I dunked a chicken finger into the dip. “So, we’re sure we’re not being followed right.”
“100 percent” Jay said “And before you ask, my beach house is completely secure. No one even gets through the gates without permission and no one gets near the house without setting off every alarm.”
“Great, thank you.” I sat back and enjoyed my meal.
As we pulled up to the gates, I rolled down my window to see more of what was in front of me, and there was plenty to see. What Jay had described as a simple beach house, turned out to be a sprawling ocean side manor. Complete with four stories, open windows with balconies, and a wraparound porch deck. I’d never been to the neighborhood they all lived in but now I wondered what it must be like. I stuck my head back in the car “This is your second house?”
Smirking, Jay answered “It’s the family beach house. It belonged to my great-grandfather.”
“It’s…beautiful.”
“Thanks. We like it.” The winding road leading to the house was a scenic adventure. The water beyond the house glistened in the waning sunlight and the clouds above it shifted from pink to purple.
When we finally pulled up to the house I got out and stood staring at the ocean. Annabella tapped me and whispered, “Wait till you see inside.” Her eyes dancing with the same excitement I felt. We got inside and when we entered the immense living room where everyone else seemed to be waiting, the reactions seemed mixed. No one knew exactly how to act or what to say.
“Hey” I said sheepishly and that elicited smiles from Demi and Mena. They were the only ones. Max, Brandon, and Logan were not as easily swayed that everything was fine and dandy. Jay was the last to arrive in the room because he had gone to throw out the fast food bags from the car.
He stepped in and said succinctly “Hey guys, thanks for helping with our impromptu joy ride. Max, you the man. I ran into Rosie in the kitchen and she says dinner will be ready at 6:30. I’m going to go shower. Peace.” With that he left.
He could do that? Well I didn’t want to stick around either. “So who wants to give me a tour…Annabella?”
She jumped up “Sure. Let’s go.”
Relieved, we walked around the corner and headed for the stairs. The house was truly spectacular. I’m not sure how else to describe it. Every room was held the feel of the beach but it was elegant and sophisticated at the same time.
When we found a room with my bags in it, I sighed and fell onto the bed. “I guess this is your room.” Annabella said. I smiled and felt the plush comforter beneath my fingers. “You have a connected bathroom too.” She added.
“That’d be perfect because I need a shower. Unfortunately I don’t think I’m ever leaving this bed.” I said lazily.
Her eyes filled with mirth “You won’t say that once you see this bathroom.”
“Good maybe it’ll give me the incentive I need to move at some point. Gosh, I can’t believe I get to sleep here. This place is amazing.”
“I know what you mean.” She replied. “I have a feeling my room is next door, hold on.” She peeked into next room in the hallway briefly then came back “Yep, I’m next door. I just threw my bags in there earlier and waited downstairs with everyone else so it’s still unfamiliar.”
“Oh” I said in a dreamlike state. After this entire day, lying here felt like heaven.
“You know…” Annabella started
“What?”
“Well, some of us think you and Jay disappeared today because you wanted to be alone for a while.”
I burst out laughing “So we stole a car to have a romantic tryst? Ha. I can assure we did more fighting than anything else and it was not pleasant.”
“What’s the anything else part?” “You know, walking in blistering heat, building a cart, walking some more. Usual stuff”
“Dang, I was kind of hoping for juicier stuff.”
I sat up straight. She was acting like juicier stuff was a possibility. Had I really been so blind? It was something to think about. “Sorry, I’m just lucky that Jay and I are still friends.”
“You’re going to have to elaborate on that later but I’ll take your word for it.”
“Don’t worry. All will be revealed. I promise.”
“Ok, I’m going to let you settle in. See you at dinner.” She said, walking off.
“See you” I called out. “Wait, Annabella.”
She turned around “Yeah.”
“I know this is kind of unfair of me to ask but whatever I tell you tonight, will you give me a chance to explain it. I don’t want to lose you as a friend…”
Her eyes turned serious “Sure, Kira. I’m all ears, when you’re ready.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime” she said as she left and closed the door behind her.
I lay there and thought about the day. The Warlock in the rest stop seemed like he genuinely wanted to talk but I had an intense distrust of my kind instilled in me since birth and it wasn’t going to break now.
I wondered, just as I’d wondered a million times before, what I would do if confronted with the choice. Declare myself as a light witch or a dark one, neither seemed like a viable option when my parents had taught me to be open minded. Sure, I practiced light magic, it was life and healing but it wasn’t everything inside of me. I accepted magic for its whole entity because I wanted to be accepted for my whole self at least in theory. In truth dark magic did kind of scare me a little.
I’d never wanted to use the dark arts before but what if that changed in 20 years? How could I devote myself to only one part knowing it wasn’t everything out there? Wouldn’t I crave for more simply because it was no longer available to me? I knew I was naïve when it came to the truth of magic. I’d only understood and learned what my parents and our ancient texts taught me.
I feared a day that would force me to choose because I knew that I wasn’t informed enough to make it, at least not enough for my own satisfaction. On top of that if I was found, it would expose my parents. Then, both light and dark witches would be vying for them or vying to kill them. It would ruin everything they worked so hard to stay away from, everything they worked so hard to keep me away from. Also, it would force us to participate in a war and wouldn’t that just bite?
************
Jay
Top five best things about my beach house
5. Open floor plan, light and air AKA no stress.
4. Outdoor showers. What? They’re cool.
3. Far away from dad also AKA no stress
2. Water sports: Surfing, boating, jet skiing etc.
1. Rosie’s cooking.
In that order.
I looked down at my plate of oysters and crab legs and could have cried tears of joy. Well not really but you get the idea. Everyone was seated around the large dining room table. As nice as it would’ve been to eat outdoors, what Kira needed to say should be said in a private a place as possible. Not that anyone else would be around outside but that I wanted her to feel comfortable and safe.
We dug into our food but the usual chatter was missing. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Even Brandon was quiet and it didn’t have to do with the fact that he was stuffing his face because he talked with his mouthful all of the time.
I was loading an oyster onto a cracker when Kira finally spoke. “So I guess I should get this over with.” She paused and you could’ve heard a pin drop. “I’m a witch… and the reason I know you guys will believe me is because I know that you’re werewolves.”
“Wait, that’s it?” Annabella blurted out.
Kira blinked “It’s not the whole story but I thought I would get the main secrets out of the way.”
“So you’re not like a mass murderer?” Brandon asked.
“What? No-”
“You’re not a fugitive with kleptomania?” Brandon continued.
“No. I had to take the car because-”
“Pay up little brother” Logan said proudly.
&
nbsp; “No wait until she explains there might be some dirt here yet.”
“Don’t care” Logan said “She’s not a criminal, you lost the bet.”
“Yeah, yeah” Brandon said as he pulled out his wallet and handed over two twenties to his brother.
“So you guys don’t want to hear the rest?” Kira asked dazed.
“Of course we do” Demi chimed in. “Go on, and ignore the bone heads.”
“Right. It’s very important that you guys keep my secret. If you can’t do that, please tell me now because I have to plan accordingly.”
Mena looked at Kira like she had three heads “Duh, we’ll keep your secret. Besides the fact that you have far worse dirt on us, why the heck would we tell anyone? You’ve been nothing but kind to us and clearly you’ve been keeping our secrets.”
“Actually, I knew Jay and possibly Doc weren’t human last night but I only found today what you all are.” She continued quickly “but of course I’ll keep your secret too.”
“Good, then it’s settled.” Mena said and everyone around the table nodded in agreement.
“That’s not all though.” Kira added, “I’m not sure how much you guys know about witches and warlocks but basically we’ve been around since the beginning of time. Witches are the more powerful gender but both witches and warlocks can possess potent magic.”
“That’s so cool” Demi said. It figured that she would like how females were the stronger gender.
“There are a few ways magic is used. One is a gifting which you are born with. Not every witch has a gifting but many do. It’s inherent to the witch and can be preformed without words, incantations, potions, or wands. My inherent gifting is Healing.”
“Truly?” Max interjected “That’s tremendous. I mean we heal at an accelerated speed because of our own nature but imagine what we could do if we could heal others.”
Kira nodded “I can heal every living thing but only to a certain extent. I’ve never pushed the limits of my healing abilities to anything close to death because it is a dangerous road to go down but I use my gifts to help when I can.”
I spoke up. I didn’t want to interrupt but she didn’t seem to mind when everyone else had. “That’s why you want to be a Vet, isn’t it? So you can heal animals.”
“Yes” she said nodding to me. “People are too obvious when you heal them. They can speak and eventually figure out what you did. Then they start pointing fingers at you…with animals, no one knows the difference if you heal them because animals don’t speak.”
“Anyways, what a person chose to do with magic used to be up to them. There is light magic that comes from life, and dark magic that comes from death. The lines however are easy to cross depending on your point of view. Some witches view one as good and the other as evil but it’s not always that simple. Some of the kindest, best witches in history immersed themselves in the dark arts and some of the worst, horrible witches only preformed light magic. Some think that a quest for any knowledge is positive and that they are just two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately most witches no longer think that way.”
In that moment, everyone at the table was completely enraptured in Kira’s story. They’d all even put down their food to listen. We knew about witches of course and that they were in a war but we’d never heard the history of it firsthand like this.
“About 30 years ago, things started to change. A warlock named Zorlon became known as the head of all things light magic. He was the descendent of many great witches and warlocks and he possessed immense power. He garnered a large following of witches who wanted to learn his ways and he created a board of members to join him in promoting light magic only.
A powerful witch named Trella had also gained a following as one of the most powerful dark witches and she flaunted her connections to the dead. Zorlon used Trella as his focus point and turned his campaign from light magic only to put an end to dark magic altogether. Suddenly it was the trend to pick a side, did you practice light magic only or were you a horrible dark magic witch that did unspeakable things. Rumors floated around that if you so much as dabbled with dark magic, you were the evilest of creatures. Zorlon’s campaign spread far and wide and his board grew.
History tells that Trella grew angry at Zorlon’s accusations and it turned her bitter and dangerous. The recipe for disaster exploded when Zorlon’s son and his son’s wife and children were murdered. Zorlon blamed Trella and suddenly outspoken dark witches were found burned alive in their homes. These events started the war between light and dark witches.
Covens all over the world began choosing sides, and if you didn’t choose you were automatically the enemy. My parents had just married when their coven forced them to pick a side. My parents both used light magic but they were unhappy to have their freedom to choose taken away and didn’t care for Zorlon or his strict views. More importantly they didn’t want to be in a war they didn’t believe in. They fled and went into hiding hoping it blow over soon. They’re still waiting for that day.
I’ve lived my entire life in fear of being found by a witch of either side and be forced to a life of war or worse be killed for being an undeclared witch. My parents taught me magic out of necessity but we lived like humans for the most part.”
She took a deep breath winding down. “I’d never seen another magic user besides my family until today. A warlock saw me and spoke into my mind. I don’t know how he knew what I was, if he knew who I was, or if the meeting was coincidental or planned. All I know is that I used magic last night when I walked in on Doc being attacked. I threw an offensive spell on the intruder and he fled. I’m not sure how much you guys know but magic has remnants that stay for varying periods of time unless removed. These remnants can potentially be traced back to certain witches if you have the right skill set or gifting.
I don’t know if that had a connection to today or not but it’s a possibility that I was found through my spell remnants.”
“I wouldn’t be sure of that, Kira.” Will interjected. “Our sources are certain that the intruder was a human.”
“They could’ve been working for a warlock or witch.” I said.
“True.” Will nodded.
I turned back to Kira. “I’m sorry we can’t tell you more but we don’t know anything other than that. Now that we can trust you with our secrets we’ll keep you informed too.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that. Anyway to finish my story, today a warlock spoke into my mind, which is a rare skill, asking me to stay and listen because he just wanted to talk. I didn’t stick around for that particular conversation and then I ran into Jay and asked him to trust me. I stole a car, spelling it open and then to start. Then in case I was being tracked by that magic, I spelled the car to keep going until it couldn’t go anymore and Jay and I jumped out of it. From there we walked until we found civilization and a working phone and you know the rest.
I’m sorry I involved any of you in this mess and I hope you can forgive me. If you want me to leave I understand completely. Things can get pretty dangerous.”
I was surprised she left out the part about Riley and thankful she left out our fighting. As far as her leaving, that was so not going to happen. I spoke, and looked directly at her across the table. “Let me get this straight, you saved my uncle and me from a killer and now you’re apologizing for putting us in danger.”
“I just don’t want you involved in some awful war because of me.”
“Yet we’re the reason you used the spell, to protect us, yes or no?”
“Yes but you didn’t force me to do it. I knew the consequences of using magic.”
“Those consequences include the reason I’m sitting here today. I owe you my life but besides that there’s no danger that would stop us from protecting you. Witch or not, you’re one of us.” We locked eyes.
“Are you kidding? We love danger.” Trent said.
“Yeah, don’t threaten us with a good time.” Brandon said and they high-fived.
&nbs
p; “Kira, we’ve been in way worse situations than a war. You’re not scaring us off that easy.” Demi said and Will put his arm around Demi and smiled in agreement.
“I told you, we’ve got your back.” Annabella piped in.
Max and Mena nodded emphatically.
Kira looked as shocked as she looked please. “Thank you…I, just…thank you.”
Logan put an arm out to display the whole table. “You just got yourself a pack of werewolf protectors, deal with it.”
“No matter what.” I said and that was that.
Chapter 21
Kira
I looked all around me, confounded as to how I could ever deserve such amazing friends. I glanced down at my plate and started to pick at the oysters. When I looked up again everyone else seemed to be fine. Talking and eating like everything was normal.
“This can’t be normal.” I said under my breath.
“Oh it totally is, we really do deal with danger all the time. Can you pass the lemons?” Annabella said.
I looked up startled and passed the bowl with the lemons over. “Umm did I say that out loud?”
“You practically whispered it but we’re werewolves, babe. Hearing is hypersensitive and all that.” Demi said.
“I’ll have to remember that one.” I whispered softly and looked up to see Demi and Annabella smirking at me.
“So” Jay said “Who wants to party tonight? We have some overdue celebrating to do for one, Mr. Logan Winters… well a party that doesn’t end in my almost demise.”
“I’m in.” I said immediately. Was it smart to want to expose myself by going into a public setting? No. Did I want to live my life in fear? Also, no. I was going to live it to the fullest and be smart about it. Everyone else spoke their agreements but I don’t know if I expected anything else with this group. “Do you guys mind if I set up some wards around the house, they won’t hurt you or anything. They’ll just let me know if there’s someone here that shouldn’t be and it’ll at least give us time if they try to break in.Wards can be broken but not easily.”
Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) Page 15
