I do not own the Secret Circle I do own the other characters!
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Amanda POV
Forever. How long was that going to be? A couple of hours? A couple of days? 80 years? I had no clue and as midnight approached anxiety was high. What if this was mine and nick's last night on earth? I know that our bond was for eternity but what did that mean? I had to tell nick how I felt and maybe it was a form of a goodbye I'm not sure. All I knew that the thought of a world without him, even if it would be a world without me too made me sick to my stomach. As I stood wrapped in his arms, I took in everything about him. The smell of cigarettes and mint, his tan arms, his shaggy hair, the huskiness of his voice, the softness of his lips, that sweet smile that I knew was meant only for me and those mahogany eyes that I could get lost in for hours. I know Nick believed we were going to be OK but I was not sure. My sight was kicking in and I had an immense sense that danger was coming, but I wasn't going to share that with Nick. "I know your still worried Amanda" Nick said into my hair. I looked up and saw concern in those dark eyes of his "a little but I will be OK. I'm not going to let my fear get in the way of what we have to do tonight and we have our circle for protection as well. We should be ok" I said and felt a little better after having said that out loud. I looked at him and wrapped my arms around his neck entangling my fingers in his dark hair. He looked down at my pulling me closer to him by my waist "we will be ok and on August 31, we are getting married" he said softly and kissed me again. We stood there for a few minutes just holding each other and kissing. Finally we broke apart and he took my hand and led me back towards the group.
It was getting close to midnight and I was totally physically and emotionally exhausted. We approached the group and I noticed Robbie and Deb sitting on the rock wall looking through a book of shadows, Faye and Suzan were in deep conversation with Scott and Max. Steven and Lexie were sitting on the beach talking with Adam, Cassie, Diana, Melanie and Laurel and Sammy was goofing around with the Henderson bothers. I took in the sight and smiled it was really great to see everyone getting along so well. Nick and I headed to the rock wall where I had my bag "where did you guys disappear to?" Deborah asked. "we went for a walk" nick said letting go of my hand as I bent down to retrieve 3 thermoses from my bag. "what's that? Your energy mix?" Robbie asked as I handed Deb a thermos. "yep. I don't know about you guys but I am just exhausted" everyone nodded. "can you bring this over to Diana?" I asked nick handing him a thermos and he left to go give it to her. Deb and Robbie took a few sips off of the thermos and then Robbie jumped off the wall. He looked at Deborah and smiled "ill be right back I'm going to go give this to Sammy" he said with the thermos in hand and he walked away. I glanced around and Nick was already talking with Diana. "Is everything ok?" Deborah asked as concern flashed across her face. "everything's fine why?" I asked curiously. She was the one who was going to have to be part of the ritual yet she was worried about me. Like Nick that hard exterior gave way to a really great person. "I don't know I just thought you would be hanging out more with your circle tonight" she observed. I sighed "I don't know what's going to happen tonight and I needed to talk to Nick about a few things just in case". Deborah scowled "Amanda, you are a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for". "thanks" I said. "seriously, you guys are going to be fine I feel it" Deborah said. "you don't get a sense that danger is coming?" my eyes widened as I asked. "yeah I do get that sense however I also think that the circle we have is filled with the most powerful witches there ever was. Bloodlines alone give us a huge advantage" Deborah said. I nodded she was right. I scanned the beach for nick. "he loves you a lot you know" Deborah said noticing me watching Nick as he was headed back towards us. "I know" I smiled "its funny I only met him not even a month ago and I can't remember my life before him". Deborah was about to say something but stopped when Nick approached us. "Diana needs to talk to the leaders before everything starts" Nick said to me. "ok" I leaned up giving him a quick kiss and I turned to Deborah who was getting visibly scared "don't worry we are not going to let anything happen to you" I tried my best to reassure her and gave her a quick hug. I tried to hide my fear with a smile and left to go meet with the rest of the leaders not quite sure if I was ready to face what danger lay ahead.
NICK POV
As I watched Amanda head towards Diana, Sammy, Faye and Cassie I felt a pit in my stomach. I wanted so much to protect her from tonight. To take her and just run away and keep her safe, however, I knew that was out of the question for so many reasons. Amanda was so loyal and although she was scared, I could never see her leaving her friends or not following through with the fight just because she was scared. I turned to Deborah who was looking more nervous by the second. After she was taken over to attack Faye the other night it was determined that she had some kind of evil with in her that we must rid of. No one had done this ritual before and everyone was on edge especially Deb, Chris, Lexie, Max and Cassie who would be the ones that we needed to rid the evil from. I put my arm around my short cousin "its going to be alright Deb. You know we aren't going to let anything happen to you right?" I said. She just shrugged my arm off "you can't be sure of that. Maybe you can spout that shit to your girlfriend but not to me. We don't know what going to happen we don't even know what we are fighting" she said extremely agitated. "no we don't know what's going to happen, however, I do know that you are under the protection of the circle and I also know that if there was anything that indicated any true danger in this ritual Amanda and Diana would not allow it" I said. She sighed "your right. I'm just scared" she admitted "I don't even remember doing it so that makes it worse" "I know" I said giving her a hug. I saw the leaders laying something on the ground close to the fire but couldn't make it out. "looks like they are almost ready" I said. She wasn't paying attention to me she watching Robbie who was talking with Max and Lexie. "he's prolly giving them a pep talk too" I smiled. "i don't think anything could pep me up for what's about to happen" she laughed. Everyone started heading towards the fire and it was time. Deborah didn't say anything just pushed passed me and headed towards the group.
We got to the fire and Amanda was quickly at my side. "Diana and Sammy are going to perform the ritual" she told me. "I wanted to help but Diana said because of my injury she wouldn't call on me unless absolutely necessary" she scowled and relief washed over me. I would be in a better possession to protect Amanda with her by my side and not leading the ritual. I couldn't help but wonder if Amanda's injury was the real reason why Diana told her she wouldn't be leading or if the Circle was trying to keep Amanda at arm's length in an attempt to protect both her and I. Sammy cast the circle and everyone entered. I was sitting between Amanda and Robbie. Cassie, Max, Lexie, Chris and Debora were sitting on the far eastern end of the circle the calm ocean behind them. There were lines of quartz crystals and rose petals separating each of them. I scooted close to Amanda and put my arm around her. "Fire! Earth! Water! Air! We call on you for protection against all that is evil" Diana said. The fire roared, the waves crashed and the wind swirled. I could feel Amanda tense up next to me. I just pulled her tighter my eyes not leaving Diana and Sammy. "North, South, East and west we offer to you the people in which the evil rests, The sea is vast the earth is wide release all evil that dwells inside" Sammy said and she anointed Cassie with some kind of oil, she did the same to Max, Lexie, Chris and Deborah and no one was prepared for what happened next. They all started convulsing and screaming in a language no one could understand. They were protesting the release of the evil. The ear piercing shrills that came from each of them where the freakiest sound I have ever heard. Then all five of their eyes rolled back into their heads and all you could see was white. There was a moment of eerie silence then all of a sudden there was a really loud buzzing noise and no one could have predicted what happened next. I was watching Deborah so worried about my cousin and she opened her mouth to scream and a thousand big black flies came shooting out of her mouth, nose and ears and circled 20 feet above the fire. That was repeated by Cassie, Chris, Lexie and Max until there were what seemed like a million flies circling over the fire with a noise that was ear splitting. It looked like a funnel cloud, a tornado of flies spiraling at an intense speed. Then the flies shot up towards the moon and then dove back down into the flames of the fire cracking and popping as they hit the fire. The smell was just gross. It smelled like a mixture of burnt popcorn and vomit. So much that I could hear some of the circle members dry heaving and I thought I may be sick myself. Amanda buried her face into my chest. Then just like that a calm swept over the circle. Cassie, Deborah, Max Lexie and Chris's eyes all went back to normal and they seemed dazed but ok