Witchling (Chronicles of Witchood) (6 page)

I continued with my attempts to contact another human being but it was hopeless. I was stranded and the only
other option left was to walk, as Ethan told me.

And I continued to walk until it was nightfall and the stars speckled the sky with its little pin pricks of light.
My foot was sore with blisters and I cursed Aiden for leaving me in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t know what to think about the entire situation. I saw him kill a man and yet I trusted him to take me home. What was I thinking? Or perhaps, I wasn’t thinking at all. But at least I knew his name now.

As I walked, I noticed that the road was much longer than the distance Aiden had driven. I was only in his car for at most fifteen minutes before I was abandoned.

A pair of headlights cut along the empty road behind me. I turned around and recognised the black mustang. Aiden sat behind the wheel, his face semi shrouded by the growing darkness. I continued to walk as he slowed down the car next to me.

“Amelia,” he called through his rolled down window. He wanted me to stop but I refus
ed to comply. He parked his car and got out. I trudged on, my anger fuming as he grabbed my arm and pulled me to face him.

“What do you want?” I snapped.

Aiden released me and took a step back, his face filled with regret and shame. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“Frighten me? Now who put that idea into your head? You left me on the road, alone! I could have died! Someone could have kidnapped me! It’s almost seven clock and I’ve been walking for hours.”

“I had to leave you, for your safety.”

I remembered the black
veins that suddenly appeared beneath his skin moments just before he kicked me out of his car.

“My safety,” I repeated. Aid
en adverted his eyes from mine.

“Again, I apologize.
Please, allow me take you home.”

I exhaled deeply and saw that I didn’t really have much choice in the matter.
The road looked to continue on for some time, at least another hour of walking or more. Aiden stepped aside and held out his hand towards the mustang. The engine purred as it waited for me and its driver.

“Fine. But I want answers.”

Aiden didn’t agree to my demands. He sealed his lips and slipped into his silent uncooperative self. I wished it were Ethan that was driving the car and not him. It was clear that Aiden isn’t ready to discuss the events that just occurred.

As I sat in the passenger seat and felt a wave of sleepiness sweep over me. I had no power over it and soon, it forced me to drift into a deep sleep. I didn’t even notice when I arrived home, or when Aiden lifted me out of the car and carried me into my room.

Chapter 6

I jolted awake and bolted up straight on my bed. The blanket fell from my body as I realised that I was home. I legs ached and I didn’t dare look at the state of my feet.
My soles throbbed and I could feel the blisters. On my dresser sat a small metallic jar. A folded note sat on top. I hobbled my way to it and unfolded the written message. It was printed in cursive calligraphic writing.

Dear Amelia,

Again, I do not know how to extend my apologies. I did not intend to act in the way that I did. The slave is of my own creation. It will quicken the process of healing.

My sincerest apologies,

Aiden

I picked up the small container, twisted open the cap and found it filled with a thick white paste with the
consistency of lip balm whipped to a peak. I took a little of the balm and rubbed it on one of my blisters. It numbed the pain and lessened the redness of the skin around it.

My phone sat on my bedside table, next to the lamp. I checked my
messages. My inbox was bombarded with texts and miss calls from Karen. She was worried. I decided to immediately call her.

“
Amy, do you know what time it is?”

Her tired voice perplexed me. I expected her to me half mad with concern.

“You texted and called me like a gazillion times yesterday,” I pointed out. “I thought I should call and tell you that I’m safe.”

“What are you talking about, Amy? This isn’t one of your dreams again, is it? And if it is, I didn’t text or call you.”

I paused, baffled by Karen’s words. “What happened yesterday?” I decided to ask.

“We met at the mall, you had to go home early to finish your history homework. Are you alright, Amy?”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice faltered as I spoke. “Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

Karen sighed. “
I’m awake now, you might as well tell me what’s on your mind.”

“No. It’s fine. I’ll tell you later.”

“Alright. Hey, don’t forget your promise, since you bailed on me this week, you’re coming out again with us next week.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“And no excuses this time.”

“Yeah. Hey Karen, there’s something I have to do.”

“Alright. Bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up and stared at my phone as I chewed my tongue. It must have been Ethan. He must have done something to change Karen’s memory of the events that occurred. I knew it in my gut that it was him, there was no other explanation. Or it might have been Aiden, a little voice inside my head said. In fact, it could have been either one of them.

The murder of Aiden’s double was still fresh in my mind and I could not shake away the image of the crumpled body and the hallowed eyes as the life was instantly snapped out of him.

I swiped at my phone’s screen and searched for Ethan’s name in the address book. I half expected it to be gone, but it was still there. Without hesitation, I called him.

“Good morning, Amelia,” said Ethan in his deep sultry voice.

“What did you do?”

“And good morning to you too, my hot and sexy Ethan.
”

I rolled my eyes. “What did you do to Karen?”

“Nothing personal, just enough to stop everyone from freaking out. I’m sure, with us in your life, you don’t need any extra drama.”

“What exactly did you do?
Hypnotized everything out of their brain?”

“Well, not everything, just enough to make them forget that you were missing for most of the day and that my lovely brother returned you to your bed.”

I closed my eyes and held my breath. “Alright,” I managed to say. “What about the body?”

“Oh, that’s none of your concern.
My advice to you is to have breakfast, continue on with your day as normal and well, wait for Monday. I have a surprise for you.”

“Surprise? I don’t want a surprise. I want answers.”

“Oh, you’ll get those too, just not from me. Anyway, I have to go. Looks like my little brother is back, unless you want to talk to him. Oh wait, he’s staring at me with his sensual alluring green eyes, which I think means no. Talk to you later.”

Without
any more words, Ethan disconnected the call. I frowned and chewed on my tongue. I thought about calling him back, my finger hovered over the green receiver icon. I shook my head and placed down the phone.

“Fine,” I said to myself. “I’m giving you until the end of Monday. If I don’t get my answers after that…”

My brain came to a halt. I didn’t know what I would do if I didn’t have my answers. My insides squirmed with annoyance as I stood on the border of insanity. It wasn’t fair. I felt like I had somehow became involuntarily involved in something big and supernatural, something I didn’t understand and those that did barred me from what I needed to know.

~

Sunday dragged on at the pace of a drunken sail and time seemed frozen. I loitered about the house, with no aim except to let time trickle by. I sat at the dining table with my laptop in front of me. It was ten when Luke came out of his room to grab a cup of juice. He glanced over at the page I was reading.

“Vampires?” he snorted.

“Yeah,” I answered. Karen and Lydia’s theory about the brothers was not completely out of my mind. “Hey, Luke, what do you know about them?”

“Undead, blood sucking, killed by stake, hates sunlight. Why are you reading about them?”

“Nothing in particular,” I told him. I wanted someone to talk to and I sensed that Lydia and Karen was probably fed up with my antics. “Do you think they’re real?” I asked my brother just as he was about to leave.

Luke shrugged. “Don’t know.”

He wasn’t much help and didn’t enlighten me on the matter. I knew he had a working knowledge of supernatural things because of the games he played. I never really got into that stuff like he did, and jud
ging the way he decorated his room, I suspected that he may be more helpful to talk to about the supernatural world than my two best friends.

“What other creatures have super speed and super
strength?”

Luke lifted his left eyebrow and turned his head slightly to the left. “Lots. Werewolves,
djins, spirits, pixies, I don’t know. There’s a whole heap of them. You have to be more specific. Why do you ask?”

“
No reason. Just interested.”

Luke paused by counter. He looked as if he was about to say something but changed his mind. He left the kitchen
and went back up the stairs to his room. I heard the door closed and my mind mulled over all the facts I knew about the brothers again. From one Wikipedia page to another, I spent the entire day reading about all the supernatural creatures I could find. None of them seemed to match the brothers as closely as vampire. It was crazy, but I was certain they weren’t werewolves. It was a full moon when I found Aiden in the forest during the lake party.

However, it didn’t explain anything about the
doppelgänger. According to the internet, they were paranormal doubles, symbols of bad luck and even an omen for death. I stopped and re-evaluated by research methods and remembered what Ethan had said about books and how the internet was only half correct.

The library was about fifteen minutes away on bike. I could have gone but my
feet were still too sore to do any sort of peddling. I glanced at the clock and wished I was old enough to drive. I still had several months to go before I turned sixteen, and even then, I still needed to sit the licencing test.

I mulled over my excuses as a chunk of me wanted to go. At the back of the library was the historical section. I thumbed through some of the books before, but not all. Perhaps there was something about the supernatural tucked away
between ancient frayed spines. The suspense of possibility was too much for me to bear. I had already gone through about half a hundred articles but none of them exactly answered what I wanted to know.

I stood and decided to go to the library.

My legs protested against the decision and punished me greatly for it. But I pressed on and soon enough, I was on my bike. The weakness and aching in my legs made my balance wobble as I attempted to peddle. It took me half an hour to reach my destination but it didn’t matter. I felt like I had achieved something by making it to the library.

I hobbled through the front door and made my way towards the old dusty covers tucked away at the back where no one went. I ran my fingers along the half pealed golden letters that once marked the names of the books and its authors.
I’ve read some of them, but haven’t been lured to their pages since I was given access to the internet at home. I felt like a stranger amongst the pages and almost forgot the moth smell of the yellowed pages and the ink stains of the scribbled inner covers by those that also read those books.

Wedged between two thick volumes, I found a thin hardcover. I pulled it out and opened its pages only to find the ink almost completely faded. I didn’t know what made me pull out the empty book. It didn’t even have a title. Time had made sure to rub it out and there was only a thin trace of the letter ‘A’. There was no library punch card either, or a barcode stuck to the back like all the other books.

After thumbing through, I decided to put it back. The empty pages didn’t tell me anything. Although the contents might have been useful, whatever was printed was now swallowed up by time. It was clear that the book was used so often that not a bit of ink remained. I found it odd, but knew that it was not impossible. The ink used on old books tends to fade over time, that is, if the pages have been flipped through enough. I wondered what was on those pages but did not dwell on it.

I continued to walk amongst the books unti
l my legs could not take it anymore. Yesterday’s excursions had taken its toll. I went outside and called dad. Luckily, he was nearby and on his way home. I waited for him in the parking lot, where he found me, seated on a bench just outside the library. I wanted to ask him about Aiden, but I knew that Ethan had made him forget. Besides, he didn’t seem at all disturbed that I returned home in the arms of a boy, not that I remembered what happened. I could only guess that was how he got me into my room.

My heart quickened at the thought of Aiden and the possibility that his arms had been around me. My face turned red as my skin ti
ngled with a strange sensation. I wanted to squirm with embarrassment and delight but I couldn’t. I was in the car with dad and I didn’t want him to question me or make assumptions. I looked out the window and rested my hot cheek against the coolness of the glass. I pushed thoughts of Aiden out of my head with what Ethan had told me. He had said Monday. Monday would be the day I find out what I wanted to know. All I needed to do was wait until then.