Chapter 9: Lies
Okay, don't panic I thought. Don't panic. Don't let the panther inside you go nuts. Just because he saw you jump out a window during the middle of class, thirty feet up in the air, and not get hurt, is no reason to panic. But the look of shock on his face was telling me otherwise. What are you going to do Bella?
"Bella," he said again. His expression composed again. "What-" but he was cut of by a loud screech from the sky. I looked up just in time to see a large raven swoop down and hit Edward in the back of the head.
"What the hell!" He started but the raven was diving again. While it dove, a sparkle on its chest caught my eye. I looked more carefully and noticed the jewel that was nestled into the feathers.
Another witch.
Get out of here!
I heard the unfamiliar voice in my mind just as a large black dog and a small cat came running from the trees. Both of them had jewels on their chests. The dog ran up to Edward and jumped on him. Edward growled and tried to fight off the raven and the dog. The black cat that I then recognized as Nala, came and jumped on my shoulder.
Let's get out of here before he starts asking questions! Don't worry about them. They're friends who I met in the woods today. What are you waiting for run!
I heard her voice in my mind but did not run. Was she mad? We couldn't just walk off. There was no doubt that he would ask me about this later.
Nala tell them to stop for a second.
I put in her mind.
What?!
I didn't answer her. I ran over to Edward who was still being attacked by a bird and a dog.
Stop please. Just for a second.
I sent out the thought with firmness. They both stopped and backed away reluctantly when they heard me speak. Edward looked very surprised when he finally looked at me.
"Please don't say anything about this to anyone. I promise I will explain everything later." I looked as desperate as I felt and was relieved when he finally nodded slightly. I exhaled and turned around. I sprinted into the forest, Nala and the other two animals right on my heels.
I didn't chance forms when I got deeper into the woods. I just slowed down and turned towards my followers. Nala jumped off my shoulders and phased. She looked at me with an I-told-you-so expression.
"Didn't I tell you not to go to biology today?" That was when I started asking questions.
"How did you know about biology today? Why did you come to school? Who are these? People? Where-" She cut me off.
"I can answer those questions if you'd let me speak. Why don't you introduce yourselves," she said before turning to the raven that was perched on a low branch of a tree. The dog was sitting just below it. They looked at each other before leaping up and phasing into humans. The dog phased into a tan girl with long black hair, she was dressed in all black, like most witches, and had a soft look to her face. She had an average build like Nala, and she had soft blue eyes. The raven phased into a tall slender girl with white-blond hair. She had green eyes and was, of course, dressed all in black. But there were other things, strange things, about this witch. Her nails were colored bright red even though there didn't seem to have nail polish on them. The mark on her forehead was larger then normal, and her eyes were very bright. Her muscles were even larger then mine she seemed to glow all on her own.
"This is Laina," she said, gesturing to the strange raven. "And the other one is Ria." I looked at them both and started to say something but she continued.
"I found them in the woods while I was hunting today and they were looking for a place to stay. I said that they could stay with us, hope you don't mind." With out taking my eyes off the raven, Laina, I said.
"Sure I don't mind." Then it came to me, why the girl was different.
"You're a full witch!" She smiled.
"Yeah. I arose a few weeks ago. Having all this extra power is really cool. I also have the gift of seeing the future of a witch who is about to arise." Nala squealed beside me.
"That's how I knew about your biology lab today. She saw your future and you know what that means, your going to arise soon!" It took me a minute to process this. When Venus thinks that a witch is ready she calls their name and they arise. When we arise, our human half is replaced by our other witch half and our powers are fully develop. When that happens your animal will grow wings and you will have to choose between following Venus and going your own way. If you choose to go your own way, your wings are taken away and you become a white witch. Dressed in white, white animal white magic. If you choose white magic, when you die, you will not be with Venus. White magic is powerful but bad. Nala suggested that we all go back to the house, so on the way back I got to know Laina and Ria a bit more. They had both become witches around the same time as us and their mothers had the same reaction as Nalas' did.
"Why is it that mothers kill themselves when they find out their daughters of witches?" Nala asked quietly. Ria gave her a knowing but understanding look.
"We were wondering the same thing," she said quietly. "You guts have a magic rules book right?" We both nodded. "Well there's actually a rule in there about mothers knowing about our kind. It's the very first rule in the book. 'Mothers are forbidden to know about the maidens of the world until the maiden is fully pure.'" Nala didn't look at anyone when she said.
"I didn't even check the book." I walked over to her and touched her shoulder only to have her shake it off, phase and sprint ahead. I sighed.
"I'm guessing she lost her mother too?" Ria asked. I nodded. Understanding flickered in her eyes so she phased, and the black dog trotted to catch up with her.
"She seems like a good friend," Laina said quietly from behind me.
"The best," I said at the same volume, looking straight ahead. She came up to my side and walked with me.
"So," she said finally. "Your know our story, what's yours? Did you tell your mom too?" I shook my head.
"Boyfriend. Well ex-boyfriend now I guess." Laina gave me a strange look.
"That's not against the rules. Did he freak out?" I stopped walking for a second.
"Something like that," I said finally and continued walking. She caught my arm and held me back.
"Tell me," she said with soft eyes. I couldn't stop myself from telling her how in self-defense; I had killed the one I loved. I didn't stop there either. I told her all about Edward and how I knew that he wasn't human and that he knew that I wasn't, the strange urge to tell him the full truth and that weird feeling of being lost in his eyes, that my powers didn't work on him or his father and how I hadn't told Nala any of this in fear that she would be mad at me. Laina listened intently and she wasn't even mad at me.
"It feels good to get this off my chest." I said. She smiled in a very sister-like way. "What do you think he is?"
"I don't know, but I think I do know about that strange feeling." She looked slightly smug.
"What?" I demanded. She shrugged.
"It sounds to me like your falling in love with him." I choked on air.
"I can't afford to fall in love again, not after what I did." I didn't want to think about killing another person. She gave me an encouraging look.
"Hey, you're going to arise soon, so you'll have more control and more power." I half smiled and we started walking again.
"What does it feel like to arise?" I asked. She laughed slightly.
"Well before you actually arise you feel really weird like you need to hunt more and you sleep a lot more. After a few days of that you actually arise. This is going to sound really weird but don't blame me this is just how it seemed like it happened to me. I was in the forest hunting as a raven when I phased back into human form without meaning to and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't phase back. All of a sudden this big bolt of lightening shot out of the sky and I felt my feet being lifted off the ground. There was this huge pain in my chest and I remember Ria telling me that she heard my screams a mile away. I didn't know anything anymore and all I saw was this huge light and then I heard this voice. It was loud and deep and quiet and high all at the same time and I realized that it was the goddess talking to me." I gasped.
"You spoke with the goddess?" I didn't believe it. This was supposed to happen to me?
"Yes," she continued. "She told me that I was ready to make my decision and I chose black magic of course. She thanked me and then I was back on the ground. I was still in a lot of pain but I could feel the power inside me. My forehead burned and my chest throbbed but in a matter of seconds it was over." Just as she finished we walked out of the trees and saw my house up ahead.
"Wow," I said. She smiled.
"I know," she said. "It's a little hard to control at first but you get it real fast." We sprang up through my window to see Nala and Ria sitting on the bed. I walked over to Nala and sat with her.
"You okay?" She smiled
"Yeah." I nodded. Ria cleared her throat.
"Bella," I looked at her. "Laina, Nala and I have all been talking in our heads this whole time and we have all agreed that four is better then two and two. We all seem to be getting along very well and we are very thankful that you have offered us a home here, so we think that all of us should form our own circle." I raised my eyebrows. A circle was a group of witches who were bound together, by blood, for life and who could claim a certain area, but they had to be of three to six witches and they had certain laws. They could be very powerful but dangerous.
"Sure," I said, even though I was wondering a bit about why they had kept me out of this conversation.
"One more thing," Nala said smiling, bringing me out of my thoughts. "We want you to be the leader." My mouth dropped open.
"Why?!" I said. Laina took my hand and spoke then because the other two looked like they would explode with excitement.
"There's something about you, something special. I know that sounds kinda corny but it's true. I know very few witches who can phase into an animal as powerful as yours. You are going to arise at a very your age. I only did at twenty and that is very early. I think that Venus has something special planned for you and we all agree that you will be the best leader. I haven't told you two this yet," she glanced at Nala and Ria. "But I think that you are the Crimson Witch" The other two gasped.
"Me?! No way! That's . . . impossible," I was shocked. I couldn't' believe this. The Crimson Witch was an old legend that described how one day the daughter of Venus would come into the witch world. She would seem like a normal witch until she arose. Then instead of having black or white magic, she would become the Crimson Witch. She would be dressed in Crimson and her powers would be double the normal witch powers and Venus would work through her.
"Oh my Goddess! Do you really think so? That would be so cool! That our circle leader is the Crimson Witch!" Nala squealed.
"Hang on there," I said. "We don't know that I'm the Crimson Witch. Most people have stopped believing in that old legend anyway."
"But we do believe it," Ria said and the other two nodded. "If you don't then fine, but we will all be waiting for you to arise so we can prove you wrong. If you don't have anything to say, just say that you'll be our leader." They were all smiling hopefully so I nodded. They all squealed and Laina conjured up some ashes so she could draw the symbol for witches on the floor. When she finished she put three candles at the ends of the triangles and her, Nala and Ria stood behind each candle, looking at me expectedly. I sighed and stood at the center of them. Laina took my wrist and picked up a silver knife with a wooden handle that she had conjured. She sliced it across my palm leaving a gash that was drizzling dark red liquid. The other three did the same and I pushed my plam against mine one by one to mix the blood.
"On three," I said to them. They nodded. "One, two, three!" We al licked our hands and swallowed. As soon as we did that the mark on the floor glowed and in between the two circles, there was writing being scratches on the floor, and lines appeared coming from the others to join at me. Then the mark on the floor disappeared and we all looked at each other.
"Did you see what that said?" I asked the others. They all smiled and Laina quoted: "Be safe my daughters, for you have my blessing. It was Venus I know it. We are her daughters and now we are each other's sisters. Nothing will stop us, and we will find out about those Cullens starting tomorrow."
"Damn right we will," I said, and while they all laughed I thought about the daunting task I had ahead of me: explaining todays actios to Edward Cullen.
