Amaranthine (Editing)

Chapter 20 - Contego

          “Wha—how, Liam!” I exclaimed. “How did we not know about this? You for one should have noticed something! You’re all over the place all the time…”

          “Sorry luv, I suppose I should have noticed something. But I honestly never thought to give the teacher a second look, how often is it that an English teacher has supernatural powers used to hunt mythical creatures of the night?”

          “Um, like all the time on TV,” I stated matter-of-factly.

          “You and the damn tele, you can’t believe everything you see on TV luv.”

          “Why not?” Stacy countered. “So far everything that happens on TV is true. We're teenage witches, there's mystical creatures hanging out in the backyard. I bet next up we're going to have to stake some vampires or be blinded by their glittery-ness and shoot a werewolf with a silver bullet!"  

          Liam let out an exasperated breath. “One, vampires do not sparkle, nor do they fly or burn up in the sunlight—”

          “So there is such thing as vampires!” I yelled.

          Liam, ignoring me continued. “Holy water, crosses, hallowed ground, does not affect them in the slightest. Two, werewolves are actually aware, when in wolf form, making them ten times more volatile and dangerous. And three, tragic endings are far more common than happy ones. It will do you both some good to remember that.” He said the last part with a sharp edge to his voice, which gave me a shiver up my spine. Then sadness replaced the anger in his eyes for a split second before changing to impassiveness. He has had hundreds of years to hide his emotions, but every now and then he lets them slip.

          I know I’m apparently some sort of reincarnation of his past love Anna, but I think it is more the powers that are reincarnated and not the body, mind and soul of her…me…us entirely, making him still long for the one he lost all those years ago.

          But unfortunately stuck with me—someone who only just learned she was a witch a couple hours ago—and I’m the almighty one who is supposed to break this curse…yeah right…we’re definitely doomed.

          The more I thought about Liam and Anna the more crappy I began to feel, because like it or not, the only reason he has stuck around this long is because he needed my help, nothing more, nothing less. Meaning I had to get my head in the game and stop day dreaming about what it would feel like to graze his hand, or his muscular arm or that sculpted chest if or when he became corporeal. Because if…best case scenario we were able to break the spell and he was to materialize in the flesh, he would be out of here faster than you can say “wham-bam, thank-you ma’am.” And that was a fact.

          I pulled myself out of my somber thoughts, placed my hands on the table and slowly stood up—no dizziness this time! I put some pressure on the foot I hurt earlier and realized I must not have sprained it after all, since the shooting pain was gone and was replaced with a dull ache. “Well I think its time we get those wards up and get some sleep, what’d ya say Stace?”

          She stood up quickly. “Oh yes definitely, I’m beat.”

          I attempted to cast an inconspicuous glance towards Liam, but he was no longer in the same spot, so I swept my gaze over the remainder of the kitchen…he was gone. I tried to wash any look of regret off my face and led Stacy out of the kitchen. Thankfully she didn’t mention the tension that had built up before Liam pulled his disappearing act.

          I thought we would have to cast another circle—which I was definitely not looking forward to. With my luck I would break a leg or have an aneurism —but instead Stacy grabbed a huge black permanent marker from her bag. She took the cap off then went to the massive front window that over looked the front of the house, and begin drawing some kind of symbol, which in the end looked like a triangle with a sideways eight in the center of it.