Secrets of the Past

Chapter 6

"Who are these people?" Carissa asked herself. A tiny part of her wanted to storm down the steps and demand the answer from her parents, but if she did that they would have to know about the note. She tried to rack her brain for anything to do with swans...black swans, but nothing came. She didn't even remember seeing any at her grandparents sanctuary either.

Maybe she needed more insight. Carissa knew she couldn't tell her parents, but she could trust her best friend.

Carissa walked into the lunch auditorium, scanning the room for Lily and as usual she was sitting at their lunch table. Today, she had her hair in a beautiful long French braid with the tiniest bit of rosy blush on her cheeks. She looked like a model next to Carissa. She had just brushed her hair and put half of it up into a messy bun. She hadn't even thought about putting any makeup on.

"Hey Lily!" Carissa said as she neared their table.

"Hi! How are you...." Her voice drifted off.

"What? Do I look ok?" Carissa waved her hand in front of Lily's face and started to check if she had spilled anything.

"Oh yeah, you look great!" Carissa spun her head around, it wasn't Lily who said that. It was Jett. He plopped down on the seat next to Carissa. Her mouth went dry and her stomach started fluttering, not making her that hungry anymore.

"Hey Jett!" Carissa eyed Lily, who was looking between her and Jett and back again.

"Oh! Lily this is Jett and Jett this is Lily!" Carissa said. Hoping it would snap Lily out of looking between the two of them, as if she had missed something.

"Nice to meet you Lily!" Jett said politely.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too..." Her voice still sounded lost and confused. Then she looked at Carissa and grabbed her hand, dragging her up from her seat.

"Can we talk for a second?" Lily said, giving her the look that meant this wasn't necessarily a question.

"Sure! Just give me a minute Jett." Carissa said as she was being dragged away by her best friend.

"No problem. I'm not going anywhere." He smirked then started munching on his food.

When they were out of the auditorium and in the hall, Lily started her tirade of questions.

"Who is he? Where did he come from? When did you meet-"

"One at a time, one at a time!" Carissa practically had to scream to get her attention.

"Fine...When did you meet him and why didn't you tell me?" She half demanded and half shouted.

"That's two, but it was because I knew you would do the exact thing you're doing right now!" Carissa answered.

Lily grunted. "You didn't answer my questions..."

"Oh... well it was yesterday after you ran to class." Carissa started fiddling with her sleeve. When she looked up, she saw a skeptical look written on Lily's face.

"You expect me to believe that?" She said, raising her eyebrows and putting her hands on her hips.

"Maybe I need to be more specific, tell me the whole big romantic story." Lily said smiling, having a bit too much fun.

"Uh, it's not romantic and that's really all there is to it, now we should really get back to Jett or else he'll think something's up." Carissa said, getting more worried by the second. What was he thinking right now?

"Uhhh, you are so obviously stalling." Lily said groaning. "So, you'll tell me the whole story after school. Deal?" She asked, holding out her hand.

"Deal. I have to tell you something after school anyway. Now can we please go eat lunch." Carissa said, shaking Lily's hand.

"Yeah, just expect a whole lot of smirking, giggling, and embarrassment." Lily said, walking away, already starting with the giggling.

"Great." Carissa said sarcastically as she opened the door to the lunch auditorium. 

She walked in and found that Jett wasn't the only person sitting at the lunch table now besides Lily, Willow was sitting next to him. She felt a pang of jealousy hammer her heart, but quickly shoved any thoughts of it away once she got closer.

"Umm, hi Willow!" Carissa had to clear the thickness out of her throat. She hoped that she sounded cheerful enough.

"Hi! Wait..." Willow narrowed her eyes at Carissa, then immediately smiled as realization hit her.

"You're the girl who burned her hand in Alchemy!" Willow said, much too loudly.

Jett smirked, "Guess you're not much of an alchemist."

Willow formed a water ball in her palm and gently threw it at Jett's face, "Please excuse my cousin."

"Wait cousin...." The corners of her mouth couldn't help twitching at the sudden realization....maybe she had a chance after all.

"Yeah, my dad is Willow's mother's sister." Jett explained, wiping his face with his sleeve and sending a cool sharp breeze at Willow's face. He was a Guster. That's why he wanted to know where Lady Gale's room was! But...she was an advanced Guster mentor. He must be good!

"Ohhh....I see..." Carissa responded. And as a matter of fact, when she looked at them a little closer she noticed their eyes were the same shade of blue and that their face features were almost identical! The only differences was that Willow's hair was dark brown and straight. Also, very long. Her hair covered her whole back.

"Well, anyway welcome to our table!" Lily happily announced. Carissa tuned out everything else Lily was saying and ate her food as quickly as she could, occasionally stealing glances at Jett. Then as soon as she was done she used up the rest of her lunch time to walk around the halls, pondering about the note. She forgot about the picture of the beach they showed her...showed her. No leap crystal.

"It must be close, it must be." Carissa muttered to herself.

"What is?" Carissa jerked her head around, to find Jett trailing behind her. Heat rose to her cheeks.

"Ummm..." Carissa stammered.

Jett laughed, "It looks like you're looking for buried treasure and trust me all your gonna find here is school books." Carissa couldn't help but smile. Jett caught up to her and now was standing right next to her, matching her pace.

"Well, can I help?" Jett asked, looking at her.

Carissa didn't want to get him involved in whatever this was, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings...

"It's really only a problem with my parents." Carissa shrugged, which was kind of the truth, "They're just not telling me something..."

"Maybe I can help!" Jett persisted, "C'mon, you may be surprised." Jett sped up in front of her and blocked her from walking anymore.

"Willow and I are pretty good at riddles." Carissa frowned.

"How did you-" Carissa's words were lost, when Jett held the mysterious note between his two fingers, smirking. She repeated her question.

"It was in your back pocket and I noticed the symbol on the back..." He flipped it over.

"I've heard my parents talk about a black swan..." He whispered, suddenly very close to Carissa.

"I think I can help. Willow too." He said. Carissa locked her eyes with him. They were full of pure determination. He really wanted to help...

"Fine." Carissa sighed. "Lily and I were planning on meeting up at my house after school to talk about the note, you and Willow can come to."

"I'll be looking forward to it." He smiled. "See ya after school!"

"Oh! And-" He turned back around, smirking. "Hope you don't have any alchemy accidents today!"

The ends of Carissa's mouth twitched and she smiled. Then she headed back in the other direction towards her final sessions.