EMMA'S POV
The next day, I woke up at about 4:00 in the morning for no reason, other than the fact that I couldn't sleep. Everyone was where they had fallen asleep...except for Az and Mr. Tholos. Az had been near the entrance of the little cave that Mr. Tholos had made, but now he was gone. I looked around for him, but I couldn't see him anywhere in the cave or out. Mr. Tholos had lit a fire, and was cooking something that Jacob had grabbed from the store yesterday.
"Mr. Tholos, where's Az?" I asked, walking over to him so as not to wake up the others.
"He went for a walk. He looked disturbed, so I wasn't going to disturb him," Mr. Tholos said, looking up from his cooking for a brief minute.
There was a crunch on the grass behind me and I turned around to see Tessa walking across the grass to us, shivering in the cold morning air. She sat down and snapped her fingers. As she did so, a small plume of fire appeared in her hand and she sat there, probably warming up.
"So, Emma, are you ready to learn some magic?" she asked.
"I've been meaning to ask you about this. Aren't witches the only ones that can use magic? How can I use it?" I asked her.
"Well, you can, because you're a Selenos," Tessa said.
"A...Selenos?" I asked, confused.
"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know. A Selenos is a select non-witch person who can use magic. Seleni can be from any race, so they could be a werewolf, a death spirit, a Wickerscissor, and so on. Seleni are very rare, so you're the first one that any of us have seen in years. The last Selenos was a werewolf named Jason Morris. Everyone was after him, but it would be better if I just showed you," Tessa said.
Tessa put a hand on my forehead and suddenly, it was like I was dreaming. I was watching a scene from a vision. We were in a deep forest, and a big black wolf was dashing through the moonlit forest. There was a chain link fence going through the forest though, so the wolf stopped. The wolf transformed into a teenage boy, and the kid started to climb the fence. Suddenly, there was the sound of gunfire and the kid fell off of the fence and hit the ground.
He struggled up and pressed a hand to his heavily bleeding shoulder blade. He turned around so his back was to the fence and I could see fear in his eyes. Several figures stepped out from the trees in front of him. One was a massive man made out of wood with huge blades or scissors for hands. A second was a big Steel Monger just like Mr. Tholos. The final one was...Slate Face.
"We warned you, boy! If you didn't work with us, what was gonna happen!" Slate Face yelled in his Texan accent, putting away his still-smoking revolver.
"I...I'm not working with you. And if you kill me...I have friends. Friends that will destroy you," the kid said.
"Tailor, get him. We'll hang his skin up on this here fence for all to see. This is what happens to little Seleni who don't listen to what others tell them. A shame we had to do this," Slate Face said.
The huge scissor-wood guy stepped forwards, snipping his blade eagerly. I didn't want to see what happened next, but thankfully, the vision didn't show it. I heard several snipping sounds, a chorus of screams, the sound of ripping flesh, and finally, I saw blood splatter all over the ground. And Slate Face just stood there and laughed.
Tessa removed her hand from my forehead and I came back to the real world, utterly disgusted at what had just happened. Tessa gave a grim nod. I nearly started to cry, but Tessa gave me a hug and held me close. After that, she continued explaining.
"Well, as you can see, everyone wants to have a Selenos on their side. And Slate Face isn't too merciful to those who don't join him. But you're the first Seleni we've seen since Jason. Are you ready t learn some magic?" she asked, her eyes lighting up eagerly.
"Well, after that, not really, but...yes. Let's go," I said, determined.