Tales of Aradia: The Last Witch

by Magnum Opus

  What Ross had meant was in addition, to Aradia's "summoning" power which is what she basically called the white light that she used to find lost objects, and heal wounds. Aradia had brief psychic flashes of the future and by touching an object she could relive the last hour of what had happened to that object like how a stolen wallet came to be found in another kid's gym locker which is actually how she discovered that power in the first place. She could also reach into people's minds something that she didn't really do too often because she considered it to be rude. She could also control all the ancient elements like fire, water, earth, air in addition to metal and wood; conjuring it out of nothing and twist or manipulate it into any shape or form to suit her needs.

  Her parents had told her a long time ago at Aradia's insistence the story of how they found her. After hearing this story in addition to discovering her powers Aradia had pushed her parents away from her, and started acting out. But all the while she done this she had either tried to pretend her powers were nonexistent or exploit them. But by doing this she also almost gotten one of her very few friends killed!

  This had been a slap in the face for Aradia. Luckily, her friend had lived with no permanent damage but Aradia had plunged herself into the darkness of depression. But thanks to Aradia's parents who had stayed by her side the entire time she had been able to recover. Ross and Liza had continued to love and support her the entire time she had been beating herself up about what had happened to her friend. Eventually, they had been able to convince her that what had happened was not her fault. Ironically, Aradia was glad that the accident had happened for it had not only taught her some responsibility with her powers but helped to repair Aradia's relationship with her parents. It had made Aradia realize that although her powers were what made her feel so isolated from everyone; there was really nothing she could do about it. No matter how much she wished it so, her powers never went away, and she could not turn her back on them. She had to use them properly and for the right reasons, which is what she did from that point on. She helped her father solve crimes of domestic dispute, fix valuable things like family vases after they had been smashed, heal people and so on so forth. Still despite finally accepting herself for everything she was, in the back of Aradia's mind she wanted to know why she was like this.

  But for now Aradia's main focus was her first day of school, and with one last "good luck firecracker have a nice day!" from her father, Aradia started towards Salem High School. It looked very similar to almost every other school in America. It was built out of a mixture of brick, metal, plaster, and marble. The school's name was in bold red letters near the roof establishing not only its notability but its notoriety as well. It was big with blackened windows that made Aradia wonder if having windows that could only be looked out of and not into was a requirement for the schools in the United States. The school itself seemed pretty isolated but it was equipped with the usual football, and track field which promised large amounts of crowds on the campus on select days. According to Aradia's tour guide the high school had the usual facilities that came with every high school: a computer lab, classrooms, an assembly hall, gym, and a library. But the one thing that definitely set the school apart was the black logo of a witch riding on a broomstick with a crescent moon in the background that seemed to be on every part of the school like the hallway leading into the building, the cafeteria, lockers, and walls.

  However, no matter what sort of logo the school had or how big it was; there was one thing about it that made the school the same as every other one in America: confusing room numbers with maze-like hallways that made newcomers not only hopelessly lost but also tempted to grab the biggest stick they could find and whack themselves unconscious. But in spite of its strong appeal the students knew that no teacher would accept such behavior as an excuse for missing class so still Aradia had to hold her map in her hands, scratch her head, and pray to God she would get to class on time. Luckily, her father's timing at dropping her off had been perfect for the students were just leaving from their homerooms with their class schedules and were already on their way to their first classes.

  Aradia was too distracted to notice the student’s reactions to her. Indeed most of the students did not notice her for it was a very large school filled with tons of students. All with faces that could easily melt in the crowd but then there were other students in hallway that seemed to turn and stare at Aradia as if she was some visiting princess from a far away land. Aradia looked up from her map to see how some of the kids seemed fixated on her not with repulsion or revulsion but with fascination. Needless to say, Aradia started to feel a bit freaked. However, she had to admit seeing lots and lots of cute tall guys looking at her intensely were flattering. What was worrying to her was the fact that the girls seemed to be staring the very same way as the guys with wide intense eyes as if they were staring straight into the sun and seeing something that none of them had ever seen before. But what was truly weird was that there was only certain amount of the students who seemed to be staring at her. Some of the kids who appeared to be ordinary slammed their lockers and chatted with their friends without taking a moment's glance at Aradia but then right next to them there would be people whom seemed a bit too beautiful to be real and they would be staring at her intensely. Is it just me or is this school seriously weird? Aradia asked herself as she heard the bell ring and quickly scuttled down the hallway trying to avoid and forget the stares of the students.

  "Who is that?" Saul whispered to his commander: Keon The two of them stood next to the lockers, both wearing black, standing aloof from the rest of the student body. Keon was leaning against the lockers and Saul was standing on his right. Keon shrugged and said, "I don't know. I have never seen her before." "She must be new," Saul continued on. "She smells like she is of the hidden race. I can tell even from all the way over here. But she doesn't like a vampire, or werewolf, or a even fae.." Keon said observing her. "Maybe she is shape shifter?" Saul suggested. Keon shook his head rejecting that theory. "Shape shifters can only change their outside form not their scent," he explained, "and she definitely does not smell like a shape shifter." "Smells pretty damn good though," Saul said with a crude smile. Keon glanced at Saul and chuckling softly he turned back to look at Aradia. Keon kept studying her as she glanced this way and that looking like a lost kid which technically she was. Finally Keon muttered, "maybe I should report this to the master." Saul looked at him quickly, "are you sure? She maybe something strange but I don't think it's necessary to notify the master yet. He might order her killed..." "Probably," Keon interrupted, "but who cares? We have a duty to perform to the master. He instructs us to report all strange activity the moment we see it." "Technically she only smells strange," Saul argued but Keon brushed his protests away. "It matters not Saul," Keon persisted, "we have a duty to the master. Tonight I will shift into my bat form and travel to the master's castle to report to him." Saul looked crestfallen, seeing him like this made Keon took pity on him so he added, "while I am gone I want you to keep an eye on her." In spite of those being his instructions it disturbed Keon a little seeing the way Saul's eyes lit up. "But remember," Keon pointed out, "you are not to touch her, look at her, anything without our master's instructions. Understand Saul?" Saul nodded eagerly all the while fastening his eyes upon Aradia and slowly licking his fangs with his tongue.

  Thankfully, Aradia managed to find her first class without a hitch. She quickly found a chair in the back, and proceeded to pull out her school supplies and textbook. But it was as the teacher got up from her desk and introduced herself that Aradia began to look around that was when she noticed someone. A very handsome pale boy with long dark wavy brown hair curling down to his shoulders. He had a clean shaven pale face, and a very attractive muscular body. He was wearing a buttoned up purple shirt, light blue jeans, black boots, and had what seemed to be a real Rolex on his right wrist. My God he is so hot! Aradia thought, hell I didn't know boys could even be so hot looking ! In fact, he is so
handsome that he almost seems too hot to be real. It's like he's some teenage girl fantasy come to life. Aradia snorted to that thought but then proceeded to take a second look at the boy. She noticed that his skin was way too smooth it had no scars, moles, freckles or anything not even one blemish on his arms or neck and face. His hair was perfectly in place with no stray hairs on his shirt, no weird streaks of color, gray or anything else. In fact his hair seemed so perfectly long and brown that it looked like a chocolate waterfall from Willy Wonka. He seemed way too perfect, too flawless. It's almost as if, Aradia paused and her breathing becoming much more heavier as she pondered the only remaining possibility of how the boy could be so hot, it's almost as if he's just like me!

  Just then the boy turned his head to look directly at Aradia. She quickly diverted her eyes, and covered her face with her hand, looking embarrassed. But the boy seemed to be flattered by Aradia's attentions and smiled at her displaying a row of perfect pearl white teeth that Aradia had never seen before. He also gave her the chance to take a longer, harder look at his face, which she noticed was eerily flawless with no traces of pimples, or pimple scars, sweat, freckles, or anything whatsoever! How weird, Aradia thought, how very weird indeed. The boy raised his hand to give her a tiny wave, which Aradia eagerly responded to in kind. After class the boy hung around and said to Aradia, "you're new around here?" Aradia chuckled and replied, "Is it that obvious?" "No," the boy responded, "believe it or not you hide it remarkably well." "Wish I could say the same about my bad grades," said Aradia. The boy laughed and said, "I'm Tristan, but you can call me 'Tristan' what's your name?" "Aradia." He raised an eyebrow and said, "That’s an interesting name." "Yeah, so it suits me just fine don't it?" said Aradia. He laughed again and then said, "So what you got after this?" Aradia dug out her schedule and replied, "Gym and English 101 and then I have lunch." "Well being a freshman, and a new student you're liable to get lost you know." Aradia scowled and said, "Don’t remind me." "Actually, I rather escort you to your next class if you don't mind," said Tristan holding out his arm to Aradia. Aradia, who was totally taken back, nevertheless replied, "Why sure I'd love to!" However, the moment she grasped Tristan's arm she felt a swift cooling feeling rush over her body like an ocean wave. This is what would happen when one of her psychic flashes or "medium moments" which she liked to call them occurred. In her medium moment she saw Tristan leading her down the hall, a door opening, and him shoving her into the room that the door was concealing and since Aradia had full control over her moments she could move around and see exactly what room Tristan had shoved her into. The sign on the door read in bold black letters "boy’s locker room." Aradia, completely aghast, tore her hand off of Tristan's arm who just stood there gaping, "what? What is it Aradia?" Aradia glared maliciously at him and spat out, "you know? For someone whose apparently 'hot' you're actually one cold son of a bitch!" She then turned on her heel, and stalked off.

  Chapter Five

  By the time Aradia had changed for gym she was seeing red. What had happened earlier with Tristan was not just mean it was discouraging and frustrating. She thought that this school was going to be exactly like the previous one where she would be picked on, isolated, and alone. As cheesy as it sounded to her, Aradia knew that all she really wanted was a friend. A friend she could trust and talk to and would not treat her like she was crap. It had been the one thing she wanted but it seemed like it was going to be the one thing she could not have.

  The race track for gym was where she first saw him. He was a tall, Latino boy, with a small black goatee flexing his muscles getting ready to run the track. Aradia stared at him in awe for just like Tristan he was unbelievably hot. He was muscular, with flawless tanned skin, a charming smile, and short black hair that sparkled in the sunlight from his perspiration. He had strong great looking arms, and as he was talking to some friends he laughed throwing his back head dramatically, which Aradia thought made him look extremely sexy. He walked up to the beginning of the track and as Aradia continued to stare she heard the PE teacher shout, "Preston get over here!" She jumped up, ran over and said, "Yes Sir Mr. Metz?" "Laps today," he barked, "get to the track with Roy." "Okay!" Aradia ran over to where the boy was standing and grinned sheepishly at him. He, in turn, just gave her a cold stare and Aradia figured that this was probably going to be more proof that she was never going to have friends of her own. However, once she and Roy took off running she realized that Roy was a really good runner, taking off like a shot and flying down the track like an eagle after its prey. However, as Roy sped down the track Aradia got the impression that he thought this was not going to be much of a challenge and she decided to prove him wrong. Aradia was really into running as well she was fast and she was good.

  Roy was tearing up the track running as fast as he could but Aradia was right at his heels looking just as intense and as into it as he was. They raced on the track so intensely that everyone else in the class stopped what they were doing to stare at them. They were expecting one of them to slow down or get tired but neither one of them seemed to do so. Aradia was really enjoying herself, feeling the wind and sunshine hit her face, her mind going clear because of the adrenaline, the intensity of her foot bouncing from one to the other making her feel like she was flying. Roy stared over at her as she smiled taking in the enjoyment rather than the competitiveness in the race. He slowly started to grin for no one had ever given him a challenge. But now in front of his very eyes this weak-looking little redheaded girl was beginning to show him up!

  The bell rang ending class and that is when Roy and Aradia finally did stop running. They both doubled up and started gasping for air. After a while Roy straightened up, stared at Aradia and said, "you're new around here?' Aradia groaned and muttered, "So I am told." Roy grinned, held out his hand and said, "I am Roy, which is short for Reynaldo." "Aradia," came the response and a hand to match it. They shook hands until Roy said, "you got a pretty firm grip for a girl." "Uh...thanks" said Aradia. "So..." Roy trailed off eager to start a conversation but not knowing how. "You're a pretty fast runner," Aradia remarked, "you on the track team?" "Nah. I am not that into competitive stuff." "Oh thank God for that," Aradia chuckled. They picked up their things and as they were walking back to their separate locker rooms Roy turned and said, "Which lunch do you have?" "First why?" Aradia asked raising an eyebrow."I got that lunch as well," said Roy grinning, "Maybe we'll see each other." "Hope so!" said Aradia. "Well see you" said Roy as he walked into the boy’s locker room. Aradia giggled and as she changed into her regular clothes she thought to herself, maybe moving here wasn't such a bad idea after all.

  Chapter Six

  As usual the class started off with an introduction to the curriculum and the teacher explaining what the class was going to be like. Aradia was happy when she got there not just because she loved English class but because she had just made a new friend: Roy. She was feeling quite empowered and turned to look at the girl next to her and was wondering if she should try making friends with her as well. "Rhonda!" came a loud voice from the front class and the girl turned to look at the teacher who then promptly asked her, "what chapter in Anne of Green Gables is entitled Rachel Lynde is Surprised?" Everyone turned to look at the poor girl who had just been called on. Aradia observed the girl freezing up and she realized that she (Rhonda) had no idea what the teacher was talking about. Aradia decided to be merciful, picked up her copy of the book, and flipped quick as a flash to the asked-for chapter. She then tapped lightly on the page to get the girl's attention. Rhonda did notice this but hesitated reluctant to trust someone she barely knew but upon realizing she had no choice she said, “Chapter 1." The teacher smiled and said, "Excellent" and turned to the board to write something down. Rhonda breathed a deep sigh of relief and whispered, "thank you." "No problem," Aradia replied. "Reading books like that have never been my strong suite I am more of Star Wars book series fan," Rhonda explained then blushed after realizing what she had just admitted. "Yes well to each his own I
always say," replied Aradia, "and besides 100 years ago the only book around was the bible. Nowadays, I am just thankful to have options." Rhonda laughed, causing everyone to look at her and making her blush again. Aradia chuckled and tossed her head to look at the teacher but then came a knock at the door. The teacher grunted in annoyance as he went to open the door and in walked the most handsome boy Aradia had ever seen! More handsome than Tristan and Roy put together! He was tall, had wavy blonde hair, deeply pale skin that almost looked like snow, a gorgeous smile with a dimple in his cheek, and eyes that looked so brown that they were almost black. Aradia's mouth dropped open as she gazed at him adoringly taking in every bit of the sight of his strong looking body, high cheekbones, dark green polo shirt and light blue jeans with brown loafers. He sauntered into the class, and said "sorry I am late Mr. O'Dell. I was...sick this morning." Mr. O'Dell groaned, which Aradia noticed is what every teacher usually did whenever they heard an excuse. Nevertheless, he muttered, "Well at least you're here now. Now please go sit down." The boy nodded, walked to his seat and sat down. He did this in a only few seconds but in Aradia's mind it was in slow-motion like watching a runway model or the scenes from romance films where the woman falls in love at first sight. Aradia was completely entranced and stared at him utterly bewitched at how handsome he was. Strangely, as the boy took out his school supplies he started sniffing the air around him like there was a weird smell in the room, following the scent; he turned to look right at Aradia whose heart stopped. He looked at her and she froze. She neither acknowledged him, turned away or anything she just froze. The boy gave a little wave to her but when Aradia did not respond (or couldn't) he turned around to face the teacher. "Who is that?" Aradia asked Rhonda. "Who?" "The boy that just walked in" explained Aradia. "Oh him that's Beau Dayton. His dad is a hematologist and works at the hospital. I think he's a sophomore." "He's..."Aradia stammered, "magnificent." Rhonda grinned.