The Young and Gifted

12. dragon flame

Kaura laid in bed, staring at the ceiling with her earbuds in. But somehow, Mason's words spoke louder than the music itself. You're not as bad as they all think you are. It sort of gave her reassurance, validation of her character. To this day, Kaura struggled to accept who she was but those words...

She pulled out her earbuds and sighed. She opened the door and made her way to Hope's room. Kaura didn't bother to knock and pushed the door open. She froze when she saw Hope. "What are you doing?"

Hope rose, taking a glance at Kaura before continuing to pack. "I'm leaving. If the monsters are after me, it's better if I go back home with my family. Aunt Freya will help me figure out what's happening. I'd rather not let anyone here get hurt because of me. What are you doing here?"

Kaura's words got caught in her throat. Despite the fact that Hope was angry hours ago for what happened, there was no hostility towards her right now. Instead, she seemed tired and almost...disappointed. Kaura actually wasn't sure what she was doing there until the words fell out of her mouth. "I changed my mind."

"What?"

"I'm going to do the spell so that we can understand what is happening with the monsters."

A small smile crept upon Hope's face. "Thank—"

"This changes nothing. I will always hate you for having them and I always hate you for taking them away." That was all she said before slamming the door behind her.

*

The twins were gathered up in the study, preparing the spell. The witches that were going into Kaura's mind were Hope, Lizzie and Josie because they both descended down from powerful witch bloodlines. And with Kaura's Bennett-Parker genes, someone had to able to sustain it.

So they prepared the spell, sitting in front of candles and began cutting their palms. Ric and Dorian supervised as they chanted, "Ut det portal, et fiat infra animam viventem in tenebris."

Mason, Raf and Landon wanted to be around as well but it was past bedtime and Ric ordered them to prepare for school tomorrow. They grunted away but the girls doubted they obeyed the order.

"This shouldn't be hard, it should be near your most recent memories," Lizzie said with attitude.

"Lizzie," Ric warned. "Kaura is generous enough to even let you do this, be kind."

She huffed but didn't say another word. Before Josie could bend down to blow out the candles, Kaura jerked her hand out with panic and demanded, "Wait."

Ric turned to her with concern. "Whenever you're ready to change your mind, don't hesitate."

You're not as bad as they think you are. "I am not changing my mind," she stated. Kaura took long deep breathes, her lips shaking. "I just need to breathe."

Hope watched her, realizing that she was scared. She squeezed their linked arms and nodded to the witch. Kaura ignored it and blew the candle out herself.

*

Hope and the twins emerged in a long white hallway with red doors on the sides. They glanced around the space, and Lizzie rolled her eyes with a groan. "If she couldn't get any more messed up."

"Lizzie, you're being rude," Josie pointed out.

"Since when do you care?" Lizzie crossed her arms with a challenge.

"I've always cared, you just never ask me. But this is just crossing the line. Kaura obviously doesn't want us here so let's try to be civilized. If anything, once we're done here we should just forget it ever happen to give her her privacy," Josie offered with a shrug.

As the girls discussed and disputed, Hope slowly approached the first door. Like the other wooden panels, it was a bright lipstick red and the knob was a silver metal grey.

Lizzie pushed past her and grabbed the knob, attempting to turn it. Only she recoiled back with a hiss and a look of pain. "What the—"

Hope's eyebrows creased as she reached for the knob as well. But this time the door swung open easily. The girls looked at each other with a skeptical gaze and Josie muttered, "Weird."

As they crossed the threshold of the door, a melody began to play, floating around the room. It seemed to be a sweet lullaby of a jewelry box and they walked into the young bedroom. The room itself was very bland save for the occasional Totally Spies posters on the wall and the Winx Club toys and figurines laying on the floor.

"This is Kaura's bedroom from when we were kids," Josie crossed her arms, pacing around the room.

"This is obviously not what we're looking for so let's leave—" Lizzie was already turning around.

Josie picked up the doll with blazing red hair and big tacky wings. "You know, she threw so many tantrums to get this one. Mom and Dad don't know but she's the one who bent all the forks and knives in the house. I don't even think she realized she did it. All for one stupid Bloom of the Dragon Flame," Josie huffed, placing the doll back down on the bedside table.

"What is she doing right now?" Hope questioned as she approached the young Kaura, desperately scribbling at her table. The pen was moving at an insane amount of speed and determination was marked against her face.

As the girls approached, they swallowed deeply when they read the first couple of words. Dear Mom and Dad.

"This must be before mom told her about...what happened in New Orleans," Josie cleared her throat, uncomfortable as she rubbed her arms.

"Wait a second..." Lizzie said slowly. "If the first door of her memories dates back to over a decade ago...how the hell are we going to find the one that we need?"

The music started to sickly play again, a broken tune to the calm silence in the air and the girls were brought back to the front door.

"I think Kaura's memories are structured differently," Josie voiced, staring down at the endless red doors in the white hallway.

Hope began to walk down rapidly, sparing a couple of glances to the side before continuing forward. Lizzie tried to keep up with the pace as she said, "What does that mean?"

"It means it'll be harder to find the one we're looking for." Hope swallowed.

~

"We will win or lose this battle together, no matter what comes next."

try to guess who said it and don't forget to vote ;)