Tethered (A BirthRight Novel) Read Online Free PDF

of my life.
    I was in sixth period Algebra with my face in my palms, daydreaming about the adorable student teacher, Mr. Carr. He looked just like Clark Kent from Smallville . In my mind, he was Superman. As I fantasized about kissing him, the way I dreamt of doing every day, a vision jolted me from reality with images so clear—so vivid—it instantly made me weep.
     
    Tears covered my mother’s angelic face.
    Her creamy, Irish complexion was sallow as she stared out the passenger side window. The dark circles and look of defeat she wore, tore my heart in two.
    But why was she so upset? What exactly happened?
    My father’s scowl stretched across a face so taut, I'd swear he was made of stone. He’d never been a warm person, but in that moment, it was clear he had ice water running through his waspy, white-collar veins.
    He turned a malevolent gaze towards my mother. “Why can’t you ever leave well enough alone? Why do you insist on touching everything you see?” He huffed. “Is it really too much to ask for you to just be a normal wife?”
    Her wobbly head turned to him. The anguish on her face said his words carried the force of a lead weight. “ Normal? Oh, please, my darling husband...what’s ‘normal’ in your tiny, deceptive mind? Is she ?” My mother’s nostrils flared as she battled the floodgate within her tear ducts.
    Her sarcasm hit the wrong nerve.
    My father’s quivering muscles and clenching jaw painted the perfect picture of hatred. “This isn’t about her you dumb ass, so don’t you dare make it seem like it is.”
    She glared at him. “So how long have you been seeing her anyway? A few weeks? Months? Years, maybe?”
    “Moira, we’ve had problems for more than a decade. It shouldn’t come as some big surprise that I’ve been seeing her. If it weren’t for you and your damn family, we’d have a normal life, with normal children, free of magic and all the other crap that comes with it. But nooooooooooo…I had to marry a freak!”
    My mother’s jaw nearly fell to her lap. “A freak?” she asked. “That’s really how you see me?” Tears cascaded down her ashen, swollen face as she gasped.
    “I didn’t ask for this and you know it. If I had the choice, I would have never in a million years married a Witch. I mean, really, Moira. What man with half a brain would? Women are crazy enough as it is, without adding supernatural bullshit into the mix. Look at your sister for cryin’ out loud. The second Michael found out she was a Witch, he ran for the hills, which is exactly what I should have done years ago.”
    He fixated on the flooding country road, sheets of rain obstructing his view. He turned up the speed of the wipers, the swooshing sound of the blades mimicked my mother’s breathy, rhythmic sobs.
    “Well no one’s forcing you to stay, you know. I can take care of the kid’s just fine on my own. I’ve already been doing it for years anyway.”
    Her seething words seemed to penetrate flesh, muscle, and bone—like no tangible weapon ever could. His scarlet face twisted like a demonic possession. “Oh, so now I’m a bad father? That’s priceless coming from the woman who teaches her children how to use magic. Trust me...no judge in the world would give you custody of those kids. Just wait until the world finds out what you and your psychotic family really are.”
    Sheet white, my mother froze. “You wouldn’t! You’ve already exposed us by telling her .” She latched onto his arm. “Please, Daniel...promise me you won’t hurt my family that way?”
    Her hysterical pleading would have broken even the most evil man’s heart, but not my father’s. His face turned expressionless. “If you force me out, I honestly don’t know what I’m capable of.”
    Lightning crashed down in several places in the distance, but my father never eased off the gas.
    My mom took steady, deep breaths. “You know I don’t want you to go, Daniel. I still love you just as much as I did