I was first in total darkness, as I stepped forward I was in a beautiful meadow, a peaceful place, surrounded by nature. It felt safe, so serene, I belonged here. I suddenly heard a name spoken softly behind me "Bella". There was a certain ring to the sound of the man's voice. I turned around slightly and as I faced him I was shocked as he looked like an angel with golden eyes while he sparkled in the sunlight. He spoke again "forever" he said placing a diamond ring on my finger. I awoke suddenly.

I ran down stairs hearing the sound of my father's voice "hurry up" he said, "It's time for school, get your sister too!" I didn't want to get out of bed from the kind of dream I was having I wanted to fall back asleep so I could get more of the dream and maybe it could be a continuous dream as I had hoped.

I heard his loud footsteps approaching when I realized that I had left my secret items out. I hurriedly stuffed them away under the bed in the box my grandmother had given me.

The secret items were used in a spell that my grandmother had given me. It was a truth spell to bring light to what I need to do and to push forth my true destiny sooner. I couldn't allow my dad to see these items; he would be confused since he did not know about magic.

The one secret that my grandmother and sister and I needed to keep was that we had magic in our blood. My Mother's side of the family had gone back all the way to the witch trials where my ancestor Satine Withier had escaped a witch trial and disappeared indefinitely all together.

Ever since then she has kept her family secret from everyone including the men in her family as they did not have powers or any kind of magic in them only the females of our generation.

"Elisabeth"! Charles said, "It's time to get down stairs and get ready for school. Wake your sister up she needs to get out of bed."

"Yes father" I replied. I ran down the stairs and got breakfast cooking and then ran back upstairs to get Irene out of bed. "Irene! Father wants you out of bed, please come down I am making breakfast."

Irene startled still half asleep, mumbled "okay-okay I'm up!" Irene got dressed quickly brushing her bronze curls and putting mascara on her chocolate brown eyes, also the same color as mine. She quickly ran to the closet to find a suitable dress for the day.

I was down stairs eating breakfast with Irene when my father came in seeming as though he was nervous and anxious. "Elisabeth, I need to talk to you about something important."

I looked at Irene and rolled my eyes, she looked at me seriously smiling. These talks that father had were hard for us girls since we really couldn't confide in him in certain matters and female issues. Since our mother passed away we confide only in our grandmother appropriately on these things.

"I need to discuss with you something that concerns our future and more importantly, Jamie coal has proposed something that you might want to consider." He waited for me to say something then continued on, "He wants your hand in marriage for exchange that we get to keep our home and land that is at risk."

"What!" I asked father rather stunned, "I don't know him! How can I marry someone...?"

Charles interrupted, "Look, I will try to give you some time to get to know him but I have to tell you, it is to be rushed. You are to marry him in 2 months."

I stood up out of my seat at the table feeling a mixture of surprise and fear. "Sit down!" Charles said, "I need to talk to you about your future. I know you are a young lady now, but he has lots of money and you will be well off. I would not have to worry too much as we would not be losing our home, the same house your mother and I raised you in."

He continued on, "I build everything from scratch to keep you girls a roof over your head and food in your stomach. I am not going to be here forever. I just want you to be taken care of; to know when I die you will have a future of security."

I got up again, my face flushing crimson and ran out the door crying. Irene gave me a worried look and yelled out, "you better come back soon I don't know what to tell the school!"

As I walked down the road to my grandmother's house I pondered what my father told me and tears started rolling down my cheeks. I realized that I was in a bind to either keep my father happy or keep myself happy. I didn't care much about money as all I really wanted was someone to love me for who I am not for what I have or what they have. Of course I would want security, but not at a lavish extreme. "I just want a simple life, is that too much to ask?" I began asking myself out loud with tears running down my face.

I knew I was close to my grandmother's house when I smelled the sweet bread she was making. I knocked on the door and heard her coming slowly to the door, "Elissa!" my grandmother said. I loved her nickname for me because all day long I hear my father or someone at school saying Elisabeth with an orderly tone so much it got so annoying. When my grandmother calls me Elissa it makes me feel right at home without having to feel anxiety to be perfect for someone else it felt more like me.

My grandmother said, "Now I told Charles to wait to talk to you about that guy Jamie with his proposal till after school because I just knew he would do it before school. I told him you would come here."

"How did you know of what father asked me Nana?" I said.

"He came by this morning asking me what I thought of the conversation and what was at stake for your future before he told you. Not to mention good old common sense and I still got my magic" she chuckled. I laughed with her knowing that my Nana was always like my mother that I never knew. She always knew a way to cheer me up with her child like sense of humor.

"I just want to be able to know a man before I marry them is that so much to ask Nana?" I said.

"No dear, it's not. I just talked to your father about letting you get to know him so that you can adjust easier to getting married so soon. It's for the best Elissa, not just for you both, but for your father. Jamie Coal offered for your sister to stay at the palace where he lives until she finds a suitable mate." Grandmother said, "I also heard that Jamie is a very nice young man and wants to see you soon. He is an attractive bachelor to a lot of girls in this region."

As I burst out in tears my grandmother held me to comfort me. "I guess the truth spell really did work but I somehow feel that this is not my fate to be with someone I don't know." I said.

"You know Elissa," grandmother said. "It's probably a good way for you to meet someone. You have taken little interest in the boys around here and it was worrying your father that you were not being a normal teenager in that aspect."

I interrupted her as she was walking to the kitchen to get a cup of tea, "I am bit mystified by my dream I had last night after the spell. It really caught my attention, the dream seemed unreal."

"I dreamed I was in a meadow with an unknown angel that had golden eyes and as he looked into my eyes it was like he was looking deep down into my soul. It was like being in a fairytale as it had a beautiful meadow and the man, he sparkled."

My grandmother's eyes went big. "Oh!" she exclaimed. A little bit of light flashed in my grandmothers eyes and then it looked like a light bulb had somehow gone off in her head. "We should go look into the tea leaves and see what they say regarding the dream and the truth spell." I went with her into the kitchen and we sat down at the table as she proceeded to look at the tea leaves.

She started to concentrate looking into the cup and said, "I see that you have 2 paths, one choice, which will be difficult to choose between. The next thing I see is 4 lives, one was before this one and you were a princess, the second was this one now that you are currently living, the third is where you will not have any powers, but you will have to depend on your own inner strength alone, and the fourth will be your last but will last many lifetimes."

My grandmother pondered "Well maybe that is not right. It's not supposed to stop that I know of. Souls are supposed to be reborn after each life ends there is a new one."

I wondered aloud, "What does that have to do with the dream?"

"I don't know," my grandmother said "but in time we may tell. Who knows? It could be either a glimpse of the past or the future. But you are very powerful witch from our blood lines with your exceptional gift of seeing into the past, the future, and your blocking abilities when it comes to other witches trying to cast spells on you, it's astounding! I've never seen anything like it."

"Why when you were little your Aunt Susan had put a spell around you for you to see beautiful butterflies to entertain you, but she could not even do this. So I tried with another harmless one and still couldn't. Some family members kept trying and your great aunt Berne suggested doing a less harmless one but of course we would not let her proceed."

My sister has amazing powers as well that she didn't add. She can cause you to see whatever she wanted by seeing you as versus when she was younger she could only do it by touch. I always have treated my sister like my own child since she has not had a mother and she didn't really know our grandmother because father had sent her away to school when our mother died. Now after a few years she is getting to know her but does not have the same connection that I have to our grandmother. Since mother was not around my sister depended on me to change her and feed her when our father was working.

I even made clothes with mother's old sewing machine that she had left behind. It took me a few years to be able to use it since our father had a strange reaction to us using anything of our mothers after her death. Irene thought it was because he would feel as if she was really gone if we used them, as if he is waiting on her to come back. He hadn't really come to terms that she had died.

"Tell me more about my mother." I said. I was reading her response as I was trying not to be pushy about the subject.

"Your mother was a whimsical, smart, funny, and sweet woman. She loved everyone and nobody ever had any scornful vendettas against her, as I would assume anyone looking at her pixie face and sweet smile couldn't hold a harsh bone in their body against her no matter how much she loved to plan and organize the things around her."

As she continued on I could see sadness and a mixture of joy reach over her face. "When you were born I stayed for a little while to help your mother with you. There was no need to be at home really after your grandfather passed away, and it seemed to work out for the best for your mother and me."

"Your grandfather", she continued on, "loved you so much he said that when you were born everyone in the room looked at you and time seemed to stop. Everyone said that your brown eyes were like looking into eternity and they all said "oh what a beautiful baby!" Your grandfather called you "his little beauty" and "god's daughter" that is why your parents named you Elisabeth, it means "God's promise", "oath of God", or "I am God's daughter".

I went into the dining room glancing at pictures of people that I barely knew. It was a bit strange looking at them knowing that they knew me, but I really didn't get a chance to know them. I don't understand why we have to go about life and sometimes be cut short of time with someone that you wish you could get close to.

My grandmother came into the room and held me. We didn't say anything but stood there in silence somehow knowing what each other were feeling and thinking. I asked her while she was staring into the pictures, "Will I get to see them again someday? I mean do you think that there is an afterlife?" I asked brazenly.

"No one really knows." she said. "There are so many different religions and we can all make conclusions as to what happens. What I feel is this; we are all connected to each other."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

She replied, " Do you ever get the feeling sometimes when you go to the local store, or the library, or different places that life takes you, and see a stranger, but you feel as though you know them or there is something oddly familiar about that person?"

"Yes", I answered.

"Well", she said, "All I can explain is that if we are all connected as I think we are and we see these strangers with a sense that we know them, maybe that is why we feel that connection between them."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Nana" I said, "There is someone at the door."

My grandmother stood up and walked to the door to open it. She looked surprised. "Hi" she said, "Please come in; I want you to meet my granddaughter. Elissa!" My grandmother called to me, "This is my neighbor."

I walked towards the door and saw a good looking young man with green eyes and bronze colored hair. He put his hand out towards me, "My name is Edward. You must be Elisabeth! Your grandmother has said a lot about you." I stood there with my mouth gaping open...

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THANKS TO MY EDITOR FOR HELPING ME WITH MY PUNCTIONAL ERRORS AND PROOF READING, AND THANKS TO THE TWILIGHT SAGA FOR INSPIRATION. I HOPE THAT EVERYONE WILL ENJOY THE STORY!