Chapter 2: A visit from Morgan

BOS entry included

I'm going to see Ariah. I have to bring her back to good magic. She's my cousin! I have to do this! Hunter isn't coming. I told him I'd be fine on my own. Goddess, give me strength.

Morgan

"Ariah, my love," A clear calm voice said from behind me. "I have been waiting for you." I spun around to see Hunter Niall sat down on the grass.

"Hunter?" I whispered. "What are you doing here? Where's Morgan?" Hunter got up and smiled as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I have left her," He told me. "It was foolish of me to think she was my muirn beatha dan. You are. I know that now." Hunter began to kiss me and I didn't resist. It felt so…natural.

I broke away, thinking of how heart-broken Morgan would be. What was I doing kissing a seeker anyway? I'm a daughter of Amyranth!

"No!" I yelled and blasted him with witch fire. Hunter fell to the ground, panting.

"I can do more than that!" I snarled. "Watch!" I snapped out my arm and the rocks beside him blew up. I pointed at a few trees and they burst into flames. Hunter watched with amazement.

"You have been taught well," He remarked. "But what would your mother think of you? And your father?"

"Stuff them both!" I screamed. I kept on screaming it until my face was red and my throat raw. Then I blew Hunter up.

I woke up suddenly. Oh my god! Hunter…he said he was my muirn beatha dan, that he'd left Morgan…

No, I told myself. It was just a dream. Stop being pathetic, Ariah.

There was a knock on my bedroom door. I knew instantly that it was Uncle Ciaran.

"Ariah?" He called. "Are you still in bed? Get up! We've got work to do!" I knew what he meant by "work". Amyranth.

"Hold on!" I hollered and threw on some clothes. Uncle Ciaran barged into my room just as I was slipping on my leather trousers.

"Ariah," He said, "I need you to go to the library and pick up a few books. Here's a list." Ciaran passed me a list of the names of magical books.

"No problem." I smiled at him.

"That's my girl," Uncle Ciaran said fondly.

"Good book, that," Someone behind me said. I recognized the voice, but I couldn't place it. I spun round to see…

"Morgan!" I gasped, the colour draining from my face. Stood before me was my cousin, who I hadn't seen in about a year! Oh, Goddess, I had missed her so much!

"Good to see ya, cuz!" She said cheerfully. "Man, have I missed you!" Ah…she's still the same old Morgan. But then I remembered…

"If you think you're turning me back to the good side, then you can forget it!" I snarled. Morgan looked mildly horrified.

"You really think I'd do that?" She asked, and then sighed. "Okay, okay! I hoped you'd think about being a good witch again, but I know how stubborn you. Really, I wanted to catch up, you know. Have a chat. Maybe you could come back to Widow's Vale for a bit."

I thought about it. Ciaran wouldn't be too happy to know that I was with his traitorous daughter, but, hey, I had missed Morgan and I wanted to tell her about my dreams.

So I took her to a coffee shop and we ordered two Grande lattes. Then I blurted it all out…that I had missed her, that I sometimes missed being a good witch, that I wanted to be like my Ma and…about my dreams, including the Hunter one.

Morgan sucked in breath, looking unhappy. "Bloody hell," She muttered. "This is bad. Ariah, listen to me, I had dreams – bad ones like yours – and I was seeing what was going to happen in the future or I sometimes saw the past."

"But…" I was lost for words. That meant that my daughter and I would be pushed off a cliff and that Hunter was my soul mate. "But Hunter's not my muirn beatha dan! He's yours! He loves you! And you love him! I don't feel that special connect with him that you do!"

Morgan was obviously trying not to cry. "I hope you're right," She muttered sadly.