Read Online The Golden Thread by Suzy McKee Charnas - Free Book Online

shouldn’t have asked if you don’t want to know,” I said. It had been a mistake to say anything, of course; that hadn’t changed. Would I ever learn?
    â€œOf course I want to know!” said Mom. Bam went the pots and pans. “Thank God this time I’m not going to be kept in the dark until it’s all over and the damage is done. Your grandmother should be ashamed of herself, luring you into danger again!”
    â€œ Gran? ” I was outraged. “She has nothing to do with it! She’s in intensive care, for cripe’s sake!”
    â€œThese things only happen to you because of her,” Mom insisted, slamming down a handful of silverware into the drainer. “None of your friends have—these incidents erupting into their lives, do they? You don’t see Lennie Anderson getting mixed up with magical strangers all over the place! This stuff finds you because you’re receptive, Valli. You attract it.”
    What could I say? My head echoed with the impact of Bosanka’s attention crashing into our New Year’s comet, attracted by my family gift.
    â€œIt’s all because of Gran,” Mom added. “She’s dazzled you.”
    â€œI’m not dazzled,” I objected.
    â€œYes, you are!” Mom said. “Everybody’s always been dazzled by her, everybody but me! Her and her ‘gift’!” She calmed down and tried reasonableness again. “Tell me, Valli, what good does it do Gran to be so ‘special?’ She’s in the hospital and she may never come out again. So what’s the point?”
    â€œI don’t know,” I said miserably.
    â€œDo you know I had actually managed to forget the family curse?” she went on, “until you brought it all back again last spring, with the statue and the monster and that street person with the fiddle you were careering all around the city with like some homeless urchin? Even then, at first I wasn’t sure. It was like remembering a dream. Or a nightmare that comes back over and over, turning everything upside down!”
    I said, “Magic doesn’t go away just because it scares you. It’s in our blood, Mom. And Paavo Latvela wasn’t some street bum, either. How would you know, anyway? You never even met him.” I shoved my chair back and stood up. “I’m going to my room. I don’t want to have this stupid argument again.”
    â€œStay there,” she said through her teeth. “We’re not arguing, we’re having a discussion.”
    She turned around and stood trying to stare me into submission while she had me sitting down so I was shorter than she was for a change. “Valentine, you are a babe in the woods. You have no idea of what you’re up against, do you? This—this girl, wherever she’s from, is making demands you can’t begin to understand, let alone meet. Whatever your Gran is, you are no sorcerer!”
    â€œI wish I were,” I mourned.
    â€œWell, you’re not. What will this person do when she realizes you can’t do what she wants? You think you’re invulnerable? Valentine, this is not a jolly adventure, it is a perilous situation!”
    As if I didn’t know, after this afternoon! But one word about the leaf-taker and I would have total mom-hysteria on my hands, and my own hysteria was all I could handle, thanks. I said, “I’m okay , Mom.”
    Mom dried her hands as if she were wringing the dish towel’s neck. “I don’t have a chance, do I? I’ve never had a chance. You’re caught up in the romance of this ‘magic.’ And even if you survive again, somehow, every time this happens it makes you more of a misfit, a—a weirdo! Is that what you want?”
    Not that again.
    I said, “You’re always saying I should have the courage to do my own thing regardless of what other kids do. Or does that only go for my clothes and my