The Coven

06.

Goat Man.

Thalia.

The weather was perfectly sunny, and no bad cloud in sight, it was the weekend, the day Thalia had convinced everyone to go out and have a friend date, unfortunately she had to make sure her pops didn't burn toast in the morning whilst trying to be romantic for her dad, she would plan the day afterward.

"So how are you adjusting, any new friends, potential boyfriend in there?" He was fishing for something and Thalia immediately knew it but he was her pops, she could tell him anything but the nervousness that crippled her insides when she thought of Amon made her want to keep the secret but unfortunately her silence proved to be her undoing. "What are you hiding?" He questioned blatantly with no regard for how he startled her.

"I'm hiding nothing papa, you have met my friends and even said that Roman was your favorite of all of them for some unknown reason." Thalia was trying to avert the attention he had placed on what she was hiding to what he already knew. "That's because he reminds me of your dad when he was your age, powerful and scary, yet crazy beautiful." The man complimented but all Thalia could think was here we go again. "Promise you won't get mad if I tell you about it." She begged hoping he would say yes and everything would be alright.

"Am I potentially killing someone?" He questioned whilst flipping the pancakes he was making. "No you aren't." Thalia immediately responded knowing full well he would actually kill someone, he had gotten to that point before. "Good, then who is this boy you're hiding from me?" Of course, he would know it was a boy, how could she forget he was that perceptive. "Okay pops, his name is Amon, we go to the same school, he invited me to his rugby game and he's kind of a big deal at school along with him being the leader of the vampires." Thalia whispered the last part but her father's silence was all the proof she needed to know, he heard her.

"Do you like him?" That caught her off-guard but she shook it off and slightly nodded. "I like him but I'm still reserved on liking him to an extent that I would want you to meet him." She stated with a small smile knowing the truth she had told her father was all he needed to let her off the hook, for the time being hopefully. "Alright then, your father and I raised you well and I have no doubt that you'll make the best decisions with this Amon, but if he hurts a single hair on your head, I will baptize him in hellfire then shred his soul with a curse and whatever remains after that I will banish into limbo." Her father had laid out his warning and it sent chills down her spine.

Her father was a witch who upheld his words to the bitter end so if he had laid out his warning, he would indeed carry it out and see it through. "Hopefully we don't get to that." She soothed the old man as he placed the pancakes and blueberries on the tray, her dad was indeed being pampered, but he deserved every bit of it. "The guys and I are going shopping today, can you help a girl out, please pops." Thalia asked, her puppy dog eyes shining through making it impossible for her father not to ask what she wanted.

"Fine you can use my card, but you know your limit, any more than that your dad will kill us both." He replied with a chuckle snapping his fingers in the process which made the bank card appear. "Thank you dad." Thalia squealed as she jumped up and down slightly crushing her father in a hug. "Alright, alright, better eat and get ready." He suggested which she immediately got to.

After breakfast Thalia had taken her time getting ready, this was her first outing with her new friends and she wanted to be ready for any kind of weather also any kind of inconvenience, with dead wolves and scamming witches, it was best to be prepared for everything, with her black wedges perfectly fit at her feet she made her way toward the door. "You look lovely, have fun sweetie." Her dad praised as he placed a kiss on her cheek, her pops who was resting his head on his husband's thighs only winked at her but to Thalia that small acknowledgment was all she needed.

Within minutes she was in her car and speeding off toward Marc's house, he would be waiting for her, she was his official ride ever since she offered the night they rescued the vampire, when she got there the twins were there as well which meant only one witch was missing. "Hey guys, you look great." She complimented and indeed all of them looked dressed to murder. "We are going to the mall with Roman, we always have to dress to the nines because somehow witches must be represented by their selves, not their words yada yada." It was Allysa who had replied making her chuckle.

"He is right, we have to be impactful." Thalia defended and both Marc and Allen groaned, they were boys, they would never understand. "Get in already, by the way, where is Roman?" Thalia asked as they all piled into her car, it was big enough, her papa had done her a solid. "Meeting us there, he said he had to deal with something." Allen replied ss Thalia drove toward the city, Marc was now changing stations randomly whilst Allysa was checking her makeup, it made her wonder what exactly Roman was up to.

As Thalia drove toward the city, the road bent yand winded past long pine trees, it was a short way but somehow it felt long, a fog began to set in which didn't alarm her since they were close to the ocean, she kept driving but it seemed the fog was getting thicker and the woods weren't clearing out. "Something is wrong." Marc was the first one to speak up. "Estalio votimer espho." Allysa mumbled and a green shield appeared around the car. "Thanks." Thalia mumbled as she squinted her eyes to see in the fog but there was nothing at all.

"This is magical, and we're stuck in an infinite loop." Allen asserted as he held a transparent orb with overlapping runes in his palm, it became more and more transparent when he pushed his mana into it, Thalia immediately stopped the car because there was no point in driving aimlessly. "Does it have a source, we can break the loop when it has a source, along with getting the hell out —." Before Thalia could finish horns rammed right into the green shield Allysa had placed.

They were all startled and frightened. "What the hell was that?!" Marc yelled as he looked around past the car windows. "I don't know but it's definitely not human." Allen replied as another ram to the shield reverberated around the car. "We need to get out of here." Allysa stated just as Thalia put her foot on the gas, but then she realized it was pointless when they were stuck in a loop so the car screeched to a halt. "We are stuck in a loop, there is no going anywhere." She stated nervously making them all realize she was telling the truth.

The fog had finally settled in heavily making anything nonvisible except themselves in the car. "We need to break the loop then get out of here." She stated eagerly looking at the others, they seriously needed to be brave in that moment or they would all be in trouble. "We need to track the source, Allen can you do that,  Allysa we need multiple shields if we're going out there and Thalia you might want to place another shield on your car." Marc exclaimed and Thalia was grateful he had taken the lead because she had no idea what to do.

"I found it, but you're not going to like where it is." Allen stated showing everyone the source of the timed loop, Marc groaned whilst Allysa glared at the almost transparent map. "You have got to be kidding me." She finally spoke looking out the window. "That's banshee territory and you know how they hate trespassing." Allysa added as she still looked out the window nervously. "We don't have a choice that thing will come back soon." Thalia argued unbuckling her seatbelt and opening her door. "You're crazy but let's do this." Allen mumbled.

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LMJ