The Child Who Holds the Power

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I sat silently in my seat for several minutes, unsure of what to think or say. My mind kept going around in a circle, 'This can't be true' and then 'But why would they say it then? Not human! How can you not be human? What else is there to be?' But my parents had never said anything remotely like this, so why was the school principal and why was Josh here? If I wasn't human, were my parents not human too? So many questions buzzed around my mind, but one stood out the most.

Why would they say it if it wasn't the truth?

Josh broke the silence, "Jezebel say something."

"Say something. What do you want me to say to 'you're not human'? I mean what the hell, is this some sort of twisted joke?" I exploded and started to make for the door.

Josh quickly stood up in front of me effectively blocking my escape route, "Jezebel wait!"

"No! Either someone tells me what the hell is going on or I walk out that door," I replied angrily.

Josh opened and clenched his fists in frustration. He shot a look at Miss Harlow and she just nodded.

"Jezebel, what she means is that you're a witch. You're not human, you're a witch with magic powers and –and.... will you please just sit back down," Josh pleaded.

I gave him an outrageous look, "Are you serious? First you tell me I'm not human, then you call me a witch! Why are you lying to me Josh? This is all bull!"

"Ms Spencer sit down now!" Miss Harlow snapped sternly.

There was just something in her voice that was menacing enough to frighten me so I sat down immediately.

"Listen closely Ms Spencer. I do not want any interruptions do you understand?" she queried strictly.

I glared at her stonily, jaw clenched but said nothing. Miss Harlow took my silence as agreement and began what I hoped was worthy explanation.

"Josh is correct. You are a witch, just as much as he and I are vampires. Again just as much as students in the school are werewolves. This is a special high school for those of magical descent, just like you and Josh," she paused briefly for any reaction on my part.

"There are three magical categories in the world that are hidden from human knowledge. You may already have figured out that they are witches, werewolves and vampires. Majority of students at this school are either vampires or werewolves, but very few are witches. There aren't many witches left due to the witch burning that used to happen. Witches are quite rare now and are an important part of our community," she paused again seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

The more she spoke the crazier she seemed. I wasn't game to say anything because I was afraid she might go even more nuts on me. What I found even weirder was that Josh seemed to be backing her up.

"In each category of species, for lack of a better word, there are three families represented by a different colour. In each category there is a Royal family which is represented by the colour gold. Then there are two sub families in each species category as well. The second family represented by the colour blue and the third by red. Also each species has a different symbol on a specific place on their body depending on whether they are a witch, vampire or werewolf," Miss Harlow explained.

The whole thing was really well put together, I had to admit. She made it sound so believable, so normal that I almost found myself believing her. Her tale was so intricately woven that I was actually beginning to think she had some truth behind her story. Surely such a complicated story wasn't all fiction. But whenever I came to that conclusion, common sense overode the impossible story she was spinning.

She held up a piece of paper with three different symbols with a caption underneath each. The first was a five pointed star inside a circle, labelled 'witch' and said 'appears on left hip'. The next was of a simple swirl marked 'werewolf' with the location of 'small of back'. The last was the symbol for a vampire, which to me looked like a sword with a loop at the top where the handle was and was supposed to be on the 'upper left arm'. All three pictures were plain black and white and meant nothing to me at all.

I looked up from the paper and at Josh, "You both seem to be forgetting something. If I'm some witch why don't I have magic powers or whatever you want to call it?"

Josh, who had been staring at me intently, immediately looked away. So I turned to Miss Harlow who looked like she had been anticipating the question.

"That would be because you haven't been awakened yet, so you can't access the power that is most definitely inside you," she replied confidently.

She held out a small glass no bigger than a shot glass and filled it with a clear liquid, "I'll prove it to you. A simple test we use to confirm species and family of people with magical decent. Drink this and you'll see the symbol for a witch appear just above you left hip like the paper said. It will glow gold because you are from the Royal witch family."

I looked dubiously at the glass she held out, "How do I know that whatever that is won't kill me or something?"

Josh took the glass with one hand and pushed up the left sleeve of his shirt with the other, "Watch my arm. My symbol will appear and glow gold too."

He drank the liquid, made a sour kind of face before actually swallowing. I turned my attention back to his upper arm and sure enough the same symbol that was on the sheet of paper materialized on his arm. The only difference to the paper copy was that it glowed gold. My eyes widened in amazement and shock. That was definitely not normal. Again, I found myself starting to believe the principal's story.

Josh reached for the bottle of liquid and refilled the glass. He handed it to me and gave me an encouraging look. I raised the cup cautiously to my lips but then something occurred to me. Luckily, I was wearing a shirt and not a dress, otherwise lifting the hem up just enough to see my hip would have been a little awkward.

I boldly put the glass to my lips and without hesitation and drank the contents. As soon as all of it was in my mouth I immediately wanted to spit it back out. I screwed up my face but made myself swallow the disgusting stuff. Almost as soon as I swallowed it the room lit up in a golden glow. I had to squint to make out the symbol on my hip, but it was definitely there.

The glow faded after a few seconds, but I was left seeing spots from the brightness of the light. I didn't know what to think anymore. Everything she said seemed to add up and the proof she just provided was undeniable.

I looked at her unsure, "Ok assuming this is all true, then how do you awaken someone? With some freaky ritual thing?"

"A ritual of some fashion, yes," Miss Harlow answered slowly.

"Come on seriously, you make me sit through your whole story why not just finish it so I can leave," annoyance was evident in my voice.

"Jezebel," Josh warned reaching over to take my hand but I moved mine out of his reach.

"For all witches to be awakened and have access to their power they must have unprotected sex with another person of magical descent," Miss Harlow stated clinically.

I shot out of my seat before anyone could stop me and made for the door. Impossibly fast Josh appeared in front of me again, blocking off my exit to the door. Tears sprang to my eyes. I couldn't understand why he was doing this to me. I really, really liked him and for some reason he was... What was he doing? He was apparently telling me something my parents had hidden from me. But why? nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

A single tear spilled over as I spoke, "So what you're basically saying is that my whole life was a lie. That my parents moved us to America so I- so you... for me to.."

I couldn't finish my sentence, it was just so wrong. The tears were freely running down my face now and I tried to get to the door again. But Josh wouldn't move.

"Jezebel, please just let me explain. I know how this must sou-" Josh got cut off.

"Let her leave," Miss Harlow commanded.

Josh unwillingly moved aside and I burst through the door.