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— WINTER BREAK CAME FAST; Reese opted out of school for the two weeks before the holidays, not wanting to go into school with the thin scar running from her hairline to the top of her right eyebrow and the gnarly black eye that was taking its sweet time to heal from the way she had hit her face. Her teachers were more than accommodating, having Flynn or Emmett drop her assignments off and hand them in. Reese hated being in the house.
In the weeks after her fall, Reese had begun to fear her own reflection. The mirror in her bathroom had been covered up with a spare sheet, she avoided looking into any reflective surface (including her cell phone and windows at night) afraid that it wouldn't be her looking back; it would be Morgana, with her dark green eyes and cruel grin. Or maybe Reese would hallucinate again and hurt herself, she didn't want to scare the twins any more than she already had. Or Elizabeth. Or Flynn, for that matter.
Annmarie and Taylor had become more clingy to Reese since her return home from the hospital, trailing after her like baby ducks. It had irritated her at first, they slept in her bed and played in her room and would cry if she left them for more than ten minutes without saying where she was going. But then Reese sympathized with them: they had lost their parents, left for a little while and then they were gone, and then they had almost lost their sister — the only person they had from their days on Sunrise Street. Reese had cried herself raw in the shower thinking about them. What would happen to them when she died? Elizabeth, bless her soul, was not cut out to raise two small children who had known too much loss in their very short existence. What would happen when they were older and wanted to know more about how their big sister had just died; been healthy one day and then gone the next. For a split second, a moment of weakness really, Reese had contemplated finding the spell her mother had used on her to take away any memories of witchcraft and using it to erase Reese from their lives. But that was a stupid idea, they would find out eventually (the same way she had with the witchcraft) and then they would be in exactly the same position as Reese: hurt, alone and angry. So she ditched that idea.
Flynn had also practically made the living room her new home. She had a laundry basket filled with her clothes and books piled up on the glass table. The twins loved having her around, Flynn brought a sort of light into the house that they hadn't had since their parents had perished. Reese was thankful for that, knowing that when she was gone at least they would have a replacement for Reese (not exactly the same thing, but Flynn cared for them just as much). Flynn was there as much for support during the research of new spells as much as she was to make sure that nothing got out of hand on Reese's end. She fell into her role quickly, just like Elizabeth knew she would, and the more they worked together the stronger the bond they had grew. Elizabeth had called it an empathy link, allowing Flynn to gauge Reese's emotions and know when her assistance was needed (which was practically always).
