Ami

Chapter 15 It's Witchcraft

Ami was most definitely not out of harms way at the moment. In fact, she was right at the heart of the disaster that was to come.

She arrived at the Augustine Pride Lands in record time, anger fueling her drive. Luckily, she didn’t incite the attention of any police officers on the way over. As soon she made her way to the main entrance she immediately cornered the first were-lion she saw with orders to send word to Elder Gholar that she would see him in the main library. The fact that she didn’t humble herself before the were-lion and even dared to speak of the Elder in such an arrogant manner had the lion eying her warily, then scurrying off to deliver the message.

She marched to the library ignoring the stares she received as she passed people in the hallway. Whenever anyone dared to even make eye contact with her she glared at them daring them to question her, to utter a single word to her. Ami refused to be the perpetual ego high just cause she was human. She had feelings just like they did and at that moment she was more than ready to express those feelings with anyone that was willing.

She still held the notion that all were-lions should rot with those few exceptions. When this was over she was leaving town. She was packing her bags and leaving this city getting away from the Were-Lion Community for good. Her father had always encouraged her to travel, to see new things, and she would do just that, she would pack her bags and leave the city as fast as she possibly could. Ami wanted to convince herself that the only reason she had this yearning to hit the open road was because she wanted to break ties with the Were-Lion Community for their blatant disrespect of her. She felt no better than the prey the true lion hunted in the wild, they probed for weakness, waiting as long as it took to finally catch that one hitch that would make or break them. Then they got the prey just where they wanted then, rounding them up. In a blink of an eye the attack happens. Of course, by then the time plus the pressure exerted on the prey creates mistakes, mistakes that the lion capitalizes on. And she really had made of the biggest mistake of her life by even entertaining the idea that she and Ty could be together. But what she didn’t want to address was that she was trying to find any physical means necessary to get further away from Ty. At the mere thought of the him she shivered.

Entering the library, she didn’t stop to take a seat. She wasn’t nearly in a calm enough state to do so. She moved to the walls where the books were shelved. Since this was the only part of the Augustine Mansion she was allowed in, even now as an adult. She had spent enough time in that place to know by which order each books was suppose to go. Not concentrating on what she was doing she began pulling out books and re-shelving them without any real interest. She felt nervous and needed to do something with her hands. One particulate book gave her some trouble with fitting back into its allotted space but she managed the small feat only to have a different book fall from its space. The book, looking tattered and well read fell spine side down opening to a browned and creased page.

For some inexplicable reason Ami did not want to reach for the book. She had familiarized herself with all the books in the Augustine Pride Library and she knew without a doubt that the book that had fallen did not belong on the shelf. She didn’t bother speculating where the book had come from as the Augustine Pride surely had some new visitors, the Elder for one and perhaps this book belonged to him. Or maybe the woman that had called herself Ami’s grandmother had brought it from wherever the hell she came from. It was perfectly feasible that either of the two could be the owner of the book but…

In the middle of her internal argument Ami didn’t seem to notice that she had steadily made her way closer and closer to the book. Like she was being drawn to the book somehow. Usually all that it took get Ami’s feet moving towards an unknown book was a romance novel’s cover of a half naked muscled, long haired barbarian holding a statuesque beauty in his arms, lovingly staring at the woman with passion in his eyes. But that was not the case today. The book was now at her feet and even though her better senses screamed at her to stop and leave the book right where it was, to leave the Mansion along with the foolish idea to confront the Were-Lion Elder. But she couldn’t leave the Mansion anymore than she could stop herself from reaching for the book. She wanted to know what it was but then again she didn’t. In the end, her curiosity won out.