Novel Hell's hollow

Chapter One

I woke up with a start. Heart pounding, sweat beading on my forehead, I felt like I’ve been running for miles. I sat up and held my head in my hands. What the hell is happening to me? It’s been a month and I’ve been waking up the same way, always the same dream over and over again. I reach for my phone and check the time it’s 12 midnight. Yup. Same dream, same time every freaking night.

I lie back down and stare at the ceiling. I close my eyes and try to sleep again, I’ve been going through the same thing every damn day and I’ve learned that I can try to sleep again, those dreams only come once a night.

The blasted noise my brother calls music wafts through the house, I pound on his door, “Keep that shit down!”

“Luna! Language!” My mom yells from downstairs.

I run down the stairs, feeling like shit, per usual. I sit on the stool chair on our feeble kitchen counter and started to poke my French toast with a fork. My mom sighed, “Luna, we’re going to have to do something about that mouth of yours. You can’t talk to your brother that way.”

I drop the fork and upped the attitude, “Why? He’s the one who’s making that God damned noise every morning! Tell him to stop and I’ll think about playing nice.”

My dad put down the newspaper he’s been reading and used his right hand to touch mine over the table, “Has it been happening still, honey?”, I rubbed my fingers on my temple, “Yeah, every night Dad. I don’t understand, it’s been a month. I thought this was just a phase?” I looked at both the concerned faces of my parents.

“Yes, you know we all went through the Change. It’s going to get better, sweetheart. You just need to tough it out for just a few more weeks. You’re almost eighteen.” My mom smiles encouragingly.

“Yeah, if I don’t blow my brains out before then.” I laugh bitterly.

“Eirik, come down here. You’ll be late for school!” My mom yells.

My 15-year old brother pounds down the stairs and puts his hoodie over his head so far that you can’t see his face.

“Aren’t you gonna eat something, honey?” My mom asks my brother.

He just shrugs and goes out the door. I huff a sigh and walk on after him. We walk in silence. The school’s close to our house, a fifteen minute walk so we don’t take the bus.

When we reach the school gates my brother turns to the right without a single word. I go left. I know I should be the big sister and ask him how he’s doing but even I don’t know how to answer my parents with the same question so I’m not gonna be any help to him. I’d save that chat when I’ve overcome my own struggles.

There’s another reason why we don’t take the bus, it’s got a lot to do with how the crowd disperses when they see us. It’s like the Red Sea in the hallways whenever I walk by. I get wide eyed glances from the students and they cower when I pass by. It was tough being the outcast at first but I got used to it over time. I decided it was better this way anyway; I didn’t want to lie to my friends – not that I have any anymore.

I head to my locker to get my books, the girl near my locker sees me coming and shuts her locker without getting her books and runs off. Everyone here does that; they steer clear of me and my brother. They don’t want to piss off the “Witch”.

The whole town knows this rumor but everyone’s too scared to ask if it’s true. By the way, it is. Yup, I come from a long line of witches and warlocks. My mom and dad don’t practice anymore though – or so they say. And so explains my social status and my “Changing” explain my daily pissy mood.

The ‘Change’ happens during a Witch or a Warlock’s teen years, girls Change at around 17-18 years old and boys around 15-16. So you see, my brother’s been struggling with the Change as well. It’s a very important time for us, we get to choose our paths at this time and our ancestors pass on a “power” to the next generation. With the Change come challenges, some that we need to overcome in order to get our powers.

There are three phases to the Change, first is the physical change. I’ve been going through the physical part for almost a year now, the first phase started when I was 17, I woke up one morning with a sore feeling in my chest, I realized when I was dressing up for school that my breasts grew from a meager ‘A’ to a ‘B’ cup. After a couple of weeks I also noticed my hips got wider and my waist losing the baby fat – apparently, being a Witch comes with perks, you become hot. I freaked out. My mom was expecting it so she brought me new clothes before my 17th birthday. And my unruly curly auburn hair turned silky smooth after a month. These changes kept going until I couldn’t recognize myself. And like every teenager, I turned into myself. I stayed away from my friends, not really wanting to explain.

I became “Luna the Loner” after 4 months, then “Luna the Bitch” after another. That’s Phase Two: Character. I was once a quiet girl. I don’t try to draw attention to myself. But after the first phase I became very irritable at the littlest things. I would snap at my mom, dad and Eirik. I hated colors, pink looked like Unicorn vomit to me. I changed my whole wardrobe into black or gray, black tops, black pants/skirts, black boots, even black underwear. It made me feel comfortable.

With the dark outfits came the darker attitude, I swore like a sailor most days. I punched a guy once for asking me out – hey, I thought he was being sarcastic. And after a few months I simmered down, but I was still unstable – I’d be indifferent one day and overly sensitive the next. I thought it would be better to just stay away from people, and after my punching and biting (yes) antics, they stayed away from me too.

So here we are, in my senior year of High School and I’m the strangest, weirdest person here. And everybody knew that.

Mr. Martin called the class to order, everyone looked up except me. “Okay Class, this is a special one coz we don’t get these much often here.” He chuckles. “Please give a Hell’s Hollow welcome to Mr. Seth Austin.” It was eerily quiet. I looked up and saw the prettiest pretty boy I’ve ever laid my eyes on. He was tall around 6 feet with dark rich brown hair, he was looking down so I couldn’t see his eyes, but man oh man his lips were pink and plump. I flushed red when he looked over at me. I immediately took a nose dive to my notebook letting my curiosity on his eye color die for a bit. I kept my head down and wanted to kick myself for being caught.

“He’s just moved into town so let’s all be nice to him okay? You all remember your first day in school; it’s always a bit awkward, so let’s help him out.” Mr. Martin was still speaking when Seth walked over to the only empty seat in the room – the one to my left. Of course no one would sit beside me.

Betsy the head cheerleader swung her hair behind her and looked over her shoulder to a very quiet Seth. “Hi Seth.” She gives him her diabetes-inducing smile.

He just gave her a faint nod and sat back dropping his back pack on the floor.

“I’m the head of the Student Council so if there’s anything you need anything at all, you let me know.” She smiled sweetly at him I almost gagged.

“Thanks.” He simply said.

Not that I’m a creeper or anything but I really wanted to get a good look at his eyes. So I shielded my face with my hair (which now looks fiery red) and took a peek between the strands. His eyes were the most confusing but mesmerizing color ever. It was almost green but with flecks of brown and amber. I thought I was being cautious and stealthy when he sat back slouching on the chair bit the tip of his pen and in a flash darted his eyes toward me. He smirked. I thought I’d give this pompous ass a taste of “Luna the Bitch” but my reaction to him was so un-me, I was so speechless I didn’t even get in any clever retort. After a few minutes he winked and just looked in front again, seemingly so enthused by Mr. Martin’s lesson.

I was so embarrassed by my disability to deflect this hot dude that I almost ran out of the door when the bell rang. And I knew everyone would talk about that because Luna the Bitch doesn’t run away. That was a first.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Two

The day wore on and I was thanking all the Gods that I didn’t have any more classes with Hottie McHotters Seth Austin. He gives me the really weird tingly, pin prickly feeling all over. I refuse to say he gives me butterflies coz, let’s face it butterflies are lame.

I get to my locker and deposit all my stuff when I heard yelling somewhere towards the gym. Witches have killer instincts so I go with my gut that tells me something’s going on with Eirik. I ran the ways to the gym and saw the crowd of people yelling and cheering and chanting --- my brother’s name. Oh shit.

I push my way through the crowd, the students’ blocking my way but then move away when they see that it’s me. I heard a few “he’s so hot” and “too bad he’s a freak” from the girls surrounding the crowd. I made a decision not to check who the hell called my brother a freak because I figured I had no time. I needed to get to Eirik before he kills someone. He’s at the 2nd phase and needs me more than ever to keep him in check.

“Eirik!” I yelled over the hoots of the crowd. When I finally push my way through the middle of the crowd I saw Eirik and Tony “the mindless linebacker” in a wrestling match. Eirik at 5 feet 10 inches was relatively smaller than the footballer who stood half a head taller than Eirik but it was my brother who had a chokehold on the meaty guy. Eirik had a bloodied nose but Tony will need a shitload of concealer to patch up his swelling right eye. I was so shocked I just stood there for a minute thinking about my options. I could jump in and try to pry my brother’s arms away from Tony’s neck but Tony could retaliate and hit my brother – that won’t go over so well. I might lose my shit as well.

I was still thinking of what to do when Seth came barging in the other side of the crowd and pulled Eirik’s arms away from Tony’s neck. When Tony finally got free he staggered a bit but when he regained his balance tried to charge my brother once again. Seth immediately put his hand up and pushed Tony back on his chest. “Just quit it dude!”

“Who the fuck are you?” Tony screeched.

“I’m the new kid. And don’t get pissed, I’m just trying to keep the peace here. I saw Dr. Daniels walking over this way, I just figured you guys wouldn’t want to get in trouble.” He said to both Eirik and Tony. I just stood there, mouth slightly agape.

I shook off the surprise and put my chin up and decided to help disperse the crowd: “Everyone, take a hike. Right now.” I looked over the crowd and one by one they left the quad. I sighed and walked over to my brother, Tony spoke dangerously low, “This isn’t over, Caldwell”.

“Shut the fuck up.” I stared at Tony.

“Need your sister to fight your battles for you?” Tony chuckled while backing away.

“Yeah, when I got here my little brother was restricting your air supply, so NO I don’t think he needs my help at all.” I retorted.

“Fucking freaks.” He murmured and walked away.

I sighed and turned to Eirik, I needed to stand on my tip toes to get a better look at his nose; he was about half a foot taller than me now after his ‘growth spurt’. “That’s gonna bruise buddy.” I didn’t realize how dangerous the situation still was when I saw his half-crazed eyes. He looked like he was about to murder me, I took a step back. “Calm down, Eirik.” I put my hands up in defense. He still hasn’t gotten the anger out of his body, and he was just about to explode. I was about to freak out when Seth stood in front of me between me and my overly pissed off brother.

“Eirik, I think you need to simmer down now. Tony’s gone.” I don’t know what this guy’s thinking but he’s in way over his head, I pulled out the Blue Chalcedony rock from my bag walked around Seth who gave me a disapproving look and took my brother’s hand while touching the rock to his skin. He blinked a few times and breathed a sigh of relief. Like the anger was choking him. I knew the feeling.

He looked at me with sad eyes and I knew he didn’t like getting angry, it wasn’t his nature. He was a really sweet boy until the Change. I kept my hands in his and I pulled him away. “Hey, where are you going?” Seth asked walking beside us. I ignored him and kept walking.

“I’m sorry.” Eirik murmured.

“Hey, it’s okay. I understand.” I put my hand on his arm.

“I don’t think it’s okay though, that Tony looked murderous.” Seth butted in.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. I mean thanks for interfering back there but really I could’ve handled it.” I said snapping at him.

“Yeah, I could see how a girl could stop two big guys from fighting.” He chuckled.

“No, she could have. She’s badass.” Eirik snorted.

I smiled at my brother remembering how close we were before all the witchy stuff happened.

“Would you like a ride home?” Seth asked.

“No.” “Yes” My brother and I said at the same time.

I looked at my brother, exhaustion evident on his face. The anger kept him fighting but I bet his body is feeling the pain and shock of it all right now.

“Yeah, okay. If it’s no trouble.” I looked over at Seth.

He pushed his hair back and smiled, “Nope. It would be my pleasure.” Oh boy.

Eirik chose to sit at the back clutching the stone over his chest. He was trying to sleep. I sat shotgun in Seth’s pick up truck trying to look everywhere but the gorgeous boy beside me. There’s this thing about guys and driving, others look like idiots putting their chin up and looking over the dashboard with their shoulders up, both hands gripping the steering wheel for dear life. But then there are guys like Seth, sitting as far from the steering wheel as possible, one hand on the wheel the other out the window or their elbow leaning on the driver’s side door their fingers tapping/touching their lips. Or maybe the other hand is free for their girlfriend so they can hold hands even when their driving, which I am now imagining was happening to me. Seth’s hand would probably be smooth but rough at some parts, strong and reassuring…

“Luna?”

“Huh?”

I glance at Seth who was now looking at me, his hand touching the radio. “I said what kind of music do you like?”

“She doesn’t.” My brother butts in.

“She doesn’t what?” Seth looks at his rearview mirror and asks my brother.

“She doesn’t like music.” Eirik shrugged while keeping his eyes closed.

“I don’t like NOISE. The stuff you listen to is noise. That’s not music.” I looked outside the passenger side window. “And we’re here so it doesn’t matter.”I unbuckled my seat belt.

The truck stopped and Seth got out of his seat, out of the car, walked around the car and stopped at my door. He opened it and held his hand out to me. WTF.

Eirik snickered while getting out of the truck.

“Hey, c’mon. I promise I washed my hands.” Seth looked up at me, amused.

The side view of his eyes was nothing compared to looking at this position. We were almost eye to eye, and his eyes were absolutely breathtaking. The sunset behind me gave it a golden glow, he shielded his eyes from the glare and I wanted to swat his hand away. I wasn’t done looking at him yet.

“Do you want me to carry you?” He sounded excited.

I regained my composure, “Hell no. Get out of my way so I can get out.” I waved my hand in front of his face.

He gestured with his hands to let me pass and moved away from the door. I jumped down and walked to the door without looking back. I get disoriented around this guy and I don’t like it. Just when I was about to reach the porch my mom bursts out of the door fixing her hair with her fingers. “You’re home, honey!”

What the what?

“Hey ma.” Eirik says. That stone must have been a drug coz my brother’s as cool as a cucumber.

“We’ve got company!” My mom yells inside the house. Maybe simply telling my father to stop whatever weirdness he’s been doing in there.

“Hi Mrs. Caldwell.” Seth runs up the path and stops beside me. “I’m Seth”

My mom shakes his hand, “You’re new here aren’t you?”

“Yes, just moved here with my family from California.” So that’s where the gorgeous tan comes from.

I was still staring at Seth’s tan arm when my mom asked “Well, aren’t you going to invite your friend for dinner, Luna?”

“What? No mom.” I shook my head. “He’s just about to leave.” I went up the porch and pushed my mom inside the house. Seth was still smiling when my mom got in and I yelled “Thanks” to Seth, gave a little wave and shut the door.

- - - Updated - - -

Chapter Two

The day wore on and I was thanking all the Gods that I didn’t have any more classes with Hottie McHotters Seth Austin. He gives me the really weird tingly, pin prickly feeling all over. I refuse to say he gives me butterflies coz, let’s face it butterflies are lame.

I get to my locker and deposit all my stuff when I heard yelling somewhere towards the gym. Witches have killer instincts so I go with my gut that tells me something’s going on with Eirik. I ran the ways to the gym and saw the crowd of people yelling and cheering and chanting --- my brother’s name. Oh shit.

I push my way through the crowd, the students’ blocking my way but then move away when they see that it’s me. I heard a few “he’s so hot” and “too bad he’s a freak” from the girls surrounding the crowd. I made a decision not to check who the hell called my brother a freak because I figured I had no time. I needed to get to Eirik before he kills someone. He’s at the 2nd phase and needs me more than ever to keep him in check.

“Eirik!” I yelled over the hoots of the crowd. When I finally push my way through the middle of the crowd I saw Eirik and Tony “the mindless linebacker” in a wrestling match. Eirik at 5 feet 10 inches was relatively smaller than the footballer who stood half a head taller than Eirik but it was my brother who had a chokehold on the meaty guy. Eirik had a bloodied nose but Tony will need a shitload of concealer to patch up his swelling right eye. I was so shocked I just stood there for a minute thinking about my options. I could jump in and try to pry my brother’s arms away from Tony’s neck but Tony could retaliate and hit my brother – that won’t go over so well. I might lose my shit as well.

I was still thinking of what to do when Seth came barging in the other side of the crowd and pulled Eirik’s arms away from Tony’s neck. When Tony finally got free he staggered a bit but when he regained his balance tried to charge my brother once again. Seth immediately put his hand up and pushed Tony back on his chest. “Just quit it dude!”

“Who the fuck are you?” Tony screeched.

“I’m the new kid. And don’t get pissed, I’m just trying to keep the peace here. I saw Dr. Daniels walking over this way, I just figured you guys wouldn’t want to get in trouble.” He said to both Eirik and Tony. I just stood there, mouth slightly agape.

I shook off the surprise and put my chin up and decided to help disperse the crowd: “Everyone, take a hike. Right now.” I looked over the crowd and one by one they left the quad. I sighed and walked over to my brother, Tony spoke dangerously low, “This isn’t over, Caldwell”.

“Shut the fuck up.” I stared at Tony.

“Need your sister to fight your battles for you?” Tony chuckled while backing away.

“Yeah, when I got here my little brother was restricting your air supply, so NO I don’t think he needs my help at all.” I retorted.

“Fucking freaks.” He murmured and walked away.

I sighed and turned to Eirik, I needed to stand on my tip toes to get a better look at his nose; he was about half a foot taller than me now after his ‘growth spurt’. “That’s gonna bruise buddy.” I didn’t realize how dangerous the situation still was when I saw his half-crazed eyes. He looked like he was about to murder me, I took a step back. “Calm down, Eirik.” I put my hands up in defense. He still hasn’t gotten the anger out of his body, and he was just about to explode. I was about to freak out when Seth stood in front of me between me and my overly pissed off brother.

“Eirik, I think you need to simmer down now. Tony’s gone.” I don’t know what this guy’s thinking but he’s in way over his head, I pulled out the Blue Chalcedony rock from my bag walked around Seth who gave me a disapproving look and took my brother’s hand while touching the rock to his skin. He blinked a few times and breathed a sigh of relief. Like the anger was choking him. I knew the feeling.

He looked at me with sad eyes and I knew he didn’t like getting angry, it wasn’t his nature. He was a really sweet boy until the Change. I kept my hands in his and I pulled him away. “Hey, where are you going?” Seth asked walking beside us. I ignored him and kept walking.

“I’m sorry.” Eirik murmured.

“Hey, it’s okay. I understand.” I put my hand on his arm.

“I don’t think it’s okay though, that Tony looked murderous.” Seth butted in.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business. I mean thanks for interfering back there but really I could’ve handled it.” I said snapping at him.

“Yeah, I could see how a girl could stop two big guys from fighting.” He chuckled.

“No, she could have. She’s badass.” Eirik snorted.

I smiled at my brother remembering how close we were before all the witchy stuff happened.

“Would you like a ride home?” Seth asked.

“No.” “Yes” My brother and I said at the same time.

I looked at my brother, exhaustion evident on his face. The anger kept him fighting but I bet his body is feeling the pain and shock of it all right now.

“Yeah, okay. If it’s no trouble.” I looked over at Seth.

He pushed his hair back and smiled, “Nope. It would be my pleasure.” Oh boy.

Eirik chose to sit at the back clutching the stone over his chest. He was trying to sleep. I sat shotgun in Seth’s pick up truck trying to look everywhere but the gorgeous boy beside me. There’s this thing about guys and driving, others look like idiots putting their chin up and looking over the dashboard with their shoulders up, both hands gripping the steering wheel for dear life. But then there are guys like Seth, sitting as far from the steering wheel as possible, one hand on the wheel the other out the window or their elbow leaning on the driver’s side door their fingers tapping/touching their lips. Or maybe the other hand is free for their girlfriend so they can hold hands even when their driving, which I am now imagining was happening to me. Seth’s hand would probably be smooth but rough at some parts, strong and reassuring…

“Luna?”

“Huh?”

I glance at Seth who was now looking at me, his hand touching the radio. “I said what kind of music do you like?”

“She doesn’t.” My brother butts in.

“She doesn’t what?” Seth looks at his rearview mirror and asks my brother.

“She doesn’t like music.” Eirik shrugged while keeping his eyes closed.

“I don’t like NOISE. The stuff you listen to is noise. That’s not music.” I looked outside the passenger side window. “And we’re here so it doesn’t matter.”I unbuckled my seat belt.

The truck stopped and Seth got out of his seat, out of the car, walked around the car and stopped at my door. He opened it and held his hand out to me. WTF.

Eirik snickered while getting out of the truck.

“Hey, c’mon. I promise I washed my hands.” Seth looked up at me, amused.

The side view of his eyes was nothing compared to looking at this position. We were almost eye to eye, and his eyes were absolutely breathtaking. The sunset behind me gave it a golden glow, he shielded his eyes from the glare and I wanted to swat his hand away. I wasn’t done looking at him yet.

“Do you want me to carry you?” He sounded excited.

I regained my composure, “Hell no. Get out of my way so I can get out.” I waved my hand in front of his face.

He gestured with his hands to let me pass and moved away from the door. I jumped down and walked to the door without looking back. I get disoriented around this guy and I don’t like it. Just when I was about to reach the porch my mom bursts out of the door fixing her hair with her fingers. “You’re home, honey!”

What the what?

“Hey ma.” Eirik says. That stone must have been a drug coz my brother’s as cool as a cucumber.

“We’ve got company!” My mom yells inside the house. Maybe simply telling my father to stop whatever weirdness he’s been doing in there.

“Hi Mrs. Caldwell.” Seth runs up the path and stops beside me. “I’m Seth”

My mom shakes his hand, “You’re new here aren’t you?”

“Yes, just moved here with my family from California.” So that’s where the gorgeous tan comes from.

I was still staring at Seth’s tan arm when my mom asked “Well, aren’t you going to invite your friend for dinner, Luna?”

“What? No mom.” I shook my head. “He’s just about to leave.” I went up the porch and pushed my mom inside the house. Seth was still smiling when my mom got in and I yelled “Thanks” to Seth, gave a little wave and shut the door.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Three

The week went by and it was the same thing over and over again. I felt like I was trapped in a vortex of doom – bore-doom. Seth and I haven’t talked, he just sat beside me at Speech class but we never talked. Betsy kept trying to talk to him but he wouldn’t have it. He just sat there quietly.

Mr. Martin found our class too quiet apparently so he wanted the class to perk up, “Okay guys, the ‘Speech’ class would be pointless if none of you will speak up. So, how about a group project?” There were a couple of groans and all different cuss words uttered in the class as Mr. Martin tried to pull up a paper from under his mountains of textbooks.

“Ah here it is. Let’s play a game, shall we? First pick a partner and face them.” People reluctantly scouted the room for someone to partner with and chairs were dragged across the floor. I wasn’t going to do anything but someone pulled my desk around to the left side and I yelped. “What the?”

“Hiya partner.” Seth winked at me.

I was so surprised I didn’t see Betsy trying to pull her chair around so SHE can face Seth. Imagine her surprise when she saw Seth sitting in front of me. Dangerously close that his knees were brushing mine.

“Wait. Wait. Wait. Seth? Are you serious? You want to pair up with THAT freakshow?” I looked up to see Betsy flushing with anger. But she flushed crimson when she realized what she said.

In a moment of pure triumph, I looked at her with my chin on my hand. “Why Betsy? Is there a problem here?” I smiled sweetly at her.

She stomped her foot, like literally stomped it. Her friend Kara touched her arm and whispered something in her ear. Betsy just nodded and turned her chair into Kara’s direction.

I stuck my tongue out at Betsy when she had her back turned; I forgot Seth was in front of me though. When I looked at him he was smiling, dimples and all.

Mr. Martin handed over blank papers. I took one and wrote my name on the top. We will play twenty questions, one person will ask one question and the other person answers it. Neither can ask the same question. Each take turns in asking the questions.

Seth gestured for me to start.

I started off with a simple one: “What’s your favorite food?”

He smirked, “Pizza, Cheese Pizza in particular.”

I wrote it down.

“My turn. Why do you keep staring at my eyes?” He asked with a smile. I almost fell from my seat.

“Wh-What?” I stuttered.

“Hey, I’m supposed to ask the question now.” He put his chin on his hand, his lashes are amazing.

“I… uh…” Oh he’s not doing this to me. I’m not a stuttering mess. I don’t stutter. Ever. I sat up straighter, “I stare because it’s weird. You’re like a mutant or something.” He laughs quietly and writes my answer down.

I had to retaliate. I scooted closer and leaned over so my face is close to his. He jerked back. I smiled. “Why do you keep looking at my hair?”

He regained his smugness leaned in but I held my position trying not to breathe, his hand came up of the side of my face and he took a strand of my hair, “It’s like fire, it’s an amazing color, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

His hand came down and leaned back on his chair, smiling.

“You don’t seriously think I’ll put that answer down here. We’ll need to pass this paper.”

“Why not?”

“Well, because that’s a creepy answer. And I don’t think Mr. Martin expects really ‘deep’ questions such as hair color in this exercise.” He chuckles.

“Okay. Write this down then. ‘Your hair reminds me of my grandma’s hair. Fiery red just like yours’.”

“Whatever.” I muttered.

So we droned about questions on College choices, hobbies and all those useless crap. He answered but wasn’t really paying me full attention, he was writing down something on his notebook. When the bell rang, I hurriedly passed our papers to Mr. Martin and left the room. When I get to second period I noticed a paper sticking out of my bag, I pulled it out and opened it and found Seth’s eyes captured perfectly staring back at me.

I bit my nails while looking around in the lunch room, I was nervous but excited to talk to Seth again but he never showed. I just got out of my stupor when I saw Eirik entering the doors with no less than Betsy under his arms. Eirik looked smitten. Betsy is the prettiest and most popular girl in school and now my brother’s climbing up that ladder by apparently dating the devil herself.

I stood up, about to give Betsy a piece of my mind about dating my YOUNGER brother when Tony stepped in front of me. I think the whole school body gasped simultaneously.

“Get out of my way.” I glared at him.

“Woah, chill out Luna.” He raised his hands in surrender. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened between your brother and I. He… He attacked me first.” I snorted.

“Seriously, I was just laughing with the team when he bumped into me from behind. Said I was a dick. I didn’t know what he was talking about so I ignored him. That didn’t go over so well, when I turned he punched me square in the jaw.” He touched his bruised jaw.

“I know my brother might be a bit irate sometimes but he doesn’t get worked up over nothing. Clearly, you did something to piss him off.” I crossed my arms over my chest. He looked at my chest and suppressed a smile. I knew it. This guy deserved the beating my brother gave him last week.

“Look Luna, I know you’d take your brother’s side on this. I just wanted to apologize. We’re cool now, I apologized to him already and he accepted. He’s even dating Betsy, that makes him part of our group now. He’s in safe hands.” That sounded ominous.

“Yeah, whatever. I need to talk to my brother.” But when I looked around Tony I saw my brother sticking his tongue down Betsy’s throat. Betsy pushed him away and looked over at me and winked.

I.SAW.RED.

There was a tingling sensation creeping up my arm, the hair at the back of my neck rose, I was breathing hard then the whole cafeteria went dark. I heard some screams but I couldn’t get my eyes off Betsy’s face which was now contorted into one of pure terror. I don’t really care about keeping up appearances right now. They are so not messing with my brother.

Then strong arms went around my stomach and pulled me from behind. I was whipped around by my shoulders and faced with those mesmerizing green eyes again. “Calm down, Luna.”

My hands were still shaking; my face and my whole body went cold. Numb. Like there’s darkness spreading all over my body. Taking over me. Seth was still trying to rub his hands up and down my shoulders, saying that I was ice cold or something, I couldn’t hear him clearly, not over the pounding in my ears. And when he looked at my eyes, his eyes went wide. He looked around the cafeteria shook his head like he was deciding something and then his lips were on mine.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Four

I woke up in the infirmary an hour later. I looked at my hands and saw it looked normal. I wasn’t cold anymore, I heard the nurse say I fainted. The School nurse told me I was only one of a handful of students that had a faint spell during the blackout. I was given some pills for the pain throbbing in my head and was sent home. I texted my brother that I was going home and walked out.

“I knew I was a good kisser but that was a first for me.” I jumped at hearing Seth’s voice.

He was carrying my bag. How did he get that?

I grabbed my bag and pulled it away from him. He wouldn’t budge. I sighed, “I’m really not in the mood for this, Seth. Give me my bag.”

“I’m supposed to bring you home so I’ll carry this for you.” He pulled it back and hiked the strap over his shoulder.

I realized I was dead tired when I wobbled and had to put my hands on my knees to keep from falling. “Woah!” Seth held me up by my waist; I leaned against him for support. “I got you.” He said. We stayed in this position until we got to his pick up. He held me like a kid under my arms and hauled me up to sit on the passenger side. He buckled me in.

I dozed off again; when I woke up we were in front of the nearby diner. I blinked and looked around. No Seth.

I just sat there for a minute thinking about walking home when I flexed my fingers I still felt weak. Seth came out of the diner carrying paper bags. He got inside and set down the food.

“How are you feeling?”

“Confused. Weak.” I whispered.

“Yeah, that happens when you get kissed by a stud like me.” He smiled.

I gave him a weak “middle-finger-salute”

He laughed. “You’re such a lady.”

He revved the engine and started off again. I realized this was the opposite road going to our house, “Where are we going?”

“Home. Mine.” He looked over at me while shoving fries in his mouth. “I said I’d take you home, not specifically saying ‘your’ home so we’re going to mine.”

“Isn’t this kidnapping?” I asked weakly, he snorted.

“You’re hardly a ‘kid’ anymore, Luna so no. And we’re just going to hang out there for a while until you feel a little better. I feel responsible for the faint-spell; I mean my kisses are awesome.” He still kept reminding me he kissed me.

I was too tired to argue so I dozed off again. When I woke up I was lying down on a really comfy bed. I looked around, my elbows propped up on the bed. The room was neat, no garbage or dirty clothes seen anywhere, a shelf stood at the side of the door with books ranging from Classics to Marvel comics, there was an acoustic guitar hung behind the bedroom door and my poor confused brain deduced. This is a boy’s room. But not Eirik’s room coz he’s a slob.

Seth came in and looked me over, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Hey sunshine. How are you feeling?”

“Like I farted fucking rainbows.” He laughed.

“What the hell are we doing here? Is this your room?” I asked.

“Yes. This is my room and you were here resting quite a long time actually.” I glanced at my watch and it’s around 4pm. I’ve been sleeping for more or less 4 hours. I shook the sleep from my eyes and Seth seemingly able to read my mind pointed to a door to the left. I got up and stretched my hands above my head a bit, my aching limbs snapping and cracking at every movement. I forgot where I was so I looked over at Seth behind me.

He was wearing an odd expression so I just walked over to the bathroom and locked the door. I looked at my face. I looked different. I don’t know what exactly changed but something did. Oh yeah, I got kissed today. My first and I wasn’t even awake when it happened. I washed my face and blew out the strands of hair covering my forehead. I had to find out what happened to me in school, I needed to talk to my mom.

I walked out and Seth was lying on the bed horizontally, his head hanging at the other side of the bed looking at me upside down. “Hey, let’s eat.” He stood up abruptly and wobbled a bit, “Woah! Headrush!” I just looked at him.

“I need to go home.”

“Yes, once you’ve eaten I’ll bring you straight home. I just didn’t want your parents to worry and see their unconscious daughter.” He tugged at my hand, “Let’s go.”

He still held my hand as we made our way to his kitchen, “Where are your parents?” He shrugged, “Must still be at work.”

I sat at one of the 8 chairs surrounding their beautiful dining table. In front of me were burgers, pancakes, bacon strips and milkshakes. Seth sat beside me and started chomping the food. I picked up the bacon and started eating. I inhaled it in mere seconds.

I burped loudly after finishing the milkshake.

“Nice.” Seth smirked, “How are you feeling?”

“Annoyed. How many times do you need to ask me that?” I raise a questioning eyebrow at him and he just shook his head.

“Fine. You’re feeling better. Ready to go home?” He held his hand out to me again. “Aren’t we going to clean up first?”, he shrugged, “Mom will fix that when she gets home.” , “C’mon.” He pulled me up and helped me up his pick-up truck.

On the drive home Seth told me that there was a power failure all over town and not just in school. The cafeteria didn’t have many windows so when the lights shut down chaos ensued. People freaked out ran in the wrong direction, bruised themselves silly. But he said he saw me freaking out so he distracted me with the kiss. I still haven’t asked him why he would kiss me in a situation like that – that’s not on top of my priorities right now. I just wanted to know if I caused the power failure. It felt like I did.
I really have to talk to mom.

I pushed the door open even before Seth fully stopped, he yelled: “See you tomorrow!” And I just gave him a wave. I went inside the house and heard the TV, but no one was in the living room. I went to the kitchen to find it was empty. I went to the backyard and saw that the door was open. I ran over kept yelling “Mom” and I halted when I saw who my mom was with.

“Stop yelling Dearie, we’re not deaf.” I ran over to my Grandmere and hugged her furiously. “Hi Grandmama.”

She pushed me back and looked at my face. “Wow honey you are glowing. Did you get any?” I flushed crimson and my grandmere laughed. “Oh still a virgin I see, that’s good honey.” I think I flushed purple then.

“Stop making her uncomfortable, Mama.” My mom chided.

“Oh, she knows I’m only kidding.” She smiled at me and touched my face. Then her smile faded sensing my distress. “What happened, Luna?” I launched into telling my mom and grandma what happened at school. I left the part out of Seth’s kiss and our trip to his house.

“Hmmm… This has never happened before, Sylvia. I'll ask around the coven.” My grandma said to my mom.

“Well, these kids haven’t been ‘normal’ since Eirik started Changing.” My mom mused.

You see there are no two witches in any family especially if they’re of different genders, in our family that is. Witches can be related – all girls or all guys (warlocks) but when the children are of different genders there could only be one that inherits the magic. There’s only the first born child or the youngest, never both. Until Eirik and I. We’re totally brother and sister though; no other guy’s been with my mom but my dad. I just cringe at the thought.

“But it could also be a coincidence honey. The power failure might have been real.” My mom looked over at me, we both knew in our bloodline there were no coincidences but I just nodded.

When grandmama left I went back to my room and lay down on the bed. It was all so surreal that kind of power, but it scared the shit out of me. I felt the surge inside me but I feared what would happen if I let it consume me. It was like something was egging me on to hurt them, to hurt Betsy for stringing my brother along. I knew Betsy didn’t like my brother like that, she’s got the hots for Seth, I’d bet my left eyeball on that.

But Seth hadn’t paid her any attention since he got in town which was what? A week ago? And we kissed? NO. He kissed me. That was NOT my first kiss. I mean he’s gorgeous and all and I wouldn’t mind being kissed by Seth but still, it wasn’t a romantic kiss. He just kissed me because I was freaking out and the only distraction he could think of was of the lip-locking persuasion.

I would not let this bother me. That kiss meant nothing.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Five

The heat is scorching.

The smoke is suffocating me. I can’t breathe.

I can’t see anything beyond my fingers.

I’m reaching out for something to hold on to.

Coughing incessantly I dragged my limp legs on the hard floor.

Finally I hold on to something, or someone. It was a man.

He was face down on the floor; his head was facing the opposite side.

I dragged myself closer to the man’s arms.

The back of his shirt is scratched, I pull on it and the tear on the shirt get bigger.

Underneath the shirt was a huge scar.

I drag myself over him to get a closer look; it was like an inverted tree.

The scar dragged down coming from the top of his spine and branching out into his lower back.

I realized I was no longer breathing hard. The smoke cleared, like a bubble was surrounding us.

I decided to look at the man’s face.

I slid down and moved his face toward mine.

I screamed.

I woke up panting, my breath caught up in hitches. I was crying, my face smeared with tears. I felt such a painful stab in my chest. This dream was different, for a month I’ve been seeing my own death every night. Drowned, burned, shot, but this time it wasn’t me who died.

He did.

Seth.



I ignored Seth for the rest of the weekend. He came by Sunday morning mom said, but I didn’t want to talk to him. I dreamt about him again the following night. He drowned. I survived and watched his glassy, lifeless eyes stare back at me.

In the dreams I’m always late. I couldn’t save him. Like all those times I died. I couldn’t get out of the burning house; I couldn’t swim up the shore. Somehow I always end up dead.

I never told my parents about my dreams. They also said they’re not meant to know. That this will pass and it’s all part of the Change. I wanted to ask my brother about his dreams but I didn’t want to freak him out. He probably hasn’t had them yet anyway. He’s still going through the physical phase, but the dreams will start in a couple of months.

I furiously typed at my laptop making sure I don’t go into thinking about Seth again or the dreams when there was a knock on my door. Eirik poked his head inside, “Can I come in?” He’s matured a lot since he started Changing. He used to just barge in here.

I folded my laptop and motioned for him to sit on the bed beside me. He may be taller than me now but he’s still my little brother. He sat crossed leg in front of me. He seemed so big for the bed now. I smiled at him.

“Yes?”

“Uhm…” He scratched his head, “I... I just want to tell you that I’m not seeing Betsy anymore.” He was playing with his bracelet, and I just noticed that it bore the stone I gave him; it looked like it was cut into a smaller piece than it was before.

“Oookay…”

“I saw you in there. You… you were scary.” I gasped and took his big hands in both of my smaller ones, “What happened? Did you see? Did I cause that?” I was gripping his hands hard.

“Ow. You’re really strong Lune.”

I was still looking at him, begging him to talk with my eyes.

“Okay. I didn’t see a lot so don’t expect I have the answers you’re probably looking for.” He scratched the back of his head. “I just saw Tony first, I mean everyone was looking at that direction, even Betsy.”

“I felt you first before I saw you. I got a weird, scary sensation, I felt like you were upset. I don’t know how I knew, I just felt it. It was like my heart was beating in tune with yours, and it was beating hard. I clutched my chest from the pressure. I didn’t even notice all the screaming and Betsy gripping my arm and trying to pull me away.”

“I pushed her by the way, that’s why we broke up. I snapped at her. Told her to run away like the chicken shit she was.” He looked at me. “I didn’t think that though, I felt like you were inside my head making my lips move and uttering those words.” He shook his head, “I immediately apologized to her after that but she wouldn’t have it. Her friends said some really nasty words and pulled her away. She looked beyond pissed. It was funny.” He snickered.

“But how? How do you think I did that? I’m still not sure that was me. All I know is that when I woke up I could hardly stand. I was so tired.”

“I’m not sure, Lune. I think you were just really upset. What happened? What triggered it?” He asked.

I sighed. “I saw you and Betsy, uh… getting comfortable.” He flushed.

“I know you must have liked her, but she’s evil. She’s the devil’s spawn I tell you.” He laughed.

“I know she’s probably using me or something but she’s hot so I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to try and tap that.” Holy Shit. I slapped his arm.

“Ew. You’re sick, seriously. And such a guy.” I put my hand on his face, “And not my baby anymore.” He swatted my hand away.

“Stop that.” He stood up, “You’re my big sis and I love you Lune but please don’t call me little or baby anymore, it hurts my game.”

“You’ll always be my baby brother.” I licked my thumb, “C’mere, you’ve got something on your chin.” He ran off.

I plopped back down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. My thoughts drifted to Seth again and my dreams. I really needed to get some answers or do something. I don’t know what exactly, but I’m pretty sure seeing him dead in my dreams isn’t a good thing. I hopped up and paced my room for a while, biting my nails.

“She did say I could use it.” Talking to myself.

“It wouldn’t hurt, I mean it’s a protection spell for crying out loud.” I mused. I huffed a breath out and walked out my door. Making sure my mom and dad were in their room I went downstairs and made my way to the basement.

I felt the walls in the dark looking for the light switch and it flicked open. I went down the rickety stairs slowly to reduce the noise the floorboards were making. The air here was stale, creating a really eerie ambiance – perfect for a witch’s HQ if you ask me. I walked to the wide open space and lit the candles around it. The pentagram was clearly visible on the one sqm floor, there’s no dust to be seen anywhere. I think there’s a magical spell to ward off dust or something. I chuckled though my heart was beating like crazy. I exhaled and sat at the center of the pentagram.

Crossing my legs I breathed in, thought of Seth and started chanting the words I rarely spoke.

Blessed spirits come to me, Blessed spirits I call upon thee.
Your daughter calls and pleads your grace. Protect us all in this small space.
Spell of healing, spell of love. Protect the one I’m thinking of.
Hear my cry, hear my plea. With my blood, I summon thee.

I heard feet pounding and some yelling when I woke up. I stood up and ran upstairs to see what’s causing the commotion.

“What is it? What’s going on?” I looked at my mom’s tear-stained face.

“Luna?” Then she cried some more.

“What’s going on, Mom?” I asked her, rubbing my hands on my eyes.

“Where the hell have you been?” My dad tiredly asks.

“I… uh…” I just realized I came from the basement. Oh. “I slept in the basement, I guess.”

My mom ran over and hugged me, “I was so worried, honey. Don’t do that to me again. I just about had a heart attack.”

“I was sleeping, mom. No one thought to check the basement then?”

My mom shook her head, “No one thought you’d be there.”, “Not since you almost burned the house down when you were ten.” My dad chuckled.

“Sorry.”

“I just thought…” Mom started but stopped when my dad coughed quite loudly, “Go on and get ready for school, Luna. We’ll talk about it over breakfast.” My dad said.
When I felt semi-decent I went downstairs ready to tell my parents the truth about my solo-exploration of the magical world that is witchcraft. I dropped my bag on the floor and sat on one of the stool chairs. Mom said Eirik already left for school so we can talk about what happened last night without his butting in.

My dad wasn’t reading his newspaper today, putting all his attention on me. It made me nervous.

“Care to tell us what happened, Luna? Why were you down there?”

“I just uhm… I kind of… uh… cast a spell?” My mom almost dropped the plate she was holding. “You what?”

“It wasn’t like a big spell or anything. It wasn’t like a love spell” I learned at a very young age that love spells aren’t worth shit. It backfired quite easily and my crush had pimples the size of M&M’s the following day.

“It was a protection spell.” I twiddled my thumbs.

My dad leaned in and put his arms on the counter, “Protection for who? From what?”

I sighed, “For Seth. I can’t tell you what for because I’m not allowed to talk about my dreams, right?” And then my hands turned clammy and wet. The realization hit me like a speeding train.

My dad reached out and held my hand, “What’s wrong Luna?”

I barely got it out, “I didn’t… I didn’t dream last night. I slept through it.”

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Six

I ran all the way to school, hair whipping against the wind. I haphazardly tried to fix it and made a bun on top of my head. I walked through the gates panting, not even going to my locker to get my books. I went to 1st period and saw Seth already sitting on his chair, his arms covering his head that lay on top of the desk. I made my way to sit beside him. No one’s there but us so I thought I’d check if he’s got zits the size of melons.

I lightly touched his head, his eyes snapped open and he had a panicked look on his face. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s just me.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sorry, just didn’t sleep well last night.” He looked dead tired. I’m a bleeding idiot.

“Bad dreams?” He looked over at me and set his beautiful but tired eyes to mine, he scooted closer, “Yeah. Worst dream ever. It was… nah, you don’t want to know. It’s morbid.” He sat back on his chair.

“No, I… I like morbid. Can’t you see the outfit?” I joked.

That made him smile a bit, “Yeah. Maybe later though, here’s Mr. Martin.”

We sat in companionable silence and I tried not to wake him when he took every chance to nod off. Lunch time came and it was as if there was a meeting the week before that I wasn’t invited to. There were murmurs when I walked over to the lunch line. The line actually dispersed at my arrival, I just shrugged, hey, no line. No problem.

Everyone were still murmuring and giving me furtive glances when I got my food so as the resident bitch, and just to smite them I walked over to the most populated table in the lunch room and sat at one of the chairs. They scattered like ants. I snickered. I ate my lunch in silence.

Then some of the more ballsy or stupid students started talking, I knew they were talking about me but no one had the guts to tell it to my face. I picked up a few words though, “Freak”, “Witch”, “Crazy”, and the same old shit they threw around. No wonder this place is called Hell’s Hollow, it’s the place where creativity died. I suppressed a laugh. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder; I looked up to a smiling Betsy. And here I thought I could have a normal lunch break.

I looked back down, “What’s up Betsy?”

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry about what happened last week. I didn’t realize you’d be upset if I dated your brother.” I didn’t want to see her science-enhanced, make-up-filled face so I just ate and gave her a thumbs up.

“I mean I really liked your brother. He’s very sweet but I think he’s too… uhm… ‘odd’ for a boyfriend choice.” I knew what she was doing and damn if I was going to let her get her way. But she’s treading on really thin ice here.

“Don’t let her get to you.”

I snapped my head up, confused at hearing the voice that seemed to have spoken right inside of my head. “What did you say?” I looked up at Betsy’s caked up face.
“I said your brother was odd for a…”, “I heard that, what did you say after?” I stood up and faced her.

“I…I didn’t say anything?”

“Oh my God she’s hearing voices now.” Kara the minion piped up.

I looked at Kara and squinted my eyes, “Either you stop talking right now or I’ll sew your mouth shut.” He whipped around and faced her friends.

“Don’t Luna. Just let it go.”

“Who the fuck is saying that?” I screeched and put my hands over my ears.

“Fuck. She’s losing it.” Tony murmured.

I looked around and everyone was looking at me. Not with fear but with raw expectation. Like the question of the break in my sanity was not “if” but “when”. That was the first time in a year that I felt alone and sorry for myself. I felt fear.

I ran out of the cafeteria and pushed the double doors wide, I had no idea where I was going but I knew I had to get out of there. I was losing my fucking mind. I’ve seen some weird shit in my life but this one takes the cake, I’m hearing VOICES! Seriously! I need to get out of here. I need Grandmere.

I skidded to a stop and decided to get my bag from my locker which was located in the opposite direction I’ve been running from. Shit. I checked my watch and saw that if I ran I’d still have enough time to get my bag and get the hell out of here. Then what? I shook it off. I’d think about that when I get home – cast a mind-erasing spell on them or something. And I hope the spell backfires, like they’d get amnesia and forget their own names. I was still running through the empty halls when I ran into a big muscled chest when I turned a corner.

The wind was knocked out of me and I fell into the guy’s arms. I was on top of him now, my nose bumping his hard chest, his arms circled around me. I looked up and pushed my arms against the floor and was met by Seth wincing. “Ooowww. That hurt Luna.”

I was still panting from the run but I stood up, wincing at the pain in my chest and arms. That’s gonna bruise. “You’re hurt? I’m a girl.” Pointing at my ta-ta’s. He raised himself up on his elbows, “Oh yes you are.” He smiled.

“Dick.” I kicked his side; he caught my foot with surprisingly fast reflexes. “Play nice for once, Luna.”

“Let me go.” He stood up, letting go of my leg but grabbing on to my arm. “Where are you going?”

I huffed a frustrated breath, “I’m going home.” Saying that felt ridiculously sad, I deflated and for a second I felt the urge to cry. I haven’t cried in a while – not about school or what people say about me anyway.

He released my arm and rubbed the back of his neck. “You shouldn’t have let them get to you. You’re stronger than that.” He whispered.

“What did you say?”

“I said you’re stronger than that.”

My heart was pounding, “Not that, the first one.”

He looked confused, “Uhm… You shouldn’t let them get to you?”

I sighed and closed my eyes, “Again.”

“Luna, I don’t understand.” He shook his head.

“Just… please. Humor me.” I stepped closer and closed my eyes.

He moved closer, totally invading my personal space, leaned in and whispered, “Don’t let them get to you.” Damn that dumb spell, it was him. That exact voice was speaking in my head a few minutes ago. No wonder it sounded so familiar.

I sighed and rubbed my fingers on my temple, “Where were you when it happened?” I looked at him tiredly.

“I was uh… standing outside the lunch room; I was peeping through one of the windows.” I looked at him and laughed. “Oh yeah, that’s really NORMAL. Not creepy at all or anything.” I smirked.

“I know.” He said rubbing his hands on the back of his neck. “It’s just that since I got here some people won’t leave me alone. And I kind of enjoy being alone.”

“Oh.” I stepped back, “I guess I’ll give you your ‘alone time’ then.” I started walking back towards my locker. I tried to calculate the time it would take me to run from here to my locker. Am I really going to run? I was still lost in my own thoughts when I felt a strong hand clutch mine.

“Not from you though.”

“What?”

He shook his head, “I don’t mind spending time with you.” I looked to the direction of my locker to hide the blush creeping to my cheeks.

“Well, you should. You don’t want to be associated with someone like me.” I shook my hand free from his and started running.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Seven

I came through the doors still gasping for air and was met by a nauseating stench that reminded me of dead, decomposing carcasses. I ran back out again and heaved the measly contents of my stomach.

“Luna dear? Is that you?” Grandmere asked.

I wiped my hand on my mouth and sat on the porch steps. “Yeah grandmere it’s me. Let me know if it’s safe to come inside.”

“It’s just a little potion, honey. It’s safe.” She yells back.

“Not for my poor stomach it’s not.” I murmured, “I’ll just wait for you here, grandma.” I yelled back.

I pulled my knees close to my chest and rested my chin on my knees. Grandma’s place is as creepy as people say it is. Of course for me it’s just normal. She lives on the outskirts of town, really close to the highway going in and out of here. The only structure visible for miles, the old house is surrounded by trees, a lake near the backyard. She likes the quiet she says and it increases the powers of her spells being so close to Gaia.

“Lemonade for my Luna?” She sets the glass down beside me. She sits at the rocking chair behind me. “You know I’m not that fond of the crap they teach nowadays but isn’t it a school day, Lune?”

I sighed, “I just felt like visiting you is all.”

“What’s wrong? Did the thing that happened the other week happen again?” She slowly rocked the chair and closed her eyes.

“No grandmere. I guess that’s just a fluke or a coincidence or something.”, I contemplated telling my grandma everything but I felt like I needed to sort it out all on my own. She’s always taught me independence.

“Them kids giving you trouble again?” She looks at me then, “Do you want me to turn them into frogs?” She smiled.

She’s kidding but I’m pretty sure she can really do that. She’s one powerful witch.

I laughed, “Thanks for the offer but I think I can handle it.” I smiled back.

“Atta girl.” She stood up and walked over to me. “I was cleaning the attic the other day and found something. I thought immediately of you. Here, put your hair up.” I did as she asked and felt the cool metal touch my neck. When the lock clicked, I touched the pendant and saw two crescent moons mirrored on both sides of a circle. The chain was longer than normal, the end of the pendant touching the middle of my chest.

“This symbolizes the ‘Triple Goddess’, the three phases of the moon. This will help protect you, ‘Luna’ – the Goddess of the Moon.” She sat beside me.

“I know you’ve been having troubles, Luna. You need to be strong. You ARE strong. Not in the terms you may know of, not strong-willed or strong-mouthed…” She laughed, “you’re a strong Wicca, you’re meant for great things. I’ve seen it. You just need to have faith in yourself.”

I shrugged, “I cast really stupid spells, Grandma.”

She put an arm around my shoulders, “Put your hand out, palm up.”

I did. “Now, concentrate. Feel the spirit of Gaia all around us. Tap into her powers, feel the spirit of the earth in your fingertips.” She kept saying words to soothe me, make me comfortable. I kept my eyes tightly closed shut.

“You need to breathe, Honey. Stop willing it to happen and just let it.”

I exhaled and dropped my hand, “I don’t even know what the hell I’m doing, Grandma.”

She got up, “Come on, you could use some peace.”

We walked around the house to her backyard, there was a small gazebo a little ways over the lake. She pushed me, “Go on. Sit there in the center, facing the lake and close your eyes. Feel the spirits around you and they’ll help you clear your mind.” She smiled.

I’ve known that witches and spirits are real, it’s in my blood. I knew in my heart that they are but it’s hard to trust something that’s brought me nothing than bad luck or pain. I guess it’s about time that I acquainted myself with them for real. Get in touch with my Wiccan roots. I walked to the gazebo and found a drawing on the floor, I knew the symbol from my grandma, she used to tell me about symbols all the time. This was a Witch’s Knot. It helps protect certain areas which it is drawn. It’s complicated to draw, but from the day I turned twelve I could draw it continuously without lifting the pen from the paper.

I sat down crossed legs, “Uh hi spirits. I’m just gonna sit here and let you help me ‘clear my thoughts’ or something like that. We haven’t had a good run as of yet, my spells turning into crap and all. Uh, sorry about that. I’m gonna try to connect with you now, okay?” I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing but all I saw were Seth’s green eyes then Betsy’s raucous laughter when I was running from the Cafeteria.

I shook the bad thoughts from my head and opened my eyes. I gasped.

I was sitting in the middle of a forest so beautiful and so bright it hurt my eyes.

“What the?”

What do you seek, Luna?

I stood up and turned around but I couldn’t see anyone. “I…. uh…” I sat back down. “I just wanted to talk, I guess. I can’t talk to my parents about my dreams even Grandma. I can’t talk to anyone about it and it’s driving me nuts. I feel like sometimes maybe I’m not made to be a Witch. I suck at it.”

The laugher that came from the voice was like wind chimes. Soft and magical.

You are a daughter of the moon. You’re blood says you are one of us. Your head is full of angst and confusion. It’s hard to see the real you with all the distractions. You need to let go in order to receive.

“Oookay… thanks?” If anything I’m more confused than before I started this whole thing.

You have no connections. You refuse to be connected to the world around you. You exist but do not live.

Ouch. “I thought it would be better to just be by myself and deal with things alone. And I’m connecting with you now aren’t I?” I looked around me still having no idea who the hell I’m talking to.

I will be here for you, Luna. You can start with me but connections made outside of this realm is much more important. You need to find yourself. Free your heart and you free your power.

I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded.

When I came to it was already dusk, the orange and red sky was beautiful and the sun was slowly touching the lake. Its reflection adding to the peace I feel was stirring up inside. Wow. Grandma’s a genius.

I left Grandma’s house while the sun was setting telling her I’d walk. I was a long way from home but I decided I wanted to be alone for a couple of more minutes. I felt at peace and unafraid. I walked home without incident but I had the unnerving feeling that someone was watching me.

I climbed the stairs two at a time wanting to postpone the possible verbal spanking I was going to get from my parents from skipping school. When I get to my room my bag was on my bed. I looked around but no one was there. How the heck did my bag get here?

“Seth told me what you did.” Eirik was leaning on the door jamb with his hands crossed over his chest. “I got your bag and brought it home.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Seth was so not following me when I said he should stay away. But I’ve made up my mind; it’s for his protection too.

“What happened at lunch, Lune? You looked petrified. I haven’t seen you look like that, like ever.” The concerned look on his face was touching.

“I’m okay, Rik. I’m just a little freaked out about some stuff. Stuff I can’t talk to you about so don’t worry about it.” I smiled at him.

“You can talk to me, Lune. Not just about the magic stuff, the other things too.” He looked shy.

I stepped up to him and kissed his cheek, then messed up his hair. “Aw, my brother’s all grown up.”

He fixed his hair. “Yeah, whatever.” He looked conflicted to leave me there so I pushed him out of my room. “Now go on and leave me alone.”

I sighed and leaned my forehead against my bedroom door. “Thanks, Rik.” I whispered.

I just realized I haven’t checked my phone for a while. Not that anyone would call me. Then I saw a phone that’s clearly NOT mine in my pocket. The phone started ringing and I saw “LUNA” on the screen. “What the hell?”

“Hello?”

“Hey you.” It was Seth.

I exhaled a frustrated breath, “Why do you have my phone, Seth?”

“To give you a reason to talk to me tomorrow.” He sounded so proud of himself.

“I’m serious about this afternoon. You need to find new friends.” I plopped down on my bed.

“Nope. I’m good. I’m quite persistent you’ll soon find out.”

“Well, persistence never worked on me so good luck with that.”

“Don’t I even get a ‘thanks’ for telling your brother about your bag? Where did you go anyway?”

“Thanks. None of your business. Bye.” I turned the phone off.

While I was getting ready for bed I kept thinking about what will happen tomorrow. They will all be looking at me and for a different reason now. It’s like I’ve proven all the shit they’ve been saying is true. I’m the crazy witch. It’s not going to stop there I’m sure. They’ll say much worse things about my family and my brother. I don’t know if I could keep my cool when that happens. I think I’ll need that Blue Chalcedony stone myself. I kept thinking of casting that memory loss spell but I don’t want to muck it up again. I don’t want half the town not to remember the day before – I could get burnt at the stake for that.

I just kept hoping that they forget what happened at lunch, I kept hoping for a way out. That they would somehow forget that I ran like the freak that they thought I was. If only they could just sleep tonight and not remember. I touched my new pendant and willed my worries away.

I am free. I will feel better tomorrow.

I kept repeating this in my head until I drifted off to sleep.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Eight

“Hey honey. Good morning.” My mom greets me with a smile on her face.

I ate in silence while waiting for her to start her lecture. My mom and dad talked about everything but what happened yesterday, I thought I was dreaming it but it was true. It happened. My wish came true. I smiled to myself.

We got up and were about to reach the door when my mom spoke, “Oh, Luna honey, your grandma told me to let you know that you’ll be spending three hours with her every day after school.” My jaw dropped, “It’s a better compromise than grounding you with no allowance for a month don’t you think?” She smirked.

I hunched over all the way through school, Eirik ignoring me while blasting his eardrums with his headphones on. I figured if the spell didn’t work on my mom I’m pretty sure it’ll be worse in school. Well, no use thinking about it now. I stepped in and was expecting some kind of bitchy welcome from everyone but they all walked past me and kept their heads down like they used to. Huh.

There was no incident all the way through Speech class. I sat down and waited for Seth so I could return his phone. Betsy came in and walked straight to me flanked by Kara and a quiet girl named Jenny – the new recruit. “Hi Luna.” Betsy smiled.

“Uh, hi?” I waved my hand, the Jenny girl jerked backwards. I tilted my head to the side and she flinched. What the hell has this girl heard about me?

“Oh, sorry about that. Jenny’s a bit… uhm… jumpy.” Kara snickered.

“Yeah, I can see that. What do you want?”

Betsy flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I just wanted to apologize to you. I mean I know your brother’s old enough to make his own decisions but I knew you kind of had a hard time accepting the fact that he wanted us to be together.” She looked down – acting all ashamed.

“Uh, yeah.” Was she messing with me or did she really forget? The hell is going on?

“What date is it?” I asked Betsy. “Uh the fifteenth?” Kara answered.

So the date did change.

“Yeah, thanks.” I sat lower on my seat and waited for any sign that they’re messing with me. Betsy continued, “Anyway, we broke up. Just so you know.”

“Uh yeah, my brother told me.” I replied.

“He’s hot, your brother. And damn that boy can kiss.” She sighed, “But, he’s just too…”

“Odd?” I continued. She was shocked and looked at me, “Yeah. A-a bit odd of a boyfriend choice.” She stammered. So she doesn’t really remember?

“Yeah. I get it.” I replied. She was like waiting for me to flip out or something so I decided to end the conversation. “You’re an odd choice for him too.” I smiled.

The anger was apparent on her face and she stepped closer, “You think you’re so above everyone else here, but we all know people just tip toe around you because you’re weird. And people don’t think it’s safe to be around you but I’m not one of those people. Not anymore. I see you for who you are – you’re nothing but a loser. A sad, pathetic loser.”

“Why so angry, Betsy? Can’t stand not getting all the attention around here?” Seth stood behind Betsy with an annoyed look on his face.

She put a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “I was just… she was being mean.” She pouted.

“I think we all heard the conversation and you started it. You were trying to get her upset, what’s that going to accomplish, huh? Pushing her like that?” He stood straighter and challenged her to respond.

“I just…” and there was a commotion in front signaling us to take our seats. Mr. Martin arrived and saved Betsy from more humiliation.

Seth sat beside me, took his notes out and started writing.

I whispered, “I could’ve handled that.”

“That wasn’t for your sake.” He annoyingly replied.

Wow, he sounds pissed.

I scribbled down a note and passed it to him, “Did you have a bad dream again?”

His head whipped towards mine, his eyes wide “How did you know I had a bad dream?” Ooops.

“Would you like to share the conversation with the class, Mr. Austin?” Mr. Martin glared at me and Seth.

Seth just shook his head and returned to taking notes. We didn’t talk again after that.

Lunch time came and I was nervous to go to the Cafeteria. I know if Betsy forgot about it, everyone should have forgotten it too. But being there made me doubt the spell I cast – if I DID cast it. I don’t remember chanting anything but asking myself to be at peace last night, for it to be okay. Maybe this is the break I so clearly deserve after all those botched spells.

I stood behind the doors and contemplating hiding in the girls’ restroom for the rest of the lunch break – something I haven’t done since Grade School when I got gum stuck in my hair – totally Tony’s fault by the way. I was still trying to decide my next course of action when I remembered something. I walked around the building and there he was, just as he said he would be. He’s really weird. Seth was sitting there, his back leaning on the walls. He had his eyes closed.

I thought of making a joke or surprising him or something but he looked so peaceful so I just walked over and sat beside him. Mimicking his position I closed my eyes.

He might have sensed my presence or peeked and saw me there, because he started talking. “I dreamt of things. Really, really bad things.” He whispered.

I didn’t want to interrupt so I just let him talk. “It was so real. I felt the fire. I was in so much pain.” It was difficult hearing this from him but I was curious, I knew what was happening to me with the Changing but he wasn’t like us, and I wanted to see how it affected him; if it affects him just as it affects me.

“Were you scared?” I asked.

“Yeah. But… not because of what I felt or even because of dying.” Then he took my hand and intertwined our fingers. I kept my eyes closed and willed my heart to slow down some.

“I was scared because you were there too. And I couldn’t get to you fast enough, your eyes...” He took his other hand and moved it over mine so my hand is sandwiched between his. “…they were like bits of glasses… when I woke up I felt the physical blow of losing you. It hurt.” He put my hand over his heart, “in here, it hurt the most.”

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. His eyes were so honest and sincere. It was more gold now than green, I was entranced. His hand let go of mine and touched the side of my face, “I can’t stop thinking about you.” He moved closer and put his forehead against mine, “Being near you is something I can’t control. I can’t help myself. You’re all I think about.”

He held my stare. My heart was pounding, I touched the hand he has on my face, I closed my eyes and let myself feel. For once I wasn’t thinking of anything but this feeling, I knew how he was feeling coz I was feeling it myself.

He put both of his hands on my cheeks, “Please say something, this silence is killing….” Before he got the last word out my lips met his. The kiss was slow and sweet. I was in a sugar coma; it was like dying, but in a good way. A really good way. His lips were soft and gentle against mine, his breath was intoxicating. A meteor could hit us right now and I wouldn’t care. I want to stay connected to his lips forever. I’m in trouble.

The bell rang and we broke apart, we’ve been making out like nobody’s business. I was panting from both excitement and fear.

“We need to go.” I finally said.

His eyes were still golden brown but were a bit darker; I almost lost my resolve and kissed him again. He shook his head and stood up, pulling me with him.

“I’ll see you later? Meet me at the gates?” He asked, holding on to my arms. I just nodded.

He smiled, his dimples showing and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

I used to get annoyed with students waiting at the gates for their boyfriends. They looked like nervous idiots. Especially those going out for only a couple of weeks, they were especially annoying. Once they see their boyfriends they immediately lit up and hugged and kissed them like they haven’t seen them in ages. I swore I would never be like that.

But when I saw Seth walking extra fast trying to get to me I almost lost it, I had to force my feet on the ground and keep myself from jumping him. He smiled. His smile was like sunshine – yes, I’m a cheese ball so sue me.

He stopped right in front of me, “Hey you.” He tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

“Hey yourself.” I smiled.

“So, do you want to go out or something? We could watch a movie.”

“Yeah, sure.” Then I remembered my mom this morning, I winced, “Uhm… Actually, I’m grounded.”

“Why? What happened?”

I remembered he also forgot about yesterday so I just shrugged, “I was just being stupid and my mom didn’t think it was funny. It’s no big deal.”

“Can I come to your house then? To study or something?” He looked so cute. I pinched the tip of his nose. “Can’t. Sorry. I’m going over to my Grandma’s house for detention.”

He sighed, “Okay. Can I just give you a ride?” I kissed his cheek, “Yes. I’d love one.”

We got to my grandma’s house longer than it would probably take. He drove really slow and we talked the whole way there. He pulled in Grandma’s driveway.

“Wow. This is some place.”

“Yes. Grandma’s quirky like that. Would you like to come in?” Me and my big mouth, I forgot about that stench wafting through Grandma’s house and her weird Wicca stuff.

“Yeah, I would love to meet your Grandma.” He got out of the truck and went around to open my door. This time when he extended his hand I took it.

“Luna, honey. You’re a little late.” My grandma stood inside her house waving a hand at me. I guessed Grandma hadn’t been whipping up potions today because I couldn’t smell anything foul coming through the doors. I pulled Seth behind me and went up the porch steps.

“Grandmere, this is Seth. Seth, my Grandma Willow.”

“Hello ma’am.” Seth said, his hand was doing this thing where he doesn’t know if he would open the screen to shake my grandma’s hand or not. It looked awkward.
“Hello there, Seth. Come on in. I made my special lemonade.” I rolled my eyes and went inside.

Seth abruptly stopped at the threshold and looked around the door jamb without stepping inside the house. It seemed like he was physically unable to cross the path. Grandma smiled at Seth “What’s wrong dear?”

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Nine

Seth looked around, took a step back and sighed, “I mean no harm.” He looked directly at Grandma.

“What’s going on?” I looked both at Seth and Grandma who were in a staring competition.

“This house is protected, not to ward off teenagers who want to ‘get it on’ with my granddaughter but from Wicca’s not within our bloodline.” I gasped and looked at Seth.

Hi sighed and looked at me. “Luna, please. I don’t mean any harm, I swear. I didn’t know how to tell you.” He was holding on to the sides of the door, his body still unable to cross.

“You’re a Witch?” My eyes were brimming with tears.

“I’m a Warlock, you know what we’re called, Luna. I never intended for it to get out of hand. I wanted to tell you but…”

“But you didn’t!” I yelled. My hands were shaking.

“I never lied to you, Luna. I really like you, everything I said is true. What does this have to do with us? This has nothing to do with us.” He begged.

“You’re right. I know witchcraft can’t make me like or love someone. You didn’t cast a spell on me. But you DID lie. You didn’t tell me something that I needed to know.” I gritted my teeth.

“Please, Luna. Let me explain.” He pounded his hand on the sides of the door, the house shook. I opened my eyes and glared at him.

“You need to leave. Right now.” I focused my thoughts in willing him to leave. I didn’t want to see him. I can’t even stand being this close to him. He’s a liar. He lied to me and I trusted him. I knew trusting people that aren’t my family is stupid, and I’m a stupid, stupid girl for letting him get to me like that. That kiss. My first kiss was based on a lie.

I was still shaking my head when I heard him, “Luna, stop it!” I looked up and he was slowly flying backwards, his feet dragging in front of him like there was someone carrying him by the armpits. I lost my focus for a moment and it was like he was dropped abruptly. He stood up slowly, dusting his pants off.

“We need to talk about this Luna. Not today but we will eventually. I’m not letting you push me away again.” He looked hurt; he walked to his truck, got in and drove off.

My grandma gave me a fierce hug, “Oh Luna! That was amazing. A telepath for a first gift is a wonderful blessing.” She smiled at me.

“A-a wh-what?” I stammered, more confused than ever.

“You’re a telepath.” She tapped my forehead. “Anything you imagine in here can happen. With practice of course.” She led me inside the house. I sat back on the sofa.

She sat beside me, “It’s confusing right now but it’s going to get better. I imagine your boyfriend will be back to pick you up?” I glared at my grandmother which was a rare occurrence.

“No. And he’s not my boyfriend. Not anymore anyway.” I murmured. My head hurt, but not as worse as my episode in the lunch room.

“Does this mean I inherited my powers already? I thought that was supposed to come after my 18th birthday? And does that mean that the thing that happened in school was my fault? I don’t want this Grandma, what happened before really freaked me out.” I sat up.

“Hold on, honey. It’s going to get clearer in a while. Why don’t you sit for a couple of minutes in the backyard. It will help.” She smiled.

I stood up and made my way to the back door when I stopped and turned around, “Did you cast that spell Gramms? The one to make my schoolmates forget?”

She looked at me and smiled, “No honey, I think you have your boyfriend to thank for that.”

Walking over to my spot on the gazebo, I thought to myself, Seth made them forget? And he never even thought to tell me about it? That meant that he knew, probably from the very first moment he knew I was a witch. Why keep it from me though? That was a similarity he could have used to get closer to me. I would have been more comfortable with him if I knew he was like me. I would have been able to talk to him about my dreams. I feel betrayed, but oddly relieved. If we were going to be together I had to lie to him about what I am and I don’t think I could keep that up. The reason I don’t have any friends is that I’m a terrible liar, so now I’m JUST terrible.

I shook my hands off, relaxed my mind and my body. I needed to focus, go back into that forest and be able to rest for a while. I tried forgetting about Seth, stopped thinking and just felt the peace that was slowly creeping up my nerves. Making me relax. Inhale, stop, exhale.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the magical forest again. I feel strangely elated, high from the peace surrounding me.

What's wrong, Luna?

I looked around, still not able to see the source of the voice. I sighed, “I just found out Seth is also a witch – a warlock, I mean.”

There are a lot of Wicca’s on Earth. The bloodlines date back hundreds of thousands of years. Long before you were born.

“I know that. I just felt betrayed. He didn’t tell me.” I looked down on my toes. I wasn’t wearing shoes. Huh.

Not all bloodlines are like yours. Good. There are bad bloodlines, some from their family line but some choose the darker side. This Seth that you talk about must have been trying to figure out what kind you are as well. Like what your grandmother did.

I looked up, talking to the skies, “Grandma didn’t do anything, though. She just cast a spell on the house forbidding anyone other than family to get inside.” I cringed thinking if Seth was able to get in. Ew.

There is more for you to learn.

There was humor in the voice.

The necklace your grandmother gave you was coated with a protection spell. Any Wicca with bad intentions will feel physical pain when they touch you.

Oh. Stealthy Gramms.

“How did I do that? I mean the whole send-Seth-flying thing?”

Your powers are slowly forming, you still need to practice and concentrate more but it’s slowly building inside you. You should be careful. Keep your emotions in check. If you let it get out of control, you’ll use powers without intending to.

Shit. “I can’t even control it on a normal day, how am I supposed to control it now?” Just thinking about Seth sends my emotions amuck.
You’ll figure it out soon enough.

I stayed in the forest for a while, the quiet was relaxing. I forgot about everything else and just lied down on the soft grass. I actually think I slept there. When I woke up the sun was setting again.

I sat back up. Crossing my legs I tried to keep my breathing even. There’s something about going back to this world that rattles me. Then I remembered Seth and my heart started racing, it was going haywire. I touched my chest and willed it to slow down. “Stop doing that flippity thing you crazy heart you!”

“Yeah, coz talking to yourself is healthier than talking to me.” I whipped around and saw Seth leaning against one of the gazebo pillars. I turned back around, still irritated with him.

“What are you still doing here? I shoo’ed you away.”

“’Shoo’ed’. Nice.’” He laughed and walked around the gazebo to sit in front of me. Blocking my view of the lake.

“Get lost Seth. You’re not my favorite person right now.” I glared at him.

“That’s not true a couple of hours ago. I believe you were ‘smitten’ by me and by my mad kissing skills.” He winked.

“Get out of here, Seth or I swear to God you’ll be kissing the bottom of that lake!” I stood up.

He stood as well and huffed a sigh, “I like the attitude, Luna. But I let you drag me out of there earlier – I was dragged away because I let it. I’m sorry sweetheart, you’ll have to try scaring some other dude coz I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me like a grown up instead of running away.”

I felt the tingles up my arms and the hair on the back of my neck rose, I could feel the energy all around me come into the drawing on the floor seeping up from the tips of my toes all the way to my hair – which stood up above my head. I looked creepy, I bet.

Seth smirked and stood straighter, challenging me.

“Last chance, ‘sweetheart’!” I smiled. He wasn’t going anywhere.

My hands were balled up in fists and when I felt the power surge inside me like it was about to explode. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I saw white, but Seth was still there he had a red aura all around him. Coating him. He protected himself – I felt a surge of pride.

I smiled and thought “why not?” then I let it out.

I suddenly saw Seth’s eyes widen at the exact moment the bolt surged from my fingertips straight to his chest. He was thrown back, waaaay back. Into the lake. Like I said.

My hair went back down, my arms limp and my legs wobbly. “Woah!” I sat back down. I was breathing hard. I was trying to catch my breath while looking over to the place where Seth fell in. “’Not going anywhere’ my ass!” I murmured. Man! That took a lot out of me.

I was still breathing hard but my heart rate was slowing down some. I thought Seth should be out of there by now. He’s taking his goddamn time!

I stood up walked a bit standing to my tip toes to check where he is. He’s playing with me. He’s just messing around. I knew he was protected. But he still wasn’t coming up.

“Seth! Come on up! Stop messing around!” I walked over to the edge of the lake, trying to see if x-ray vision was added to my list of awesome abilities to check if he was really down there. I was getting nervous. “Seth!”

After what seemed like ages, the water started to boil, there was something big coming out from the center of it. It came up and Seth was there, his body was smoking. Literally.

“You’re smoking.” I gasped.

“I know. I’m hot.” He winked. I rolled my eyes.

He walked towards me the water still boiling while he treaded it.

He shook the wet out of his hair, the water hitting me. It was warm. And I knew the lake water at this time of day was NOT hot. It was freaking cold – I learned that the hard way by messing around with Eirik one summer.

I wiped the water from my face with my hands. He kneeled in front of me.

Waving a hand over my face, I felt heat emanating from his palm. I looked at him and his eyes were blazing. Like the sun. He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

“I’m so sorry for not telling you, Luna.” His eyes returned to normal.

“You lied.” He was about to argue, but I continued and put my index finger to his lips. “You lied by omission.”

He looked guilty.

“I need someone I can trust, Seth. In my world it’s always been just me and my parents and this.” Gesturing to the gazebo. “It’s a very weird way to live and I want some normal. Like ‘dating someone’ normal, but I need someone that I can count on. I can’t take anymore lying or not talking.” He took my hands, rubbing his thumbs on my palm. He looked at both our hands while he spoke.

“I didn’t know about you at first. I just saw you and I immediately felt something for you, but frankly I didn’t want to entertain the idea.” He sighed, “I’m new here and being in a relationship is the last thing on my mind, especially with someone who doesn’t know about me and my family - someone who wouldn’t understand. But then I saw you trying to hide away from everyone and I understood how that felt like.” He looked at me then, “You were so obvious. You were trying to push everyone away and I don’t know why but I just felt I needed to prove I could break that – I could be close to you, that you’d let me in.”

He looked down again, “Then there was the cafeteria incident the other day. I saw your eyes, they’re always this chocolate brown color, but when you saw Betsy kiss Eirik your eyes turned red, like bloody red. So that’s how I knew.”

“Oookay. So you’ve been lying to me for the past couple of days then.” I raised one eyebrow at him.

He winced, “Yeah. Just that though, I don’t – well, there’s the spell to make people forget. I sort of did that.” I rolled my eyes, “Was I that pathetic that you had to do that?”

He let go of my left hand and he tapped his index finger on my forehead, “You kind of asked that. I heard you in my head; you wanted them to forget so I thought I’d give you a break.” He smiled.

I didn’t know what to say so I just looked down, it was embarrassing that they could hear my thoughts or rather I can send them messages telepathically without intending to.

He sighed and took my hands again, “I didn’t lie to you about how I feel, Luna. That was true. This is real. I know I screwed up not telling you about my this, but that was because I was brought up like you in the same way, like you I lied my way through high school. I lied to my friends incessantly. It was terrible, I hated it.”

My heart ached, I understood.

“I broke your trust, but I swear I’ll make it up to you. I’ll earn it back, I promise.”

I sighed, “I don’t know, Seth. I need time to think about this.”

He sighed, “Okay. Just please don’t push me away again. I can handle us being friends, if that’s what you want for now. But I need to be near you. I have to be with you even if it’s just this – for now.” I smirked. “You say ‘for now’ like I’m gonna change my mind soon.”

He smiled, “I can be very persistent.”

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Ten

The drive back home was comfortable; Seth and I just talked about school. It was normal, the kind of normal I really wanted. He didn’t hold my hand again, trying to keep his word that we’d try to be friends first. We weren’t friends before so maybe this is a good thing. I could use a friend.

We were just talking about the Speech project Mr. Martin had us do when we saw red and blue lights surrounding one of the houses in the neighborhood.

“What’s going on here?” This is a very unusual occurrence, Hell’s Hollow maybe a creepy name for a town but this place is anything but. It’s so boring here I can walk in the middle of the night and get home safe. It’s a very boring town. This was out of the ordinary.

“Isn’t that Jenny Briggs’ house?” Seth asked. “I gave her a ride the other day.”

We got near Jenny’s house and I felt the goosebumps creep up my arms. I had a really terrible feeling about this. When we were in front of Jenny’s house there wasn’t much to see because there were a lot of people surrounding it together with Police cars. But there was no mistaking the cries of Jenny’s parents when a gurney was being ushered out the front doors.

I opened the windows to see better and there was really a gurney there. On the gurney was a body bag. Both of Jenny’s parents were there sobbing. I instantly knew who was in the bag because Jenny was an only child.

We didn’t talk much the drive over to my house, it seemed inappropriate. Jenny has always been a quiet girl, she just started hanging out with Betsy and Kara but she wasn’t one of those people who sneered when I walked by, but she never talked to me either. She sort of kept to herself. She was also pretty, not as pretty as Betsy but she had a simple kind of beauty. I heard some people when we drove by that Jenny was in an apparent suicide, a belt was wound on her neck, and she died a little over two hours ago.

I sat there thinking of how anyone in this town could ever think of suicide, I mean it’s boring but not enough to drive you to take your own life.

I looked over at Seth and saw the hard set to his face. He was upset, though I’m not sure why. I didn’t want to talk but I really didn’t like the way Seth looks he’s serious than usual.

“So, you gave Jenny Briggs a ride? That’s surprising.” I tried to sound casual about it. But no use getting jealous over someone who just died.

His eyes softened a bit and he looked over at me, “You remember I told you that ‘people’ won’t leave me alone here?” I nodded.

“Well, Betsy, Kara and Jenny in particular were pretty persistent in getting to know me. Don’t worry though they just ended up getting on my nerves.”

I snorted, “Why would I be worried?” He just smiled.

“So you gave them rides home? I thought Betsy’s dad just bought her a BMW?” I tried to sound casual about it, but I think I failed miserably.

“She conveniently leaves it at home when she waits for me after school. It was so annoying.” My heart hurt, and I wanted to hurt Betsy, like right now.

We sat in silence again, and when we reached our house I invited him in, “Uh, would you like to come in? I think my mom made dinner. Usually it’s edible.” I shrugged.

He looked straight ahead, still had that hard set to his face, “No. I think I’ll go home now. Pretty tired from all that kissing.” He winked.

“Ugh. You’re impossible.” I shut his door and walked quickly to our door, when I turned around Seth was gone.

“They’re saying it was suicide.” I butted in. Mom and Dad were talking about how Jenny Briggs was found in their attic a few hours ago. It’s quite peculiar since Jenny’s mom swears she never goes to the attic for anything. They found a note but what was written there was not disclosed to the public.

“Well, it’s a shame what these kids go through. I thought her parents were doing okay, but I heard they were planning to have a divorce.” My mom says.

“No matter what her reasons were, it’s still no way to address a problem.” My dad says.

“We don’t know what happened, Dad. She probably has her own reasons; just because she chose to do something we won’t do doesn’t mean we can judge her for it.” I snapped at my dad. My mom glared at me.

I sighed, “Sorry dad.”

“That’s fine. And you’re right. I don’t know why I said that. I just don’t want you kids to think that’s going to solve anything.” I nodded.

“Don’t worry, Dad. No suicidal tendencies here. I mean I don’t, I don’t know about Luna here.” My brother chuckled. I smirked and willed his plate to flip on his lap. He jumped up, “What the…”

My mom looked at me with awe, “Honey, you’re a telepath?”

I shrugged, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” and stuck my tongue out at my brother.

That night I couldn’t sleep, I kept remembering Jenny’s parents’ faces when Jenny was being ushered out. The looks on their faces were a combination of heartbreak and shame. I don’t think I’ll ever let my parents feel that kind of loss. I will not do that to them; I don’t know why Jenny did it but I’m sure she has some kind of reason. I sat up and offered a little silent prayer for her soul.

I felt a breeze so I opened my eyes and I almost screamed from the shock of it. Jenny was sitting on the floor of my bedroom, looking down on the floor, crying.

“I feel so cold.”

My hands were shaking from the fear of it. She was really here and she looks just how I remembered her. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and she was barefoot. I sat straighter in my bed, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I needed to call someone but I’m scared that she might try to hurt me.

“Help me.”

My grandma always told me that spirits haunt people for two things, unfinished business or revenge. I’m fucking scared of that last part though I don’t know how I could have warranted this visit – I never did her wrong. I breathed in and willed my heart to slow down. Thinking about my powers I closed my eyes and called for help silently in my mind.

“Look at me.”

Her voice was rougher and closer. My eyes shut tighter, my hands balled into fists and I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. I was still praying for Jenny’s soul to have peace. I prayed for her in my mind.

“Why don’t you look at me, Luna?”

There was a knock on my door. “Luna, are you alright?” It was Eirik, he might have sensed my distress.

“Are you scared, Luna?”

I felt Jenny’s breath near my face and I forced my scream down, I was rooted to the bed. Still asking for my brother’s help. Help me, Eirik. Help! Call mom and dad. I need help.

“Can’t catch your tongue, Witch?”

“Luna, what’s wrong? What’s going on?! Mom! Dad! Help!” My brother was forcing the door open but it wouldn’t budge, I still kept my eyes closed willing Jenny’s spirit away.

“Don’t you want to know who I am? You will if you just open your eyes.”

This is not Jenny, I did nothing to her. This is something else and I needed to get out of here. I heard my parents yelling outside my door, but the voice kept coming closer than it did before. The breath was cold near my ear it whispered,

“I will take everyone you love and everything that’s yours and you won’t be able to stop it.”

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Eleven

I heard my dad barge in the door but I still had my eyes closed. My mom shook me by the shoulders willing me to open them. I was still to scared to open my eyes or talk, I kept thinking to myself, I can’t, no I don’t want to see. I can’t, mom.

“Don’t be afraid, Luna. I’m here.” My mom held me and whispered soothing words to my ear. After a while the words changed and I couldn’t hear it anymore. I drifted off to sleep.

When I came to Eirik was sitting on the edge of my bed, looking intently at me.

“Hey you. How are you feeling?” I gave him a thumbs up and sat up against the headboard.

“Are you mute now? You’ve resulted to sign language?” I gave him the finger.

He laughed, “Okay. You’re back to normal.” Then he turned serious, “How did you do that Luna? I heard you talking inside my head.”

I shrugged, “I have no idea. I actually wasn’t directing my thoughts to you, just to the Universe. I guess you’re the closest one to me, literally and figuratively. We have a connection, blood connection so I could do it easily.”

He nodded, “Yeah. I guess so. Mom and Dad also heard it in their heads, but it was more of a hum. To me it was clear as a whistle.”

He got up and walked over to my work desk, he looked at the pictures there and stared at one in particular, “Is this Seth?” he pointed at Seth’s drawing.

“Yeah, uh, he gave that to me.” I blushed.

“Uh huh. By the way, he called when the thing happened last night. Asked if you were awake.”

“He what?” I couldn’t believe I could connect with him as far as that. What did that mean? I’m just gonna ask him the next time I see him coz I really don’t have much energy left with all the creepy stuff happening.

“It was the weirdest thing but when you started talking in my head, he called my cellphone – it was creepy he’s got like ESP or something. I didn’t answer coz you know emergency with you and all. He called again after we left your room and I told him you were already sleeping.” I haven’t told them about Seth being a warlock. I don’t think my dad would be too happy about that.

“Yeah, he’s a weirdo.” I shrugged.

“So, what happened last night, Lune? You freaked us out.” I felt chills run up my spine, I knew I needed to tell them everything. They’ll be able to help.

“I need to talk to everyone. Have mom call Grandmere.”

“No need, she’s already here. They’re waiting for you to wake up.”

They refused to let me out of bed so they cramped inside my bedroom. Dad pulled chairs up for him and Eirik – he skipped school today. Mom and Grandma sat at the foot of my bed.

“Okay, you can tell us now, honey. You’re safe here.” My mom smiled as she touched my leg.

I inhaled and started talking, “I saw Jenny Briggs inside my room.” My mom gasped and covered her mouth.

“I mean, I think it was her. She looked so lonely, she had markings on her neck, but I didn’t see her face coz she was looking down. At first she seemed harmless; it was like she was really sad.” I gulped, “She asked for my help. She said she was cold.” I gripped the sheets, remembering the fear that enveloped me the night before.

“You’re safe, Luna. We’re here.” Grandma reached over and patted my hand.

I nodded, “I didn’t know what to do so I just closed my eyes and started praying for her. For her soul to rest. Then I felt it shift, like the Jenny I had in my mind wasn’t there anymore, it was replaced by something evil. I don’t know how I knew but I just felt it. It scared the shit out of me.”

I looked at my grandma who was very serious, she nodded for me to go on.

“I heard her speak, but it wasn’t her anymore. I could tell. There was an ominous tinge to her voice that wasn’t there before. She told me to look at her, I didn’t want to. My eyes literally were clamped shut. I started praying for help, for anyone to help me. Then the voice changed even more, it was evil. Challenging me to open my eyes, mocking me. She told me I was scared – she was right. I’ve never been more scared in my life.”

The bed shifted and I felt my mom’s arms wrap around me. I cried.

“You don’t need to be scared anymore, honey.” My grandma said, “We’ll protect you.”

I sat up and shook my head, “No. She told me, she said…” I looked at each of them, I can’t lose them, “I... I have to learn to protect myself.”

My dad shook his head, “No. It’s too risky Luna. We’ll have someone with you 24/7.”

My eyes turned into saucers, “I can protect myself, Dad.”

He looked at me like “the way you protected yourself last night?”

I sighed, “It was the first time I saw a ghost, I think I handled that pretty well despite the consequences.” My brother suppressed a laugh.

My grandma looked over at me, “Honey, what happened last night could have turned ugly. This house isn’t protected as much as it should be.” She glared at my father. He just scratched the back of his head.

“She was a harmless ghost grandmere, I just got scared is all. We could pray for her, right? Or we could have the house blessed.” I suggested.

My mom, grandma and dad all looked at each other then, the goosebumps made another appearance on my arms.

My grandma touched my hand, “What you saw last night was not a ghost, honey.”





My dad stared intently at me, “That was a demon.”

A full on demon was inside our house, inside MY room. I almost fainted again. This was too much information for my puny brain. I can’t even think straight that mom whipped up a potion to help me rest, I slept until noon then I finally decided to start the day. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do but my stomach growled reminding me that I haven’t eaten anything yet, so I went downstairs for lunch. My mom and dad were nowhere to be found. I smelled smoke coming from downstairs so I went to the basement. There they were. Mom, Dad and Grandmere working on a potion or a spell or something. I’m pretty sure to protect the house.

They were concentrating so I just thought I’d make myself a sandwich – this was normal, like nothing was trying to haunt me or kill me or anything. Just making myself some good old PB&J.

The house phone rang so I answered it. Very cautious coz I don’t think I’d ever talk again if I hear Jenny’s voice on the other end.

“Hello?” It was Seth.

“Hey.” I answered my mouth full.

“Uh, is Luna there? This is Seth Austin, her classmate.” Such a dorky response.

I gulped some OJ and cleared my throat, “Hey Seth the classmate. It’s me, Dork.”

He laughed, “Hey. You didn’t come to school. Are you feeling well?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just feeling a bit woozy.” I don’t know why I’m lying to him I just felt that he’s lying to me too. He hasn’t told me why he knew something happened last night. I want it to come from him for once.

“Oh, okay.” He sighed, “Hey listen, can I come by later today? Are you going to your Grandma’s house?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m just gonna stay in.” Please don’t ask to come here. My grandma’s probably has the spell in her house cast here too.

“Oh okay. Can I come by your house then?”

Oh crap.

“Well, my grandma’s here. I haven’t told my parents about you yet so…”

“About you and me you mean?” I blushed.

“No, I mean that you’re you know, one of us? My grandmere probably rigged her witchy booby traps on the doors as well so you’ll get busted.”

“Why not?”

I shrugged though he couldn’t see it. “I don’t know. My dad’s pretty skeptical about boys as it is, I’m sure he’ll have a field day interrogating you. Nothing’s off limits you know?”

“I know that and I’m fine with it. He can ask me anything. I just want to see you.” My heart did that skippity beat thing again.

I sighed, “Okay. Just call me first so I can open the door for you.” I don’t want my mom to get any more surprises, and I need to talk to Grandma.

“Okay. I have your number.” He snickered, “I mean, I have MY number, I still have your phone, remember?” Oh right.

“Are you ever going to give that back?”

He laughed, “No. I like this phone I think I’ll keep it. No one’s texting you by the way. You need to get out more.”

“Well, I don’t even know where YOUR phone is, I don’t think I even opened it after I shut it the other day.”

“Well, open it up. My fans might be texting me already. They can be clingy like that.”

“Whatever, Dork.”

“YOUR Dork.” Then he hung up.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Twelve

My phone, I mean Seth’s phone rang around four, he said he immediately called when the bell rang coz he’s got a lot of minutes left on his phone. MY phone he means. Jerk.

I talked to my mom and told her about Seth and all that while my grandma looked on with a smile on her face. She’s really excited to have a warlock dating her granddaughter, although I clarified that we are just friends. I think I changed my outfit five times, though I had to stress out again, we’re just friends.

The doorbell rang and mom beat me to the door.

“Hello Seth.” My mom gave her winning smile.

“Hello Mrs. Caldwell.”

“Sylvia, please.” She gestured for him to come in and came inside without any problems. No barriers here - my grandmere made sure of that.

Seth winked at me as he got inside so just to get back at him I made him sit beside my dad on the couch.

“Dad, this is Seth, Seth my Dad.” I motioned for Seth to sit down; he gave me a nervous chuckle but did as I asked. I smiled.

“Well, I’ll just get you some juice, you want anything Dad?” I smiled at my scowling father. He just shook his head and gave a sideways look at Seth. I almost burst out laughing. I left the room when I heard Dad ask Seth, “So, are you dating my daughter?” I covered my mouth and spittle came out of spaces in between my fingers.

“Oh, that’s not very lady like, Luna.” My grandma tsked me when I entered the kitchen, getting a handful of paper towels and handing them to me. “Wash your hands” she chided. I rolled my eyes.

“I saw that.” She smirks.

“I’m just having a little fun, grandmere. Seth’s being annoying.” I scrunched up my nose.

“That boy’s smitten over you, honey. Give him a break.”

I went to get some water while thinking that Seth probably doesn’t like me as much as Grandma says, because he lied to me and also – more importantly - we agreed we’ll just be friends. I’m gonna miss his kisses though. I downed the water…

“You know, there’s a solution to your predicament, I heard that term the other day while watching HBO, I think it goes like ‘friends with benefits’”

I choked on the water. Coughing incessantly. I was tearing up from laughter and the water. Grandma’s crazy. Still coughing a little bit I forced the words out, “I don’t think that’s the right term, Grandmere.”

She gave me a knowing smile. My eyes about bulged out of my sockets. “I did it again, didn’t I? You heard me talk in my head?”

She stroked my back, “It’s okay honey, you’ll learn to control it soon enough”

“But how? I’m not even sure when I’m doing it, how can I control that? It’s not like I can stop thinking.”

“That’s a topic for some other time; you need to take care of your visitor. He might be thirsty.” She smiled at me.

I then remembered going back to school tomorrow and had about a mini panic attack – what if I accidentally speak into some of my classmates minds? In Betsy? She’ll know then for real that I’m a witch. “Don’t worry about that now, Honey. It will all be sorted out, you’ll see. Our powers don’t usually get us into trouble, unless we do it for the wrong reasons.”

I sighed.

“Now go on. He’s here to see you not your father.” She shoo’ed me away.

When I get to the living room, Seth was watching the TV seriously his back leaned on the couch, arms crossed over his chest. My dad had the same serious expression and was leaning forward, intent on what he was watching. I looked at the TV and saw the gurney of Jenny being loaded on to the ambulance; I suddenly remembered what happened the night before. The sad, hunched image of Jenny clouding my thoughts again. I didn’t even realize losing grip on the glasses I was holding. My dad was suddenly up holding the glasses, “Your mother loves the new carpet, best not destroy it with juice.” He smiled.

“I’m sorry.” I looked at Seth who bore a concerned expression on his face.

“Don’t worry about it Luna.” He took the glasses and set both down on the center table. When he was about to sit down, his head snapped up and rubbed at his temples. “Uh, I’m going to go help your grandma prepare dinner.” He looked at Seth again and left.

“Wow. Dad’s pretty worked up with you being here.” I sat beside Seth.

He moved closer to me and whispered, “Are you going to tell me what happened last night?”

“What do you mean?” I hedged.

“Don’t lie to me Luna; I know something happened to you. And I saw how scared you were while watching the TV. Is this because of Jenny?”

I decided to be honest with him, only if he’ll be honest with me. “How did you know something happened to me last night? Eirik said you called him. And don’t you dare say it’s coincidence, you should have called me if that was the case.” I gave him a stern look.

He looked down, blushing a bit. “I, uh… We need to go to your room.” I gave him my best ‘WTF’ look.

“Don’t look at me like that; I just need to show you. It’ll make this easier.” I have no idea what he’s talking about so I just shrugged and stood up. Then I thought to myself, what the hell am I doing? I don’t remember if my room’s clean enough to have visitors in it. I tried to think of any discarded clothing – particularly my intimates scattered about my room. Seth chuckled behind me. Dammit, this mind speaking thing is a pain in my ass.

We went to the kitchen and I yelled over to Grandma and Dad, “We’re just going up to my room.” My dad was about to contest when my grandma said, “Sure honey.” He smiled over Seth. Great job, grandma. My dad frowned, and while we were climbing the stairs, my dad stuck his head out the kitchen door and yelled: “Keep your door open!” I just about died right there. I blushed furiously and stomped upstairs yelling back: “YES FATHER.”

I still kept thinking that this is okay, that it’s fine if Seth comes in my room. We’re just going to talk anyway. At least that’s what HE says. I mean we’re still in the “friends zone”, I think that’s what they call it now, right? Granted I don’t have much experience in these kinds of things. Oh my God, I’m blabbering. Inside my fucking head. Shoot me now. I remembered the mind talking thing so I glanced over my shoulder to see Seth seemingly oblivious to my inner monologue and busy looking at the pictures mounted on our walls. They were pictures of me and my brother, Grandma and Gramps at the lake house and Mom and Dad during their wedding. Seth had a melancholy look on his face; I wondered how his relationships with his parents are. He hasn’t introduced me to them yet – and I’m not sure he’ll do that. This is so complicated.

I huffed a sigh as we reached the door to my room, “Here we are. Sorry if it’s not presentable.” I opened the door and looked at the pristine state of my room. Mom had something to do about this I think.

Seth came inside, not looking out of place at all. It looked like he knew where everything was. He sat on the bed facing my desk. I left the door open and sat beside him.
“So, we’re here. What do you want to tell me?” I started.

He inhaled a lungful, he looked nervous. “Don’t get mad at me okay? I just… I just want to make sure you’re protected. I… Like I said before, I really care about you, Luna.” He was looking around the room, at everything – except me. This revelation is going to piss me off I’m sure of it.

He winced like he heard me again, but this time I’m glad he did hear it. I don’t need to threaten him out loud.

He scratched the back of his neck, “Okay, here goes nothing… Just… Just remember that this is for you, okay? I did this for you, not for some perverted reason.”

“Just spit it out!!!” I yelled, frustrated.

“Okay, chill. Jesus. Don’t yell at me, your parents might think we’re having a lovers spat.” He could joke at a time like this?

“Okay, okay. I’m telling you.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. “I needed to make sure you were okay, that you were always protected. Since that first couple of weeks in school, I always felt the need to protect you. I… It’s a really creepy way to do it, but in humans – like non-magic folk, it’s really effective.” He’s rambling and I’m losing patience. “I didn’t know you’d post it in your dresser facing your bed. Usually people keep in their bags or in between a notebook…”

“What the hell are you talking about???” I yelled again, more frustrated and confused than ever.

He stood up, walked over to the dresser and pulled his drawing off the wall. “This. I knew what was happening to you because of this. I put a spell on it.”

I sat there confused and saw the flush on his cheeks. Looking at the drawing, his eyes, exactly matching Seth’s green ones, I realized what he was talking about. I shook my head furiously, “You’re shitting me right? I mean, you can’t be that perverted.” I looked at him and he was apologetic, but I was too fucking pissed to care.

I closed my eyes and felt the surge on my fingertips, Seth realized what was happening too late, he was launched to the air and his back struck the ceiling of my room with a thud. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jenny’s smiling face from my dresser mirror.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Thirteen

The door shut and the boy was defying gravity, his back stuck to the ceiling, his limbs flailing around but he couldn’t get away from the Witch’s hold. The girl’s right hand stretched up, trembling from anger and power. The girl was smiling wickedly at the boy, her head slightly tilted, and her eyes blazing red.

“Stop it, Luna. Please. I can’t breathe.” The boy pleaded.

Luna? I know that name. Where have I heard that from?

There’s a banging on the door, yelling ensued. “Luna” - they’re calling her name again.

The girl laughed wickedly. Her hair turning gray, like starlight. “What can you do, boy? You’re no match for me.” She smiled.

The door burst open, the door coming off its hinges. Splinters flying everywhere. An old lady, a man and a woman came inside looking at the boy and the witch.

“Stop this, Luna.” The old lady said sternly. “Control it.”

The witch laughed then turned serious, “And what if I don’t, WILLOW?”

The old lady looked murderous then, “Who are you?”

The witch smiled, “Your granddaughter. LUNA.”

The younger looking woman gasped and started crying. “Please let my baby go.” The man held the woman in his arms, looking at the witch filled with hatred and fear.

They know the witch – Luna, she’s someone they care about. They are crying for her, but why? She seems evil.

The witch spoke again, “Oh stop the dramatics, the young witch is safe – for now. But to ensure she stays safe, I need something first.”

“We’re not negotiating with a demon.” The old lady replied.

The witch laughed a spine tingling, haunting laugh. “Oh Willow. I thought you’d be smarter than that.” She shook her head and looked at the boy who’s barely awake and turning a bit blue. “This boy is a warlock do you know? He’s a powerful one. I think I’ll get myself acquainted with him too.” She licked her lips.

“Stay away from the children.” The old woman put her hand out, balled in a fist.

The witch looked back at the old woman, “Your threats have no bearing. You will not harm the body of your granddaughter.”

The old woman smiled, “You’re right, I will never harm my own blood. But you’re a spirit, a spirit that’s no longer welcome here. Now leave my granddaughter alone.” The old woman opened up her hand, palm up and a fireball was resting on her palm. Not singing her hands.

“What will you do? Blast me with that thing? Don’t kid yourself.” The witch snickered.

“No, but this can pretty much destroy anything. Even a Witch’s vessel.” She moved her hand to the left, to my direction. I covered my face with my arms and heard the glasses shattering.

“Luna? Luna, honey?” My mom’s voice seemed so far away. When I came to, she sat on the floor my head resting on her lap, her bloodied hands touching my face.

“What happened, mom?” My mom studied my face, looking for what I don’t know. She just looked relieved.

“What do you remember, Luna?” My dad asked.

“I… uh… I don’t know. It’s all blurry. Like watching TV but the signal’s not right.” Then I remembered the dreamlike state I was in, like looking through a mirror. The witch – me, but not really. I wasn’t in control of my emotions or my body or my powers. I shook the feeling off. Then I remembered Seth and the creepy drawing which wasn’t an innocent gift, but a magical-stalker-friendly CCTV. Seth was nowhere in sight.

“Ugh. I need to get out of here.” I stood up and shook the bits of glasses from my pants. Mom stood up as well, her bloodied hands still struck with scraps of glass. I gasped, “Mom, you need to have that cleaned. We need to go to the hospital.” She looked at me and smiled, “No need honey. I’m fine.”

I took my mom by the elbow and led her to the restroom, “Let’s have a look.” I opened the tap and pulled her hands under the water. The blood was being washed away, but there were still some glass stuck in her skin, I pushed the fear down and grabbed a pair of tweezers from the dresser. I gently pulled out the bits, my mom quiet while I worked. I grabbed some gauze and some solution to stop the bleeding.

I worked on her hands. She was staring at me – I knew that without looking up. I pushed my thoughts into her head,

Don’t worry about me, Mom. I’ll be fine. She’s gone.

She answered, “I was so scared, Luna. I thought I was going to lose you. I don’t know what I would have done if things got out of hand. It’s a good thing mother was here…” She shook her head, “Your father and I…” tears slowly streamed down her face, “We’re so sorry honey. We couldn’t protect you. I let myself go, my powers are not as strong as they once were. I couldn’t fight her, not without harming you.” She took my hands and held it tightly, blood seeped through the gauze.

“We were complacent, we were careless, we didn’t think we needed our powers anymore. We wanted to be normal for you and Eirik.” I shook my head and held both of her cheeks, “No one is to blame for what happened, Mom. You are the best mom ever.” I smiled at her, “And Dad’s the awesome-st Dad ever. You guys take so good care of us, this couldn’t have been predicted. No one could have stopped it, not even Grandma.” I kissed her cheeks.

She was crying now, but only happy tears. She kissed me back, “Thank you, Lune. I swear we’ll make sure you and Eirik are safe.” I just nodded. “You go on and rest, your Grandmere already made sure you’re safe in your room.”

She stood up and left me alone in the bathroom, I was cleaning up the gauze and the bits of glass from the sink when I finally was able to gaze at my reflection. I gasped and took a step back. My hair was no longer red, it was silver/gray – like starlight. Like the demon's.

I touched my hair, it was real. Like any other physical change, I’m quite sure this is never going to turn back to red. “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.” I silently cussed the demon that possessed me. I sighed, “Well, we can’t do anything about this now, can we Luna?” I talked to my reflection. I needed some rest before going back to the real world tomorrow. School’s going to be extra hard with my new witch-chic hairstyle. I sighed again.

I went back to my bedroom to find that everything’s in order except for my dresser that has no mirror now. I lie down on the bed staring at my ceiling. Mom put a lot of glow in the dark stars up there when I was younger, it’s too hard to remove now, besides, I can’t reach them. But what got me staring at it is the new Witch’s knot that’s drawn there with black chalk. It looks fresh, might have been what Mom was talking about when she said my room’s safe now.

My body’s tired but my mind isn’t. I can’t sleep. I looked over at my dresser and found that my phone is there – my phone, not Seth’s. I can’t even think about him and not be confused, tired and betrayed all at the same time. It’s hurting my brain. I don’t think I’ll be able to trust him now. He’s lied to me too many times. This is also not the time to think about Seth – he’s the least of my worries.

The demon, I need to find out who she is and what she wants from me.

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Fourteen

It’s amazing how the school I once hated seemed like a really relaxing place to be in after all the horrible things that happened. It was so normal and seeing the people again – normal, non-magic people was a breath of fresh air. I loved who I am and I’ve accepted that I am different a long time ago, but sometimes I wished for normalcy, this was one of those days.

I reveled in the normal routine, going to my locker and getting my books, all was well. No demons in sight – score. Then I remembered I had 1st period with Seth, I sighed. He’s not going to ruin my day or any of my days. I decided last night that I was so not getting into whatever we have or had, he’s just a distraction. One I can’t afford if I want to keep my family safe.

“Nice hair, freak!” Betsy flipped her bleached blonde locks over her shoulder while giving me the stink eye. I almost caved and stuck my tongue out at her like a 5-year old. And damn it I forgot about my hair. Keeping a chipper attitude was so going to be a challenge today. I sighed and kept my chin up and walked up to class.

Seth was already seated when I arrived; he was hunched over his seat and looked desolate. I almost felt sorry for him – almost being the operative word.
I sat beside him and refused to look, I have to be strong about this. I can’t let him sway me with those eyes and with any more of his lies. I have to keep my distance.

I opened my notes and scribbled whatever Mr. Martin was saying. I felt Seth’s eyes on me the entire time, I can’t imagine how he doesn’t get in trouble for not paying attention to class.

“Okay, now I want you guys to watch one of the best speeches of all time. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” was compelling and passionate which is how every speech should be written and delivered.”

The room went dark as Mr. Martin flicked the lights off and turned the projector on. Shit this was going to be bad. Seth was already dragging his chair closer to me.

“Luna…”

I pushed my thoughts into his head,

I don’t want to do this now, Seth. I need time to think about everything and I need you to respect that.

He looked at me and it seemed like he doesn’t want to back down, I mouthed “Please.”

He gave a curt nod and turned back in his seat.

I sat at my usual table at lunch, the stares and whispers were 3x worse today. Must be my hair or the fact that I haven’t snapped and bitched at anyone yet. I just felt like it was wasting my energy and my time – wow, is this maturity I sense? Damn I think I’m growing up. I almost snickered but stopped myself, I figured they would add “psycho” to my long list of nicknames if I did. I ate up my pizza and watched the people in silence, they all turned back to their food and gossip when I started to look at them. I thought I’d try to practice my new kick ass powers while waiting for the bell to ring.

I called up my brother who was seated with the goth and stoned guys at the back of the lunch room. Not a good choice of friends but his choices were limited, like me. But unlike me he refuses to sit and eat alone.

Eirik

His hand stopped mid-way through his mouth and looked around the lunch room to find me. When he spotted me he gave me the “What?” look. Concern was written on his face.

Nothing, just trying out my powers, that’s all

He smiled and shook his head.

I smiled back but when I looked around I saw Betsy was whispering something to Kara while looking at me. It’s time to stretch my powers a little; I kept looking at them and tried to pry my way into their thoughts. Then the gates opened and I couldn’t decipher who was speaking, it was like the whole lunch room was yelling directly at my ear all at once. The ones about me though were louder than the others.

Oh my god the freak is looking at me.

Her hair is pretty, it suits her.

She could’ve been so hot if only she wasn’t a freak.

Freak.

Witch.

I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself so despite the fact that I wanted to pull my own hair out, I kept my head down and focused on my breathing. I need to close the connection. I gripped the edges of the table hard and breathed in and out.

You’re weak, little witch. You can’t stop me.

The voices stopped and I snapped my head up, trying to locate who spoke but everyone were already standing up getting ready for the next class. Goosebumps crept up my arms – the demon was here.



Getting through the rest of the day was taxing, I felt paranoid most of the time. Always trying to observe everyone to see if anyone’s been affected by the demon. It’s hard to see when my thoughts are clouded by fear. I needed to get stronger. I needed Grandma.

After the last bell rang I ran out of class and went to my locker to leave my things as quickly as possible, I wanted to get more practice done. I walked briskly on the road going to Grandma’s house; it’ll probably take me an 45 minutes to an hour to get to her place so I walked quickly – I’m still going to be dead tired when I get there though.

Then a truck caught up with me, I knew who it was without looking.

“Hey, are you going to your grandma’s? I can give you a lift.” Seth said when he rolled the windows down.

“No thank you.” I kept walking. He kept up beside me.

“Please Luna, you’re going to get yourself tired before you make it there. I swear, I won’t talk to you. I promise. Just a ride.” I sighed and stopped walking. I faced him and crossed my arms on my chest.

“Do you promise?” Then as I realized my mistake, I put my palm up to stop him from answering. “That was stupid of me, because your promises mean shit to me now. I don’t trust you. But I do need a lift so yes, thank you.” I didn’t wait for him to respond and I got in his truck.

He kept his promise and didn’t talk to me on the way to Grandma’s house; his knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel too hard though. I looked away. I can’t think about how Seth feels right now, I know I’m being a bitch to him but his lies just confuse me more. I know we have to talk some time but right now there were bigger things to think about.

We made it to Grandma’s house in 15 minutes and I got out of Seth’s truck. He looked over at me when I stopped before shutting the door. I looked at him, he looked like shit. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he hasn’t had any sleep.

I almost went and comforted him, but I had to be steady, be strong. I gave him a nod and said “Thanks.”

I shut the door; I walked up the path to grandma’s porch. She opened the door immediately and gave me a quick hug.

“You ready to practice, Luna?”

 

[sakura07]

Chapter Fifteen

My shirt clung to my skin and grandma was still sitting on her wicker chair.

“Oh come on, dear. You can do better than that. I weigh only around 110 lbs.” I panted but gave her a smile, “You so do not weigh 110, Grandmere.”

“Again.” She said, all serious now.

I shook my arms out, the sweat flicking off my skin. We’ve been at it for three hours and I haven’t been able to do shit.

My hands were at my sides and I lifted them up focusing on getting the wicker chair (with my grandma sitting comfortably on it) off the floor. Earlier today I had one of vases lifted off the table but then I lost control and shattered the damn thing. My Grandma said I had access to my powers now, but control I did not have. So she sat in a chair and asked me to lift it off the floor without turning her or the chair into a pile of ashes or like the shattered vase. It was hard. I didn’t want to harm Grandma so the fear of hurting her was there, turning my focus into a ball of nerves. Now I can’t lift the chair up higher than 3-inches.

The chair went up around a foot now, Grandma huffed a sigh when I set her back down gently.

“Oh for crying out loud, Luna I’m not going to break, honey.”

“I can’t do this while you’re sitting there Grandmere. It’s too hard and I don’t want to hurt you.”

She stood up, “You won’t hurt me Luna. I trust you. I trust your capabilities; after all you are my granddaughter. You are not capable of hurting anyone.” I seriously doubt that.

She walked over to me and held on to my shoulders, “You need to trust your powers. Your spirit needs your faith in it. The faith that you are good.” I sighed.

“You need to rest. Go on the back and relax a bit. I’ll prepare us dinner.” I was walking to the back when she asked, “Is Seth joining us? I should prepare dinner good for three.” I turned back to her and was about to explain when she butted in again, “I know what that boy did, but I also know that he didn’t do it out of spite or to upset you.” She looked over at me, “He did it to protect you, because he cares. We do a lot of crazy things to protect the people we love.” She smiled.

I rolled my eyes while making my way out of her house. This is so not the time to think about the “L” word, I don’t even know if I like Seth – I’m too annoyed with him right now. I tried to concentrate and clear my mind for a good hour, but my thoughts kept going back to Seth and how bad he looked today, relaxing was a moot point right now so I just lied down on my back inside the gazebo.

I know I needed to focus on a whole lot of other things but the way Seth looked today bugged me more than anything. I’ve never seen him so sad. I needed to focus and my focus required a clear head. The only way to do that was to fix things in my life, and yes, I needed to talk to Seth.

As if my thoughts were heard once again, he sat at the foot of the gazebo overlooking the lake. He was facing me, but his head was down. He looked at me from under his lashes, “Uh… I hope it’s okay I’m here. Your grandma called me.”

Still annoyed, but I can’t help but laugh at that. Grandma’s really sneaky.

He looked up, still serious. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk to me. Just… I need you to know that I’m sorry.”

I sat up and moved so that my back was against one of the pillars. I nodded my head to the side to ask him to come inside. He got up and sat at the pillar opposite mine.
I sighed and started, looking out over the lake, “I understand why you did what you did. You wanted to protect me. Even if it was a really creepy, sick way to do it. I get it. I don’t appreciate you lying to me though. You had all the chance in the world to tell me and you chose not to. I felt betrayed because I trusted you. And I’m only talking to you now to clear things between us. I don’t want this “thing” hanging over my head while I’m trying to accomplish something.” I looked back at him, “I realize what you did was probably because you… cared, like Grandma said.” He looked away. “But what you did also made me realize how that wouldn’t have been needed if I could defend myself. And that’s what I’m doing now. I want to be stronger, Seth. I want to be able to protect myself and my family.”

He looked at me with understanding and concern. He gave a faint nod. “I get it.”

“So, that’s it. Although I don’t approve of the way you tried to protect me, the fact that you did try is appreciated. So, thank you.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

“I honestly thought you hated me.” He said.

“I don’t hate you, Seth.”

“Thank you. Thank you for giving me another chance. I’ll help you get stronger, I swear I will. I’ll be here for you for whatever you need.” He leaned forward.

“Even when I need a punching bag?” I lifted one eyebrow at him.

He smiled, “Yes. Whatever you need, I’m it.”

The mood was obviously lighter when we came back in the house, grandma had dinner – pizza ready when we got in the kitchen. “Wow Grandmere, I thought I’d never see the day.” I smiled at her, she wrinkled her nose. “I’m just doing this because I’m feeding two teenagers and I didn’t have any time to cook.” She looked pointedly at me.
“Grandmere’s cooking kicks ass. Maybe next time she’ll whip up something awesome for you.” I smiled at Seth.

Although he still had bags under his eyes, he seemed better. I felt bad for making him worry.

“I’m looking forward to that.” He smiled shyly at me and Grandma.

After inhaling the pizza in record speed, Seth and I left her home. He looked about to faint when he got in the truck so I offered to drive. “Did you even get any sleep, Seth?”

He had the seat reclined and had his arm over his eyes, “I slept a little.”

I shook my head and after a while I looked over at him, his mouth was slightly parted and his breathing was deep. He was sleeping. I parked at a nearby gas station and rummaged through his bag, I didn’t want to wake him and he’ll probably object with me driving him home.

I took his wallet and saw his address, I was about to return it to his bag when a picture fell out. It was folded in half, when I opened it, it was a picture of a Seth, only much younger. He must have been 10 or 11 in the picture, he had a big ass smile showing his dimples, his hair was longer, the ends touching his shoulders. But it’s obviously not the reason he kept the picture, long arms were wrapped around his arms and chest. She looked beautiful, a lot like Seth but she looked my age. She had her chin resting on Seth’s shoulder and mimicked Seth’s dimpled smile.

She was probably Seth’s sister, but the thing was Seth never mentioned a sister before.

Seth stirred and I hurriedly put the picture back, tossing his wallet into his bag I revved up the engine and started driving again. I called up Eirik and told him to pick me up at Seth’s home – if I figure out how to get there.

After a couple of wrong turns, I finally get to his house. I was contemplating just leaving him here because he looked so peaceful, when there was a knock on the driver’s side window. I jumped, “Jesus!”

“Nope. Just me.” Eirik snickered.

“Ass! You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“I was just stopping you from staring at Seth like that. Seriously, Lune it was creepy.”

I sighed and shook Seth a bit. He sat up quickly and looked around. “Shit. I’m sorry Luna.”

“You were pretty out of it and I didn’t want to wake you.” I shrugged and removed my seatbelt.

“How did you know where I live?” He asked while getting out of the truck, “I… uh… remembered, you brought me here before didn’t you?”
Eirik’s eyes popped out, “I so do not want to know what you guys did here…” He walked back to the car. I turned beet red.

“It wasn’t like that doofus!”

“Whatever. I’ll wait in the car.”

I faced Seth again who had a questioning look on his face, “You were sleeping when I brought you here.” I got irritated and shoved the keys to his chest. “The least you can do is thank me for driving your ass here and not give me an inquisition.” I grabbed my bag and marched to our car. Seth ran out of the truck pretty fast coz he grabbed my arm causing me to whirl back around. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that.” He dragged his hands through his hair.

I sighed and decided to come clean, “I… I checked your wallet for the address.”

He looked back up to me, “Oh.”

“Yeah, sorry... I just wanted to check your address. I didn’t mean to peek at anything.” I couldn’t make conversation any more awkward so I turned back around. “Good night, Seth.”

 

[sakura07]

Talk about writer's block... jeeezzz

 

[budatzgirl]

pa bm muna ts basahin ko nalang later