Power

Kyo and I floated through the air until we shot through the ground and into the sky. We hung there for a moment, Kyo’s eyes still closed as we slowly made our descent. I didn’t try to land on my feet when we touched the ground. I laid down in the soft grass, having no idea where we were. I couldn’t stop thinking about Tara or how Hiro could be dead right now.

Tara was my best friend I met since we both worked at the Energy Bean. She had taken some time off in order to grieve her grandmother who had passed three days ago. Hiro was Kyo’s father who had informed me that Tara and her grandmother were witches. Like me. Like Kyo. Kyo and I, the two witches of the light who would soul-bond and prevent the reign of the dark witch.

Tara couldn’t be a dark witch. It was hard enough to believe witches were real, if I hadn’t traveled at high speed through the woods, absorbed the essence of the forest, and used my own magic, I wouldn't have believed it. But to believe Tara was not only a witch, but a dark witch?

“Violet?” I felt Kyo lay beside me.

“Sorry, I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed,” I confessed.

“Don’t be sorry, I was worried you were bottling up your true feelings.” Kyo settled in the long grass, placing his hands behind his head. “I was afraid you’d blow here soon,” Kyo went on, a grin in his voice. I elbowed him gently in the side.

“So my mom’s a witch. My best friend is a witch. My lover is a witch. I… am a witch,” I sighed, covering my face with my hands.

“Lover?” Kyo said gently.

“I suppose I should know more about you, if we are, y’know, meant to be, or whatever,” I tried. Kyo laughed lightly.

“Okay. Well, I’m an Aries, which I hear is extremely compatible with Geminis,” Kyo gently prodded me in the side, earning him a small smile.

“You guys believe in that stuff?” I asked.

“Astrology? Oh yes, there is plenty to learn from the sky. The movement of the planets, clusters of stars, and what month, season, and time you were born. That’s why mother thinks Tara is the dark witch, her energy aligns with darkness.”

I sat up. “So you don’t know Tara then? I’m assuming you’ve never met her.”

Kyo sits up slowly, guarded. “I’ve met Tara. I came into the Energy Bean all the time. Just because she’s a kind person doesn’t mean something won’t happen that will make her snap.”

I scowled.

“Do you know how her grandmother died?” Kyo asked after a moment of silence. I shook my head.

“She was hanged. Tara found her dangling from a tree directly behind the cottage. The word witch was carved into her forehead.”

My furrowed brow deepened. “That doesn’t sound real.”

“Violet, you have no idea the danger we face. Humans literally had witch trials all through history.”

“Yeah but how many witches did they actually burn?” I asked. Kyo hesitated, realization crossing his features.

“So, do you think another witch did this to her grandmother, framing a human?” Kyo calculated.

“I think Tara is being set up. We’re talking about a woman who adopts stray cats and re-homes them, even if that means having ten cats in her apartment. A woman who always feeds the homeless our leftover inventory instead of throwing it out. How many times had she stayed with me when I couldn’t sleep? She covers anyone’s shift, even if she is overworked. She would check on her grandmother every other day no matter how busy she was.” I explained. Kyo was lost in thought, until he finally met my gaze.

“But she could still snap. When you have so much power, but live among the humans, finding your most cherished family member hanging from a tree-”

“She wouldn’t snap-”

“She doesn’t remember her grandmother dying.” Kyo replied harshly. “She told you about it the day she found the body right, no details of course, then what happened?” Kyo asked.

“She came into the Energy Bean to let us know her grandma had passed and she needed some time off,” I replied annoyed.

“And what? She’s your best friend, so you consoled her?”

“No, she was never at her apartment and wasn’t answering my phone calls,” I defended.

“Yeah, because she was out here, wandering the forest until she made her way back to her grandmother’s cottage wondering where her grandma had gotten to.”

“How do you know all of this?” I asked heatedly.

“Because she was my friend too!” Kyo snapped. I leaned away from Kyo, perplexed.

“I came into the Energy Bean all the time. She was the only one who noticed I was new, looking lost and confused. She showed me around, helped me decorate my apartment, even adopted me as a stray cat by accident.” Kyo stopped abruptly, embarrassed. As a witch you can phase into any animal you choose. But once you morph into your animal, that’s the only animal you can phase into from then on.

“That’s how we found out we were witches. I got too tired and couldn’t keep my cat form any longer and phased back. She laughed. She just laughed hysterically until finally she showed me she could morph into a cat too.”

“You love her.” I concluded. Watching him talk about Tara was like witnessing a man who wanted something so desperately that he couldn’t have.

“That doesn’t matter,” Kyo confessed.

“How long have you known it was me? That I was the one you were meant to marry?” I asked, suspicious that he happened to come to the Energy Bean where I worked by accident.

“The brown paper box arrived at my apartment a couple days after I got to Sunset City…”

“And when did you open it?” I was under the impression that Kyo and I had just happened to meet in the forest the same day he had received the box. Now he’s telling me he has been in possession of the box for months.

“Immediately. That’s why I had started going to the Energy Bean, but you never paid me any mind. Only Tara.”

I stood, needing space from Kyo. The intention was clear and I knew I’d get the space no matter what. I started zooming across the meadow and back into the cover of trees. The brown, green blur told me I was successfully dispensing my magic. I kept running having no idea how or when I’d stop.

My body halted at the edge of a pond. I stood at the water’s edge, peering down at my reflection. I squatted to get a closer look. My bun had finally failed me, my auburn locks flowing on either side of my freckled face. My green eyes pierced the surface of the water. My mother’s eyes. I grew up wishing so badly I had inherited my dad’s baby blues.

I stood, my skin prickling with the eerie silence surrounding me. Not a branch moved, a bird chirped, or a single insect buzzed. I had experienced this silence before. I turned to find the bear-like creature with the ram’s head mere yards from me. I met it’s piercing gaze, it’s weird diamond shaped pupils.

“Enough,” I hissed, taking calculated steps toward the beast, my anger bristling. Screw my neglectful mother, my liar lover, and my best friend that I wasn't sure I even knew anymore. Screw all this happening to me in the span of a single day. Screw this stupid illusion that got me in this mess to begin with.

I felt the warmth surge through my body as my intentions became crystal clear. The beast charged. I remembered Erity, Kyo’s mother, getting hurt, Hiro fighting for mine and Kyo’s safety, the warmth turned to raw heat.

“Screw you!” I screamed as the power left me in a burst of concentrated green light. It swept through the creature as if it was nothing, turning it to ash.

“Violet!” Kyo called out for me as I felt myself tipping backwards. The sleepiness crawled all over my skin, unconsciousness inevitable.

“Violet?” Kyo called closer, but it was too late. I was already falling backward into the pond.