“Wait, so that can happen?” Sadie looked alarmed. “Someone else can jump in when you're not in there?”
“If you're not properly warded, yeah.” Lila shrugged as if it were nothing, but it was actually a pretty big thing. “And if you ward it wrongly, you even keep yourself out.” Which was why some coma patients never woke up. Others were tied to their body, listening to everything around them but unable to navigate the bleak world which encompassed Death. It could be confusing when the colour was sapped out of everything, like being in a black-and-white movie in a place you used to know ten years ago. The scenery would adapt to wherever you wanted to be, not truly taking you there. It was why it was important to add wards which acted like a homing beacon to your soul – like a constant electric charge which kept your heart from stalling altogether.
Sadie shook her head, blowing out air in a whistle. “That. Is freaking insane.”
Yes. Yes it is, thought Lila.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, and before she knew it, they were pulling up in the centre of London – not, as Lila had expected, at Adam's home, but in the centre of town. When they pulled up, Adam leaned over, tapping her window. As she rolled it door, he leaned in, looking at both girls. “Wow, you guys look beat. Good job I decided we're taking a break before I show you where I live, huh?”
Lila opened her mouth to protest, but Sadie leaned over her, all but covering her mouth. “What kind of break?” she asked, her tone openly flirtatious. Lila could have gagged. They were practically a walking cliché, the blonde peppy girl and the 'bad boy', but being in the midst of their group Lila could tell it was different. Adam and Sadie strongly complimented each other in every respect.
“Well, I'd have suggested a bar but short stuff here is under-aged, and there's no way she won't get carded.” Adam replied with a shrug, reminding Lila that she was the youngest of the group and that only she and Troy were under the legal drinking age of 19. While Troy could probably get through without being carded (he was tall, but personally she felt that he was completely baby-faced), she certainly wouldn't. Elsie was only a little taller than her, but since she had just had her 20th birthday, providing identification was no big deal for her.
“Hey, are you being size-ist?” Lila broke herself free from Sadie crossed her arms, raising one eyebrow at Adam, who hesitated, giving her a once-over before finally letting himself laugh. He was starting to get her dry humour, it seemed. “Nah, not at all. Say hi to Sneezy and Grumpy for me.” he grinned before standing up straight and turning. She leaned out of the window, calling after him. “Hey!”
He stopped, looking back at her. “Didn't you get the memo? I'm Sleeping Beauty, dwarves are from Snow White.” she grinned, and he groaned, making a show of over-emphasising a face-palm. “I walked into that one.” she heard him mutter.
Finally grinning, carefree, Lila rolled up the window and unclipped her seatbelt. When she looked at Sadie, the blonde was holding up her hand, waiting for a high-five and nodding as if to say, 'nice one'. Lila slapped her hand against the other girl's, then got out of the car, stretching out. All around her, the other coven leaders were looking weary, glad to be up and stretching their legs. Lila realised they'd spent almost two full days on the road – without a break, according to the exhausted looks on some of her friend's faces.
It also made her realise that she'd technically been 'missing' for nearly 48 hours. Would her coven think that the stress of her parent's funeral had driven her into running off? Taking out her phone, she found her aunt's number – not her biological aunt, but her mother's best friend – and hit call. While she waited for it to connect, she watched the others bicker about what they were going to do now. Troy threw in an insult about Elsie's lack of fashion sense, which earned him a dead arm – this was okay because Troy was apparently feminine enough for it to count as a cat fight – he meowed in response, and Lila laughed, the sound being the first thing her aunt heard.
“Lila!” the older woman sounded relieved, and Lila had the grace to feel guilty. “Hi, Aunt Gloria.” she deferred to her, which instantly made the woman on the other end of the end of the phone laugh. “Oh, honey, don't sound so scared. Remember, you're the coven leader now – you should be telling me off for barking down the line at you like that.” Gloria's voice was as warm as Lila remembered, though it had been a while since she'd sounded like that – the last few days, her voice had been tense, almost afraid to say what she really thought in case it sounded insensitive. Lila guessed that the funeral had put a lot of worries at ease, not just her own. Though most of her content had come from the band of misfits she was hanging out with now.
“You know I'll never act like that.” she blushed despite herself.
Gloria laughed softly. “Yeah, I know hon. You're one of the good ones. That's why everyone backed you for leader. Though, I also know you're going to be brilliant. You're so like your mother. Which is why I also know that you're not off doing something stupid right now, unlike most of the coven who think you've joined a biker gang or gotten into drugs.”
“Dang... are they really mad at me?” she asked. She could practically see her aunt shaking her head on the other side of the phone. It made her smile, thinking that they could all save a fortune on calls if mirror talk were a reliable method of communication.
“No, I convinced them you were off doing something super important. You are, aren't you?”
Not for the first time in her life, Lila was grateful for her aunt's intuition. “Yeah, actually. I'd ask how you knew, but I know where that conversation leads.” she chuckled, which her aunt echoed. “Oh, I... uh, I had a premonition earlier.”
All of a sudden, the atmosphere of the call changed into something more serious. “You haven't done that since you were practically a baby. Are you okay?” Gloria asked, and Lila felt grateful, not for the first time in her life, that she had someone who took her seriously regardless of whether or not she was old enough to drink.
“Yeah, I'm fine. Hoping I can keep it that way.” Lila answered, and Gloria gave a soft sigh. She noticed that her aunt didn't bother to ask what the premonition was about: she too knew that it was pointless knowing what was coming unless the person who had felt or seen it simply wanted to unload their worries. “Be careful, Lila.” the older woman made her promise.
“I will. I promise. I've gotta go. I love you, Auntie.” Lila made a point to tell her, and knew that Gloria understood the need.
“Love you too, kiddo. Talk to you soon. Sooner than it takes for me to send out a search party.” The warning was playful, but Lila knew that she was serious, too. Making a promise to explain everything the next time she called, Lila hung up, stuffing her phone into her pocket right as Elsie appeared. She realised that everyone had vanished off somewhere.
“We're just in here.” Elsie jerked her thumb back at the building behind her. It seemed to be some kind of bar. Seeing her look, Elsie smirked. “Don't worry. It's a restaurant, too. Kids don't get kicked out til eight.” she teased. “You and Troy can head down to the soft play place after then, right?”
Lila raised an eyebrow, huffing out indignation, and Elsie held up her hands. “I'm kidding. We're going to head over to Adam's about seven, long before you have to go look for age-appropriate entertainment.”
Laughing in response, Lila followed the redhead, grateful to see the girl who had been so serious yesterday so playful, even if it was at her expense. She was still getting to know the other's humour, but everyone was forming their own close friendships. For Lila, it was with Sadie, and Elsie was fast friends with Troy already. Adam seemed to bounce between both groups, but she couldn't figure out if he liked any of them more than the other. He had the flirtation with Sadie, his teasing with her, his bromance with Troy and even he and Elsie seemed to get along, though it was more like she was his little sister than anything else.
Chapter Five
Their time in the bar was light-hearted, deliberately absent of any murder talk or e
ven anything to do with witchcraft. Sadie teased Troy that he was going grey, Adam made food faces on his plate before scarfing it all down in record time, Elsie bet that he could never match the time, never mind best it, a bet Adam took, and decided that if he won, Elsie would have to pick whatever the restaurant they were in at the time's competition dish (most of them had them, super sized burgers and whatnot) and try to finish every bite. If she failed at that, he got to loudly call her his firecracker in public (a nickname which she rolled her eyes at).
Lila found herself laughing easily, bonding with what felt like her new family as if they'd known each other forever. Maybe it was just because they'd all shared in a loss, or because they were all complimenting elements in a bigger puzzle, but Lila didn't think she'd ever made friends so easily; back home she was just a little on the far side of odd, too witchy to be friends with the 'civilians' as she'd dubbed them, too far into the spirit world to have many coven friends, either. It was a tough life, being the coven leader-in-training, something that each and every one of the five people at that table understood. None of them had to act wise and leaderly around the other, nor did they have to act like they knew it all and everything would be okay. Lila was beginning to understand why, even though the place they met was so far withdrawn from nature it was stifling, her parents would be so willing to go and visit the covens every year for the Samhain ritual. She wondered if the same were true for the others, if they felt as at ease as she did.
Almost three hours later, the sky was dark and their seven o'clock deadline had passed, lost in their mindless fun. It was fast approaching eight, and their waitress leaned over to politely ask them to leave. Inevitably, Adam and Elsie made jokes about taking the kids home and Troy laughed, casually flicking his fingers. Elsie's glass toppled over inexplicably and the water in it poured over her lap. She yelped, retaliating by raising Troy's body temperature until he called, “Uncle!”. Using her gift, she dried her trousers before standing, twisting her long red hair into a bun and fastening it with a clip.
“By the way, what are we doing about clothes?” she asked, making a face at her current attire. Lila realised that, while her suit jacket had been removed, ripped up from the attack, she was still in the smudged skirt and blouse she had worn to her parent's funeral. Adam looked them over thoughtfully. “How are you guys for money?” he asked, and they all gave shrugs. Thanks to the passing of their parents wills, they had a substantial amount – at least enough to keep them comfortable until the end of their school years. Lila had time off for her bereavement, thankfully, so she didn't have to call in every day. It occurred to her, suddenly, that only she and Troy would still be in school.
“Do you guys go to university?” she asked, looking to the other three. Elsie nodded, Sadie muttered something about application processes and Adam snorted with a, “Hell no.” which made Lila chuckle. He was a little bit brash and rough around the edges, but Adam was still a pretty decent guy if you could get past his mood swings from too serious to not-so-serious.
“Hello, clothes?” Elsie reminded, making Lila realise she'd totally changed the subject. She blushed, apologised and looked to Adam.
“Well, this is Richmond Row. There's a bunch of clothing stores here. We could stock up and shove them in the car.” Adam explained, causing Troy to clap his hands with a squeal of, “Yay, clothes shopping!” and Adam gave him a mock glare. “Dude, ease up on the cliché.” he teased. Troy stuck out his tongue – and his middle finger up – at Adam, who laughed in return, shaking his head.
Lila couldn't help but think that Troy was acting up his flamboyant side because he didn't often get to express it. Even in witch communities, being gay could still be an issue. It wasn't that gay people weren't accepted – it was just that witches prized balance above all, and having both a priest and priestess for the coven was generally the preferred state of things – a representation of both the Goddess and the God. It wasn't much of an issue to Lila – even amongst same-sex couples, there could be balance – usually simply in the personalities. It could also be beneficial for covens who were getting too set in their ways to mix it up a little. Lila hoped that Troy could find the support he needed to just be who he was and love who he wanted.
As she snapped out of her thoughts, Lila realised everyone was staring at her, waiting for an answer to some question or another. Fidgeting with a ring on her index finger, she gave a lopsided grin, feeling awkward. “So, uh.. let's go?” she asked instead of assuming, and they all nodded. She really had to get a handle on her daydreaming and all-consuming thoughts. They were still looking at her as some kind of leader, and she couldn't even stay in the present with them. This was going fantastically. Insert sarcasm, Lila thought.
Heading out of the pub restaurant after further urging from the staff, they walked right down the street before realising it was way past closing time on most of the stores. This led to much grumbling on the part of Troy, and a grimace from Elsie, before they headed down to the local Wal*Mart and grabbed clothes at least for the night and a day or two. They then trawled around the store, which convinced Troy that he needed to buy a fluffy blanket, a pillow and a tiny teddy which was shaped like a black cat with huge eyes. Apparently, it reminded him of his cat at home which he had called Boots officially, but his name was secretly Star Lord. This sparked a very masculine conversation about comics and films between Adam and Troy (masculine, in the sense that they tried to make it about all the cool powers, and wound up sounding like teenage girls squealing over their latest crush, as all true comic geeks do – proudly). During this conversation, Adam picked up random things which Lila watched with amusement – he clearly thought they were going full rugged adventurer.
A camping stove, a tent, sleeping bags – Adam seemed to have an unlimited supply of money, or a very poor grasp on how to save it. Whatever the case, it was non of their business so no one said anything. As they checked out their items, they teased each other over their purchases, particularly Troy who had seen fit to pick up a feather boa, keeping it wrapped around his throat even as he scanned the tag on the bottom. Elsie pretended to tug it tighter to strangle him, then yelped as he tickled her in retaliation. Lila was beginning to think that she'd have to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't actually hurt each other with their pranks; they were both kind of reckless, even though it was amusing.
Moments later, they were piling items into cars, and Troy was having particular difficulty given the lack of trunk space in his sporty car. “Uh, guys?” he frowned, then Adam laughed softly. “Ride with me and put your stuff up back, I'll switch to the SUV when we get to mine and then I can take everyone's stuff and two passengers.” he suggested. Troy looked at his car, his expression one of someone who had been betrayed. “Okay, sure. At least it'll save me money at the car wash.” he gave a wry grin. “I'll get someone to pick it up from here.” he decided, then slipped into Adam's car, already taking out his cellphone.
“Probably just as well... anyone else noticed that he's constantly texting at the wheel?” Adam asked the others, making a point to raise his voice so that Troy heard, earning another middle finger. “Diva.”
“I don't think he's as confident as he seems.” Lila spoke softly. “I think he's just getting to be himself for the first time instead of the coven leader's son.” At her words, they all gave a thoughtful nod. Sadie looked at each of them in turn. “I'll talk to him, get him to tone it down a little.” she murmured.
At her words, they all gave awkward shrugs and got into their cars. Sadie took the wheel again even as Lila protested. “I like them.” Lila felt the need to add. “I mean, I know we're all trying to get to know each other and it goes from comfortable to overstepping and then back again. We'll figure it out. Maybe a group hug.” she gave an awkward laugh. Sadie smiled.
“Don't worry. I totally get it – he's acting out. I get the feeling he didn't have a lot of family time and is overcompensating.”
Lila tilted her head a little, surpri
sed. “What makes you think that?”
“Posh car, love of designer clothes... probably getting his family 'nanny' to pick up that car. Definitely an only kid, more than likely his parents put too much pressure on him to be normal. Which means straight.” Sadie reeled off, making Lila more and more confused and impressed. “What? I people watch. I'm good at it. You could say it's a breeze.” she grinned, and Lila instantly became curious.
“A breeze? You're saying it's part of your power?”
Sadie nodded, starting the car and reversing out of the parking lot. “Kind of. Working with air and all, it's more a case of sensing someone's aura. The way the air ripples over that aura, I've gotten good at reading that. It's my own personal skill. Yours is kind of flighty sometimes, like you're panicking or just uneasy.” she began, and Lila laughed, nodding to indicate that Sadie was right. “Troy, he's kind of similar. It's like he doesn't know who to be – the spoilt prince of the coven, the over-the-top gay best friend or just.. himself. When he was having that conversation with Adam back in the store, that was the real him. He was having fun, being that flamboyant gay best friend, but also the comic geek, the playful eighteen year old, just having friends who were on the same level as him for once. It's like, whenever someone makes him feel inadequate, he clams up. The car thing, he was feeling insecure about having a sports car when we have these... I dunno, responsible cars.” she explained. Lila nodded.
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