Chapter 146: 145. Exonerated

I had another sip of coffee then glanced at the clock again. It was half past seven. They'd been up there with the kid for about a half hour now, but I had no idea how long they'd be at it.

Kelly and Keira both promised they were just here for answers, they said they wouldn't do anything to Kaitlyn. And I passed that promise on to Susan.

If either of my girlfriends broke their word to me, this would likely be the last time my adoptive human mother ever spoke to me. The last time I'd see her.

She was already pretty upset that the three of us showed up unannounced at the break of dawn so the twins could interrogate their grandfather. Kelly and Keira insisted on speaking with her alone, they refused to allow either Sue or Claire to stay with the kid. And they didn't want me there either, since I'd been so easily swayed by her in the past.

So while the redheads were upstairs in Susan's and Kaitlyn's private living-room, I was down here in the kitchen with Sue and Claire. They weren't even dressed yet, Sue was in a long pink nightgown and fuzzy slippers and Claire wore a black nightshirt.

There was a cup of coffee in front of Susan, and Claire had a glass of juice next to her. I was pretty sure neither of them had touched their drinks though. Claire kept shooting nervous glances towards the staircase as she sat restlessly on her chair. Susan just sat still, with her eyes fixed on me in what felt like a permanently-disapproving stare.

I had another sip of coffee while the fingers and thumb on my left hand idly fidgeted with my ring. There was a strong temptation to send my girlfriends a little message. Just a quick question, like how's it going up there, something like that.

I didn't want to distract them though. I knew it would take as long as it took. I was confident Kaitlyn wouldn't resist, I felt sure she wasn't going to fight Kelly and Keira. But I also had to admit it was possible she'd thoroughly played me. After all, I had no idea she'd been planning to break my spell. I had no idea she had that much power stored up in her crystals, or that she'd even worked out how I did it in the first place.

So I just waited, sipped my coffee, and hoped that the twins would be finished soon and that everything would be ok.

I didn't want to lose my relationship with Susan. I didn't even want anything bad to happen to Kaitlyn. I was hoping for the best possible outcome. Kelly and Keira would realize Kaitlyn wasn't a threat. They'd find out how the kid broke part of my spell and it wouldn't be anything too terrible. All three of them would come down the stairs in a good mood and agree everything was fine, then the six of us could have a nice friendly breakfast together.

Until then, I was stuck with the uneasy silence here. Claire watched the stairs, Sue glared at me, and I kept glancing at the clock in between sips of coffee and fidgeting with my ring.

It was another fifteen minutes before we heard footsteps and creaks of the stairs as people descended. My hopes for a nice friendly breakfast fell slightly when I realized it was just Kelly and Keira who'd come downstairs. Then I gave up on that fantasy entirely when I realized with a lurch that my girlfriends were upset. They looked sad, and they looked like they'd been crying. Of all the scenarios I'd imagined, the two of them being sad after interrogating Kaitlyn wasn't something I anticipated.

Kelly spoke up before either Susan or Claire could ask. "Kaitlyn needs you two. Go see her, please?"

Claire didn't hesitate, she was off like a shot and racing up the stairs.

Sue fixed that glare of hers on my girlfriends and half-demanded, "What did you do to her? Is she ok?"

Keira replied softly, "She's ok. She's just upset."

Susan gave the twins both a sort of angry look, then she hurried past them and started up the stairs.

With Claire and Sue out of the kitchen, the two of them moved forward and slumped into chairs on either side of me. They both slid their chairs in close so they could lean against me.

I sighed and put my arms around both their shoulders. I kept my voice down as I asked "What happened? What did you do?"

Keira answered first. She spoke softly, like a half-whisper as she confessed "Tegan, I fucked up. I did a bad thing... A few bad things."

My stomach felt colder and heavier as I asked again, "What did you do?"

"It wasn't just Keira," Kelly added. "It's both of us. We... You were right Tegan. Susan and Elise were right. Kaitlyn's changed. She's nothing like her old self. She's a good kid, and all she wants is to keep her new family safe."

Keira continued, "We went up there looking for trouble. Tegan both of us were looking for an excuse to break our word to you. We thought... We were sure Katie pulled one over on you. That she'd tricked you, that she was manipulating Susan and Claire..."

I felt even more uneasy as I asked, "But what did you do? Is your grandfather ok?"

Kelly shook her head "She isn't... Please don't call her that anymore. It's not fair to her."

"She stopped being him the night you brought her back from Vancouver," Keira said softly. "After you agreed not to leave her with Kelsey. She had a breakdown, an epiphany. She realized what sort of a person she'd been, and she knew she never wanted to be like that again."

I sighed, "I remember. You two were in the living-room talking about university, and I heard her crying. I went to check on her, and wound up trying to help her work through it. So is she ok now?"

Keira sighed as well, "She will be. She's got Susan and Claire to look after her."

"And me and Keira will help as best we can," Kelly added. "Assuming Susan doesn't throw us out."

"I used a mind-reading spell Tegan," Keira admitted. "Not the safe easy one you've been using. I used something a lot more brutal. I thought... I worried she'd try to block me, try to deceive me. The spell I used wasn't gentle. But she didn't try to resist, she just let me..."

I held her a little closer as her voice broke and she had to stop talking.

Kelly took over, "Katie didn't try to defend herself at all. She didn't even complain or comment on what we were doing to her. She knew what we thought of her, what we were worried about. And Tegan, we were so wrong."

They still hadn't really said what they did though, or why they looked so upset when they came downstairs. Or why Kaitlyn needed both Claire and Susan to rush upstairs to look after her. And I was getting more anxious about finding out the answers, but I had to know.

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"So what happened? Just tell me, what did you do to her?"

Keira got her voice back and answered, "I forced her to relive some very painful memories. I found out what happened to her that led her to want to break part of your spell."

Kelly finished, "And Tegan, she was completely justified. Someone hurt her last summer, hurt her bad. Then he threatened both her and Sue. Kaitlyn needed magic so she could keep the two of them safe."

"What?!" I gasped. "Who? Why didn't Susan tell me?"

"She doesn't know," Keira added. "Kaitlyn never told Sue what happened... That was part of the threat, if she ever told anyone, he'd come back and kill them both."

I took a few deep breaths then through gritted teeth I asked "Who told her that?"

The twins were silent for a moment, I didn't need my sight to know they were talking to each other.

After a couple seconds Kelly answered, "Katie doesn't want us to tell you. And she doesn't want Susan to know either. She just wants to forget about it."

I frowned as I looked at her, "How do you know that? And when did you start calling her Katie?"

Keira sighed, "Tegan, turn on your sight. Look at our auras."

I turned and frowned at her but I did as she suggested. I blinked on my sight and looked back and forth between them.

Their auras looked more or less like they did last time I checked. They both had a few more dark stains on them since the last time I really looked, but after everything the three of us did on our latest visit to Otherworld I figured we all picked up some more stains on our souls.

Still, I wasn't quite sure what they were getting at. I looked back and forth again, then I suddenly saw it.

That fine golden thread was still stretched between them, but it was no longer a perfectly straight line. Now there was a slight upwards bow to it, like something was pulling it skyward. And streaming upwards off the filament was a third branch. Another thin golden thread stretched upwards and disappeared into the kitchen ceiling.

I stared at that for at least ten or twelve seconds as the implication hit me. Their bond had expanded, the link that connected Kelly's and Keira's auras together now reached upwards to include Kaitlyn too. That meant they could communicate with her like they did each other.

I finally looked at Kelly, then Keira. "What... How? When?"

They sort of glanced at each other, then Kelly said "We'll talk about it when we get home."

Keira added, "The short answer is, she's our sister. Not quite like another twin but... The three of us obviously have a lot in common, and it's more than skin-deep."

"Ok," I sighed. "Obviously a lot happened when you two were up there with her. I just hope Susan isn't too upset about it."

As if on cue Sue came down the stairs a half minute later. She was alone, and she looked angry. She moved to stand at the opposite side of the table so she could glare at all three of us.

She took a breath then stated, "Kaitlyn asked me not to toss the three of you out. She doesn't feel up to joining us for breakfast, and Claire's going to stay with her while Katie recovers from what you put her through. And I'm a little too upset to eat, so how about the three of you head into town? There's some restaurants that'll be open at this hour."

I took the hint, she wasn't throwing us out but she definitely wanted us gone. I apologized as I got to my feet, "Sorry Susan. We'll get out of your way. Is it ok if I call later?"

"Much later," she replied coldly.

Kelly and Keira got up as well, we picked up our purses then walked past Sue and out the back door.

"At least she didn't say 'never come back'," I said quietly as the three of us made our way down to the end of the driveway then turned north and started following the road into town.

Kelly sighed, "Sorry Tegan."

"I hope we haven't screwed things up between you and Susan," Keira added.

I shrugged, "From the sound of it we have some fences to mend with her? But it also sounds like Kaitlyn has already forgiven you two."

Keira sighed but nodded, "She has. And she says she'll try and help smooth things out with Susan."

I realized she sounded emotional, and Kelly looked like she felt the same. I wrapped my arms around both their waists as the three of us walked side-by-side. They put their arms around my shoulders and both leaned against me as we kept walking.

When we got into town we couldn't find any open restaurants. I couldn't help wondering if Sue knew everything was closed at this hour and lied about it just to get us out of the house. We wound up in the only place that was open, a chain coffee shop next to the ferry terminal.

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