Author's note: Just a quick one - I didn't want to describe things too much since I know they'll be so different in the real TFH. I suppose we'll know by the end of August!
Also, VA trailer? Am I the only afraid person? I mean, Danilla is so unbelievably hot, but Dominic is kind of... Ew. In my mind Christian was totally different. And here is the proof that everything in a book is about boys for a girl :D
And I want to know the name of #5 Bloodlines! And I want TFH trailers! And the book! And, ahh. I want a computer to write faster :(
Mentioning:
1. Yes, yes, HopperIvashkinator. My wonderful sister. I am so excited too!
2. Bukwurm13. Yes, that day will come! I can't help it! And you didn't misread anything )
3. Totalbooknerd13. You are crazy :D
4. TheHappyLol! Love you and your cider juice reactions! :D
5. Rebelde09. Be patient, it will happen. I just need a make-out session and Sydney deciding. D
6. Pixie's. So glad you loved the chapter :)
7. CherrySlushLover. Crazy girl, this chapter is for you, because the previous one was short :P
8. Lesha11. Welcome, new reviewer. Hope you didn't wait too long! :)
So many people support me! (+ Sam1405, Lilietje99 and MilankaLovesMetal - I didn't forget them!) Love you, guys.
And yes - Adrian is going to bite Sydney. I want that chapter so much and we're all crazy, but who cares? It'll change so many things for them! Now I'm going to keep you reading and waiting for that scene, and out of nowhere it will come one day, without a warning :D
Now, the coven meeting I owed you:
I entered Ms. Terwilliger's kitchen. Her dining table had 6 chairs that were all occupied by women and there were 2 more chairs, only one occupied. There was a man standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. Jane passed by me and sat on the unoccupied chair, while Ms. T. put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath.
I noticed that mostly everyone was older than 30, like Jane. There was a woman at the head of the table and she looked very old, with long grey hair. She looked like a witch. Beside Jane was a young woman, probably around 25, and when my gaze came to a rest on her, she smiled. Many women had red hair, and only one woman didn't have long hair. The man was probably around 30, and when he noticed me looking, he raised both eyebrows.
I didn't feel chilled or afraid anymore. They all looked hostile and... Familiar. Certainly not what I expected. I expected animal sacrifices, flickering lights, flying carpets. Not a room with normal people sitting at a dining table.
Ms. Terwilliger was standing a meter from me, and she started speaking. "Okay. As you all already know, I've been training a girl with a wonderful potential. She fought Alicia and won. She saved my life. The least I can do is introduce her to my coven."
The witches nodded and the grey-haired woman spoke up. "Did you kill Alicia, girl?"
I shook my head. "I don't know for sure. I threw broken shards at her and she fell into a burning basement. They didn't find her body."
"That was really brave of you, Taylor," Jane said, obviously annoyed by the woman calling me 'girl'. In the corner of my eye I saw Ms. Terwilliger rise an eyebrow, but I focused on Jane. "Jackie almost died in trying to protect you. You've done well."
Everyone in the room nodded and Ms. Terwilliger smiled. "Well, then let's introduce everyone. Everyone, this is Taylor," and she gestured at me with her hands, "And Taylor, this is Palm Springs coven."
The women started saying names:
Clara, Kate, Paris, Joanne, the grey-haired woman was named Danielle, then Tina, the young woman was named Summer, while Jane just nodded at me and the man said "Mike".
"Okay, so the formalities are over. Now we need to do the initiation." Ms. T. looked at me, grinning, and I just nodded. I was becoming nervous again, not knowing what I was supposed to do.
"Tonight is a full moon, so we can preform the ritual immediately. Come here," Ms. T. said, took my hand and started steering me towards the table. Then I saw a wooden bowl at the head of the table, near Danielle.
Mike was walking towards the table, while Jane and Summer stood up and came closer.
"Don't be afraid," the woman that said her name was Kate said gently. I nodded and saw the grey-haired woman take a knife from Mike, who was watching me with an amused expression.
Don't freak out, Sydney, I told myself. They won't sacrifice animals.
"She's expecting animal sacrifice," Mike said through a chuckle and everyone started laughing.
I smiled, but kept my attention at the old woman, Danielle.
She took the knife and touched her thumb with it, making it bleed. While blood started to fall into the bowl, she took my hand and said loudly, "I swear my loyalty to the girl that calls herself Taylor." Ms. Terwilliger gave me the bowl while Danielle passed the knife to Mike. He looked me in the eyes, held my hand and swore his loyalty. I walked around the table with the bowl in which there was more and more blood, while witches swore their oaths.
Ms. Terwilliger smiled, took my hand and cut her palm. "I, the leader of this coven, swear my loyalty to this girl that calls herself Taylor. I take full responsibility for her." Then she took the bowl and gave me the knife.
"Cut your palm," she said gently. I cut my left palm, but didn't feel the pain. I let the blood fall into the bowl while saying, "I swear my oath to this coven. I promise to be loyal to it and not to let it down." Feeling like I wanted to say more, I continued, feeling courageous. "I swear to protect the coven and everyone in it. I won't deny magic anymore and I will fight against the coven's enemies with all I have."
Ms. Terwilliger hastily touched her bleeding palm with mine, interwining our fingers. She started chanting on Latin and I probably would've been able to translate it if I wasn't busy with watching the blood starting to glow, while it still fell into the bowl.
And it was suddenly over. There was no blood in the bowl and my hand wasn't bloody when I looked at it.
"That's it, Melbourne," Ms. Terwilliger said, smiling. She looked so content. "You are a member of the coven now."
I smiled, the Alchemist in me still freaked out, but a very large part of me infinitely happy. I wasn't alone anymore. I was a part of a community. 9 witches, a warlock and an Alchemist.
I was totally right - if the Alchemists found out about this, I wouldn't be sent to Re-education. I'd be executed.
"Now," Jane said, stopping my train of thoughts, "Let's see whose fireball is the bluest!"
The room exploded in cheers and everyone summoned fireballs. I didn't know what to do, so I summoned one too, and when Ms. T. saw it was blue, she grinned.
Danielle's was red, the weakest and she started murmuring something, angry.
Five fireballs were yellow and they also went off, with displeased words like, "Not fair!" or "I didn't summon it for a long time".
Blue fireballs were in my hand, Mike's, Jane's, Summer's and Ms. Terwilliger's.
"Ah," Jane suddenly said. "Mike won again. I don't know how you do it, but you're definitely cheating!"
Mike raised an eyebrow. "Or I'm just the strongest one."
Jane crossed her arms over her chest and turned away, while Mike smiled, seeing my blue fireball. "I didn't know she was stronger than you, Jackie," he said.
"It's a pleasant surprise," Ms. Terwilliger said. "She's probably been practicing." And she winked at me. Everyone turned away and her fireball became bluer than even Mike's.
I opened my mouth, but she shook her head, grinning. That cheater. She was the strongest one, but she let them think Mike was.
After that we exercised shields and protection spells. While Ms. Terwilliger wrote the chanting of her new spell down, Jane explained how different charms worked to me. She also said they often had fighting sessions, but since this meeting was about my initiation, they wouldn't fight. Witches also exchanged usefull spells and I learned much about them.
I felt like I belonged there, in Ms. T.'s dining room, among those witches. That was exactly what I was afraid of. And I didn't feel guilty, or unnatural. I was a part of the coven now. These people swore their loyalties to me.
Ms. Terwilliger gave me a necklace with a silver moon pendant. "It identifies you as one of us, and if you need it, you can draw strength of other coven members from it."
And now, I was sitting in my room, not being able to fall asleep.
I was a witch, a real witch now. My boyfriend was a Moroi and I broke into confidential Alchemist records. I was many things, but I wasn't what my father or the Alchemist wanted me to be.
I fell asleep very late, burdened with all those Alchemist beliefs ingrained into me for many years. I disobeyed everything and everyone, except omyself. But who was I? Where did I belong?
I got my answer as soon as I started dreaming.
Flash of emerald, apartment that smelled of pine and one more characteristic: home. The only place in the world I called like that.
Adrian.
He smiled honestly at me and came closer. His hair was, as usually, messy-styled and he wore black trousers and a white button-up shirt whose sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.
The thoughts I tried so hard to avoid were starting to come to the surface again. How could anything about this heavenly being be unnatural? How could a man I called "home" be wrong and evil? And how could I deny him something he wanted but what he'd never ask of me?
"Sage," he said eagerly as he came closer, but his smile faltered when he saw my expression. Thoughts about biting were swimming around my head, I could hardly focus on anything else.
"What's wrong?" Adrian gently said, already in front of me. His hand touched the golden lily on my cheek. I couldn't help but immediately feel better. "Was the initiation that bad?" He raised an eyebrow mockingly, attempting to make me smile. He succeeded.
I shook my head. "It was wonderful. I met so many people."
I took Adrian's arm and led us to his bed. There I told him about the meeting in details. His face lightened up every time I mentioned how I felt I belonged and how this was something that went against all of my beliefs.
"Taylor?" he said through a laugh and kissed my cheek. "You are brilliant."
I smiled, but it wasn't too convincing. I was thinking about the possibility of Adrian biting me. I was thinking about how it'd feel and if it'd change everything about us. If my blood would taste disgusting to him. If I'd feel good. If I could be free of Abe's pursue.
"What's wrong, Sydney?" Adrian asked carefully, his hands on my cheeks, his eyes piercing through my soul. The way he said my name melted me and for a second I wanted to tell him what was wrong. We'd work it out.
"Adrian, I..." I started.
And then everything disappeared. The only thing I felt was Zoe shaking me and the only thing I saw was a tornado of brown hair.
"Sydney, wake up!" Zoe said, trying and failing to whisper.
"What is wrong, Zoe?" I asked sleepily, rubbing my eyes to see better.
"Dad called," Zoe said. "He said the trial is in three weeks. We need to show up." Her face suddenly lightened and she smiled. "I knew you'd pick the right side. It's all mom's fault."
"I..." I started, but stopped myself, knowing I wouldn't solve anything by saying about the bribing. Zoe would probably just deny everything and we'd end up having another fight. I decided to keep everything the way it was, at least for now. "Okay, Zoe," I said with a sigh.
She nodded and left the room, very happy. How could she be happy when her parents were divorcing?
And as if the heaven heard me, my phone started ringing. I quickly checked the time. 6 AM. Who could be calling this early? Adrian, angry that I didn't say what was wrong? Eddie, saying Angeline killed someone? Jill, panicking for showing up in a magazine? I was already angry and frustrated, and I just woke up!
"What?" I answered the call, not caring who the caller was.
"Sydney," a gentle voice said. "Is everything okay?" That voice melted me and stabbed me in the heart. All my defenses were useless against this person.
"Mom?" I said, my voice breaking.
"You know about the divorce, sweetie? Jared promised to inform you. I would've called sooner, but the Alchemist couldn't give your number earlier. Safety reasons or something." I could feel her rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," I said, my brain shutting down. There were so many things I wanted to say to mom. 'Mom, I miss you. I fell in love. I'm a witch. I hate the Alchemists. Zoe hurts. I hate dad. Is he my dad at all? And I love you, mom. I want to come home.' All those things evaporated from my mind, replaced by Jared treathening me with Re-education. I had to protect mom, even if it meant hurting her badly in the process.
"Honey. Jared said you were going to testify in his favor. I know you won't. You never loved him." Mom's voice was so gentle, so determined, so sure in honesty of the words it was saying. It made my heart tighten and hurt worse.
"Mom..." I started, but she interrupted me.
"I know what you are going to ask. Why?" I knew the answer to that question. I knew exactly why. Mom was just going to confirm it. "It's not just Zoe. It's you, too. I almost died when you left almost a year ago. Now Zoe is out there too, fighting monster because her father has no limits."
"Mom," I said sharply, and she stopped talking. "I know. And dad was right." I sounded too calm. Don't think, Sydney. Just don't think.
Mom was silent for a moment, and then she whispered, "But why? Sydney, I thought you loved me."
Tears started falling down my cheeks, but I managed to sound cold. "I'm an Alchemist now. My feelings don't matter anymore." And I shut her off, promising to myself I'd get out of this whole mess.
I just had no idea how.
