by A Lonergan
When I opened the French doors to the compound, there was mass chaos as my mother didn’t know what the hell to do. I didn’t plan on doing anything until several other witches gave me a look. I pinched the bridge of my nose again and pulled my phone from my pocket.
“Housekeeping?” A massive French accent floated through the phone.
“Real funny, dad.” I rolled my eyes. My dad had a dry humor like no one else.
“What’s up, buddy?” I winced at his nickname for me, I had never been a fan of it.
“Mom is having her typical freakout.” I sighed. “We have a new girl that is causing a little havoc.”
His deep chuckle was a breath of fresh air. “So I have heard,” He let out a louder laugh. “I also heard how you two met and I must say, you have the best timing.”
I desperately wanted to laugh along with him, but there was no way I could. I still didn’t find the redhead amusing. What my dad said next had me wishing I hadn’t called at all.
“I’ve also heard she is quite a looker.”
“How about we not head that direction and go back to mom?” I pulled the phone away from my face, contemplating whether or not I should hang up.
“That would be fantastic, except there is nothing I can do for you or her. I will be stuck at the office for at least another hour. No emergency can pull me from this case, I’m sorry.”
At that, I decided I could hang up. My temper was going to be the death of me one of these days, and I tried to blame it on my magic. It was getting antsier and nastier since I had graduated my master classes. My magic needed more challenges, and I knew it. I was itching for another duel after the fiasco at the café.
A few witches looked to me again as I made my way down the stairs. I shook my head and held my hand up, there was nothing I could do for them.
The cute blonde jumped around in front of me and swayed her hips provocatively. Music and energy thumped hard around me and made me feel renewed. The music pulsing around me wasn’t something that I typically listened to, but I could dig it if the cutie in front of me was into it.
For the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name, but tried to keep up with the music. I wasn’t much of a dancer, and I was trying my hardest for my new friend. She backed up closer to me and rubbed on me like a cat.
I hated cats and tried to keep my thoughts from that direction, but the more she moved, it was all I could see. I pressed my palm to my magi hanging in the middle of my chest and tried to get my temper under control. There was no need for me to get angry over a girl resembling an animal. It wouldn’t have been the first time it had happened. I backed away slowly and made my way through the sweaty teenagers and the drug exchange.
A man that looked to be in his late 30s bumped into me and then gave me a leery smile. He held his hand out to me, and I noticed a little baggie with a few pills inside. I shook my head and kept walking. Even if I had wanted to get high, my magic would have burned through it quickly, after I had a horrible reaction to it. What we called the essence, protected us. The essence was what kept our magis going. It was the life force to the witches. It was in almost everything in New Orleans. I always thought it was why so many people wanted to come here, besides the alcohol and vampire tours. The essence was addicting and called to all beings, whether or not they knew what it was.
It was probably what had brought Freya here for her little graduation party. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to get her face out of my head. There was a part of me that felt bad for her, a part of me that was curious about her and another part of me that was just damn irritated over her. There were apparently too many parts to me.
When I finally made it to the wall, I was almost disappointed. That was when the paint shooters and powder buckets started to go off at the stage. People surged forward hoping to get drenched in either the colorful goo or the colorful powder. I had been into the thought earlier when I thought of doing it with the cute blonde. But when I saw her in the middle of the floor, I noticed that she had 3 other guys rubbing and touching on her, and I wanted no part of it anymore.
What a waste.
I fought my way back through the crowd and decided that the place wasn’t worth it anymore. People were either too high or too into the music to care about anything else. I had come to have some fun company and ended up leaving alone with wasted time. I wiped the sweat from my brow and pushed out of the mass of people and back to the street.
I had apparently gone through the same exit because I had ended up in a dark, dead-end alleyway. I was just about to make it to the street on the other side when a figure stepped in front of me.
“Sterling Masters, what a pleasant surprise.” I blinked against the darkness and tried to get a good look at the person talking to me, but it was no use.
I crouched low and got into a defensive stance.
“There is no need for that. I am here to deliver a message.”
I didn’t move a muscle.
“We want you to bring us Ms. Freya Collette to us, we have been searching for her. I’m sure you know by her nose bleeds.” The woman’s voice was soft, and I couldn’t pick up anything familiar about it.
“I’m not sure I know who you are talking about.” I touched my magi on my chest, it doubled in size, reading up for a fight.
“Like hell you don’t, flaming red hair, small and delicate with porcelain skin.” Her words didn’t match the sound of her voice. She didn’t sound threatening, but I knew it could change at any moment. Witches were unpredictable. “Take this way, if you don’t deliver her to us by Sunday, your coven will suffer. We will find her, whether or not you aide us.”
The streetlights blinked on around me, and she was gone. On the way back to the compound, I kept my wits about me but thought on the stranger’s words. The only thing that was throwing me off was Freya’s last name, it was too familiar.
Chapter Eight
Freya
Sterling had disappeared for hours, and my nose had finally stopped bleeding. It made me wonder if he had had something to do with it. I stared at the ceiling and tried my hardest to sleep, but no matter how hard I tried, sleep evaded me. I heard the hushed whispers down the stairs and the stares of all the witches in the hallway when I had walked by. They didn’t want me here, and I didn’t blame them. I was bringing too much excitement to such a small coven it seemed.
As much as I hated my old life, I found myself wanting to go back to it. These people didn’t deserve the issues that I was bringing to them. I had planned on making friends with some of the other witches, but with my constant nose bleed and trying to fix it, not many people wanted to come my way.
I threw the covers off of me in frustration. There was no way I was getting some sleep tonight. Ayre had assured me that everything was going to be fine, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t bring myself to believe her. I pulled on some leggings and a robe over my t-shirt and crept out of the room. I left shoes behind, scared they would make noise and crept down the stairs. I took a deep breath, and my magi started to vibrate. When I passed a window, I expected to see my reflection, but there was none. I waved my hands back and forth, but still nothing.
I gulped hard then remembered the vibrating my magi had done. This wasn’t too bad. If I was invisible, this could aid me in many things. I shook my head and tried to focus on the task at hand. I could still hear the hushed whispering, and as I got closer, I was relieved I was invisible.
Sterling had returned and was wearing casual clothing, it was odd to see, and Ayre was sitting next to him at the island in the middle of the spacious kitchen. Camey was standing next to a pale man wearing a suit very similar to the ones that Sterling wore. Then I realized they Sterling and the unknown man had the same build and stature and figured he was probably their father. He had his arms folded over his chest and was listening to whatever Sterling was saying. Sterling’s eyebrows were pulled together in anger, and his body was ramrod straight. Ayre was watching him with what seemed to be disin
terest. I tried to get closer then remembered that I was invisible and almost laughed.
I tried to get as close as possible, but just far enough that I didn’t have to worry about them tripping over me or running into me.
Sterling’s voice rose in anger. “What do you mean she is staying here?”
His mother gave him a sympathetic look. “We need to protect her. There is more going on here than we realize. If she is Sariah’s daughter then we must be careful, her magic will be unmatched.”
Ayre nodded her head, in thought. “This explains what happened out in the quarter this morning. It was bizarre, she didn’t know what she was doing, it was like her magi was doing it for her.”
Their father nodded his head, taking it all in. “There have been cases when that has happened. Sometimes the magi is more powerful than the witch, it knows what to do to protect their host.”
I looked down at the magi on my wrist and touched it affectionately. It had saved my life and was continuing to protect me. I guessed it wasn’t so bad after all.
Sterling shook his head. “You don’t understand, when the others find out who she is, it’s going to be a death warrant. They will throw her to them and not look back.”
Camey rolled her eyes. “I trust our coven.”
“Not when they start killing people off in your said coven.” Sterling’s words made dread flood my veins.
What was happening here? What had he discovered?
“You don’t have much trust in our people.” His father glared at him.
“How am I supposed to? New Orleans covens have been quiet, we have had peace, and now we find out that one of the twins survived and her mother is trying to break free from the Mirror Realm? I’m not okay with this, and I can’t imagine how anyone else will be okay with it.”
My head spun, and my chest was tight. I felt my legs give out and my head hit the ground. There was a sharp intake of breath, and someone rushed over and touched my forehead.
Damn, magi.
“What the heck is she doing in here?” Someone said, but I couldn’t distinguish the differences in the voices.
“Obviously she knows more about magi than anyone here could have predicted.” Sterling’s voice was the only one that I could tell apart from the others.
I shook my head against the cold tile. I tried to blink my eyes open but was unsuccessful. My head throbbed, and my stomach was still queasy. Strong arms lifted me from the floor and carried me from the room. Whispers started up again before I lost consciousness.
I blinked against the harsh lighting and sucked in a sharp breath as someone touched my tender head.
“It’s okay, just healing you up.” A soft voice said while the person continued to touch a tender spot. “You had a nasty fall, I heard.”
I licked my dry, cracked lips and tried to sit up even though I was blinded by the light above my head. The girl moved back and stopped touching me, and after a few blinks, I could finally see. The girl that had been talking to me stood off to the side next to the wall with her hands behind her back.
“Where am I?” My voice sounded haggard.
“The infirmary, I’ll be right back! The Master’s wanted me to ring them as soon as you awoke!” She rushed from the room and then came back in with a small phone pressed against her ear. While she talked on it, I had time to observe her. She was a short thing, probably shorter than me and that was saying something. Her blonde hair was pulled back tightly against her skull in a low bun, against the nape of her neck. From what I could tell, she had soft lavender eyes too, but she kept glancing away from me, so it was hard to focus. She had a small button nose that matched her perfectly delicate features and her scrubs were immaculate. They were ironed to perfection, and her white shoes were squeaky clean. I guessed she didn’t get much action around her, based on how clean her clothes were.
The room I was in was small with gray walls, and the cot I was sitting on was thin and uncomfortable. I imagined they probably had larger rooms with more comfortable beds for the patients that had to stay for more extended periods of time.
The little nurse finally turned around to me and slipped her phone into the front pocket on her scrubs. “Sterling will be down in a few.”
I made a face and went to stand. The floor tried to catch up with my face again, and the petite woman ran forward and caught me, laying me onto the cot once more. She was a lot stronger than she looked.
“The healing process sometimes takes a bit longer for some people. You must ease into it.” She tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear and gave me a sympathetic smile. “Sterling will help you, I’m sure of it.”
I glared at her. “I’m more sure of the fact that he won’t.”
She chuckled. “He has always been very nice when we have crossed paths.”
I made a show of looking her up and down. “Well, of course, he would. You are just his type.”
She laughed hard at that. “Every woman is just his type.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” I whipped my head up at Sterling’s amused voice in the corner of the room. He had slipped in unnoticed, and I wondered how much of the conversation he had heard. “Thank you for taking care of her, Leah. I think I can take it from here.” Leah departed and left us alone in the room.
“Can you walk?” His voice was deeper when he spoke to me.
“I think so,” I went to stand, and dizziness washed over me.
Sterling was quick to my side and helped me support my own weight. We went down a few long corridors before we were outside of the compound. Ayre was sitting on a swing and dismounted when she saw us coming. She ran to me with a look of relief. She pulled me from Sterling’s side and hugged me.
“How are you feeling?” She looked me over, head to toe. “You took a really nasty fall.”
I nodded my head, worried about what she would say next.
“I’m going to take it you heard everything.” Her shoulders slumped, and she looked defeated. Sterling had backed off and had found a chair off in the corner, watching us carefully.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know who my mother is, what the Mirror Realm is and apparently, I had a twin.” I tried to summarize it the best I could, but I was struggling. Everything was still so new, so foreign.
She gave me a small smile. It did little to reassure me. “Do you remember when my mother called you Sariah?”
I nodded, and she continued on, “She called you that because you look just like her. Sariah Collette, she was the previous High Priestess. What happened with you and her is what sent our coven into chaos. The title typically goes down generations. What she dabbled in threw off the New Orleans essence.”
“What is the essence?” I asked, picking at my fingernails, nervously.
“It is essentially the lifeblood of the world. It is what helps our magic and the world’s magic. Many people call it mother nature. Some places have more of it than others, that is where you will find the supernatural, like us.” She looked at Sterling before she went on. “My mother and father are apart of the Council of the Witches, them and the others on the board know what happened that night, the night your mother was banished, and we thought that you and your twin brother was lost.”
My head started to spin. It was hard to fathom all of this. I had always imagined finding my birth mother, but now? Not so much. I was afraid to hear more, but I didn’t stop her from continuing her story.
“The Mirror Realm is a prison for the supernatural that disrupts the essence in this world, whether by attempting to steal it through dark magic or by murdering masses and achieving it that way. I’m sure there are many other ways to disrupt it, but we aren’t taught those things at the academy. Our professors always said that curiosity could lead to a serious downfall. We don’t ask questions about it, afraid that they will think we are trying to disrupt the essence.” She rolled her eyes as if she didn’t approve with this method. I didn’t know if I did either.
Knowledge was
power but in the wrong hands? It could be detrimental.
She shrugged. “Anyway, it’s a dangerous place, and your mother was exiled there.” I interrupted her. “Can we not call her that? I don’t even know her. How do we even know she is my mother, and what about my father?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I don’t know anything about him. My parents didn’t bring him up last night. But anyway, I guess her people and followers want you back.”
She said it so casually like it wasn’t a big deal. I imagined it was a lot bigger deal than what she was making it out to be. Sterling was glaring at her, and I figured I was right. I had no doubt that he could hear everything she was saying.
Chapter Nine
Sterling
Leave it to Ayre to spill the beans. I pulled my hands down my face in frustration. Though the Spitfire was taking it a lot better than I had hoped. I kicked my feet up on the table and continued to observe. Every few minutes Freya would glance my way out the corner of her eye, trying to see if I was still here or something. I finally lifted my hand up and saluted her. She was so surprised by my reaction that she whipped back around and didn’t look back.
I could still hear their conversation. My magi loved eavesdropping almost as much as I did. The magic allowed their conversation to be played over my magi, almost like an iPod. There was no emotion evident in Freya’s voice until Ayre brought up mass destruction. She pushed herself to her feet and shook her head saying, “I will not allow people to be killed!”
A few of the witches hanging out in the courtyard gave her alarmed looks before looking at me with curiosity. I just shrugged like I knew they were having a casual conversation. Ayre followed her out of the courtyard and up to my bedroom. I could hear her throwing her clothes and things into her bag. I scratched my forehead and knew this was time for me to interrupt her rash behavior.