready for them. I’d moved behind a bunch of clothes lines. The fall must have mixed up their heads because they didn’t even see the lines. They ran right into them and got all tangled up like in a spider web. They might still be stuck in them.”

“You’re supposed to be keeping a low profile, not attracting attention to yourself,” Aradia sighed.

“But why do I need to keep a low profile?” Young Leda asked her. “It’s because of who my parents were, isn’t it? And because of who you used to be?”

Aradia shook her head.

“I know you had to have been someone important, Juliana,” I told her. “You can do magic. Anyone who can do magic in this world is important. Magic is power. And witches are in high demand.”

“You’re too smart for your own good,” Aradia said again.