Under the Moon - Book 1 in the Bewitching Moon Series

Chapter 16

It was around six in the evening when I finally got a call from an unknown number.

"Hey, who's this?" I asked, already knowing who it was.

"The person who you left a slip of paper in their bag." I hear Marabella say on the phone. I smiled to myself, this girl wasn't the best at riddles.

"Oh hey, Marabella! I was starting to think that you would never call." Which was true, school ended like four hours ago.

"And what if I never found that slip of paper?"

"Well you did, so it doesn't matter."

"Yeah, sure, so what are you up to?"

"Nothing much. You?" This conversation wasn't really getting anywhere. Was this what all phone calls were like? It's so awkward.

"Same, I just finished my homework."

"Oh shoot, I should probably start mine." I already finished my homework from school, the actual homework I was referring to was my mission and trying to find out every piece of information on her to see if it matched with my notes. But she didn't know that, and now thinking about it, it seemed a little stalkerish, but I guess that's what being a spy is.

"Dude, it's like six, how have you not started your homework yet?"

"I just wasn't in the mood man. But I promise that I'll start it now."

"Yeah, go do that."

I heard a knock on a door coming from her side of the line.

"Hold up, my mom wants me." I heard Marabella say before the call was put on hold. I sighed, I had no new information on her that I could use to connect the dots.

It wasn't too long before the call was taken off hold.

"Hey, I actually have to go."

"It's ok, I needed to start my homework anyways."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye."

This phone call was a dead end, I had no new information or even a better relationship with her. If Marabella was Diana Ciro's daughter I was going to need at least a good friendship so that I would be able to track her in the future if I needed to.

***

I continued to hang out with Marabella in my free time, trying to learn more about her and build up a relationship with her.

We actually became really good friends over the course of a month or so. I could tell she only really trusted me as a friend which I felt bad about because I was deceiving her in every way.

Marabella had told me about her mom getting engaged, and other family matters. I've even been to her house a few times to study, although I didn't really need to study because all my classes were too easy.

My guilt seemed to build up. I tried to think about how she was most likely deceiving me by not telling me that she was a witch, but that didn't work to clear up the guilt.

The guilt clouded my head, and I actually considered telling Marabella. It wouldn't be a too bad idea as long as I told her in a secluded area. But then again, there was always this 0.1% that she wasn't a witch or even Diana's daughter. That would screw everything up and I would get caught. But I was mostly sure that Marabella is who I am looking for, so it can't be too much of a risk to tell her.

I decided that this was the only way to clear my guilt, so during lunchtime, I am going to tell her to meet me along the beach. It was mid-December so no one would be there.

***

"Hey, Marabella!" I called out from behind her, hidden by the crowd of people. When she finally spots me, she waves. I sit in the empty spot to her left.

"So how has your day been," I say, trying to start off casual. I pull out a bagged lunch from my backpack. I decided to try something new today instead of ordering lunch, plus I had to save the money Queen Anastasia gave me.

"Same as usual, I beat Jake again in Mr. O'Conner's Monday Spelling Bee. He's probably still pissed."

"He always is," I respond, chuckling as I take a bite from my sandwich.

As Marabella and I were chatting casually, and I tried to find a good time to tell her where to meet me, I saw something white with a touch of red hitting the back of Marabella's neck.

She reaches for it and a look of disgust forms on her face when she realizes it's covered in ketchup. She took a few deep breathes to calm herself down before opening up the piece of paper. The disgust on her face went from annoyance to pure anger. I looked over her shoulder to see what it said.

'You don't always have to be an annoying show off' I knew exactly who wrote that, and I could tell Marabella did as well.

She whipped her head around and I turned my head as well. Jake was laughing hysterically with all of his friends.

Marabella gets up like she's ready to march over to their table and show them who's boss.

"Marabella, it's just a note, you really should calm down, and..." I try to reason with her. Especially if she was a witch, the anger in her could cause her magic to go haywire. This could put her in a lot of trouble, and possibly kill her if the government got their hands on her.

"There's no 'and' Aiden, I'm done with this kid. I'm going to show him that he messed with the wrong person." She says in return, anger leaking from every word.

She stomped off to Jake's table, where he and his friends were still laughing.

"What is your deal!" I could hear her shout at them, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Well, why can't you stop trying to be a teacher's pet and a show-off" Jake responds cooly, he was pushing Marabella's buttons, this was definitely not going to end well.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a dumb moron you could actually beat me for once in a stupid spelling bee!" Marabella shouted. I got up to get to her and calm her down. She threw her arms in exasperation, and a force so strong hit me and sent me along with a few other people, trays of food, and backpacks into walls. Even a few tables skidded across the cafeteria. Shit, this was not good. This proved that Marabella was a witch, and most likely Diana's daughter, but now the whole school knew, and soon the government. If she didn't get away quickly, she was going to die.