Page 26 of Everything She Does Is Magic (Fableview #1)

Darcy

My parents have been disappointed in me, and they’ve been frustrated with me, but for the first time in my life, they are truly mad at me.

“We’re holding an emergency family meeting,” Mom says, gesturing for me to take a seat on our couch.

It would be easy to slump down and listen. In all my other, less serious offenses—which have been few and far between—that’s what I’d do. But this is different. This I haven’t earned atall.

“I want to say something first.” I hold my spot in the space between the living room and the hallway.

“I think I have a right to want something outside of Fableview. I love it here. Really. You guys are great parents. And I have great friends. It’s a great town.

But everything I do is for you . I work at your business.

I sign up for your activities. None of it feels like it’s truly mine . ”

They look at me with that same startled expression I’ve been seeing all month, like their beloved daughter has been swapped with a changeling.

“We hoped meeting Anya would help us understand all this,” Mom tells me. “But now we know her family wants to rope you into her magic. And it’s time for us to take more serious measures to intervene.”

“Why are you talking about her like she’s dangerous? She told me my grandma was best friends with her grandma.”

“She was,” my dad tells me. “My mother was best friends with Agnes Doyle. They were inseparable right up until Grandma died. Called each other on the phone almost every night. I never understood why Agnes didn’t move here, but that didn’t seem to stop the two of them from staying close.”

“So you guys knew Anya was a witch?” I ask.

“We live in Fableview ,” Mom says. “A lot of people here are witches.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that they were real ?” I ask. “I thought they were like Santa Claus. And you guys have always treated the magic of Fableview like a business decision, not a reality.”

“It’s a complicated subject,” Dad says. “We knew from your grandma that the Doyle coven prefers to operate under the radar. The whole reason they have protectors is to help keep them safe.”

“Safe from what? Our town is obsessed with magic! Everyone would be thrilled to have them practicing out in the open. I’ve seen what Anya can do. It would amaze people.”

“Magic is something all regular people want to believe in,” Dad says.

“They want to think they could be witches too. That’s what we sell them on, that hope.

If they learn that some people have actual, genuine powers, they stop hoping that they might have them too.

Like your mother said, Cal and Anya aren’t the only witches in town. The Blakes have powers too.”

“Piper?” I shake my head. They’re sidetracking me, like they’re so good at doing.

“So what’s the problem with Anya, then? Why couldn’t I be her protector if I wanted to?

” Who knows why I’m asking this? I don’t want the job.

But this whole situation is ridiculous. “Is it that she and I are…that we kissed?”

“No!” Mom hurries out.

“Absolutely not!” Dad practically falls forward with this assurance.

“We are so happy to see you living as your true self. We don’t care about gender.

We just care about you . But you’re telling us that you want to be her protector at the same time that you’re saying that you want to go to college out of state. How can both of those things be true?”

He’s got me there. “That’s what makes all this so confusing,” I say, close to tears already.

“It’s just that everyone wants to decide what I get to do with my life,” I continue.

“All I’ve ever wanted to do is make you guys proud, but I also want a chance to at least learn what my life could be like if I didn’t live here.

And maybe I’d hate it. Maybe I’d want to come back after a week.

But I want to at least try . Anya was the first person to ever make me think I could.

And then it turned out that she wanted something from me too. ”

My parents’ hurt is evident, and it only hurts me worse to see it.

“C’mon. You’ve written out my whole life plan without consulting me,” I say.

It feels good to empty this out. For once to say this as it is and not pretend I mean something other than what I say.

“I can’t believe that Anya did it to me too, telling her family I planned to be her protector here in Fableview.

Even if she didn’t actually mean it, it still hurts.

Everyone wants to give me responsibilities, knowing I can take anything on, but no one ever includes me in the conversation about what that responsibility will be. ”

“You’re still grounded,” Dad tells me.

This takes both Mom and me by surprise. He’s always been the more amenable one in my eyes, the one more likely to see things my way. Whenever I have a request for a later curfew or a need for a new phone, he’s the one I ask. But he’s harsh now, unflinching in the face of my raw, wounded truth.

“You didn’t give us a say in your plan either,” he continues.

“You’ve had plenty of time to discuss college with us, and instead of doing that, you sprang it on us with no notice.

We were at a friendly meal with a group of people we barely know.

No matter how you were feeling inside, that wasn’t an appropriate setting.

We are your parents. We love you. We want the best for you.

But we want to be a part of the conversation too. ”

“That’s exactly what you did to me with the shop!” I argue back, my hysteria rising. It all feels so deeply unfair.

“You’re right,” Mom says, placing a gentle hand on Dad’s arm.

“Him or me?” I ask.

“Both of you. We’re all stressed. We’ve taken on too much, and we’re not spending enough time on what matters. That’s what my mom used to tell me. Don’t forget the people who matter. And we’ve been forgetting each other.”

“You’re the ones who made us this busy,” I can’t help but say.

“I know. But we can’t ever be too busy for our own family.” She looks to Dad, waiting for him to get on board.

They have a stony exchange with only their eyes, doing their silent parental thing until Dad loosens his tie and says, “We’ll ground ourselves too.”

“You’ll…what?”

“We’ll stay home with you,” he explains. “As of right now, the entire Keller family is under house arrest.”

This is supposed to be some kind of compromise that makes it better. That’s what they seem to think, giving each other proud-parent looks, like they’ve really handled this well. But they haven’t handled anything. They haven’t really heard me.

“It doesn’t matter what we do,” I tell them, storming toward my bedroom. “Because I already applied to a college out of state. And if I get in, I’m definitely going there.”

With that, I slam my door shut, closing them out of this discussion for the rest of the night.