Gifted: The Winterwood Academy Book 1: A Young Adult Witch Novel

by Kate A. Fox

  You are strong, Brianna, daughter of my daughter. Selene's words echoed in my mind.

  "Come on girls. Let's get out of here before we catch their freakiness." Rhea instructed and the two other girls only hesitated for a moment before they began to follow their leader back past the trees in the direction of the other kids.

  "What the hell was that?" Zoe turned to me the moment they were gone and eyed me up and down.

  "I don't know what you mean." I shrugged.

  "Your eyes were glowing and there were flecks of blue and silver and lilac in your irises." Luci's voice trembled and for a moment I thought she might be scared of me but when I looked at her there was only astonishment on her face.

  "Not just that," Keeya shook her head, "While you were out I smelled something burning and the wind got all crazy. The trees seemed as though they were leaning into you as if they wanted to touch you and for a moment I thought I felt rain on my forehead."

  "Yeah, Bri, all four elements went crazy the moment you blacked out." Zoe agreed.

  What was I supposed to do with all that information? It was making my head spin even more than seeing the Goddess had.

  I realised with a deep breath that I had to tell my friends.

  "Selene, she came to me." I shivered and I suddenly felt a tingling sensation on the skin that went all the way down my back.

  Before any of them could say a word, I twisted and said, "Could one of you look at my back for me? It feels weird."

  The moment I asked it I began to feel like I should have kept my mouth shut.

  Keeya lifted the back of my t-shirt and instantly gasped causing the other two girls to look with her.

  "Oh my Goddess!" Zoe gasped and I found myself reaching up to hold the pendant that was nestled just inside my v-neck.

  "Your mark! It’s spread all the way down your back." Luci said in a voice that was filled with disbelief. I was right there with her. Of course I couldn't see what they saw so I had to go with whatever they told me.

  "Describe it to me?" I said, my tone bordering on begging.

  "There's the same mark as mine." Keeya said, "But it’s slightly darker."

  "Above that there's a red outline of fire." Zoe told me.

  "And above that, beneath the Triple Goddess is a lilac swirl that looks like the mark for wind." Luci added.

  "At the bottom is an odd shaped rectangle that's bigger at the bottom than it is at the top and there's four lines inside it with a swirl that looks like wind above them but it’s all in green." Keeya described it and I could almost see it when I closed my eyes.

  "That's the symbol for earth." Zoe said matter-of-factly.

  "I knew that." Keeya groaned and I didn't need to look to know that they were scowling at each other.

  "What do you think it means?" I shivered even as I asked the question. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to know the answer.

  "I think it definitely means you're gifted." I felt Keeya nodding.

  "And Selene has definitely, without a doubt, chosen you for something." Zoe added.

  "Did you see the look on Rhea's face?" Luci chuckled, "She looked like she was going to wet her silk panties."

  "You don't think she'll tell anyone, do you?" I asked, twisting towards them in alarm so that my t-shirt fell back over my new marks.

  "Are you kidding?" Zoe laughed such a haughty laugh that it made my head pound, "She'd have to admit that there's someone more powerful than she is at the academy and there's no way in hell she'd do that."

  "Zoe's right. She probably threatened her clones all the way back to the others." Keeya agreed.

  I only allowed myself to feel slightly relieved.

  "You guys won't tell anyone, will you?"

  I looked from Zoe to Keeya to Luci and back again. After all, Zoe was the one who had opened her big mouth about my Triple Goddess mark in the first place.

  "Cross my heart." Zoe promised and made a gesture of crossing her heart.

  "And hope to die." Luci finished.

  When Keeya didn't say anything, Luci jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow.

  "And hope to die." Keeya repeated.

  "We should probably take you to see Merrin though." Zoe said with a sigh as though she hated the thought as much as I did.

  "Yeah, you hit your head pretty hard and you might have a concussion or internal bleeding or something." Luci sounded terrified.

  "Don't be such a drama queen, boo." Keeya scowled and then turned to me to add, "They are right though. You should really let lecturer Booth check you out."

  I didn't like it but I knew they were right and so I nodded, only to regret it when pain lanced down my neck from the injury on my head.

  My hand moved instinctively to the spot that had bit the stone floor and when I pulled it away again there was thick crimson blood on my fingertips.

  "Ouch." I scrunched up my nose and cringed in pain and revulsion.

  "Don't look, Luc." Keeya grabbed her girlfriend's face and kissed her before she could see my hand.

  "Luci is seriously squeamish." Zoe groaned, "She'll faint if she sees that and we don't want another one of us hitting her head."

  I quickly reached for the nearest shoots of grass that were sprouting between the rocks and wiped the blood off my hand.

  "Here." Zoe offered me a hair bobble from her wrist, "Tie your hair up. It should hide the worst of the blood until we get to Merrin's office."

  CHAPTER 17

  MERRIN'S OFFICE WAS IN FACT IN THE INFIRMARY THAT sat at the back of the main building.

  I was relieved that most of the students seemed to be out enjoying the sun as we travelled down the hallway. At the very end there was a set of open doors. The room beyond looked just like a hospital room with two lines of three beds on either side. The scent of burning incense wafted through the doors towards us but it was the door to the left of them that Zoe and the other girls stopped at.

  Before I could protest and lie that I was feeling much better, Keeya raised a hand and knocked hard on the oak door.

  "Come in!" A voice called and even as it did so the door swung open to allow us to enter.

  "What is it with these doors?" I gasped under my breath.

  "All the doors in the academy are spelled to open when someone is allowed to enter a room. The only ones that aren't are the bathroom doors. Some are spelled to only allow certain people access or are controlled by the will of the lecturers." Zoe explained as if she'd heard me and we all stepped through the door one at a time.

  "It’s sort of like a witchy security system." Keeya put in quickly.

  For once I was relieved not to be the only one stepping into a lecturer's office.

  "Girls, how can I help you?" Merrin asked as she turned away from a glass cabinet that held a wonderment of bottles, herbs and other such medicines. She clicked the cabinet door closed and turned her full attention on me when she saw my face. No doubt I looked paler than ever because I was almost sure that my head was still bleeding.

  "We were down at the river and Brianna had a little accident." Zoe told the ash blonde woman whose eyes instantly grew suspicious.

  I was more than a little relieved when she didn't ask what kind of accident. After my last encounter with her I was almost certain that it would be impossible to lie to her.

  "Sit down and let me take a look at you." Merrin ordered, gesturing Keeya away from an armchair in the middle of the sweet scented office so that I could sit down.

  I did so, only slightly hesitantly, and settled down into the familiar material that began to mould into my body. Would I ever get used to how comfortable the furniture was around here?

  "Let's have a look see." Merrin said and before I could tell her where my injury was, she gently removed the bobble from my hair and parted it to get a better look at the wound. I hunched my shoulders in an attempt to hide my marks, hoping that Merrin would think I was only cringing because of the pain.

  "Oh Goddess!" Luci retched.

  "Girls,
maybe you should all go and wait outside?" Merrin said in a voice that told us all it wasn't a request but an order.

  "We'll be right outside." Zoe said to me as though it was a promise.

  Merrin seemed to focus her attention on the door and it swung open to allow them all to exit.

  My nerves boiled over once more at the knowledge I was alone with an adult witch - again.

  "There's no need to look so frightened Bri." Merrin placed a hand on my shoulder and then I felt her other hand brushing against the wound on the back of my head.

  When she began to chant, heat began to radiate from her palm into my head and it spread down my spine, so hot I feared it might burn the marks right off my back.

  What did I care if it did? I could at least pretend I was normal then.

  "Now, Brianna," Merrin said in a soft voice as she sat in the armchair beside mine, "Tell me. Where did you get that mark on the back of your neck?"

  Oh God! Sorry, Goddess! She'd seen it.

  I could at least be slightly glad that she couldn't see all the way down my spine. I hoped.

  "I don't know." I admitted and it definitely wasn't a lie, "Zoe pointed it out when I was getting changed last night."

  I shrugged and noticed that it didn't cause my head to hurt when I moved. Merrin was good!

  "Curious." Merrin lifted her hand to stroke her lips in thought, "Witches don't usually gain their marks before their Fifth year."

  "Keeya has one." I blurted and my cheeks began to redden, the colour returning to my face as I began to feel more like myself again.

  "Keeya came to us under special circumstances." Merrin sighed and I remembered the story she'd told me of how Merrin had found her, "And so did you."

  "What do you mean?" I raised an eyebrow.

  "Brianna, during the week I was observing you, I felt more power than I have ever felt in a new initiate." Merrin's words caused me to quiver and again I asked myself: what is so special about me?

  Merrin eyed me for a few moments as if she was deciding what to say next. Then she stood and shook her head.

  "I want you to go back to your room and stay there until Monday morning." She explained and I was about to open my mouth to protest when she added, "Your body has had a nasty shock and although I have accelerated the healing process, you will need to rest up."

  I suppose I couldn't really argue with that. Her expression didn't really leave me with much room to do so anyway.

  I got up from the chair and began to move back towards the door before her voice called me back, "Brianna, who else knows about your mark?"

  I glanced over my shoulder and shrugged as though it was no big deal, "Just Celestria and the girls."

  "Let's try to keep it that way." Merrin's voice was thick with warning, "I know Celestria will keep the secret but be sure that your friends know its importance too."

  I nodded and she opened the door with her mind, or whatever, to let me out. The girls, waiting on the other side, all looked relieved to see that I was in one piece but they all seemed mightily disappointed when I told them that I was exiled to my room for the rest of the weekend.

  Keeya mentioned a party that was being held that night in the meadow behind the academy and I was kind of relieved that I would have to stay in my room. The last thing I wanted was to go and show to the whole student body that I was a freak at my first school event.

  ***

  "Are you sure you can't come?" Zoe sighed with obvious disappointment as she pulled on a navy dress with red flowers all over it, "Booth will be there."

  The way she wiggled her eyebrow at me only made me roll my eyes in response.

  "I'm going to be staying away from Booth." I said but even as I said it a wave of disappointment washed over me.

  "Why?" Zoe paused in brushing her hair to look at me, "He obviously likes you."

  "He's only said like two words to me. How could that possibly mean he likes me?" I grumbled at her. I hated it when people filled me with false hope. What could I possibly have to be hopeful of anyway? Were witches allowed boyfriends?

  I scolded myself at the thought of having Booth as my boyfriend and forced myself to remember Keeya and Luci's connection. If witches were allowed to be lesbians then they were definitely also allowed to have boyfriends.

  "It was the way he looked at you." Zoe shrugged, "He looked like he wanted to snog your lips right off your face."

  "That's not true!" I exclaimed but I remembered the way his eyes had burrowed into mine and a shiver passed through my entire body.

  Zoe wiggled her eyebrow at me again and shrugged before going back to brushing her hair.

  "How's your head?" She asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?"

  Her voice almost sounded as though she was praying that I wouldn't say yes. I could feel the excitement coming off her. It was clear she was desperate to go to whatever this party was.

  "I'm sure." I nodded and pointed out, "Merrin never mentioned that I should have someone with me."

  "Good point."

  She sounded relieved.

  A swift knock on the door announced the arrival of Keeya and Luci just before they burst into the room, laughing and giggling.

  "You are terrible." Luci tapped her girlfriend playfully on her shoulder.

  "You love it." Keeya winked.

  "What are you two talking about?" Zoe asked, putting her brush down on the desk and giving herself one last look in the mirror before she pushed her feet into a pair of red ballet style shoes.

  "We were just talking about how Rhea peed her pants earlier." Keeya chuckled.

  "Don't bring that up again!" Zoe scolded her, "You know we aren't supposed to talk about what happened and I'm sure Brianna doesn't want to be reminded about her accident.

  It wasn't an accident but I didn't point that out. Instead I sat quietly, cuddling one of my heart shaped cushions to my chest. When we'd returned to our room I'd been relieved that my things had finally arrived from home.

  Zoe had spent the last hour ordering me to stay in bed while she put everything in its proper place for me.

  Now pictures of me and Nicola, me and Peter and Polly, me and Bobby, all sat on my bedside table. My cushions were in their correct place on my bed and I even had some of my favourite books on the shelf above my bed. Of course, now I felt a little silly for reading things like Dracula and Frankenstein. Although they were classics I couldn't help but look at them differently now. After all, if witches were really, could there be any truth behind those tales too?

  I shivered at the thought of a huge green monster with bolts coming out of his neck, walking down London high street.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Keeya looked at me with obvious disappointment in herself.

  "It's okay. You haven't upset me." I shrugged again.

  "Still, she shouldn't have mentioned it." Zoe insisted.

  "Okay boss." Keeya scowled at her. It was becoming evidently clear that her and Zoe had a love-hate relationship. For the most part it was love, but there was always a hint of bickering between them.

  "It’s fine. Seriously." I said in an attempt to cool the situation, "You guys all look great."

  It was true. Not only did Zoe look cute in her floral dress but Keeya was wearing a denim mini skirt and blue sequin vest top and Luci looked drop dead gorgeous as always in a leaf green jumpsuit.

  "We feel so crappy that you can't come with us." Luci sighed as she came to sit on the bed beside me.

  "I'll get the next one." I promised her with a smile. I looked forward to it even though I was definitely glad not to be going with them tonight.

  Maybe by the time the next party came around I might be half normal.

  The way things had been going, I wasn't sure.

  "Last chance. You sure you don't want one of us to stay with you?" Zoe asked as she grabbed her little red purse from the end of her bed.

  "She's fifteen not three." Keeya rolled her eyes and I gave her a grateful sm
ile even though I wasn't sure how she'd known my age.

  "Just another thing that makes her special." Luci pointed out as though they all knew.

  What is it with witches? Do they all know everything or did someone tell them?

  "Don't worry about me." I sighed, "I'll be fine."

  CHAPTER 18

  THE TRUTH WAS THAT I WAS FINE SITTING IN my room, reading, until I heard the sound of raised voices coming from the hallway about two hours later.

  I knew I should ignore it. After all, what business was it of mine if someone was having an argument?

  But the voices seemed to draw me in, like a moth to a flame, and I found myself slipping off the bed. I left my book face down on the bed, open to the page of Dracula that I'd been reading, and tiptoed over to the door.

  Ever so gently, I placed my fingers upon the handle and carefully pulled it open, just a crack.

  I recognised the female voice as soon as it hit my ears.

  "What is your problem?" Rhea snapped and I caught a glimpse of her standing a little way down the hall next to one of the bedroom doors that had already been swung open.

  "What's my problem?" The masculine voice of her companion hit me like a lightning bolt to the chest and I struggled to hold back a gasp as I realised that it was Booth, "What is your problem? Where do you get off telling people we're dating?"

  Jealousy bubbled up in my stomach like green acid. Were they dating? From the anger in Booth's voice I couldn't tell.

  Was he angry because they were and he didn't want everyone to know? Or was he angry because they weren't dating and Rhea had told people that they were? It was hard to be sure.

  "Would it really be so bad if we were?" Rhea asked and I could just see the side of her face as she turned her gaze up to his and fluttered her eyelashes at him.

  Bile rose in the back of my throat as she placed a hand on his chest. Booth's hand whipped out like a shot and snatched her hand away.

  "Whatever you think is going on between us, it’s all in your head." He growled so low in his throat that I almost missed the words.

  "Stop playing hard to get, Booth." Rhea snapped back at him, ripping her hand away from his, "It was cute at first but this is getting ridiculous now. You know you want me."