After a few days, I had settled into their routine. I sat with Leaf and listened to the stories of her life. It was crazy to think about everything she had to go through just because she was different. The stories that we had all heard about growing up were about her parents, and the demon was her father. The goddess in her dreams had told her that her father was still alive and hinted that he never would have abandoned her, had he known she existed. Which begged the question, why did he abandon her?
One morning, while I was up at the library, Leaf stopped by. We talked about the lack of magic and what it had been doing to everyone here. She told me to follow her, and she led me into a small room at the end of the library. There was a chair and a desk in one corner, but what shocked me more was the wall to the side of the desk. It was covered with research about spells.
“I’m trying to reverse it. But I haven’t figured out how yet. There is so much I still don’t know about the spell that took everyone’s magic.”
I looked at her with big eyes, before I walked over to the wall and moved my fingers over the notes.
Leaf went quiet. Then put her finger up in the air, as to tell me to stay there before she walked out. I followed her to the outside.
“Someones here,” she said as she waved her hand. All the other people disappeared, and the house looked abandoned once more.
We stood there a while until I could make out two people walking towards us. It was hard to see who it may be, but they seemed to be teenagers like me. When they got closer, I realised it was Luna and Star. I ran towards them as I heard Leaf shout something to me, but I didn’t listen.
As I neared them, Luna must have realised that it was me, as she too started to run. We embraced in a hug when we reached each other.
“I can’t believe that you are here,” Luna told me with tears in her eyes.
“I can’t believe that you found this place.”
I was happy to have my friend back. Even though I hadn’t known her for long, I had felt an instant connection to her when we first met on the stairs to the temple.
After a while, Star and Leaf had caught up to us. I looked over at Leaf
“This is Luna and Star, her twin sister. Luna lost her magic at the same time I did.”
Leaf walked over to them. “Star, you still have your magic, is that correct?”
Star looked around uncomfortably before answering.
“Yes, I was not chosen to be sacrificed. But my magic is not as strong as it used to be. Something happened to it when Luna lost her magic.”
Luna coughed. It seemed to take a lot out of her. Star touched her shoulder and Luna recovered from the coughing fit.
“I don’t know what is going on, but we got shown this place in a dream,” Star said.
I gave Leaf a look, I had thought only people that lost their magic had the dream.
“Let’s go inside and talk. It is getting dark and I’m sure you will feel better after some food and some warmth.”
I was so happy to have Luna back in my life. I hooked my arm in hers and followed Leaf into the house.
After we had sat down. I looked at Luna more carefully and realised that her already pale skin looked almost translucid. She had black bags under her eyes. Her twin sister looked to be in better shape, but her bright green eyes seemed listless. Star caught me looking.
“It’s been like this since the ceremony. She is only getting worse. Me being near her seems to make it better. I don’t know what to do. I can’t lose her, she’s my second half.”
Star grabbed Luna’s hand and I could see the tears falling from her eyes.
Leaf had been silent, but she finally spoke up.
“It seems that your magic is connected, maybe because of your twin bond. I would have to look into it more, but I think Luna is slowly draining your magic. It is my belief that if we don’t break the bond between you, both of you are going to die.”
Luna and Star looked at each other with wide eyes. Luna puts her other hand on top of Star’s hand.
“It’s okay, Star. I want you to live.”
“But I can’t lose you.”
Leaf gets up from the table. “I am going to leave you two to think over what I just told you. We can talk more about it in the morning.”
The other people kept their distance, which was fine by me. We stayed up all night talking about what had happened to them since I last saw them. They told me that my mother had sought them out and asked about me. It was hard for me to hear this, as I never considered that possibility.
I hadn’t meant to just abandon my family without a goodbye, but when I got here, something told me I had to stay. In all honesty, I thought my family wouldn’t even realise that I was missing, so it warmed my heart a bit. Maybe my family did love me after all.
Despite everything, Star refused to let Leaf break the twin bond apart. Luna had good days and bad days. I divided my attention between spending time with Luna and Star and being in the library doing research and trying to figure out a way to break the spell that had been cast on us. If only we could have access to the actual spell, it would have made things easier, and maybe we would be able to break it.
A year and a half later Luna passed away in her sleep. Star was beside herself, but she too had been on bed rest of the last week leading up to Luna’s death. A few days after Luna’s funeral, Star seemed to have recovered. She was up and walking again. Her appearance looked healthier, and she seemed to have all her lost magic back.
She sought me and Leaf out one morning. Her eyes were sad, but she had a determined look on her face.
“Leaf, thank you for everything you have done for me and Luna. I can not thank you enough, however there is nothing left for me here to stay for, and my parents need to know the truth.”
Leaf gave her a hug. “You’re always welcome here.”
“Thank you. I want to make sure this never happens to anyone ever again. Now that I know the truth, that your dad won’t come and destroy us. I need to get people to realise that they are all getting fooled.”
“Here, take this.” Leaf handed her a stone. “This way you can keep me updated. I am not opposed to fighting. I just want to make sure we have a chance to win before we plan for something like that. We are but a few.”
“I know several people that do not agree with the high priestess, even before all of this. Let me find them and spread the word. Together we can change it. I am ready to fight,” Star said, before she gave me a quick hug and walked away.
I wasn’t sure I would ever see her again, however, hearing her and Leafs exchange had made me determine. No other people should have to die because of what the high priestess and Hecate did to us.
I jumped into my studies again, full force. Finding a cure wasn’t the only reason. Being busy helped me to cope with the loss of losing Luna better. She had been my best friend. She had liked me for me. It had not bothered her that I was socially awkward or that I was quiet and preferred my books. A few days before she passed away, she made me promise to be more outspoken, and say what’s on my mind, like she had. It was a promise I was planning on keeping.
The days went on and I spent my time between studying spells and talking to Leaf. She had become a good friend and mentor.
One day some strangers walked into our house and Leaf made us all disappear like she did every time someone stumbles upon us. Maybe it was some new recruits? I when back to the book I was reading. A moment later Leaf called me.“Sky, come over here dear. This is my father and daughter.”I was in shock as I continued walking towards them. Her father was the demon everyone at the village feared, the one that Hecate was supposed to keep us safe from. She had obviously failed.After hearing Leaf’s stories, I did not fear this demon as it was clear to me that he wasn’t out to kill us all. He would have already done so if he wanted to, especially because he was already here. He looked really young, so it was hard to picture him as Leaf’s father. She looked to be in her fifties, wh
To my gratification, they decided we were going to walk over there instead of teleporting.We walked through a forest. It took us at least 10 minutes before I could see something that could be a cabin. As we got closer, there were several wolves and humans around, though I was pretty sure that they were wolves too.A guy that had a sturdy build and ginger hair walked up to Jax.“I heard everything Abigail said to you. I may not like you, but you have my alliance and the pack. We need to come up with a plan to get Leah and Seth out of the house. Abigail is watching them like hawks now. Leah’s in no state of doing anything, so I couldn’t get her out and Seth didn’t want to leave her alone in the house, considering everything.”At first I
Jax shouted from downstairs, his voice laced with panic. Cassie answered back, but Jax must have not heard, as the panic in his voice became more evident with every shout. We quickly made our way downstairs. The moment Jax laid his eyes on Cassie, his body relaxed. He walked over to us and gave Cassie a hug.“Leah’s missing. I need to talk to Freya. I’ll get you to Mark and the wolves. He can fill you in on what’s happened.”I followed Cassie’s lead and took Jax’s hand. Preparing myself for the weird sensation that accompanied the teleportation. The thought of seeing Mark again got me excited, even though the circumstances could have been better.When we arrived in the woods outside the cabin, I walked inside, leaving Cassie alone with Jax to say goodbye. I felt silly for no
Voices woke me up from my sleep. It took me a while to realise that it was Jax’s voice.“Freya said to follow our hearts and use our connection to Leah,”“That doesn’t really make sense”. I could hear the confusion in Cassie’s voice, I didn’t completely understand it..Before I even registered what I was doing, I spoke up. “But you’re related.” I quickly put my hand over my mouth. Jax and Cassie looked over at me and it felt like I had joined a private conversation.Jax’s eyes met mine, “Does that make a difference?”His answer surprised me. He was supposed to be this really old demon, but most of the time he acted like he was the same age as
When we got outside, I hooked my arm in Mark’s as he led me in the opposite direction of Jax’s house. The Sun was high in the sky, and even though it was most definitely autumn here, it was a nice sunny day. I looked around the landscape. The trees looked slightly bare as they had started to lose all their leaves. The leaves laid scattered on the ground, creating a carpet of yellow, red and brown colours.Mark halted. There was a fork in the path we had been walking. He looked between the two paths, a smile tugging at his lips.“Come on, I want to show you something,” he said as he led me down one of the paths. We continued walking in silence for a while. My mind preoccupied with the beauty of the forest and what Mark was planning on showing me.“What’s your world like? Do you hav
We walked through the forest in an awkward silence. There were so many things to consider and digest. I knew I wanted to be with Mark, but after what he just told me, I didn’t know if it was possible. How could I commit to the mate bond, knowing that I have less than ten years to live if I didn’t get my magic back? I could not do that to Mark, I couldn’t bind myself to Mark until I had figured out how to get my magic back. Who knows what Abigail was capable of, especially as she worked under Hecate. I knew I was ready to die fighting for my magic, but I wasn’t willing to risk Mark’s life.After a while, small wooden houses appeared between the trees. I stopped and looked around. The houses blended in perfectly with the trees and it was hard to see them. Mark stopped and turned back towards me.“This is where the wolves
I woke up slightly when I heard the door open, my senses on high alert even though I knew nothing could get through my protective spells without my knowledge. The bed dipped down, and I got a whiff of Cassie’s shampoo. I lifted my arm up and waited for her to cuddle up against me.It felt like our relationship finally started to go the right way. Cassie has joined me in bed on several occasions and even though I didn’t want to rush her, I loved having her next to me in bed. For the most part it helped me sleep knowing that she was safe, right next to me.The early morning woke me up and slowly made my way out of the bed, careful not to wake Cassie up. I needed to clear my head and think about the next step to take. I opened the window and transformed into a bird.I flew over the forest, enjoying the fres
The next morning, Leah invited us back to the house for breakfast. We all gathered around the dinner table. Leah and Cassie had cooked up a massive breakfast feast, which surprised me considering everything that had happened. When we finished eating, Jax spoke up.“I understand you guys are all eager to go back to school.” He looked around the table with a serious face. Noone met his gaze and you could cut the tension with a knife. Several moments of silence followed.“I’m not,” Seth said with a smile.“Well then, you can stay with the wolves,” Mark said firmly, before looking over at Jax for him to continue.“I don’t like it, but as Abigail is taken care of, there shouldn’t be any major reasons why you ca