Chapter 10

It was late at night when Miranda received the weekly magazine, she had an obsession with fashion trends and had to get the highly coveted magazine. Checking the cover photograph she got so shocked that the magazine slipped from her hands and dipped itself into the basin of warm water that she had soaked her feet in.

What had Elise just done! Did she know the consequences of being in the limelight for someone like her. Miranda felt cold sweats forming on her forehead. Elise's mother had tried so much to keep her far away from the prying eyes of everyone yet she just destroyed all her hard work. The council better not find out about her existence, the striking resemblance between the two could never escape anyone's keen eyes.

There had once been a prophecy thousands of years ago about the birth of a human witch who would wipe out the entire witch existence. Every witch knew about this prophecy but never thought it could be fulfilled, it was a taboo for a witch to have relationship with the humans, it was something that hadn't happened in years

. Immediately the council caught wind of a possibility of such relationship building up, they had to uproot such a thorn and give them the worst punishment ever for a witch, to take away their powers and be confined in a place none could ever know about.

The only people who had known about her existence and the extent of the powers of a human witch are the three sisters, Bernice, Sophia and Miranda and her mother of course who had been punished severely by the council for having a relationship with the humans. It was such a blessing that the sisters had concealed Maya's pregnancy by a powerful illusion spell. The council only caught wind of her relationship after the birth of the baby who had been safely hidden in the human world.

Since Elise had been born half human and half witch, she had possessed special powers which could enable her to revive the spirit of a dead witch of choice. Since the three sisters had wanted to revive Sophia's daughter Elise who had been killed by the vampire years ago, they could only wait patiently till the right time came. But during this period they had to ensure her security, not letting anyone know about her existence. Only then would they be able to revive their poor Elise.

When their elder sister confessed to being pregnant they performed a special ritual on the baby in the womb to fuse the two souls, so that Elise's spirit that still hovered around would find rest.

Miranda slowly picked up the magazine, trying to formulate ideas on his head on how to prevent a disaster from happening. She had just identified Elise's entire adoptive family with the hope of offering protection against the blood sucking vampires but it seemed Elise needed more protectionthan them. Miranda decided to seek the help of her sisters.

Miranda immediately got up from her seat and changed into her black gown, covering her head with a hoodie she chanted a few spells and disappeared from her room. Her destination was at the outskirts of the town in a densely forested region. Sophia and Bernice who had been like twins decided to have a life far away from the human world, nothing much attracted them to the humans. Staying in within the fresh air of the dense forest attracted their souls.

Sophia and Bernice were surprised at the sudden appearance of Miranda, normally they would communicate through the phone if there was any matter . This was definitely something urgent, Miranda who didn't like that environment never bothered to visit her sisters, it was countable time that she had set foot in their home since they decided to stay apart.

"Miranda what could be the matter for you to suddenly appear like that without notice. I thought the life here suffocates you." Bernice was the first to speak up. Miranda said nothing but dropped the magazine in front of them.

"What! You mean Elise is such a good model! Why didn't I know of this?" Sophia exclaimed. She was amazed at how beautiful Elise had been in that photograph. She reminded her so much of her daughter Elise, her daughter's life had been cut off by that ruthless monster. Sophia swore to do everything within her power to make him pay for what he did to her daughter. She had only been powerless against him. She just hoped that the time would come fast enough.

"Can't you see how this is dangerous for her, you guys are only excited by how good she is, I can see that too. But what about the bigger picture, what would happen when the elders chance about this picture. You guys know very well what would happen to her.

"Relax Miranda, why are you so worked up about such a simple matter. You know that this had been perfectly hidden and no one knows about her existence, by now if the council had doubts about Maya they would have found Elise. But we covered our tracks really well. You know that throughout our generation only you have the gift of creating such a powerful illusion, the council

would definitely not be able to tell anything, even if they had met her today." Bernice replied.

She was well aware of how her sister usually paid attention to the little details, but on this she was sure Miranda had been worried over nothing.

"Bernice is right, by now she would have been dead. The fact that she has human blood further protects her, no one would be able to identify her, her witch blood would only surface once she gets married." Sophia replied.

She knew Miranda had every reason to be worried about Elise, they had waited for so long to have someone who would be able to revive their Elise, they had only held onto the hope that someday such a person would be born, now that it was becoming a reality, they never wanted to mess up, not even a little bit.

"Besides we have to keep a great distance from her, we can't have the council's eyes on us this crucial time by discussing about her openly, we could never know when they spy on us, we therefore have to be careful about this whole thing. Let us just observe from the side like we did previously. It won't be difficult, we've been patient for so long that we couldn't let this small matter spoil our only chance." Sophia added. They had to be critical about all these now that their plans were about to take shape.

Miranda who felt defeated at this reasonable explanation slumbered into the nearby coach . She had wanted to protect Elise with all her might not knowing the risk she would pose to her, she might be discovered when she suddenly got attached to a human. She couldn't do anything more but just watch it unfold from the sideline. At times the best thing to do was do nothing at all.

"I guess you guys are right, but I can't help but get worried about her, let's just hope that this would be the best decision we have made." Miranda said. She picked up the magazine to get a better view of it, she had been shocked previously to even read through t h e magazine itself.

She got amazed to discover that it was Elise's first day in front of the camera yet she nailed it like she had been practicing all her life. Even the editor praised her for her prowess and the great potential she has, the last statement was that' everyone better watch out for the new talent in town.'

Back at Elise's apartment she had just finished preparing her meal and sat down by the kitchen counter getting ready to enjoy her meal when she was attacked by uncontrollable hiccups, she could only wonder whoever it was that could not let her enjoy her meal in peace.

Earlier it had been Logan, he had forced her to hide in the bathroom for close to thirty minutes till he gave up. This other person she could not tell whoever it was. Maybe it had been grandmother informing everyone about her first day at work. With that conclusion Elise drank a glass of water and the hiccups finally subsided.

At Ella's apartment she couldn't have any peace, after confirming that Elise actually lived in Samantha apartment's, she had tried calling William but his mobile wasn't going through. That stupid man was definitely having a good time with his wife back at home and decided to switch off his mobile. Ella decided to complain to the manager the first thing when she reported to work the next day. There was no reason for them to choose Elise over her, today's photo shoot was just for trial and luck might have been on her side. Ella promised herself to better her performance and with that in mind she started browsing through the internet to get more ideas on how to improve herself.