So back from a reallyyyyy long hiatus. But I put up a new chapter and I'm hoping to actually finish what I start ya know? Haha. But I hope you like it! R&R please?? (:

Ashley

"Want to ditch?"

I look at her, she has to be kidding. We're standing outside of her grandmother's weird shop and I glance at my watch. 11am. "If you want to ditch, knock yourself out. But I don't want to face a suspension on the first day."

"No. I just…want to show you something."

"I'm good." I start walking down the road as quickly as I can. Spencer is defiantly different, so is her grandmother. Apparently, it's in the genes. "Maybe some other time." When I'm mentally insane!

"It's not far though. I just want to make up for everything before. Please? With a cheery on top??" She clasps her hands together and makes a pouty face. It's actually cute. Wait. I did NOT just think that. "No."

"You'll love this place. It's enchanted."

Enchanted? This girl really is a freak. "Nope."

She realizes her mistake and corrects herself. "No, I don't mean in a magical sense, just pleasant."

"I've had enough of all this magic and whatnot." God, I really just want to go.

"Look," she persists annoyingly. "This place is really special to me and I bet you haven't seen much of the mountain yet.

That's true. I've only been here a couple of days and all I've done is fix up the house to make it more accessible for dad. "And??"

She grabs my elbow and starts to pull me. She's a bit taller than me. Probably, about a head length. I follow her into the forest. "You know, you're dangerous."

She laughs, but doesn't answer. For the next twenty minutes, we fight through all the vines and branches and I make a mental list of all the creatures that are stuck at the bottom of my shoe, itching its way up to my exposed flesh. Ewwww.

We finally get there and the scenery is really beautiful. There is a waterfall and a field to the left of it.

"How do you like it?" She's standing beside me, at peace.

"Nice."

She frowns. "Nice? That's all you can say?"

I sit on a big rock. "Okay. Very nice."

She groans, but sits beside me. "I'm sorry about Julia and what happened earlier. Truth be known, she's really nice, caring, and tolerant. She's also a very wonderful magic-

Spencer wisely doesn't finish the sentence. "She raised me after my mother abandoned me."

She shrugs her shoulders and acts like she doesn't care. But it doesn't take a fortuneteller to see that is does. Julia's hysteria gradually starts to fade into a distant memory. "Hey. Look, it doesn't matter. It's fine."

We just sit still for a moment. It's relaxing and I love it. I see that Spencer is really happy and I get a little jealous. Because I move around a lot, I've never had a place like this. A place to just be myself. "So, it's just you and your grandmother?" I hope I'm not intruding.

She doesn't seem to mind. "Yeah, I never knew my dad. I don't even know his name."

"Hey. I'm sorry. Do you have anything to go on?"

She gets defensive. "Who says I want to know?"

"I didn't mean.. I'm sorry."

Her voice softens, "I only know that they met in the forest, after my father finished some exams for high school. They only had a couple of days though."

Then it hit me why this place is so special to Spencer. "This is the place, isn't it? Where they.."

She interrupted. "Yeah. So what?"

"I didn't mean to get nosy."

She changes the subject. "So, why did your family move here? As much as I love this place, there are a lot of disadvantages. Especially in the winter. It's so cold and it's coming fast this year."

I let her change the subject. It's not my business. "My dad got into an accident and his leg was injured pretty badly. He can't play his music anymore, so he got really depressed. My mom thought that this move would be good for him."

She seems interested in this. "How did the accident happen?"

"He was doing this cowboy, yee haw thing at a concert for his fans, and there was water on the stage. So he slipped and fell off the stage and landed on his leg the wrong way. It caused some muscle and tendon damage."

Her eyes go wide. "Freaky."

"Yeah. It was bad luck."

She was probably remembering how clumsy I was in class today. "You don't have to say it. I know I'm a klutz.

"I wasn't going to say that. I was just thinking that accidents must happen a lot with you."

Bad luck follows us like the plague, but I didn't say that. "We've have a few broken bones."

"How many?"

"Four, eight, ten."

"What?!?"

"There was this car accident. My mom broke her collarbone and a few ribs. My sister, Kyla, broke her arm and her leg, slipping on ice. I've broken my arm in two places by falling off the monkey bars. I also broke my knee once."

She's staring at me in disbelief. "I've never broken anything."

"Well, you're just lucky then."

I'm reluctant to tell Spencer about the family business going broke, or the fire at our last school that demolished the entire Art department. I think she sees through me though.

"Come on. Let it out."

"Alright, Alright." I grab her wrist, but I don't let go. I like the feeling of it. "There was this flood that wiped out the house we were renting."

"Really? Was anyone hurt?"

"Fortunately, no one was hurt. But it was close. My mom insisted on saving some photos."

"A lot of people say they would go back for photos, but I would go back for"… her eyes flicker to mine and she turns away. "Never mind. You lived near a river or something?"

"Sure. I lived right near a stream, but it had never flooded before. Took the whole town by surprise." I couldn't believe how open I was to Spencer. All my thoughts are just slipping out. And I had just met her. It's amazing really.

"So, you lost everything? Except for the photos?"

"And my dad's famous heritage book. It's his pride and joy. It traces our family back to the 1200s. The Davies had one of the very first stone-built castles."

Spencer looks so interested and her eyes were growing bigger. "Are you kidding? Have you seen it?"

"Nah. But I've seen pictures."

"That's so cool. I would love to see your heritage book some day. My family's so small. All I know is that my mom took off to Ohio and Julia was a single mother."

I start to feel a little sorry for her. She's not that much different than me. I may not have the connections of feeling belonged like her, but she doesn't know who her parents are. "If you want, I could show you the book one day."

"I would love it."

She's so cool when she's not talking about magic and stuff. But I knew it wouldn't last long. To prove my point she said, "I think maybe your family's cursed or something."

"I doubt that."

"No, think about it. All those accidents and your powers. The curse has to have something to do with them. It makes sense."

I give up and start to walk away. Maybe I can make it back to some of my classes on time. "Please don't start again. You'll ruin the morning."

She jumps up and matches my pace. "I think your powers are growing. I mean, your dad's accident isn't just a repairable broken bone, it's serious."

"Bad luck is just bad luck. Just stop it. I want to be normal like everyone else in this world."

"You are who you are. You can't change it. She pauses. Do you think I actually want powers? Because I do have powers. It's nothing big, I can do a few tricks. But my main power is getting into people's minds."

I glance at her. "You can read people's minds?"

She shakes her head. "No, nothing like that. I can just sense people's emotions, like sad, happy, and angry. Stuff like that."

"Great," I say sarcastically. I start to run to get away from her.

"I was in your mind this morning, Ashley Davies!"

I just keep running, hoping I'll get away from her. I stop for a second and I see she is right behind me. "You are insane, Spencer…whatever your last name is. "

"It's Carlin and you know you felt me."

I start running again, away from the forest and Spencer, succeeding this time. I hear whispering sounds in my head as if Spencer was standing right next to me. With your powers unleashed, you could really hurt someone.

Okay. Now I'm going crazy. I have to stay away from her. Anything can happen! That's it. Her delusional mind is rubbing off on me. I'll find out who her group of friends is and get in a different group, even if that means hanging out with Glen.