We continued training until Leah turned up. We went out to the driveway to greet her. Leah got out of the car, and skipped over to us with a smile. Magic energy radiated from her, a stark contrast from the neutral energy that normally surrounded her due to the enchantment on the house.
"How's the magic coming along?" I asked.
"Great." Leah’s smile became wider. She gave Cassie a hug. "I have something to show you that I managed to do today, it's really cool.” She glanced around the house. “ Do you have a garden?"
“Of course. Follow me.” I walked around the house, with Leah and Cassie following behind.
Leah's eyes got bigger when we entered the back garden, taking in all the scenery. I guess it is not exactly normal to have a forest at the back of the house.
I caught up with Cassie at school the next day. She gave me a smile which faded as I got closer. Knots appeared in my stomach. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side. “Are you okay? Did anything happen?” She bit her lip and scanned the corridor before meeting my gaze. “I’m sorry. It’s just...” She fidgeted with her necklace. “I can’t see you today after school. I promised Leah I would spend time with her.” My body relaxed. I gave her a reassuring smile. “You don't need to feel bad or worried about wanting to hang out with your other friends.” I put my arm around her. “You are allowed to have a life outside of us. I don't expect you to spend all your time with me" She leaned against me and let out a loud breath. "Thank you.
After the last class, me and Cassie were making our way over to Leah's car. I told Cassie to go with Leah, as it made more sense to have her drive to mine. After they drove away, I went to find a less crowded area, where I turned into a crow and flew home. I smiled to myself as I waited for them to turn up. Who would have thought that flying was faster than driving, but I guess it helped that I could fly above the trees and buildings instead of following the roads. After they arrived, we walked through the house and out to the garden. I double checked that the protection spells were still in place before I spoke up. “I don’t know if Cassie told you, but there is a strange energy surrounding your house. Which is why I lost my cool when I realised that you had been talking about magic in the house. I don't know who
I soared over the town and landed a bit further down the road before transforming back to my human form. I walked towards the house, Leah caught up to me and I joined them on the driveway. I turned to Leah. "I'm not sure where the best place would be to sense the energy. I'm usually in the air. Maybe you can walk around the house after you get a feel for it." Leah nodded. She closed her eyes and put her hands in front of her, making her way around the house. Cassie and I followed her at a distance. Every now and again Leah would stop and feel around the ground, telling us that the energy was denser in those areas. I marked them up with some stones that I found lying around. When Leah was done, I had concluded that there were five spots of more concentrated energy. I had a sense of foreboding that we were not
I tried to move, but my arm was pinned down. I bolted up, opened my eyes, ready to summon my weapon and defend myself. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The room seemed familiar. My gaze settled on Cassie and my body relaxed. She stared at me with building eyes. Her hand over her mouth. “What happened?” I let out a nervous laugh and scratched my forehead. “Sorry. I’m a bit jumpy in the mornings.” It was an understatement. I wasn't used to waking up next to someone else. Leah gave her body a stretch. “Good morning.” She looked from me to Cassie. “Did I miss something?” I glanced over at Cassie, wondering if she would mention anything to Leah about me freaking out, but she stayed quiet.
I was still flying around when the sun came up. I remembered Cassie mentioning that she liked waking up and seeing me, so I made my way over to Cassie’s room. I watched her sleep peacefully for a while, before her voice echoed in my head; ‘Good morning’. We spent some time just talking mentally to each other, until she went down to have breakfast. I stayed behind in her room, not ready to go home just yet. When she came back up to her room, she told me that she was going to spend the day with Abigail and Leah. I was happy that Leah was coming with them. It worried me that they were spending time with Abigail. Even though everything pointed towards the fact that she was just a human, I didn't trust her. Something was going on and my gut told me that Abigail was in the middle of it. I followed them around for most of the day, my senses on high alert. I was para
Cassie's window was still closed when I got back to the house, she usually left it open for me, but maybe she was still downstairs with the others, talking about how the dinner had gone. I made myself comfortable in the tree, while I waited, it wasn't like I had anywhere else to be. After a while, Cassie called me mentally, telling me that she needed to talk to me. I didn't know what it was about, as I thought that the dinner had gone fine, but she sounded upset. I let her know I was outside and ready to talk when she was. Cassie walked out of the house and down the road, I followed her until we were far enough from the house that I felt comfortable to transform back to my human form. I walked up to Cassie to give her a hug, but she stepped out of my reach. Something was obviously up, it wasn't like Cassie to avoid me.
I'm making my way over to the field where the horses are grazing. I got a horse collar in my hand. Edmond, the farmer I work for, has requested me to get one of the horses back to the stable. As I'm walking along in the fields, I see a beautiful girl. She’s crying. I'm sure that she lives in the village, but I'm not supposed to talk to anyone in the village. Edmond has warned me about going into the village, as they will banish me if they find out what I am. Against my better judgement, I talk to the girl. I can’t stand seeing her upset. I ask her if she wants to come with me to try to catch a horse. While we are walking around the fields, trying to locate the horse I'm looking for, I keep telling her silly stories in an attempt to get her to laugh. It seems to be working. Eventually, we find the horse and I head back to the farm. As we get closer, the girl excuses herself and leaves. I’m happy because sh
My dreams were filled with more memories from the witch village I used to live in, but all the dreams somehow included Cassie. It confused me. I had no real memories of any girl while I lived in the witch village, let alone someone that looked like Cassie. But maybe because of everything that had happened, my subconscious had decided to include some happiness in my dreams as it was doubtful if I would ever be able to be near Cassie again. My heart stung as I thought of Cassie and the possibility that I may have lost her forever. I was lying in my bed feeling sorry for myself when I remembered my plan. I turned into a crow and flew over to the clearing where Leah normally practised her magic. I landed in a tree overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful morning. The sun sparkled in the water. I contemplated how today would go. After a few hours the feeling of ho
Abigail let out a laugh and I turned towards her, weapon ready. Anger pulsed through my veins. She had tried to kill the people that she had spent the last ten years looking after. Kids she was supposed to care about. Cold spots appeared on my skin, turning the area to become black. My body was transforming into my demon form. I fought against it. If the demon inside won, instinct would take over. I gritted my teeth, willing myself to stay human. Losing control wasn’t an option. “I’m not going to let you get away with this?” Abigail rolled her eyes. “With what?” I glared at her in silence. Part of me, the demon, wanted to rip her into pieces for what she’s done, but my logical part knew we needed her if we were to figure out a way to get Mark and Sky’s magic back. Sh
I woke up a few hours later from Cassie tossing and turning. It looked like she was having a nightmare. I gently shook her awake. It took her a second to come to, when she did, she looked at me with worried eyes. "Leah's very scared, she's in a dark room and her magic does not seem to work. I told her that we would come rescue her soon." “And we will,” I said as I gave her a reassuring hug. After we had got out of bed and I had sorted myself out, the sun was setting. It was time to get everyone gathered and go over the almost non-existing plan one more time. There was an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Would we be able to get to Leah and rescue her? I really hoped so. I teleported myself and Cassie to the cabin where Mark, Seth and Sky had been staying. We went over the plan one last time. The wolves woul
I walked over to Cassie and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She stirred and opened her eyes to meet my gaze. "What did Freya say? Does she know where Leah is? Cassie asked, chewing her lip. "She said that she was in between." Her hand went to the necklace. "But how will we find her?" "Freya said to follow our hearts and use our connection to Leah." Cassie frowned at me. "That doesn't really make sense." "But you are related." Sky let out a yawn from the other side of the sofa. We must have woken her up. I looked over at Sky with a raised eyebrow. Did Sky know something I didn’t? "Does that make a difference?”
When I arrived at the cabin, several wolves were there. They stopped howling when they saw me. I turned to the shifter closest to me. “What’s going on?” “Something’s wrong. Mark and Seth are here...” As he spoke Mark walked out from the cabin with the Alpha. Mark approached me with a stooped posture. His eyebrows were drawn together, his lips curled and his face pale. My stomach turned into knots and I took a deep breath to steady my racing heart. “What’s wrong?” I shook my head internally. If anything had happened to Leah, it would be on me. I let her go back against my better judgement. Mark swallowed and met my gaze, his eyes haunted. “Leah’s gone. I got home and she wasn’t in the house. When I asked Abigail about it,
I woke up to the smell of food sometime in the late afternoon. After I walked downstairs, I found Cassie and Sky cooking dinner. I stood at a distance and watched them for a while. It looked like Cassie was teaching Sky how to make pancakes. After we had eaten, Sky asked for a scrying bowl. "I thought you didn't have any magic?" She gave me a sad smile. "I don't, but I promised Leaf I would let her know that we had arrived safely." I gave her an understanding look. “I’m sorry I wont be able to help you. I don’t have the ability to scry.” Cassie perked up. “But I do.” she pressed her lips together, a slight blush on her cheeks. “It’s very new, so I don't know if I will be able to get it to work, but I'm willing to give it a go."
When we got to the house, I left Leah with Sky to go and check on Cassie. I was excited to tell her what we had discovered. As I made my way over to the cabin the sky had started to brighten, given way for a new dawn. I expected Cassie to be asleep, but when I walked inside the cabin, I saw that she was playing cards with some of the wolves. I approached her and gave her a kiss. "How did it go? Where's Leah?" Cassie asked, biting her lip. "She's fine, she's in the house with Sky." Cassie bit her lip. "Who's Sky?" I squeezed her shoulder. "It's a long story, I will tell you on the way back." She nodded and stood up from the chair. I thanked the wolves for keeping Cassie safe, before taking her hand. While we made our way
The middle-aged woman stopped in front of us. "Welcome to the house of the hidden, I'm Leaf." There was a moment of silence as she studied us before she waved her hand, removing the concealing spell that had been placed over the house. Several teenagers appeared in the room. A few cast us a curious look as they walked out of the room to leave us alone with Leaf. "Why are you hiding out here, instead of being in the village?" I asked. "Isn't that the question," Leaf said, giving me a sad smile. “However the more urgent question would be why are you here? You are clearly not from the village yourself.” A feeling that she knew who we were entered my mind. I looked her over, something about her felt familiar and my gut insti
Leah turned up a few hours later. She told us Mark and Seth were going to stay at home and hopefully that would keep Abigail from becoming suspicious. It meant that the wolves would have to look over Cassie without Mark, however he had already told them to meet us at the cabin. I left Leah in the house while I teleported Cassie to the cabin. It didn't have any electricity, so I lit up a few candles and waited for the wolves to turn up. I didn't have to wait long. After I had made sure that they were happy to watch over Cassie, I teleported back to Leah. "Are you ready for this?" I asked as I grabbed her hand. "As ready as can be" she said before I teleported us to the city and the Whitelock industry building. When we arrived in the alleyway, the streets were almost e
I enjoyed my flight, knowing that Cassie was safe in my house with Leah protecting her. It made me feel less worried, especially after the defensive display of magic that Leah had manifested by instinct when we were sparring. I knew she still felt bad about it, but in all honesty, it was nothing. If I had been prepared for it, I would have been able to deflect it. My fighting skills went way beyond some elemental magic. There had been a war in the supernatural community. Freya had tried to solve it in a peaceful way for many centuries. She was a strong believer that everyone, no matter their origin, should be able to co-exist and live peacefully amongst each other, and amongst humans if we so wished. Being raised by Freya had its advantages and I had seen first-hand the beauty of different species living together in harmony. Freya's place, or more correctly,