Banished: Book 1 of The Grimm Laws Read Online Free

up. Instead, she took a long swig of coffee and kept her eyes on the newspaper she was perusing. “You finally dragged yourself out of bed, I see.”
    “I’ve been up for a while, I was just in my room.”
    Sera looked at her. “I see. Well, at least you finally put something on other than those dreadful sweatpants you’ve been wearing.”
    “I guess.” She stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do next.
    Sera seemed to enjoy her discomfort. “Well, don’t just stand there. Go and get yourself something to eat. Josselyn and I are going shopping.”
    “Uh, yeah. I thought I’d go with you guys … if that’s okay.”
    Sera put down the paper. She scrutinized Elle with a critical eye. “Of course you can go with us … if you’re sure you’re up to it.”
    “Yeah, I feel fine.”
    She cocked her head. “You don’t look fine.”
    Elle’s throat went dry and she swallowed. “I feel fine.”
    “Did you finish all of your chores yesterday?”
    Elle nodded and then started ticking off the list of things she’d done. “I took out the garbage, unloaded the dishwasher, and dusted the bookshelves. Plus, I dusted the living room,” she added.
    “It’s nice to see you earning your keep around here. Did you clean the bathrooms and mop?”
    Elle stopped short. “Um, I thought that was Josselyn’s job.”
    Sera stood and smiled, but her eyes remained cold. “Elle, you know I assigned those chores to you.”
    Her heart bumped up a notch and she thought back to the day before. While she may’ve lost her memory of the past, she had no problem recalling the events of the last several days since she’d come home from the hospital. She had no problem recalling the cool and indifferent treatment she’d received from this frigid woman that was her stepmother. She had no problem recalling the way that Sera’s forehead wrinkled when she disagreed or the look of disapproval in her black, fathomless eyes. “I distinctly remember you assigning those chores to Josselyn.”
    Sera cocked her head, and her expression was a mixture of surprise and annoyance. “Are you questioning me?”
    “I’m just saying that you assigned those chores to Josselyn, not me. I did everything that you asked me to.” Elle’s stomach lurched. The last thing she wanted to do was to get into an argument with her stepmother. The woman was impossible! Everything about her was hard and impenetrable, making her wonder what her father had possibly seen in her. She was all hard angles, and there was nothing soft or attractive about her. To make matters worse, she was not only Elle’s stepmother, but also her aunt—her late mother’s older sister. When Elle’s mother got sick, Sera came to take care of her, bringing along a young Josselyn. When Elle’s mother passed away, her father had married Sera. Elle suspected that her father had married Sera on the rebound because that was the only scenario that made sense.
    On the night she returned home from the hospital, Sera and her father had sat side-by-side, explaining the family dynamics to her. She’d asked them to see a photo album, hoping that some scrap of memory would surface, but they’d given her some lame excuse about how the photos had been damaged a few years earlier when the basement flooded due to a busted pipe. In the end, the only photos they’d been able to produce were taken a few months before the accident. Even if she’d been able to look at photos, she doubted that she would recognize anything. Everyone around her was a stranger. Heck, she was a stranger to herself, but there was one thing she knew. Even though Sera went through the motions of pretending to care about Elle’s well-being, she obviously didn’t. If only her father were here, he would understand. “When’s my dad getting back?”
    “Yes, if your father were here, he’d most assuredly take your side as he always does. Unfortunately, his flight got delayed, and he won’t be getting back from New York until