Hidden Magic

Chapter Seventeen

"Karinna! Karinna! Answer the door! You know what, I don't care if your pixie tries to attack me! I'm coming in!" Monica's shouts wake me from my dream, a dream I knew hadn't finished yet, I sit up groggily on my bed, not remembering how I got there.

Those strange men, I remember Makin somehow put me to sleep, forced me to endure that dream again, for some reason that none of them would tell me. I am drawn from my thoughts as my door bursts open and Monica comes storming in, I can tell by the slight wince on her face that she is ready to be dive bombed by a territorial pixie. I hear the pixie's doors fly open so hard they bang against the wall, no doubt the pixie was about to attack her. "Come in, Monica!" I shout it out quickly, and the pixie buzzes with tension, just a foot from Monica's face, before slowly floating back to its home, knowing Monica had been invited and was not invading.

"Oh, thank Sira! I was not relishing the thought of being bitten by a pixie again, I already did that once in first year, I never want to experience that again, but I was worried about you, we haven't seen you in almost a whole day, why didn't you answer the door?" Monica both stares at me with relief and glares at me with annoyance, it was an interesting combination to say the least.

"Monica!" I hear the hissed whispers from the door, and Monica rolls her eyes, glancing back at the door that I can't see from my place on the bed.

"Oh, none of you are willing to be bitten by a pixie to see if our friend is okay? Maybe you should all just wait out there then." I laugh at her snarky comment, knowing she didn't really mean it.

"By all means, whoever is at the door, may come in." Monica turns to stare at me with a pout, upset that I had invited them in. Astra, Ariel, Rebecca, and surprisingly enough Amalia come rushing into the room as soon as they are invited, and they know they won't have an enraged pixie coming flying at them in attack. "What are you guys all doing here? I was just sleeping in, I don't see how that is cause for worry, considering it's the weekend." How I wished I could tell them about my dreams, how I hadn't been sleeping in willingly, how the dreams had forced me to sleep, to endure them until someone woke me from them.

"Sleeping in? It's nearly one o'clock, Karinna. We didn't see you at supper last night, or breakfast today, and after hearing how you had an incident during gym, how could we not be worried?" Astra frowns at me in displeasure, it surprised me that even with how distant I've been with them lately, that something like this still worried them enough to come seek me out.

"Please don't tell me that everyone in the school knows?" Amalia winces and I already know my answer before any of them even speak.

"Of course, everyone in the school knows, but that isn't even the important thing! Ezekiel Thorne has been waiting outside the Sira branch entrance since last night! Insisting on seeing you! What did you do? He never shows interest in anyone! And that's not even saying he doesn't have options, being one of the founding families of this school, many girls in this school would love to have his attention for an hour, let alone enough that he is waiting all night just to speak to you!" I look down uncomfortably, having heard his last name and never really made the connection to who he was before, that he was apart of the founding families like me, except being a member of Zohar branch got him more respect than me being in Sira branch.

"No one let him in though, we in Sira branch know that if someone is asking to get in, and that person isn't around, they're likely avoiding them. We've all had our fair share of jealous lovers, so we know not to bring someone in uninvited, Amalia of course was different, being as she is your friend and not your lover." Ariel gives me a kind understanding look, making it clear that Ezekiel wasn't just about to burst in here, which I was grateful for, I mean he wasn't my lover, but I felt awkward in front of him.