Well, another update. I'm having a hard time making anything actually happen in this story, so bear with me. There should be something action-y soon…ish. Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews! I already have some of the next chapter(s?) done, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for an update. I hope you enjoy this one, even if it is Tori's POV. Please review!
Author's Disclaimer: I still don't own the Otherworld Series, or the Darkest Powers Series, or anything cool at all. Except for my Buffy box set. Oh, and my Discworld books and video games. I don't own any of the movies though, because what they did to Rincewind was crap.
Simon was starting to grow on me. Again. I knew he was a sorcerer, but for some reason, that had never bothered me. But me being a witch bothered him. He never liked me. At all. Even when I practically threw myself at him.
I thought about the weeks before Chloe had arrived at Lyle House, and a wave of embarrassment overcame me. I hardly ever blushed. Thank God. I couldn't stand it if I had blushed as much as Chloe did. I don't know how she stood it, everyone knowing when she was embarrassed all the time. Having her emotions displayed across her face, for all the world to see? No, thank you.
During the last day, after Derek and Chloe had left, Simon's thinly veiled contempt of me had withered to what I would call mild annoyance. For some reason, he didn't hate me anymore. Fine by me.
Chloe wanted me to get along with him, to stop antagonizing everybody. I think she had seen past the "Tori's just a bitch" persona that I was working very hard on presenting to the world. She saw it was all an act, that I wasn't really that hateful.
I didn't want to be, anyways. I wanted to be positive, like Chloe. Well, not exactly like Chloe, because sometimes, I thought that no one could be a perky as her, not without some serious drugs. But, she was. And her life had sucked as much as mine. Her mom was dead. My mother was basically the personification off everything that was wrong with the world, but at least she was still alive. If I never saw her again, it would be by choice.
Choices are important.
I was happy that I had found out I was a witch, that I wasn't crazy. I was special. But I couldn't even be a witch properly. I was always messing things up, and other people had to go around fixing the results.
Maybe this Jeremy person knew a witch who could teach me control. Teach me how to use my powers without hurting people.
Simon was sitting up front with that Nick guy, who was really hot. He looked about mid-to-late-twenties, with dark hair, and a movie-star smile. And he drove a really nice car. I was pretending to look at the scenery, but really, I was checking his reflection out in the window. He laughed at something Simon said, and the sound of it sent shivers down my spine.
That was all I needed. Another stupid crush on another unatainable guy. I decided to do the smart thing and just put Nick in the Not-Gonna-Happen file. The first step to doing that would be to stare at anything other than him, so I turned my attention to the landscape speeding past us. Luckily for me, Nick turned on the radio, and I dozed off.
"Tori!"
My eyes shot open. The car was turning up an incredibly long driveway, and Simon was glaring at me.
"What?" I snarled. I checked myself to make sure I hadn't drooled, and then ran my fingers through my hair. A huge grey house was looming in front of us.
"We're here," Simon said, unnecassarily. I bit back a sarcastic, "No shit", and caught Nick's eyes in the rearview mirror. He flashed that damn grin at me, which of course sent a traitorous thrill along my body.
He parked the car, and before the engine was even turned off, Simon was flying out of the door. I scrambled out after him. Simon ran up the steps to the front door. He raised his fist, but before he could knock, it swung open, revealing Chloe's bright, smiling face.
I was happy to see her. I found myself returning her grin, and I looked past her to Derek, and the sight of him didn't make me lose my smile at all. To my surprise, I was happy to see both of them. To my even greater surprise, Derek returned my smile.
I looked down, and noticed that they were holding hands. Well, that explained the un-Derek-like behavior. I stole a glance at Simon, who by then had reached me, grumbling the whole time. He was staring at their hands like he had never seen them before. Chloe noticed us looking, and dropped Derek's hand, her face turning red. Then she stepped forward and made like she was going to hug me, but hesitated, unsure of whether we were the kind of friends that hugged or not. I made the decision for her, and gave her a quick squeeze.
She grabbed my arm, and drew me further into the house, steering us to a room where a very handsome, dark-haired man was sitting. The man looked up, introduced himself as Jeremy, and told us to make ourselves at home. Nick brushed past us to stand next to Jeremy, and then whispered something to him. I started inching my way out of the room, not wanting to answer any questions about my erratic powers, when Jeremy called me back to him, in such a way that I knew he was used to having his orders followed.
He told the others they could catch up with me later, and after dismissing Nick, he gestured to the couch, and told me to make myself comfortable. We weren't going anywhere until I told him what was going on.
I knew there was no getting out of it, no distracting him or brushing him off. So I told him. I told him about the outbursts. How I couldn't ever predict if a spell would work, and if it did, how it might be stronger than I had intended. How my mother hadn't told me what I was, amdhow most of all, I just wanted to learn how control. He looked at me with clear eyes, his face never once betraying any kind of emotion. Occasionally, something would flicker in his eyes, but I had no way to identify it. The whole time I talked, he took notes, like one of the shrinks my mom had made me go see. But unlike those shrinks, he didn't make me feel crazy. He didn't make me feel like a little kid. He just listened patiently, occasionally nodding, or asking a mild question like, "When did that start to happen?" I talked to him for a half-hour, feeling relieved that I didn't have to keep this secret anymore.
He told me that he would contact a witch friend of his, see if she knew what was happening to me. He figured it might have had something to do with the genetic manipulations the good doctors of the Edison Group had done to me, but didn't want to give me a definitive answer.
"I'm not really a doctor, Tori. And all the medicine I do practice is almost always on werewolves. But thank you for telling me, and hopefully, we will have some way to get you some answers. You must be exhausted. Why don't you go find the room you're sharing with Chloe, and have a quick nap? We're going into town for dinner tonight, if you'd like to join us. If not, we can pick something up for you."
I reassured him that I would make it for dinner, that I just needed to wash up and rest first. So, he directed me to my room, and when I went in, Chloe was sitting on her bed, talking to thin air.
She looked up at me with concern, then with surprise. I felt a pressure around my arms and torso, like someone was hugging me.
"Please tell me that's Liz," I said. The squeezing got harder, then released all at once. Yup. It was Liz. She was the only person I knew who hugged like that, dead or alive. Chloe confirmed it a second later.
I hated the fact that she was dead. But I could never let it show that it upset me, because I knew how she hated people being upset. So I just smiled, and said, "Hi, Liz!" Then I flopped on the bed Chloe was sitting on. She suggested that I take a nap, and generously offered me the bed.
"Sure. Thanks. Can you wake me up in an hour?" She nodded, so I continued before she could leave the room. "So, tell me. What the hell is going on with you and Derek? Since when do you two hold hands?" I asked her with a grin.
She blushed and looked down at her feet, but the smile on her face was so big that I couldn't help but feel a little pang of… something. Not jealousy, per se, but envy, I guess. I wanted a boy to smile about. I wanted a boy to smile about me.
Well, even if I couldn't have a boyfriend, didn't mean I couldn't hear when my friends got one. So I told Chloe to spill everything, in two minutes or less.
She started telling me, blushing and grinning the whole time, and when she was done, she looked at my face, and I couldn't help but return her smile. I was actually happy for her. My mother would have been shocked to see me now, actually behaving like a normal teen-age girl.
I yawned, and Chloe immediately went all mother-hen on me, making me lay down, fluffing the pillow, drawing the blinds. I finally shoed her out of the room, and curled up on the bed. I was asleep before my head touched the pillow.
