Bleeding Hearts

Chapter 18

*Aaliyah's P.O.V*

I walk towards the gate of the palace, hearing Zero and Miachel follow behind me. It was kind of embarrassing how slow they were walking, just so that they wouldn't pass me. It kind of annoyed me, a lot actually.

I wasn't going to say anything though. Because then they would know that I was annoyed so they would just start doing it more often. They often liked annoying me like that. It was one of their favorite things to do.

"Woah...you've gotten tiny," Hondo, one of the longtime guards for the witch council, states. He had been serving almost as long as I had been alive, longer in fact. He didn't look it though, his strong magic kept him looking young even when he was well past the age to retire.

"Really?! I hadn't noticed," I retort after a moment, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're not very intimidating like that Aaliyah," Hondo informs me as the gate opens. "I assume you want to speak with the witch council?" He asks, glancing at Zero and Miachel. I can see that he's curious about why two vampires are accompanying me to a place that is populated with witches but stranger things have happened.

"You're very good at guessing," I say to Hondo who rolls his eyes, gesturing for me to enter through the gate. I walk past him, hearing Zero and Miachel follow behind me. I barely pay them much attention, going down the very familiar halls to the room where the council usually is at.

I want to open the door, I mean it's such an easy thing to do. All I had to do was turn the knob and enter the room. Yet for some reason, I find myself hesitating. Maybe it's because I'm scared to see how the council reacts? I mean what if they can't turn me back? My life would be ruined if they couldn't help me turn back into an adult.

I can't get too lost in my thoughts though, not since Zero knocks on the door that's in front of me. I turn to glance at her, not believing that she would do that before I was ready to go in! I wanted to have a little panic attack first, how rude of her to not allow me to have that one little thing.

"Come in," Tenebris' voice comes from inside the room. I decide that maybe it's not a good idea to ask for any favors considering I had upset him not too long ago with bringing up his ex wife.

"Maybe we should just wait this out, maybe I'll change back into my normal self," I say as I try to back up, huffing when Miachel grabs me. He lifts me up into his arms, ignoring my kicking and flailing to try and escape his hold. He was being so mean to me by not allowing me to escape.

"Come on," Miachel says as he opens the door, letting Zero enter before he follows after with me in his arms. He uses his foot to nudge the door shut, using both of his arms to keep me from escaping his hold.

"...two vampires and a child?" Tenebris asks, raising an eyebrow. He tilts his head when he sees me, getting out of his seat to approach us.

"Aaliyah?" He questions, raising an eyebrow when he sees me. I hear the rest of the council whisper but I'm too busy trying to disappear to pay much attention to what they're saying.

"She took a nap and when she woke up, she was like this," Zero steps in, clearly knowing that I don't have the words to speak.

"She just woke up like this?" Levana asks, raising an eyebrow as she looks me over. I already know that my grandma will hear about this which means soon the whole family will know about me being a child again.

"That's very interesting," Caedmon murmurs out loud, clearly thinking about something. He gets up, walking with a limp out of the room.

"Don't mind him, he often gets side tracked," Allard says, clearly amused by his brother just walking out of the room.

"Side tracked with something helpful?" Miachel asks, adjusting his grip so that I don't slide out of it. I want to demand he lets me down but I know better than to do that. I would just embarrass myself in front of the council by acting childish.

"Always something helpful," Tenebris states after a moment, still studying me. "Although I don't know why he went to look at a book. This isn't the first time that we have seen this," he says.

"It isn't?" I ask after a moment, feeling a small twinge of hope in my heart. If this wasn't the first time that they had seen it, it clearly meant that they may have a way to help me. They just had to! I mean they were the council after all.

"No, it's not the first time we've seen it. Although it's the first time we've seen someone...regress so young," Tenebris says after a moment. That makes my hopes grow slightly, only to be crushed when Ametrine opens her mouth and speaks.

"It's because your magic is untrained. It's volatile, dangerous," Ametrine states, looking rather annoyed with the whole conversation. I don't know why, I hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't my fault that my magic did whatever it wanted.

"Yes but we can't be sure that this is the same scenario as the last ones. Besides it's been hundreds of years since someone's magic has lashed out in that," Tenebris states. "Although...if it was the same reason as the others...it would be a good excuse to make you take on a mentor. Or even better, re-enter magic training," he says after a moment.

My whole body tenses when he says that and I find myself rapidly shaking my head. I was far too old for magic training, that was something that young children went into when they were about preschool or kindergarten age. It was supposed to help children learn how to ground their magic. It was the reason I had a tiny bit of control over my magic but the thought of going back...being surrounded by noisy children all day...I would rather die than deal with that.

I want to say that but I'm interrupted by Caedmon coming back. He has a stack of books in his hand. I groan quietly, knowing that this is going to be a long night. I knew we shouldn't have come. I was telling Zero and Miachel that as soon as we left...whenever that was.