The Awakening of Eve Rose // ONC 2024

Chapter Four

The couple gazed at me as if I had sprouted three heads. The red-headed man open and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say. The blonde woman cocked her head.

I stared back at them, waiting. I hoped my eyes conveyed the confusion that I felt.

"You really don't know about this?" the woman questioned, waving her hands through the air.

"No, I really don't," I answered, exasperated.

"You have got to be joking," she replied.

"I am not joking. So please explain what the hell happened because my head is about to explode," I retorted.

"I'm Rayna," the woman offered. She pointed at her companion, "and this is Conner."

I waited for more, but they both stared at me. "And?" I prodded.

"And we just saved your life. You should be more grateful for that," she huffed. I shook my head; how could I express gratitude for something I didn't understand?

"Rayna -" Conner started, his eyes narrowing.

She held up her hand in surrender and sighed. "Right, sorry."

Conner turned toward me. His eyes softened as he took me in. "Where would you like us to start?" he inquired. Something in me instantly relaxed. I trusted him.

"Look, I appreciate you saving me. I really do. But I just don't understand what it was or why this is happening," I answered. My mind raced as I tried to decide what I wanted to ask; a million questions filtered through. I finally settled on. "Who was that guy?"

"That was Duncan, and he is a warlock," Rayna explained, keeping her answer short, sweet, and to the point.

"A what?" I asked, unable to process the information.

"A practitioner of the dark arts," Rayna scoffed, losing her patience. I shook my head, skeptical. Her pale cheeks flushed. "Goddess, you're daft! You know, dark magic!"

"Rayna!" Conner scolded. " I apologize for my cousin's brashness. She forgets herself sometimes. But she is right about Duncan."

I shook my head. "Magic isn't real."

Rayna and Conner looked at each other with concern.

"It is. Magic is all around you, is an ancient force that flows through everything. For most people they can ignore the signs or play them off as something else. But witches and warlocks, well in short, we can tap into it and use it," Conner assured.

I shook my head. This was ridiculous. Witches, warlocks, magic, it was all make-believe.

Next, they would try telling me vampires were real.

"They aren't," Rayna scoffed, reading my mind.

I shivered. "How did you do that?"

"Magic," Conner answered for his cousin.

I opened my mouth to argue, but nothing came out. If it weren't for the pain radiating through my body from the ordeal, I would say this was all just a bad dream.

"After everything you saw, how can you possibly question this?" Rayna questioned, reading my racing mind.

"Because this is the real world, where you can't just wish your problems away. Or create something from nothing," I replied, finally finding the right words. "Things like this are fantasy. And besides, why would anyone come after me for anything? I am nothing."

The couple stood before me, speechless. Rayna glared at me as if I were the biggest inconvenience she had ever seen. It was a look I was all too familiar with.