Chapter Five: An Untrustworthy Boyfriend and a Painful Breakup
There was a knock on the door. Lucy was busy upstairs, writing one of her stories.
"Hey… Oh… Connor." Lincoln said unhappily.
"Hey there, Linc." Connor said, smiling at Lincoln. Lincoln scowled at him. He didn't trust Connor. He was Lucy's boyfriend, but he was three years older than her. He was 17, almost 18 while she was 14. He didn't smoke or drink or do drugs as far as Lincoln knew. But he was too much older than Lucy.
She was in 8th grade while he was in 11th grade, almost a senior while she was still in her final year of middle school. Lincoln sighed.
"Why don't you come in and sit down? Lucy is busy with her poetry. But we need to have a talk." Lincoln said. He'd been planning for what he would do with Connor when he saw him next. He hadn't been at the prom and Lincoln wouldn't have brought that up at the prom anyways.
"Sure." Connor said, sitting down on the couch. Lincoln sat down across from him in a chair.
"Con… What's the deal? She's still in middle school. You're about to go into your senior year in high school. I'm the same age as you… Well, a bit older… I'm a grade higher, but we're both seventeen. And don't give me the whole 'she's mature for her age'. She's in middle school. You have no business dating her." Lincoln said sternly.
"Shouldn't that be her decision?" Connor asked, smiling at Lincoln.
"What decision? You have almost four years on her. She's a middle schooler. Yes, she's mature for her age. But you're about to be going into your final year of high school.
"Wouldn't you rather be dating girls your own age?" Lincoln asked.
"Even if you're not intentionally manipulating her, it's an inherently unequal relationship. You have more experience. You know more. You've been dating for longer than her. You have no business dating her. I want you to break up with her." Lincoln said firmly.
"Again, that's her decision. I'm not going to let you bully me into breaking up with her." Connor said.
Lincoln chuckled.
"Oh? You're not?" Lincoln asked, crossing his arms. He'd been the Man with the Plan for a long time. He knew how to get what he wanted and he could see Connor's body temperature rise when he said that. Lincoln was a grade above Connor, but most of the school knew that Lincoln was in really good physical shape and that he took martial arts lessons from his Olympic athlete sister. Lincoln was hardly a master of the martial arts he took. But he was good. And he didn't mind people thinking he was better than he was.
He figured that the better people thought he was, the less often he would have to prove he was good. Lincoln was silent for a long, long moment, just observing Connor's reactions, watching how his expression changed, how his body temperature changed, how he started sweating.
"And besides! Even if I was afraid of you, I love Lucy! I'm not just gonna break up with her because you have a sister complex and can't admit that she's more mature than you want to believe." Connor protested. Lincoln raised an eyebrow, just waiting for any further response.
"Say something!" Connor protested. Lincoln's smile widened, letting Connor fill in all the dots for him. Even if they were the wrong dots to fill in, it didn't hurt Lincoln's cause to have Connor think that he was plotting something worse than he really was.
"Con…" Lucy said softly, hugging Connor. She rarely acted like that with anyone.
"H-hey, Luce…" Connor said anxiously, still trying to get the thoughts of Lincoln threatening him out of his head.
"Don't let Lincoln threaten you. My family just doesn't approve of our relationship. We're like Romeo and Juliet." Lucy said, blushing happily.
"Y-ye-yeah… Yeah… Romeo and-and Juliet…" Connor said. Connor was in 11th grade now because he had failed one year. He was hardly the honors student that Lucy was. Lincoln didn't see what she saw in him. Lincoln knew who Connor hung out with when he wasn't with Lucy. He didn't want him around Lucy. He was going to make sure this didn't go further than it already had.
"I didn't threaten him. What exactly did I say that was threatening?" Lincoln asked. Connor's breath hitched, going back and trying to think of what Lincoln specifically threatened him with. He started to realize that his mind had been racing so much that he didn't realize, Lincoln hadn't actually made any specific threats. The closest Lincoln had come was saying that he wanted Connor to break up with Lucy.
"You played some weird Jedi mind tricks on me!" Connor protested.
"Oh, like it was so hard. Your intelligence is so vast and sharp it took so much work to trick you." Lincoln said sarcastically. Lincoln was rarely this unkind or manipulative.
But he really didn't like Connor.
"Hey! I'm smart!"
"Yes, of course you are. You're the smartest guy on the football team." Lincoln said cynically.
"Hey. Lincoln, stop." Lucy commanded, brushing her hair back.
"Connor is my boyfriend, whether you like him or not. It doesn't matter what you think. I can handle myself." Lucy said firmly. Lincoln sighed.
"Fine. But you better respect her wishes." Lincoln said, looking sternly at Connor, who immediately knew what Lincoln meant. He didn't want Connor to try to seduce her. Connor nodded helplessly. He'd been dating Lucy for almost a year. He wanted to make love to her. He wanted to take their relationship to the next level. But Lucy didn't want to yet. She was nervous about it.
"Let's go up to my room." Lucy said. Part of why she was dating Connor was because it made her family nervous. Her family had to pay attention to her now. She didn't get much attention normally. People didn't even notice her. Even Haiku didn't like Connor. She said that his aura was shifty.
"Connor… I have to be honest with you. I mostly started dating you because I knew my family wouldn't like you. You scare them." Lucy said softly. Connor sighed.
"Yes, I've noticed that. Being three years older than you… I'm sure they think that's a lot." Connor said.
"Why did you want to date me? I'm sure that you could have found someone your age that is willing to do everything you want to do." Lucy said, feeling a little bit guilty.
"Oh, you mean sex? We can wait until you're ready. I'm almost eighteen anyway. Soon, it won't even be legal for me to be with you." He said. He really did love Lucy. He didn't fully understand why. But he did. There was just something about her that he was drawn to.
Lucy sighed.
"It's not that I'm not ready. It's that I'm scared." She said.
"It's the same thing." He replied, shrugging. He was okay with waiting as long as she needed.
"No. It's not. It's not the physical act that scares me. It's the intimacy. It's the worry that I might not do it right. It's the knowledge that you're probably a lot more experienced than me." Lucy said.
"And I wonder… Is scaring my parents enough of a reason for a relationship?" Lucy asked.
"It was for Romeo and Juliet." Connor said wryly. He was pretty smart about some things.
"But was that the only reason you wanted to date me? To scare your family?" Connor asked, sounding hurt. Lucy sighed.
"I don't know. I really do like you. But it's hard living in a family where nobody notices you, where just saying hi startles everyone because they didn't even notice you walking in the room. Now, everyone pays attention to me. They're worried that I'm being taken advantage of by you.
"They're worried that you're going to get me pregnant. But it's nice to be noticed." Lucy said shyly.
"Luce… I love you. But scaring your parents isn't enough of a reason for me to be with you. If that's the only reason that you wanted to be with me… Maybe we should try seeing other people." Connor said. He really liked Lucy and he wanted to be with her. She was cool, she was mature, she was smart and talented. And while his main skill was football, he admired how intelligent she was. But he had his pride. He wasn't going to be with someone who only wanted the relationship to upset her family.
"You need to make a decision, Lucy… What is it that you want out of our relationship? What's important to you?" He asked softly, hugging Lucy and heading downstairs, getting his shoes on.
"I'm going, Lincoln. It's been good getting to know you guys." He said. He didn't look at Lincoln so the older brother couldn't see how upset he was. Lincoln was a bit nonplussed for a long moment.
"Um… Yeah… Okay…" Lincoln said. His eyes couldn't be fooled that easily. He could tell Connor was upset, that he was hurt. He wasn't going to butt in though. Maybe he and Lucy had a fight.
He watched as Connor left and then went up to see Lucy, who was lying on her bed, her still small, slender body trembling with tears.
"Lucy." Lincoln said gently, sitting down with her, hugging her close to him. Lucy leaned in close. He was so warm. She sighed, just holding him for almost twenty minutes before she hurried out of the room. Connor wasn't wrong. She loved him. But part of what she loved most was that when he was over, people were actually paying attention to her. That wasn't enough of a reason.
She decided to go for a walk, taking her parasol with her. She didn't know where she was going. She just needed to clear her head. Did she love Connor for reasons other than just that he scared her parents? He was a nice guy. But he wasn't really her type. He was into sports and cars and things like that, while she had gotten more into Witchcraft and had even contributed to the Weekly Wiccan local newspaper on multiple occasions. She was pretty well known within Royal Woods and neighboring towns for her knowledge of Pagan customs and Witchcraft. She was even the leader of the coven she was in.
She worshiped Hecate and Hades herself. She worshiped Hecate for her power over Witchcraft and magic in general as well as her knowledge of the night, herbs and poisons. She worshiped Hades for his power over the dead and the Underworld. She was quick to tell people who mistook that Hades wasn't the God of Death. That was Thanatos. He was the God of *the dead* and the Underworld. The difference was that Hades didn't cause people's deaths. He merely was the one who ruled over the Dead once they did die. It was a subtle distinction to many. But to Lucy, it was the difference between Hades and Thanatos.
It was an important difference to her. In every issue of the newspaper, which came out once a week, she was in charge of the section that detailed spells and rituals. Persephone released a section on gods and goddesses. Each week, she talked about a different god or goddess. This year, she was talking about Greco-Roman gods and goddesses. Haiku did the horoscope and fortunetelling. Lucy called together the Coven, calling them to the local ley line where they did rituals.
The woods around Royal Woods had an extremely old Hawthorn tree that marked the intersection of ley lines where they gathered for coven meetings.
"Hey, Haiku, Persephone, Cate, Art, Andy, Charlotte, Morpheus. Do you have time to attend a Coven meeting at the local Ley Line?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, of course." Haiku said. She could tell Lucy was upset. She didn't usually show her emotions that strongly. But she was clearly distressed.
"Of course. Do you mind if I bring my girl with me? She's interested in learning Witchcraft." Morpheus said.
"Of course. Bring whoever you like." Lucy said.
"We're always willing to involve initiates in the craft." Lucy said.
"Thanks! I'll see you there!" He said eagerly.
-0-
"Merry Meet, everyone. Thank you for attending the Circle with such haste." Lucy said.
"And this must be your girlfriend, Morpheus." Lucy said.
"Yes. This is Amelia. I met her in art camp. She's a very talented artist. She makes beautiful murals out of a combination of paint, wax and other things." Morpheus said.
"And what deity do you venerate?" Lucy asked Amelia. Amelia had green eyes, but her right eye was slightly darker than her left. She had a slight accent.
"I worship Brigid, the Celtic Goddess of Art." Amelia said.
"And you are Lucy? Which god or goddess do you worship?" Amelia asked.
"I worship Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, entranceways, night, light, magic, knowledge of herbs, plants and poisons, necromancy, ghosts and sorcery, and Hades the god of the dead and the underworld." Lucy said softly. Amelia nodded. Lucy seemed like an incredibly elegant young woman.
"How long have you been practicing Witchcraft?" Amelia asked.
"Since I was eight. So six years." Lucy said.
"But I'm a witch by birth. My Great-Grandma Harriet and my Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma Lucille were both witches." Lucy said. Amelia nodded.
"What does that mean? Are natural witches more powerful?" Amelia asked.
"Not necessarily. A Witch's power is based on their knowledge, their faith and their willpower." Lucy said. Amelia nodded.
"Would you take a look at my Book of Shadows? It's… Incomplete. But… Well… I've got a bit done." Amelia said. Lucy nodded, taking a heavy, leatherbound diary from her.
"This is a beautiful book." Lucy said.
"Thank you. I bought it off Amazon." Amelia said. Lucy looked through the first fifteen pages of the book, nodding as she saw the skilled hand with which Amelia drew her charts and wrote out the various gods and goddesses of various pantheons.
She'd been very diligent in her work.
"This is very good. But perhaps you should choose to start with a three ring binder for your Book of Shadows. It's not as spiritual as a leatherbound diary. But it allows you to put in new pages as you need to and move things around. You can organize your spells into subjects if you want. You can remove pages that you made mistakes on without compromising the notebook itself." Lucy said.
"This is a beautiful notebook. But maybe have a binder as well that you can start with." Lucy suggested. Amelia nodded. That did make sense.
"What does your Book of Shadows look like?" Amelia asked.
"Well, I have a few diaries with spells in them. I sometimes need to search through a few of them to find the spell that I want though. So I've begun to compile a Grand Grimoire out of a binder that I bought.
"Every time I find or compile a new spell, I put it both in my most recent grimoire and the Grand Grimoire." Lucy said.
"Lucy… You seemed… Upset. What happened?" Haiku asked.
"My boyfriend broke up with me. I'm feeling better now. Lincoln may have been right. I may be too young for him anyway." Lucy said.
"Age is just a number." Cate said.
"And prison is just a place." Haiku said.
"Connor is three years older than Lucy. I know I wouldn't date a 14-year-old. No offense, Lucy. You're mature for your age. But I don't think he was really right for you. I didn't sense a strong spiritual connection between you and him." Haiku said. Haiku was skilled at sensing spiritual bonds, especially between people.
Haiku would often say that a spiritual bond could form later in the relationship, but that it often did indicate that they weren't right for each other. And he and Lucy had been dating for almost a year now and Haiku had been uncertain about it the whole time. He didn't really seem like Lucy's type.
"Well, now you don't have to worry about it. We're not together anymore." Lucy said.
"How is your sister doing with her experiments?" Art asked. He worshiped Thoth, the Egyptian God of Science. He was 19 and excelled in Chemistry and Physics.
"She's created something incredible again." Lucy said.
"Really? What?" Art asked.
"Bionic organs. I haven't gotten them implanted. But Lincoln has and he's working with Lucy on learning to use them before he goes away to college at the end of summer." Lucy said. Art nodded. They all knew that Lucy and Lincoln were very close. Art could tell that Lucy was going to miss Lincoln when he went away.
"Where is Lincoln going to college?" Haiku asked.
"Aldrich University. He'll be a little far from home. It's in California. And he can afford it. It's not like he's limited by money. But he'll be in college for at least six years." Lucy knew that if he wanted to, he could go for five Masters' Degrees. He had the money and more coming in every year because of his past success with his Full House Gang comics. Even now, many kids dressed as their favorite member of the Full House Gang.
"Have you considered trying to get Lincoln into witchcraft? That way you could have a connection with him even when he's away." Haiku said.
"I've tried. But he never really bit. Luna took to Witchcraft though. She worships Selene, the goddess of the Moon." Lucy said.
"She's more of a solitary witch though and doesn't want to join the coven. Plus, she's pretty busy with her band." Lucy said.
"Do you have a spell that you want to do today, or did you simply want to gather the coven?" Charlotte asked. She worshiped Lilith. She was 18. She was in a college close by, so she could stay at home while going.
"I simply wanted to see everyone. I'm glad that Morpheus has brought a new member into our number. We welcome Amelia and ask that she be blessed in her practice of the Craft." Lucy said.
"So mote it be." The other members said. They chatted for quite a while before separating for the evening and heading back to their own homes.