Disclaimer: I don't own the Darkest Powers series. Some other obvious facts: the world is round, grass is green, and birds have wings. Fascinating, right?

Twisted

Two weeks. It had been over two weeks since we'd arrived at the safe-house, and what had we accomplished? Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing- Derek had completed his Change, Tori had mastered some extremely complex spells, and I'd made progress creating mental blocks to prevent my accidental summoning. But we still didn't have a plan for breaking into the Edison Group headquarters to free Rae and find out what happened to Aunt Lauren and Kit Bae, Derek and Simon's dad. Andrew and the other members of the Anti-Edison Group just sat around arguing, and they definitely didn't welcome input from a bunch of teenaged mutants. We might be at the safe-house, but we were still a long way from being safe.

I was sitting in the back-yard, hoping that the sunshine would improve these negative thoughts. I stared at the words in the book I was supposedly reading without really seeing them, too busy worrying about my dad to focus. We weren't really close- he was usually away working, and besides that, I think it's painful for him to be around me because it reminds him of how different everything was before my mom died. Still, I know that he loves me, and he must be so frightened for his 15 year-old runaway, schizophrenic daughter... not that I'm actually schizophrenic, but when faced with the choice of believing that I'm either mentally ill or a necromancer capable of seeing, speaking to and even raising the dead, which one do you think most people pick?There must be some way I could contact my father to let him know I was okay without revealing anything about the Edison Group or the location of our little band of rebels- C'mon, Chloe, think!

I was distracted from my brooding by the sound of yelling coming from inside the house, followed closely by the slam of the patio door. Great... it must be time for Tori's daily tantrum. Sure enough, when I looked up I saw a red- faced Tori standing on the deck. She glanced my way and stomped over toward me.

"Hi, Tori, what's up? I've just been out here reading," I said, plastering a smile on my face, hoping that if she thought I was happy to see her she'd decide to go away and annoy someone else.

"Do you usually read up-side down?" she asked sarcastically.

I sighed, closing the book as Tori thumped down on the grass next to me. "So... are you going to tell me what all of the fighting was about?"

Tori gave me a dark look, but to my surprise, she actually answered. "The other sorcerers don't want Andrew giving me lessons in spell casting anymore- they said that he's betraying some sort of sorcerer code by teaching a witch their magic."

Huh. Simon had told me back at Lyle House that sorcerers and witches generally hated each other, and everything I'd seen at the safe-house definitely confirmed that. Their feud seemed completely ridiculous to those of us who couldn't use magic; I mean, apart from the fact that witches were female and sorcerers were male, I didn't see any difference between the two groups, and told Tori so.

"I know, right? But to them, it's 'witch spells are for witches, and sorcerer spells are for sorcerers.'"

"Umm, is there any difference? You know, between witch magic and sorcerer magic?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"They say there is- witches are supposed to be better at casting their own spells than at sorcerer spells. So I should be much better at binding spells, which are witch magic, than at the sorcerers' knock-back spells. Except that I'm not- I'm equally amazing at both, and that's really pissing off the sorcerers. They've spent centuries believing that witches are stupid, weak and cowardly. I'm proof that we aren't," Tori replied arrogantly.

"But I still don't get it. Why don't you just focus on learning witch magic for now, and stop all of the arguments? I mean, there's got to be a lot to learn, plus you can always get Andrew or someone else to teach you sorcery later, after we get out of here."

Tori stared at me in disbelief. "You CANNOT be asking me that. You've met the other witches, Chloe... even you must have noticed that they're useless. They just sit around drinking tea and gossiping and glaring at everyone- I think the only reason that they're part of this group is so they can spy on the sorcerers. Well, that, and to keep lecturing me about the dangers of magic every five seconds. They don't know any defensive spells. Witches who want to learn serious magic get kicked out of the Coven. That's what happened to my mom."

I hesitated, but curiosity got the better of me. "Your mom was thrown out of the witches' group because she wanted to learn tougher spells?"

"Partly... but I think it was mostly because they realized that Mom's an evil bitch. But she is really powerful- she and some of other witches who didn't accept the Coven's ideas started exploring the dark arts- and don't ask me what those are, because I don't know, and no one will tell me. But I think it's bad, Chloe, and I mean really bad," Tori shivered.

I believed her. I'd met Diane Enright, and she was definitely your stereotypical wicked witch. I wasn't sure what to say, though-I mean, she was Tori's mom, and I knew that in spite of everything she'd done, Tori probably still loved her.

Tori must have decided that she'd revealed too much personal information, as she quickly looked away, and when she started talking again she'd regained her usual over-confidence. "Anyway, they're all idiots, everyone in Andrew's dumb group. Haven't you noticed that all they ever do is fight with each other? And the fights aren't even about issues or ideas- it's just stupid prejudices. I'm sick of it."

"I wouldn't call them idiots, but I understand what you're saying. It's like the witches and sorcerers have to disagree with each other just because of what they are. Nobody listens to the necromancers or shamans because they're supposed to be weirdoes and flaky, New-Age hippies. And the half-demons think that they're better than everyone else so they don't bother paying attention to what the others have to say," I sighed.

"Exactly!" Tori said. "They refuse to get along, so I don't see them coming up with a plan anytime soon. Plus, I don't trust these people. Most of them are former Edison Group employees- how do we know that they've really changed sides?"

I felt the awful sinking feeling in my stomach returning- I get it whenever I'm really upset, and needless to say, I've been getting it a lot lately.

"W-w-we just have to trust them," I said shakily, desperately wishing that Derek was back from his run already.

Tori glared at me. "Seriously, Chloe, grow up. After everything we've been through, you're willing to blindly trust a bunch of strangers to take care of us and do the right thing just because they're adults? God! Do you still believe in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, too?"

Exasperated, I threw my hands in the air. "What do you want, Tori? Do you want me to tell you that you're right, or that you've at least got a good point? Okay, fine- but what now? The Edison Group's still after us! What are we supposed to do? I mean, it's not like YOU have a plan, do you?"

Instead of getting angry, Tori smiled. "Actually, Chloe, I do. And it's a good one."

Don't you want to know what it is? If you do, keep reading!