Secrets Keep

Chapter 4

Elijah was standing in his kitchen, making some tea. He glanced into the living room, where Emma was curled up on the couch, sleeping. She had passed out after using her powers, and Elijah obviously couldn't have left her in the woods. He quietly poured a cup of tea and walked into the living room, setting the cup on the end table and flopping down on another couch. "Hey, Emma, I made you some tea.", Elijah said and leaned over to tap Emma's arm. The dark haired girl groaned and blinked open her eyes, looking around in confusion. "Where am I?", she asked, propping herself up on her elbow. "My house", Elijah said, "You passed out after you used your powers, and I didn't wanna leave you all alone, so I brought you here." Emma sat up, eyes widening, "You brought me to your house?!", she gasped, "Do you realize how that seems??". Elijah put his hands up innocently, "It seems like I was concerned for your safety!", he said, "I swear I brought you inside and put you right there and didn't bother you the whole time.", he said. Emma looked around, taking in her new surroundings. Her gaze fell on a clock near the door and she froze. "Crap! It's almost five o'clock! My mom is gonna kill me!", she said, leaping up and dashing for the door, grabbing her backpack as she ran. "I could drive you.", offered Elijah. "You've done enough!", Emma snapped, darting outside and pausing as she realized she was in an apartment building. He carried me upstairs? Emma thought, surprised, but bounded downstairs, going two at a time. Her foot slipped a few steps from the bottom and she tumbled down the last few feet. She sat up and spat a few very unladylike words as she swiped grit and dirt from her scraped hands and elbows. She glanced around to get her bearings and sprinted madly down the sidewalk towards her neighborhood.

Emma crashed through her front door at 5:15, sweating and breathing heavily. She looked around and winced as her name was called from the living room. Dad, she thought, mentally smacking herself.  "Emma Nicole Connor!", her father, a tall man with jet black hair and hazel eyes, called as he strode into the hall. "Don't kill me", Emma pleaded, leaning against the door, I'm dead, she thought. "Curfew is five, not five-fifteen", her father said angrily, "Where were you?". "Uh....Alice's house...?", Emma said carefully. "Using your amulet? Your amulet is dull, which means it has barely any power. It's one thing that Alice even knows about our powers, using them around her is another.", he said. "I know. I'm sorry, dad", Emma said "It won't happen again.". "It better not.", Her father said, "You know that if there are too many humans that know of your powers, they'll be taken away, and you'll become human." Emma had heard this lecture thousands of times since her twelfth birthday, when she got her amulet and began learning to use her powers. She simply nodded, not wanting to hear it again. "I know, dad. It was just Alice, not anyone else.", She said. She turned quickly and hurried upstairs, darting into her room and locking the door. "Dammit! Idiot!", Emma cursed to herself. Yet another human knew she was a Caster....great. She had to fix this, but she didn't know how she could. She could use the spell to wipe the last twenty-four hours from memory, but only the higher-ups could successfully do that. Emma sighed and slung her bag down beside her desk and flopped onto her bag, sliding her hands into her sweater pocket. She felt a piece of paper and pulled it out, unfolding it. It was all she could do not to laugh at the letter scribbled on the paper--"Hi! :) Yeah, I kinda put this in your pocket while you were asleep but please don't kill me, because I think you're cute and don't wanna die because of a girl...that sounded bad. My point is, you're cute and I thought this could become my new lucky number: (205) 868-9547. Call me. ~Elijah". Emma rolled her eyes, but couldn't deny that her face was flushed and warm. She tossed the paper onto her nightstand and laid back against her pillows, pulling her phone out to text Alice.