Chapter 2

"Dria, look at me. I know that every time you look at your hands instead of my eyes you're lying. Tell me what he did," Xan said tilting her chin up to look her in the eye.

"He just said some stupid shit and messed around with girls behind my back. And then he would say that we were taking a break every break so that he could go back to some girl back home. I just never wanted to realize it until he came back after spring break. Like I said I handled myself just fine. I just tend to be a little blind at times," she said with tears welling up in her eyes.

Xan simply pulled her into his chest and smoothed his hand up and down her back. Normally he wasn't that great with crying girls, but Dria was a completely different story. It just came naturally to him. He just followed his instincts. It seemed like he did this a lot for her over the summers when she came home, but he didn't mind. She did the same for him when he got sad or upset. They were just that close. Willow sometimes said that they had a psychic link. She said that it was the only thing that could possibly explain the way they could finish each others sentences, or communicate without a word or even eye contact. They just knew things. Like if one was refilling their drink with out a word they'd top off the others drink. Xan would always bring Dria her brush after he was done in the bathroom while they were getting ready in the mornings without her asking. Even when they were kids. The way they did things made it seem like they were more than brother and sister if you didn't know better. But enough about that, back to what's really going on.

Xan simply held Dria as she cried out her feelings. All the hurt, stress, everything. She knew that as long as Xan had a hold of her nothing could go wrong. Also he was the only one to ever see her cry. Not even their parents saw her cry. Not once. She held it in until she and Xan were alone. Then she'd silently cry in his arms and sometimes he in hers at the same time.

When her shoulders finally stopped shaking he led her out to the living room and sat her on the couch with a blanket to cuddle under. Then he went to the kitchen and made to cups of hot coco and grabbed a container of ice cream and two spoons before coming back and sitting down beside her. He clicked on the TV and found something interesting to watch and they just sat and drank their coco and ate the ice cream. This was usual after cry out routine. Comfort food and TV. It always worked to calm them down. Plus the comfort of having each other there was a great help as well. Everything else could wait till morning.

They woke up the next morning on the couch with empty cups and a quarter of a bucket of melted ice cream to clean up. Without words they went about cleaning up before showering and getting ready for the first full day of summer that Dria was home. Since they had two bathrooms they decided that one bathroom would be for guys while the other was for girls unless completely necessary of course. Also, they found out that they could take showers at the same time with no lack of hot water for either of them. It also sped up their morning routines. They could get ready at the same time rather than waiting for the other to get done with the bathroom. Also since Dria never really got into the use of make-up, it took the same amount of time for them to get ready so they were done at the same time as well.

"Okay, so what's on the agenda for today Dria?" Xan asked when they reconvened in the living room.

"Well, first we should probably call Will's and give her our new address and then I need to drop by the magic shop to talk to the guy about a job. This apartment ain't gonna pay for itself," Dria said.

"I'll call Will's and have her meet us there then we can go kay," Xan said and went to the phone.

Just before he picked it up though it started to ring.

"Hello?" Xan asked after picking it up.

"You little ingrates. You could have told us you were leaving. Then we wouldn't have had to call you. There's a box of junk your grandmother left to you little brats. It's sitting on the porch. Pick it up before tomorrow or it's going in the trash," their mother spat through the phone.

"We'll be there in a bit," Xan said calmly.

"Good. I don't want to see that thing any longer," she said before hanging up.

"Gran left us some of her belongings?" Dria asked in surprise.

"Apparently. They could have told us that about six years ago. Knowing Gran she probably left us a bundle. You still got the necklace she gave you right?" Xan asked.

"Never take it off," Dria said clutching the necklace that she kept hidden under her shirt.

"Good, I got a feeling we're gonna need both yours and mine," Xan said placing his hand over his also hidden under his shirt.

Dria never questioned Xan's feelings. They were rarely wrong. Why question what tends to be reliable? They walked to their parents house and grabbed the trunk from the porch and carried it back to the apartment. They sat it on the coffee table and then took off their necklaces for the first time since they got them. They linked them together to form the key to unlock the trunk before unlinking them and putting them back on.

Inside the trunk was a few of their gran's prized possessions. Along with her will and a few other legal documents. They left all but the will and legal documents in the trunk.

Finally Xan went to call Willow. When he finished they went to the magic shop.

"Hey guys! Oh my gosh! Xandria you look great! I feel like I haven't seen you in years. Even though I know it's only been since last summer. And now I'm babbling again. You know I really don't know why I always babble. Especially around you since I know you so well. And I'm just gonna stop talking now," Willow said blushing lightly.

"Wills is okay. I tend to babble a lot too. Besides, I missed you over the school year. I really do miss hearing Willow babble," Dria said with a smile before hugging Willow.

"So, Xan said you guys have an apartment now? That's great! Now you guys don't have to worry about your parents," Willow said.

"Yeah, we'll show you as soon as we run a couple errands. You can come with if you want," Dria offered.

"Coolsville," Willow said following them into the magic shop.

"Can I help you?" a man called from a back room.

Upon coming out and getting a look at them he said, "I'll have you know this is a business and I only accept paying customers, not children who's allowance probably isn't enough to purchase even the cheapest item in this store."

"Well, that's a bit rude. I do hope you aren't talking to us like that," Xandria said lightly.

"Well who else would I be talking to. There are no other children in this store," he said snidely.

"Perhaps I should properly introduce myself before taking your words to heart. I'm Alexandria Harris. Mr. Wellington said he spoke to you about a job for me," she said calmly even though she'd like nothing more than to verbally lash him into a thousand pieces.

"Ah, well the way he talked about you I had assumed that you would be a bit, well, more. You see I don't need some little girly bookworm working here. I need someone who can compete against the toughest of items. Someone who has been through hell and back and survived. You are far from that," he said venomously.

"I'll prove to you that I'm more than capable of anything you swing at me. You never know I just might surprise you," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Xander knew all to well that she had something nasty in mind whenever that twinkle came into play and wisely took a step back.

"Really? I'd love to see that. Get me these items exactly as they are written and have one of these two record you as you do it for proof then I might have another test for you," he said shortly whipping out a list of ingredients.

The list read as follows:

Items needed:

Red Clover (gathered from under the light of the 1stmoon for greatest potency)

Bay Leaves (gathered at sunrise for best use in clairvoyance potions)

Comfrey Leaves (gathered at high noon best for healing)

Dandelion Leaves (gathered at dusk best for divination)

Feverfew (gathered under the light of the full moon best for health)

Dried Fig (gathered under the light of the new moon best of fertility spells)

Ginseng (gathered under the light of the 3rd quarter moon and ground into a powder under the new moon best for rejuvenation)

Hibiscus Flower (gathered at sunset for best aphrodisiac qualities)

Mandrake Root (gathered under the light of the waning crescent best for gaining wealth)

Yarrow Flower (gathered under the light of the waning gibbous best for dispelling melancholy)

"You do realized that the times you want these herbs gathered is all wrong for the results you want right?" Dria asked looking skeptically at the list.

"Oh, now you think you know more than I do huh? Well, we'll just see about that. Just gather them as they are listed. I've never had an angry customer before. They work just fine," he said harshly.

"You know what? I'm done arguing with you. I'll have these to you by the end of the month. Have a pleasant day sir," Dria said and without a word she stalked out of the shop with Xander and Willow sprinting after her.

After a block Dria halted and spun around before saying, "Red Clover should be gathered under the Full Moon for the greatest potency; Bay Leaves and Dandelion Leaves should both be gathered at Twilight; Comfrey Leaves, Feverfew, Dried Fig, and Mandrake Root should be gathered under the waxing crescent; Ginseng, Hibiscus Flower, and Yarrow Flower should all be gathered under the Full Moon. He seriously has to be completely stupid to think that the times he gave could possibly be correct. Maybe the reason he hasn't had any complaints is because they never come back. I'll show him just how well he knows his stuff. I didn't pass every single subject with masters for nothing after all."

"How do you know all this stuff? I mean I know you went to a school of magic but I didn't think they'd teach you about paganism there. I mean don't you just wave a stick around to do your magic?" Willow asked.

"That's all most of the kids that went cared to learn. I insisted on taking every single subject they offered. From wand crafting to wand less magic to potion making to non-magical studies to the studies of each religion. There is literally no subject I haven't studied yet. To be honest I probably don't even need to go to high school but I don't care," Dria said.

"So, you got a masters in every subject known to man-kind?" Willow asked stunned.

"Pretty much, I'm pretty sure I might even be qualified for the highest degree for each subject. I really don't care though. Even if all I can take are electives I'm still going to go to school with you guys. I made a promise and I intend to stick to it," Dria said.

"So basically you are probably going to end up playing tutor?" Xan asked jokingly.

"From what you told me about your grades I'm definitely going to make sure you understand what is going on in the classroom. Or at least explaining it to you in a fun way. All it takes is the right two subjects combined to make everything make sense. I'm surprised you never tried that Wills," Dria said matter of factually.

"Well, I did try once but I don't know nearly enough about the comic books he reads for it to work. Just when I thought I was making some head way into helping him get the subject he'd throw out some fact that I didn't know about so I had to start all over. It was like he was purposely cutting me off," Willow said.