Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Author:Carolyn MacCullough
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780547223995
Published: 2009-09-13T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

I AM SITTING on the top step of the staircase, my arms looped through the wooden railings, when Gabriel finds me. He walks up the stairs, balancing a full plate and a cup, and as he lifts his gaze to me, a flash of silver slides off the plate and falls through the air clattering onto the steps below me.

“Shit–sorry,” Gabriel whispers with a glance toward the closed door of the library at the bottom of the staircase.

“No big deal,” I say.

“They know I'm out here” My parents have been sequestered in the library for more than an hour now.

“Who's in there?” Gabriel asks, motioning with his chin since I still haven't taken the plate from him. I follow the movement, glancing the opposite way down the hallway to the also tightly closed door that leads to Rowena's room.

“Your mom.” Gabriel nods, sits next to me, and holds out the plate. The smell of slightly burned bread wafts upward. He has made me a grilled cheese sandwich, the filling oozing out in a white gooey mess. Somewhere he also found a handful of carrots that have been chopped into thick coin-shaped pieces. I'm trying to figure out why he thought I might need a fork and knife, but I decide it would sound ungrateful if I ask.

“It's not sushi or fish tacos or pizza, but I did the best I could,” he offers, and I take the plate into my hands, finding its warmth comforting. I look sideways at him.

“How do you know I like sushi and fish tacos and pizza?”

“My sources are excellent.”

“Agatha” I think about my roommate for a minute. I didn't even tell her I was leaving the city. There wasn't any time, but still, I know she'll be worried by now.

“I should call her,” I say, but somehow I can't find the energy to get up and do it.

“You should eat first,” Gabriel says, and bumps the plate toward me. I pick up a triangle of sandwich, watch as more cheese filling drips out, and put it down again.

“So your mom's been pretty useful these past few days,” I say, chasing a carrot around the plate before bringing it to my mouth.

“Apparently,” Gabriel murmurs.

“She used to do that to me when I wouldn't go to bed.”

“When did she stop?”

“When I was seventeen,” he says, plucking a carrot coin from the plate and making it vanish in his fingers.

“Joking,” he adds and pulls out the carrot from behind my ear. I knock his hand away.

“Cut it out,” I say.

“Or is this more of your Talent?” He shakes his head.

“Nah. Just stuff I learned. Card tricks, coin tricks, stuff like that. Begging for money on the street is much easier if you can entertain people first.” I nibble a corner of my sandwich.

“You begged for money?” He shrugs.

“My dad kicked me out for a while” He says this lightly, easily, but still I feel a tremor under the words. I chew, swallow, wait. When nothing is forthcoming, I ask,

“Why?” Gabriel studies his hands, turning the leather cords on his wrist over and over.

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