Blood To Blood Read Online Free PDF

minutes,” Mom announced. Since she was able to
teleport by collapsing space and time, she always told us how long it took to
come to a decision as a way to communicate the gravity of the situation and the
amount of thought that went into its resolution. Anything over an hour was bad
news.
    I looked at them expectantly.
Cici eyeballed them for a second before pressing her lips together in what
looked like disapproval.
    “You have our blessing,” Dad
told me.
    Confused, I glanced at Cici
and her frown. This was good news, wasn’t it? “Don’t understand...” I said
warily.
    “We have one condition,” Dad
continued.
    Uh, oh…
    “We need to be locked to you
at all times,” said Mom.
    “A mind lock! DAD!” A mind
lock was a total abdication of privacy. Dad would be able to virtually go
everywhere I went and see everything I saw, and even scarier, hear my thoughts
twenty-four-seven. It was like Big Brother in your cranium. But worse.
    Cici stared at the table
again. I felt waves of panic. “Angel. Look at me. Take a deep breath,” Mom
said. “Put your feet back on the floor.”
    My panic had lifted me inches
off the hardwood. Cici gasped in shock. “Since when do you levitate?”
    “N-never! I mean since now!”
I didn’t even know how to get down. Fresh waves of panic started as I pushed
helplessly against the ceiling. Would the bizarro-ness of this day never end?
“Mom, help!” I pleaded.
    She focused her gaze on the
space beneath my feet, and I touched down.
    “Angel,” Dad said. “You must
know we will not invade your privacy. Of course we will filter out...certain
personal things. We need to stay connected because you are starting to shift.
We need to know when things like this,” he gestured toward my feet,
“circumstances you may not be able to control, happen.”
    “Honey, soon you will have
your Mahá,” Mom said. “You would have to take some time off anyway, so if you
feel you want to leave school a little earlier, we are okay with that. We can
hire a tutor, and you can always go back to school.” Her eyes glanced toward
the part of the dining room floor above her and Dad’s stash of diplomas. “The
most important thing,” she continued, “is safety.”
    “Aren’t you afraid I’ll blow
our cover? That me being in the spotlight would expose us all?”
    My parents exchanged a
glance. Quick unspoken words passed from Dad to Cici, who crossed her arms. I
cleared my throat, feeling left out of the silent conversation.
    “We had that concern when you
were younger,” Mom said, “but now we can see that you understand how important
it is that we remain, at least in the eyes of the mortal world, normal.”
    “We know you will never do
anything to intentionally damage our life here,” Dad added before casting
another quick glance at Cici and giving an almost imperceptible nod.
    “I’ve been lying to you all,”
I confessed and sighed in resignation. “I never stopped performing. I just
couldn’t stop singing.” More tears.
    “I know,” Mom said tightly. I
was thrown off by the calmness she displayed at my admission of guilt. She
gently lifted my chin and wiped my tears away with a dinner napkin. “We want
you to be happy,” she continued. “If singing on some stage somewhere is what
makes you happy, so be it. You would not be the first immortal to do so.”
    I exhaled in relief.
    “But you cannot fool
yourself,” Dad said. “You have to be honest to yourself about who and what you
are.”
    “Be honest about the fact I
might eat my friends someday. I get it.”
    The looks on their faces,
though, told me there was more.
    “Okay, Dad. I accept the mind
lock. But we really have to talk about what you are not allowed to see. After
all, I’m not a child anymore.” (Take that, Cici!) “And if you acknowledge my
maturity, why not tell me everything?”
    Cici stared at Dad with a
see-I-told-you-so look and he stared back sternly. But eventually, he slowly
nodded in what looked