004 She's My Girlfriend

No one before she and Jacob made the wand glow, and that was all the Mages in the town.

No one else would and could appear now, it was HERS!

Ann stepped up there like a glowing queen, and of course she was in her finest suit -- she even wore a pair of white leather gloves, as a little touch of her elegancy.

She put her hand over the wand, and a shadow was cast over The Shadow, making the light reflected on the wand even dimmer.

She grabbed the wand and rose her arm over her head! She heard the crowd gasped in sync, and she looked up--

The wand was not glowing.

No one spoke. No one even moved. All eyes were on her, and unlike Jacob's little incident, this one they WILL remember.

The smile was off Ann's face now.

"Wait!" She glanced at the crowd in panic as she tried ripping the gloves off her hand, "It's my gloves... give me a second."

The second glove just won't come off.

Ann threw the glove she managed to rip off away and grabbed the wand with her bare hand.

Again, nothing happened.

"What's wrong with it?!" Ann shook the wand like crazy, and the high priest stepped up to calm her.

"Calm down, my child --"

"No! Something is wrong!" Ann shouted at him, "This can't be the real wand! Someone must have swapped it! I'll prove it!"

She grabbed the wand with both her hand and crashed it into her knees --

Of course she didn't have the power to really break the relic, but the high priest couldn't allow such disrespect anymore.

The wand was taken away.

And now the crowd could not keep its silence. Murmurs burst out among them, and this time they weren't very implicit with the laughter.

"Ann! Get down here!" Jacob yelled at Ann, but she just remain frozen on the stage in shock, glancing at the crowd from left to right as if she forgot how to move.

"Silence."

The archbishop's voice was not too loud, but silence fell fast than ever.

"Hank, check your vision."

The high priest bowed at the order of the archbishop, and a magic bubble appeared in front of him quickly with his crystal ball floating in there, quietly.

Taking a look into the future was not something to be done in front of the whole clan of Mages, it was too delicate a matter for that. And under the staring of the countless eyes, there was soon sweat coming off the high priest's forehead.

He closed his eyes shut as he tried to concentrate, despite the staring.

The image finally appeared.

The Shadow was floating under which was obviously a sky of night time, and around it was dark smoke and trees at a bit further distance.

"The vision changed!" The high priest gasped in shock and as he lost focus, the image disappeared as fog took over control of the crystal ball.

"In my old visions, the wand woke in the square! It has been like that for years!" The high priest stammered at the archbishop, "I checked only last night and it was still clear and stable, as always!"

"Something happened today!" A yelp came from the crowd, and around the yelp rose agreeing murmurs.

"But we have ALL the Mages here!" The high priest shook his head slowly, still couldn't believe his eyes.

Like everyone else, even the high priest thought it would be Ann. She WAS the most talented at her age.

"How do you know that person would be a Mage?" Someone else shouted, "It could be anyone!"

"What exactly did you see, high priest?" A woman demanded at Hank, "Please share it with us now."

"I saw a witch," Hank sighed as he put away his crystal ball, "Holding The Shadow in her hand on this stage, and every grain of the wand was glowing in her hand, brighter than the moon..."

"Did she die?" Someone asked in horror, "Maybe something happened to her! You know? The closer to a prediction, the bigger the influence of any random incidents."

The archbishop cleared his throat and the crowd went quiet again.

"Who is the girl we scheduled to turn tonight?"

The archbishop's voice was small, but the impact was no less than a bomb blowing up in the crowd.

"Could it be?!"

"But she's still a human!"

"She was destined to be here though..."

"What happened to her?!"

"Please, everyone, give us a minute." The high priest rose his voice and the whispering died down a little, "Jacob, please, could you come up to the stage?"

Jacob didn't move, and Ann stared at him as if she was about to jump and bite him with her eyes red like a rabbit--

Exactly the look that she was laughing at not too long ago.

"Jacob, please." Hank's voice was soft but stern, and Jacob complied.

"Who was this girl that you required us to turn, could you please tell us?" Hank asked.

"She--" Jacob opened his mouth, only to realize his throat was shut dry.

He cleared his throat before he tried again: "She's my girlfriend, Lilith, Lilith Hayes."

"I'm sorry to ask, but you know how important this is to us, so," The high priest said in his softest voice, "Would you enlighten us why you required to turn her, but didn't take her here in the end?"

"She..." Jacob hesitated as he glanced at the archbishop, who just sat there with his eyes closed, "We had an argument earlier today, so..."

The crowd looked at each other with pure shock printed in their eyes. Could it be? The powerful witch that has the fate of the Mages in her hands, was just a human girl?

The archbishop spoke again: "Hank, when is it in your new vision?"

"It's tonight, I looked into tonight." Hank didn't let go of Jacob as he turned to answer the archbishop, "It won't change by much now because the closer I see, the more certain my vision."

"Only we don't know where, or the exact time." The archbishop's voice was so low as if he was just murmuring to himself.

"So..." Jacob opened his mouth, and he heard his own voice shaking, "Should we go and look for Lilith?"

"We are not sure that she's the one yet," Hank said with that calming voice, "But do you think it would be too much a bother if we go and check?"

"Don't bother, Hank." The archbishop said as he stood up slowly. It looked as if even a tiny blow of wind would make him fall over, "We can't make fate, fate happens."

"But how would you know the new vision did not happen exactly because we go looking for her now?" Jacob asked with hope hidden in his voice.

He wanted to go look for Lilith.

"I don't, my child." The archbishop smiled warmly before he stomped his cane on the ground and disappeared in front of Jacob's eyes.

"Can I go then, high priest? Please?" Jacob asked, "I'll bring the wand back, I promise!"

"I can't let you do that." Hank shook his head, "The wand stays with me. But I can go with you."

"That's great!" Jacob almost jump up, "She must be home now, we can head there--"

"Where's the wand!" Hank's voice had a shade of horror as he looked around in panic, "Who took the wand!"

There weren't too many people remaining at the square. Many left even before the archbishop --

They came at order, but they knew they weren't special enough to be the one. But obviously, someone thought they WERE, and they took the wand even though they couldn't waken it--

Jacob gasped as he asked in a shaking voice:

"Where is Ann?"