I looked into her face, which despite the smile, looked so sad.
"She was here?" I asked.
Mrs. Casnoff placed her glasses on top of her head and nodded. "Lucy actually grew up here at Hecate, back before it was Hecate, of course. I believe that picture was taken shortly after your father was born."
"Did you . . . did you know her?"
Mrs. Casnoff shook her head. "I'm afraid that was before my time. But most Prodigium know of her, of course. Her story was a very unique one."
For sixteen years I had wondered who I really was, where I came from. And here was the answer right in front of me. "Why?"
"I told you the story of the origins of Prodigium your first day here.
Do you remember?"
It was like two weeks ago, I thought. Of course I remember. But I decided to store the sarcasm, and said, "Right. Angels. War with God."
"Yes. However, in your case, your family did not gain its powers until
1939, when your great-grandmother Alice was sixteen."
"I thought you had to be born a witch. Mom said that only vampires start out as human."
Mrs. Casnoff nodded. "Usually that is the case. However, there is always the odd human who attempts to change their fate. They find a spell book or a special incantation, some way to imbue themselves with the divine, the mystical. Very few survive the process. Your great-grandmother was one of the few."
Not knowing what to say, I took a long drink of my tea. It was cold, and the sugar had settled at the bottom, making it syrupy.
"How?" I finally asked.
Mrs. Casnoff sighed. "There, I am sadly at a loss. If Alice ever spoke in depth to anyone about her experiences, it was never recorded. I only know what I've picked up here and there. Apparently, she had gotten mixed up with a particularly nasty witch who was attempting to enhance her own powers through the aid of black magic, magic that has been outlawed by the
Council since the seventeenth century. No one is exactly sure how Alice was involved with this woman--a Mrs. Thorne, I believe her name was--or even if she knew what the woman was. Somehow the spell that was meant for
Mrs. Thorne transformed Alice instead."
"Wait, but you said Mrs. Thorne was using black magic for this spell, right?"
Mrs. Casnoff nodded. "Yes. Truly terrible stuff, too. Alice was very lucky she wasn't killed during the transformation. Mrs. Thorne was not as fortunate."
I suddenly felt like I'd swallowed a tray of ice cubes, but even as my stomach froze, beads of sweat broke out on my forehead.
"So my . . . my great-grandmother was made into a witch by black magic? As in, the worst, most dangerous kind of magic ever?"
Again, Mrs. Casnoff nodded. She was still looking at me very closely.
"Your great-grandmother was an aberration, Sophia. I'm sorry. I know that's a very ugly word, but there's no way around it."
"How"--my voice came out as a croak, and I cleared my throat--"what happened to her?"
Mrs. Casnoff sighed. "She was eventually found by a member of the
Council in London. She'd been committed to an asylum, ranting and raving about witches and demons. The Council member brought her and your grandmother Lucy to Hecate."
"My grandmother?" I looked down at the photo in my hands.
"Yes. Alice was pregnant when she was found. They waited until your grandmother was born to bring them both here."
She poured herself another cup of tea. I got the feeling that she didn't really want to say anything else, but I had to ask. "So what happened then?"
Mrs. Casnoff stirred her tea with the sort of concentration usually reserved for brain surgery. "Alice did not adjust well to her transformation," she answered without looking at me. "After three months here at Hecate, she somehow contrived to escape. Again, no one is sure how, but Alice had some very powerful magic at her disposal. And then . . ." Mrs. Casnoff paused to take a sip of tea.
"And then?" I repeated.
Finally she lifted her eyes to mine. "She was murdered. L'Occhio di
Dio."
"How did we know it was--"
"They're very distinctive in their disposal of us," she replied briskly.
"In any case, Lucy, who had been left behind, stayed here at Hecate so the
Council could observe her."
"What, like a science experiment?" I didn't mean to sound so angry, but I was beyond freaked out.
"Alice's power had been off the charts. She was literally the strongest
Prodigium that had ever been recorded. It was vital that the Council know if that level of magic had been passed down to her daughter, who was, after all, half human."
"Had it?"
"Yes. And that power was also passed to your father." Her eyes met mine. "And to you."
After our little meeting, Mrs. Casnoff gave me the rest of the afternoon off to, as she put it, "reflect on what you've learned." However, I didn't feel like doing much reflecting. I marched straight to the third floor. In the small alcove off my hallway, there was a bank of bright red telephones that students could use. They were dusty with non-use since most of the
Prodigium at Hecate didn't need telephones to communicate with their families. Vampires could use telepathy, but it wasn't like Jenna was calling home. The shapeshifters had some sort of pack mentality thing going on, and the faeries used the wind or a flying insect to deliver messages. I'd seen
Nausicca murmuring to a dragonfly just that morning.
As for witches and warlocks, there were supposedly a bunch of different spells you could use to talk to people--everything from making your words appear in writing on a wall, to making a cat channel your voice.
But I didn't know any of those spells, and even if I had, they were only useful for communicating to other witches. Since Mom was human, human communication it was.
I picked up the phone, grimacing at the gritty feel of it in my sweaty hand.
A few seconds later, Mom picked up.
"My dad is the head of the Council," I said before she could even finish her hello.
I heard her sigh. "Oh, Sophie, I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't," I said, and I was surprised to feel my throat constricting.
"Soph . . ."
"You didn't tell me anything." My eyes stung and my voice sounded thick. "You didn't tell me who my dad was, you didn't tell me that I'm apparently the most powerful witch, you know, ever. You didn't tell me that
Dad is the one who . . . who sentenced me to go here."
"He didn't have a choice," Mom said, her voice tired. "If his daughter were exempt from punishment, how would that have made him look to other Prodigium?"
I wiped my cheek with the heel of my hand. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want him to look bad," I said.
"Honey, let me call your dad, and we can get this--"
"Why didn't you tell me that people want to kill me?"
Mom gasped a little. "Who told you that?" she demanded, and now she sounded even angrier than I was.
"Mrs. Casnoff," I answered. Right after she'd dropped the bomb about my powers, Mrs. Casnoff had told me one of the reasons that my dad had sent me to Hecate--to keep me safe.
"You can't blame him," she had said. "L'Occhio di Dio killed Lucy as well, in 1974, and your father has had numerous attempts made on his life.
For the first fifteen years of your life, your father was able to keep your existence a secret. But now . . . It was only a matter of time before L'Occhio di Dio discovered your existence, and you would have been defenseless in the regular world."
"What . . . what about those Irish people?" I'd croaked.
Mrs. Casnoff's eyes had slid away from mine. "The Brannicks are not a concern at this time," was all she had said. I knew she was lying, but I'd been too shell-shocked to call her on it.