Chapter 11

"Hey, Aggie!" I greeted as I walked into the Principal's office.

My guardian rolled his eyes, "I told you not to call me that."

I rose an eyebrow, smirking. "Would you prefer Memmy, then?"

"Memmy?"

"Yeah, Agamemnon. Memmy!"

He scowled, "I'll take Aggie, then."

"Good," I smiled. "So, what are we doing today? More levitation spells, reverse spells, or something cool for a change? How about invisibility? Ooh! How about cloning myself?! That'd be awesome, I can have them do all the work for me-"

"MS. NOVOA!"

I shut my mouth, shrinking back a bit on his sudden interruption.

"Cloning oneself is a serious offense, in fact it's illegal. It's not even technically cloning, you're just splitting yourself into different halves of your personality. The Magic Realm was almost destroyed during the last Fool Moon because of a cloning spell, therefore I'd advise you not to try it...unless, that is, if you want to lose your powers."

My eyes widened. Who knew that clones could be so serious, enough to threaten the world? I wonder who the stupid person was who almost let it be destroyed. "I won't try it, I promise."

"Good," he smiled slightly, "as for invisibility, that is a complex spell, it can be very easy to turn yourself invisible, but hard to return to normal. You'll learn it one day, and hopefully not by accident like a girl I once knew."

"Was this the same girl who almost destroyed the Realm?"

He nodded.

"She's stupid, how could she let that happen?"

Agamemnon chuckled, "I don't know. Although, I guess it wasn't technically all her fault. She was a very inexperienced witch, in fact she was your age when she first discovered her powers. Now, let's get on with the lesson, shall we?"

"Yes! And it better not be boring," I grinned.

"I hope not. Today you will be working on how to tele-transport!"

"Awesome!" I smiled excitedly. "What do I have to do?"

"It's very simple, really," he smiled. "All you have to do, is picture where you want to go and create a spell to take you there; keep in mind that is the harder option, although it will be easy once you master concentration. The easier way is that you could say where you want to go in the spell. Try it."

"Okay, sounds easy enough," I grinned. I lifted my hand, red magical energy emerging out of my palm. "I don't want to be careless...so send me to Paris!"

Nothing happened.

"What happened?" I asked, confused and disappointed.

"Try again, it could take a few tries to finally get it."

I breathed in deep, then let it out. "If this spell doesn't work I'll be really embarrassed, so please let me go to Paris!"

Nothing.

I grew frustrated. "Come on, I wanna go to Paris!"

Suddenly, Agamemnon wasn't in front of me anymore. Neither was his desk, or the wall, or even that weird plant in the corner of the room. All I registered was that for a moment I saw black, then I couldn't breathe.

Blindly, I started kicking, using my instincts. I eventually reached air, taking in a huge gulp. When I opened my eyes, harsh sunlight dancing across the water greeted me.

"The pool?!" I asked myself, bewildered. "How'd I end up here? This is nowhere near Paris!"

Agamemnon appeared before me by the edge of the pool. He was shaking his head with a slight smile. "Like mother, like daughter."

After my disasterous tele-transporting spell, and a successful drying one, I walked back to the office. Agamemnon didn't even think to bring me with him when he tele-transported back.

Jerk.

"Hey, Red. How's the lesson going?"

I turned to see Darren leaning up against a row of lockers, head cocked slightly to the side, and a smirk on his lips.

I glowered. "Fine," I lied.

"Really?" His smirk widened, "did you find it to be rather...refreshing? Did a splash of knowledge hit you? Were you submerged in it?" He snickered at the end.

How did he know?!

"Are you stalking me?" I demanded.

"No, just watching over you."

"Same thing."

"Then would you say that your grandmothers are stalkers? They watch over you."

Something hit within me. The fact that both of my grandmothers died way before I was even born was a sensitive topic for me. I wished desperately to know them. All I had was a picture of Grandma Maria and my mother from when she was three. I don't even have a picture of Grandma Leanna, but Dad would say that she was pretty and funny.

"Oh no. Rose, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just...I know they watch over you and I-oh God, Rose please don't cry."

I didn't even realize I was crying. Darren came to stand in front of me, wiping a tear away with his thumb. "Please don't cry. I'm sorry, that was a bad comparison to make; I shouldn't have said it."

"No," I protested, sniffling. "No, it was a good comparison. I like to think that they watch over me, and that's definitely not bad." I gave a small giggle, "and they're not stalkers for doing it."

He smiled.

"Rose? Hey, babe!"

We both turned to find Nick, who must've been coming back from the bathroom or something.

"Hi, Nick!" I smiled, finishing the gap between us and giving him a hug. I was a bit annoyed that he called me 'babe,' as I asked him before to not call me it. However, he kept on, as he said, 'forgetting,' or that it just 'slips.' Oh well, I guess it's nice that he cared enough about me to give me a pet name.

When we seperated, he took my hand, standing next to me. "Hey, Darren."

The wizard nodded, his jaw set. "Nick."

"I'm glad you're here, I've been meaning to ask you about the swim team. Think you could use another player?" Nick grinned.

Darren was silent, obviously thinking it over. Finally, he gave a small sigh and said, "sure. Practice is today after school."

"Sweet!" He turned to me, "sorry, babe, but I gotta head back to class. I'll walk you down to lunch," he gave me a kiss on the cheek then walked down the hall, turning the corner and out of sight.

I could only stare at Darren in wonder.

"What? Like what you see?" he gave a smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes.

I ignored the sarcastic comment. "You don't like Nick...why would you let him join the team?"

He looked in my eyes, "because it would've made you upset if I told him 'no.'"

"But...you don't-"

"Don't what? Care?" his eyes flashed, "yes, Rose, I don't care. I don't care about you learning how to use your powers; that's why I got you the best guardian. I don't care that Aurora makes your life miserable whenever she can; that's why I told her not to bully you again or else I'd take away her powers. I don't even care that you're dating Nick, when you've only known him for like a week or two, when you've known me since the first grade; that's why I'm not angry right now."

With each sentence he moved steadily closer to me, up until the point where my back was against the lockers, and he was preventing my only way of escape.

I guess that explains why Aurora hasn't been bothering me lately. And Darren threatened to take away her powers?! Can he actually do that? How is it possible?

When you've known me since the first grade...what did that mean?

Well, it was obvious that he did care about me.

"And now you're afraid of me. Great, as if I don't already have enough on my mind," he stepped back, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, a pose that he's been recently doing a lot of. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," I whispered.

He looked at me with surprise written on his features. "Sorry? What have you got to be sorry for?"

"I'm sorry that I thought you didn't care...it's clear that you do. Thank you for what you've done for me, I'm sorry that I didn't thank you sooner."

Darren smiled weakly, "no problem."

The bell rang, signaling the end of sixth period.

"I'll see you later, Red," he winked, walking down the hallway.

After swim practice, I was in my room, on my laptop, when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

"Hey, Rosie," Mom came to sit next to me on the bed. "How's training coming along?"

I decided not to embarrase myself by mentioning the pool incident. "It's going fine."

She smirked, a spark in her eye. "I have a something for you that'll help. Do you want it?"

"Sure," I grinned, "I can use any help I can get."

Mom laughed, "okay, follow me, then."

I followed her into my parents's bedroom, where she walked into her closet. Standing on her tip-toes, she reached up for the top shelf and pulled out an old-looking big, brown book.

She blew on the cover, dust particles catching in the rays of sunlight with the help of the open window.

"Hey, Hexie. Sorry I let a little dust get on you," she apologized to it.

My mother was talking to a book. Does this mean that she's crazy?

When I was about to ask why she was talking to it, the book's pages glowed golden. I gasped, being able to understand that it was saying that it was okay, but please not to do it again. He hated being dirty.

The book was alive?!

"Rose," Mom looked up at me, "this is the Hexoren, a book that contains many powerful and useful spells, guarunteed to help you out in almost any situation. I had him when I was your age, and now that you have powers, I'm giving him to you. Take care of him, and no one is to know that you have him in your possession."

"Not even Jimmy or Alex?" I questioned.

"Except them, I trust them, and I know you do too," she smiled, then glanced back down at the book. "Come on, Hexie. Don't you want to meet my daughter? She's your new owner, after all."

My mouth dropped as I saw it rise out of Mom's hands, then flew right in front of my face.

"Uh...hi," I began awkwardly, "I'm Rosalyn, but everyone calls me Rose. I just got my powers recently, so I need any kind of help with learning and becoming better. I hope you like me as much as Mom."

Tentively, I reached out a hand.

It didn't move.

I accepted this as permission to continue, as I slowly touched the Hexoren's cover. I began going back and forth, petting it. Not long after, it began to slowly vibrate.

"He likes that," Mom grinned, "also when you give him baby-talk and make him the center of attention."

The book flew out from under my hand, flying in front of Mom's face. It's pages glowed a fierce gold, and I knew that he wasn't really angry with her for saying that.

"Take the Hex into your room so you two can get aquainted," Mom smiled. "Dinner will be in an hour."

When walking back to my room, I looked down at the spell book in my hands. "You know, up until now, I didn't think books were alive. I guess I was wrong."

He glowed, for he was laughing.

A/N: Please excuse Darren's anger spike, he's got a lot on his mind.

TotallyCray-Cray: I gotta have suspense if I want readers ;D

lovethatignites: Thanks for liking the languages! It was fun to write :)

Guest: Yes, she (unknowingly) said it ;) Thank you!

Every witch way jemma fan: Thanks ;)

delightisadream: I hope you still like Darren after this chapter. I mainly wrote it to have a deeper moment between them, that their romance isn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows and perfection. They're humans, and humans make mistakes. Although, I'd be pretty mad too if I were him. Accusing someone of not caring can really hurt a person.

Jemmalover1: I wonder what her reaction will be ;D

tierrayaoi: Lol XD

xDreamingxAtxMidnightx: Haha, me too XD Yes, too bad she didn't understand!

Guest: I know it isn't the most reliable, but it's the easiest to use XD

Guest: Thank you:)

ILoveEWW: Glad you liked it! But in the A/N, I stated that I didn't mean for dummkopf to mean that. In German, it means 'idiot' or 'stupid-head.' And danke ;)