Starlight

Power - Maya

A/N: The chapters are going to be coming very fast for now, because I'm copy it all from my story on Goodreads. I hope you enjoy it! :)

James seemed...uptight today. Was it me? Did I do something he didn't like?

No, I decide firmly, it can't have been me.

"Saw you flirting with James in English," Hayley teases.

It's break, and everyone is getting snacks from the ground floor. My friends and I are never hungry by this time, so we just wait outside our next class. This time, it happens to be Citizenship.

"What if I was?" I smirk, biting my nails.

"That's not like you, Maya!" Charlotte says. She leans against the radiator, hands hovering over it to feel the warmth emanating from it. Twirling her long, russet-coloured hair, she gives me a big smile, like she's been waiting for the day when I actually admit I like someone.

"No.....I don't mean I like him," I say, and I am partly lying. I glance at Hayley to find her face completely neutral, indifferent.

She knows. She definitely knows.

* * *

"Did anything - happen - at school today?"

I pause, bag dangling from my fingertips, lips pursed.

"Do you mean magical or non-magical?" I reply.

My mother's house is large. She always says she can save a lot of money by not eating. Like her, I've never had to. It's just one of the good things about being a witch.

I pass through the hallway to the kitchen. She stands tall in the middle of the room, looking rather out of place in our modern house by wearing a full-length black cloak, the hood of it concealing her icy blonde hair, so like mine. She told me when we first starting casting spells together that the cloak she wears today was the one she also wore to her initiation, although hers had been with her full coven. It had been the best day of her life, but so far mine has been another one of many.

In her hands is a bundle of purple velvet, and with closer inspection I see that it is a cloak - my cloak.

"I thought we could have a small initiation ceremony, darling," she greets me.

I don't look like my mother; her hair is the only thing I inherited, long, silky. I am far too mundane-looking to be a child of hers. Her skin is pale; even the apples of her cheeks show no hint of blush. The bones of her face are sharp and angled, giving her a strong, almost wolfish appearance. Her mouth is generously sized, luscious red, the only colourful thing about her. Stormy-coloured eyes are framed by thick, black lashes. She is lithe-bodied, but the cloak doesn't show off her figure. It is the only thing she will wear that doesn't.

"Here," she says, smiling. Her outstretched hand holds the cloak. Without hesitation, I take it, admiring the soft material beneath my fingertips, the elaborate gold embroidery around the neck line, hood and cuffs. It is so different from my mother's traditional witch's cloak. I love it.

"No, nothing happened," I answer her first question after a moment. Then I grow interested. "Did anything happen for you?"

She smiles slyly. "As a matter of fact, something did. I....ah," she chuckles, sounding embarrassed. "I made a mortal fall in love with me."

"By accident?" I inquire, peering into her face.

She nods slowly. "There's just something about our powers that just.....make us more attractive."

I bite my lip.

"How about you try on your cloak now?"

I exhale, letting my bag fall to the floor. I lift the bottom end of the cloak over my head, and let it fall into place on my skinny frame. "How do I look?" I ask.

"Powerful," she says, looking satisfied, fingers curled at her chest. "Very, very powerful."