“I’m so sorry.” I whispered, sitting beside him. I didn’t touch him for fear that he wouldn’t want me to.
“It’s okay,” he said softly, his voice strained. “At least I fell here. And you found me.” He offered me a watery smile and I shifted closer, tentatively and carefully wrapping my arms around him.
He buried his face against my hair and I kissed his forehead. “Get some sleep.” I said gently as I ruffled his hair. He had nowhere to go, no one to be there for him. He’d been lonely since he was ten-years old and I wouldn’t let that happen again, for now he had me.
It felt weird to be comforting somebody, holding him as they cried, even though I’d really never done anything like it before. I didn’t like people as a general rule. I like my mom and a few friends; but Malachi, I liked him so much.
“I like you too,” Malachi mumbled sleepily and I raised my eyebrow, strange joy flooding me. It wasn’t…that is, how could I feel this so quickly? Had it been an hour? Two? How could I love him already?
“It was the sharing of lives. It showed you we were intertwined.”
“Don’t read my thoughts, Mister.” I said softly and pressed another kiss to his forehead. “Now what did I say about you going to sleep?” I reminded him gently.
“There was something I wanted to do first,” he said, almost shyly as he shifted until our foreheads were together.
My eyes widened as I realized what he meant.
“Thank you, Rosemary...” he breathed and I scowled at the use of my full name. He smirked lightly, “Rose, my apologies,” he laughed and his arms wrapped around my back as he ducked his head, kissing me delicately. It was the faintest of kisses and he drew back, smiling before nuzzling back against my hair, closing his eyes.
ELLIE’S SPELL
A Paranormal Romance
Star Crossed Loves Book Five
by Angelica Twilight
all rights reserved copyright 2012 by Polaris Young Adult Productions
I woke up floating a few feet above my bed; again. This really needed to stop happening, one of these days I wasn’t going to stay there; I’d end up sprawled on the floor with a sore butt or a broken arm.
Slowly, I lowered myself down carefully, sighing and stretching my cramped muscles as I rose. Mom always told me that Nana had trouble... well, what do you call it? Sleep flying? Sleep hovering? Anyway, she grew out of it once she perfected her magic. Mine was still a little... rough, to say the least.
I got ready for school, trying to tame my frizzy hair. It had always been pretty bad when I was a child but since my magic had come through, it’s like some of it was trying to force its way in random directions. It took an hour of straightening; a ton of hairspray and various clips before it would stay pretty much how I wanted it.
I pulled on some jeans and a T-shirt. It was long sleeved and had little crescent moons stitched around the cuffs. My Nana had made it when I was little, as soon as she knew that the magic was in me. Everybody thought it was pretty cool, but to me, what was cooler was that nobody knew what it stood for. The crescent moon had been used for centuries; it was part of our heritage. The sign had been around since my great-grandmother, and my great-great-grandmother, and so on and so forth. That was also why I had the small moon pendant on a silver chain; silver and the moon, both major symbols for our family. I never took it off.
I quickly made breakfast and reminded my mom that I had to stay behind after school for a history project. Ha, Miss Costello would faint if she knew about my history.
Once I got to school, I immediately hurried to find my friends, passing the art room to hand in my folder as I did so. I saw Mia Cooper, sitting alone at one of the desks; her hair was brushing her page, because she was so close to the table. I felt kinda sorry for her; she’d been sad ever since her boyfriend died in that accident. I wanted to give her a small uplifting spell but knew that if I did that, her mood would be worse after it had worn off. So I settled for a smile and a wave as I left.
“El!” Torri yelled from behind me and I grinned, turning and hugging her.
“Hey loser, where’s Ethan?” I chuckled.
“Ill,” she pulled a face and linked arms with me as we walked down the corridor, “I’m gonna go see him after school; he’s missing the football game so he’ll be upset.” She shrugged as we came to her classroom.
That was one thing that annoyed me about school, Torri and I had classes in completely separate parts of the school; I only saw her in a few of the classes.
“That sounds better than my evening; I have to stay behind to do my history.” I rolled my eyes and hugged her goodbye.
She laughed and waved. “Boo. Text me later!” she called as I headed down to my room.
I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, as I was trying furiously to come with a good reason to not have to stay behind after school. It was the last thing I wanted to do, that, and I was going to miss the football match. School really sucked sometimes.
Abruptly, a pain shot through my shoulder and I jerked back. I uttered a few cuss words, pushing past the girl who had knocked into me. Cathy, or Cassi or someone. I felt a bit bad for swearing but she had walked into me! I pushed open the door to my classroom, maybe a bit harder than necessary, and sunk into my seat, scowling. Today couldn’t go fast enough.
Finally, the end of school bell rang, and for a few blissful seconds I was happy. Then I remembered that I had to stay behind. How glorious! I packed my bag and trudged reluctantly down to the library where all of us that were staying behind had to work. Okay, it wasn’t that we had to stay exactly, there wasn’t any teacher supervision, but we had one of the strictest history teachers. And believe me; she would know if we didn’t go. She just would. I wondered sometimes if she was some sort of witch as well.
Sitting at the circular table, I pulled out my book and textbooks, groaning inwardly. On the plus side, I recognized most of the girls that were here—yes; they were all girls. Apparently the boys were too busy caring about football. Miss Costello was not going to be happy- she kept people behind from not only history, but from media studies as well.
I said “Hello,” and we all opened our textbooks. We managed to work for oh...five minutes or so before the talking began. It was normal stuff, boyfriends, hair, plans for the weekend but the chatter began to turn to the book that Laura Smith had found while wandering around the library. It was called ‘How to become a witch’. I actually choked on my laughter, it was so funny. You couldn’t become a witch. That was like saying you could become French or Italian. You could behave like them, and you could even believe yourself to be one. You could try, and yes, some people harnessed the potential for a few spells but becoming a witch? No, no, no.
Unfortunately, everyone turned to me to see what I thought was so funny. I shrugged and gestured at the book, “It’s a load of crap,” I rolled my eyes, “I mean, what’s it gonna tell you? Probably just some crap on deep thinking or concentration; meditation, even.” I rolled my eyes again.
“It’s seems pretty cool, El. Don’t you wanna learn how to do spells and stuff?” Sarah asked and I shrugged.
“I bet I could do better spells than someone who ‘learns’ from that book.” I bristled, feeling defensive.
I was met with a chorus of ‘go on then!’ and ‘show us!’
Groaning, I stood up. “Fine, Sarah go to the science office and get me some candles; everybody else sit around the table and put your hands on the table, palms up,” I instructed.
They all grinned, excited and did as I had said. I didn’t doubt that none of them believed me, but they’d rather do this than studying.
I clapped my hands and produced a lighter from the bottom of my bag, lighting the candles as soon as Sarah brought them back. I put one in front of each of the girls, and told the group to close their eyes. I then began to walk around them, talking in the language of my ancestors, Latin.
“O Deus, da mihi potestatem,”
Oh God, giv
e me the power,
“Ad arcessenda quid velim.”
To summon what I wish.
“Puero fiduciam in umbra,”
The confidence for the boy in the shadows,
“Ipse enim recondit.”
For he hides away.
“O Deus ei potestatem,”
Oh God, give him the power,
“Ad arcessenda quod vult.”
To summon what he wishes.
“Fiduciam, pro puella,”
The confidence for the girl,
“Qui abscondit in corde eius.”
Who hides in his heart.
As I spoke, the name of the one boy I truly liked ran round and round my mind on a loop. Anthony. Anthony. Anthony. I’d never attempted this spell before and hoped that it worked. Otherwise I would be a laughing stock.
“Now open your eyes,” I smiled, “and blow out your candles.” I blew out mine and pushed my hair back from my face. “That’s it. The spell will only work if a boy does like you, it’ll give him the confidence to tell you how he feels; for those of you with boyfriends, I guess it’ll just make them tell you they like you even more.” I laughed, “But it’s not going to work if someone doesn’t like you. It’s not an attraction spell; it’s not a spell to make someone fall in love with you, because that’s wrong. Ooh and the confidence thing will wear off slowly; they’ll be exactly how you like ‘em.”
Pretty much everyone around the table was regarding me skeptically, but I could see the eagerness there too. They all thought it was cool, but none of them believed it was real. It was just a party game, like looking in the mirror and saying “Bloody Mary” seven times. (Don’t ever do that, by the way. It’s not really seven times, but there are a correct number of times, and it’s dark magic.) Still, they all wanted to know if someone liked them. And if someone did, then who?
As we all packed away, my mind focused on Anthony. Tomorrow I would know if he liked me.
I sat in my first lesson, English, biting nervously on my nails. I had media next, the first lesson of the day that I had with Anthony. I’d had one of the girls come up to me and tell me that ‘Jack, the one with the really cute hair’ had asked her out. So I guess the spell had gone right, or she had just been lucky.
When the lesson ended, I simultaneously wanted to bolt from my seat to media, and yet take as long as I could in packing my stuff away.
I opted for somewhere in the middle and managed to get to class just before the bell. I slid into my seat and kept my eyes down on my desk. I heard the students come in, I even heard someone asking Alice Jones out on a date that weekend. She’d been at the library and I looked at her, feeling jealous.
My heart dropped as Anthony came in and headed for his seat. He didn’t say hello, wave, or anything. I swallowed and turned my attention to the screen, trying not to show how upset I was.
I couldn’t really focus on the film, which was some sort of action movie, and my gaze kept flitting to Anthony. He was sitting in the row in front of me, which meant that I could stare at the back of his head like some lovesick puppy, which, I guess, is entirely true.
Half way through the film, I got a note which said,
‘Ellie!
It worked! Josh came up earlier and asked if I wanted 2 go 2 his cousin’s bday this wknd!
So xcited, what about u? Anyone special turn up?
-Chloe xx’
Grimacing, I shoved the note in my book and shook my head. Chloe gave me a sympathetic smile before looking back at the screen. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was also holding someone’s hand under the table. Josh, I presumed.
I hadn’t really thought this through, had I? The ones whom it had worked for were going to be annoying as hell, and I regretted ever casting the stupid spell.
The anger which was swirling through me soon became apparent when the pen I had been holding tightly (we were supposed to be taking notes) shot out of my hand, and hit a boy on the back of the head. Fortunately, no one seemed to realize it was me and I looked back at the screen, not knowing what on earth was going on. I was going to be in so much trouble.
When class finished, I packed away as quickly as I could, wanting to find Torri and have a good old moan about boys. She was the only one that knew about my being a witch, or at least knew that my family claimed to be witches. She thought we were Wiccan, like it was our religion and not our bloodline. Well... the others in the library knew or just thought it was a good trick. Either way, most of them had new partners, or I still had no one.
“Hey... Ellie?”
I froze and turned around slowly, biting my tongue. Anthony Harper. God, he really was gorgeous. Dark brown hair that fell across his face, deep chocolate eyes and a pair of adorable yet stylish glasses.
I smiled widely, heading out into the corridor, “Hey, what’s up?”
We hadn’t spoken in a while; we’d been pretty close in the first few years but then we’d drifted apart. Partly because of the way I was feeling towards him, and partly because he seemed to enjoy his work, which meant that we hardly had time to see each other.
I rubbed the back of my neck nervously as we walked.
“Well, I know I haven’t spoken to you in ages, and I’m sorry about that; it’s just that school is hectic, you know?” he gave a nervous chuckle. “But I was wondering, if... you know, you wanted to go on a date? “ he finished and smiled, growing in confidence as he went on, “It’s fine if you don’t, but I really like you, I have for a while.” Another chuckle followed.
“I’d love to,” I smiled, and now it was my turn to be shy.
“Great!” Anthony was utterly beaming, “I’ll text you later?” he blew me a kiss as he opened the door to the classroom.
I stood still for a few minutes before a teacher chastised me for not being in class. I hurried to art and collected my folder, trying to focus on my work. I sent Torri a message as soon as I had sat down, but she hadn’t answered. I wondered if something was wrong with Ethan. Of course, knowing them, they’d skipped school just to have a day together.
I survived the rest of the day and rushed home, cell phone clasped in my hand the entire time. I was so nervous. When would he text? Would he be all awkward and try to be cool by not texting for days and making me wait? Huh. I certainly hoped not.
I was in such a good mood now, as opposed to earlier that my hair was practically sticking up on end.
I flopped down on my bed, arm draped over my eyes as I thought. I must have dropped off to sleep, because when I woke it was dark, and I had two messages. One was from Torri, saying that Ethan was still ill and that she needed to talk to me tomorrow. Huh? Maybe a sick boyfriend meant she wanted to believe I was a real witch and not one of the “Mother Earth” chanting nuts.
And... yes! The other was from Anthony. I bit my lip as I read it, nervous as hell.
‘Hey Ellie, srry so late, had homework.
What about Sat? We could go 2 the movies or whatever u want.
-J XXO
XXO! Two kisses. I’d gotten two kisses and a hug! I was so happy that I rolled off my bed! It was an epic fail. I flailed around in the air. I wasn’t on my bed anymore; instead, I was hovering several feet from it. My hair was flying out behind me, crackling with energy.
Dammit. I really needed to stop this.
STAR CROSSED LOVES: The Havenmoor Chronicles Volume One Page 4