“Larissa did you see that?” I gasp and she turns to face me, stopping in her tracks.
She scowls heavily and shakes her head. “What? What am I supposed to see Laila?”
“It was a flash in the sky.” I point through the window and she follows my gaze.
The sky, however, looks normal now. Nothing out of the ordinary. Not like just now.
Larissa turns back to me and sets her hands on her hips. “Laila sometimes I wonder about you. You’re twenty one. Not a child. You need to start acting like an adult. We can’t keep living together forever, I worry for you when you finally decide to leave the nest and take care of yourself.”
Fucking hell, not this conversation again. I don’t want to talk about growing up and responsibility. I dropped out of college. To me it was better to leave than be on a course I hated. She wanted me to study law like her. I hate anything like that. Being a witch is my birthright and that’s what I want to do. She just believes though that I can’t focus on that. Mom did so I don’t see why I can’t.
“Larissa, you keep finding every chance to chew me out. My dream is not about shit. What’s wrong with you? Can’t you just cut me some slack for once?”
“No, because you don’t deserve to just lounge around all day talking shit and living in the fucking clouds.”
As if on cue the sky splits open. Literally it splits down the middle like someone threw a bolt of lightning across it and sliced it in two. An explosion rips through the sky and we both look to see our surroundings falling away.
I freeze when out of the darkness a man appears in the distance of the sky. I can’t even scream because I recognize him.
With his long platinum blonde hair flowing in the wind and a cape surrounding him, his eyes glowing blood red, he looks worse in real life.
That’s him. That’s the warlock from my dream.
Larissa on instinct puts up a protective shield but he looks straight at us. He’s so far away and yet he can see us. He can see me.
He takes one step and he’s right here. Right in front of me.
I scream the same way I do in my dream and I know what’s going to happen next. He’s supposed to cut Larissa’s head off.
When I see the blade rising from the sheath on his side I hold my hands up and cast a teleportation spell sending Larissa out to the forest where the seer lives. She disappears before me, eyes wide and screaming but her screams are swallowed up and then she’s no more. I hope she’ll go straight to the seer.
The warlock snaps his head toward me, lifts the hand carrying a blade and it extends. Now it looks like a scythe. I’m no match for him. He’s tall. Tall and foreboding and I probably just sent away the only person who could protect me. I just couldn’t lose her. Not like Mom.
As he brings the blade down to cut me, I block it with an energy ball. The scythe disappears and his hands start glowing white with black specks around it.
“Witch, you will die. I mistook you for a weakling in the dream plane.” He taunts and my mouth falls open.
Dream plane… that’s where I was? As a witch I’m not supposed to be able to walk the dream planes or ghosts roads and live to tell the tale.
“Be gone from my sight evil fiend,” I shout.
He answers me with a laugh and sends a blast of energy my way. I block it and start uttering a spell I saw in grandma’s book of shadows.
It was an elemental teleportation spell. I need to get out of here. I can’t fight this guy. I wish to the Gods I’d contacted the seer. Now look at me. I shouldn’t have fucked around questioning myself and trying to convince Larissa.
“Foolish witch, I have your Coven under control. All the powers will be mine. Including yours.” The light around his hands grows bigger and hot. I start to chant and the moment I do the ground shakes.
“Rasjka musha, open the door, Rushka musha open the way,” I cry and a portal opens.
I jump through and seal the breach before he can get to me but then I’m swallowed up by darkness. The second I feel the ground beneath me I run. I run even though I can’t see where I’m running to and I can’t even see the path beneath my feet.
Where the fuck am I? Where did I go?
I’ve never cast this spell before. I memorized it because I wanted to study it and test the elemental capacities first. Now I know why Grams kept the spell book in her dark arts box.
A hollow whooshing sound makes me stop in my tracks then specks of light start flickering all around the darkness. The darkness tears away like someone ripping paper apart.
Then I hear him again.
Oh God, he’s coming. The warlock. He’s coming.
A burst of light sends me hurtling through the air and then as if someone latches a rope around me I stop and I’m suspended, just hanging there.
My surroundings brighten and then he steps out of the shadows with that laugh.
His hair billows in the wind along with his cape. His horrible, deadly nightmare eyes glow blood red as he reaches out both hands and squeezes like he’s holding me and squeezing me.
I scream when I feel it. He doesn’t have to touch me to hurt me. He must be about forty feet away, but it’s like he’s holding me in his hands and killing me.
“Witch, I will savor your powers the most,” he taunts and I start to choke.
My neck… I can’t breathe.
He pulls and I place a hand at my throat. A white haze pulls from me. I’ve only ever read about that in books. I’ve never seen a witch’s powers being taken from her. How ironic that I’m seeing my own.
As the haze separates from my body I know what will happen next. I’ll die.
I scream at the pain that shoots through me as the powers of my birthright try to hold onto their rightful owner. Me. Not him.
I might not believe it but my powers are unique. Mom always said that. She said it because it took me such a long time to do anything. Everybody else came into their powers at an early age. Not me.
I have the gift of sight. Premonitions, but I’m never in time and I don’t see everything. I certainly never saw that my mother would die at the hand of my father, a warlock just like this fiend.
This is worse though. I’ve never seen a warlock look like this before.
He’ll be the last I see. I’m dying. I’m dying...
The cold icy tendrils of death start creeping along my spine ready to take me.
I feel over the little necklace Mom gave me on my sixteenth birthday. A blue moonstone, said to remind you of love.
That was the last time I saw her.
“Help me,” I whisper and a blast of blue light emits from my neck.
My eyes snap wide as my powers come crashing back into me. The warlock snarls and disbelief fills his face.
Once again the scenery changes. I fall through the sky, bright and blue, and still he comes for me. He reaches his hand down to grab me but the breach of blue light seals up, blinking out of existence and blending with the sky.
I fall and I can’t right myself. I have no voice left to scream. Fright and terror have both consumed me.
The howl of a wolf, loud and striking, pierces through my body, then I’m snatched from the air. As I hurtle down sharp teeth appear before me followed by greyish blue eyes, and fur.
Arms hold me as I go down.
A wolf. I’m being held by a wolf.
Everything is happening so fast, but that’s all I’m aware of. I’m too shaken and weak to process anything else. I’m passed to another set of hands.
We come crashing down on the ground, but he holds me, protecting me from the fall I should have had. The one I wouldn’t have survived. Strong arms surround me, holding me steady on top of him.
My breath comes out rapid and those blueish grey eyes hold me in place as I stare back in fear.
Then his face transforms in front of me. From wolf to man. The most beautiful man I’ve ever seen with ruffled black hair and those piercing eyes. A hard wall of abs takes the place of fur and his ar
ms with thick biceps.
Before I can blink two more wolves race up to us.
My lips part to talk but I can’t. Fear still has me gripped in its claws.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
My throat tightens right up and I can’t answer. Suddenly I feel the result of casting a spell as strong as I did.
Two spells. What was that second one? It just happened and now I’m here wherever here is.
In Salem it’s the middle of the night, now I’m in broad daylight lying in the arms of a man who was a wolf. I’m used to lycans but not all take kindly to witches. I don’t know where I am or what to say.
A wave of dizziness hits me and my head feels light.
My eyes roll back in my head then darkness surrounds me.
Laila
“Go on tell me, give me your wish this year,” Mom says with a bright smile. she walks up behind me as I stare in the mirror at the reflection of my sixteen year old self.
I turn to face her and roll my eyes, shaking my head. “Mom, we do this every year and I don’t know why. I’m too old for wishes.” I laugh.
Reaching out to touch my face she gives me a stern look. “You’re never too old for wishes, Laila.”
“They don’t come true,” I point out and she raises a brow. “Why do we bother?”
I already know what she’s going to tell me. It’s the same thing every year. She comes to me on my birth morning with a special gift, and a wish and I bitch at her because I don’t get it. Then she’ll repeat the same mantra. How wishes don’t just magic from thin air like casting a spell, and they take time if they’re meant to be. I don’t get what the point is if I can’t have my wish when I want it.
“Laila, we’ve gone over this. Wishes don’t work like that. They’re a dream your heart wants. It’s not the same for us. When humans wish, they want things we cast spells for. When we wish, we go beyond that. So much further.” She gives me a warm smile and I return it.
I may give her a difficult time on the regular but I want to be like her. I want to skip the parts of graduating high school and going to college and be a super witch just like her. Someone with an active power.
Larissa has powerful active powers, but I don’t. I have visions. Premonitions.
“I understand,” I say.
“Good,” she beams. “Now let’s hear it. What do you wish for?”
Last year I asked for a star. I was joking because no one has ever had a star. No one we know anyway. I’ve read about it in books that people are able to travel to other dimensions and get certain stars. This year if we’re being serious maybe I’ll go for something better. Something more practical.
“I wish my powers worked better. If I can see things before they happen then I want to do it properly and be certain that what I’m seeing is a premonition.” That is what I want.
She knows that though. It’s not that hard to guess that I’m not overly fond of being the only witch in the family who can’t really do much.
She presses her lips together and surprises me when she reaches for the necklace around her neck and holds it to me.
“This is magic. It will give you your heart’s desire.” She smiles. “It will help you get your wish.”
She puts it on me and suddenly she fades away before my eyes.
I blink and then my eyes flutter. When my eyes adjust I see I’m not in my room and … where am I?
I straighten and look at my surroundings. I’m in a bed with a fur cover. The room I’m in is big. Really big like a penthouse, but the furniture isn’t what you’d see in a penthouse. It’s more cozy. There’s a fireplace with a light fire going inside and the scent of magnolia and musk hangs in the air.
I sit up and look over myself. My top is ruffled and there are bruises on my arm.
Running a hand through my hair my fingers catch on the white blonde strands and I wince.
“That some kind of spell,” says a voice from nowhere and everywhere.
I gasp, looking around frantically but I can’t see anybody.
Then the air moves. It shimmers and Mr. Gorgeous steps out of nowhere.
That’s when I remember everything that happened.
So I must have been dreaming about Mom again, and what happened back in Salem really did happen. My God…
Fear grips me as I stare back at Mr. Gorgeous. He’s a wolf but I don’t know of any wolves, lycan or werewolf who can just appear out of nowhere. I’ve heard of astral pockets before, so maybe that was where he was. Or he can make himself invisible. I don’t know.
Wearing a black long sleeved t-shirt and ripped jeans he still looks gorgeous and he’s staring at me like he’s trying to figure out what I’m thinking, but he can’t. He looks confused.
“Who are you?” he demands.
“Laila,” I whisper, not sure I should have divulged that information.
“Where did you come from?”
“Salem.”
My answer widens his eyes and the look he gives me now is more than curious.
“Where am I?” I ask.
Instead of answering the question he comes closer. He comes right up to me and I back away, crawling back on my hands until I’m right against the headboard of the bed.
He hovers dangerously close to me like he’s going to kiss me. He stays there, right in front of me, a breath away and I feel it. A spark of something primal inside me that grows the longer he stares. His eyes turn from blue to silver, frightening me, and somehow I know he can feel that spark too.
He catches my face and a bolt of fear flies through me making my body both tremble and come alive with wild heat from the warmth of his fingers at my throat.
Canine fangs elongate when he opens his mouth and a tear tracks down my cheek.
“Please, don’t hurt me….” I plea.
“Why can’t I read your mind?” he asks, searching my eyes. Studying my face.
My gaze clings to his. I don’t know what he means. Read my mind?
I shake my head because he’s looking at me like I should know why and I don’t. I have no idea about mind reading and I wouldn’t know why he can’t read my mind.
“Why?” he demands tightening his grip around my throat.
“I don’t know.”
“What are you?”
“A witch. I’m just a witch and I don’t have much power.” I whimper and he releases me.
“Either that’s a lie or … you really don’t know what it means for me to be unable to read your mind,” he states, backing away.
“I’m not lying.” I can’t stop trembling.
“I haven’t decided that yet. You could be a threat of sorts.”
“I’m not. You saved me,” I point out. If he thought I was a threat why would he save me?
“I did, me and my pack.”
“Thank you,” I say remembering my manners, then I remember what he is. “You’re wolves?”
“Lycans.”
“Where am I?” If it’s day I must have cast one hell of a spell indeed and teleported on to the other side of the world. Somehow I don’t think so though. Whatever I did I have to know what happened back home. I have to get back to Larissa.
“You really don’t know?” he narrows his eyes.
“I don’t.”
He looks at me for a few moments then his expression softens, only slightly though.
“Estaria.”
“What? Where is that?” My lips part.
“The Woodland Realm.”
Realm…
“I don’t know where that is. Realm?”
Realms coexist with the human world separated by the veil of reality that holds dimensions together.
I don’t have the kind of power it would take to move from one realm to another. But fuck, I don’t have time for that. I have to get out of here.
“I have to find my sister,” I say getting off the bed. I gear up to rush past him but he grabs my arm and holds me still.
“You are no mere witch. We
can go realm to realm as we please, because of our magic. You could only find Estaria if you have something from here, or if you’ve been here before. Which is it?”
I shake my head. “I’ve never been here before and I don’t have anything. A warlock was after me. He went to Salem to steal powers from the witches in my coven. I saw it happen and I didn’t get to warn them.”
“You saw it happen?”
“I see the future.”
He looks me over with curiosity.
“That’s very interesting,” comes another voice from the air and then a deep chuckle.
Two men appear before us and I swallow hard. One has platinum blonde hair like me and the other has brown hair. Both are as gorgeous as the dark haired guy I was previously speaking to.
They’re all tall, well-muscled, deadly handsome and have a dark menacing air about them.
I recall two other wolves coming up to us in the grass. This must be them.
Each of them are different, but I sense that spark of sorts that I can’t quite describe flicker inside me.
It’s strange, magical even, like when you can sense another magical being, and if I had more time I’d want to know what it is.
“Let me go,” I say to my captor who gives me a crude smile.
“No, I want answers,” he insists.
“I’ve told you everything. There’s nothing more to tell.” I wince.
“Reveal,” the guy with the blond hair says and instantly my necklace starts glowing blue.
I’m released as the blue light grows bigger and wider. Longer.
The three men jump apart when the light flows out like a river and spreads before us.
In the light I can see my home. My house in Salem. Mom walks into the kitchen but she looks young like she’s in her early twenties.
It’s night time. She looks around nervously then whispers some words I can’t quite hear. When she’s done she smiles and a bright light appears before her swirling in blue and a man steps out. He couldn’t be much older than her. She hugs him and they kiss.
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