The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven

by Jessica Miller

  “No one will believe you.”

  “They don’t have to. I know a nifty little spell that will do all the convincing they need,” she smiled mischievously, turning to leave.

  “Kenzie, she looks really pissed. This was a bad idea. I think we should let her go,” Addyson said.

  “By all means, go ahead,” Mackenzie said. Addyson looked over at me as I struggled to break free from the ropes and then shook her head no.

  I was not about to let them leave me down here. Mackenzie reached for the door and when she did I screamed, “NO!” The door slammed shut and all the girls stepped back in surprise. Mackenzie tried for the door but once again it slammed shut.

  She yanked and pulled with all her might, but the door wouldn’t budge. I could see the frustrated look on Mackenzie’s face as she jiggled the handle and nothing happened. I laughed. “You’re doing this, aren’t you?” she spat. I just shrugged my shoulders. I was as surprised as they were. All I remembered was not wanting to be left down here. I wished the door closed and it did. My guess was that I had another power that I didn’t know about. It wasn’t too farfetched that I could do it. Xander could move things with his mind so why couldn’t I? I never even thought about until now and this was as good a time as any to try.

  “Open the door,” Mackenzie demanded.

  “Untie me first,” I bargained.

  She walked over to me, getting in my face. “Open. The. Door.”

  “Not until you untie me,” I said. I thought maybe I could undo the ropes the same way I closed the door but that wasn’t happening. I was also afraid if I tried too hard to concentrate on the ropes I would lose control of the door and I couldn’t risk them leaving without untying me first.

  “Open the door!” Mackenzie screamed, ready to throw a hissy fit.

  “No wonder you need Sienna. Without her your powers are weak. You’re nothing but a pathetic little wannabe witch.”

  That really pissed her off. She shrieked and raised her hand to slap me, but I was able to bring my shield up and block her. She flew back, smacking her head against one of the pipes. Madison ran over to see if she was okay, but she wasn’t responding. Addyson just stood by the door, cowering.

  “Untie me,” I said. They both looked at me like I was nuts. “Untie me so I can heal her,” I tried again. Neither of them made a move. “What other choice do you have? Run and get help? How are you going to explain all this?” It took all of a second for both girls to realize I was right. “Now, untie me!”

  Madison ran over and unwrapped my ropes. I rubbed my wrists as I made my way over to Mackenzie. I bent down in front of her and placed my hand on her head. She sat up gasping, looked at me, and then scurried backwards. I stood up and brushed my hands on my jeans. I looked over my shoulder to see Addyson was already gone. I had to let go of the door when Madison untied me so I could concentrate on healing Mackenzie. I still hadn’t mastered how to use the powers that I did have let alone knew how to use more than one at time, or even if I could.

  Madison was now helping Mackenzie up off the floor. I moved in front of them, blocking their path. Both girls froze. “Pull something like this again and next time I won’t save your ass.” She nodded. “And now you know just how powerful I am,” I said as my last warning before I left.

  I didn’t even care to see if they got out of the basement okay. They didn’t deserve my help. I saved her from internal bleeding only because I was the one who caused it, but that’s where my sympathy ended. I grounded my teeth as I walked back to my room covered in dirt, sweat, and who knows what else.

  I found Cameron outside my room waiting for me. “Hey, you missed lunch…what happened to you?” she asked, once she got a look at my sweat covered hair and dirty clothes.

  “Come in and I’ll explain everything,” I said, unlocking my door and pushing it open for her to join me. “Can you just give me a minute to wash up?”

  “Yeah,” she said, wondering what the hell was going on.

  I quickly showered, changed into some clean clothes and then joined Cameron sitting down next to her on my bed. I told her everything. I told her about the spell Mackenzie and her group had put on me. I left out the part about him becoming aggressive at the end. That was still too fresh in my head and I didn’t think that part was anyone’s business. I didn’t want to taint his reputation when it wasn’t his fault. I knew that now and that wouldn’t be fair to him. I just let her know the spell had gone wrong and we almost got horizontal. Then I told her how they kidnapped me and tried to force me to get Sienna to join their coven.

  Cameron’s mouth hung open so wide I thought I might have to close it for her. “Say something,” I said.

  “I knew that bitch was crazy, but I never thought. I mean, are you okay?” she asked, looking me over.

  “Yes and no. Physically yes. What the hell am I going to do? I can’t just sit back and let her get away with this.”

  “Do you think she’ll still spread that rumor about you and Mr. Callahan?

  “I don’t think she’s going to try anything anytime soon. She got a taste of my powers and Madison and Addyson definitely looked scared shitless. I don’t think they want to try going up against me again and without them Mackenzie doesn’t have enough power.”

  “She still needs to be stopped,” Cameron said.

  “Oh absolutely. I let that spell with Mr. Callahan go and that was only because, well, I didn’t know what else to do. It was too…” I didn’t know how to describe it. Cameron squeezed my hand, understanding that was a sensitive subject and didn’t push the issue. “But this whole kidnapping thing and trying to get me to turn my friend over to her, I will not let go,” I said, feeling my blood boil.

  “Have any ideas?”

  “I was hoping you would,” I said, biting my lip. “I’m not so good at this whole evil plot thing. I’m normally the one who gets plotted against,” I admitted.

  “I’m sorry, but my mind is still stuck on the fact that you saw Mr. Callahan naked,” she said then quickly apologized. “I’m sorry. That’s beside the point.”

  “Cameron, it’s okay. And nothing happened, thankfully.” I honestly couldn’t blame her. I still can’t get the image of his body out of my head.

  “Okay, all bad things aside. How was he?”

  “Cameron,” I scolded.

  “Oh, come on. You made out with probably the hottest teacher on campus and I’m not even going to get the details? Was he big?” I laughed out loud, which actually felt good. Before I could tell her she was going to have to use her imagination Dixon knocked on the door.

  “Hello, hello,” he said, letting himself in.

  “Hey Dixon, what’s up?”

  “You weren’t in class so I came to see if everything was okay?”

  “Yeah, you know, just had one of my normal freak outs in class. It’s starting to become a routine thing.”

  “Oh, honey,” he said sympathetically, putting his arm around me. “You want to talk about it?”

  “Thanks, but I’m kind of talked out right now.”

  “I want to hear more about you and Mr. Callahan,” Cameron said, stretching out on the extra bed.

  “Cameron!” I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “What? You might as well tell Dixon. If Mackenzie follows through with her threat he would have found out anyways. Better to hear it from you.”

  “Sit, talk, now,” he said, giving me a stern look like I was deliberately holding good gossip from him. I had to make him swear on his favorite pair of Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses that he wouldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone. He swore to me he wouldn’t and even told me he was insulted that I thought otherwise. I knew he wouldn’t, but lately learning how to trust people again was an issue.

  I told him everything I told Cameron.

  “I heard she was evil, but I never thought she was that evil. You poor thing, what are you going to do?”

  “Give her a piece of her own medicine,” I said.

&
nbsp; “So, do you have a plan?” Dixon asked.

  “Not yet. I was hoping you guys could help me out?”

  “I think we should tell Sienna,” Cameron said.

  “I don’t know. I think the less people that know about this the better,” I said.

  “While I agree with that. I still think she should know. They did take you to get to her. Plus she’s a witch so we could use her.”

  “Um, Hello?” Dixon said, waving his hand up and down the length of his six foot frame.

  “No offense sweetie, but we need someone who’s been at this a little longer,” Cameron said.

  Dixon looked away, picking lint off his pants, trying to pretend he wasn’t offended when clearly he was. Cameron opened her mouth but Dixon waved her off. “No, no, it’s fine,” he said, adjusting his scarf and avoiding eye contact.

  I rolled my eyes. “Any ideas?” I asked Cameron. She shook her head no. “Oh, I almost forgot the best part,” I said, smacking myself mentally. They both leaned in closely, waiting. “I think I discovered a new power.”

  “Do tell,” Dixon said intrigued.

  “Maybe if I show you?” I looked around the room. I spotted my hair brush that Mackenzie tried to steal earlier. I concentrated on that and held my hand out. It flew right into my palm.

  Dixon sat up.” Very cool.” I smiled proud.

  “And handy,” Cameron said, taking the brush to use on her hair. “Clearly we know they’re no match for Ella. So this shouldn’t be too hard to come up with a plan, right?”

  We all looked at each other and sat there trying to think of something, but kept coming up blank. “I’m sorry, but my mind is stuck on the fact that you and Mr. Callahan were getting your freak on,” Dixon said.

  “I’m glad to know you are both concerned for my wellbeing,” I said, getting up.

  Dixon got up and stood next to me. “Ella, I know what you went through was traumatic and trust me when I say we are both more than happy nothing really happened. But you can’t let it eat you up inside. Us joking about it is our way of dealing in hopes, that maybe, you will too?”

  “I know,” I said, knowing I had to get past this.

  “So what was it like?” he asked, not wasting time.

  “Is that all you guys think about?” They both nodded their heads. “It was good,” I shrugged.

  “Oh, come on,” Dixon said, giving me a dramatic head roll. “You were like this weren’t you,” he put both his hands on the door and stuck his butt out looking over his shoulder. “Mr. Callahan, no, don’t do that, oh no, oh wait yeah, oh no.” I laughed so hard I snorted. I pushed Dixon and he wrapped his arms around me, smiling.

  “You’re one of those girls who pretend to be all innocent, but really you’re a naughty little vixen, aren’t you.”

  “Stop it,” I said, feeling myself blush. I looked over at the clock and saw it was almost five. “Crap, I have to go. I have training in like ten minutes. We’re going to have to come up with an evil plot later.” I went into the bathroom to change again.

  “Hey, can we come and watch?” Dixon asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know if Gabe would like that.”

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” Cameron said. I was sure he wouldn’t, but I knew I would. Not seeing a way around it, I let them come with to the gym. We ran into Dean and Sienna on the way and they joined us as well.

  Just great.

  When we got to the gym, Gabe and Billy were already warming up. Gabe looked at his watch as I approached. “I’m not late,” I said, running up to him.

  He looked over at the bleachers, noticing my friend’s piling up. “What’s with the audience?”

  “I told them it wouldn’t be a good idea but they insisted they come.”

  He nodded and walked over to them. “If you plan on staying then that means you plan to work,” he said. “No one comes to my sessions to watch. You have five minutes to change or get out.” He stood there with his arms crossed, waiting.

  I actually thought they would say no way and leave, but to my surprise they decided to stay. They are in for a world of hurt, I thought, smiling. Dean was the only one who declined, which wasn’t a surprise. “Actually Dean, I think you should stay. You could benefit from this. I have seen your handy work first hand and you could use some pointers.” Gabe smiled. I laughed knowing exactly what he was referring to – the bar fight. In Dean’s defense he was pretty drunk.

  “I didn’t want to show off, but if you insist,” he smiled cockily, heading into the locker room to change.

  “Roman you’re late, laps now. Ella you can join him while we wait for everyone else to get ready.”

  Great, why am I being punished too?

  Roman and I ran our laps side by side in silence. He didn’t even say one word to me. He barely even glanced in my general direction. This was starting to get ridiculous and I wanted to know what happened earlier. “Okay, so what’s up?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve been acting weird ever since Mackenzie came into the room and…”

  He stopped abruptly and I almost ran into him. “Look, Ella I…” he couldn’t even look me in the eye. “I don’t know how to say this but –”

  “I knew it. I freaked you out,” I interrupted.

  “No, it’s not that…” he finally looked up at me. “It’s just that –”

  “Ella, Roman, let’s go. Finish up,” Gabe shouted. I sighed as Roman closed his mouth and turned around to finish his laps. Why did this always happen?

  Gabe and Billy split us up into two groups. Roman, Dean, and I went with Billy while the rest joined Gabe. An hour later Gabe let my group rest while we watched his go up against each other. It was interesting to watch and sit on the sidelines. Since Sienna was so delicate and small they paired her up with Cameron, while Dixon went up against Dean. For a skinny boy Dixon was pretty ripped and put Dean to shame. When they were done, Gabe had me spar with Cameron and Roman with Dixon since he basically made a fool of Dean.

  I was impressed with how well Cameron was doing. I suggested she start taking some extra training sessions with us, but she said she preferred not to sweat so much. I laughed knowing how she felt, but I was used to it by now. “Alright, Dean and Ella, you two are next,” Gabe said as everyone else took a seat.

  I smiled big. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

  “Please li’l sis, I don’t care how many extra sessions you’ve had. You still won’t be able to beat me,” he taunted. I didn’t even wait for Gabe to say go. I just attacked catching Dean off guard. “That’s not fair. I wasn’t ready,” he said, backing away.

  “Excuses, excuses, just admit you know I’m better than you,” I said.

  “Never,” he shouted, attacking. He hit me in my side and I clenched my stomach, faking I was hurt. “Ella, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

  I turned and socked him in the gut and then knocked him on his back. “Never underestimate the power of a girl,” I said, gloating. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me down to the floor. “Hey!” I yelled, kicking him. He slapped my arm and I hit him back.

  “Alright you two, enough,” Gabe said, sounding like our dad. We both got up and when Gabe wasn’t looking, Dean tripped me. I stumbled but quickly caught myself before I fell. I smacked him on the back of the head. This proceeded to turn into another fight that ended with me in a headlock.

  “Alright, back to business now. Ella and Billy, show them how it’s done.”

  I smiled big, knowing I no longer had to hold back. Everyone sat on the bleachers watching and cheering us on. After weeks training with Billy and months with Gabe I was able to keep pace with him. I even knocked him down. I put my arms up like Rocky, jumping up and down as my friends cheered. I then noticed Cameron was leaning close to Sienna with her hand covering her ear and whispering something to her.

  “Alright, you got me once, but you won’t the second time,” Billy said, getting up. We went at it again and this time Billy was
putting everything he had into it. I almost couldn’t keep up with him.

  “Ella and Mr. Callahan,” Sienna blurted out loud. Shocked, I turned to look at her taking my eyes off of my opponent. This ended with me missing the block on Billy’s punch. He hit me square in the eye, knocking me on my behind.

  “Ella?” Billy said. When I opened my eyes everyone was standing over me. Billy helped me up. “Are you okay?”

  I put my hand up to my eye which was throbbing. “How bad does it look?” I asked, pulling down my hand.

  “How about we get you some ice,” Cameron suggested. I knew it must be pretty bad.

  I looked around the room and noticed someone was missing. “Where is Roman?”

  “He was just here a minute ago,” Sienna said.

  “Yeah, until you opened your big mouth,” I thought. I left everyone in the gym and ran out to find him. “Roman!” I called to him down the hall, but he didn’t stop. I sprinted to catch up to him and grabbed his arm to stop him. “Roman, please stop.”

  “You lied to me,” he said, turning on me. “You told me nothing happened between you and Mr. Callahan.”

  “Nothing did happen,” I said.

  “Stop lying!” he yelled. “I overheard Cameron tell Sienna everything.”

  “Did you also hear the part how Mackenzie put a spell on us,” I snapped. The look on his face said he didn’t. “That’s your problem. You only hear what you want to. I don’t even know why I thought that maybe you were different. But no, you’re just like any other jealous guy.” Before I could even react, he took me in his arms and kissed me. I was so caught off guard I almost lost my balance. I had to pull myself away just so I could breathe.

  We stood there for a moment, panting and looking into each other’s eyes. “Roman I…I’m confused?” I said.

  “Confused?”

  “Well, I was under the impression you thought when we kissed in my room, it was a mistake and that’s why you were acting so weird.”

  “No,” he shook his head smiling. “I was acting so weird because that kiss was amazing.” Okay now I was even more confused. “I never felt that way before and I got scared. I wasn’t expecting that and I kind of panicked and took off.”