DISCLAIMER: I do not own TVD and its related properties.

Blu3b3rryT3a: Her therapy is her journals because they're private and she can spell them shut, but where is she going to find a therapist where she can say "hey, I'm a witch who was reincarnated and this world is a tv show. The gods brought me here to save the original vampires and the supernatural world to stop some unknown threat. Oh, when I was four, I watched a vampire kill a room full of people and did nothing and when I was five the scariest vampire ever came to town and I had an emotional breakdown. Now my granny's dead and my mom's drinking herself into her grave while I go on a mission to kill genocidal maniacs." Yeah. They'd throw her in an asylum. This is the problem that I think most of the TVD characters had. There was so much death and trauma but no way to deal with it. I'm not surprised Elena broke down in season 4. I think the writers realized that too, so they added Cami to help the Originals deal with their problems from an objective perspective. You know, writing this gave me an idea. I need a vampire Psychologist for the characters before we got to the Originals. Phoebe really needs a shrink. And Enzo is one of my favorite characters. He deserved better on the show and we'll see what he does with his freedom. I haven't completely forgotten Kelly and we're not gonna see Elena and the Scooby-gang for a while.

Saiyanprincess1511: Ha! Funny. But no, not everyone gets to be a witch. We'll find out why Matt and Ria are witches in the next few chapters.

Poppyflower1235: Thank you so much for that. I'm glad you like it. I'll try not to disappoint. I'm so glad you ask. I already have a plan for that but Spoilers.

Guest: I don't know your name but thank you for picking up this story. Thank you for your reviews. As for Damon in chapter 4, Ria's still in the mindset that these people are characters and she just wanted to watch the drama but watching innocent people die so vividly, without the safety of a screen, broke that mindset. She's having trouble reconciling the Damon she knows in the show with the Damon she just met in real life. I won't forgive Damon for killing Gail and it'll come up again in the future.

Guest 2: There will be a coven. And Caroline will become close to the Donovans. I have a plan though.

Guest 3: Again, spoilers. But thank you for your question. It reminded me to make a note of that. Please, continue to ask more questions. And I'll be explaining soul-bound magic and the difference between other magic.

Guest 4: Thank you. I have use for Kelly even if she doesn't seem to show up for a while. I need more drama so I'm gonna let the chasm between the siblings and their mother to widen a bit more before we reach the inevitable climax. And we've dealt with Augustine, but some stragglers might show up in the future.

Pattou59: Thank you.

Guest 5: Everyone in TVD needs therapy.

Thank you to everyone who's read and followed my story. Thanks to all new readers and reviewers. I am so pleased that you all like my story. Here's the next chapter. Please review.


"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." - Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World


Ch. 7 - Aftermath

January 1, 1998

Phoebe opened the door to the newly constructed house. It was mostly empty except for a few electrical appliances that had been moved into the house in preparation for the family to move from their old home. It was the only place they would have privacy to just talk about what they would do moving forward. "Please come in, Enzo."

Enzo stepped into the house cautiously. He was confused, his mind still trying to make sense of everything that had occurred just a few minutes earlier. Now, he was with a young girl in an empty house, far from his cell, far from the people who tortured him. Was this truly not a dream?

Phoebe took a deep breath, unclipping the veil from her hair before she exhaled shakily. She lit the fireplace with a wave of her hand as she tossed her heels in the corner. She swallowed hard to remove the feeling of the frog in her throat. Her body shook uncontrollably, feeling as though electricity was rushing under her skin. She barely did anything but she was exhausted. She had cast a powerful cloaking spell weaved with a glamour spell, a boundary spell, a privacy spell, and a fire manipulation spell that turned an entire building to ash, all within a short length of time. It all left her physically drained. Even if she generated her own magic rather than taking it from Nature, she still had a limit to the amount of magic her body could handle.

Her emotional state wasn't much better as she had been depressed for the whole month of December after she experienced that nightmare. There was no more indifference. All the feelings she was missing before came back and hit her like a wrecking ball. All the screams from the members of the Augustine Society, the blood and flames, and the stench of burning flesh were carved into her mind. She thought she would feel relieved after every member of the Augustine Society was dead, but a heavy feeling built up in her chest, threatening to suffocate her. Was she feeling guilty? No, it wasn't guilt. It wasn't relief either. Then why was she feeling this way? She couldn't understand what she was feeling.

Her eyes glistened as she held the tears that threatened to fall. She turned to look at Enzo who still stood near the door, his eyes wandering around the house. "Enzo?" she asked. He was on edge, clenching and unclenching his fingers as he whipped his head back to her. The moment her eyes landed on his anxious ones, the dam holding back her tears broke as she rushed to him wrapping her small arms around his waist as she buried her face in his abdomen. She cried loudly as she sobbed, "I'm sorry. I -I'm so… so sorry, Enzo. I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm sorry."

Enzo's eyes widened and his body stiffened as the girl wept in his bloody shirt. Her cries echoed in his ears as she continued to apologize before he raised his hand to pat her head awkwardly. Why wasn't she afraid of him? She was a witch and he was a vampire. Witches think vampires were abominations and yet here was this little girl crying her eyes out on his behalf. When was the last time someone cried for him? And she was sorry? Sorry it took so long?

He wanted to tell her that she had nothing to be sorry for. He had fully expected that he would be a prisoner for the rest of his immortal life until his captors decided he had outlived his use and drove a stake through his heart. Hope came with the morning but left in the night when he was locked back in his cell. His only escape was in his dreams. But she, this little girl, gave him everything he ever wanted. His freedom. His revenge. She had nothing to be sorry for. Enzo raised his head, the ceiling seeming to hold his interest as to keep his tears from falling as he finally wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulders. "It's alright, love." His voice almost broke. "Don't cry. You have nothing to be sorry for."

Her sobs slowed to hiccups as he heard her breathing slowly even. She had fallen asleep while crying and hugging him. Enzo sighed as he picked her up in his arms, letting her head rest on his shoulders as he carried her closer to the fireplace. Her small hands clung to him as he lowered her down on the carpet in front of the fireplace, letting her head rest on his lap. Enzo breathed out an exasperated sigh. It had been a long night for him, a vampire, and he was tired. For her, a child, her body must be physically depleted.

He looked down at her, hesitating for a moment before he placed his hand on her head. He passed his palm soothingly in her hair, letting her sleep on his lap.


Phoebe's POV

I can't believe I fell asleep with makeup on my face and without any products to treat my skin, I'd have to wait until I return home to treat my skin. I let out a sigh as I made myself comfortable on the living room carpet. My back and neck were in knots after I slept on the floor. I knocked back a physical recovery potion I had in my purse, letting the bitter taste pass over my tongue for only a moment.

I heard the door behind me open and close and sensed Enzo approaching.

"Been a while since I've had a nice hot bath," Enzo said as he sat on the carpet beside me. "Thank you, love."

"My name is Phoebe," I said. "Phoebe Donovan. Medea is kind of my witch identity." I decided to use my previous name as an alias when dealing with the supernaturals outside of my inner circle. I didn't need anyone tracking me down and putting my family in danger. Plus, I thought it was a fitting name for a witch, just like the Sorceress Medea from Greek Myth who also happened to be a priestess of Hekate and the goddess' pupil.

I smiled as I looked at the sun hitting his skin without burning him. When I woke up on the floor, I found Enzo standing in a dark corner where the sun could not reach. There were no curtains on the windows, so when the sun came up, he couldn't stay with me. "Do you like your daylight ring?"

Enzo looked down at the silver band with a small lapis lazuli inlay flanked by two other gemstones. It was one of my best works. It was subtle, unlike the Salvatores' rings, and could easily pass for a wedding band. No one could be sure he was a vampire. He held it in the light coming from the window, letting the warm light of the morning sun kiss his skin. I'm sure he had not felt the comfort of the sun since he turned. "Yes. Thank you."

"There's a protection spell on the ring. It will warm your finger if anyone approaches you with the intention to harm you."

A comfortable silence fell between us before Enzo cleared his throat. "How old are you?" I'm sure he had many more questions running in his mind. I wanted to answer him as truthfully as I could.

"I recently turned 8."

"You're a witch. Aren't I an abomination of nature? Why did you save me?"

"First, I'm not one of Nature's servants. I'm a Hekatean Witch, a child of Hekate. We don't believe in the type of balance other witches do. We believe that anything that exists by the will of the gods, vampires included, is part of the true balance of the universe," I replied. I looked up at him, meeting his eyes before I spoke again. I wanted him to believe what I was going to say next. "And second, no one should have had to endure what you've had to. Like I said before, I saw what happened to you." I closed my eyes as I flashed back to the nightmare. My hands unconsciously gripped my dress over my abdomen, feeling a phantom pain of the incision Grayson Gilbert made in my skin. "I felt it. And you endured every day for 50 years. I rescued you because it was the right thing to do."

I saw Enzo's eyes shift slightly before he turned to stare at the fireplace. His hardened features seemed to relax for the first time in a while. I guess maybe he thought I had an agenda when I rescued him. He looked at me as though he had finally seen the real me, no longer trying to figure out my motives with those inquisitive eyes of his.

I had always planned on saving Enzo. I wasn't gonna let him spend another decade under Augustine's thumb. But the interference of the gods caused me to act on my plans sooner rather than later. And my own experience -whether it was real or just a dream- made me murderous enough to eradicate the whole Augustine Society.

"I owe you my life, Med- Phoebe," he corrected. "I always imagined -hoped- that I would be free one day. Now that that day is here, I don't know what to do with it."

"I might be able to help with that." I walked into the guestroom that I had prepared for Enzo and picked up the go-bag before walking back into the unfurnished living room. "I prepared this for you."

I had been preparing to rescue Enzo since the moment I went to Whitmore. I was prepared with everything he would need once he was in the outside world. "There's clothes, cash, phone, I got you an ID, and an Amtrak rail pass," I said as I rummaged through the duffle to show him everything I had prepared. I looked up at him. "First of all, I don't think it's safe for you to stay in Mystic Falls. I doubt we took care of everyone in the Augustine Society." Frankly, I wanted to get to know Enzo better. I wanted him to stay close to me where I could easily get to him. I wanted to protect him and wrap him up in my arms and shield him from all the bad things. But, I couldn't keep him here. It was too dangerous. I doubt every member of the Augustine Society was present at that party. Grayson Gilbert was absent and I knew there were still a few stragglers that would soon find out about the massacre and start hunting Enzo.

"Secondly, in the past 50 years, you should have been enjoying your eternal life, not rotting, being tortured in a tiny cell for a bunch of vampire fascists. You should go see the world, Enzo. Enjoy your life and be free." I scooted closer to him, reaching up to touch his face lightly. "The world has changed so much over the past five decades, so you should go explore and see everything the world has to offer. It's not all bad." My heart clenched when I saw tears shimmer in his eyes and I wanted to cry too. This man. I just met him but I felt like I already knew him. He was so warm, so good, and yet so broken inside. I wanted to fix him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and take all his pain away. But I didn't want him to stay in a virtual cage. I didn't want to force on him what I thought he needed. If I did that, I would be no different from Augustine.

"And when you figure out what you want, you can come back. That room, I'll keep it ready for you. This is your home now. You can come and go anytime you want." I kissed his forehead. How I wished I was bigger so I could take him in my arms completely. When he didn't move I wrapped my arms around him as best as I could, letting his head rest on my chest.

We remained in that position for a while, saying nothing and just enjoying the silence as I caressed Enzo's long, still wet hair.

Enzo stayed in the house for a few days, feeding on the blood bags I had stolen from the hospital. Thankfully, it was still New Year's week and the contractors were off celebrating with their families. Enzo finally decided to put as much distance between him and Mystic Falls and head to the West Coast.

Now, what to do about Grayson Gilbert? I ground my teeth, a new habit I found I developed since being reborn in this godforsaken world since almost everyone I've met finds one way or another to grate my nerves. Just the thought of that man made my skin crawl like a million fire ants marching in my veins. Grayson Gilbert is the one person I truly hated more than anyone else I had ever come across. He acted like an upstanding member of the community. The good doctor and dutiful husband and father. But, he was a monster who heartlessly experimented on vampires simply because they were faster, stronger, and drank blood. All in the name of furthering science, for the good of mankind, he says. What's worse is that I have to continue to see him in this tiny town.

Maybe I should kill him. He was the only member of the Augustine Society left and I certainly don't want him to create another such organization.

No, killing would be too merciful. He needed to suffer until the day of his natural death. It's time I finally added a hex to my growing grimoire.


January 9, 1998

We were finally able to move into the new house after the construction had finished. Matt and Ria were excited since we could all have our own bedrooms. They took two rooms next to each other on the second floor, each with a balcony and Kelly got the master bedroom. We would never be able to afford this house if not for Granny Amelia who left us a ton of money in her will.

Just as we returned home from the funeral, we found a man in a suit, claiming to be Amelia's lawyer, waiting for us on the front porch. He read Amelia's last will and testament. All of us were stunned, especially Kelly, who had never known that her grandmother was wealthy enough to have a lawyer or a will drafted. It wasn't just pennies and some heirlooms left in the will either. It was millions of dollars.

We already knew that Granny Amy had been a nurse in the Navy in the fifties and sixties and had been living on her military pension, providing for Kelly, me, Ria, and Matt. What we didn't know was that granny had married a very wealthy man -my great-grandfather- who left his hefty estate to Amelia after he died.

Granny never touched the money. Her husband's family had been a slave-owning family in Mississippi before they relocated to Mystic Falls after the civil war. Although they no longer held slaves, they still held the wealth created by slavery. To them, granny and her husband, it was dirty money so they never touched it, only living on what they worked for.

But money is still money and it makes the world go round. They placed the money in different funds for charity donations and reparations to black rights groups while the rest was left in emergency funds for their future descendants.

Not wanting to be associated with their slave-owning ancestors, Amelia's husband took Amelia's maiden name -Donovan- as his, forsaking his own name and the past that came with it.

When Amelia and her husband bought their home, it was big enough for the two of them and their child. With Kelly coming along, and then her three children, who had been sharing a room for years, the small house had become a little crowded.

Before her death, Amelia used a small portion of the millions that had accumulated over the years to purchase a ten-acre plot of woodland to build a house for her family and the rest was placed in trust funds for the Donovan family to use in times of emergency and college funds for the siblings.

With the signing of the will, the lawyer left after Kelly retreated to her room. It was all too much to process, but thank you, granny.


Jenna helped me move some of my belongings into one of the larger bedrooms on the first floor. "Thanks for the help, Jenna." I turned to find Jenna opening the closet door. "Oh my gosh," Jenna gushed as she walked into the closet. "Your closet is like another room and it's even connected to your bathroom." She opened a door inside the closet that led into the en-suite bathroom. "Why would you need a bath and a shower?"

I shrugged as I placed a box on the floor next to my wooden four-poster bed. "What can I say, I like the finer things in life." Since I worked with the contractors during the construction, I made sure they put all the best bells and whistles for the room I wanted. It was even better than Kelly's master bedroom. The walls were painted with cremes and sage greens while soft, warm lighting created a snug atmosphere. We dressed the mattress in green patterned sheets and throws that matched the wall and the curtains perfectly, giving the room a dark feeling even with all the sunlight coming in through the large french windows.

I could feel Jenna's eyes boring holes into my head as we silently made the bed. I heard her open her mouth several times but she never spoke. I sighed, "Jenna, is there something you want to say to me?" I didn't look at her as I passed my hands over the duvet to remove the pleats.

"I saw you," she said as I raised my head to look at her. "On Halloween, I saw you and Matt and Ria in the old cemetery and you were chanting and then a bunch of ghosts passed between two wooden posts." She looked at me in disbelief. "I wasn't dreaming, was I?" she asked as though asking me to deny what she saw.

"Well, I never hid the fact that I was a witch. You're the one who never believed me," I said as I raised my hands over my head. Jenna's eyes widened as she fell back, looking up at the floating books and decorations that came out of the boxes. The books levitated into the bookshelf against the wall, the clothes into the drawers and the closet, and the bedroom decorations in their places on the bedside tables. "That's much better." I turned around to find Jenna's agape like a drowning fish, still trying to find the words to describe what she has just seen. I helped her up and said, "Thanks for the help, Jenna. And no, you weren't dreaming."

Jenna shook her head and finally got her bearings. She sat on the divan at the foot of my canopy bed before crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at me. "Start talking."

"It was Halloween or the Day of the Dead. Matt, Ria, and I were performing a ritual to help wandering souls pass on to the underworld," I explained. We moved from the divan to the bed, lying on the pillows as I explained everything to her. "Witches aren't the only supernatural creatures in existence. As far as I know, there are vampires and werewolves and sirens and the gods."

"Gods?" Jenna asked, her brows raised so far up her forehead they almost looked like they were going to fall off.

"I've met one god, Hekate, the goddess of witchcraft. I'm her priestess. My witchy powers come from her. In return, I do what she wants in the mortal world. Other witches are nature's servants, their power comes from the earth, Gaia. The difference between us is our powers. My powers are bonded to my soul. I was born with magic and awakened when I was four years old. My powers cannot be taken away. Gaian Witches take their power from the earth itself. If they use their powers in a way that goes against Nature, the spirits can strip them of their powers. The ritual I did was a form of necromancy. To Nature witches, it's considered dark magic but to me, it's just helping a few ghosts pass on. While Gaia's witches consider vampires abominations of Nature, we, Hekatean witches, believe that everything happens according to the will of the gods. So, if the gods allow vampires to exist, then they are a part of the natural order of the universe."

"But, vampires kill people." I expected Jenna's reaction. Humans usually think that anything that can pose a threat to them is inherently evil and must be destroyed.

"So do humans." Yes. There are some psychotic vampires who take pleasure in murder but they're no different from human murderers and serial killers. No vampire has ever done anything that isn't equal to the atrocities that humans have committed. "Vampires drink blood. Some kill but not all. They drink from humans and leave them alive but make them forget using compulsion. Some drink from blood bags and others drink animal blood," I explained. "I don't want to tell you how to think Jenna, but I want you to keep an open mind. Vampires need blood to survive or they die. Most people who are turned into vampires were once human and they didn't have a choice in their deaths that caused them to become vampires. How is them using human blood to survive that different from us eating meat?"

Jenna paused for a moment before nodding. "Okay, I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask." I got off the bed and went over to a cabinet that rested against the opposite wall. I took out a bag of dried leaves and two pieces of jewelry that I had been working on. I picked up a small bottle of perfume from the vanity. "Here." I held up the bag of dried leaves. "This is called Vervain. It's one of a vampire's weaknesses. If they touch it, it burns them. If they drink it, it weakens them. A vampire I know says it feels like drinking battery acid," I winced when I thought about Enzo. I shook my head and turned to Jenna. "It prevents vampires from compelling you. I'm a witch, so I can't be compelled but I still drink it as tea. If I get caught off guard and a vampire tries to drink from me, my blood will poison them. You have to drink it every day." I showed her the vial of perfume. "This is a perfume I made from Vervain extract. Put it on your neck and a vampire won't be able to sink their fangs into you. You can also use it like pepper spray." I placed them in front of her and took the locket in my hand. I took some dried vervain and put it inside the locket before I spelled the locket shut. I did the same for the anklet. "Same thing with the jewelry. So long as you wear them, a vampire can't compel you. But they're easily taken off so the tea and perfume can act as a contingency."

Jenna looked at me in disbelief for a moment. "Wow, thanks." She held up her red hair before I placed the necklace around her neck. She put the anklet around her ankles and placed the bag of leaves and the perfume in her bag.

"Remember when I promised I'd protect you, Jenna? I meant it," I said as I passed my fingers along the fringes of her hair. "There's also a protection charm on your anklet. It will warm and vibrate whenever a vampire is near you."

We continued talking in the afternoon and Jenna decided to stay for the night. We continued our discussion the next morning as I showed her my powers and grimoire and the conservatory where I grew my herbs for my potions. I gathered candles, a bowl of water, a flower pot, and a balloon as I sat in the circle across from Jenna. "Gaia's witches often have strong witch bloodlines that they draw power from going back centuries if not millennia. Hekatean witches don't necessarily need bloodlines. There have been no witches in the Donovan bloodline, as far as I know. Our magic is bound to our souls and cannot be taken away. But all witches need to be sensitive to magic, to have a strong connection, to be able to feel it around in our bodies and around us, before we can awaken our power," I explained. "There's a friend of mine who can sense magic in objects and even sense ghosts."

"I've never sensed ghosts before," Jenna said.

"You don't have to," I said. "When I awakened Ria and Matt, I used my own magic to probe them to see if they could feel it and channel me. We're gonna do the same thing with you."

Jenna nodded before she placed her hands in my palm. "So, I'm gonna send magic into my hands. You should feel a warmth against your hand. What you need to do is try to pull it into you, like pulling a rope or string. If you can, that means you're channeling me and that'll mean you're sensitive to magic."

When Jenna closed her eyes, I shut my eyes and focused my magic in my hands. "I feel it. It's warm," Jenna cheered.

I opened my eyes when I heard Jenna grunting. Her brows were furrowed deeply and her elbows raised tight against her ears. "Jen, relax your body. Try again," I said softly.

After a few moments, I didn't feel anything happening to my magic as I had felt with Ria and Matt. It was the same with Caroline. Neither of them could connect to the magic in my palm.

Jenna opened her eyes and shook her head. "I can't." Her eyes fell downcast as she slowly removed her hands from my palm.

"I'm sorry, Jen," I said. It was a disappointment. Neither Jenna nor Caroline had a connection to magic.

"It's okay," Jenna said and smiled to hide the look of disappointment on her face as she rubbed her hands together. But the disappointment went away a moment later when she said, "I guess I could train to be a hunter. Not just to kill vampires but to protect myself." She placed her hands on her chin thoughtfully, "I guess I could look into Judo or Jiu-Jitsu since they're all about fighting people stronger than you. Ooh, I heard about a cool one called Krav Maga." Jenna jumped up, "Can I borrow your computer?"

I laughed at the sudden change in her mood when she looked at me. I always liked Jenna. She's always so strong and kind and cheerful. She never dwelled on the negative, accepting both the ups and downs of life. She had been excited to learn that she could maybe learn magic, but then disappointed to find that that wasn't the case. But here she was, already looking to the future, accepting that life was going to get dangerous and trying to find a way to protect herself. "Yeah. I'll help you with your search." Jenna smiled as I hooked my arm into her elbow as we walked into the office.

After taking the rest of last semester off, I returned to the program at Whitmore and returned to practicing gymnastics. I saw Caroline again for the first time this year, and she's become better at doing all the flips and tricks, faster than anyone else in the Junior team. She quickly took charge of the team. Her perfectionist nature slowly bubbled to the surface, she practiced and practiced until she did a skill perfectly. Because she gave it her all, she would not accept anything less from her peers, pushing them to meet her standards of mastery.

Her goal was the Olympics, after all.

Lora, on the other hand, was distracted. She walked into the gym, her shoulders slumped down with bags under her eyes that no makeup could hide. When I waved at her, she lowered her head and every time our eyes met, she quickly looked away. She was distracted and jittery, always looking over her shoulders as though someone was out to get her. Her magic flared wildly all around her, reacting to her emotional distress while enforcing her paranoia, as though everything was out to get her, creating a vicious cycle.

I knew if things remained as they were, she would be driven mad by her own power and maybe even hurt someone, or maybe herself. Lora is my friend. I don't want anything to happen to her.

After practice, I stopped Lora before she left the gymnasium. "Lo, we need to talk."

Her magic flared again as she turned to look behind her. But there was no one else in the gym. She looked at me once and looked at one of the other exits. She looked like a trapped rabbit cornered by a fox, looking for an escape. I sighed and released my magic, slowly extending it toward her fretting power. I released my magic in soft waves, surrounding her tenderly to show her magic that I meant no threat.

For all witches, even a baby witch like her, magic acts like a sixth sense that identifies friend and foe. It protects us by warning when danger is near but also reacts to our emotional state. Lora is currently unstable, emotionally, and her magic reacted as though everything was an enemy.

I sensed her magic reach toward me, poking and prodding, as though looking for a reaction. I just let it sense the magic in me. "I'm your friend, Lo," I said when she finally looked into my eyes. Her body stopped trembling as her eyes widened. "I'm like you. I have the same gift, the same power. You can trust me." Her shoulders finally sagged down from her ears as she reached out her hand to me. The moment we touched, her magic deflated like a balloon before Lora finally breathed a sigh. She hugged me tightly as tears fell from her eyes. I passed my hand along her back, using magic in every touch to relieve her tension as she cried into my shoulder.

"So, you're saying we're witches?" Instead of the unbelievable, skeptical tone most people had whenever I declared I was a witch, Lora sounded relieved as though that explained everything. I closed the door behind us and dropped my duffle on the floor. "Oh my gosh, those visions?"

"You probably have a strong connection to empathy or clairvoyance. That means you're incredibly sensitive to emotions and you can see things in the past, present and future." I opened the door to my closet. "What do you see?" I asked.

She looked at the empty space in the hanging clothes before looking at me with an eyebrow raised. "I'm guessing there's something there that's not clothes, and I'm just not seeing it."

I chuckled as I reached into the closet with my magic. "Reveal what has been hidden. Let the world see." English works well for passive spells like illusion and disillusionment spells. Just a moment later, the illusion lifted showing the shrine to Hekate and my potion-brewing chemistry lab.

"Whoa!" She stepped back before turning to me.

"Illusion spell." I lifted the floorboard under the shrine to take out a sealed box like I had in my room at home. I handed the box to Lora. "Try opening it."

Lora tried to lift the lid of the box, but nothing worked. "It's locked."

I took the box back, reaching out once more with my magic before the lid flipped open. "It's a sealing spell. Our magic is like a fingerprint or even DNA. I used my magic to seal the box. Only my magic can open it. As witches, we can use our blood and magic for a lot of spells."

"Okay, I get it. Magic is awesome." She took the grimoire from the box. "What's this?"

"It's a grimoire. A witch's spellbook. It's not mine. I stole it from a dead man's corpse." Lora dropped the grimoire as I laughed, levitating it before it reached the floor.

"Careful. Grimoires are worth more than gold to witches. Especially a Bennett witch's grimoire." After Enzo left, I went to the cemetery and dug up Giuseppe Salvatore's coffin using magic. Yeah. There was no way I was gonna touch anything in the cemetery. If I learned anything from being a witch, it's that the dead have more power than the living realize. And frankly, I didn't want to touch that man's decayed body either. I levitated Emily Bennett's grimoire from Giuseppe Salvatore's brittle bones and put the grave back just as I found it. Even using earth magic to regrow the grass so the grave looked undisturbed. I used the grimoire to study the Bennet family's spells and rituals, as well as using it as inspiration for my own spells.

"Okay," Lora dropped her bag on the floor and went over to my bed. She sat down, her feet crossed beneath her. "You need to explain."

"Sit on the rug," I said as I sat down on the rug and waited for her to join me. I brought the candles out of the closet, lighting them and placing them in a circle around us. Then water, a small flower pot, and the balloon. "First of all, your power is unstable. I noticed it just before Halloween. During our meet, you could sense the ghosts around us."

"Ghosts…"

"I'm talking so don't interrupt," I cut her off before continuing, "You have visions and you can feel emotions more strongly which is bad for your mental health. I recommend you start doing yoga and meditating. It will settle your magic and give you more control over your powers if you want. If you don't want that, I can seal your magic away, but I don't recommend that. Magic is tied to our souls. Sealing it away will be like ripping out a part of yourself. And it will always try to get free and when it does, it will be worse than it is now. It's better to learn to control it. I taught myself and my siblings. If you want I can teach you."

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking while channeling one another. The push and pull of our magic helped sedate Lora's magic, bringing it back under her control rather than overreact and flare up whenever she was stressed. "You also need to trust your magic more. It acts as a warning signal when you come into contact with vampires or anything that can be a threat to you." We remained seated on the floor, hands together in meditation as I let Lora channel me. I don't know when, but we both fell asleep on the floor since I woke up in the middle of the night needing to use the restroom.

Since that day, Lora was coming over to my house every Friday afternoon after her classes to practice magic with me and my siblings. It got to the point where she was staying over at night that I just decided to give her the other guestroom. She had her clothes, a toothbrush, and other toiletries in the house for when she would be staying over. And no, Kelly could care less that a random stranger was staying in her house every weekend with her young children. Not that that was important. Everyone I brought around Matt and Ria were people I trusted.

But, Lora stopped coming around as often as she used to. She started acting strange around me like before, her magic flaring up every time she was around me. She couldn't meet my eyes as her body shook when she came face to face with me. Choosing to give her space to sort out whatever it was that had her on edge, I kept my distance. I only saw her during our practice in the gym and around the Whitmore campus.

I didn't know why she stared at me with fear in her eyes, as though I would attack her at any moment. I didn't need to know. I didn't want to push her into a confrontation. If she had something she needed to ask me, then I would wait for when she was ready and decide to come to me by herself.

And she came one weekend. I invited her into the house and sat with her in the more private snug rather than the larger living room. Once again, she could barely look into my eyes as she shifted on her feet, clutching tightly onto the edge of her sweater. She jumped when I came into the room with a tray with two cups of tea. I sat down, taking the cup in my hands to drink my tea all the while watching her from the corner of my eyes. It would seem every movement I made caused her body to tense and tremble uncontrollably.

After several minutes of drinking tea while Lora shifted on her feet, putting dents in my beautifully polished hardwood floor, I finally broke the tension. "Lora, I may be a witch but I can't read your mind," I stated.

Lora stopped and finally looked at me. Her face scrunched up tightly and she had bags under her eyes similar to before she began her training in magic. I thought she had more control over her visions but it appeared that they were preventing her from getting adequate rest from the black bags under her cerulean eyes. "I've been having visions."

I immediately cast a privacy spell around the room by lighting a sage incense stick that I always carried with me to prevent any wandering ears from listening in on our conversation. "What did you see?"

She looked at me warily. "I-" the words got stuck in her throat before she tried again. "I- I saw you. I saw you in a burning house watching a man… no, a vamp- vampire kill people. You just watched and did nothing. I want to know if what I saw was real," she said almost on the verge of tears. "You didn't really watch those people die, did you? You couldn't have…" She looked at me with her shimmering blue eyes as though she was asking me to deny it.

"I did," I said. My voice turned cold like frost before I noticed. The weight I had before, the confusing feelings I had toward the death of the Augustine Society members was no longer there. I felt no guilt for letting them die nor did I feel pleasure. I had come to terms with my actions. Their deaths, their executions, were justice for their crimes. I looked straight into her eyes as I explained, "I cast the boundary spell to keep them in the house and the fire manipulation spell to burn everything to the ground and I let the vampire kill them."

Lora flinched and stepped back from me. Her brow furrowed deeply and her mouth opened as she tried to find her voice. "H- ho- how could you say that?" Her confusion turned to anger as her eyes stared down at me. Her stuttering had stopped as her fury rose and her magic flared violently, causing the room to shake."How could you just sit here, and act like you didn't just kill a room full of people? You used your power to help that vampire kill all those people. You just stood by and watched. Even if you didn't kill one person, you are just as guilty and their deaths are on your hands." I learned quickly that Lora has a strong sense of justice. She immediately took me under her wing when I joined the gymnastics club and has defended me numerous times from some of the other girls in the club even though I've told her she doesn't need to. She's the type who'll stand between a bully and a victim when she sees injustice in front of her. She could never be a bystander. To her, I was someone who helped in the murder of dozens of people. But, she's hot-tempered. She doesn't know the whole story and yet she came to confront me without first thinking. "Do you think just because you have power you can get away with something like that? Does human life mean nothing to you?"

"Lora, please don't judge me when you don't know the full story," I said. I do not like being accused of using my power for personal vendettas. I don't hold grudges and I could care less about what people think of me. I will not ever use the power given by my goddess to commit a crime like senseless murder. What I did was not murder. It was an execution and I took no pleasure in it. I used my power to save and protect Enzo, which meant killing everyone who was at that party because if even one of them escaped, they would hunt him down. "I suggest you go to sleep and search through your visions to find out why I allowed those people to die. I don't have to explain myself to you." I said. I turned around to face the television to mark the conversation over. She remained in the room for a few moments before she scoffed and walked out of the room. I could hear the doors to the room and the front door slam shut as she left the house.

I'll protect my family with all my power. And Enzo became family the moment we were connected in that vision. I knew what he had gone through and I would never allow the existence of something or someone who could harm him.


I'm not really satisfied with this chapter but I haven't updated in a while so I wanted to treat you guys as thanks for all your reviews. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but I feel like stopping here is best for now. I don't want to make it long just because. I think this is a good place to end. We also have our first English spell, a disillusionment spell (Reveal what has been hidden. Let the world see.).

Thank you to everyone who's been with me from the beginning and everyone who's joining me now. I'm so happy to have your support. Thank you for the faves and follows and reviews. It inspires me to write more. Guest reviewers, please write your names so I can address you directly in the comments.

Thanks again, Jamie.