Part Six.

Taking off her cardigan she let her bare shoulders and arms be exposed to the gentle sunlight which had been promised all day and yet had only made an appearance as she was walking home from school. In the distance she could hear small children laughing and screaming which made her smile, she remembered the days when she was small and they had used to run around at the Summer solstice without a care in the world. Sometimes she missed those days… the days before she and her cousins got segregated into the ‘good witch’ ‘bad witch’ sections which made them look down their noses at her. So what if she wanted to be different?

Pushing the creaky wooden door open she was greeted by the sight of Jet and Onyx her cousins. Both stood there in black and deep purple robes which clung to every curve they had. A glittery belt with knots in it caught Kirsten’s eye as she admired Jet’s robe.

“Merry meet. How did you get that?” As she got closer she saw that it was a tiger’s eye in the middle of her belt. Jealousy and awe ran through her veins as she admired the stone on the belt which signified everything she had to do and yet couldn’t. Jet grinned at her and then tapped her long fingernails onto it.

“Oh this? Your grandmother presented it to me. I have chosen my specialty and proven my worth as a witch in circle twilight. I’m now a respected adult witch. As is Onyx.” Onyx held up her belt which had been slightly concealed to reveal a small vile which contained a red somewhat glittery mixture.

“That’s not…” Kirsten gasped.

“Why yes it is! Spirit of moonflower! I chose my specialty but haven’t chosen my circle yet. I’m still ahead of you though! Unless you’re concealing your belt in those horrid human jeans!” Onyx and Jet both burst into high pitched laughter and both of their dark eyes seemed to shine with happiness. They were glad that she hadn’t been able to decide her speciality or choose her circle because whilst she was lagging behind, everything they did seemed much better than it actually was.

“You know you can make all the decisions you want and you’ll still be a maiden.” Kirsten said pointedly as she played with the small gems that were on the counter.

“Don’t you think we know that?” Onyx snapped as she drummed her fingernails on the counter.

“But you’ll never be crone. You can make as many decisions and work as hard as you can and you will never ever be crone. And guess what…” Kirsten took her eyes away from the gems and looked at them both and then grinned. “I will!” Walking out of the shop front and charging up the stairs she felt good about herself for the first time around them. She had something and could do something that they never could which could stump them every time they tried to make themselves look better than her. They were supposed to be sisters under Hecate’s eyes and yet they always treated her like the black sheep… Wandering into the living room she found Amethyst sitting on the couch playing with her kitten. Three of them here? At the same time? Something was going on…

“Merry meet.” Kirsten said with no emotion.

“Merry meet. How are you?”

“I’m just a little tired. How come you’re here?”

“Your grandmother sent for us… Astrid is in the bathroom.” Amethyst let the kitten jump to the floor and run around the living room after the reflection of the crystals which were catching the sunlight in the window.

“All four of you are here? What did I do?” Kirsten cried out.

“You haven’t done anything. We’re here to look after you.” Onyx said flatly as she sat next to them on the couch.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” Kirsten said stubbornly. Why did her grandmother all of a sudden think that she needed supervision? Had she done something to lose her trust? Why was Amethyst being so nice to her?

“We are aware of that oh rebellious cousin but the truth is we’re all in danger right now and your grandmother thought it would be best if we stuck together. Plus we could help you choose your specialty.” Jet said kindly.

“Merry meet Kirsten. It’s good to see you.” Astrid said as she came out of the bathroom. Hugging her cousin dearly she sighed with relief as she knew there was someone in the room who actually liked her. Ever since she was small Amethyst, Jet and Onyx had taken an instant dislike to her whilst Astrid had always hung in there with her. She appreciated her so much for that.

“I don’t want to choose my specialty! I’m good at everything!”

“She always was big headed…” Onyx muttered. Amethyst slapped her knee to silence her which made the whole room go quiet. Something was going on and she could feel it in her bones. Usually she was quite a strong empath but today all she could get from these girls was worry and distaste… the distaste was obviously because she was there but why worry? Trying to read their thoughts was pointless… they were going a mile a minute…

“What’s going on? You said we were in danger, why?”

“We can’t tell you.” Astrid said quietly.

“Why not? That’s stupid! Tell me!”

“Always was a child.” Jet said and Onyx gave her an acknowledging nod.

“If you two don’t stop being so mean I swear I’m going to tell Lucas what you’re doing.” Astrid hissed at them. Why would Lucas, head of the night world care that Onyx and Jet were being mean to her? Obviously Jet and Onyx thought he would as both went very quiet.

“Sweety I know this must be hard for you but you just have to accept that we will be with you for a long time now. We’ll be going to school with you and basically going everywhere you do. We’re all already enrolled and will be going to school with you tomorrow so we might as well become good friends. Now Kirsten I could sense you worry and confusion from a mile a way what’s going on with you?” Astrid said as she touched her hair affectionately.

“Nothing…” Kirsten bluffed, she really didn’t want to go into her worries about Christian with the other three around.

“You can tell us. We’re going to work past our…issues with you. I swear that was the last comment any of us will make. You know it’s only family rivalry…” Amethyst declared. Her lilac eyes shone brightly in the sunlight making her seem even more beautiful than usual. If you had walked into that room you would have thought it was a super model conference as each girl was breath tackingly beautiful. That was one of the benefits of being a night person: instant beauty.

“Alright I’ll tell you. Something is going on with this boy at school. Whenever we touch, even if it’s just for a second something happens to me.”

“What happens?” Onyx asked eagerly, never having met a young boy before this topic was of interest to her.

“It’s like electricity but it shoots up my arm and makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. It’s nice, but shocking you know? It’s so intense and today we were playing piano together and I felt like a could see into his mind briefly… it was very bizarre but the weird thing is I like it. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“I have heard of something like this happening but it can’t be what I think it is.” Astrid said shaking her head vigorously as if that would get rid of the idea she had.

“What is it?” Jet and Amethyst asked together.

“It’s a very old sort of reaction… humans talk about it all the time but they don’t get it the way night people do.”

“What is it?” They repeated.

“It’s in the day’s of when Hecate was alive! That long ago… but they say the old powers are rising again… no it can’t be it you’re too young and there’s just no chance.”

“Astrid! Tell me!”

“Well in the old days there was this theory that there was one person in all the world who was meant for you and once you met that person you could never be without them. It was a reaction to each other… saying that they were pre destined for each other. But it only happens in vampires… I’m positive it is only in vampires.”

“Her family is blood bonded to the vampires though… It’s why some of her family can read minds…” Amethyst mused.

“Okay so say she was a vampire and it‘s what you‘re thinking what would it mean?” Onyx asked excitedly.

“It would mean she and this boy were soul mates…