Chapter 7

Love Me, Love Me Not

Sombra had been taking a break from her research when Lena went home. The Latina had been searching the Internet for a better part of the day, finally on a lead for the mission she'd assigned herself. She had decided it was time to take a break and maybe eat and drink something since she hadn't left her chair since breakfast. She was pouring herself a glass of juice when Lena pushed the door open.

"Hello everyone!"

Instantly Sombra frowned. While Lena had always been a very enthusiastic person, and there were very few things able to break her optimism, this over-enthusiasm felt very suspicious.

"Isn't life wonderful?" the Brit asked as she threw her bag on the ground and took off her coat in a single move.

"What is it this time?" Sombra asked as she closed the bottle. "Cause I'm warning you if you met another fairy I'm not spending the rest of the day helping you find her hometown. I've got better things to do."

"Oh no, it's not a fairy. Unless you count the love of my life as one, and she probably is because with her everything is magical!"

Sombra looked like she was about to say something, but she decided against. Instead, she placed the bottle back inside the fridge, picked up her plate of cookies and glass and walked around the counter to return to the garage.

"And I'm out. Angela, she's yours!" she yelled through the house.

Angela's door opened, the blond visibly looking confused. She could see Sombra returning to the garage from there, but Lena, still standing in the entrance hall as she took off her shoes, was out of her sight.

"What is going on?" Angela yelled down the hall.

"Lena's been bewitched, do something about it." Sombra declared before shutting the door to the garage.

Angela shouted back:

"What do you want me to do about it?!"

When her question stayed unanswered, Angela finally walked out of her room, groaning about how it wasn't her job to take care of things magical. Soon enough she found Lena sitting on the couch, staring at her phone with hope-filled eyes.

"Hey Lena, how was your day?" Angela asked.

"It was amazing! My soulmate finally confessed her love for me!"

Angela frowned. Lena was acting strangely for sure.

"Your soulmate?"

"Emily! She came to me today and said she loved me and wanted to be with me forever and ever!"

"Forever?"

Lena's phone buzzed, and Angela's question was lost to her. Instead she smiled even more blissfully and quickly began to type away on her phone, ignoring the blond completely. Once she was done, she continued to stare at her phone as if a text would arrive any second. When she finally noticed Angela was still there, she smiled at her dumbly:

"Oh Angela, isn't life wonderful?"

Angela only nodded and walked away.

The blond had almost managed to forget about Lena's suddenly love induced stupidity for the rest of the day until Fareeha came knocking at her door. The taller girl passed her head through, finding Angela doing her homework at her desk.

"Is Lena alright?"

"You tell me. She's been on cloud nine since she came home. I'm pretty sure Emily and she are dating now. It'll probably pass."

Fareeha looked back to Lena, who was still sitting on the couch waiting for a reply to her last text to Emily. She didn't dare say how she really wished it would pass.

When it came time to prepare dinner, Fareeha found herself glancing at her friend every now and then, making sure she really was okay. She did look alright, if not a bit silly. She still hadn't moved from the couch, and Fareeha began to wonder how her phone still had power. But suddenly, just as Angela had arrived to set the table, Lena stood up and ran to the door, screaming:

"I'm going out with Emily, I'll be home late, see ya'!"

She'd jump in her shoes, put her jacket on with lightning speed and rushed outside, shutting the door behind her.

Both of her friends watched her go with confusion. Almost as soon as the door had closed, Sombra walked out, carrying an empty plate and glass.

"Where's the love zombie?"

"She went out." Angela declared as she finally began to set the table.

"Good."

"Why did you say she was bewitched, earlier?" Angela asked.

"Because she is. You'll see. It won't pass. I'd bet you her new GF's got her under a spell of some kind. Maybe a love potion, but those are hard to come by. Voodoo magic maybe? Anyway, it won't pass, and I will not take the time to fix that shit."

Angela crossed her arms.

"Why?"

"Because I can't spend my time fixing the situations you idiots always get yourself stuck into. I need to work. Hunting for clients is what is paying the bills, not for you. Also, I'm on a big deal right now."

"Really?" Fareeha asked, interested.

"Yeah. In case you haven't noticed a few girls have been disappearing recently. I've got a few leads, Hana and I are going to investigate later tonight. Unless it's a virgin sacrifice, in which case it's pretty much too late, I've got quite a few lives to save, so you'll have to deal with Lena's case."

Suddenly, Gabe's shape slowly appeared on the couch, and he asked:

"Is Lena gone?"

"Yeah, you're good." Sombra declared.

He sighed and appeared completely.

"Man, she's freaking me out with this whole soulmate thing..."

Just like Sombra had predicted, Lena's ever-present happiness didn't dissipate with time, and barely two days after its beginning, it was already annoying both Angela and Fareeha greatly. Thankfully Lena wasn't home often, spending most of her time with Emily, which placed the redhead on the top of their suspect list.

Finally, when Lena came home the third day screaming how life was wonderful, Angela and Fareeha decided to take action. Angela managed to get a hold of Emily and ask her if they could talk, inviting her over after school, while Lena was still in class.

Fareeha had purposefully skipped class just to be home when Emily came by. Angela had prepared this whole scenario for them. They were supposed to be two friends concerned about their other friend – which they were, Fareeha noted – and the end-goal to this conversation was for them to know what Emily had done to Lena, and reverse it if possible. And hopefully it would be reversible.

When the redhead arrived at their home, the two of them had been seating on the couch, waiting nervously for the redhead. Angela had tried to envision as many scenarios as possible. In the worst case, of course, Fareeha would have to transform, and probably wreck a part of the living room. They both hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Angela went to open the door, while Fareeha went to fetch a glass of water. They had to look as inconspicuous as possible. On the other side of the door, Emily looked quite nervous as well.

"Hello Emily, please, come in!"

Angela stepped aside, giving the redhead enough space to enter before closing the door behind her, maybe just a bit too strongly to look normal.

"Please, sit down." she continued, indicating the couch.

Emily obliged, and Angela followed her quickly to the living room.

"Would you like something, a cup of tea maybe?"

"No thank you, I'm good."

Angela nodded and sat beside Emily. The redhead finally noticed Fareeha's presence when she placed her glass down on the counter, making the glass chime. She looked at her with a nervous smile.

"Hello, Fareeha."

"Oh, Hi Emily. You didn't tell me Emily was coming over." she declared, following somewhat Angela's plan.

"Sorry, I forgot. You can join us if you want, I mean, if you don't mind, Emily."

Emily quickly shook her head, visibly feeling trap.

"Of course not."

Fareeha nodded and took a seat on the armchair, her eyes on both of the other girls.

"So, what did you wanted to talk about?" the redhead asked nervously.

"Well, since Lena came home professing her undying love for you, I realized I didn't know you very much. Lena is almost a little sister for me, and I feel like I have to protect her, if I need to anyway. Don't worry, I'm not here to tell you to break up with her, just to learn a bit more about you and why Lena loves you so much."

Emily smiled sheepishly.

"Well, there isn't much to say at all, actually. I'm just me. You could have just asked Lena."

Angela smiled benevolently, Fareeha recognized it was the smile she made when everything was working the way she wanted.

"Oh, I tried, but the only thing she says about you is how you are the light of her life. She's like a broken record this day. So tell me, how did you two meet?"

Emily passed a nervous hand through her hair.

"Well, we met in track and field. We're both part of the team. Of course Lena is far better than me, but..."

She stopped not sure where her sentence was going. She pursed her lips, then added:

"So yeah, we met last year, in track and field."

Angela nodded, while Fareeha only half listened, thinking both about how the light was reflecting on the blond's hair, and how the same thing had happened when they had met, just two years ago.

"You really seem to like her." Angela agreed.

"I do... she's a very nice person. Always optimistic, and determined. She likes to help people, and think about others. This one time she spent the entire afternoon coaching me so I could make the time I needed to. She's such an amazing person."

Angela nodded and glanced quickly over at Fareeha, who had a distant look on her face, as if she'd retreated back in her mind and refused to come out. Knowing she wouldn't be able to count on her partner in crime, she focused once again on the redhead.

"Well, you must be an amazing person, too, because you're the only thing Lena speaks about now."

"Oh, no, I'm not such a great person."

Angela crossed her arms as casually as she could.

"You are too humble. Lena speaks off you with such high regards. It's like you've changed her completely. She only has eyes for you."

Emily gulped down and began rubbing her hands together, uncomfortable to no end.

"Well, maybe I should go, Lena is almost out of class and I promised her we would go eat a snack..."

But before the redhead could stand up, Fareeha leaned forward and placed a hand on her wrist, preventing her from moving. Both Emily and Angela looked at her, the former with fear in her eyes, and the latter with confusion.

"I get it, you know." Fareeha began. "You don't feel like she's ever going to look at you the way you look at her, and when she does you think it's a dream or a trick of the light. And so you stay trap in that uncertainty, never brave enough to tell her how you feel because you don't want to break your friendship and because you're afraid of being rejected."

Fareeha sighed, her gaze falling quickly on Angela before it went back to the redhead.

"But it's not a trick. Lena likes you, and nothing can change that. She spent all this time with you, to train you, to hang out with you. Did you even try to ask her out before bewitching her, or were you too scared to begin with, and didn't even try?"

Emily looked down, and gulped down, as if she was holding onto a sob. Fareeha let go of her arm, only for Angela to pass a soothing hand in her back.

"It's alright, you can tell us."

Emily broke into a sob, tears filling her eyes, threatening to spill.

"I didn't know..."

She swallowed as if it were the hardest thing she'd ever had to do.

"I didn't know how it would work, that it would turn her into this puppet! It's awful. I'm awful!"

Angela continued to rub her back while Emily cried. Fareeha leaned closer in the armchair.

"How did you get your hands on a love spell?" Angela asked.

"It's a voodoo thing. The school counselor gave it to me when I asked her how I could..."

She sobbed, as she tried to finish her sentence but found she couldn't.

"You need to break the spell." Fareeha declared. "Break the spell and tell Lena what you did. She'll probably think you were silly to begin with and forgive you."

Emily looked up, her nose and eyes reddened and wet.

"How can you be so sure?"

Fareeha smiled.

"It's Lena we're talking about. The only grudge she holds on is against spiders."

Emily chuckled through her tears and brushed them away with her sleeve.

"Alright, I'll go home and break the spell."

The duo smiled as Emily got up, determined, and went to the door to fetch her coat. Once she was ready to head out, she turned back to Fareeha and Angela. While it was obvious that she had cried, she already looked a bit better.

"Thank you."

"We should be the one thanking you." Angela declared. "I don't know how you can stand Lena when she's a lovesick puppy, but we have had just about enough."

Emily nodded.

"Still, thank you for not judging me."

Only a few minutes after Emily had headed out into the dark evening, Lena came home mopping around because the love of her life had canceled their date. She locked herself in her room, and Angela and Fareeha came to check on her every hour or so. By the time they went to sleep she was still a lamenting mess, but they both assumed the spell would be dispelled by the morning.

Lena only emerged from her room the next morning, when Fareeha and Angela were already getting breakfast ready. They both stared at the Brit, unsure of what to say. She looked tired, as if she hadn't slept, and still as deeply depressed as before. She wandered the house like a hallowed soul, which instantly lead both of her friends to believe that the spell still hadn't been broken.

"Lena, how are you feeling?" Angela finally asked.

Lena glanced at her with an absent look in her eyes, and she whined:

"Like I want to die! The love of my life has been ignoring me, and I don't know why?"

"Ignoring you?" Fareeha frowned.

"Yes! She hasn't replied to any of my texts since she canceled our date yesterday!"

Angela and Fareeha shared a worried glance. Something had happened, they both knew.

Sombra suddenly emerged from the garage, already in full gear and ready for combat, her phone in her hand.

"Gotta go, another girl went missing but they have video evidence!" she let out quickly.

"Wait, Sombra!"

The Latina reluctantly stopped and crossed her arms, glaring at Angela.

"I don't have time right now!"

"Could you, hum... call us, in case the girl who went missing is Emily?"

Angela's voice lowered more and more with each word she spoke, as if Lena shouldn't hear what she was about to say. The Brit was too absorbed in her sadness to pay attention to what the blond had to say anyway. Sombra's gaze went from Angela to Lena, and she finally noticed something was off.

"You still haven't broken the spell."

"That's the problem. Emily was supposed to do it, but she didn't, and she hasn't replied to Lena since then."

Sombra shrugged.

"I'll call you if it's her. Until then you better keep Lena away from anything sharp, or any ropes..."

Suddenly Lena seemed to come to life again.

"A rope! Of course!"

Before she could go anywhere though Fareeha was retraining her and leading her toward the couch.

"Why don't you take some time to relax, hum, Lena?"

Sombra watched them go to the living room and she declared:

"Alright, I have to go. You break the spell by any mean necessary!"

She bolted and rushed out the door, her phone to her ear.

"Hana, wake up! We have a new lead!"

"What?! But I just went to sleep..."

Fareeha and Angela waited anxiously for Sombra's call, seating around Lena who had laid down on the couch, staring sadly at her phone and sighing every thirty seconds or so. Finally Angela's phone rang, and she almost dropped it in her hurry.

"Yes?"

"So, you were right. Emily got kidnapped yesterday. But, good news! Hana and I are on the case, and we should find her soon, with the other girls."

"Okay, but what do we do about Lena?"

Angela turned to Fareeha when she felt her lightly touching her shoulder. She moved the phone away from her ear, enough to focus on the taller girl.

"Emily told us about a counselor who gave her the spell, right? Maybe she can help..."

Angeal nodded and placed the phone back to her ear.

"Sombra?"

"Yep?"

"Do you know a counselor who makes spells. Voodoo spells I think?"

Sombra smirked.

"That I do. I'll send you her infos."

"Alright. Good luck."

"I don't need luck."

Sombra hung up and focused once again on Hana, who was seating on a bench in a secluded part of the campus.

"Alright, back to the matter at hand. Drink the damn potion!"

Sombra held out a small glass vial containing a nuclear green liquid. Hana crossed her arms.

"Why can't you do it? I'm always the bait!"

Sombra sighed.

"Do I look like a bait to you? Just drink, it tastes like chicken, I swear!"

Hana shook her head.

"Unless you'll give me a card saying I'm an official hunter I won't do it anymore. I'm here to hunt, not being hunted!"

"You know what, alright. If you drink that potion, I'll give you something. Not the title of hunter cause I can't give it and you are not ready at all, but I'll give you something nonetheless. A sign of my gratitude."

Hana huffed.

"Fine. But the next time you need a damsel in distress call someone else."

The shorter girl took the vial and jugged it.

"Oh wow, it does taste like chicken."

"See, what did I tell you!"

The ride to the campus was rather calm. Lena was laying on the backseat, still staring miserably at her phone, while Fareeha glanced at her every couple of seconds. Once they arrived both girls had to lie to Lena, by telling her that Emily was waiting for her up there. Fareeha wished they had thought about it earlier, so she didn't have to carry Lena to the car.

Lena seemed at least somewhat invigorated by the thought of the love of her life, so she climbed up the stairs with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. Fareeha and Angela followed her quickly, not willing to let her out of their sight. They stopped in front of a wooden door with a sign reading "O. Oladele, Counselor" on it. Angela knocked.

Very quickly someone came to answer the door. A tall and strong woman with a bright smile appeared on the other side.

"Hello, are you here for some counseling?"

"Hum... kind of?" Angela declared.

"Well please, come in."

She stepped aside and welcomed all three girls into her office. Fareeha forced Lena to sit down in one of the chairs while she stood behind her. Angela took the other empty sit, while the counselor sat behind her desk. At first glance, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this office, nothing that could betray the fact that the woman sitting in front of them was a voodoo priestess.

"So, what seems to be the problem?"

Before Angela could answer Lena leaned back to Fareeha and whispered:

"Does the woman know where Emily is?"

Fareeha sighed, and Angela declared:

"You gave something to another student a few days ago. Emily? She put our friend Lena under a love spell. She was supposed to break it but she vanished so we were wondering if there were anything you could do?"

The counselor nodded.

"I see. I can break the curse, of course. Just wait outside, leave me with her for a few minutes and I'll take care of it."

While both Angela and Fareeha were reluctant to leave Lena on her own, especially in such a state, they knew better than to go against someone with magical powers, especially someone Sombra knew personally. So they sat down outside the door on the chairs placed there and waited. They didn't hear anything coming from inside the office, but when the ten minutes mark passed Fareeha decided to go back inside. She was only stopped by the door opening on its own, and Lena walking out, already looking more like herself.

"Lena? Are you alright?" Fareeha asked tentatively.

"No. I got a pretty massive headache and I feel like my eyes are on fire! Did I get bitten by another one of those spider women?"

Both Angela and Fareeha smiled, happy to see their friend back.

"Not really. We'll explain on the way home, alright?"

The counselor followed her out of the room.

"The headache should completely wear off in a few minutes."

"Thank you. I hope we didn't bother you too much." Angela said.

The counselor smiled.

"Oh not at all. All I had to do was talk some senses into her. I'm the counselor after all. It was a very weak spell I gave that other girl."

Angela's jaw almost dropped to the floor. That was a weak spell. Fareeha seemed to notice how stunned the blond was, and took over. She held out a hand for the counselor to shake.

"Thank you again."

"No worries. Please, come back anytime! My door is always open to students in trouble."

On that the counselor returned to her office, leaving the three friends in the empty corridor.

"Can we go home, please? I feel like I'm going to collapse..." Lena whined.

"Let's go." Angela agreed.

They had barely reached the car when Angela received a text from Sombra.

Sombra : "Meet at the house now. Hana's just been kidnapped."

A/N: What? A cliffhanger? Is this chapter in two parts? Why yes it is, of course! Because I am cruel and want you to suffer until tomorrow!

Anyway, I wanted to thank Derrin Errow for the review. You actually came to the same conclusion I had when I was planning the story. Because I really wanted to be well organized for this one I did a grid with a summary of each chapter and who would be central to the plot and I quickly realized Lena wasn't in a lot of the early chapters. Hopefully, this one gave you your daily dose of Lena, but don't worry she'll be there in tomorrow's chapter, and there's basically only one chapter out of the 5 left were she isn't central. You'll see what I mean in no time!

Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow guys!