Seaside, California March 18, 2013
Lillian
THEY say at eighteen you are officially an adult. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Especially how I felt right now.
After I nearly killed everyone at the coven meeting, I had been restricted from using any magic. And from leaving this house.
I felt like a child. Even Scott was smothering me.
Everyone had been so worked up over my condition instead of realizing that my father had literally been beaten up to a pulp. Even now as I glared at him across the living room, his left eye was still swollen shut.
When he would move just slightly, a string of curse words in Spanish followed.
Why didn't he just let Scott heal him?
My mother had been with Francis most of the morning, going over the initiation process so I could join our new coven. I still didn't understand how it was possible that we could even create our own coven.
Francis was the elder of our coven centuries ago, so he had undergone that ceremony that grants a witch the ability to create connections or cords, as Cel described to me. The whole thing sounded strange, but this would help ground my magic.
Cynthia and a few others had joined our little coven, my parents decided to lead it together though neither of them had the ability of an elder; at least yet. They were waiting till after the settling before doing anything.
That was another thing, I could barely use my magic now. How could I make it through later today without dying? Cel told me it felt like every vein in her body was on fire, she was still weakened from it.
Sitting right next to me now on the couch, her face had lost most of its color. Yet she told me her magic felt the calmest it's ever had. And her eyes no longer glowed when she used her magic.
I just hope I had the strength to survive the settling. The collective power a coven had was my only salvation now.
Or that other option.
The mere thought of becoming a vampire honestly hadn't crossed my mind until two days ago.
I looked down at the floor, wondering what my future with Scott would be like. It would only end in two ways.
My eventual death since I was human or I became like him. The latter I don't think I could ever do.
All I felt now was dread.
"Lily?" I heard Scott ask, he sat on the other side of me.
I snapped my attention to him, "Yeah?"
"You okay...?" he trailed off, glancing at me with concern. He has been so wound up since that night. Then again I did almost die.
Again.
"I'm fine," I assured.
"Liar," Cel mumbled.
Scott and I both snapped our heads to her.
"What?" she questioned. "It's true, you are not fine. It's our birthday today, you should be up running around screaming and decorating everything."
"I left that to my mother," I muttered. "She forbade me from doing anything today."
"That's a shame, I was looking forward to your grand vision you had for it since we were 12," Cel chuckled.
"There is always next year," I insisted and gave her a grin.
My eyes wandered to the television, the show flashing across it was just a blur to me. My mind wandered back to all of the thoughts that had been eating at me the last few days.
Things I wish I didn't hear. Scott and Francis didn't realize just how thin the walls of that house were.
I think at this point I was in denial. I haven't had the nerve to ask either one of them what had happened to Adelaide and why she died. When we talked about our past relationships months ago, he did mention her.
But he didn't say much about her.
I could feel him take note of my absentmindedness, I felt his hand give mine a light squeeze, snapping my attention to him.
"Can we go upstairs?" I shot out quickly. "Please?"
I could feel my heart racing now, my anxiety coming in now at full force.
"Okay, why?" Scott gawked, confusion spreading across his face.
That made my heart beat even faster. I think I was about to hyperventilate and pass out.
My father and Cel looked at me with confused expressions too.
"I just need to talk to you alone," I replied, my voice shaky.
And before I knew it Scott scooped me up in his arms and we were in my bedroom before I even blinked.
He set me down on my bed carefully, like I was about to shatter if my feet touched the floor. It had been like this ever since we got back from the coven meeting. He has not left my side once.
The only time I got up alone was when I had to use the bathroom.
"Lily you have to tell me what's wrong," Scott sighed and sat down next to me. "You've been getting worked up like this for the last two days."
"I told you I'm just nervous about tonight," I grumbled.
"I know you are," Scott insisted. "But there is something else that is bothering you, and you need to talk to me."
I glanced into his blue eyes, wondering how I could even word what I wanted to ask him. And I feared what would happen after I told him what I heard. Or thought I heard.
Those terrible thoughts came back. One where I felt like I was just a placeholder for who he truly loved. But I knew all of those insecurities were bullshit. Though I hated that I could pry into people's minds, it did show me the truth of how people felt.
And I knew he loved me.
I just wish my fear didn't hold me back right now. It didn't hold me back before until now.
"It would be easier if I just opened my mind up to you," I chuckled sadly.
"Lily, don't," he warned.
"I know, I know," I sighed. "No magic."
I grabbed each side of his face and pulled him closer to me, our faces just inches apart now.
"You know that I love you," I began, my voice trembling. "And you can always tell me anything, no matter what."
"Where is all of this coming from?" Scott asked, perplexed at what I said. "I don't—"
"I heard you and Francis," I breathed, silencing him.
Scott paled considerably if that was even possible. He sat up from the bed, my arms falling to my sides helplessly. He looked so ashamed and other things I couldn't describe. I didn't know what else to say.
He stared ahead at nothing as I watched him in silence, gauging anything he would do next. For another antagonizing few seconds, I thought he had become a statue until he spoke.
"What did you hear?" he questioned softly, still not looking at me.
"I heard everything," I whispered. "You know the walls of that house aren't thick."
He closed his eyes and laughed at himself. "I should've known that."
"Scott," I pressed and stood up. "Please tell me what happened to her and what I have to do with any of this. What did you mean you wouldn't burden me with the past?"
He turned to me, his blue eyes unreadable now. "Because everything is done. The past is the past Lily," he murmured. "You have enough going on now as it is. Why would I want to cause more strife in your life as it is? You wouldn't be going through half of what you are if it weren't for me."
"Don't say that!" I snapped. "Don't blame yourself for anything do you hear me?!"
"I do," Scott chuckled sadly, "But you know I will tell you anything, even things I don't wish to."
I sat back down on the bed slowly and propped myself against my mountain of pillows. He sat down at the edge, and grabbed my hands, covering them with his.
He looked so pained now, so much so that I wanted to cry.
"Scott if this is hurting you this much you don't need to tell me," I cautioned, feeling guilt welling up in me.
"No," he implored and gave me a somber smile. "This is something we needed to talk about for a long time. I just don't know how you will feel about me once I get through it."
"What are you talking about?" I chuckled. "Nothing you can say is going to change how I feel about you."
"You and Adelaide," he began, "Had an uncanny resemblance to one another, and that is not why I fell for you. Hell, your personality alone—"
"Scott," I interjected.
"No I know how bad this looks but—"
"Scott," I interjected again, this time he let me speak. "I know you and Cel talked about Adelaide before, and before you ask how I know that too, my cousin is not good at hiding her thoughts around me. I can see everything she's ever thought of, and that memory just happened to come up when she let me Guinea pig her."
These past few months of training that ability have been successful, I could expand more into people's minds. With permission of course. I just didn't tell anyone what I saw. It was none of my business.
Except for that one memory of a photo. That took some time to get past. I just did it in silence because that is how I dealt with things.
Scott looked absolutely horrified now.
"And to answer that face, I am not angry with you," I grinned. "Now continue."
"Lillian, why didn't you just confront me about it when you knew?" Scott asked, exasperated.
"Well I was hoping you would eventually tell me yourself, but we are not talking about that right now," I beamed.
"You're impossible," Scott groaned.
I felt myself starting to grin again but stopped. This conversation was serious.
"Francis has been very quiet about what happened to Adelaide after she left that night," Scott went on. "He told me she died, as did her sister Claire. Obviously, he wasn't lying. You have her magic inside of you."
"And I resemble her," I added.
"You do, but you look much like your mother more than anything," Scott commented. "That night when I asked Francis if he was ever going to tell me the truth about you, he answered me without having to say anything."
"Which leaves me with the biggest question," I began, and gulped. "Am I her?"
"Yes and no," Scott lamented. "You are Laura and Samuel's daughter, there is no denying that. I don't know exactly how everything happened, Francis refuses to say anything. But she was reborn I think, as you."
I think I stopped breathing. I could feel my body go cold as the obvious truth was laid out in front of me. That didn't help though with the amount of shock I felt. Now I understood why Scott didn't want to say anything.
"So," I finally managed to choke out. "Do you think my parents know?"
"I'm sure your mother knows, they were close," Scott explained.
"Wow," was all I could say.
The more we talked about this, the more insane I felt. Was any of this real? Who knew reincarnation was a thing?
"You shell-shocked yet?" Scott teased.
"I think I am," I replied. "We are going to have to tell Cel."
"Not a problem, she's been eavesdropping the entire time," Scott mused. He glared at the door, annoyed. "I can hear your heart racing Celesta, just come in."
My bedroom door creaked open ever so slowly, and the culprit peeped her head in, her eyes wide.
"That's some story Scott," Cel snorted. "But I'm surprised you let me just listen in."
"I knew you were going to come to snoop anyway," Scott remarked.
"I don't snoop," Cel defended. "I just happen to overhear things."
"Right," Scott shot back.
"Guys that is enough," I mumbled. "Besides, don't we need to tell our parents?"
"I say we just keep it to ourselves," Cel suggested.
"What about Zach?" I inquired.
"Oh I'll tell him, I tell him everything," Cel chuckled. "But honestly, this needs to be kept quiet because who knows what we will be getting ourselves into if people realize who we really are."
I just nodded in agreement. But then Cel blanched all of a sudden.
"Oh my God," Cel choked out.
"What?" Scott and I said at the same time.
"If I was Claire, that means," Cel paused, her eyes about to pop out of her head. "I was married to Orion and Seana was my fucking niece. I don't know if I want to puke or go kill myself now."
Scott just burst out into laughter, his voice breaking through the gloom that had built up in the room. I just started chuckling nervously, completely obliterated by everything that has happened today.
And it was just getting started.
"Well, now that we talked about that, let us discuss how I'm going to survive tonight!" I announced.
"You two can figure that out, I actually do need to go throw up," Cel muttered quickly and ran out the door.
I nudged Scott's arm playfully. "Think she's pregnant?" I asked.
"No, if I could throw up, I would as well if I found out I was related to Orion and Seana," Scott grinned.
Couldn't disagree with that.
THE rest of the morning went by uneventfully. My mother had returned to the living room, her face bright and happy as she started hurrying us all into the dining room. She had transformed it into an array of flowers, ribbons, and balloons.
It was a mixture of blue and burgundy, Cel and I's favorite colors. A huge cake dominated the dining table, it had our names scrawled on it in elegant handwriting. That, and there were eighteen candles stabbed into it, the flames of them burning bright.
Cel and I looked at one another sheepishly, both in awe of what my mother had created for us.
It was crowded in here now, Zach, Amberly, and Eddie had come over not long ago. Cynthia had left to bring Elle and Kenny over. Francis had stayed as well. He and Scott helped my father into the dining room and sat him down in one of the chairs.
He still refused to just let someone heal him.
My mother was frantically trying to get everyone to take a huge photo, she wanted one of Cel and me in front of the cake. She still couldn't figure out that huge ass camera of hers.
"Say cheese!" my mother squealed, and after snapping a million photos of everyone, she started to sing, everyone joining in the chorus.
Cel grabbed onto my hand, beaming happily as we both blew out the candles once everyone was done singing happy birthday to us.
"Alright let's eat some cake!" Zach cheered.
I just couldn't help but laugh. He would probably eat the entire thing by himself if we let him.
After we all got settled down, I noticed Scott had left the room for just a moment, I glanced at him confused as he winked and left.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Cel as she was eating another slice of cake.
She just looked at me and shrugged, her mouth stuffed full. But that mischievous glint in her eye told me she knew exactly what was going on. My suspicion seemed correct because my mother excused herself from the table and followed where Scott went.
I got up quickly, but Cel's vice-like grip came down on my wrist.
"Don't ruin the surprise!" she hissed and forced me to sit back down.
"What surprise?" I gawked.
I spun my head to where they had gone. "Scott!" I shrieked.
I just heard his loud laugh come from the living room.
Everyone knew I hated being surprised! That was my job to surprise people and throw parties.
When they finally led me in there, I saw they had set up a gorgeous wooden easel, with an entire paint set on the side of it. I haven't had the heart to paint anything since Brandon died.
I even had myself switched to another class after everything.
Apparently the gift idea came from my mother, Scott was more than happy to find one for me. The wood was a beautiful Cherrywood. I didn't know how he found such a thing.
Zach had gotten Cel several Harry Potter themed gifts, I lost count on how many presents she opened from him.
I had Scott help me take the easel up to my room and set it up in front of the window. I was going to have to get a few canvases for it.
"Thank you for this," I whispered, gazing at it in awe.
"I know you haven't had the heart to paint, but you have said it helps you express yourself," Scott murmured. "Hopefully it can be an outlet to help relieve some of the stress you've been under."
"It will," I smiled, and absentmindedly clutched the opal hanging from my necklace.
A thought popped into my head as I glanced down at it. As I held it in my palm, Scott looked at me wearily. My grandmother gave me this for a reason.
She knew the truth. That photo of Adelaide; she was wearing this exact necklace.
"Was this her daylight amulet?" I asked.
"It was," he piped in.
Without another word I just let the opal hang back down.
"But it was also a talisman," he added and gently held the opal between two of his fingers.
"A talisman?" I gawked.
"Adelaide used it to focus her magic, it was raw and wild just like yours," Scott explained and let the opal go.
"You think it will help me tonight?" I hoped.
"It might," Scott guessed. "I don't know how she did it, she just seemed to concentrate hard and calm herself. Just try it and see if it helps."
Maybe my grandmother knew I would need it for this then. She did have the ability to sense things like my mother.
Once Scott and I got back downstairs, my mother had already started getting things ready for tonight. While Cel had been born right at midnight, I wasn't born till right after dark. Normally the entire coven would wear white and gather in front of a bonfire somewhere. I didn't know what the purpose of the bonfire was, I guess to add dramatic flare.
We were just going to be using the firepit in our backyard.
My mother was bummed we weren't having a traditional settling ceremony. Apparently it was usually a big deal for a young witch.
I personally was glad we were just doing it at home. It was just Scott, Cynthia, Francis and my parents now. Everyone else had gone home or out for a bit.
"I wish we could do it like the old ways!" my mother exclaimed as she threw in random herbs into our firepit. "I remember we had celebrations and all sorts of stuff when I got initiated, remember Cyn?"
"Yes, you were quite the spectacle that night," Cynthia grinned. "First thing you did with your magic was make everyone's hair stand up. They all thought they were about to get zapped by lightening!"
The two of them just tore into a fit of laughter.
My eyes widened in horror. Who knew my mother was insane?
Francis held a book in his hand, he was skimming through the pages rather quickly. The book looked like it was more ancient then he was.
He was at least 500 years old. I felt a shiver go down my spine.
I sat next to my father on one of our lawn chairs, he was telling me what to expect once this started. All I knew was that people would be muttering in a language I barely knew and I that I would feel like I'm on fire.
No more instructions were necessary.
The few others that deflected with my parents had come as well. One was Cynthia's brother Robert. The Carp family had also deflected, which ironically was Amberly's mother's side. Her aunt Margaret and grandfather were here.
Amberly's mother passed away when she was two, so her aunt had been helping Amberly's father raise his daughter. It wasn't a surprise when the two of them started dating.
I was more shocked to see Andrew come with them. He had been an enforcer for the Hathaway coven for years, I guess seeing Jeffery Moone's behavior finally opened his eyes.
The sun was starting to go down now. My mother had lit the fire pit and everyone started to gather around it, the tension building up in the air.
I could feel my magic wanting to burst out, almost like it was right under my skin. I felt Scott come up behind me, his arm wrapping around me as he held me close.
"This is so nerve wracking," I laughed nervously.
"Everything is going to be fine, you are going to get through this," he assured.
I just nodded.
Then it felt like the world around me just seized. I glanced at my parents and Francis for just a fraction of a second and then the most horrible pain shot through my body like a bullet. I let out a blood curdling scream, drowning out all of the voices that suddenly felt like they were over me.
I could feel hands on me, pulling me, holding me, stabbing me, I couldn't tell a difference. Getting stabbed in the abdomen was nothing compared to what I felt now.
"Francis!" I heard someone yell; my mother.
Other incomprehensible words responded to her, my vision was completely blurred. I could make out a green glow, it was all over me. I was surrounded by dark figures, talking in words I did not know. All I could smell was the roaring fire behind them, had it gotten larger?
I moved something, it felt like my hand. I reached for the one thing I remembered might help me through all of this.
I found it. The opal felt cold to the touch, a welcome feeling as my body burned.
I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped the opal tightly, thinking of everything that calmed me; strengthened me.
My family. My friends.
"Lillian?" a voice asked.
I opened my eyes, my body still burning. Yet I felt focused and calm.
"Do you consent to being in this coven?" the voice asked again, the dark figure took form. It was Francis.
I looked around, seeing my mother and father at his side, everyone else in the background staring at me. I noticed a glowing green object floating right above me, my skin no longer had green veins running across them.
It was a cord of green light.
"Yes," I rasped and then one more horrible pain went through me till there was nothing else but silence.
I just realized someone had been holding me on the ground this entire time, I tilted my head and saw Scott peering down at me, his expression horrified. I also noticed my mother and Francis had a hand on each of my arms.
Everyone looked so frightened.
"Was that supposed to happen?" I choked out.
"I'm going to go kill the nurses who helped deliver you," my mother hissed. "I suppose there was a typo on the birth certificate."
"Laura—" my father tried to protest until my mother cut him off.
"No Samuel, imagine if we didn't prepare in time! I don't care if it was only five minutes off, if she didn't have us all here she would've died!" my mother snapped and got up from the ground with a huff.
Everyone started to chatter now, I just ignored them. I sat up and turned, so I was facing Scott now.
"How do you feel now?" he smiled and tucked a stray hair behind my ear.
"Oh you know," I muttered and wrapped my arms around him. "Drained, burned, ran over, you name it."
"You look pretty good then for all of that happening to you," Scott murmured and pulled me closer and kissed me softly. "And beautiful as always."
I felt my face flush.
"Okay everyone!" I head my mother announce, I snapped my attention to her, she had a glass and a bottle of champagne in her hands. "The night is still young! Let us celebrate!"
She walked over to Scott and me and poured some champagne into the glass. She motioned for me to take it.
My father's one working eye nearly boggled out of his head as I took the glass from her.
One look from her kept him quiet.
I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. For the first time in six months I felt normal again. My magic was no longer wanting to burst from me an destroy everything. It felt gentle now, just like the seaside breeze around us.