Lily Annabelle Cullen: A What If Story

Chapter 34: Witch Hunt

(Lily's POV)

The next day I wandered throughout the whole school taking mental notes of every student's thoughts. Of course, I got approached a lot by others asking me if I'm okay and what happened and just being nosey. Most of them I brushed off. Those were the ones looking for gossip. I chose not to go to any of my morning classes so I could fully investigate. I was going to find out who was responsible. They almost hurt Kavina. Her mom made her stay home today at my suggestion. I wanted her to be away so I could catch on to the thoughts of the witch I'm looking for.

My theory is that someone has a crush on Kavina and seeing her holding my hand yesterday made them upset to the point that they wished me harm. I looked at the clock on my phone and sighed. The lunch bell was about to ring in a few seconds and I wasn't any closer to finding the witch. I walked to the cafeteria to wait for Victoria, James, and Laurent. The bell rang and soon the hall was flooded with students heading to either specials or lunch. Not long after the bell rang did they meet up with me outside the cafeteria.

"Hey, Lily! We missed you this morning." I nodded at James.

"Yeah. I just wasn't interested in going to class this morning but didn't want to be absent from school today. So I hung out with my counselor this morning. She said I shouldn't miss lunch though."

"That makes sense. You always go there when you don't go to class. Are you really okay though?" All three of them were concerned about me. I smiled at them. Both Laurent and James blushed while Victoria was a little dazzled. I used my most charming smile so I could subtly use my ability to ease their worries.

"I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for worrying about me you guys. I appreciate it." We quickly made it through the lunch line and sat at our usual table. I sat staring out the window while picking at my fruit salad. I drank a lot of blood last night and this morning to replenish my energy from using my abilities so much. So food wasn't as appealing right now.

"Excuse me. Lily?" A soft-spoken voice interrupted my aimless thoughts. I looked up and saw a fourth grader named Delilah Winston standing at our table. She was the prettiest girl in fourth grade. A lot of the boys liked her but she rejected them all. Equally the girls both loved and envied her. She has long blonde hair, creamy ivory skin with a small spattering of pink freckles on her nose, and dark teal-colored eyes. "Is Kavina doing okay? I didn't see her today." I tried to read her mind but gave myself a mild migraine. She flinched as well.

"I talked to her mom this morning. Kavina is staying home today to recover. Right before the light burst above us, she collapsed to her knees. Her mom just wants to make sure it isn't anything serious before she sends her back to school." She cocked her head to the side. She almost seemed like she didn't believe me. Curious, I tried again to read her mind, this time a bit more aggressively. It felt like I was banging my head on a brick wall. Delilah began to look like she was in pain. She put a hand to her head like it was bothering her and looked around worried.

"Lily! Your nose!" I stopped and looked at Victoria and then began to feel lightheaded. I touched my face. My hand came away stained with my blood. I grabbed some napkins from the table and wiped my face. Then I pinched my nose and looked back toward Delilah but she was gone. She must've walked away while I was distracted.

"Don't worry. It'll stop in a moment. I guess I actually do need to eat some more."

"You should go to the nurses office." I shook my head and looked at James.

"If I do that, they'll just call Esme or Carlisle and send me home again. I get nosebleeds a lot so I know it isn't anything serious." I began shoving fruit into my mouth. Besides, I need to follow Delilah after school so I can't afford to get sent home. I might have actually found my witch. After lunch I had P.E. I told the teacher I had a nosebleed during lunch and she excused me from participating today. It gave me time to plan my actions. I decided I needed a way to escape from Edward. So I texted Alice.

She responded immediately after I sent the text and said she would tell Edward that she's taking me out after school. That covers that. I spent the rest of school in a daze. I was mentally watching over Delilah. She talked to a lot of people but apparently had no friends. No one even knew much about her personal life. From what I remember seeing, she gets on a special school bus. She's the only one at this school that it picks up.

"Lily." I brought myself out of other people's minds and back to class. James and Laurent were standing in front of me. "You're nose is bleeding again and school is over now. Is Edward coming to get you? You can wait in here while we go get him."

"That won't be necessary." I looked up as they turned around and we saw Alice standing there. I smiled at my big sister. "I'm here for my little sister today. Edward had an errand to run after school." She smiled and picked me up out of my seat. She wiped my face with a baby wipe that I didn't notice in her hand.

"Thanks Alice." She quickly winked at me.

"Have a good day boys!"

"Bye James! Bye Laurent! See you tomorrow!" I waved as Alice walked us to her car. Once settled in the car she turned to look at me from the driver seat.

"Why are we following a school bus?"

"We are following a student on the school bus. I have business with her." Alice nodded and started driving. We drove around for a while until Alice made a decisive turn onto a street I was unfamiliar with. She slowed down as we pulled up behind the school bus that Delilah was on. We followed the bus two blocks before it stopped and dropped off four students, one of them being Delilah. They all went into the same house. Alice drove to the back side of the house and stopped out of sight from the house. I closed my eyes and found the thoughts of one of the students that went into that house. His thoughts let me know that they were all adopted.

The kid whose head I'm in, his name is Kyle, and he happens to be a child of the moon. Two of the kids that were dropped off were twins and they were half-children of the moon. Their names are Trinity and Taylor. Their adopted mom, whose name seems to be Agatha, was a witch. And based on everyone else's thoughts, I was right. Delilah is the witch I'm hunting. Everyone knew about each other apparently and knew about the existence of vampires. There was no way to get in without being caught.

"I'll have to take a direct approach. This is a house full of immortals. Three children of the moon and two witches."

"So we just walk up to the front door and knock?" I nodded. She drove around to the front of the house and parked. As we walked up to the front door, we heard the wolves snarl at our scent. Agatha opened the door looking defensive.

"Your kind isn't welcomed here I'm afraid. I will have to ask you to leave peacefully."

"Since when was a fellow witch not welcomed? Especially after the commotion Delilah caused at school yesterday for me and another. We were hurt by the exploding light." Her jaw stiffened as she realized I knew, and because she didn't know what happened at school yesterday. I kept my smirk at bay but I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. Delilah came to the door looking at me in shock.

"You! You were the migraine?" I nodded. She glanced at Alice and then back at me.

"Delilah, this is my adopted sister Alice. Would it be too much to ask for a moment of your time, pretty Delilah?" I batted my eyelashes knowing that I didn't need to. Both she and Agatha are looking at me with suspicion and curiosity. Hook, line, and sinker. I mentally sighed. No more talking about fishing with Charlie. Delilah started to shake her head but Agatha interrupted.

"If you have business with my child, then you have business with me." I shrugged my shoulders not caring who I had to talk to at this point.

"Fine. Shall we speak out here or should we take this somewhere more private?" Agatha guided us into the house and to the kitchen. I could hear the children of the moon bristle at our entrance. I looked up the stairs as we passed them and grinned widely. There was nothing they could do to me and they thought they could intimidate me. Alice just followed me since I could "see" what would happen. She couldn't  "see" the children of the moon and since they were tied to this conversation, she couldn't "see" how things would turn out. I could and was relaxed since it was nothing. As we all sat at the dining room table, Agatha gestured to me and I began with the question that I wanted the answer to the most.