She stared without seeing, her brilliant blue eyes vacant. Bonnie stood on the threshold of the bathroom, watching Josette with an apprehensive pity. She had not spoken to her yet, not knowing what to say. Her grief must be colossal and judging by her stare she was in deep shock.
"My dad said my brother is back," Jo said suddenly and Bonnie tensed. Jo looked away from the mirror. "You were with him for eighteen years?"
Bonnie shook her head. "A few months. He was there for eighteen years. I - I know it's confusing," she said softly and stepped into the bathroom, toiletries clenched in hand. "The ascendant cracked and we ended up back here rather than my time. 2013," she added and Jo nodded, though Bonnie was unsure how much she was taking in.
"My coven is coming. My dad...he has the knife."
"What?"
"He's bringing my magic with him."
"Oh," Bonnie bit her lip and moved closer to her. "If - if you ever want to hangout, to talk...I'm here."
Jo nodded and looked back at the mirror. "What was it like? In the prison world?"
"...Lonely. Eerie. I um...I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
"I'm sorry, it wasn't meant for you," she whispered, eyes narrowing. "Did he hurt you?"
Bonnie blinked. "No - no. Not like that. Not at first…" she licked her lips and swallowed, appalled that she felt at the edge of tears. "He lied, I thought he - he was genuine. I didn't know why he was really in the prison world. If I had known…" she stared at Jo helplessly and she nodded.
"He can seem so normal; he's good at charming people, making others like him. When it suits him," she added and tears spilled down her cheeks. "There's a place in me that still loves him, like a ghost. It's dead but...there, lingering" she tapped her head and Bonnie understood perfectly.
"I thought he felt the same as I do - did. But - but it was an act. The whole time he was pretending," she cried silently and Jo gave her a knowing but hollow look.
"He can't love. Better you know now rather than spending years hoping he will change. He is heartless," she stared at herself, "He's taken mine now."
No knowing what to say Bonnie wiped her face and heard her grandmother in the kitchen below. "You should eat. Gram makes great breakfasts."
"I just wanna sleep," Jo said and paused as she passed her, glancing. "Thank you Bonnie."
She disappeared into her mother's old room and Bonnie sighed, wishing that she could fix this for Jo but there was nothing she could do. Kai Parker was out there, full of anticipation and joy at being free while his sister was a shell.
None of this was fair.
Bonnie had felt too ashamed to tell her grandmother about her feelings for Kai but the little she had let slip to Jo had been a relief. Betrayal coiled inside her stomach like acid, eating it's way through her blood to pound in her head. She wanted to be purged of it, of that ghost as Jo called it, but it was constant.
"The Gemini will take care of Kai," her grams said, drawing her away from those thoughts. Her words should bring relief but she recoiled.
"Not a prison world?"
"Don't worry child, no one is getting any Bennett blood this time. There are other ways to deal with witches like him. They won't kill him," she added after seeing Bonnie's unease. "We want to contain him. While Jo and Kai live they're still in the running for the merge. The two little twins are too young and well...you can imagine the trauma they have been through. Let them have whatever is left of their childhoods before any talk about merging starts."
"You spoke to their dad?"
Grams nodded and took a sip of coffee. The kitchen was just as she remembered it, warm and smelling of bread. "Friday is when the next celestial event is. He's made Kai think it's for the merge."
Bonnie shook her head. "He won't fall for any tricks, not this time."
Sheila nodded. "Either way the coven will confront him." she washed her cup in the sink and turned to Bonnie. "Speaking of time, what are we gonna do about you child?"
"I don't know. Is there magic that can get me back to the future?" saying the phrase made her think of Kai and she swallowed her pain. Her grandmother snorted and sat back down.
"The ascendant malfunctioned, though there are theories that it could be used to time travel but until now it's been unproven. There is magic but very unreliable. You had an ancestor who was fascinated with time and he made a machine. He disappeared one day and no one knows where or when he went."
"Wow...so there's nothing?" her stomach cramped at the prospect.
"There's always something child, just gotta find it. Now your dad is bringing you, younger you, here to stay as he's travelling for work."
Bonnie jumped up. "I can't meet myself!"
"Easy girl...but yes, I think that would be wise. I know where you can stay in the meantime."
"The Armoury," she answered and her grandmother was impressed.
"You always were a little psychic."
Kai, who had no intention of going back to the prison world, needed access to the Armoury. He could make the building visible but needed Bennett blood to get in. What was it about his coven and the Bennett's? At once the bane of his existence but also his salvation. He had left a note for his sister that morning, after their dad had made his mirror appearance. He had told Jo to come alone but as a car pulled up his sister and Bonnie stepped out. His breath caught a little at the sight.
He smiled brightly at Jo, who looked pale and spacey. "Hey sissy."
"What do you want?" Bonnie barked and he cocked his head at her, lips pursed.
"Right now? To talk to my sister alone. Don't worry, her ongoing existence is my top priority right now," he added as Bonnie stepped in front of Jo. With good reason, his sister looked like she needed escorting to cross the street safely. He had done a number on her, hadn't he?
Josette hesitated for a moment and then moved to his side. Kai smiled at Bonnie who glared as he took Jo's hand and pulled her to a flight of steps before the entrance. He made her sit, which she did with boneless supplication. It creeped him out a little. He sat beside her.
"I'm not merging with you," she said, her tone belying her apparent weakness.
"I think we're beyond that now Josette. The coven is coming, do you want their blood on your hands too?"
She stared at him, a glimmer of anger in otherwise dead eyes. "I don't want anything. You know that dad blames me?"
Kai blinked in shock. "What?"
"He didn't come right out and say it but we both know if I had merged with you none of this would have happened. He was the one who told me to come to this place. He couldn't even look at me...It's all my fault." she buried her face in her hands.
Should he hug her? "Well...yeah," his efforts to guilt trip her into merging seemed pointless, she was doing all the work for him. "This is why we were born. It sucks but it's the truth. Do this Josie and either outcome we never have to see each other again. Don't you want that?"
"...I don't want anything."
"Fine." Kai stood and stared down at her after glancing at Bonnie. "Has she talked about me? Bonnie?"
Jo looked up, her eyes squinting in the sun. "Like you care."
"I do, actually. She's the only person, witch, who ever treated me like I wasn't a freak."
"Yeah and you only had to lie through your teeth," she said, standing. She stared at Bonnie, who started to walk towards them. "I think she actually loved you...I guess I have one thing I want; if you ever merge you'll be able to feel what it's like to have your heart crushed into dust. I hope she ruins your life."
"Thanks, good talk," Kai answered as she walked away to the car as Bonnie stopped before him.
"The merge won't happen Kai," she said and it wasn't a threat, just a fact.
"I know it's the last thing my dad wants and I have no doubt that he has some plan to stop me," he leaned down to gaze at her. "But the coven is meant to be a democracy. If they vote for a merge then that has to happen."
"You really think your dad will listen? He has Liv and Luke who are still alive in the future."
Kai lifted a finger. "One possible future. Us being here now has probably changed things. He knows the lengths I will go to and won't risk the kids he has left for Jo's sake."
Bonnie shook her head, her throat tight. "They're just babies."
"And I won't touch them if Jo and my dad stop fucking me over. I've had a long time to think about this Bon. I don't have any ill will towards them, they're just pawns."
Bonnie looked away from him and the need to touch her was powerful. He could not resist. His fingers brushed her hand and she pulled it back with a hiss.
"Don't!"
"You told Jo about us."
"I didn't! Not - not really...and there's nothing to tell," she was floundering now and it made him feel alive. Usually she clams up into an icy reserve when angry so these flashes of vulnerability made him feel that his efforts were not in vain.
"I can't stop thinking about you."
"Stop," she begged and he pulled her out of sight from Jo. Bonnie pushed against his chest as he flattened her against the wall in the cool shadows of the Armoury.
"I'm sorry," he breathed and kissed her. It had only been a few days since he last had her but god it felt like so much longer. He had missed her and the feel of her back in his arms was not something he ever wanted to stop. She tensed, hands digging into his chest but she stopped pushing when he parted her lips with his tongue. She made a noise in her throat, half moan, half scream and it made him hard. He could feel the magic in her poised to unleash and murmured a spell against her mouth.
Bonnie gasped, shoving him away and he moved back, hands up. "What was that?!"
"A linking spell. Anything happens to me, like being banished, will happen to you too."
She was rigid with rage. "Asshole!"
"I just needed a little...guarantee...and I'm not letting you go."
She made a dismissive noise and pushed him. God she was sexy when she was mad. "Where's the binding agent?!"
"...in there," he motioned at the door of the Armoury. She was so angry that she didn't question it, taking his offered knife to draw her blood. She pressed her bloody hand to the door and it swung open. She turned sharply and pressed the knife tip against his jaw.
"Show me where it is. Now," she motioned through the door with the knife and he smiled, walking through. He liked this side of her.
Josette Parker watched her brother and Bonnie enter the Armoury, the sun setting behind it. She had promised that she would not leave and she would keep that promise...but she was not going through with the merge. Not because she might lose but the terrifying prospect that she might win. Living with this guilt? It was unthinkable.
Her father was coming with the knife she had stored her magic in but by the time he arrived tomorrow with the rest of the coven there will be nowhere for the magic to go. She took one last look at the Armoury before leaving the car and headed into the woods, following the river towards the falls.
