Scornful Sadie (Dark Sorceress Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free

cup, and poured myself some coffee. The bitter taste of caffeine filled my mouth, warming me from the inside out. Once I was halfway awake and functioning properly, I whipped up a bowl of oatmeal.
     
    I could have magically conjured it, but I preferred the real thing. The magic left a residue, making most foods taste odd to me. Sitting at the table, I nodded to Tessi when she left to go back to sleep and sat staring a hole in the envelope while I ate.
     
    If he’d put a tracking spell on it, he would have shown up by now. It must have meant he’d found some other way for it to find me.
     
    Once my bowl was empty and my thoughts were jumbled, I’d decided I would open it out of morbid curiosity. Taking it back to my room, I sat cross-legged on my bed and ripped into it.
     
    Taking out the folded white paper, I closed my eyes as a tear fell down my cheek and landed on the edge of my lips. I licked the salty wetness away and dried my face. Sniffling, I opened my eyes and peeled the letter open.
     
    “We miss you. –Scott”
     
    I turned it over and searched for more, but this was it. I read it again, tracing my fingers over the words and fighting the oncoming breakdown. Lying back on my pillow, I stretched my legs out and held the letter to my chest.
     
    “Sadie,” she said. I hadn’t heard her arrive.
     
    Peeling my eyes open, I choked back a sob. “Grandma?”
     
    “Sadie,” she said, eyes filling with tears. “My Sadie.” She held her arms open wide and I ran to her, wrapping my own tightly around her. “I’ve missed you, my girl.”
     
    The dam broke and flooded her shirt. I wept for the years I was gone, for the pain I’d felt, for everything that had happened. We stood there sharing our grief for minutes that felt like hours.
     
    I finally pulled away, wiping my snotty nose on the edge of my shirt. “How did you find me?”
     
    “Scottie placed a tracking spell on the letter. He knew the envelope was too obvious.” She grinned. Her blue eyes danced with joy as I guided her to sit on my bed. “We knew you didn’t want us to find you, but we’ve been searching since you left.”
     
    “I’m sorry,” I whispered. Being around Grandma ripped my heart wide open and my emotions were all over the place. “I needed to get away.”
     
    “For five years?” she questioned. “Sadie, please, explain this to me. Your parents, your brothers, me, Liv, your friends…we’ve all missed you and searched for you. Help me understand.”
     
    Picking at my thumbnail, I bit my bottom lip and looked down at my lap. Shifting uneasily, I peered up at her. “It’s a long story.”
     
    “I have all the time in the world for you,” she grinned. She looked younger, happier, than the last time I’d seen her. When living in Loudon Heights, she’d dyed her hair to appear older. I guessed that wasn’t something she needed to do since joining the council, because now it shone in rich brown tones that mimicked my own.
     
    “I couldn’t handle it,” I admitted. I wasn’t proud of it, but it was the truth. I couldn’t lie to her. “Losing you and…everything else that happened was too much. I wanted to rid the world of the evils like Harlow, so I set out to do that.”
     
    She grinned. “I’ve heard of the vigilante sorceress traveling the states and knew it was you, Sadie. I just knew it. I’m so proud of you.” She took my hand in hers and squeezed. “But you didn’t lose me. I visit every week.”
     
    “It wasn’t going to be the same,” I countered. “I wasn’t ready to be on my own. I needed you.”
     
    She shook her head. “No, you didn’t.”
     
    She was probably right. I’d been practicing with her since I was a young girl, before I was even a teenager, and my skill was beginning to exceed hers all those years ago.
     
    “Sadie, we want you to come home,” she said. She stood, walking to my window and pulling back the sheet hanging as a curtain. “Why Charleston? Is it