"Hope, please call me."

"It's been a month, Hope I have to see you."

"Hope, what did I do? Please call me."

"Hey, are you busy? Please, Hope, I can't handle-"

She erased the message before she could hear the rest of it. Between the two of them, Matt and Marcus have blown up her phone and left twenty messages each. She couldn't bring herself to talk to the either of them, everything about herself having changed; even if she wanted to contact them, her father wouldn't let her. It was a miracle he was letting her keep her phone. She looked out the window of the small cottage of the necromancer, Lucas, and remembered the day her father explained everything to her. They had been with Lucas a month, after she had told her friends goodbye. She would not return to high school in her hometown, and she doubted she would ever return to her hometown period. She remembered leaving her friends.

Marcus hugged her from behind, his chin resting on her head. She whimpered so quietly she knew he couldn't of heard but she was still afraid to let anyone know she was so upset. Her father had ordered her to say goodbye to her friends, that her life was now too dangerous to keep them. It was selfish, but she didn't care. She didn't want to lose the last few people that tied her to the person she was leaving behind, to the life she was leaving behind.

"It is so great to see you, I've missed you so much." He murmured in her ear as they watched Diana and Jon throw crackers into the lake and screech with laughter and run when the geese went after them. She smiled despite her heavy heart, and turned into him.

"I have to leave again." She whispered into his chest, her cheek resting comfortably over his heartbeat. His arms around her tightened and she felt the rumble of protest in his chest.

"No, you can't. We were supposed to spend all summer together, we have all these plans! You can't leave." He pulled away and took a couple steps away from her. She could hear her heart breaking and she sobbed as he turned around and kissed her roughly. She held on to him for dear life, clutching him close and wrapping herself around him. He gathered her in his arms, his lips and hands trembling against her. These onslaught of feelings took him by surprise, but he should have seen it coming.

She broke away, unable to handle everything going on between the two of them. She jogged to her car, tears dripping off her cheeks as she pulled away from her best friends, her eyes glued to the street in front of her, trying to fight the image of Marcus standing there watching her drive away. She sobbed and sobbed the whole way home, laying in her room with the door locked, waiting for her father to come retrieve her and carry her away to a new life.

"Training in five, yeah?" She turned at the sound of Lucas's voice, her hand darting to dash the tears away from her cheeks. She nodded and found it a little hard to look at Lucas. He reminded her too much of Marcus, with his height and bright, warm brown eyes. She sighed and laced her boots up tight, tying her hair up into a bun on top of her head. The two trained six hours a day, breaking them down into two hour sessions after every meal. She was mentally and physically exhausted. He trained her mind, her body, and her magic. He was teaching her to stay in control. She jogged out back, and caught up with Lucas as they walked to the clearing a hundred yards away from the house.

"The spirits know of you now, are aware of your powers. They will do anything to get to you, there is nothing stopping them from killing you or forcing you to help them. As a necromancer, you're emotions and your magic will be heightened, more so than a regular witch. You must, at all times, be aware of everything around you, the very thoughts running through your mind. You've already learned how to throw up your walls, and protect your mind from the emotions of others, but how well will you fare from the voices of the dead?" They stood twenty feet away from each other, and Hope tried not to peer out into the woods around her, wondering if she would see the spirits pop up from behind the trees. He began to murmur the incantation used to bring a necromancer close to the veil, withing hearing distance, so to speak.

She began to hear whispers in the corners of her mind, feel the words ghost over her senses. Her eyes fluttered shut, as she tried to imagine the steel wall raising up high as the sky around her. The voices got louder. She panicked, and tried not to scream when they rose in volume, their voices piercing her mind.

She screamed and fell to her knees, her hands coming up to cover her ears, knowing it wouldn't help but desperate for them to stop. The voices were now at an unbearable volume, the words jumbled together and incoherent. They died down, and soon she took her hands away from her ears and opened her eyes. She looked up at Lucas through tears she hadn't been aware of and sniffled. That was her first encounter with the spirits, well the first time she had known it was the spirits in her head.

"I'll give you a minute, but you have to try harder. I can't keep them at bay like that and let you fail. They'll come for you, witches and spirits alike, and you need to be prepared." Hope looked down at her hands and noticed that they were spotted with blood. She brought a trembling hand up and felt the sticky substance trickle down her neck. It was a thin stream, a tiny amount, but it was enough to give her her strength back. She looked back up at Lucas and nodded, picking herself up from the ground.

"Again." He nodded. And so again and again she tried, high steel walls encasing her mind, but every time she fell to her knees, her strength leaving her as she still could not force the voices back. Lucas was frustrated now, and exhausted as much as her.

"We're done for now. Meet back here after dinner for physical training. Go." She nodded and brushed the grass from her knees before leaving feeling more defeated than ever. She washed the blood from the sides of her neck and studied herself in the mirror. She was on an all natural, organic diet and trained hard, physically, three hours a day. She ran most of the times, the paths in the woods serving as her mile markers, strength training, as well as cross-fit, kickboxing, and martial arts. She was covered in bruises and hadn't gone a day without being stiff and so sore she sometimes couldn't breathe, but she pushed through. For every ounce of pain and soreness, she could feel herself getting stronger. She woke up a new person every day, could see it in herself.

She had only been with him for a month. Her mind wandered back to earlier in the clearing, and how she had failed to push the voices back. Up until now, she had excelled in the areas of her magic. They worked through her insecurities and demons every morning after breakfast. They were breaking down her walls and would then build them up stronger, higher. She had begun to forget what it was like to wake up and want to die, she had not felt that longing in a long time. Her first session with Lucas was always about her mental health, coping mechanisms, and bonding. Lucas has had her meditating in her free time, promoting that finding "her zen" would aid in fighting off the voices. She had found that zen, had been able to keep out Lucas's feelings and her father's (sometimes both of them at the same time), but it was a whole different story with the spirits. They pushed so hard, anxious and scared and angry. She shivered and turned the light off in the bathroom, a grim determination in her chest. She was just catching him in the end of the clearing when she demanded they go at it again.

"Just once more, this time I know I can get it." Lucas raised an eyebrow, but then smiled at her. He had become fond of her, had spent many hours with her and found she was the kindest person he had ever met, stubborn, but sweet, bright and determined. She had a gift at making people laugh, her own smile as infectious as the atmosphere surrounding her. It would be hard to not like her, he had often thought as he watched her train. He was proud of the progress she was making, and stumped at how she had not been able to succeed today.

"Once more, I'm tired and I'm thinking about going out to dinner tonight." She smiled, happy about the news, and stood her ground. He closed his eyes and began the incantation once more.

She was ready this time, had her shields on the way up before the voices even reached her. They knocked tentatively on the steel, curious at the blockade. Soon, they were pounding and pounding, but the voices could not reach her. She smiled, but not dare open her eyes as she threw them even higher now, and soon the pounding was just soft thuds, and then...nothing.

"Great job, kiddo!" Lucas cheered as he felt the spirits retreat. She opened her eyes and whooped and hollered, jumping in the air and wrapping her arms around herself. She bounded over to him and they embraced. She was proud of herself, was confident more now in her abilities.

She knew though, that this was just an inkling of what she had coming for her, and that the path to reach her full potential was a long and maybe treacherous one, but for now, she would enjoy this small victory.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter:) I'm going to try to get at least one chapter a week out, now that my college search is over:)

I'll be attending Manchester University in Indiana next fall! I'm so excited and I thought I would share this tidbit of news with you guys, even though you guys don't care!

Oh, I have a thought.

Matt/ O.C/ Klaus love triangle?

Thoughts?

Help a sister out and review!:)