by Jones, L. A.
Chapter Thirteen
"What do you mean you are not worried?" Melina shouted at Tristan.
After texting Roy, his best advice to her was gathering everyone after school at the diner and telling them what she saw. Melina had waited anxiously through out the rest of the day. In between her classes, she texted Tristan, Titania, Felix, and Rhonda. Roy and his brothers would already be at the diner by the time everyone gathered.
An hour later was when everyone arrived. They dragged chairs from the other tables and formed a circle. Melina was the only one was standing. She stood in the center, looking at all of them, her nerves stretched almost to the breaking point. She then told them about seeing Aradia ditching school to go off with a guy on a motorcycle. At first, the group reaction was denial and then worry. Tristan, however, had interrupted and confused everyone by stating that he was not worried about this turn of events. Needless to say, Melina was shocked and confused. Tristan then sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"I am not worried," he explained, "because this is Aradia we are talking about here. She is the most good natured, well intentioned, and selfless person I know. She took the rap for me when I was about to be arrested during her freshman year. She throws free parties to promote tolerance among the hidden races for Christ's sake. How much can she possibly change?"
Melina sighed heavily. "I think you are forgetting that she has recently had her heart broken, she has stopped throwing the parties, she was raped, and has repeated her junior year in high school."
"What's your point?" Tristan asked callously.
Melina took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke, "my point she has been through a lot lately. She's very vulnerable at this moment."
"Vulnerable?" Tristan snorted, "she's the last witch! She can do all kinds of things..."
"I meant emotionally vulnerable you idiot," Melina snapped, "just because she can control things like fire does not mean she can control her own emotions."
Tristan sighed heavily at this point and glanced away.
A thick pause passed before someone spoke. It was Rhonda who broke the silence by asking, "what should we do?"
At first, Melina was enthusiastic about finally being taking seriously. Her enthusiastic expression however melted at Rhonda's question.
Tristan noticed Melina's hesitation and said, "look the fact of it is we know Aradia is acting weird but there is really nothing we can do about it. We don't know where she is or who she is with. Furthermore, she's being avoiding us for the last two months so why the hell would she listen to us?!"
"Just what are you saying exactly?" Melina demanded while crossing her arms.
"What I am saying is this," Tristan as he finally stood up and faced down Melina. "Aradia maybe going nuts but there is jack shit we can do about it." He then reached for his coat to sling over his shoulder. Titania followed at his heels.
He did stop, however, to look over his shoulder and add, "besides this is Salem how much trouble can she get into here?"
Aradia racked her brain, trying to think of an excuse for skipping school. At least an excuse that could convince her parents not to punish her.
"You know what I find hilarious?" Saul asked.
Aradia shook her head. "What?"
"The fact that you have so many unfounded fears."
Aradia looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Saul groaned loudly. "Unfounded fears are fears that have absolutely no basis in fact whatsoever."
"I know what unfounded fears mean," Aradia snaps, "what I mean is...well what do you mean I have unfounded fears?"
Saul sighed. "What part of having incredible powers over all the elements don't you seem to understand?"
"huh?"
"Oh for Christ's sake Aradia," Saul cried, "you can do anything whenever you want to do it. You can have anything as well. You shouldn't have to answer to a couple of humans."
Aradia's eyes narrowed. "Those 'humans' happen to be my parents."
"Yeah I know," Saul said, "but that doesn't meant you have to answer to them."
"What?"
"Think about it," Saul explained, "you are the most powerful hidden on the planet. All the vampires, werewolves, faes, and other hidden races fear you. Why the hell should you be afraid of your father punishing you? What can he really do to you? Hit you? Beat you? You're ten times stronger than him. You could break him in five different ways without any problem."
"He could ground me..." Aradia started but Saul interrupted, "so? How is he going to enforce that? You could just control the metal elements in the house to make all the locks unable to lock. How is he going to force you to stay home? How can he force you to even go to school? The truth is he can't. He's neither physically nor emotionally strong to make you."
Aradia had been listening to Saul explanation with fascination. She hung her head low, staring at the ground with her mouth and eyes wide open.
She tried to find an argument to Saul's reasoning. "But what if my father kicks me out?"
Aradia had heard and seen that happen to other kids. Whether it was a good household or not, if the kid didn't agree with their parents they were thrown out like trash. Sometimes it taught them a lesson, but in every occasion it left a terrible aftermath.
Saul, however, didn't seem to think so because he just shrugged and said, "so what if he does?"
"Hello?" Aradia snapped, "where would I go?"
Saul tried to make it seem as casual as possible when he suggested, "you could come live with me."
Aradia rolled her eyes in sarcasm.
"how would I support myself hmm? Get a job?" Aradia inquired further, "it's almost impossible to get one without a high school diploma."
"Who says you need a job?" said Saul.
"Oh the same people who says I need food and a bed," Aradia snapped.
"What I mean is with your powers you don't need a job. You can just take whatever you want."
Aradia's eyes grew even wider. "You mean stealing?"
"Yeah," Saul stated bluntly.
Before Aradia could voice her furious protests, Saul rushed on with his explanation. "Think about it Aradia. Your powers can make security cameras explode, you can melt bullets before they even touch you, and so much more. You would never have to worry about money. You would never have to worry about anything. The best part is with your powers, you would probably never get caught, and even if you did there is no way in hell they could ever prosecute you. They would have no proof at least no proof that anyone would ever believe."
Aradia tried to argue with Saul, but her attempts only ended in small gasps. Suddenly, her phone went off. Aradia then dove into her pocket and pulled it out. It was a text message that read 'young lady come home now!' in caps. Aradia didn't need to see the number to know who it was from. The yelling she had gotten from her father the last time was still echoing in her ears. She was in no hurry to rush back home and get another.
Saul noticed her barely concealed anguish and put two fingers to her chin and lifted it up. "Look, if you do change your mind," he paused to fish a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Here is my number."
There was a thick almost romantic pause that passed between Saul and Aradia. Until finally, Saul clapped and rubbed his hands together. "C'mon let's get you home," he said, enthusiastically.
Aradia, however, was less than eager or enthusiastic.
Chapter Fourteen
She knew it was futile, but Aradia did try to sneak into the house without her parents knowing. She first attempted to sneak in through the window. As quietly as she could, Aradia jumped high into the air and landed on the roof of the deck. She squatted and slowly made her way up. The entire time she gripped onto the shingles, to steady herself.
Come to think of it, Aradia thought to herself, I actually have been using my powers excessively today.
She was referring to the fact that when Saul was showing her the books some of them happened to be on her summoning power. Out
of all the things she could do, Aradia could honestly say her "summoning" ability was her favorite. According to the book, the ability to "summon" things was the root of all the hidden witches' power. Best of all, the book detailed about further things she could do with the "summoning." Things such as summoning a ball of light into her hand that would show her visions of whatever she wanted. It was as if she could create a crystal ball out of thin air. After practicing five or six times with Saul, Aradia was now able to do all this with a just a flick of her wrist. This was how Aradia was able to discover the perfect time and the perfect way to sneak into her house.
What she hadn't been able to see was the fact that her window had been nailed shut from the inside. She supposed that she could use her power to make all the nails levitate from the window frame. However, there seemed to be more than a dozen nails on the frame. Using her power over metal was easy in small doses like getting a lock to unlock itself. Using it all to lift a dozen nails at once, there was no telling what it would do to her energy. There was a possibility that it would drain her and cause her to fall right off the roof!
Aradia figured she could use her brute strength to open the window, but that would inevitably make noise. If she broke the glass that would make noise too and get her father even more angry at her. Never mind that Aradia could fix the broken glass with a couple of snaps from her fingers. Her father would force her to clean up the glass manually to teach her a lesson. Maybe even make her pay for it.
She sighed heavily, and then back flipped onto the ground. She stared up at the house, trying to deduce another way in. Finally, her eyes fell upon the back door. She chuckled to herself, doubting that she could ever be that lucky. Nevertheless, she reached for the door knob and turned it. Aradia was amazed to discover that it was unlocked and she could open it. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, as quietly as she could Aradia slipped in. She tiptoed as fast as she could to the staircase but she had barely reached for the banister when the lights came on.
A familiar male voice followed that said, "you didn't really believe it would be that easy did you?"
Aradia cringed with the sinking knowledge that she had been set up. Slowly, she turned to face her father. Her mother was sitting on the couch, looking as if she wanted nothing more than to race upstairs. Oddly though, whenever Ross yelled at Aradia he always insisted that Liza be there to watch. It had been that way since Aradia was a child, and she doubted that the pattern would stop now.
For a few tense filled moments, no one moved. Until Ross pointed to the couch, indicating where Aradia was suppose to sit. She dragged her feet to the spot and sat down slowly. She hung her head so low that it looked as if her forehead was touching the floor.
Ross took a deep breath. "It's bad enough that you repeated your junior year in high school but to find out that now in your senior year you are ditching school. I mean dear God Aradia, do you want to get rejected by every college in America? Do you want to throw away your future? Do you have any idea what you are doing to yourself? Do you even care?! I am getting sick and tired of you messing up. Your mother and I are trying but we can't do this all on our own. You have to help us Aradia. You need to be motivated. You need to understand that everything we are doing is for you. Just because you are going through a bad break-up with your stupid boyfriend is no reason for you to throw away your future. You cannot act like this Aradia! Your mother and I try so damn hard to give you everything but you keep...."
While her father ranted on and on, Aradia tried to keep her mind focused on his words but somehow Saul's word managed to drift into her subconscious. Words such as that she was so physically strong that she didn't have to take verbal abuse from her father. She was powerful enough to make her own path. She didn't really need school because her abilities were enough to keep her going. She tried mentally arguing against such things but her father yelling at her was making it hard.
"Goddamnit Aradia! I am talking to you!"
Aradia raised her head obediently, and stared at her father's flaming red face. He took a deep breath before saying, "I swear to God Aradia, maybe if you actually listened to your mother and I you wouldn't be such a failure!"
Something snapped in Aradia like never before. "A failure?"
"You repeated your junior year, your grades are slipping, you have no job, and you don't have a driver's license. Hell! You don't even have a learner's permit! If you had listened to me in the first place, you wouldn't have gotten caught up in the hidden world and actually have a chance at a normal life."
"Normal," Aradia cried, "normal? Normal?! Just what the hell is normal to you anyway?"
"Normal means having a normal life Aradia."
"In case you didn't realize this Dad, I am not normal!"
Ross's eyes flew open. He had never heard Aradia yell like that. She was now on her feet and staring straight at him.
"I am not normal Dad," Aradia repeated, "I have never been normal. I have psychic flashes, I can use all the elements of the natural world and bend them to my own will, and I can tackle someone out of a third story window! I am not normal Dad! I am sorry but I am not! I will never be normal. I cannot be normal. I will never try to be something I am not. You may enjoy lying to yourself but I don't. I cannot lie about who I really am. I am not a liar! I am not normal! I am not human!"
Aradia breathed heavily after finishing while her parents looked on her in astonishment. To avoid their gazes, Aradia turned her head. "And I am through pretending to be," she muttered.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Ross inquired.
"It means," Aradia sighed, "that I am dropping out of school! I am not going to college. I am not going to live amongst the humans. I am not going to keep pretending!"
Liza gasped and covered her mouth with her hand while her husband exploded. "What?! You will do no such thing! You are not dropping out of school!"
"Oh yes I am!" Aradia shouted.
"If you drop out of school then you can forget about living here! You can just get the hell out of this house!"
Aradia threw her head back and laughed. "Oh Daddy, I thought you would never say that!"
Her father and her mother both grew pale.
"What?" Ross asked. His voice sounding like a breathless scream. "What do you mean?"
Aradia inhaled a deep breath through her nose, straightened her shoulders, and looked him straight in the eye. "It mean I am leaving Dad. I am leaving this house and I am not coming back!"
She then spun on her heel and began to walk towards the door. Ross recovered from his shock in time for him to rush forward. "Aradia, wait!"
As soon as his hand landed on her shoulder, Aradia turned and punched her father in the face! He flew across the room and crashed into a bookshelf. His hand went straight to his nose, which was already dripping with blood. Liza rushed to the side of her husband just as he slid down on to the floor. The moment she got there, Ross groaned to reveal a piece of wood sticking out of his shoulder. They both stared at each other and then cast their wounded eyes at their daughter. If they were hoping that it would convince Aradia to stay they were sorely disappointed because she was already out the door.
Chapter Fifteen
True to his word, Saul gave Aradia a place to stay. He told her that she could stay as long as she wanted. He didn't even insist that she get a job or anything.
"Hey you are cute that's reward enough for me," was his only explanation.
Aradia laughed and then stared down at her coffee. She looked into the black liquid whose color unintentionally reminded her of the bookcase.
The one I punched my father into, Aradia thought wincing. She still couldn't believe that she had actually done that; she had actually hit her father! She knew she had been angry, but she hadn't meant to do that. Her entire life, the only form of discipline she had received was her father yelling at her. It didn't seem like much but it did bother Aradia. She hated being criticized because it happened to her so often. Therefore, it was pretty
obvious that Aradia did not relish being yelled at.
However, being able to strike back at her father did indeed give Aradia a horrible feeling of guilt but it also gave her a sick rush of excitement. As if she was a victim of abuse who finally struck back at her abuser. She couldn't really call her father that though because in spite of all his scoldings she knew he loved her.
After tonight though, Aradia thought bitterly, I bet that has changed.
But he asked for it, Aradia inwardly argued, if he hadn't called me a failure I wouldn't have been so angry. He shouldn't have yelled at me like that. He shouldn't try to boss me around like the way he always does. If he only he understood how much crap I had been going through. If only he tried to understand but he never does. He never tries! My entire life, I have always been the one trying to do everything with nothing to show for my efforts but criticism. Well! I have had enough of it.
She clenched her fists. I am sick and tired of letting people boss me around. I am sick of them hurting me. For once, I want to make them hurt. I want to make them feel every ounce of pain I have ever felt,
"What's wrong?" Saul asked.
Aradia rose her head up slowly and tensely. "What's wrong? What's wrong?! I will tell you what is wrong!" She shot up to her feet and began to pace in front of the kitchen. After a couple of paces, she stopped and turned to face Saul.
"I am sick," she said, "and I am tired! I am sick and I am tired of trying to play the good girl, the peacekeeper, and the good student when no one is every impressed with my efforts. No matter what I do it is never enough. No matter how many parties I throw, nothing will ever change in the hidden world. No matter how hard I try to be a good person, people will still hurt me. I am sick and I am tired of it all! I am tired of getting hurt! I am tired of it all!"
"So what do you want to do about it?" Saul asked casually. As if none of Aradia's words frightened him in the least.
Aradia didn't notice so she just on went to say, "I want people to respect me. I want people to understand that they can't hurt me and get away with it!"