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shut. “Oh, yes. I’m so
sorry about Sister Mary Louise.”
    “Thank you, Aunt Myrtle,” she said as she
sat on the couch. Her aunt followed in suit.
    “How are you doing?”
    “I’m okay, I guess. Still in shock, I
suppose.”
    “No surprise there.”
    “Can I get you some tea?” Summer
offered.
    “No, dear. I’m good. I just wanted to check
on you. How is Tori doing?”
    “I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to her since
I dropped her off with Nick yesterday.”
    “Hmm,” she said with concern.
    “Can I ask you a question?”
    “Of course.”
    “How did you know Daniel was a watcher?”
    “His aura.”
    “His aura?”
    “Yes. It’s bright white and almost blinding.
Don’t you see it?”
    “No, but he certainly has a presence about
him.”
    “Yes. A strong aura does that to a being.
How long have you known him?”
    “Since the night Hunter kidnapped Morti and
killed Ms. Ash, Sully’s mother. He’s kept me from harm several
times.”
    “I imagine so, though I didn’t know he had
made himself known to you.”
    “So you knew he was watching me?”
    “All your life.”
    “He said he’d been asked to watch me.”
    “Yes, he had, by your grandmother Ivy. She
had been mortally wounded when she abducted you from your father’s
family. On her death bed, she asked Daniel to watch over you when
she knew she could not.”
    “How did Ivy know Daniel?”
    “Your grandfather Henry and Daniel had been
great friends, and Ivy had known him for years through him.”
    They sat in silence for a moment before Aunt
Myrtle said, “Sister Mary Louise will be greatly missed. You know,
I knew her when she was young.”
    “Sister Mary Louise?”
    “Yes. She was such a funny little thing,
always in pig tails, and she had a smile for anyone who came her
way.”
    “How did you know her?”
    “She was Ivy’s best friend Barbara’s
daughter. You don’t think your grandmother would leave you
completely at the hands of strangers, do you?”
    “ I don’t know. I mean, I guess not.”
    “She loved you very much.”
    “Can you answer a question for me? I know we
haven’t really talked about it, but I think I should know all I can
about what I’m up against.”
    “What is it?”
    Summer reached over to the side table and
opened a decorative box. She pulled out a necklace with a sun
pendant upon its chain. When Aunt Myrtle saw the necklace, she
coughed as if something caught in her throat. “Can you tell me
about this and the missing piece supposedly my twin sister
has?”
    “Uh, I, how did you find out?”
    “Sister Mary Louise gave it to me when I
graduated and left the orphanage. It took me a while to open the
box it was in, but Jackson helped me do it. When I pulled it from
its box it looked to me as if it was missing something; not
complete somehow. It was Daniel who told me about my sister. I
imagine she has a similar necklace that somehow makes mine
complete?”
    “Yes,” Aunt Myrtle said nervously. “It’s
true. You do have a sister. I had completely forgotten that the
puzzle box was among your things.”
    “Why didn’t YOU tell me I had a sister and
that she will be among the Macabres I have to fight?”
    “I’m sorry dear. I really am. I don’t
remember things like I should and I often forget what it is that
you know and what you don’t know. It’s all very frustrating, I can
tell you.”
    “I know you have memory problems, but this
seems to be an important bit of information that you’ve left
out.”
    “It was not my call to keep things from you.
The B rotherhood of R eformed O rder O f M agic, better known as the BROOM, thought it best.”
    Summer hoped this statement was true, but it
seemed that if she didn’t ask the right questions, no one would
ever tell her the whole story of what was going on and what was
about to happen.
    “Keeping secrets was never my strong suit.
Often times I’d have to write things down, but Ivy, she was good
with secrets,” Aunt Myrtle said,