The next morning I stood in front of the mirror in my bedroom, trying to decide what to wear. I had managed to get some sleep last night after talking to Ben.
I decided on a dark blue floral shirt and a black skirt with a bow on the front of it and slipped my favorite black heels on my feet.
My hair is dark chesnut brown in color, but it could pass as being black. Its long, down to my ribcage, and curly. A lot of people ask me if I curl my hair everyday, but I don't, it's natural.
I left my room and headed down the stairs. Adam was in the kitchen when I got there, finishing his breakfast.
"Hey," I said as I grabbed a muffin off the counter.
"Hey, you ready to go? Ben and Nate are in the car."
"Yeah, lets go."
I followed him out of the kitchen and into the garage and got into the back of the black SUV.
Ben and Adam took me and Nate to the main office and stayed with us while we got our schedules and locker numbers. After that was done, they showed us around the school.
The school was a large stone building, same as the castle, but not as old and certainly not as big. The school was three stories high.
Our school system ran very similar to schools in the real world. Our school year was split into two semesters, and we had four classes each semester. Although, our classes were very different. We still had to take mandatory english and math classes, but besides that almost everything had to do with magic.
My four classes for the rest of the semester are English, Spells, Potions, and History.
Ben showed me where all my classes were, and when the bell rang I easily found my first period History class.
I was starting school here in the middle of the semester. Meaning everyone had already had a chance to get used to their classes and the people in them. They had settled into the groove. They were comfortable.
I sat in an empty seat on the near side of the room, in the middle of a row.
"Okay, class," the teacher began. "We have a new student joining us today."
Oh shit, I thought.
"Lindsey, if you wouldn't mind coming up here and telling us a little about yourself."
"Um, sure." I stood and walked to the front of the room, my heels clicking on the floor.
"Uh, my name's Lindsey Crowther. I used to live here until I was four, when my mom moved me and my brother to the real world," I shrugged my shoulders, trying to think of something else to say. "Now I'm back."
"And I understand you're part of the Derivative Ring?" Mr. Leek asked.
Great. That started some whispers around the room. For anyone who didn't already know, they knew now.
"Yeah, I am."
"This should be fascinating having you as a part of our class, seeing as the Derivative circle is part of our curriculum."
Even better. Now I had to sit in class learning about my family and my friends, and myself. How awkward is that going to be?
Mr. Leek let me take my seat again and he continued on teaching class. I tried as best as I could to take notes and follow along, but they were already half way through a topic and I was lost. Hopefully in a couple days we'd start something new and I'd be able to follow along more easily.
When the bell rang at the end of the hour long class, I made my way to Potions.
Luckily, my Potions teacher didn't make me introduce myself in front of the class, and just told me to follow along until I got caught up. We looked at potion recipes out of books that looked like they were probably centuries old.
When the bell rang at the end of that class, it was lunch time. I found Ben, Adam, and my brother were they said they would meet me and we made our way to the cafeteria.
By the time we had got something to eat and sat down, Ben and Adam had asked all the questions possible about my morning classes. The only interesting thing I had to tell them was introducing myself to my history class.
About ten minutes after we sat down, I noticed Ben staring at something over my shoulder. He was tense, as if he wanted to bolt out of the room but was forcing himself to stay put.
I turned and looked around behind me but didn't see anything unusual.
"What is it?" I asked.
But of course he didn't know I was talking to him because all of his attention was focused on whatever he was looking at.
"Hey," I said, touching his arm. "What are you looking at?"
"I can't tell you now, but we have to get out of here," he replied.
I looked over at Adam and his expression mirrored mine. Confusion. He then looked around where Ben had been looking, and a look crossed over his face as if he seen what Ben had been staring at, and he agreed with his brother. We had to leave.
"What's going on?" Nate asked, now worried.
"It's probably nothing, but we should get out of here for now. Just in case." Ben said.
I stood and followed them out the cafeteria doors. Ben kept walking until we were outside at the back of the school. We had all followed him out.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Anthony Crowley was in there." Ben replied.
"So?" Nate asked. "Who's that?"
Ben sighed. "I forgot you guys haven't been around for a while."
"He's the grandson of the creator of the Valiente Coven. They left Salem Falls the year after they tried to make a deal with our parents. As far as we know, they haven't been back since. Now he's going to school here?" Adam said.
"Okay, wait. The Valiente Coven just happens to come back to Salem Falls at the exact same time as Nate and I?" I asked, getting worried.
"Yeah. Seems like it, I just don't know why."
"Well what are we gonna do?" Nate asked.
"I don't know that, either," Adam said.
"For now, we do nothing," Ben jumped in. "We keep an eye on them and keep our distance, but just because they're back doesn't mean they're planning something. Did we expect them to stay out of Salem Falls forever?"
"No, but we're just supposed to pretend like it's not weird that they're back now? At the same time as Lindsey and Nate?"
"Look," I said, not wanting Adam and Ben to start fighting and get distracted from the point. "They're back. For whatever reason, they're back in Salem Falls. And I agree with Ben, until we know for sure that their coming back has something to do with us, there's no need to dig up old shit. We should be careful, though."
"Do we tell your parents?" Nate asked Adam.
"We probably should. They'll find out one way or another, and once they find out they'll know Anthony's been going to school. They'll know we kept it from them."
The bell rang, ending the lunch period. We agreed on what had to be done. Act natural until we were sure there was a threat.
That afternoon, back at home, we sat around the table with Ben and Adam's parents. They seemed confused, and asked the same questions we had. Could it merely be a coincidence that they came back on the same day as Nate and I? Or were we being naive to think that there could be nothing to worry about?
Troy and Evelyn excused themselves from the group discussion and went upstairs to talk privately. Adam and Nate went upstairs, too, to work on an assignment for a class that they had together.
I was alone with Ben again.
"Are you okay?" he asked me after we sat in silence for a few minutes.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"You don't seem fine."
I hesitated. "Is it wrong that the only thing I'm worried about right now is my mom finding out and ripping me out of Salem Falls again?"
"No. Not at all. You want to be here. You have the right to be worried about that just as much as I have the right to be scared to death."
"I'm sorry. I should've realized you'd be freaking out."
"It's fine. I just wish I knew why they were here."
I nodded. "We all do. We'll find out."
He nodded in return. "And for the record, I won't let you leave Salem Falls. I know you want to be here, and I like having you here. I'll protect you."
"You don't have to do that. I'm sure you're worried enough about yourself and your brother."
"I can take care of myself. So can Adam."
"You don't think I can?"
"Lindsey, I didn't mean it like that. I meant, growing up in the real world, you don't have the same control over your magic as we do. You have the powers but you don't know how to use them. We've had years of experience, you and your brother have missed out on that. I'll teach you. I'll help you. And I'll protect you."
"Ben, you don't need to worry about me."
Ben was quiet for a moment, but his breathing kept getting heavy.
"Lindsey, you can't tell me you don't feel it."
"Feel what? What are you talking about?"
He took a deep, shaky breath. "My parents didn't want me to tell you this."
"Tell me what?" I said cautiously.
He sat there for a moment, not speaking, just breathing. Finally he said, "does it make sense to you that our parents would want us to keep the genes going? That they'd want us to keep getting stronger by the generations?"
"Yes."
"And how do you supposed that would happen?"
"If two of us were to have a kid together. It would double the magic in their blood."
"Exactly. Do you believe in soulmates?"
"Yes."
"In a world of magic, almost nothing is off limits. Our parents made sure that each of us would end up with another member of the Ring. Our parents paired us together. We're destined to be together. We're soul mates."
"What? Like an arranged marriage or something?"
"No. Nothing like that. It's been written into fate, Lindsey. You'll see it one day. You'll feel it."