Playing With Fire

by Adrienne Woods et al.

  I shook my head again. Ten years, ten years I’ve been treated for something that never happened to me.

  “No, I dream about the evil that took place in that basement. Not the way I should, but I felt it in the darkness.”

  Sebastian squinted. “Darkness?”

  “Suffocating darkness—it’s all I dream about. It haunts me every time I close my eyes.”

  “It’s not from evil that happened in a basement. It’s the effect of the potion, Danielle. It’s as dark as a curse itself. It makes one feel as if they are drowning in a pit of evil. I’ve been cursed before, but not by the Forgotten potion. No one can get those memories back to you, but Marick will be able to help with the darkness you are speaking about.”

  “What if you are wrong? They found a body wearing his ring.”

  “Planted, just like the evidence in my father’s house. My father was a royal advisor to the king, a good friend, and someone that always had his back. Whoever is behind this knew that my father was a threat to their plan and eliminating him was the first task on their list, and maybe, my brother is linked to this too.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Marick was like my blood brother. He never wanted to come back when he met you. He tried to run away with you, but his father caught up with him. It’s not easy to hide from magic, Danielle. There were circumstances and his family had no choice but to accept you into the witching race, unless the king wanted to lose his only son.”

  I could understand that—he was the next in line.

  “So, I live with witches?” It sounded so stupid. I sound like my mother now.

  He nodded. “It’s a world hidden behind a veil. Humans won’t see it unless a witch opens your mind to it. Marick open your mind.”

  Silence lingered again. I had so many questions, but none of them escaped my lips.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, and outside, it will kill you. It sucks all the life out of beings, steals their energy, everything that makes them who they are. It’s a trick and not real. It’s where witches get banished to and forgotten. We didn’t do what we were accused of. We need your help to set things straight.”

  “I don’t know how I can help.”

  “You’re helping by being alive, Danielle.”

  I sighed. A part of me wanted to find out just how crazy these people were, or maybe a veil really did exist. It was the only way to find out if I was one of Brolin and Camille’s victims or not.

  I nodded.

  Sebastian sighed and smiled. “Thank you, Danielle. All we can do now is wait.”

  “For what?”

  “For Marick’s call.”

  I squinted. “He knows?”

  “No, why do you think my father record you. He sent him the footage. Or I had to send it to him from the internet down the street, up in the real world.”

  “’Up in the real world’?”

  “This place is smacked below the real world. Magic makes us see all of this. It’s an illusion, not real.”

  He got up and walk to the door. “Once you are ready, come down and meet the rest.”

  I nodded and he closed the door behind him.

  I wasn’t ready to meet anyone, especially humans proclaiming themselves as witches. But how the hell did I explain everything I already saw?

  I can’t.

  Chapter 5

  I wander in the house around midnight and found a girl in her teens sitting behind a computer.

  She was doing something when she saw me.

  “You must be the Danielle?” She smiled, not looking up. “Louise is the name, and hacking is my game.”

  “But you’re a witch.”

  “Was. I can’t remember the banishment. I was too little.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Fifteen.” She smiled.

  “I’m sorry?”

  She shrugged. “If it’s true what they say you can do, that you are the key, then I’ll be forever grateful.”

  “You and me both.” I still didn’t believe a thing of it. I would’ve remembered a husband. I shook my head at my crazy thoughts. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Sebastian told me.

  “So, what are you doing?” I said.

  “Hacking.”

  “You know that’s a felony, right?”

  “I’m already banished. What more can they do to me?”

  “True.”

  “So, Sebastian gave you the crash course of where you are? Those nutters are the worst death one can ask for.”

  “Nutters?”

  “Just a name I gave them. They gnaw on your last thread of who you are, until you are nothing. Not to mention the pain.”

  “You’ve been out there too.”

  “Once. It was on accident. Make sure your cat doesn’t wander, please. Though, I think cats are immune to them.”

  “They are?”

  “They are half in, half out, Danielle. Cats always been like that. Knows everything about everything. You know what I mean?”

  I nodded. I always did feel like Noir had the answers to all my problems. I just couldn’t hear his advice.

  “So, how do you feel?”

  “Okay now. It’s a hard pill to swallow.”

  “I bet. I was born into this. You on the other hand was never even supposed to know this in the first place.”

  “But that’s change now right. I mean there must be thousands of you that married humans.”

  She raised her eyes. “Maybe the last ten years it changed, but what I know, it was something forbidden. Marick was the only one that got away with it. I mean, who is going to kill the prince of every witch and warlock’s heart? Certainly not his father.”

  “Wait, I am the only one?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “And that decision cost him the throne.”

  I froze. “Whose decision?”

  “Marick, when he chose you. The throne isn’t his anymore, he gave that up to be with you, but he had to stay.”

  He gave up his throne to be with me.

  I turned around and walked away.

  Louise didn’t say or call me back. She let me leave.

  The more I was starting to find out about Marick, the more confused I got.

  He chose me instead of ruling the witches. Why would he do that?

  I fell asleep and dreamed about the darkness again. An angry deep hum was the only sound in my dream. It was begging me to go deeper, to give in to it. I woke up with a start, and Noir jumped off the bed.

  I hated that feeling of utter loneliness, of trying to carry on another day. But, for the first time in a long time, I was looking forward to the day, to finding out more about the past that clearly wasn’t the one in my head, just like I sometimes felt that it wasn’t my past.

  I picked Noir up. The cat looked like he meowed, but no sound came out.

  “I bet you are hungry too. My stomach is growling at me,” I said.

  We both left the room, and I found everyone around the breakfast table.

  “Ready to join the living?” Sebastian joked.

  “If you can call it the living,” a woman I haven’t officially met yet said. She was a stunner with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. I guessed she was around my age.

  Her eyes caught mine, and she glared at me.

  “Don’t mind Katia, Danielle,” Luke said. “Come join us.”

  Francine got up and took Noir from me. She spoke animatedly to him. I hated that but saw how she got food for him too and put it in bowls for him.

  “Katia is still going through some sour grapes, Danny,” Louise said. She had glasses resting on top of her blonde hair.

  “Sour grapes my ass.” Katia got up, mumbled something I couldn’t hear, and stormed out of the kitchen.

  “You know better than to tease Katia. It can’t be easy having Danny here.”

  “Wait, I’m the reason for her foul mood?”

  Everyone sniggered.

  “Just stay out of her way, Danny,”
Luke said and gestured to the open chair.

  I took it, and Francine put a plate of food in front of me. I looked at Sebastian, hopeful for some sort of an explanation.

  “I’ll explain to you later,” he said, and I nodded.

  The food was great. They planned out today while they ate: what they had to do, what part of the house needed fixing. The duties around the house belonged to the women.

  Something started to cry. It sounded like a human in pain. Francine excused herself as I stared at the doorway she walked to.

  “It’s only Eric,” Sebastian said. “Now he can tell you plenty about dark curses.”

  “Sebastian,” Luke warned.

  “Sorry, Dad. But for all we know, whoever cursed Eric maybe they did the same with Danny.”

  “What?”

  Everyone went silent. They were all thinking about it.

  Who the hell was Eric?

  I helped wash dishes after breakfast while Noir was making himself comfortable on the sill.

  “So why does Katia not like me?”

  “Well, she was supposed to marry Marick, but then his father made him live with humans for a year. After his banishment, he didn’t come home. When they finally tracked him down and brought him back, he had you by his side.”

  “Oh, I see. Sour grapes.” I smiled. “You think it might be a condolence that I don’t even know what Marick looks like.”

  “That Forgotten potion is seriously potent.” Louise said. “And that statement should be fixed. You need to at least know what he looks like.”

  I huffed.

  After the kitchen was cleaned, I found myself next to Louise in front of the computer.

  “I’m sorry that I blurted out that he gave up his throne to be with you.”

  “It’s okay. I don’t know why he did that.”

  “Because he loved you, duh.”

  I chuckled the way she said that.

  She punched a lot of codes into the computer. “Marick Young.” She typed the corresponding keys as she said his name.

  An entire page of links about Marick Young appeared on the screen. She clicked on the one that carried Young Enterprise in the title and a website filled the screen.

  She went to the “About Us” page, and the first face that popped up belonged to a dark blonde guy in his forties—a gorgeous dark-blond haired guy. He had a strong jaw and the most beautiful green eyes.

  Eva. I was seeing Eva in him.

  “Handsome, huh?” she said.

  I got up and went to my room as fast as my legs could carry me. Eva wasn’t a monster’s child. She was his child. She was not conceived the way I thought.

  She was a beautiful little girl, and I pushed her away thinking she was a mistake.

  She wasn’t a mistake.

  I cried in my room. I felt so guilty the way I treated her. She looked just like him, nothing like me. And I thought that Brolin was handsome when he was younger. But I was clearly mistaken.

  I never was part of that evil monster and what he kept in his basement. I was part of another secret. But one that loved me, that chose me above a throne, and I neglected his daughter.

  A knock came at the door and someone entered.

  I sniffled a few times.

  “I’m sorry. Louise is an entity all on her own,” Sebastian said.

  “It’s not that.”

  “Then what upset you so much?”

  “I did something horrible.” I cried again.

  “Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t know.”

  “It’s not okay.” I wipe my tears away. “I saw her immediately when she showed me a picture of Marick.”

  “Saw who?” He squinted.

  “I found out seven weeks after I ended up in that police station that I was pregnant. I almost aborted her, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t even raise her because I thought she was the daughter of a monster.”

  “You were pregnant?”

  I nodded and wiped away my tears again.

  “Danny, where is she? She belongs with the witches. Humans won’t understand the changes.”

  “My mom raised her as her own. She thinks I’m her older sister.”

  “What?”

  “I know what it sounds like. Better that than telling her I never wanted her.”

  He pushed me to his chest and hugged me tight as I cried harder.

  I neglected my daughter. I told her she was my baby sister. I was never going to be able to fix it.

  “We have to find a way to tell him, to get through to him. They can do tests. They will see that he is the father and that you are his wife. It’s a done deal, Danielle. You didn’t know.”

  “I will never forgive myself, and neither will he.”

  “Danny, you’ve been dead to him for ten years. Believe me, that man would forgive the things you are still going to do ten years from now.”

  “Don’t say that. Please.”

  “He wasn’t the only one that loved you to death. It was mutual. If there are any two people that can overcome as something as the forbidden potion’s curse, it’s the two of you. Give him that chance, Danielle.”

  I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

  He smiled. “And break it gently to him about your little girl. What is her name?”

  “Eva,” I said.

  “Huh,” he said. “A real witch name.”

  I looked at him.

  “You know what I mean.” He smiled before getting up and walking back out of the room.

  I lay back on my bed again. I don’t know how I was going to make it up to her. And I couldn’t believe that I was getting sucked into this, but seeing Marick’s picture on that screen, I knew it was Eva’s eyes and her smile. Together with what happened to me outside, how could I not get sucked into this world?

  The next day everyone in the household knew that Marick had a daughter. It was great news as she would be also the key to who they say I was.

  A part of me believed everything now because of Eva. She was his child. She has his eyes, his hair, even his smile.

  He was handsome, and I wonder how I got him to notice me. I usually never had the guts to speak to someone in his league. It was the opposite. I treated them like crap.

  Darius was Luke’s older son, the one that desperately wanted to kill me. A part of me felt that he still did. He was quiet, angry, and almost never spoke to me. Francine was his wife. Most of the time, she had to calm him down, beg him to be patient.

  He always complaining that it was taking too long. A week had passed after they sent Marick the footage, and no contact has been made. Maybe he doesn’t want me back the way Sebastian and Luke hoped.

  I also met Eric.

  He was disabled, couldn’t talk, couldn’t write, was trapped in a broken body.

  I stared at him a few times when Francine fed him.

  He made funny noises.

  “He wasn’t always like that,” Sebastian said. “When he was about thirteen, Marick and me were about ten or eleven. Eric saw something and ended up like that.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “He wasn’t born like that, Danny. That is a curse placed on my brother twenty-nine years ago, one that sealed the truth of what he saw that night.”

  “No one knows?”

  He shook his head.

  That was a curse? And just because of something he saw, an ugliness.

  “Humans have it so much easier. The truth sets you free, it doesn’t cause that.” Sebastian got up from the table and left.

  Eric’s eyes found mine, and I smiled at him. It must have been so hard for him, so frustrating to be trapped like that the past twenty-nine years.

  I helped again with the dishes, cleaning up, and wondered again why Marick hadn’t contacted Sebastian yet.

  I discovered how they were able to survive the past ten years too. All of them still had the magic ability they were born with.

  Francine could see visions—well, not as many as she used to.

  Darius
ability lay in his strength. He was a bear of a man, and twice that strong too. Sebastian told me once, when Darius was about twelve or thirteen, he got hold of a mage that wanted to harm Marick and broke the man’s skull with his bare grip.

  Katia was great at potions, still did them from time to time, especially if they get sick.

  Nobody knew what Louise’s ability was, as she wasn’t in their world when she turned thirteen.

  Luke had the knack for the truth. He was like a lie detector, but also lost his touch over the years.

  And Sebastian, he showed me. He made humans see what he wanted them to see. It only worked on humans though. He turned paper into cash. It was how he could go outside and get food. It’s also how he is fooling the nutters, as Louise called them.

  What the nutters truly were, nobody knew. The only thing they did know was that they were vicious and would kill you no matter who you are.

  Sebastian also told me a lot about witches. They weren’t human. They were advanced and didn’t belong to the race. They had magic, were vain, and were at a stage where most of the witches thought they were superior to humans. He was one of them, until a human changed his mind.

  “Oh, who?” I asked.

  Everyone sniggered. “The only human that got accepted in the witching world.”

  I blushed. “You’re talking about me?”

  They laughed as I closed my eyes.

  “It’s when I discovered humans have magic too—it’s just not the kind one can see. Your magic lies in your heart, Danny. It is in the form of compassion, love, kindness, bravery, graciousness—things we weren’t born with. We had to learn them.”

  “We had to learn them too.”

  “No, you are born with them. It’s natural to you. With us, it’s the other way around. We had to witness your kindness daily—harness it, believe in it—until it became one of our abilities. Like Francine—she was raised by a human. Her parents threw her away as a baby. It’s why my idiot brother is so lucky that he won her over.”

  “Ha, ha.” Darius pushed Sebastian’s head away.

  It made me want to laugh, but because it was Darius, I kept my distance.