by A Lonergan
A miniature writing desk took up space in front of the lace curtains covering the windows. The windows stretched from floor to ceiling and overlooked the garden below. Across the room was a dresser that had a spacious mirror hanging over it. I rubbed my eyes. I had never been in such a magnificent room before.
“Wow,” I swallowed hard and tried to make sense of everything happening to me.
“This can be your room, that is, if you like it.” Ayre winked at me. “It's pretty great, isn’t it?”
I nodded unable to form words for just how amazing this all was. It had to be a dream. Then it occurred to me that there was still a woman out there, searching for me. A woman that had known my name and was trying to harm me. “What about the woman that was coming after me?”
Ayre gave me a frown. “I don’t know who she was. I’m waiting for Camey Master’s to get home and we’ll figure it out then. I wish I had more answers for you.” She touched my shoulder affectionately. “We will go get your things tomorrow. Go ahead and rest. I’m sure you’re physically and emotionally exhausted after all the things that have happened today.”
Ayre disappeared through the doors, and I didn’t mind. She was right, my mind was reeling, and I wasn’t sure where to make sense of any of it. The curtains on the doors blew around in the breeze, and for once, I didn’t mind the heat in the end of May. Another day, I would have slammed the doors closed and blasted the A/C. I was not one for the humidity but today didn’t seem to be too bad.
I took a deep breath. What was I doing here? I had blindly followed Ayre through all of this and hadn’t stopped to really think. I set my backpack on the small dresser and gasped at my reflection in the mirror. I was indeed glad that the compound had been empty, that was for sure.
My strawberry blonde hair was ruffled around my head, and my new lavender eyes were wide in shock. I narrowed my eyes at my reflection, and for once in my life, I hoped my brown eyes would come back. My pale skin looked slightly flushed, but that wasn’t unusual with the Louisiana heat and humidity. I made my way to the large bed and pulled myself onto it.
What now?
I rested my chin on my palm and closed my eyes. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the next few hours would be a waiting game.
Chapter Two
I had realized that I had dozed off until a strange noise in the room had me sitting up straight in the bed. I rubbed my sleep filled eyes with my fist and tried to get them to adjust to the darkness. Something unfamiliar itched on my wrist, and just as I was about to scratch at it, the rustling in the corner of the room got louder. Then a giggle sounded. I rubbed my eyes again.
There were two people in the corner of the room, and they looked to be struggling, but I knew better. I heard another giggle and almost gagged. “I love the term ‘get a room’ but not when it is mine.” My voice was unwavering and stronger than usual. I didn't typically dare to stand up for myself.
That’s new.
“What the hell?” A deep voice timbered through the room. If he hadn’t been tangled up with someone else, I would have thought it to be attractive.
The body that belonged to the masculine voice waved his arm over his head, and the entire room was lit in a soft glow. The man stood up to his full height, and my eyes got wide. He was easily the most attractive man I had ever seen. He was wearing a dark navy suit; the bottom of his white shirt had come untucked during his tussle with the girl standing behind him. She was hastily trying to fix her short dress and the sleeves that had somehow come off of her arms.
The man was oddly staring at me, so I patted down my hair self consciously. I tended to be a wild sleeper.
“Ohhhh, Sterling! Her eyes are the same color as yours! Is she the sister you mentioned?” The woman screeched.
“No!” His voice boomed around the room, a little too loud!
The girl looked confused. She pulled on her blonde ponytail and cocked her head at me like an animal in thought. “Then why is she in your room?”
“That’s a great question!” Sterling folded his arms over his chest and hiked his eyebrows up. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his bulging muscles pressed against the sleeves of his suit. I didn’t understand how that could be comfortable, but I guessed it probably wasn’t for comfort.
“Ayre told me that I could stay in here.” I folded my arms over my chest in defiance.
“Ayre! Ayre! Of course! Ha.” He turned away from me and focused his eyes on the short girl beside him. “We will continue this later. I’ll call you.” He brushed a white strand of hair away from her face before turning back to me. “You can’t stay here, I hope you know that.”
I shrugged my shoulders. I was used to power struggled in my past foster homes. I pushed myself from the glorious bed and grabbed my new backpack before exiting the room.
“That’s it?” Sterling called from behind me. I was too new here to try to start a turf war. That wasn’t my style. I was the kind of girl that kept her head down and didn’t interfere. I didn’t bother replying. I probably didn’t belong here, to begin with. It was a never-ending cycle of being no one.
The courtyard was the only other area that I had been to, I found a wooden swing across the way and took residence there. It was comfortable and had a beautiful view of the star. They were about the only constant thing in my life.
“Oh my gosh, Sariah! Sariah!” A woman screamed from across the courtyard. “You’re back!”
The name was repeated several times more before I finally looked up to find the woman right in front of me staring. “Sariah?” Her voice dropped.
I frowned, confused. “I’m sorry, I think you have me confused with someone else.”
Tears were streaming down her tan face. She was beautiful and reminded me of Ayre. She had long brown wavy hair that hit her mind back. She was very curvy in all the right places even though she was much taller than me. “You look so much like her, it's uncanny.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and gave me a hesitant look. “Sariah was my best friend, and I haven’t seen her in a very long time.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that.” I pulled my bag closer to me and tried to get comfortable.
“Where are my manners? I’m Camey Master. I’m the high priestess of this coven. Are you passing through town and needing a place to stay?” Where her voice of hope had been, it was now replaced with a professional business quality that had probably taken her long time to perfect.
“I’m new to all of this, actually. I don’t really know where I belong. I’m Freya.” I looked at my lap before I saw a flash of concern cross Camey’s face. “What do you mean?” She found a spot beside me.
“I’m not entirely sure what I mean. Ayre saved my life. Apparently, I have magic and magic exists, and I don’t know what else is happening to me besides the rude guy that kicked me out of the room upstairs that Ayre gave me.” The words tumbled from my mouth at a speed I didn’t know I possessed.
“Ayre!” Camey’s voice cracked with power as it shook the compound. I shrunk back into the bench and tried to disappear.
“Yes, mom?” Ayre sounded bored as she rounded the corner. When she noticed me, she narrowed her eyes. “A magi chose her. I would have never brought her here if she hadn’t had one. I don’t know who is after her, but she needed a safe place and people that she can trust to teach her her god given gifts. Dark magic was being used, and we don’t need her falling into their hands now do we.”
“Why didn’t you call me, Ayre?” Camey’s voice had lost the fire it had had before and was softer now.
“There was so much going on, and I knew that Freya needed rest. It’s a lot for someone to take in, I would imagine. I figured tomorrow would be a better day to introduce her to the coven and her new life.” Ayre shrugged, nonchalantly.
Ayre took a seat on the other side of me and draped her arm over the back of the swing. Then she crinkled her nose and looked at me. “Speaking of rest, why aren’t you sleeping?”
I co
uld feel the heat taking over my face. I had already divulged that information to her mother, and now I felt even more embarrassing tattling again. “Uh,”
“You put her in my bed.” I startled hard at Sterling speaking from the shadows.
I wasn’t the only one startled. Camey had her hand at her throat. “Sterling! Manners, son!”
My mind was spinning. It almost made sense, but it didn’t. Why would Ayre have put me in Sterling’s room? Certainly, she knew where her brother slept. That was when I saw the resemblance between them. Sterling was tall like his mother and had darker skin like them. His hair was buzzed short, but I could just barely see that the color resembled both of theirs as well.
“Would you like to explain why you put her in your brother’s room?” Camey folded her arms over her chest and stood up from the swing.
“I figured it would be nice to shake things up a bit. I certainly didn’t think he would bring a girl home and that's how this would all play out.” Ayre winked at her brother before leaving her spot next to me. She didn’t turn back as Sterling let out a menacing growl.
“You pranked her last week, remember? You know you deserve it, but our new guest does not. We need to be gracious hosts. I know you don’t want to have another lecture about your female friends.” Camey looked to me with sympathy. “You can have Sterling’s room until further notice. Its better suited for you anyhow. Purple isn’t your color, Sterling.”
He scowled at his mother. “I don’t do much sleeping there anyway.” He winked at his mother as she walked away.
“You’re lucky to have her.” My voice came out in a whisper.
“Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?” His eyes shot daggers at me.
“I would do anything to have a mother. Belonging would be nice for once.” He had the audacity to roll his eyes at me. “I’m not sure what your problem is, you said it yourself, you don’t do much sleeping there anyway, I doubt it’ll be a permeant arrangement. In fact, I can’t wait to get as far away from you as possible.”
It wasn’t my fault all of this was happening to me. I didn’t deserve such a hateful person to come and muck it up even further. He tried to say something more, and I held my hand up. I didn’t have any interest in continuing the conversation. I bit my tongue as I walked back to Sterling’s room, trying to hold back tears. I wasn’t usually the sensitive one. Foster care had hardened me and prepared me for the real world, or so I had thought. Things like this didn’t typically get under my skin. I had had my fair share of bullies and abuse in the system, but there was just something about Sterling that got under my skin.
Chapter Three
Sterling
The nerve of that woman. She had been the one that had ruined my night. How dare she act that way toward me! I walked up the steps behind her. Her back was ramrod straight, and her head was held high. There was a part of me that felt guilty for being such a jerk to her, but the other part of me was too sexually frustrated to get out of my angry haze.
I took the room right next to mine and winked at her as she looked back at me before closing the door behind her. I had been shocked to find her in my bed. I had been so upset that she had interrupted my fun that I hadn’t realized I had an equally hot, if not more, woman in my bed. That was the only thing I regretted, a mad woman wasn’t going to jump in bed with you, and I had done it all wrong. Since when had my game gotten this bad?
I closed the doors behind and laid on the daybed pushed against the wall. I knew my bed was pushed against the same wall. Growing up we had many students in and out of the compound, I had learned really early how thin the walls were and where everything was located. Behind my clothes in the closet was a trap door, barely big enough to crawl through that led to this room. I had had my fair share of sneaking in and out of here to see girls and to defy my parents. I had given more scares than anything.
I stripped my suit coat off and threw it to the floor. There was no use in keeping it, there was a nice tear in the sleeve now from it being too small. I knew I should have gone up a size. I unbuttoned my white shirt and tossed it on top. I pushed the en-suite bathroom door open and grabbed a towel.
My shower was short, I was still angry, and the cold water was only making my nerves worse. I hadn’t thought of the fact that the new girl would need a shower too. Then I remembered that all my clothes were still in my room also and it made me even madder. That was when I remembered the hidden door again and listened to make sure she was settled in my bed first before I turned creeper. With my sisters pranking and the new girl next door, there was no way I was sleeping naked or in dirty clothes.
I pressed my ear against the wall and listened to her get comfortable in bed before there was silence. I decided it was my time to make my move. I crawled through the cubby hole, almost losing my towel in the process and tiptoed to the closet door. The only thing I needed from my actual room was my boxers, and I knew I could have gone without them, but curiosity drove me to open the door and gaze at the woman lying in my bed. The moon was shining through the lace curtains onto her bareback.
I gulped and tried not to think of her rolling over in her sleep. I kept my eyes on her as I made my way across the room to my dresser. I quickly got my pair of boxers out and tiptoed back across the room. Her fiery hair was spread out on the pillow around her like a halo. I hadn’t noticed her freckles before, but it made sense with her soft red hair. I closed the closet behind me and snagged a pair of pajama pants and a white t-shirt.
Chapter Four
Freya
I made Sterling's bed quickly. Not wanting to give him any more reasons to hate me. I then started to pace in front of the bed. I was wearing a pair of basketball shorts that I had found in the top drawer of the dresser and a white T-shirt from the closet. I felt terrible. This would definitely give Sterling fuel for his hatred fire. I paced and paced some more until finally there was a knock on the door. I hadn’t slept well at all and had been awake for hours staring at the worn wooden boards of the ceiling. I had dreamt that Sterling had come into the room and watched me sleep with hatred.
I was obviously being ridiculous, but the man unnerved me and possibly even frightened me. What guy that handsome wouldn’t be scary anyway?
Ayre pushed the doors open and immediately started laughing. “Oh, oh, this is great. Sterling is really going to hate me now.”
“Hate you? He’s going to hate me more!” I threw my hands into the air.
“He doesn’t hate you. He’s just a jerk.” Ayre shrugged her shoulders like it couldn’t be helped.
“I thought it was both.” I frowned.
“Nope, if he hated you he would have never let you sleep in his bed. I don’t care if our mother is the High Priestess, he would have raised hell. Literally.” She then grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the room. “But we need to hurry, he can’t see you-”
“Wow! Don’t those articles of clothing look familiar.” Sterling’s voice boomed behind us. I flinched, and of course, Ayre grinned. There was nothing like sibling rivalry, I imagined.
I started to apologize before Ayre interrupted me. “You don’t expect her to walk around here nude, do you?”
I was frozen and afraid to turn around then Sterling said something that made it impossible for me to face him. “That wouldn’t be so bad.” Heat traveled up my neck and into my face.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Ayre rolled hers. “Don’t be a cad. I’ll be sure to put her into some of my clothes then I’ll take her shopping.”
Shopping? Most of my clothes were in my car. I only needed my car.
“You would have to run that by me first, and you have not.” I finally turned around to see Sterling leaning against the iron railing wearing plaid pajama pants and a white T-shirt.
Ayre gave him a bored look. “That’s the coven’s money. You forget that I have my own.”
Sterling gave her an annoyed look before retreating into his bedroom. I was almost worried about my backpack unt
il I remembered that he practically hated me... why would he be interested in touching my things?
“Where did you last see your car?” Ayre waved me through a big oak door on the first story that led to a room fit for royalty.
“Woah, this is even better than Sterlings room.” I spun around. The bed pushed against the brick wall was even more significant than the one upstairs, and there was cream pinstripe wallpaper on the rest of the walls. A gold duvet covered the messy bed and pillows were littered everywhere. She then pulled me into a humongous walk-in closet. The shoes had their own wall.
She giggled at my expression. “Isn’t it grand? My mother has the best taste. I get my style from her. You could actually go shopping in both of our closets and not put a dent in them. We have too much, but sometimes there is that need.” She ran her hands down the length of some dresses. “Ya know?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t know. I’ve never really had anything nice. I owned mostly hand me downs from my friends that felt bad for me.”
Ayre’s face fell. “Are you serious?”
I nodded my head and ducked out of the closet, if she wanted me to wear something, she would have to pick it out. I was starting to feel overwhelmed again.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Ayre laid some dresses down beside me, and that was when I realized she was wearing a dress too, but her dress was lavender, and it matched her eyes. The ruffle sleeves barely covered her shoulders, and the hem touched her knees. Her sandals were modest and a simple nude.
“Talk about what?” I fingered the lace on pastel green dress and knew that I would never be able to afford such a thing.
“What you went through. Your childhood.” She bit the inside of her lip causing it to pucker in.
“There is nothing to talk about. I was poor, that’s about it. Nothing special.” I shrugged it off, I really didn’t want to talk about my past.