Alchemy

Chapter 8

"So, what happened?" Arabella cheekily pushed Kian's arm as he arrived back home. She passed him a fresh drink of red liquid, not to her taste. Kian shrugged as he took it from her, "nothing."

Arabella looked at him sadly, "what do you mean nothing? I left you alone. I could feel the tension between you both."

Kian shrugged, "I can't go there. I will end up hurting her." He took his shoes off and walked into the lounge. 

"Kian, I have lived with you for over a century" Arabella followed him and sat down on the sofa next to him, "you have never seemed so distracted and yet so focused on someone. You are allowed to be happy you know. What happened to us all those years ago doesn't mean we are destined to be miserable." Kian didn't respond. "Look Kian. Please think about it. Life can be good again, you have just got to let it." She hugged his shoulders and walked off, leaving him alone.

*

Across town Georgia was lying in bed thinking back to what had happened at the party. Sophia was desperate to find out and kept questioning her, she had apologised profusely about their argument when she had found her upstairs with Kian.

The journey home was very quiet; Georgia's mum had picked the girls up and dropped Clara and Sophia home. Georgia didn't say a word to Teresa and pulled her jacket down to her wrist so her mum wouldn't see her injured arm. She was scared as she couldn't recall what had happened at all and didn't want to try to explain it to her mum. She couldn't stop thinking about Kian. How could he go from hating her one minute to being so close to her the next?

That night Georgia dreamt of witches, werewolves and vampires. Some images were so clear it felt real. She saw her mum as a girl being given a necklace by her mother but everywhere seemed so old fashioned like they were in the 1930s. She dreamt like she was going through time – she saw Kian and Arabella playing together and then a whirl of darkness surrounded them. She saw Zachary and his dad with a familiar woman with long black hair. Her face became clearer and she looked like Zachary but also... the woman in the bathroom that evening.

Georgia abruptly sat up in bed. She suddenly recalled the nights events and what had happened in the bathroom at Sarah's. Who was that woman? Her eyes went a different colour and she almost shifted into a being Georgia had never seen before. She sat up and picked up her phone next to her. She started searching the internet about the animal attacks that were happening in Surrey. Images kept appearing of the same neck wounds and scratches labelled 'animal attack', that were quickly hushed from the police. Georgia then found a link relating to vampire sightings a few years ago in London. As she was reading, the internet cut out. Georgia was trying to reconnect the wi-fi when her mum, Teresa, walked in.

"Georgia, it's late. You should be asleep!" Teresa started to come over to her. "Were you on your phone? You haven't said two words to me since I picked you up. Are you okay?" Georgia nodded as she slowly put her phone down. It was still showing the page she was on as the wi-fi came back on. Teresa slyly glanced down and tried to hide her surprise at what Georgia was looking at.

"Mum, why don't we see your parents anymore? I used to love seeing Grandma and Grandad." Teresa sat down on the edge of Georgia's bed.

"Things got too dangerous for them to be around. You will understand soon enough", Teresa said sadly.

"Mum, why are you always so secretive about your past? It is a simple question, most people grow up with grandparents but I don't really remember mine?"

Teresa smiled at her and kissed Georgia's head goodnight as she walked out of her room, pulling the door to. Teresa thought it was too early for Georgia to find out about being a descendent of the Jones witches, she wanted her to have as much of a normal teenage life as she could for now. Having seen what Georgia had been searching Teresa walked slowly down the landing and as she got to the wi-fi cable just outside her bedroom door she pulled it out. Without a second glance behind her she walked back into her bedroom and shut the door.

*

The next few weeks at school were quiet. Georgia kept trying to do more research on mystical beings around the UK but was not getting anywhere. Her mum, Teresa, was acting strangely with her at home and at school Clara and Sophia seemed preoccupied with other things. Sophia was still trying to get Zachary's attention, sometimes successfully but other times he was really short with her. Georgia hadn't seen Kian around the last couple of weeks and Arabella always had people milling around her so she was never there to talk to on her own. Georgia was desperate to ask her about what had happened at Sarah's party. Since that evening she had started to feel a hole forming in her chest, desperately wanting to see Kian.

By the end of September Georgia had had enough. She needed answers. She needed more than what was being offered at school. The work was too much and she had no idea what she wanted to do with her future. She knew her first ally would be Sophia as she was quite the gossip and always had answers of some kind. Georgia jumped onto the chair next to her in the common room, giving her a fright. "Georgia. My God why did you do that? You made me jump!"

Georgia laughed and gave her a hug. "Sorry. I just feel like we haven't really spoken properly in a while and I was wondering how things were going with your quest to getting Zachary?" Georgia knew that the way to getting Sophia to open up would be about him.

She faced her and looked around before speaking, "do you know what, he actually messages me all the time. But I also see him with Sarah quite a lot so I don't know." She suddenly turned her whole body to face Georgia. "You are quite close with him though right?" Georgia looked unsure. "Well how about you ask him what he thinks of me and maybe see if he will ask me to the Halloween masquerade ball at the weekend?" She almost pleaded with Georgia.

"I completely forgot about that ball, are people actually going to that?"

Sophia nodded and looked lovingly at her, "I messaged you last week about it. Remember, we got our dresses over the summer and it is FINALLY time to wear them. So pleeeease Georgia. Ask him for me." Sophia's puppy dog eyes were not going to give up. To make her stop Georgia agreed, to which Sophia jumped up with glee and gave her a massive hug. "Thank you thank you Georgia. You're the best! Right, now let me get on with my University application." And with that she turned around and faced the computer again. Georgia took that as her cue to go and messaged Zachary to meet her outside at the end of the day.

*

Whilst Georgia waited outside the sixth form block she saw Arabella bounding over to her. Georgia started looking for something in her bag, trying to pretend she was busy, she hadn't spoken to Arabella or seen her properly since Sarah's party and didn't want to talk to her. "Hi Georgia", Arabella sat down anyway next to her, "how are you?" Georgia stopped searching for the invisible object she was looking for and turned around to face her. Arabella's face was so close to hers she had to move back a little. 

"Erm, yes I'm okay thank you."

Arabella grinned, she knew Georgia had been watching her the last few weeks since Sarah's party wanting to talk, so she sat and waited patiently for her to open up. "You wanted a chat?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Georgia looked confused and wondered how she knew? "Erm, well yeah, I actually wanted to ask you about something..." Arabella was still staring at her and nodded at her to go on. "Well, it's about Sarah's party.." 

Arabella cut her off. "Georgia, you were drunk. Nothing happened, no questions need to be asked", Georgia tried to say more but Arabella seemed to have a hold on her and she couldn't speak, "anyway my ride is here so I will see you at the ball on Saturday" and with that she walked off. Georgia sat there stunned as she watched Kian appear in a new car to pick her up. Georgia looked on, not being able to take her eyes off of him, wondering where he had been the last couple of weeks as he seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. At least he was safe. He caught her eye and she felt a spark.

As Arabella got into the car she noticed Kian staring straight through her. She turned around to see what he was staring at, "Kian, just go and talk to her." 

He shook his head, "you know I can't. It's too dangerous. If I can't control myself around her it won't end well." Georgia had got up, seeing him looking over and had started walking towards them. Kian turned to face the road and drove off.