I had already begun trying to carefully piece together the exact construction of a Grace life. Maybe if I knew their formula, the combination of elements that made them what they were, I could understand them. Understanding something was one step closer to becoming it. So I noted it all down, all the little snatches of story and character they threw my way, and I asked them questions whenever I thought they might least mind.
I'd found the website early on.
As well as the no cell phones rule, according to Summer they didn't have Internet at their house, so maybe they weren't aware of its existence. It was buried as a link on some strange forum with only a couple of hundred members.
It was kind of a crap, basic site, the images misaligned, with white text on a black background that hurt your eyes after a while. But what it lacked in design, it more than made up for in information.
A biography section gave a brief rundown of each Grace family member, including the parents, Esther and Gwydion. Esther's shop, Nature's Way, was listed there, with a couple of photos of the inside. Gwydion Grace went on business trips a lot. He was an advisor. The site wasn't sure what he advised on, but his clients were important people. The parents were both lovely to look at. Fenrin looked a lot more like his mother than his father. There were uncles and aunts, grandparents, cousins. Everyone seemed to be a lawyer, or a CEO, or in government. An uncle was a record label head. An artist cousin sold his creations for ridiculous amounts of money. It seemed that whatever a Grace did, they'd make a success of it.
The website was adamant that they were witches. There was a rundown of every incident in town for the last nine years that people blamed on August 1. This was in a submission section, so it wasn't just one person speculating—a lot of people had posted their own stories in the comments.
The website said that their family had been in the area forever. That the Grace name was as old as the ancient standing stones that sat on the moors outside town; they were a part of the landscape as much as any cliff edge or knotted tree. Officially, they were a wealthy, well-respected extended family, and a lot of them seemed to hold positions of power.
It made total sense. If you were a witch, you'd use magic to make sure you got ahead in life. It was human nature.
The site said there were four main types of Grace witch:
Water: They were restless, creative, flighty, and persuasive. Like water, they eroded people's wills away. If you knew a water witch, chances were they'd be the ones that everyone tended to agree with. They were deeply charming and could change people's minds. Their symbol was Bilios, the world tree, which sat in a circle representing the universe.
Fire: They protected people. They were strength. Confidence. Power. They could usually fight. They were natural leaders. Their symbol was a thick cross with tapered ends inside a circle.
Air: The seers. They told the future and could see the truth of the present. They were the ones most used as consultants by powerful people, and that was how they made their living and their money. The site speculated that Gwydion was an air witch. They were very susceptible to mental attack and tended to be extremely sensitive individuals. Their symbol was a three-pronged rod inside a circle.
Earth: They were the practical witches, well-versed in herb lore. They took care of the everyday necessities of the witch, such as health products and medicines, home protection, magicked food. They got none of the glory, but they were the most essential of all witches; often the head of the family. They were grounded, patient, loving, and forthright. Their symbol was a five-pointed star, representing the five senses, usually with a gem studded in the middle to symbolize themselves, at the calm center of all things.
I spent some time trying to work out which one each Grace was. Summer I had down as air. She had a thing for birds and enjoyed telling the truth. Fenrin was fire, maybe, a natural leader. But then again he surfed and loved the sea and was the most charming creature I'd ever met. So maybe more water. Thalia was earth, through and through. She looked like a dryad, something born of trees and sunlight. I let myself think about which one I would be if I were a witch, but none of them seemed to fit me exactly right.
There was no clue as to the website's creator. It had to be someone in town, but I couldn't even begin to guess who it was. Was it secretly one of the Graces who had set it up? How else would anyone know any of this stuff? I read everything on there obsessively, but I wondered if the website writer was some kind of crackpot and everything I read was a lie.
I couldn't deny the tingle inside me, though: an insistent rush that said "what if?"
Just because it sounded unbelievable didn't mean it couldn't also be true.