Chapter 9

Diana sat at the huge dining table, staring at the food on her plate. It looked a little obscure only having four people sitting at a table set for at least twenty.

Aidan had been going on for about twenty minutes about the party they were having that night. She hadn't really been paying attention, just moving her food around on the plate, not as hungry as she thought she was.

Nick was talking now. "So, why do you guys have British accents? I figured you'd be speaking with Irish accents."

Katherine smiled politely. "When our ancestors settled here, there were no other people, so we had no other accent to adapt to. We've all grown up with it. Even though our accent hasn't evolved, our language has."

Diana smiled, finding that interesting. "So, why did your ancestors move here?"

Aidan answered. "The same reason you went to New Salem. Witch hunters."

She was slightly surprised. "Really? What a coincidence."

"Isn't it? But we haven't had problems since. We've just lived here peacefully. Definitely nothing like what has happened to you guys."

Nick snorted. "Be grateful."

The doorbell rang through the house. Aidan stood to answer it, leaving them all at the table. Diana took one last look at her plate, deciding she didn't want anymore. People were entering the room to set up for the buffet they were having with the party, so she just moved out of the room, deciding to take her own private tour.

Walking down a long hallway on the second floor, she came across more artwork. She couldn't place what exactly these were. They seemed to be paintings of past functions and covens. Making her way down the hall further, she saw portraits.

She stopped in front of the first one, reading the plaque underneath it: Dagan Smith, Leader 1689-1709. It was a tribute hall to leaders. She continued searching, looking through the paintings. Beautiful women and handsome men lined the walls of the hallway. She saw a few that almost looked familiar. One had strawberry blond hair, curling past her shoulders. She looked amazingly similar to Suzan.

She came to the last portrait in the hall. Standing tall and proud was Aidan. She read the inscription to his: Aidan Smith, Leader 1989-.

He's a Smith, she thought, reaching up to touch the plaque. He's a direct descendant of Black John, and a distant relative of Cassie.

"There you are," his voice came out.

Diana looked at the portrait, suddenly realizing he was behind her. She turned to him quickly. "Yeah, here I am. I was just giving myself a tour of the house." She looked back at the picture. "This is a wonderful composite of you. It captures everything, even the gleam in your eyes." They look kind of sad, she added to herself.

"Thanks," he said wistfully.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, curious to know what could make him so upset.

"It's nothing." He started to turn away.

"You don't have to tell me," she said quickly. "But, just so you know, you can. Like you said earlier, I'm your friend."

"Diana?" Nick's voice interrupted. She turned quickly to him, seeing he had a cordless phone in his hand. "It's Faye. She wanted to see how everything was going."

She turned back to Aidan, seeing that he was already walking down the hall in the opposite direction. Diana took the phone from Nick, and walked back toward the stairway. "Faye?"

"Hey Diana!" she heard Faye's voice from thousands of miles away. "How is everything going there?"

"Everything's fine. Everyone's been incredibly nice. They're even going to teach Nick and I some stuff to broaden our powers."

"That's great! So, are there any cute guys there?"

Diana laughed. Some things will never change. "I haven't met them all yet, but yes, there are."

"Hmmm," Diana could see Faye smiling and tapping her bright red nails. "I guess I'll have to take a trip there this summer."

"Maybe we all will." She was entering one of the living rooms and saw the party was starting. "I'm gonna have to let you go, Faye. The party's starting."

"A party?" Faye exclaimed. "I have a Literature exam in the morning, and you're going to be up all night at a party? I cannot believe this."

"I'll give you a call tomorrow, okay? Bye." Diana hung up the phone, setting it on a table. She walked up to where Nick was talking to a group of teenagers.

"Hey Di, let me introduce you." Nick put an arm around her, gesturing to the five people around them. "This is Natasha and Aria Torchia." He was speaking of twin girls, no older than they were, with auburn hair and sapphire blue eyes. Next he pointed to a guy who looked a couple of years older, with short cut hair that had been bleached to almost white, and deep brown eyes. "That's Jon Goode. And they are Renee Howard and James Meade." These two looked almost as if they could be close cousins of Cassie and Diana. Renee had the same corn-flower blue eyes that Cassie had, with Mrs. Blake's dark, midnight hair, and James had both Diana's soft golden hair and peridot green eyes.

Diana greeted everyone warmly. Nick began to explain how they were teaching him to heat objects in his hands. She laughed and moved on, looking for Aidan.

Along the way through the room, everyone she came close to greeted her. They were all being so nice. She barely noticed when Aidan approached her.

"How is everything?"

Diana gasped when she saw him. He had changed into a pair of black slacks, with a light blue dress shirt. The outfit brought out his golden features dramatically. Diana had never seen anyone more handsome in her life.

"Did I scare you?" he asked, looking slightly worried.

"Oh, no," Diana laughed sheepishly. "You just, well . . ." she shook her head. "To be honest? You took my breath away."

Aidan laughed with her. "I wasn't expecting that, but okay."

Katherine ran up, grabbing Diana's arm. "Come with me, there's some people I want you to meet."

"I was going to talk to Aidan . . ." Diana started.

"We'll talk later." He gave her that sad smile again. "You'll be here for five more days. We have plenty of time."

She continued to watch him as Katherine dragged her away.

They walked into a lounge where two girls were sitting on leather couches. Diana sat next to Katherine, waiting to be introduced.

"Diana, I want you to meet my closest friends. This is Elizabeth Tyler and Erica Johnson."

Elizabeth reminded Diana of Laurel. She had light brown hair, and almost an elfish body structure. Erica had long blond hair, the color of honey, and bright violet eyes.

Erica was the first to speak. "How do you like it here so far, Diana?"

"Oh, it's wonderful!" she replied. "All of you have been so nice. And it's great to see so many people that completely enjoy what they do."

Elizabeth spoke next. "Nick told us everything you've been through in your coven. It must be so exciting!"

Diana shook her head, smiling. "If I were given the option, I would never go through that again."

Katherine gave a sly grin, "Are all the guys in your coven as handsome as Nick?"

Diana gave a refreshing laugh. "Well, our four other guys have their own beauty, just the girls in our coven are looking for something new. The Henderson brothers are mischievous as Hell, but quite handsome. Sean looks kind of tiny at first, but once you get to know him, he's a great guy. Adam, my ex-boyfriend, has those gallant good looks, almost medieval. But, he has his soulmate, so he's hands off."

Elizabeth gave a huge grin. "Soulmates? That sounds so romantic. I didn't think they actually existed."

"Oh, yes." Diana smiled. "It's in my family's Book of Shadows. From what Cassie, Adam's soulmate, has told me, you're linked to the other person by some sort of supernatural silver cord. You never feel complete until you find that one person."

"You can say that again!" Katherine giggled.

Erica turned to Diana. "So what do you think of Aidan's house? Great, huh?"

Diana sighed. "It's amazing. It's so big, and he's been very . . . nice."

The three girls looked at each other, then back at Diana. Katherine gave a wistful sigh. "He definitely is nice. It's just too bad he doesn't realize how great he is."

Diana looked at the girls. "What do you mean?"

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Aidan's special. All of the girls know he is. He cares about everyone and everything in the world, and feels that there is good in everybody." Diana thought that reminded her of something Faye had once said about her . . . "He just doesn't notice that we think that way."

Diana looked at them, confused. Katherine sat up and continued from Elizabeth's speech. "When we were little, about six years old, word came to our parents' coven that a new group of witches had been found. The tip hadn't come directly to us; it had just traveled from town to town until we got it. They were said to be in London, so a small party from the coven left in search of them. It was only about four people, one of them was my father, the other was his sister, Aidan's mother.

"Aidan begged his mother not to go. He said he had had a bad feeling. Since we were so young, our parents didn't take it seriously. They left for England, and the next day Aidan was struck down by an illness. All of the healers tried, but couldn't bring down his fever or stop his chills and constant wailing.

"On the third day of his illness, he started to jabber and scream, and then fell silent. He turned to the healer in the room and said, 'She's gone.' Nobody had any clue what he was talking about, until about an hour later. My father called to tell everyone that the rumor had been a trick. A group of witch hunters had taken them on the first day and had been torturing them the whole time they had been gone. My father said that the hunters had used old methods of torture, like pressing, stretching, choking, burning, but wouldn't kill any of them. On the final day, when Aidan went silent, they killed his mother for not saying where the coven was located. The remaining party was able to get free, but Aidan's life has been scarred."

Erica looked up. "He's never told anyone what was happening to him during his illness. He's never mentioned the incident since. There's just always been a sad look about him. He's always smiling, but you can see it in his eyes."

Diana nodded. "I knew something was wrong, I just had no clue it was something like that. But I thought you guys said nothing exciting has happened here in centuries?"

Katherine shrugged. "Nobody chooses to remember that, because there was nothing we could do. But you're our sister," she smiled, setting her hand on Diana's shoulder, "You have a right to know."

Diana was warmed. They truly accepted her. "Thank you," she grinned lightly. "That really means a lot."

Elizabeth stood. "Let's try to get into a lighter mood, shall we? Come Diana. We'll go introduce you to some of the gentlemen we have here so you can tell your girls at home that they don't have to worry anymore."