Chapter 14 – Dark medallion

Next day I slept in and then decided to make a big breakfast to spend quality time with Charlie. I pulled all the stops making pancakes both plain with honey and with fresh fruit for me, eggs, bacon and coffee.

"Morning bells"

"Good morning dad"

He sat at the table facing me

"You were up late last night"

"Yeah, I mailed mom and she called me. We hadn't spoken since I moved here and I kind of missed her"

I tried not to sound bitter at the fact that I hadn't spoken to Renée in almost a month but I'm not sure it worked. Charlie shrugged uncomfortably and poured himself a second cup of coffee.

"Do you have any plans for the day?"

"None at all"

I shrugged.

"It's a beautiful day, why don't you catch a movie with your friends?"

I chanced a look out of the large kitchen windows. It was slightly drizzling.

"Yeah, beautiful alright"

I muttered.

"What are you doing today?"

"I'll go fishing with the guys from the rez. did you want to join?"

he asked with his eyebrows risen all the way to his hairline ironically. its no secret that fishing and me are like oil and water, we don't go together.

I stuck my tongue out childishly and running to the front door I pulled his medallion from my coat pocket and handed it back to him.

"Where did you get that?"

he snatched it away angrily

"your fishing gear. It fell out of it when you put it in my car the other day. What is it?"

"did you use it?"

he answered my question with another question.

"what is it Charlie?"

I copied him. he took another sip of his coffee

"it's a medallion to channel power. Dark power bells"

"What's dark power?"

"Magic fueled by dark reasons"

he said calmly. too calmly

"you know about... magic?"

he chuckled nodding

"you had to inherited it from someone bells"

"You're a wizard too?"

"yeah"

I filed that away for future use and bit my lip. Should I tell him I used it already and liked it?

"I used it once. There was this... voice inside me guiding me to do it"

he sighed heavily

"It belonged to my ancestors. I haven't used it in years and I really don't want you to use it. keep that medallion Bells but don't use it again. it may attract the wrong people"

He slid it through a thin leather black string he took from one of the kitchen drawers and gave it back to me. I put it on and left it long so it rested right between my breasts. The medallion wasn't very large in size, rather a bit bigger than a pocket watch but it was definitely visible. On it was a symbol of a triangle within a circle and something looking like a cross over it.

It was certainly unique.

After breakfast Charlie left to go fishing taking our dog with him and I washed the dishes before putting on a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a pair of kitten heeled boots and a white blouse. Standing up from my bed after I put my boots on I noticed one of the tiles in the small fireplace in my room was facing the wrong way. It's twin had a flower pattern looking up while this one had it facing down.

I bit my lip and taking a letter opener from my desk I yanked it off. It slid off quite easily actually. I stuck my hand inside the secret room behind it and my fingers touched a small book and a rock. I pulled them out and sat on my bed to examine them. The rock was in a clear color and rather big, only a tad smaller than my fist. the book was wrapped in a white silky fabric and had a sugary white leather cover. on it was a symbol of three moons. two crescent ones and a full one holding them together, like my pendant. Below it, mom's last name was scripted in a dark gold letters

"My Book of Shadows"

I chuckled and stuffed it in my bag along with the crystal. I grabbed the bag, locked the door behind me and ran to Luke's house through the yard that connected our houses knocking his door. A woman around dad's age (for the life of mine I haven't seen older people except Waylon around here) opened the door. her long straight hair fell down on her back and she was in the process of putting on a pair of earrings.

"hi"

"hi, is Luke here?"

"his room, last floor"

she said and rushed out the door and to a car and drove off. I let myself inside and closed the door behind me; the inside of the house was painted in warm earthy colors. the stairs were located right next to the kitchen and tentatively I went up to the last floor which was a euphemism for the attic. in the middle of the large light red room was a bed on which a person was groaning and moaning and sleeping.

I checked my watch awkwardly. I bit my lip and went to the windows and pulled the curtains open but the sunlight was weak and only filtered into the room gently. Then, on a whim, I grabbed my keys from my bag and gently keyed his feet as they hanged off the bed. he began giggling and holding my laughter back I kept at it until Lucas began screaming and jumped from the bed.

"Hello Kitty"

I said amused at his bright pink, hello kitty boxers. Luke's eyes widened seeing me, sitting at the edge of his bed, batting my eyelashes innocently.

"how did you get in here?"

"your mom, I think, let me in. Are you.. gonna cover up? Looking at your eyes isn't really my top priority right now"

I said chuckling, looking penitently at the small white kitty head on his boxer leg. he blushed and grabbed a pair of dark red pajama bottoms to put on. I pouted extravagantly as he sat down on his bed rubbing his eyes

"hello kitty?"

"my mom went crazy during shopping"

I raised an eyebrow

"your mom buys your underwear?"

"no one was supposed to see it!"

he exclaimed and I couldn't help but laughing again. he looked at me exasperated

"why are you here again?"

"Charlie went fishing, I found my Book and I was bored. You broke me guys, normally I'd crave an opportunity to be alone but I now I can't stand it!"

he chuckled again.

"You found your Book? That's great what does it have?"

I shrugged

"Didn't open it. Wanna do it together?"

"Maybe later, with the rest of the guys. I found mine too the other day so maybe we should have a meeting and go through them together"

I nodded

"sounds good to me, did you have any plans for the day and I screwed them up?"

"to sleep the day away"

he deadpanned.

"oops?"

he rolled his eyes.

"Want to catch a movie later, perhaps?"

he trailed nervously. I nodded

"Sure. Meet you in an hour? Give you a chance to take a shower too?"

I said smirking and it worked. The awkward silence that felt heavy was gone and so was the pink elephant.

True to his word Luke was on my front steps one hour later his hair slightly damp from the shower. he had a pair of dark jeans on, biker boots, a very fitting red tee under his usual leather jacket. Seeing a motorbike behind him I let Renee on the phone push me into wearing dressier clothes than the jeans I had in I'm not sure how a short dress is gonna go on a bike

"You took..."

I looked at the cat sticker at the black motorcycle.

"Tom's bike?"

"he owed me one"

I climbed on behind him and as we passed the houses on our street there was not a single curtain that remained unmoved.