~Chapter 8~

The next thing I knew there was a bright light in my room that was out of the ordinary. I didn't remember leaving my light on when I went to bed. I sat up in bed and was getting ready to turn my light off when I looked around.

My light was off and it was around three and I had been asleep for what felt like five minutes, but my room was bright as day. I let my eyes adjust to the brightness and saw that the bright light was a near my window.

In the light was the beautiful woman from my dream. I started to think that I was dreaming again, but my dreams had never been so vivid before. I was about to start talking when she spoke.

Her voice was so beautiful, I could hardly think of anything to give some kind of comparison.

My daughter, you are lovelier than I could have even hoped for. You have your grandmother in you. I am sure she will be proud of that. She has a very strong head and a good heart, as do you.

At this point I was in complete shock. My mouth was hanging open into an incredulous look. What do you say to the ghost of your mother? And I knew it was her. I looked nothing like her, yet I was her in so many ways. I felt a pull to her, not physical but more than that. The connection between us was sole deep.

I am sure you are wondering why I am here. Let me make this short. It is time to fulfill your destiny. You were born into a family of powerful women and soon you will learn to understand that power. But for now, there is one thing I must do. Do you still have that amulet?

I looked at her like she had gone nuts. "What amulet? Isn't that something out of a fairy tale?" I asked her.

Oh, of course. You wouldn't know what it was. The necklace that you wear, the one with the rose, do you still have it?

"Yes, it's right here." I pulled the necklace out from under my sleep shirt. I broke the original necklace that it was on and mom had gotten me one for my eighth birthday to replace it. It was longer than the first, since I had gotten older.

It was my grandmother's, your great-grandmother, Vera. She gave it to me when I turned 17, as a gift for becoming an adult. We became adults at the age of 17 in our community. You would have had a big celebration this coming September, when you turned 17 and I would have handed it down to you.

She had a look of longing on her face that made me want to go to her and comfort her.

Anyway, the reason I came here today is to undo something that I done when you were a baby. I couldn't have anyone find out about you before you were ready to take care of yourself. Until I was sure that you were able to defend yourself. I think that that time has passed. I should have done this a few years ago, so you would be ready and could learn how to use your power.

I guess I was unprepared a few weeks ago when you met Melanie. This was the first time and I should have known it would get weaker when you neared your 17th birthday, and now that you are around another.

"I am sorry to interrupt you, but what are you talking about?" She had lost me back when she started talking about the necklace.

This necklace is more than just a necklace. As you heard me say, it is an amulet. As well as our family crest. That in itself makes it powerful. But I also put a charm on it, to protect you when you were a baby. I didn't know when the power would come about since you are the first of the last. This amulet blocked you from your power. You were unable to use it in any way. But the closer you come to your 17th birthday and to becoming an adult, the more powerful you get. I knew that would happen. But then you saw Melanie-

"Why do you keep on saying power? What kind of power?"

Adriana, that is your birth name, you are a witch. The daughter of the most powerful line of witches to ever exist and the direct descendants of the first witch, Cera. My name is Charisma and my mother's is Camara. We are all named after roses, our family crest. You are a telepath and can move things with your mind.

Melanie is another witch, of a lesser family. Her lineage is more diluted, so their magic is very small. Our family has been blessed many times over by our mother Cera.

When you saw Melanie, even though she is a lesser witch, her magic combined with your growing magic, over powered my charm. You will slowly start to see things and be able to do things that before you would have thought impossible.

With every word she spoke, my heart beat faster. A witch! Who would have thought? I must still be dreaming. Those kinds of things are just fantasy. Not real.

I must go, but before I do I must undo what has been done. Amera sonovea si contela andios. Blessed be my darling.

Before I could respond, she was gone. She just shimmered away until my room was dark again. Nothing in my room gave way to her having been there.

I crawled back in bed, still thinking of it as just a dream. If I went back to sleep and then woke up, it would all go away.

The next thing I knew it was eleven in the morning and the phone was ringing. I waited for a few more seconds to see if mom would answer the phone. When the phone stopped ringing, I rolled over looked up at my ceiling. The dream I had last night came back like a flash and I tried to dissect it.

I refused to think that it was anything else. Why were my dreams becoming so weird all of a sudden? And why would I dream about that girl?

I got up out of bed and I heard something clink. I looked down to see my necklace hanging out of my shirt, even though I put it underneath last night before I went to bed, like I do every night.

Maybe it had slipped out last night. But part of me knew that wasn't true.

I tried not to think about the necklace or the dream so I decided to take a shower. I was still tired from last night but I knew I had to get up because Adam should be calling me any time now.

I walked to the bathroom and ran into my mom in the hallway.

"Oh, honey. I was just about to come get you up. Nick just called and said he is on his way home, will be here in a few hours in fact. We are going to dinner together. Did you want to join us?"

"No, I think I'll just stay home. I'm sure you missed him these last two weeks."

"Of course I did. But are you sure you want to stay home alone?"

"Actually, I kind of had plans this afternoon so go ahead, it's fine." I reassured her.

"Oh, by the way, you looked stunning last night. How did the dance go?"

"It was a lot of fun. We had dinner, danced, saw friends. It was really fun."

"Who did you go with? Was he cute?"

"Mom." I groaned. I loved my mother to death, but it was kind of embarrassing having to explain this to her. How did you tell your mother that you had met your soul mate?

"Oh come on honey. Just a little bit of info?"

I knew she would never let this go.

"His name was Adam and was he's cute. More like gorgeous. He has the most perfect face and hair. And he is such a sweet and nice guy."

Snap out of it Marie. You don't need to tell her everything about it.

"Ooh, When do I get to meet him?"

"Um, I don't know honestly. I'll ask him."

She started to say something else when the phone rang again. She walked into her room and picked up the phone. While I had a free moment, I stepped into the bathroom to get ready to take a shower knowing it would be the only chance to get away next decade.

"Marie." She called from the other side of the bathroom door. And here I thought I had gotten away.

"Yes mom." I called back.

"Adam is on the phone for you."

My brain froze while my stomach did somersaults.

"Um, tell him to give me just one second. I'll be right there." I tried not to sound too panicked, but I don't think it worked.

I put my clothes back on quickly, well, rather I tried to put them back on quickly. It didn't work out that way and it felt like it took much longer to them back on.

I walked out of the bathroom to see mom standing in her doorway with a knowing look on her face. "I'll take the call in my room." I said plainly.

As soon as I got to my door, I sprinted to my phone and picked up the receiver.

"I got it mom." I called to her. I waited for her to hang up her end of the line before I spoke to him.

"Hey, Adam. What's going on?" I tried to sound casual.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see if you still wanted to hang out today." I said, sounding a bit self-conscious.

"Yes." I answered all too quickly and immediately regretted my hastiness as he chuckled on the other side.

However, it did seem to help him ease up a little bit because he sounded much more confidant when he spoke again.

"I'll pick you up in an hour?" He asked.

"Sure, I'll see you then." I almost squeaked.

"Ok, bye."

"Bye." I said a bit too late.

I put the phone back in the receiver and done my happy dance in a full circle until my circle made its way toward my doorway where my mother was standing there laughing.

"It's ok to be excited you know. He sounded like such a nice boy."

"Mom." I groaned again.

"Go get in the shower love."

I almost ran past her in my hurry to get to the bathroom. Even though she was my mom, I don't think I had been so embarrassed in my life.

I heard her laughing softly as I got in the shower.

I let the hot water hit me for a few moments before I continued with my shower. I didn't want to take too long and make him wait.

I started to move quickly causing the shampoo bottle to fall from the top of the shower caddy. I reached over to catch the bottle with my hand but I wasn't fast enough because it slipped right through my hands and hit the bottom of the tub, barely missing my foot.

Seriously, that was a brand new bottle and that would have hurt so badly. Could have broken a toe. Stupid bottle.

After my shower I went into my room to pick what I was going to wear today. Seriously, I had no idea. What did he have planned? I really wasn't an outdoor type of person, but with him, I just might do anything.

While looking through my closet, I tripped over a pair of shoes, knocked myself into my vanity, and then falling over my chair. Why was I such a klutz?

When I finally stopped moving, I looked over to see my mother's glass vase given to her by her mother teetering on the edge of my vanity. Before I could untangle myself from the chair legs, the vase fell to the floor. Just before it hit the floor, it stopped in mid-air.

What the heck? Why did it just stop? I thought about the vase coming over to me and before I could react, it started moving toward me, like it was being pushed by an invisible hand. It stopped right in front of me and just floated. It wasn't bobbing like it was sitting on something. No. It just stood there, motionless in midair.

I grabbed the vase, before it could fall out of the air. As soon as my hand grabbed it, it was like the invisible pull vanished, leaving just the vase in my hand. What was that?

Before I consciously thought about it, my thoughts went to my dream. Well, what I had dismissed as a dream anyway. Was that real? I mean, if what I just done was magic, I mean what else could it be, did that mean I was a witch. It would also mean that my dream wasn't actually a dream. My real mother had actually come to me as a spirit or a ghost, was there a difference?, and I hadn't even given her more than a dream?

"Well, if that really just happened. I should be able to do it again. Right?" I told myself. I stood up and braced myself. But how did it work?

Did I just think of something to come to me and it would? Hmm. I stood looking around my room for something to try with. I didn't want to try with my mother's vase, especially if it was real and I ended up smashing it.

I know, my brush. As soon as I thought about my brush, it floated over to me. I didn't even have to give it a conscious thought, or did I?

I sat there practicing moving things across my room for a while. Seriously, how cool was this. I wonder what else I could do. Could I cast spells as well?

I wonder if mom would let me use…mom. What was I going to tell her? I've seen enough of Hollywood to see how people react to things supernatural. I know mom wouldn't sell me out, but would she look at me differently? As a matter of fact, could I tell anyone?

I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that I had spent so much time playing around with this newfound ability that I hadn't even finished getting dressed. Adam would be here any minute.

As I finished dressing I started to think about Adam. What would be think of me being a witch. Would he run away screaming or would be point a finger at me like they did in old Salem. I don't know Adam as well as I do my mom obviously, but for some reason I couldn't see him ratting me out. Maybe I should just tell him and see where it goes.

I mean, I can't keep a secret like this forever, how far would that get me?

"Why did this have to happen to me? What did I ever to? All I wanted was to be a normal girl, going out on a normal date with a normal guy. Would my life ever be normal again?

Downstairs I heard the doorbell ring. Great, Adam is here and here I am not only freaking out because I realized my dream wasn't a dream and I am a witch, but also because the cutest guy in the world is here to see me and I am a freak of nature. Perfect. Just perfect.