The Mayhem Sisters Read Online Free Page A

finally out.
    “How’d you know?”
    “Little things. Once, I saw you up front when no one was around and you got a far off gaze on your face and suddenly your body jerked and you grabbed your head in your hands. Plus, you knew about the birthday surprise I arranged last year. When I took you to a play in Stargazer City. You weren’t really shocked, even though the show had been sold out for months.” Pepper shrugged. “You take more headache potions than any witch I’ve ever met. I figured something serious was up, so I did a little digging.”
    “You’re right about my birthday. I’d seen a flash of us sitting in the dark, staring at a stage. I tried to pretend I didn’t know. I guess I’m a bad actress.” Vivi blinked back tears.
    “Why are you fighting your gift?” Pepper asked, pulling up a chair and sitting next to her. Her voice was soft as down.
    “Because it isn’t a gift. It’ll ruin my life, everything I’ve built.”
    “You’ll always have the shop. That won’t change.”
    “Pepper, don’t be naïve. You know what happens to seers. They start to go a little loopy and end up shunned and isolated. I don’t want to be alone.” Vivi’s voice caught in her throat. The raw memory of the kidnapped witch’s anguish twisted her gut. How could she be so selfish? How could she turn away when the witch she had seen in her vision was in so much pain?
    “Seeing is one of the most powerful persuasions .” Pepper snorted. “I should’ve known you weren’t just a potion maker. Mayhem sisters have some serious power. You can’t deny that.”
    “Can’t I? I’ve been doing a good job of it for years.” Vivi had been hiding her visions since she was a teenager, too afraid to admit to possessing the powerful gift. She’d always seen harmless events, even happy flashes—a wedding bouquet flying through the air, a baby wiggling in his mother’s arms, a necklace under shiny wrapping paper. She thought she could keep these flashes to herself, even repress them. But now this dark vision had come, and it had brought pain and fear with it, shattering her plan to keep her power a secret.
    “ Persuasions can’t be denied. Look what just happened to you. And I doubt this was the first time.” Pepper gave her a narrow glance.
    In the past, whenever a strong vision had tried to emerge, she pushed the images deep inside her brain, and for a long time it had worked. The snippets of future events became fewer and far between, but lately the headaches had come, and her ability to repress her sight was ending. Pepper was right. Vivi had tried to fight her persuasion, but the visions returned, stronger and stronger as if trying to be born from her, fighting to be seen.
    “I guess I can’t even have one secret from you,” Vivi said.
    “Well, we do have a potion for keeping a secret, but it doesn’t last that long. Secrets are powerful. They’re hard to keep hidden, even by the toughest witches.”
    “I don’t want anyone to know. I want things to stay the same.” Even as she said the words, Vivi knew that things would never be the same again, especially after what she had seen. She couldn’t ignore the young witch and her desperate plea.
    The time for pretending was over.
    “Oh, honey. It’ll be okay. I’m here and so are your sisters.” Pepper threw her thin arms around Vivi’s shoulders in a light hug.
    “Pepper, it was really bad. It was like no other vision I’ve ever had.” Vivi swallowed hard. She shook her head.
    “Do you want to talk about it?”
    If she opened up now, there was no turning back. Her biggest fear was coming true. Her real persuasion made people cross the street when they saw a witch with the terrible gift. Maybe this was part of the Mayhem curse, her fate—to be shunned, avoided, and whispered about.
    If she didn’t face it, things would only get worse.
    Vivi had no choice. She had to report the crime. The young witch was in serious trouble, and if someone didn’t