I walked to school the next morning, my parents not bothering to ask about my bike. It was still locked up next to Nix's in the rack. Is she here already or is it here because she never got it last night?

Biting my lip, I waited by the bikes. Kids rode past me, nearly clipping me. I ignored the muttered insults.

A small group had gathered around me, waiting. Murmurs drifted through the crowd, some making me bristle. Those were about 'me being her fag lover'.

I grit my teeth. Nix, please come. Silence echoed in my ears suddenly and I looked up.

A black herse was pulling up along the curb not ten feet from me. The door opened and out stepped Nix, her face pale.

Cas was in the driver's seat, smiling at me. I felt my cheeks go red. The crowd parted like the Red Sea for Nix. She gave me a tight smile and held her hand out to the snake lock on her bike.

I forced myself to stay still as the snake moved, wrapping around her wrist and flicking it's tongue over her skin. She slipped her bike out of the rack and pushed it to the back of the herse.

She opened the doors and threw it in. Only then did I notice she didn't have her back pack with her. She climbed into the passenger's seat and slammed the door shut.

Over her, Cas waved goodbye to me before peeling out of sight. I was alone.

Fear gripped me as my stomach dropped. I was alone. What was I going to do?

I squared my shouders and made my way into the school. Into my self made hell.

If the Hart girls can do this, so can I.

I told myself that class after class. Sage's desk was painfully empty in English. Nix's empty seat in art seemed to have a spot light on it.

At lunch, I sat at the empty circle table, feeling glares on my back. Trash was thrown at me and thankfully I wasn't hit by anyting worth while.

I ate through it, ignoring it all. "Go to hell fag!" A boy screamed. Okay, that's enough. I stood up, my chair falling back.

Silence rang out, the metallic crash of the chair the only sound. "Even if I were lesbian, I wouldn't be going to hell!" I said, keeping my temper capped. "If anything, all of you will be. Outcast a family for what? Being different? Am I their only friend out of all of you? Are you seriously going to let your parent's fear guide the way you all feel? I don't know about you, but my God." I looked around the room, meeting everyone's eyes. "The God I love, He loves everyone. No matter how different they are!"

With that, I grabbed my bag and left the trash pile. Nobody said a word or threw more at me. I made my way to my locker.

Written on it in red chalk was, in bold letters, FAG LOVER. I stared at it for a minute before I turned to the bathroom and grabbed a handful of paper towles and wetted them down.

I shoved the door open as hard as I could, slamming it into the wall, making the wood shutter. Standing in front of my locker, I scrubbed the hateful words off. By the time I was done, my hands were stained red.

Throwing away the dripping red knot in my hands, I opened my locker and grabbed what I would need for the rest of my classes and went to hide in the library.

The librarian looked at me and smiled. "Hi." I said, grabbing my arm nervously. "Is it okay if I eat in here?"

"Of course if you clean up after yourself." She smiled brightly. I grinned back and sat at a long table that came up to my chest when I sat. "I don't get many visitors aside from the advanced students checking out books. Do you liked to read?" She asked as I opened my brown bag.

"Yes." I smiled at her. She stood up and went to a bookshelf like it called to her. I studied her as she moved. She wore a short, pleated navy skirt and a billowing cream peasant shirt. Her long hair was loose down her back, falling in soft brown curls at her waist.

And, for a second, I thought I knew her. Or that she reminded me of someone in the easy way she moved.

Who did I know that moved like her? It hit me as she turned to smile at me again. Nix moved like that.

"Not everyone here is hateful, sweetheart." She said as she scanned the shelf. "And the Hart family aren't the only witches in town." She said as she sat a thick book on the table in front of me, her voice lowered.

I'm sure she saw the question mark in my eyes, because she pushed her bell shaped sleeve up her arm to expose a black tattoo on her pale skin.

It was of a circle with a star in the middle, the point facing her wrist. My mouth fell open as I reached out with my finger to trace it. "She has smiled upon you, Eva." As she said this, my finger tingled.

Her eyes seemed to be lit with an inner fire, making the blue sparkle. "I commute a good hour every day so I can watch over the Hart girls here. I was heartbroken when I heard about Sage. She's been pulled out of school. Her aunt is going to homechool her." She sighed. "What a waste. She's a genious." She shooked her head, her hair bouncing as she did so.

"What about Nix?" My mouth had gone dry. Why?

"I haven't heard anything about her. I hope we don't lose both of them though." Her expression darkened. "Can you do me a couple favors, Eva?"

"It depends on what they are." I said honestly. She smiled at me.

"Fair enough." She laughed. "I want you to read this book, keeping a very open mind, and come back here every day for lunch so we can discuss whatever questions you have. And I need you to keep this." She touched her tattoo lightly before she pulled her sleeve back down. "A secret. If word got out, I'd be fired. And the girls would have no protection at all."

She held out her pinky. "I can tell Sage and Nix though, right?" I said, looking at her hand.

"Nobody. This will be our secret, okay? I know that the girls are...talented in the craft and will sense that you're keeping something from them. They might even be strong enough to touch your mind. But I don't know that yet. I will tell them, when the time is right." I wanted to ask, but the look on her face screamed that it was a bad idea.

I wrapped my pinky around hers. She moved her hand off the book finally and I saw the title.

WITCHES : A DEEPER LOOK INTO THE MAGIC OF THE WORLD

My mouth felt so dry that I was sure my lips were cracking. "Okay." My voice cracked. I looked at her again and she was beaming at me. "What did you mean when you said 'She has smiled upon me'? Who is She exactly?"

She opened her mouth right as the bell rang. Shaking her head, she stood up. "My name is Rowan. But when there's someone else in here, you;ll have to call me Ms. Smith." She pushed in her chair. I rushed to clean up my spot as students filled the hallway past the panes of glass that formed the wall behind Rowan's desk. "And remember." I looked up, gathering my half eaten lunch and the book in a different hand.

I watched as she wriggled her pinky finger and put her index finger to her mouth. "Oh, put this on the book. Nobody will ever know." She tossed me a small blob of black.

It was a book sleeve. I slipped it on the book. A perfect fit.

Tossing my lunch in the trash, I made my way to my next class, clutching the book to my side.