A/N: A huge shout out and thanks to random-k for suggesting that I write an Enright story that showed some of their family dynamics. Thank you so much! If anyone else has any suggestions on a story involving a minor character from the series, feel free to message me! As with the my other stories, Like Magic and Do No Harm, this is a prequel to Promises Made. I have one more prequel I need to finish and then I will start uploading the series proper. Please read and review!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Darkest Powers nor any of Women of the Otherworld series. There are references to Dime Store Magic, Spellbound and Thirteen in here. There is also a Wizard of Oz reference.

Casting Eyes

Parents say that they don't have favorites. They say that they love their children equally.

Whoever said that never met her mom. She clearly had a favorite. She clearly did not love her children equally.

Lara wasn't perfect, but don't try to tell anyone in the family that. Any chores that weren't done? Tori's fault. Lara having problems at school? Tori's fault. It didn't even matter if they were going to separate schools. It was still Tori's fault.

It used to bother her. It still did, if she cared to admit it to herself. She tried not to think about it too much. It wasn't always like this. While she was never as close as Lara, she did have a somewhat functional relationship with her mother.

Or at least, she did until the day she had her first period.

She had been mortified by it. She had known it would happen sooner or later. Some of her friends had talked about what it was like for them, but it arrived so casually. She had expected something to mark her ascension to womanhood. She didn't even have cramps. She stared in the mirror long to convince herself that she was bloating. Somehow if she could offer some sort of 'proof', her friends would know that she would be telling the truth.

She had gone downstairs. Lara was still occupied in her bathroom. Dad was finishing prepping breakfast. Mom was leaning against the counter, laughing at something Dad had said.

Tori grinned. Perhaps this would be the way that she could bond with Mom. It was a rite of passage. Every mother and daughter experienced this. Things would have to get better.

Mom glanced over at Tori, her lip curled ever so slightly. If Tori had not been watching for it, she never would have noticed it.

"Mom? Can I talk to you, alone?"

She set her coffee mug on the counter and they went into the hall.

"My period started."

She watched her mom's face for a reaction. Instead of smiling, telling her that it was perfectly normal, they would get through it together – everything that her friends had told her about what their mothers had said – she didn't say anything. Her face tightened and she gave a brief nod.

Tori waited a minute. Nothing. She turned around, grabbed her backpack and went out the front door to catch the bus.

Diane watched her as she went out the front door, making note that it was shut definitely harder than needed.

She had been dreading this day for years. She had known it was coming, because of course it would come. It came for all women.

She was going to have to pull some serious strings at the office today. She had eight nights to get this right. If she didn't, well, she didn't want to think about it.

Diane strode into the office. She had rehearsed for this day for years now. She knew that she would have to alter the parameters of the experiment. Victoria had grown up not knowing she was a witch, there should be no issue revealing that to her now. She would have to reveal it to her, otherwise how could she explain the ceremony? She couldn't have an Enright walking around with weakened powers. It would sully the family name. It would reflect poorly on her.

She set her bags down and went into Marcel's office. He wouldn't be in for another twenty minutes, but she would be the first thing he saw once he came in.

She reviewed over her mental notes. She wouldn't have any trouble gathering the ingredients for the ceremony. She knew the recitation by heart. She remembered how it felt for her, back when she was thirteen. The power coursing through her, her senses feeling as though they were awakening for the first time, it was an experience that she could not deny to Victoria. If they truly wanted to see how a witch-sorcerer hybrid came into her powers, they needed to allow her to complete the ceremony. Otherwise, it would only weaken the witch and possibly affect the sorcerer's magic as well.

"Marcel," she grinned as he stepped into the office. "We have a few pressing matters to discuss."

He cocked his head slightly and shrugged off his coat. He set his briefcase beside his desk and took his place in his chair. He leaned over the desk.

"This better be important, Diane."

"Victoria's first menses has arrived."

Marcel Davidoff busied himself with moving stacks of paper around his desk. He only gave a grunt in acknowledgement.

"You know what that means. She has to partake in the ceremony."

"She has to?"

"If you want her to be successful, she needs the full extent of her powers. If she does not participate, she will be weakened. Inferior. She will no longer be useful to the project. What good is a weakened witch hybrid?"

"It could serve as a contrast."

Diane could feel the rage bubbling underneath the surface. She needed to proceed with caution. She could not let herself be overcome by emotion.

"Contrast to whom?"

Marcel chuckled, "The Levine girl, of course."

Diane snorted. "Of course, Savannah, isn't it? How can you be sure that she participated in the ceremony? Did you have someone there? It would have been years ago."

"You certainly don't think we weren't anticipating it happening?"

Diane clenched her jaw, she fisted her hands, her fingernails clawing her palms.

"Then there is another reason to let her have the ceremony. If the Levine girl has gone through it, to not allow Victoria would make her a target. She would reflect poorly on our group. The mission was merely to produce a delayed onset of powers, a gradual increase. It was not part of the original design with the witches to allow them to skip their ceremony. If anything, the Levine girl would be the baseline and we will see how successful we were once Victoria's powers fully come in."

Marcel opened a folder and started skimming it.

"You can talk all day, Diane. My answer remains no."

Diane stood up and glared at him. She had not even hated sorcerers as much as she currently hated him.

"Remember," he called out as she was halfway through the door, "I will know if you disobey me."

She stiffened her back.

If he wanted to play it that way, she would make him regret it.

Tori collapsed on her bed. School had been exhausting. It wasn't the schoolwork that currently had her tapped out, but the constant social upheaval and drama. She had heard that high school was better. She couldn't wait for junior high to be over with. If high school meant less 'he said, she said' games all day, she would sign up right now.

She should start her homework, but she had chores to do. She also had the pleasant duty of reminding Lara that she had her own chores to do. She rolled her eyes at the thought of it. Lara had half as many chores as she did and still managed to barely do one by the time she had her list complete. It wasn't fair – she would get into trouble because Lara had poor time management skills. What was she supposed to do? Babysit her? Hover over her constantly? How was she supposed to do her set and her homework if she was doing that?

She groaned. She had thought she felt cramps earlier in geography, but they had stopped. It seemed as though they were starting again.

She went into her bathroom and looked for a bottle of Tylenol. She grabbed the bottle and zapped herself. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

Diane looked at the calendar; a luminous countdown stared back at her. She had two more nights. She needed to find some way to make the ceremony happen. Marcel had her work late each of the past six nights. She knew what he was doing and he simply didn't care that she was furious at him.

She had never been his type. If this was Jacinda, her temper flared, she wouldn't be denied anything. No, Jacinda wouldn't be in anything close to resembling this situation.

She checked her email and to no surprise, she had another request from Marcel to stay late and look over a few things. No, she couldn't simply take her work home with her; it was confidential and needed to stay in the laboratory.

He wasn't even trying to be clever. She didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or as an insult.

She would find a way.

"Is Mom coming home tonight?"

Dad carried the pizza boxes to the table.

"I think she's going to be late again."

Lara sighed. "Why is she always at work this week? I told her that I needed her help with a project and now she isn't even here."

Tori rolled her eyes.

She was still hurting from the lack of response from Mom. Why were things so strained between them and the complete opposite with Lara? Dad told her repeatedly that Lara had different needs, so she was treated differently. He said that it didn't mean that Mom loved her any less.

Tori suspected that it did. She noticed the way that mom would look at Lara, a warmth creeping into her face. Anytime she looked at Tori, it was pure ice. Sometimes she thought she saw hatred, but surely that couldn't be right.

"That is what happens when you're important to a company, you're expected to put in a lot of effort," Dad explained.

It didn't stop Lara from whining the rest of the night.

Tori escaped to her room, grateful that she had a history test tomorrow. She would spend the night reviewing her notes, rest, and hopefully avoid Mom in the morning.

Diane dismissed one of her lab technicians. She would learn his name if he stuck around long enough. She rarely employed male technicians. She preferred her area to be free of the stench of testosterone. Even if he wasn't a sorcerer, he would be easily influenced by the sorcerers they had on staff.

The first group of technicians, all human, had started making disparaging remarks, vaguely covered by coughing. It turned out that they all had a grand time the night before at party that the sorcerers held. The theme of it? Well, she never let the story get that far. She didn't need to know the theme of the party. She already knew the message – witches were inferior, prepare to do all of the work and have her take credit for it.

She taught them that not only could she do sorcerer's magic but that witch magic had a few particularly nasty spells.

Instead of 'weak witch' following her around, she heard mutters of people wanting a house to fall on her.

She did what she had to do. She wanted to be taken seriously. Witches who were laughingstocks were a detriment to all other witches. It only perpetuated the stereotype that witches were useless, that the weakest sorcerer would easily best the strongest witch. If the Coven had actually done its job – no, she stopped her thoughts. That would only cause her anger to go over the boiling point.

She knew Marcel was taunting her. He kept assigning her male technicians. She kept driving them away. He seemed to have put out a notice for them to stay late as well.

Two could play that game.

She ran down the stairs, her backpack swinging wildly. She had overslept. She was going to be late and of course, history was her first class. If she wanted to keep her class ranking, she needed the entire time for the exam. She needed to make sure that she had plenty of time to double check her answers because Mr. McNeil loved trick questions.

She reviewed her notes as Dad drove Lara to her school first. She gave a grunt as a 'goodbye' to her. Dad sighed. She knew that he wanted her to have a better relationship with Lara. Maybe one day she would – when Lara grew up and stopped being so helpless all the time.

"Tori, this is your stop."

She snapped out of her thoughts concerning the American Revolution, they were at the drop off lane at her school.

"Thanks Dad."

"Oh, before you go – Mom called last night. She wants to talk to you after you get home from school. She said she was going to show you something."

Tori paused. Show her something? Could it possibly be another incentive to keep her class ranking? If this meant a new computer, and not another piece of junk that barely functioned, she could spend some time with Mom. Would she actually be able to go to one of the summer camps different universities had been sending her?

She went off to class, hope soaring.

She was leaving early today. Tonight was the last night she had left. Victoria needed to perform the ceremony tonight.

She had tried reasoning with Marcel. She had tried yelling at Marcel. She had tried being nice with Marcel. She had tried tricking Marcel. She had only accomplished frustrating herself.

He couldn't be around her at all times. She still could go home and perform the ceremony, consequences be damned. If he fired her, she knew she could find another job. There was never a shortage of jobs for those who were willing to look. She regularly received some offers from different research groups. However, she knew that she couldn't leave voluntarily. If she did, she gave up all control over Victoria's experiment. If Marcel wanted to fire her – fine, but she would take Victoria with her.

She grabbed her bag and headed to the door. She turned the knob. It was locked.

"Please," she laughed. She could unlock this in her sleep. She cast the unlock spell. She didn't feel the 'click' that she felt when she had a successful cast.

She tried again. She tried a third time. Rage consumed her, followed by a blinding panic. She had to get out of this room. She had to get home and fix things.

She tried her fireball spell. Not even a smolder.

She was going to get out of this and Marcel would have hell to pay.

Tori waited in the living room. Dad said Mom didn't say when she wanted time, just sometime after school. Did she mean dinner?

She went back to her algebra homework. At least she had something that made sense. Solve for x, find the value of y, follow the order of operations, they all had certain rules. They weren't unpredictable. They didn't say one thing and then do the opposite. Mom did a lot. She had been in so much trouble when she pointed out the how differently Mom treated Lara and her.

If Mom didn't show up, this could be another grand example. What better way to show that she didn't care about her when she couldn't even bother to show up for something she herself had planned?

Dad poked his head in the living room. They were having pizza again, which only meant Mom was stuck at work.

Tori rolled her eyes and took her homework upstairs.

Diane glared at Marcel.

"You knew this would happen when you signed up for the experiment. If she performed the ceremony, you would have had to tell her what she was. It would invalidate everything you had done."

"If that was the case, you wouldn't be tracking Bae's boys. You and I both know he told them, probably years ago."

"They have a unique set of circumstances."

"Just like a witch. Or, say, the only witch-sorcerer in your experiment. She is already inadvertently casting spells. Small ones, but she is doing it."

Marcel shook his head. He was standing in the open doorway, daring her to make a move. She knew that he wouldn't be so bold if he didn't have some combination of security, sorcerers, and who knows what else lurking out of sight.

"I've already conferred with the St. Cloud's. Mr. St. Cloud has expressed his wish that she not complete the ceremony."

"Oh, I doubt that," Diane snickered. Cabals were known for luring unsuspecting witches into ceremonies that would weaken their powers. Some ceremonies even performed a type of brainwashing, making the witch loyal to a specific Cabal.

"It is no matter what you believe or don't believe," he said, looking over to the clock. "In six hours, midnight will come and Victoria will remain unaltered."

Diane started to cast a fireball but she was struck by an energy bolt. She fell back into the desk and a sorcerer with a pair of guards entered the room. The guards ran over to her, placing tape over her mouth.

"Bet you wish you had your ruby slippers," the sorcerer laughed. Diane struggled but the guards had already placed ropes around her wrists.

"You're not the big, bad witch you like to think you are," the sorcerer whispered in her ear. Her skin crawled; she wanted to claw his eyes out. She had to settle for a glare.

Once she was free, they would all pay.

Tori wanted to ask about Mom about last week. It had been over a week since Mom had scheduled their 'activity', only to never show up. When Tori saw her the next morning, she definitely had a look of revulsion and the lip curl was significantly more noticeable.

Neither had spoken to the other. Dad didn't have any messages to relay either.

If she wasn't so angry, she might feel guilty. She was angry at everything – Marcel, the St. Cloud's, her technicians, Bae, Victoria – but she was mostly angry with herself. She should have acted sooner. She should have not let it get to the last night. She should have cast a glamour spell and snuck out. She should have ripped Marcel's smug throat out and beat him with it while he was lecturing her. She should have done everything different.

She ran down her rationale again. She knew going through the list, there wasn't any major deviations that would have made any difference.

She sunk back into her chair. She would never forget the moment she saw Victoria, after it was too late. She never thought it would be as bad as it was. She could still do something. She could push her, try to see how her powers were developing by pushing at her emotions. Her maternal instinct knew that it was wrong, but there was no other option. She had to guide Victoria as she came into her witch powers. She had to ensure that she would not be another meek, eager to please, cowardly witch.

Diane had already failed her. It was a significant failure on her part. It was the worst failure a mother could let happen to her witch daughter. She knew those eight nights would haunt her. She wouldn't have this problem with Lara. Lara was a 'normal' witch. Lara already knew that she was a witch, the ceremony, and its role to help her powers come in once she had her first period. She would get it right with Lara. She would have to pour all of her attention into her. Lara would have even more lessons, harder lessons. Lara may have to be the legacy she left behind.

She wanted to throw something. She wanted to see something come apart at her hands.

How could have this happened?

She was an Enright. Her mother was a powerful witch, as was her mother, and so forth. They were a line of strong, powerful witches that did not allow sorcerers to put them in a box. They were uncontrollable. They were not weak. They were not cowardly. Victoria was posed to be more powerful than all of them. She could help redeem the name of witches. Together, they could finally get rid of the cowardly Coven and start their own Coven. It would actually teach witches how to use spells – not merely unlocking or lighting spells. No, they would teach them real magic. All of that hope was now squandered.

She had heard about the Levine girl, of course. Everyone knew about the Levine girl. A dark witch and the to-be-named heir of the Nast Cabal having a daughter? It was what kicked off the St. Cloud's with their quest to have their own hybrid. It was why the St. Cloud's had chosen this experiment. If there was to be one hybrid, the market demanded another one. It presented a potential singular source of strong witch and sorcerer magic. Of course the Cabals would want that.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.

It would be years before Victoria could move out. She would have to make it work, somehow. Her skin prickled at the reality of the situation – years having to look into those eyes.

Her anger soared again and she threw a book at the wall.

She would have to spend years looking into her witch's daughter's eyes and she would only see hatred.

She would see sorcerer eyes.