Page 123 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘Those are really bad for you,’ I gasp, and then I burst into tears.

I find myself wrapped in her arms.

‘It’s okay,’ she coos. ‘It’ll going to be fine. You let it out, honey.’

‘I-I just saw someone,’ I sob, ‘Someone I thought was dead.’

‘Oh, sweetheart,’ she murmurs. ‘That must have been a shock.’

She doesn’t ask me anything specific, and I’m grateful. I squeeze her hand.

‘Thanks,’ I whisper.

‘Come with me,’ she says firmly. ‘You must be freezing out here without a jacket on.’

I nod, realizing that it is actually really cold out here tonight.

Tabitha leads me back inside and left into what used to be the scullery. I see she’s set up a couple of chairs and a small TV. She looks at me a little bit sheepishly.

‘I didn’t think anyone would mind if I took this as my break room.’

‘I don’t mind,’ I whisper.

She sits me down on a chair and looks down at me, opening and closing her mouth as if she wants to tell me something.

‘I’ll get you some tea,’ she mutters abruptly, bustling off and leaving me to the dull droning of the TV set.

She comes back a few minutes later, carrying a small porcelain cup with flowers painted on it.

‘Here we go,’ she says, handing it to me.

‘Thanks.’

She sits down across from me.

‘I need to tell you something,’ she says.

‘You’re not my real mom, are you?’ I half-joke.

She frowns. ‘No, dear, I’m not your mother.’

She opens and closes her mouth again, letting out a sigh.

‘What is it?’ I ask, starting to worry.

‘It’s just …’ She gets up and looks out the door, making sure there’s no one close by. She closes it and turns back to me. ‘You know how I can tell where everyone is?’ she asks.

I nod. ‘Yes. You told me it’s your magick.’

‘Well,’ she wrings her hands. ‘I can also count bodies.’

My brow furrows.

What the hell is she talking about?

‘For example,’ she goes on, ‘out in the main kitchen, there are seven.’

‘Okay,’ I say slowly, wondering if there was a little something extra in that cigarette she was just smoking outside.