BELLA
Since we have some time to kill, Jen and I decide to tackle a large training thing with Bethany. We want for her to learn a little more control. She needs to learn a little more control. As new age as it sounds, the best way to accomplish this is meditation. She needs to be more balanced emotionally to avoid accidental discharges of her magic.
"Meditation?" Bethany almost doesn't believe us.
"Meditation," Jen and I say with authority.
"You're serious?" Bethany persists.
"As an outbreak of the plague," Jen answers.
"You need to find a way to even out your emotionally responses," I explain.
"I don't understand. You guys show emotion, why can't I?" Bethany holds her ground.
"The use of meditation is almost strictly a training tool," I'm getting a little frustrated at this point.
"Bella and I have developed the discipline needed to control our magic. Of course, accidents can happen. They are just much less likely for us. And we don't want you to be devoid of emotion, we want to you be able to reign your emotional reactions is before your magic discharges unintentionally," Jen is very patient, as always.
"Unintentionally using magic is very dangerous. I don't just mean for those around you, but also for yourself. Remember that I told you I accidentally blew up my father's police cruiser? That was within a week of me presenting. Fortunately, we were all inside the house and there was no one on the street. But someone could have easily been near the cruiser, or even in it, and they would have at the very least gotten some very serious burns. Your time warp was benign, but that discharge could have just as easily been violent," I carefully inform Bethany.
"You need to understand how serious this is," Jen adds.
"I do," Bethany responds in a quiet voice.
"Like Bella told you, meditation is just a training tool. Eventually, you won't need to do it very often at all. Maybe during particularly emotional periods in your life, you will feel like you need the boost in control that meditation offers," Jen starts the lesson.
"At first though, you will need to devote at least an hour a day to meditation," I continue.
"Is there a special way to do that?" Bethany asks.
"No, you can meditate in whatever way you are comfortable. I like to do Tai Chi when I meditate. Bella likes to sit in a tall tree or on a rooftop while she meditates. You just need to be able to center yourself in whatever method you choose," Jen answers.
"How will I know how to center myself?" Bethany is fully immersed in the lesson.
"You need to go on a spirit quest," Jake interrupts in what he considers his spooky voice. Nestalia actually looks a little pained.
"Does your tribe even do spirit quests, Jake?" I ask in between my giggles.
"Well, no…but I don't think witches need do all that for their training," Jake tries to have input.
"And you are one to tell others that there should be no control over emotion, Fido," Jen inputs as she giggles with me.
"Hey!" Jake tries to sound indignant.
"Don't listen to the oaf," Nestalia tells Jen.
"I knew you guys were messing with me," Bethany, unlike Jake, actually pulls off indignant.
"We are not," I shoot a glare at my idiotic friend who has terrible timing with his jokes around Bethany.
"Believe me when I tell you that every witch has had to learn this," Jen assures our student.
We go through the first few steps with Bethany. Take deep, even breathes. We demonstrate how you sort of go into yourself, shutting out the rest of the world. We prove that you can meditate in whatever method you are comfortable with. Nestalia drags Jake back to when his laughter can't be contained anymore. Bethany finally gets comfortable. Jen and I leave her to her meditation.
Later, Bethany asks us why we didn't oversee her meditation. I inform her that it is her own responsibility to meditate. Jen informs her that we will know if she doesn't keep up with it. Bethany is persistent. She wants to know if that is because we really will be watching her. Does Jen look like her mother? Do I look like her mother? If she doesn't meditate, then she will have more and more accidental discharges of her magic.
While Jen is on the phone with Eliot, Jake asks Bethany and me to join him and Nestalia in a game. We agree and all head to the game room. Jake refuses to tell us what game he has chosen to play. All Nestalia knows is that is it a board game. That is odd because Jake is usually all about the video games. When Jake presents the game that he has already set up, Nestalia and I groan in unison. We should have seen this coming. Well, Nestalia and I should have totally seen this coming. Bethany just met Jake ant therefore does not really know why this could be painful. Jake wants to play Monopoly.
Don't get me wrong. Normally, I like Monopoly. However, whenever you play Monopoly with Jake, it is always an adventure. I mean a really, really long adventure. Jen, Nestalia, and I tried to instill a time limit for turns once. Yeah, that didn't work out. Jake can be such a whiner when he feels he is being discriminated against by us. This game is apparently a challenge for him, to see how long he can go. Poor Bethany looks horrified and no one has even made it around the board the first time. Nestalia and I settle in. The two of us know that we don't have to pretend. We act exactly as bored as we feel.
Nine hours have passed. Jake is just starting to get bored. This is a new record for how long Jake can make a game last. We finally just agree to throw everything into the middle and have the next person who lands on Free Parking declared the winner. Luckily, that player turns out to be Bethany. We clean up the game.
I head off in search for Jen. She was smart to avoid the game room. Jake can suck anyone in with his big puppy dog eyes. Surprisingly, Jen is still on the phone. Now she is talking to our Seer, Dakota. I get a chance to talk to Dakota before she has to hang up. Then, Jen and I head to the massive library that is hidden in this mansion. It's a good thing that we know where it is. Otherwise, the search would take longer than a game of Monopoly with Jake, and be just as productive. Armed with the information our Seer just supplied us with, Jen and I set out to make our plans. Demetri has served his purpose. We will finish him off before we move on to another member of the Elite Guard. Jake passes through with Nestalia. They know better than to be distracting during Jen's and my strategy sessions. One of the reasons for this is that, as witches, Jen and I can talk to each other telepathically. That means that part of our discussions during our strategy sessions are in our minds, completely silent to those around us.