“Can’t he apologize to your mom, and she won't be so mad?” I ask Luna.
She raises a single shoulder and rubs a hand on the back of her small neck. “Well, honestly, she told him never to come around our family again, or she’d kill him. I’m kinda thinking we shouldn’t risk it, for Neo’s sake.”
It’s quiet for a minute as we all mull over the details of Neo’s story. Luna steps closer to Neo and smiles sweetly. “Neo, I’m real sorry about letting my mom think the worst of you. I knew you wouldn’t have done what you did without a good reason. I just didn’t push it and I should have.”
Neo shakes his head and picks her up into a huge bear hug, her bouncy curls smacking him in the face. “It’s alright. What are kids for, but messin ’ things up?”
She pushes away from him and smacks his arm. “I’m not a kid, Neo! I’m almost eighteen!”
I laugh at her pouty face. “I’m almost nineteen and I definitely don’t feel like a kid, so you’re not either.”
She stands taller and tilts her chin up, sticking her tongue out at Neo. “Ha! See?”
Neo stares up at the dark sky, ignoring her childish assault. “Can we just stop acting like brother and sister and head to your mom’s house? It’s only a block down there, right?” He points north of where we stand.
“Yeah. I’m just not so sure you should go.” Her face scrunches up while talking to Neo.
“After you nearly gettin ’ taken by a demon, I think it’s best we talk to her and clear the air.” He takes a deep breath.
Luna nods. “You’re right.” She turns to me and gives a half smile, half frown. “You wanna come with me, El? Maybe we can talk to my mom before she sees Neo.”
I chew on my lower lip, nervous about making more friends after I left the last ones to protect them. “I guess. I do think it’d be cool to learn about the Wicca. You’re the first one I’ve ever met.”
She grins wide at me and grabs my hand in her small one. “Just wait until you meet Mom. You’ll love her.”
She reaches over and grabs Neo’s hand too and we all just look at eachother. We take a collective breath and head down the street to Luna’s house, into the lion's den.
***
I shiver outside Luna’s front door as the night breeze picks up. She wanted to go in without me, to warm her mom up to meeting a new person before I bombard her. I guess a new Seer in town probably doesn’t make Miss Lydia too excited.
Their house is large and beautiful. I can instantly tell that they have good money, just by the size of the home and manicured lawn. I imagine the grass would normally be so lush and green, but late fall has made it mostly brown.
I step side to side on the front porch, trying to warm myself up with the motion. I hear footsteps coming to the front door and run fingers through my hair, trying to make myself look nice. The door opens, but only Luna is there.
She has a sorry look on her face and her smile droops slightly at the corners. “I’m sorry, El. I guess mom just got called into work at the hospital. She’s a doctor, so when they call, she goes immediately. She left me a note.” She holds up a finger, and a small green sticky note is stuck to the tip of it.
I shrug my shoulders and wave a hand at her. “No worries. Neo and I can come back next time she’s home and talk to her. Then maybe he can get on her good side and he won’t be so despised.” I smile at her.
She nods. “Alright. You guys get home safe and I’ll call you.”
“Please stay home and safe,” I tell her. Feeling protective of my new little friend.
She scoffs. “Who me? I’ll be fine with my own personal Seer bodyguards on the lookout.” She grins. “I’m kidding. I will be okay though. My house has wards so no soulless creature can enter. I’ll just stay here until we can tell mom what happened. Thanks again.”
I shake my head. “Wards, huh? That’s pretty cool.” I give her a small hug and leave, crunching along the nearly frozen grass on my way off of the Wicca property. What kind of life have I gotten myself into?
Chapter 6
It has been 2 days of training with Neo, and I want to die already. I can’t believe I ever thought Alexa was tough on me. When I see her again, I’m going to give her the biggest hug and beg for her to be my trainer again.
Neo has had me doing runs morning and night, not letting me slow to a jog for even a minute. It’s either a full sprint or pushups. And I’m not kidding when I say pushups are my very worst enemy, other than the demon set to murder me of course.
Each time we finish running, he has me doing wall sits for literal hours, while I try to meditate and get myself into a vision state. I feel like I might never be in control of my visions like him. Even when I try to force a vision of anything, I pass out almost every time, like five minutes ago.
My eyelids flutter open and everything in the living room is spinning in a wild wind storm. My hair whips across my face and the books I had been reading are torn to pieces from the tornado above me. Bits of paper hit the walls and continue in the wild circle. I try to sit up, but the force of the wind holds me to the ground. Someone is speaking to me so I turn my head and see Neo army-crawling toward me on the hardwood floor.
“El! Hear my voice! You need to take a deep breath!” He shouts at me over the rush of noise surrounding us.
I try to nod at him and I take soothing breaths. The harder I try to calm myself though, the more wild the air becomes. Floral wallpaper begins stripping off the living room walls and joining the whirlwind.
“Neo!” I yell, and close my eyes. I want to cry in frustration and I want my Intended to be here. He always knew how to calm my out of control nerves when I was at a loss.
I picture him in front of me, smiling sweetly and his dimple signaling the happiness on his face. I picture the messy swirls of hair that always fell across his forehead, and I want to reach out to touch him. I try to imagine his kiss.
I can feel the warmth of his lips on mine and I try to press further into him in my imagination. I don’t want to open my eyes and not see Gavin there watching me with his dark, golden eyes and scruffy chin.
I realize that the air around me has stopped spinning, and I can actually feel warm lips moving against my needy ones. My eyes fly open to see Neo kissing me for real.
I jump back from him and smack my head on the hard floor. I roll over and grab the back of my head. “Ow! I’m so stupid!” I shout to the wood against my nose.
“You’re not stupid, El. You are powerful and amazing.” Neo sits behind me and I can’t bring myself to look at him, after letting him kiss me. I really am stupid.
I shake my head and continue staring at the dirty floor. “No, Neo. Trust me. I’m really really stupid.” I turn toward him and push myself up to a sitting position.
He tilts his head at me and I can see that he is covered in scraps of paper and pieces of debris from my windy freakout. His golden hair is tousled on his head and he reminds me of a lost puppy dog. He really is handsome, and if I had met him only months ago, I might be attracted to him and want to be with someone like him. But my heart isn’t my own anymore. It belongs to Gavin.
“What’s up, El? Why are you looking at me like that?” Neo’s eyebrows scrunch together and he is watching my eyes watch him.
I take a deep breath and shake my head again. “Neo, I really like being around you and I’m so incredibly glad we found one another…”
He cuts me off. “Wait, don’t say somethin’ about just being friends, okay. You kissed me back, ya know?”
I clench my teeth together in a sort of grimace. “Uh, I actually didn’t realize you were kissing me when I kissed you back. I thought I was dreaming… of someone else.”
Neo frowns and rocks back on his tailbone, throwing his head back. “Great, so ya have a boyfriend. I shoulda known.” He sighs loudly.
“Actually, I have an Intended,” I say, hoping he understands.
He drops his head and looks up at me. “Oh,” is all he says.
> I nod, not wanting to explain to him just how much more I care about someone other than him after he just kissed me. He sits with his eyes closed and nods energetically back and forth.
He jumps up to his feet. “Okay, that settles that then. I guess I’ll just say it and hope that you can take me up on the offer.” He reaches a hand out to me and I’m hesitant to accept. “Can we just be friends, El?”
I release a nervous laugh and grab his hand, letting him pull me to my feet. “Yes, Neo. I’d love to be your friend.”
He sighs again and releases my hand. “It may take a couple hours for me to forgive you for not telling me that you had an Intended, though. Which brings up another question. How are you not in pain constantly?”
It hits me that I haven’t taken my spoonful of coleus all day and I start to flip out. “Oh no!” I yell and run to the kitchen.
The container of coleus is lying on the floor and thankfully not destroyed along with so many other things in the house. I open it up and stick a teaspoon of the disgusting plant in my mouth. The dry dirt flavor makes me want to gag but I welcome it, if I can only continue on my mission.
I swallow the horrid herb and fall to the floor in tears. Yup, I’ve completely lost it.
Neo comes to my side and rubs a hand on my back. “El, I don’t know what to do for you, but would you like a distraction? Don’t worry, I won’t kiss you again.”
I nod and wipe away the wet droplets on my face. Neo pulls me up from the ground for the second time and leads me into the living room. The place is a disaster. Paper, trash, and wallpaper lie in heaps across the floor from my small tornado.
Neo waves an arm at the mess. “Here’s your distraction. We need to clean.”
I chuckle. “Oh joy,” I say with total sarcasm. “Where do we start?”
Neo heads to the front door. “You start over in that far corner, and I’ll go get us some snacks.” He winks at me and bows before leaving me to clean up my beautiful mess. Oh yeah. He is definitely just my friend now.
Chapter 7
“Hey, Aunt Mags. I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you in a while,” I say over the phone. I had to call her and check in. I don’t know what to do without my mom in my life. Especially when I’m facing my possible death.
Aunt Mags cries through the speaker. “Honey, just come home! You don’t have to run away just because life gets scary. You can always run home to me, I love you.” Her voice breaks.
I want to cry along with her but I just lean back on the slightly torn sofa and release a deep sigh, hoping my sadness leaves with it. I’m grateful Neo has a burner phone, and I should’ve thought of getting my own sooner. Of course, I’m a teenage girl and not Jason Bourne, so you can’t really blame me.
“I couldn’t come home to you. There are things going on in my life that you just don’t know about. As much as I want to, I can’t possibly begin to explain over the phone.” I tap my foot on the ground, wanting so badly to jump to my feet tell her everything I’ve ever done or thought.
She groans. “Tell me where you are then, and I won’t have to hear your explanation on the phone! Let me come be by your side through whatever is happening to you, please.” Her “please” is laced with sorrow and I want to crawl in a hole and die for causing her that pain.
“Aunt Mags, you don’t understand! I wish I could tell…”
Her angry voice cuts me off before I can finish talking. “I don’t understand what? You think I don’t understand that you are a young Seer, and you’re being hunted by an evil demon that can visit your dreams?” she shouts at me through the speaker, and cold blood rushes from my face to my toes.
I drop the cellphone on my lap and quickly stand up, causing it to hit the floor. “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” I mutter to nobody, but it causes Neo to run into the living room, his golden hair flopping wildly.
“El, what’s going on? Are you okay?” He runs to my side and sees the phone still lit up on the floor. He quickly hangs up on Aunt Mags and shuts it off. “Did you finally talk to your Aunt?”
I nod, but I’m shook to the core from my adoptive mother’s words. I switch from nodding to shaking my head, not understanding anything. And also wishing I would’ve talked to her about it. Neo wraps a comforting arm around my back and makes me sit back on the couch.
I turn to face him. “My mom knows what I am, Neo… she really honestly knows everything.”
His eyebrows press together. “How does she know?” he asks.
I shrug my shoulders and let out a cynical chortle. “I have no clue! Maybe she talked to Kassy or Gavin and they explained it all. I’m way too scared to ask her, though. She has always been my normal when everything else is all over the place.”
Neo nudges me with his shoulder. “I don’t completely get it because I chose to leave my family out of hatred, not protection and love. But, even so, I think you should let her in if she is that special to you.”
I growl and throw myself back into the couch cushions. A small plume of stuffing shoots past my face and falls on my lap. I make a choking noise and immediately burst out in hysterical laughter. “I destroy everything!” I shout through my fits of laughter, like an insane person.
Neo throws his head back and laughs along with me, closing his golden eyes and flashing all of his pearly whites. We laugh together uncontrollably for a while, just a couple of lunatic runaways. Oh, what a pair.
***
Neo and I stand in front of Luna’s beautiful home, and stare up at the intimidating fake cobwebs and stuffed witches sitting on the front porch. I’m aware that Halloween is in a couple of days, but the sight is made so much creepier after knowing that this is an actual house of witches, or rather Wicca.
From what I’ve been told, the Wicca aren’t at all like the stories told of witches. Meeting Luna, I can see the truth in that. Her skin isn’t green and covered in warts and I’m pretty sure if she could fly on a broom, she wouldn’t walk to and from the cupcake shop everyday. At least, I wouldn’t.
The front door of the house bursts open and Luna runs to the two of us. “Yay! I’m so glad you guys came. I was worried the chicken would chicken-out.” She jabs a finger at Neo and he glares down at her.
“Hey, who you’s callin ’ a chicken, eh?” His New York accent is in full bloom with his response, and my mouth drops open.
I jab my own finger at his belly and smile. “That is by far the most New York you’ve sounded since we met. You should stick with the full accent more often!”
He waves a “whatever” hand at me. “Nah, I can’t be too irresistible for all the poor ladies out there. What’d I do with em all?” He winks at both of us girls.
Since telling Neo about Gavin, he has been much more silly and friendly with me. I’m glad he takes the Intended thing seriously, because I expected him to call it poppycock.
Luna giggles and blushes at Neo. It’s quite adorable. “Let’s go in and see my mom, guys. I told her about everything that happened the other night and she is actually willing to talk to both of you.” She touches my arm. “She’s actually kind of excited about meeting you, El. When I told her about your water trick, she seemed pretty impressed.”
My shoulders droop and I want to go somewhere to hide. I’m not exactly looking for tons of attention lately, as flattering as it is. I don’t say anything to Luna though, and instead I just smile and nod.
She bounces on her tippy toes in her fuzzy pink slippers, full of excitement, and her brown curls follow her, almost in slow motion. She does a cute twirl and waves us forward. “Come on!” she yells.
Neo and I share an exasperated look and follow Luna into her home. I’m super curious about how the inside of the extravagant home will look , considering the outside can draw anyone in with its beauty.
We pass the threshold of the large red door and I’m hit with the smell of pumpkin. My mouth waters at the scent and I really hope pumpkin pie is involved in this meeting. If not, I know what I’ll be buying next time I go to the
local diner.
Luna shouts up the long winding wooden stairs as we stand at the bottom. “Mom! The Seers are here!”
I flinch at the word Seers. It still feels like something so secret, but so many more people know about us than I ever thought. I watch the top of the stairs, waiting for Luna’s mom to make her appearance when I hear a familiar voice speak behind me.
“Hi, sweetie. Sounds like you’ve grown a lot since I last saw you.”
I jump in my spot and whip my head around to see my aunt Morgan standing under an archway. She is smiling at me with sad eyes and her laugh lines don’t reach the depths they usually do when she would visit me and Aunt Mags in California. I take a step back from Morgan, completely lost and sure I must be dreaming.
Luna steps in between us and looks from me to her. She seems even more lost than I feel when she talks to my aunt. “Uh, mom, how do you know El?”
Chapter 8
Luna breaks my thought process as she yells at my Aunt Morgan again. “Seriously, mom! How do you know El?” she throws her hands on her hips, determined to get answers.
I watch Morgan mull over her words in her head, and beat her to the chase. “She’s my aunt, Luna. Your mom is my aunt Morgan.”
I never pictured her as a mom before. She was always so sweet to me and never talked about having a kid. I would’ve loved having a cousin, but for some reason she kept Luna away from me, and the fact that she is a freaking Wicca!
Luna spins back to her mom and gasps. “What? Are you… I mean… like what!” she stutters and throws her hands in the air, frustrated.
Morgan walks up to her daughter and rubs her hands up and down Luna’s arms. “Shhh. Hon, it’s okay. I know I have some explaining to do.” She glances at me. “To both of you, but I promise, it wasn’t my idea to lie to anyone ever.”
I stand frozen. I want to ask questions, so many questions, but like Luna, I can’t figure out where to start. I turn to Neo and he holds his hands up in front of him. “Hey,” he says. “Don’t look at me. I know less than everybody in this room.”
Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6 Page 27
