CHAPTER FOUR
MIRA
Mira had a sister. No—make that three sisters. She couldn’t be more amazed. Not even if someone planted a bomb under her feet. In fact, she felt like someone had. She couldn’t remember the tragedy that took her memories, but now, she had at least one sister—who she could contact anyway.
The other two were missing.
Mira packed and left for the Alliance when she learned this. She left immediately, even though Amar was quick to tell her she should wait to see Jes. Her other sister—one of the two missing—Dara—they still searched for. The third had a mystery surrounding her.
Mira resolved to get to the bottom of that.
She stared out the window as the driver drove her to the compound. Amar told her that a family tragedy drove them all apart. Worse, she warned her Jes still didn’t remember anything.
Like Mira, herself.
As the baby, Jes was severely traumatized—and the doctors warned not to jar her into remembering. So, that, even now, Mira wouldn’t be allowed to come out and tell her anything.
She’d met Jes once and already considered her a friend, even before she learned the truth of who she was. Yet, even now, she couldn’t tell her the truth about being her sister. Still, of course, she wanted to get to know her better—even if she had to continue to do so as her friend—and hope one day she’d help her to remember, too.
Perhaps it would help them both to remember.
When Mira arrived at the Alliance, she leaned forward in her seat to stare outside at the massive structure. She hadn’t been able to believe what Amar told her about this place. She’d said it held the Jaguar People—her people. Could this be happening?
She stared up toward the guards, well-hidden on the wall. Though she couldn’t see them, her senses told her where they stood, and she easily picked them out amongst the outcroppings of the fancy, fifteen-foot stone wall.
When Amar visited her last night, in her spirit-like form, to tell her about this place, nothing could prepare her for seeing it. She still couldn’t believe she had a people. She’d been under the mistaken impression that she would only meet an occasional member of the Jaguar people. Now, she learned there were numerous such compounds of the Alliance, all over the world.
This one happened to be one of the central locations.
She looked around. The fifteen-foot stone wall, with its large, iron gate, kept out any onlookers there might have been. Not that there would be any. This one was glamoured and sat sufficiently out into the country as to not draw attention, yet close enough to the big city of Chicago for the warriors to be of assistance to those stationed in Chicago.
As the car pulled around the large, ornate circular drive, a woman met her when the car pulled alongside the front door. She opened the door of the car, smiling brightly in greeting.
“Welcome,” she told Mira. “Amar told me you were coming. I hope you don’t mind my meeting you here.”
Mira couldn’t have been more delighted. She hadn’t been looking forward to the awkwardness of trying to talk to the people, here, since she didn’t know anyone. Yet, this beautiful woman greeted her like a long, lost friend.
She let Mira into the main building, where she invited her to sit in a comfortable room to one side. The woman, who’d greeted her, then went to close the French pane doors.
Mira watched her, curiosity eating at her. “So, Amar told you I was coming?” she prompted.
“Yes,” the woman said, smiling. “Yes. She did.” She sat in the chair across from Mira. “There’s no gentle way to tell you this. Do you mind if I speak bluntly?”
“No,” she said and smiled. “No, I prefer it.”
The beautiful woman smiled, too, holding herself in a way Mira considered regal. Mira watched her eyes. Something was vaguely familiar about her.
“Amar is my mother,” she told Mira quietly.
Whatever Mira had expected her to say, that wasn’t it. She felt her jaw go slack. She knew her mouth worked up and down like a fish out of water—gasping for air. She couldn’t help that. She stared at the woman. She wanted to drag her gaze from her, but she didn’t have any control over her senses.
The woman leaned forward and put her hands over Mira’s, who gripped her own tightly in her lap.
“I am your mother,” she said to Mira, again, gently.
Mira stared at her. “So, Amar is my grandmother.” She nodded. She’d known that. She didn’t know exactly when—but she’d known.”
Her mother nodded. “My name is Cara,” she murmured. “A long time ago, a terrible incident happened to our family. To protect my children from it happening again, I had to let you all go to separate places—to keep you safe from someone.” She squeezed Mira’s closed hands—almost in a pleading gesture. “I sent you to an aunt.” She watched Mira’s eyes.
Mira knew Cara searched her face for recognition and understanding, but she couldn’t comprehend what her—mother—just told her, more-or-less acknowledge or show her understanding.
She felt numb.
“Why don’t I remember you?” she finally got out. “Why don’t I remember anything?”
Cara smiled, but her smile appeared sad to Mira. “You were young and the—incident—traumatic—for you and your sisters.”
“Sisters?” That’s right, Amar told her about her sisters, even if she hadn’t come right out—at any point—and said she was her grandmother. Yet, Mira still knew….
“You have three sisters. But one raised your little sister. And—she knows her as—her mother.”
Mira’s gaze followed Cara when she stood. “And does she know you?”
She saw a deep look of sadness pass through Cara’s eyes. “Yes—but she thinks I am her grandmother.”
Mira frowned. “That must be—difficult.”
Cara only nodded.
Mira nodded too. “You must have loved us very much—to put yourself through losing us—to protect us.”
She saw Cara’s eyes glisten with tears—before she looked away.
Mira stood then and went to her. She put her arms around her, and they both stood like that for several minutes—as silent tears fell.
Later, after Mira headed back to her room, she pondered the mystery of their broken family. Her oldest sister, the one who raised her youngest sister, went missing years after they’d all been split up. Two families disappeared that day when a horrible thing happened to a boy who belonged to an unusual faction of the Jaguar People. Her other sister, Dara, also went missing, years after this mysterious traumatic event—but Dara ran away from several foster homes before she’d disappeared.
They’d been given word here or there when there were sightings of her, but she wouldn’t come in, and they’d been looking for her for a while, now.
Jes was her baby sister. Their mother confirmed Jes didn’t remember anything. She’d been very young when the occurrence took place, and soon afterward, she went to live with their oldest sister and her new husband, where she started calling her sister, mommy.
They said she might not ever remember what happened.
Mira shook her head sadly. Yeah, and though she’d meet her once, and they’d become fast friends, she hadn’t known about any of this at the time. Now, here she was being warned not to tell her anything. So, that, at this moment, she couldn’t talk to either of her older sisters—since they were both missing—and she couldn’t talk to her baby sister, either. She couldn’t acknowledge her—as her sister.
Mira had never felt so frustrated. Still, talking to Jes—becoming her friend—was better than not getting to know her at all.
Before Mira went to her room, Cara invited her for dinner, where she’d get to meet Jes again, so she took a shower to freshen up and started reapplying her makeup. She’d learned Jes was a detective in an outlying suburb of Chicago, so she worked with humans. Apparently, she’d always known she was born Jaguar—was one of the Jaguar People.
Which, Mira thought, must be better than not kn
owing, like what had happened to her. She picked up a wide tooth comb and started running it through her wet hair. She’d been in for a shock, finding out that she wasn’t human. Amar had come to her to teach her—and help her to remember who she was. But since she thought she was human—and was about to reach her majority and find out she was one of the Jaguar People—the hard way—Amar didn’t have a choice but to tell her everything.
It had been different for Jes since she knew herself as one of the Jaguar People. There wasn’t any reason to force the rest of her memories on her.
Mira had a feeling that would change—and soon.
She looked in the mirror, staring at herself for a moment. She still couldn’t get over the fact she’d been born Jaguar. She stared at her eyes—looking for the eyes of the Jaguar to stare back at her—but saw the same eyes looking back at her since she could remember.
Human eyes.
She picked up the flat iron to straighten a section of her hair. She’d been plagued with suddenly just knowing things, lately. She would know something—and then that something would happen. Something Amar told her came from being one of the Sisters of Three. She also told her the time would come when they’d need the Sisters of Three to work together.
The term, Sisters of Three, caused Mira to think she had two sisters. Finding out that there were four, counting herself, came as another surprise.
She shook her head.
So much had been thrown at her, of late, she didn’t get what she should think. Everything she thought she knew was wrong—and she felt like she’d been living this huge lie. She couldn’t help but feel angry. She envied Jes. At least she knew herself—even if she didn’t fully grasp the facts around her.
Still, Mira also felt an instinctive need to protect Jes. She was excited to get to know her. She glanced at the clock. She wanted to see her—and she still had an hour to wait.
She sat in the chair with a flop, sighing out her frustration at waiting. But she’d only been there a couple of minutes when she heard a knock. When she opened the door, she realized she should have recognized her baby sister the first time they’d met when she hadn’t yet realized they were blood.
Well—now that she knew, it was apparent.
“Hi, I’m Jes,” the young woman reintroduced herself, even though they’d had a long chat the day they’d first met. “Nanna told me to come and get you for dinner.”
Mira smiled. “I’m Mira,” she said, automatically, unsure if Jes remembered her.
Jes smiled at her. “Yes, I know. We’ve met.” She laughed. “We actually talked for quite a while, before.” She grinned. “You’re the famous Jaguar Witch.” She laughed. “I would have known you anywhere, anyway.” She gestured back toward the other part of the house. “Plus, Nanna reminded me again, a few minutes, ago.” She smiled.
Mira flushed at the Jaguar Witch—a name that she’d been tagged with since working with the Queen of Darkness in the Land of the Fae. But she only smiled at her baby sister—and shutting her bedroom door, she followed her down the hall.