To her dismay, Bonnie wasn't able to sleep as soundly as she'd hoped. She didn't know why she even attempted to fool herself. Her exhausted state was not enough to distract her mind from the fact that she was sleeping in the bed of the parents that gave birth to a sociopath who murdered his entire family. She tossed and turned until she finally gave up on sleep and sat upright. She got up and turned on the light, sitting back down on the bed. She reached over to the dresser to check her watch. It was 2:15am. She had her back against the pillows and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Bonnie had to think of something before daylight arrived. She had zero intention of letting Kai out into the real world. He was imprisoned for a reason. Who knows what he would do if he got out of this place? Or the amount of innocent lives that would be taken at his hands? Even if she had a plan, what was she to do about this unknown source of magic? Had Kai already absorbed it? Was he even telling the truth? Being a compulsive liar didn't help his case in the slightest. The unknown source could be one big lie. A ploy he used to get her out here so that he could siphon all of her magic, kill her and escape.
She hopped out of bed and began to pace around the room. She came to a stop at the bookshelf loaded with spell books. She pulled them out, one by one, nothing catching her eye or giving her anything useful. Most of them were filled with incantations she already knew. She took note of the order of the books: the books at the top shelves were filled with basic information for fledgling witches. She assumed that the further down the books were on the shelf, the more advanced the magic. She reached down and picked up a black book on the very bottom shelf.
She flipped through the worn, brown pages and made her way back to the bed. Still, nothing of any use crossed her path. She stopped turning the pages when she came across a page with a handwritten message in the top right corner: For emergency use only. The incantation next to it, Evit ni et tempozo, described the process of destroying powerful, magical objects. All that was required was the spell and that it be destroyed in a fire. She repeated the phrase until she no longer had to look at the book to remember it. Bonnie threw the book next to her on the bed. Now that she knew how to destroy a magical object, she still needed to find out what object needed to be destroyed.
Her mind was frantic. Where would he keep a secret source of magic? It had to be somewhere in the house, there wasn't anywhere else to go for miles. She got off the bed and began her investigation in his parent's bedroom. She checked the dresser at the foot of the bed, under the bed, the bathroom and the closet. Granted, she had no idea what she was looking for specifically. Still, she found nothing out of the ordinary.
She wondered if this secret source might have been kept locked away in Kai's bedroom. That would explain him making sure that the door was secure earlier. A surge of adrenaline rushed through her body. She knew what she had to do, it was all just a matter of going through with it. She knew that if she didn't succeed, the repercussions would be severe. Her mind's eye flashed back to when he painfully siphoned her magic. She didn't even want to imagine what he would be capable of with this new source of magic. She stood in the middle of the room and murmured the incantation, "Phasmatos Oculus." She walked over to the bathroom once more and turned on the light. Her reflection was nowhere in sight. She saw the light which turn downward as she flicked it off.
She tiptoed to the door and cracked it open. She paused to listen for any sounds or movement around the house. She heard nothing. Kai must be sleep. She saw a yellow light in the distance but it was faint since she was at the back of the house. She pushed the door open and stepped outside. As she got further down the hallway, she could see that the light was emitting from the living room downstairs. She leaned on the balcony. She heard people talking, which she assumed was chatter coming from the TV. She heard a familiar chuckle, which confirmed that Kai was awake and better yet, he was distracted.
Nonetheless, Bonnie was curious to see for herself. She discreetly walked down the steps, towards the living room. She stood in the doorway and sure enough, Kai was there. He was sitting on the individual couch furthest away from the entry and closets to the fireplace. The chair was so large that it essentially obscured the fireplace from sight the last time Bonnie saw the living room. It was ablaze with a warm and inviting fire. He had the chair angled diagonally so that he would be able to watch TV and use the coffee table at the same time. On the table was a box of Whoppers candy and the ascendant. It wasn't completely assembled yet but she saw that he had made some progress. He had changed into a black T-shirt and grey sweatpants. He was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation of all shows. Due to her cloaking spell, he wasn't aware of her presence. It was so strange to see him in such a normal setting. Here, he looked like a regular teenage boy, staying up late into the night, snacking and watching TV. Bonnie was somewhat mesmerized by the sight. She shook her head and headed back upstairs.
She made her way towards the bathroom on the far left, figuring it would be best to check each room. With nothing significant to raise suspicion, she moved onto the first bedroom. Glancing back at the staircase for good measure, she entered the youngest sets of twins' room. She kept the light switch off, letting the moonlight guide her. She was careful not to step on any of the toys laying astray on the ground. She went straight for the bunk beds. Nothing grabbed her attention until she saw the edge of a piece of paper poking out from under the bed with pink sheets. She pulled it out and realized that the sheet was much larger than she expected. They were drawings on different colors of construction paper. Most of them were standard children's drawings of flowers or paintings of dinosaurs.
However, one of them caught her eye. This one was in crayon. It depicted stick figures that were labeled as different members of the household as they stood outside for a family photo. The sun was drawn in the upper left hand corner. The house was in the background behind them. Their parents were the tallest stick figures labeled "Mom" and "Dad". The rest of the family followed suit with one of the shorter figures labeled "Me". They were all smiling. But what caught Bonnie's attention was the stick figure that was isolated. It was off to the far right, away from everyone else. It was behind vertical lines that Bonnie assumed to be a cage. The stick figure was labeled "Kai". His stick figure was frowning with eyebrows angled downward that made him look sad and angry at the same time.
Bonnie scrunched up her face and felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. She could only imagine the real meaning behind the drawing. She put the images back in the order she found them, slid them back under the bed. She checked the dresser and the closet then made her way towards the exit. She moved onto the bedroom next door. She examined the neutral colored room as thoroughly as she did the others and still came up short. She developed a system: bed, dresser, and closet then out. She didn't want to linger in one spot for too long.
Back in the hallway, Bonnie could still hear the TV playing. Next was Kai's twin sister's room, Josette. She paused for a moment to look at the pictures that hung on the walls. One was Christmas themed. Kai and Jo were on either side of the smallest set of twins. Kai held a reef and the girl Bonnie assumed to be Jo held a mini, silver Christmas tree. Kai seemed genuinely happy. He and Jo had on red Christmas sweaters, while the little ones wore white and blue. Again, it was odd for Bonnie to view him in such a normal light. She began her search around the room. Nothing in particular stood out to her. She moved from the bed to the dresser and rummaged through the clothes in the drawer until her hand hit something. She dug down deeper and pulled out small, multicolored books. She immediately opened one and scanned its contents:
March 19, 1982,
Dinner was horrible tonight. I don't know how to tell mom her cooking sucks but someone should. Dad can't do it because he's too busy being a control freak. On a different note, my training is going well. I learned how to levitate objects successfully. Larissa is so jealous that I'm better at it than her! That's the only plus side to this whole witch thing. I don't get why Larissa is so jealous. It's not as if this magic thing is going to be of much use in the real world. Not that I get to be a part of the real world anyway. Dad keeps us trapped in this house. I can't even interact with any of the other kids up the road. Maybe that's a good thing, though. Who would want to be friends with a witch anyway? Sometimes I just wish I were normal.
June 1, 1984,
The sun finally decided to come back out today. It had been raining for all throughout the week. To celebrate, my family and I decided to have a picnic at the park. My parents ate at the table while me, Kai, Joey and Larissa ran off to play hide and seek. Joey got angry because he kept getting found first. One time after Larisa had tagged him, he held his hand towards her and shouted: Motus! It sent her flying backwards. But she got up and laughed it off while the rest of us ran and hid. Larissa found Kai and sent him flying backwards as well. But he was angry when he got up. He got up and marched towards her and grabbed her arm. Larissa screamed, causing our parents to come find us. Joey and I were screaming for Kai to let go of her but he wouldn't. My dad yanked Kai by the arm and took him away. We had to go back home early today. Larissa cried the entire ride home.
Although this story seemed more like the Kai she knew, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of effect his deficiency had on him as a child. Bonnie clasped the book shut, becoming aware that she was getting side tracked again. She glanced towards the door and didn't hear and any footsteps. She hastily put the books back under the clothes in the dresser and left the room. She checked the bathroom on this end of the hall halfheartedly. She was beginning to give up hope. Finally, she came to stop in front of Kai's door. She had her hand on the doorknob when she noticed the silence that filled the house. She could no longer hear the murmur from the television.
But what she did hear sent her heart racing. Footsteps were quickly coming up the stairs. Bonnie froze as Kai came in her line of sight. He was walking towards her with the fixed ascendant in hand. Bonnie recoiled and stepped backwards against the bathroom door that was next to Kai's room. She wasn't able to go inside; even though he could not see her, he would be able to notice if a door moved on its own. As he came forward and reached the door, she could see that his eyes were heavily lidded and his hair was disheveled. He raked a hand through his hair as he came to a stop in front of his door. He reached in the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out a key.
She had never been this close to him before. Being this close, she could smell the soap on his body and the shampoo in his hair. He emitted a fresh and woodsy scent. She stood statue still with her arms wrapped around her body, not daring to breathe as he unlocked his door, stepped inside, shut it and locked it back again. She let out a small breath of relief. She waited a beat before scurrying across his door to get back to his parent's bedroom. She shut it and locked it as quietly as she possibly could.
"Phasmatos Oculus." She knew her physical form had been restored. She made her way to the bed, grabbing her watch off the dresser. It was 3:45am. She tossed the watch back down on the dresser and laid down on the bed, lazily throwing the covers on top of her. She laid on her side with one arm under the pillow.
She was beyond irritated. She did all that snooping to come up short, for nothing. Well, it wasn't entirely for nothing. She found out more information about Kai. More than she would have liked to know. But she could not deny that she was intrigued by what she found. She knew that she couldn't just outright ask him about his childhood. And another opportunity to snoop around his house was slim to none.
More importantly, she still hadn't located the new source of magic. But her gut instincts were telling her that whatever it was, it was locked safely away in his bedroom. Not only that, but the ascendant was now fixed and ready to go. She rolled over on her other side, facing the bookshelf. The spell she learned about earlier rang in her head. It would be a long shot but she had to do everything in her power to ensure that Kai stayed imprisoned. Permanently. She closed her eyes with her mind still whirling.
Daylight shone through the window above her head. Since she could barely sleep last night, it didn't take much effort for her to roll out of bed. She checked her watch, which read 10:15am. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and grabbed a T-shirt and some shorts out of her bag. She made her way to the bathroom, stopping in front of the elongated mirror. There were rows of golden lights above it and a marble countertop below it. The toilet was to the left of the counter and the tub was behind her. She lifted Damon's shirt and slowly peeled the bandage off her stomach, wincing at the pain. Thankfully, the wound was closed by this point. She disposed of the used bandage and proceeded to take a shower.
As the warm water hit her, she realized that she still did not have a set plan. She had an idea but it was risky. This idea of hers relied on the element of surprise. She would have to act fast once the source was revealed. Once she was dressed, the smell of food filled her nostrils, causing her stomach to growl in response. She headed downstairs, with her packed bag. The smell of pancakes becoming more prominent as she approached the kitchen.
"Oh, good morning!" He said placing a pancake onto a plate. He was fully dressed and his bag was on the countertop. "Hope you slept well. Got a big day ahead of us."
Bonnie didn't respond as she took a seat at the table. She placed her bag in the chair next to her. He brought her plate over that was filled with pancakes, eggs and bacon. He walked back over to the fridge.
"Milk or OJ?"
"OJ." She said rubbing her temple.
He returned to the table to join her and Bonnie dug in. Before she knew it, half of her plate was gone.
"Someone's hungry." Kai commented taking a sip of orange juice.
"What do you expect? I did skip dinner last night." Bonnie said with a mouth full of food.
"Oh I'm not complaining. It's nice to see someone enjoying my cooking. Ya know, since I haven't really had much time to cook for anyone else."
There it was again. Kai's knack for telling uncomfortable truths. Bonnie felt that familiar sinking in her stomach. The same sinking sensation she felt last night when she found those drawings and the diary entries. The drawings and diaries she found while she was searching for an unknown source of magic. The unknown source of magic that Kai assumed that they would be using to return home but in actuality, she planned to destroy within a few hours. She suddenly felt fuller than she actually was and found herself not that hungry anymore.
Kai rambled on between bites of food, not noticing her inner turmoil. "I like to cook. It relaxes me. Would you believe that I've gotten better at it over the years? I've even traveled to learn how to cook an array of foods. I got tired of the same old Portland dishes. So I flew to Maine to try signature lobster, BBQ from Texas. I even visited a little town in Virginia for some southern cuisine. I heard it's filled with mystical creatures like, vampires and witches. Ever heard of it?"
Bonnie didn't respond but eyed him with exasperation.
"I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with, Sistek Halls."
"Funny." She said dryly.
"Who knows Bon, you and I could have been in the same place at the same time." He winked at her.
"Doubt it."
"Nevertheless," he said getting up from the table and grabbing their plates. "We'll be returning there shortly."
He placed their dishes in the sink and proceeded to wash them. Bonnie's eyes scanned the room for a clock. It read 11:50am. For someone that was in such a rush to catch the eclipse, which was to take place at 12:28pm, Kai appeared to have lost track of time. He finished the dishes and dug through his bag on the counter.
"Good news, the ascendant," he pulled it out. "Is all better now. It's ready to go when we are." He glanced at the clock. "Which should be about right now." He threw his bag over his shoulder and led the way out of the kitchen. Bonnie followed suit, her heart rate increasing with every step she took.
Kai led her outside. He was a few steps ahead of her. "Did I ever tell you why I wasn't able to finish off the youngest set of twins?"
"No, but I'm sure you'll inform me."
He chuckled and smiled back at her. "You really are perceptive. But I'm sure you could remember if you think hard enough."
Bonnie sighed. "You said something about your twin getting in the way."
"Very good! See, that wasn't so hard."
He led her to a large tree stump that was off to the side of the front yard. He stood on one side as she did the other. He placed his bag on the ground.
"All I wanted was to kill the little rascals, merge with my twin sister and become the leader of the Gemini Coven. Why that was too much to ask is beyond me." He rested his hands on either side of the stump. Bonnie was anxious but curious as to where the story was going.
He continued. "But of course, my sister had to drag it out, forcing me to chase her around the house until I eventually, saw her standing right there," He pointed to her. "In that very spot. She agreed to merge with me if I spared Luke and Olivia. To which I obliged and she led me into the forest, along with the rest of the Coven to complete the ceremony." He scrunched his face up. "Everything was going fine until, I realized that I couldn't feel her magic. It was the most curious thing. And then, as you know, my Coven used the power of the eclipse to send me here," He gestured outwardly around them. "To this prison world."
"Having spent the last eighteen years in solitude to have that night constantly on a loop in my head got me thinking, where'd Jo's magic go? It didn't just disappear. She must have, put it somewhere." Kai reached down into the stump, shuffling past the leaves until his hand emerged with a bulky knife. The blade was thick and silver with a wooden hilt. The secret source of magic.
"In this." Kai looked at the knife with such yearning that it disturbed her. She reflexively took a step back. "My sneaky little twin sister hid her magic in this."
Bonnie waited a minute before she spoke. "It's still there."
"And still full of magic." He said talking mostly to himself this time. He held it in midair and closed his eyes. His hand was glowing that familiar crimson along the hilt. When the glowing red of his hand faded away, he opened his eyes and left it suspended in midair.
"Well it was. I just sucked it out."
"You have magic again. Good for you."
He snatched it out of the air with one hand. "I also have the ascendant."
"Doesn't matter, you need a Bennett witch to do the spell."
"Ya see the thing is, I've seen you do the spell already. I don't think I need you for that anymore. I think all I actually need, is Bennett blood."
Bonnie instinctively reacted before his words could fully register. He lunged towards her with the knife, missing her by inches as she jumped backward. She stumbled backwards and landed on her back. Kai was quickly advancing on her. He attempted to grab her by the foot but she kicked at him. He came at her from an angle, bent down on his knees in the grass and grabbed her by the neck. Her arms immediately went to wrap around his. She gasped in a failed attempt to breathe.
His left arm encased her neck while his right held the knife above her. "I know that I could easily just kill you using magic but I prefer the old fashioned way." His hand sent the knife barreling down to her chest but it was swiftly halted by Bonnie's left hand. She extended her right hand towards him and choked out "Motus!" His arm released her and his body went flying past the tree stump and at the edge of the forest. The knife lay near the stump between them.
Bonnie, gasping for air and clutching her neck ran to collect the knife and her bag. She ran towards the house, magically locking the door behind her. She turned right into the living room, coming to a stop in front of the fireplace.
"Incendia!" She shouted. A roaring fire erupted at her command. She threw the knife into it and recited the incantation she read the night before.
"Evit ni et tempozo." She saw the blade of the knife slowly form into a silver liquid, spreading over the firewood. A loud bang she heard at the door made her heart momentarily stop. Kai had finally caught up to her. Bonnie strained in order to concentrate on keeping the door locked and another spell.
She murmured another incantation, one that she had known for years but hoped she would never have to put to use. Kai stopped banging to listen.
"Bonnie, no. What are you doing?!" His voice was frantic and enraged. Bonnie focused more on the spell rather than the door. The thuds on the door became louder and heavier. Kai began throwing his weight against the door until it finally gave way. Bonnie jumped at the intrusion.
He stormed into the living room and stared at her with such ferocity that it sent a chill up her spine. She knew that if he had still retained any of the magic he sucked out of the knife earlier, she'd be dead any minute. His eyes danced between her and the fireplace. He stalked towards her. His voice was so low when he spoke, it sounded like a growl. "What did you do?"
"See for yourself." She held out her arm to him.
He yanked it and her body towards him. Bonnie looked up at him smugly.
He looked at her, puzzled. "I don't feel anything."
Bonnie stayed still.
He looked back at the fireplace once more. A deranged smile crept upon his features he realized what she had done. He released her arm and stormed past her and paused in front of the fireplace.
"You put your magic in the knife and destroyed it." It wasn't a question.
She didn't respond.
He waited a beat. Then he picked up a glass decorative off the mantle and threw it at the wall and screamed. There was nothing but the sound of the shattering glass and his heavy breathing. He marched up to her, staring down into the face of contempt before bolting out of the house.
Bonnie wasn't sure where he had gone, how long he would be or if would return. After about five minutes of silence, her mind attempting to grasp everything that just happened, she grabbed her bag off the couch. She checked its contents: she had her clothes, a pair of shoes and Ms. Cuddles, her new secret source of magic.
