creepy hollow 05.5 - scarlett Read Online Free Page A

you find control easier to grasp. Then again—” she lowered her brush “—nothing about your magical development has been normal, so I can’t say how long it will take you to achieve control.”
    Beth nodded, trying not to feel daunted by everything she still had to learn. “It felt as though my magic appeared out of nowhere, but now that I think about, I remember strange things happening sometimes when I was younger.” She took a breath before continuing, telling herself that this was her mother and that she shouldn’t be afraid to speak more than a few words to her. “I fought with Dad once. I was angrier than I’d ever been, and even though I was scared of shouting at him, I couldn’t help it. I screamed all my anger out and then ran upstairs. When I got to my bedroom, I found that all my books and papers had blown off my desk and scattered onto the floor. The window was open, and I told myself it must have been a particularly strong gust of wind, but I remember thinking how strange it was because it hadn’t been windy at all that day.”
    “Mm hmm,” Evaline murmured. She was once again brushing her hair, and Beth couldn’t tell if she was listening or not. She decided to continue anyway.
    “Another time at school, a friend passed me a joke on a piece of paper. It was so funny, but I wasn’t supposed to laugh because we were in the middle of a lesson, so I did my absolute best to hold my giggles in. That’s when the tap in the basin at the back of the classroom popped off and sprayed water everywhere. The teacher thought it was a plumbing issue, but maybe it was me. There were other strange things that happened, but I never put them all together and thought of myself as the cause of any of them. Not until … now.”
    “I see,” Evaline said, sounding almost bored.
    Beth climbed out of the pool and reached for the white robe Evaline had hung behind the door for her. She pulled it on and asked, “Do you think all those incidents were caused by my magic trying to get out?”
    “Possibly.” Evaline stood and examined her appearance in the mirror. “Interesting that your father didn’t notice any of this.”
    “Yeah,” Beth said quietly, but she knew why. Her father didn’t notice much when it came to her. Well, except for last night when she’d come downstairs in the red dress. He’d taken notice then. And now, as she caught a glimpse of both her mother and herself in the mirror’s reflection, she suddenly understood why. Her father had looked at her and seen Evaline—and he’d hated her for it.
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    It was intimidating as hell standing before a crowd of stunningly beautiful women. Beth knew their intense beauty was only part of their siren magic, yet the thought did nothing to ease her insecurity. She wondered if her sudden awakening of magic had affected her own appearance. Once she’d cleaned up, her mother had commented on how enchantingly lovely she looked—possibly the nicest thing Evaline had ever said to her—but when Beth looked in the mirror, she couldn’t see any difference. The difference, if there was one, must be a kind of glamour, visible only to others and not to herself.
    She reminded herself that she belonged here now as her tentative steps took her out from beneath the stone archway and onto the sand near the shimmering pool of water. She’d chosen a dress far less revealing than the one she’d worn to her disastrous date with Jack. The blue skirt was long and flowing, tickling her bare feet and skimming the sand behind her. The sleeves were a modest length, ending just above her elbows, but the neckline plunged a little more than she was comfortable with. It was one thing to bare her cleavage to the guy she loved, and quite another to put it on display before a group of women with assets far more enticing than her own. Feeling utterly naked, she wrapped her arms around herself and waited.
    Conversation stilled and every eye turned to her. She