Secrets Keep

Chapter 3

During her last class, Emma excused herself to the library. On the way back, she stopped by the courtyard for a moment, looking back towards the door as she heard someone come through. She sighed as she saw a couple of football players striding across the courtyard towards her. Emma held her books more tightly against her chest and walked towards the door that led into the lunch room, freezing as one of the boys cut in front of her, blocking her exit. "Where ya goin' in such a hurry, Em'?", he asked. "Class. Now leave me alone, Matthew. You too, Aiden.", Emma said. "Why? Don't you want some company?", Matthew asked, reaching out to tuck a stray curl behind Emma's ear. Emma took a quick step back, bumping into Aiden, who wrapped his arms around her. She cursed under her breath and tried to wriggle free, dropping her books in the process. Emma drew in a breath to scream as she felt the warm glow of her amulet. No, no, please not now, she thought, willing the ruby to stop. She raised her foot to slam the heel of her boot into Aiden's shin when she heard the door open and close once again. Twisting around, she saw Elijah standing just inside the courtyard. "Let her go.", Elijah said as he started toward Matthew and Aiden. Matthew laughed, "Or? You gonna tattle on us?", he snickered, grabbing Emma's arm and spinning her to him, causing Emma to instinctively grab her amulet and causing a rush of what felt like electricity run through the small girl. "Matthew, stop.", Emma warned as the glow of the amulet increased and the dangerous look in Elijah's eyes darkened. Aiden seemed to notice the fighting stance Elijah had seemingly instinctively fallen into, "Uh, Matt, we should stop.", he said. "He don't scare m-", Matthew started but cut off as a strong punch caused him to stagger backwards, freeing Emma, who still had a grip on her amulet. "Emma, get behind me.", Elijah said, swinging Emma behind him by her arm. Emma looked at her amulet, which at this point was hot to the touch and glowing brightly. Emma looked at Aiden as he advanced towards Elijah, extending her arm and opening her hand, making Aiden stumble backwards with an exclamation of surprise. Emma gasped and dropped her amulet, looking at the three boys, which were all staring at her. She zipped her jacket and turned to run out onto the sidewalk near the loading area for the buses, ignoring Elijah's shouts for her to stop.

Emma ran to the other end of the school parking lot, stopping only because she was out of breath. "Idiot! Why would you use your amulet?!", she said to herself, throwing a rock at a sign. She looked up as she heard footsteps approaching, sighing as she saw Elijah. "Go away.", she mumbled. "No. Not until you tell me what just happened.", Elijah said, walking over to Emma. "Pretty obvious. I'm...a freak. A witch, a monster.", Emma said, looking away and trying to walk off, but Elijah caught her arm. "You are not a monster, or a freak, or a witch, Emma." Elijah said as he turned Emma towards him. "Y-you're not...scared of me?", Emma said slowly, pushing her hair out of her face. "No. I wanna know what that was. Like, magic or something?", Elijah asked. Emma rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath, "I'm not...not technically completely human. I'm a Caster, someone with special abilities that set us apart from not only humanity but often times each other. We are all given special gemstones at a certain age, depending on when we were born. Mine is a ruby amulet, because I was born in July." Elijah, looking completely baffled, blinked a couple times and pushed his messy hair away from his forehead, "So, there are others like you? Other...Casters?", he asked. Emma nodded, "Yeah, only they usually have a glamour on. I don't, so that's why you see me. My whole family are Casters, but I'm the only one who wanted to go to human schools." Elijah was quiet for a moment before looking at Emma's amulet, "Can I see your powers? What you did in the courtyard was awesome.", he said. "People really aren't supposed to know about my powers. The higher ranked Casters, the ones who live in our capitol, have very strict rules about humans not even knowing we exist.", Emma said, "The only people who know about it are Alice, Grace, Asia, and now you. I'm gonna get in trouble for even letting you know that the amulet is more than just a ruby. Plus, you'll just run to your friends and tell them all about it.", she said. Elijah shook his head, "No I won't. Promise.", he said, "I'm not as bad as you think, Emma. I know we've never really talked, but I care about you. I could help you keep your powers hidden." Emma looked conflicted. She knew she shouldn't show anyone her powers, but something about the way Elijah spoke told her that she really could trust him. After a moment, she nodded, "Okay. Come on.", she said and headed into the woods, Elijah trailing after.

Emma led the way to a small clearing near a creek with a pebbly bank. She unzipped her jacket and freed her amulet so that it rested on her chest, just below her collarbone. She looked at Elijah, "I have to concentrate, so try to be as quiet as you can, please.", she said as she looked around for something to demonstrate her powers on, eventually settling on a small rock on the edge of the creek. She took hold of her amulet, holding her hand out, palm-up. Slowly, she lifted her hand, bringing the rock off the ground just a little. Closing her eyes and still raising her hand carefully, she turned to face Elijah, bringing the rock in front of him and closing her fist, causing the rock to fall to the ground. Emma opened her eyes to see the astonished look on Elijah's face, which quickly became a look of concern as Emma began to lean against a tree. "Are you okay?", he asked, rushing to Emma's side. "Yeah..using my powers like that drains me. That one is a more advanced power, and takes more energy. Stuff like what I did earlier, those Charms are easy. Even the most untrained Caster can cast that Charm and be able to continue using their powers. I probably..should have used...an easier Charm...", Emma said, trailing off as her face paled and her eyes drooped. Elijah gasped and quickly wrapped his arms around her as she started to fall, scooping her up with one arm under her knees and the other behind her shoulders.