Evarius is waiting just outside the university gate for Tasha. She had texted him in the morning saying she had completed the book and wanted to talk. Evarius is nervous about this meeting because if she has completed the book, he has no idea what she might or might not have understood. He feels that it would perhaps be easier if she grasps the gist herself rather than him having to explain it to her.After waiting for about five minutes, Evarius sees Tasha walking toward him wearing a light green full-sleeved deep square neck top and a high-waist slightly bell-bottomed dark blue jeans. She has tied her hair loosely, and a few strands are falling onto her face flowing in the light breeze. As she comes and stands in front of him saying hello, he has an urge to put the hair falling onto her face behind her ear. But he controls the urge to touch her and says, “Hi, how are you?”“Not very good. Let’s sit and talk, shall we?”Evarius notices that her voice is not as cheery as usual. It is
“We did volunteer in a way,” Evarius says, “because we didn’t understand what the hell was going on. I was eleven. My sister was nine. I was a witch myself, so I understood bits of it because I always observed whatever my mother did. But most of it, I did not understand. I think that the spell was so personal to her that she might have felt she needed someone she had a personal connection with. As for choosing herself, she would have never done that. What if something went wrong? I didn’t think of it that way at that time, obviously.”Tasha is disturbed by how a mother could put her own children at such risk and says, “What about your father? Didn’t he intervene or say something?”“Father had left because of mother’s erratic ways. He used to visit us now and then. But he wasn’t there at the time.”As Tasha listens to this she realizes something important and says, “You said you were eleven at the time, but you are surely not eleven now. Does that mean her first experiment didn’t work?
Evarius feels a wave of loathing every time he thinks about his mother now. It had been okay in the initial years, but now that he dislikes who he is so much, all he has for her is anger and hatred. He looks at Tasha and sees that she is looking at him rather cautiously. His anger might have shown on his face. He composes himself and gives her a little smile.“What happened after that? What did she do next?”“Nothing. My sister and I killed her.”“What!?”“We were driven mad with her experiments on us and the captivity, so when we got the chance, we killed her. To this day, I don’t know whether it was the right thing to do or not, and maybe I should, but I don’t regret it. She is the reason I am here at all and can’t even leave. She is the reason I am forced to be someone I don’t want to be...”*Tasha can see that he doesn’t like to talk about it, but she has to know. Unless she knows, she cannot make a decision. So, she says, “Tell me about the ritual in detail. What did she do exac
Tasha is absolutely stunned by this piece of information. She is stunned to know what all you can do just because you’ve been around for more than twenty times longer than the average person.“So,” she says slowly, “there’s no such thing?”“No such thing. They are all just helping me die,” Evarius says, still looking amused.“And what about the sacrifices?”“What about them?”“I don’t have to sacrifice any werewolves to kill you, do I?”“I don’t see why you’ll have to. There’s nothing of that sort in the book, is it?”“No, there isn’t.”“Then, you don’t have to.”Tasha looks Evarius in the eye and knows that the moment has finally come where she has to address what has been bothering her since last night. She needs to know what he knows about it.“But,” she says slowly and carefully, “there is something else that I’ll have to sacrifice, isn’t it?”Evarius doesn’t reply instantly, but his posture and expression change. It becomes more rigid and for Tasha, this is enough to confirm her
When Lilia and Damion come home, Tasha is with them. She is going to stay the night because she has things to share and her parents are out of town for the weekend. But before any of that, Damion wants to talk to Brent and so he takes him aside.“How have you been?” Damion asks him.“Good. You?”“Good. More than good actually. I want to tell you something.”“Go ahead.”“The thing is that... um... Lilia and I are going out. I mean we are dating now.”“Oh.”“Yeah, I just wanted to be the one to tell you first because of your... well you know.”“I appreciate that and am happy for you mate. She is an amazing girl and if you two are happy, then it’s fine with me.”Damion looks at Brent carefully to see if he is actually okay with it or just pretending to be, but his reaction seems genuine. It isn’t over the top or too salty. It’s quite normal. Damion is relieved by Brent’s reaction because if he hadn’t been okay with it, it would have complicated things.“Right then,” says Damion, “now we
Adeline’s words are met with the longest silence yet. All of them gape at her and then look back at Tasha who nods to confirm what Adeline had said. She is also the first one to speak and asks Adeline, “How do you even know that?”“Because I was also at Lilia’s place once...” she says.“It means you knew all along?” Damion asks, “Why the hell didn’t you tell us when we were out helping Evarius in the quest of the book or doing literally anything else? We could have planned something else.”Tears well up in Adeline’s eyes as she says, “I didn’t tell you because I was the one who told Evarius that Tasha is a Serafina witch, and I knew you would hate me for it.”“What?” Exclaims Esther, “What the hell are you talking about, Ad? Why would you do that? Did you not know who he was?”A tear rolls down Adeline’s cheek as she says, “I knew who he was but I wanted to save the one I love. I am sorry, Esther.”“No,” says Esther angrily, “that’s not how it works. You have put the lives of so many
Lilia looks around the room and her eyes stop at Adeline. She could hate her for putting Tasha in such a position. Her life was already in danger, but now the rifle is on Tasha’s shoulder. Adeline is not looking at anyone and staring down at her hands and Lilia can see that she genuinely regrets what she had done. Lilia does not approve of what she did. But she doesn’t hate her either. Nadia had waited for her for almost a century, of course, she wanted to help her out.“Ad,” Lilia says softly, “It’s okay. I don’t hate you. God knows if I had been in your position, maybe I would have done the same for someone I love.”“That doesn’t make it right,” says Adeline as a tear drops on her hands that are folded in her lap.“No, it doesn’t,” says Lilia, “but we all mess up. We are all, well, not humans, but yeah.”“I am so sorry,” says Adeline.“It’s okay,” says Tasha, “Honestly, I think he would have found me one way or the other. He already knew Lilia. As I would have practiced more, I am s
“Well, yeah,” says Esther, “At least the weather is beautiful because of the rest of it...”Brent comes and stands beside her and she asks, “How are you feeling?”“I feel okay.”Esther looks at him trying to gauge whether he is telling the truth and says, “You sure? After Damion and Lilia...”“Yep. I feel fine. I can’t say I didn’t imagine this might happen. Although it was still a surprise, it wasn’t a shock. Honestly, it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s in the past. She has moved on. I have moved on. I’ll always have a love for her, but it’s not like before, for which I’m glad. I am happy for them.”“That’s good. You deserve someone who truly loves you. Everyone does. But especially you because you are the nicest person I’ve ever met.”“Glad it’s dark and you can’t see me blush," Brent says smiling.Esther laughs.“That’s very sweet of you,” he says, “Thanks. But how about you? How are you feeling?”“I - I am mad at Adeline, of course.”Esther takes a deep breath and says, “Why didn’t s