"Enchantress."
The word had some sort of familiarity to it, as if I had heard it long ago in a bed time story. My head started spinning as long repressed memories tried to resurface, exposing a past I had tried to erase. I clutched my chest and pressed my fingers against my scar. "Is that why I have this?" I asked, digging my nails into my scar as if I could somehow rip it off my chest. "Does the 'E' stand for Enchantress?"
"You should probably sit down for this." Chase suggested, clamping his hands down onto my shoulder in attempt to calm me down.
I brushed him off of me. A surge of energy was rippling through my body making my fingertips feel as though they were vibrating. The lights in the kitchen flickered, and the sink faucet abruptly turned off and on repetitively. "What's happening to me?" I swallowed nervously, staring at my hands in awe and fear.
"You need to take deep breaths, okay?" Chase begged, shaking me roughly by the arm. "Look at me. Focus on me. Block out everything else and just look at me." He said calmly while staring directly into my eyes. I was able to steady my breathing. Once I did that, the lights returned to normal and the sink faucet shut off. "Look," Chase started to roll up his shirt, exposing a scar identical to mine that was placed just above his hip bone. "I have one too."
"A-are you?" I stuttered, trying to put together the missing pieces.
He shook his head. "I'm not an Enchantress." He laughed, unrolling his shirt and letting it cover up the scar. "I'm your Protector."
I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of what he'd just said. "You've got to be kidding me." I groaned. "That doesn't make any sense! I've known you've forever, how could you keep something like this from me?" I couldn't help but feel betrayed. Standing in front of me was a boy I had known my entire life, someone who used to pull on my pig-tails in kindergarten, and race me on our bikes around the neighborhood. Now he was telling me that none of that had been real. "And that dagger..." My eyes fell back upon it. "I've seen that before." Images of the accident flashed through my mind...the windshield crashing into a thousand pieces....the blood dripping from my hands....and the drunk driver standing over me as I clung onto my last breaths.
"I used this last night to kill the Lawless that attacked you."
I shook my head. "I've seen it before then. At the crash..." The driver's face had been to dark to see, but I knew he had seen me. He saw me in the back seat of the car, barely breathing, and drove away.
"The car crash?" Chase looked at me with worry crossing his face. "Val, that doesn't make any sense."
"So now you're the one telling me what does and what doesn't make sense?"
"You need to calm down."
"Calm down?" I nearly shrieked. "What the hell is a Lawless and why would they want to kill me? And if you're my Protector then why am I just finding out about this now?"
"How about you just shut up so I can answer your questions?" He said starkly. I sealed my lips shut, nodding in understanding. "The Elders assigned me to you at a young age. Part of my job was to protect your true identity until your elements started to form." I remembered the day Chase moved into the house next door. We were five. I wondered, if he knew about all this back then, if he had been lying to me since day one.
"Elements?" I repeated the strange word, trying to understand it.
"That's just a fancy words for powers." He explained.
"Powers? So I'm some sort of superhero?" I forced a laugh, hoping that this was all just an elaborate joke. I suddenly noticed that Chase was standing at an awkwardly far distance from me. Could it be because he was afraid of what I might be capable of? Was I just a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment? Did he even know the true extent of my powers?
"Something like that." Chase shrugged, chuckling softly.
I nervously ran my fingers through my hair. "And what about my parents? Did they know about this? Does Jennifer?" I began to pace back and forth, analyzing every memory I had with Chase and looking for some sort of clue that could've pointed towards this.
"Your parents were Enchantress too. They didn't want to tell you the truth until they thought you were ready.
I was starting to feel dizzy again. The overprotectiveness, the constant hovering, it all started to make sense. "How could they keep something like this from me?"
"They were trying to keep you safe."
"Safe?" I rolled my eyes. "They think they were keeping me safe by hiding the truth from me?"
"The Lawless have been hunting Enchantress for years. They absorb your powers and use it to make themselves stronger. By hiding your identity they were trying to keep the Lawless from discovering you."
My bottom lip started to tremble. "How long have you known?" I could tell that my question caught him off guard. Chase took a step towards me, reaching his hands out. "How long?" I asked again, pushing him away from me.
"I told you. The Elders appointed me at a young age." He reminded me softly, trying to calm me down.
"How young?"
"Val, that isn't important."
"It's important to me!" I raised my voice, trying to hide the fact that I was on the verge of tears.
"I was twelve when I found out." He finally revealed. A part of me was relieved. At least our friendship, in the early years, had been real.
I let out a long sigh. "I understand if you needed to protect me why'd you stay close. But why pretend that you liked me? Why would you lie to me like that?"
Chase hesitated. He took a long pause before finally replying, "I thought it was the best way to keep you safe."
"Oh." Was the only thing that I managed to say. I was surprised how much his words hurt. How could I have been so naive to believe a guy like Chase actually liked me? I turned my back to him. I didn't want him to see me upset over a relationship that was never even real. I swallowed back the tears and asked, "How many people like me are out there?"
"You're taking in a lot of new information today, why don't we stop here and finish this conversation later?" Chase suggested, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I brushed him off of me and spun around to face him. "So what am I exactly? Some sort of witch?"
"Enchantress protect nature. They are supposed to maintain a balance."
'What does that mean?" I scrunched my forehead, raising my eyebrows in frustration. My scar was beginning to irritate me again. I scratched the skin around it, trying to ease the burning sensation.
"Each Enchantress wields a different element. One for air, one for water, one for fire, one for Earth, and one for space."
"It sounds like you're just making all of this up." I accused him. "Does Jennifer know about this? Is she an Enchantress too?"
"Jennifer isn't an Enchantress, but she knows that you are. Your mother inherited the Enchantress gene, but she never did. She's 100% human."
I felt a strange sense of relief knowing that my Aunt was still the same person I always thought she was. "What about you? Are you still human?" I wondered.
"Protectors are half-human, half-Enchantress. We don't possess any of the elements that you do, but we are stronger and faster than a regular person."
"Is that why you're still alive after being thrown on top of a parked car?"
"So you do remember." Chase smirked.
"And what about the Elders? You keep mentioning them, but you haven't explained who they are."
"The Elders are a council of Protectors who have made it their missions to keep Enchantresses safe. For years, the Lawless have killed and captured Enchantress with the intent to steal their powers. The Elders are in charge of appointing Protectors, like me, to Enchantresses, like you."
"So they're a bunch of old guys that you let boss you around?"
"You're going to be late for school." He pointed out to me, conveniently avoiding my question.
"I don't get why you're still trying to keep secrets from me."
"I'm not trying to keep anything from you, Jennifer asked me to give you a ride and I don't want you to get in trouble with any of your teachers."
"Since when do you ever listen to anything Jennifer tells you?" I laughed, mocking him. "How about you teach me how to use my elements so that I can throw you into those cabinets again?"
Chase shoved me backwards, pushing me up against the island countertop. "There's a lot you still don't understand," he started, "but the one thing that you have to get through that thick skull of yours is that I'm your Protector. I'm the one who gets to make the rules." He snarled. He pressed his finger into my scar, causing me to yelp in pain. "You feel that?"
"Chase, stop it!" I tried to push him off of me, but he refused to budge.
"The scar is what binds us to each other. We are connected, Valerie. The Elders branded us with these scars. It is what makes me your Protector."
"You're hurting me." I gasped, causing Chase to stagger away from me. I rubbed the skin around my scar, staring at him in fear and confusion.
"I want to show you something." He suddenly said, grabbing my wrist and yanking me with him. I allowed Chase to drag me, knowing that it was pointless to argue with him. He led me out into the backyard, sliding the glass door in the kitchen open. The grass tickled my bare feet and a cool wind brushed through my blonde tresses. "Remember what I told you about the others?" He asked, grabbing both my hands in his. "There's an Enchantress for each of the elements; fire, water, air, Earth, and space."
"So which one am I?" I breathed, staring into his eyes. Standing in the middle of my grassy backyard somehow felt magical. The ground seemed to pulse underneath me. It felt like every nerve ending in my body was sparking with life and power. Chase's eyes were warm, and drew me in closer towards him. I felt an undeniable connection towards him--no matter how hard I tried to deny it--I couldn't help but feel as if Chase and I were somehow made for each other.
"I want you to discover that on your own." He smiled, squeezing my hands softly in his. "Now close your eyes."
"Are you going to try to kill me again?" I teased.
"Just do it." He groaned, and I complied. "Do you feel that? The vibrating sensation at your fingertips? That's where you control your element. Your hands are your most powerful tool. Eventually, you'll be able to use your powers without them, but until you learn how to control them the most important thing for you to remember is to just...breathe." His voice was soft. I could feel his breath blow onto my skin. My hands trembled in his, and I could feel tiny sparks emitting from my fingertips. "Now, focus your energy. Picture it flowing through your fingertips and into the ground." I exhaled deeply, listening to his words. The vibrations in my fingers were hard to control. They were spastic and powerful---I had to fight to keep my control over them. "Breathe, Val. Remember to breathe." Chase reminded me, squeezing my hand softly in reassurance. The vibrations calmed themselves and I could easily manipulate them now. I imagined pushing them through my fingertips and into the ground. "Now open your eyes." Chase whispered.
My eyelids fluttered open. "How-how is this possible?" I murmured in awe. Chase and I were levitating three feet off the ground. Surrounding us-- in a sort of cloud--were drops of dew that had lifted themselves off of the grass. The water droplets floated around us--frozen in place. "They look like crystals!" I laughed, a warm feeling welling inside of me. I realized then, that my scar was glowing. "Is that a bad thing?"
Chase chuckled, shaking his head. "You have so much to learn." With that, he pulled his hands away from mine. When he did, the water droplets sank back onto the ground and we gently dropped back onto our feet.
"Why'd you make me stop?" I wondered. I could still feel my energies swirling inside of me.
"I told you," He smirked. "I don't want you being late for school."
I rolled my eyes and groaned. "Seriously? I thought I was an all-powerful Enchantress?"
"Not yet." Chase winked at me, grabbing my arm.
"But I still have so many questions!" I whined, like a little kid in a candy store."Quinn is going to freak when she hears about this."
Chase yanked me towards him. "You know you can't tell anyone about this, right?" His voice was hard and his eyes were stern. His grip on my arm had tightened. Just like I couldn't trust him, he couldn't trust me.
"Quinn is my best friend, Chase. How can't seriously expect me to keep something like this from her?"
"This isn't just about you, Valerie. There are a lot of people counting on you. If anything were to happen--if the Lawless--"
"What about the Lawless, Chase? Will they kill me, too? My parent's spent seventeen years trying to protect me from them, but that didn't stop the drunk driver from crashing into their car!"
"What happened to your parents was an accident." He said coldly.
"That doesn't change the fact that they're dead! What about their protectors? Why wasn't someone looking after them?"
"That's enough." Chase cut me off, grabbing me roughly by the arm.
"Why is it that you get to make all the decisions, huh? Who put you in charge?" I scrunched my nose, looking up at him.
"The Elders, that's who." He replied curtly. "So listen, Blondie. You're not going to tell anyone about who you really are. What you're going to do, is get your ass into my car and let me drive you to school. Am I making myself clear? Or is that too much for your little blonde head to comprehend?"
I tightened my hands into fists. "You are such a douchebag."
"Embrace it, babe. This is the real me." I shivered at his words. The Chase that I knew was gone. The relationship we had never meant anything. I didn't mean anything to him. He is my Protector, and to him I am just his Enchantress. "Now get in the car." He demanded, shoving me forward.
"I refuse to believe that the Lawless could be any worse than you." I spat at him.
"You better hope you never have to find out."
Chase was nothing but someone sent to watch over me. A glorified babysitter. I bet if he could have it his way, he would've chosen one of the other Enchantress over me. But we were stuck together, connected, or as he put, 'destined', and whether I liked it or not we were going to be spending a lot of time together.
So much for breakups. I guess crazy psychotic ex-boyfriends never really do go away.