Page 31 of Crossed

“Mom, it isn’t— ”

“I want you gone,” she snaps.

My breathing stutters, because I must have heard her wrong. “I… what?”

“You heard me, you little witch. I won’t let you ruin what I have with Parker.”

My jaw drops, disbelief washing over me. “I want nothing to do with Parker.”

Florence huffs out a laugh. “Please.”

“I don’t,” I snap, not taking my eyes off my mom. “I’m not going anywhere. If I leave, who’s gonna take care of Quin, huh?”

Mom scoffs. “He’s my son.”

“About time you remembered,” I hiss back.

She moves forward and smacks me, my face flinging to the side, forcing Quinten’s hand to drop from mine.

Audible gasps ring out around us, but no one steps in. No one intervenes.

Mom blows out a breath and straightens, flexing her fingers as she stares at me with nothing but ice in her gaze. “Watch your mouth.”

I shake off the pain, holding back the tears that are threatening to spill.

“Chantelle.” Parker’s voice is stern.

She whips toward him. “You’re taking her side? After all I’ve done for you? All I constantly do?”

His features harden, and he moves away from Florence and closer to her, dropping his voice until it’s nothing more than a whisper. “Think carefully before you speak again.”

She swallows and shakes her head but looks around. She must realize then what a scene she’s made. But it doesn’t stop her from turning back on me. “It’s you.”

My jaw drops, chest cracking open at how she’s turning against me so quickly, so publicly.

“You are a disease on everything you touch,” she spits, reaching down to pick up Quinten like it’s me he needs protection from. “A little witch, seducing men right out from under me.”

My eyes widen because I’m seriously becoming concerned about her state of mind. “Mom, be serious. Please.”

Voices murmur in the distance, but I don’t listen to what they say.

Parker steps in between us then, almost like he’s shielding me from her.

“You’ll see. You’ll all see.” She raises her arms like she’s talking to everyone in town. “She’ll curse this town just like she’s been a curse on my life!”

“Chantelle,” he says again. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

My mother stiffens her spine, nostrils flaring as she looks from him to me.

And from the corner of my eye, I see Florence doing the same.

Glaring at me, like somehow Parker’s weird fixation is my fault.

That night, my mom disappeared.

And Florence made it her personal mission to make my life a living hell.

I’m not one. A witch, I mean. Although, Idobelieve in a lot of their practices. Nature is all about balance, and I believe energy can absolutely be wielded and manipulated. Maybe if any of these people took time to actually learn about what they’re afraid of, what they’rebiasedagainst, they’d realize there’s nothing to fear at all.