Starstreak

Voicemail

I woke up while Zara was still sleeping. I check my messages. I had 16 missed calls? And they're from the guy who tried to scare me yesterday. I thought. Whoever they were, they were incredibly persistent. "This guy doesn't seem to want to take no for an answer," I muttered quietly so I didn't wake Zara. 

Whoever this guy is left a voicemail. The smart thing to do would be to just delete the voicemail. But I decided to play it after Zara went home. 

"Raven, I'm glad you aren't causing any more trouble. This voicemail can only last up to 3 minutes so let me get right to the point. I need you. Have you ever wondered where you got your powers? I'll explain. Your family has a curse. No one knows how your family got this curse exactly, but basically, every girl in the family gets the curse, unnatural superhuman powers. No one quite knows why the females were given these powers instead of the males but that's not the point. Your ancestors were powerful and hard to control. And you are the first to have these abilities in 200 years. Of course, there's more to the story, but I don't have a lot of time. I run an origination that could make use of your gift. That's all you need to know, and I need a way to . . . how do I put this . . . enhance my staff if you will. So, I need you. And I intend to get you." The voicemail ended. 

I didn't know what to think. I needed to sit down. Am I really just supposed to believe this guy? What's gonna happen to me? I started hyperventilating. I couldn't breathe. This was way too intense. I grabbed my phone and speed dialed Zara. 

"What's up, Raven?" Zara said happily from the other end of the line. 

"I don't think I can do this anymore," I said, trying to hide the fear that was trickling into my voice. 

"Wait, what? Raven, what happened?" she asked calmly. She has pretty much always been better at controlling her emotions (Well, I guess if you don't count yesterday). I, however, would prefer to lose my temper and break someone's nose (which I have done, by the way). 

I explained the voicemail to her. "He knows me somehow, Zara. This has gone too far. There's only-" I choked. 

"Look, it'll be okay. For now, just ignore it and if it gets any worse talk to your mom or me, okay. What can she do if you cry? Call the police?" 

"Do you think he was telling the truth about my powers?" I managed to croak out. 

"I don't know. Just try not to think about it, okay?" She reassured me. 

"Sure. See you later, Zara." 

We hung up. It's not like me to do that. I'm usually pretty tough. I've never been that scared before. Was my new power messing with my head? What was happening? 

I spent the rest of the day trying not to think about the voicemail and staying in my bedroom playing with Nyx and Selene. They usually help me calm down and for the most part, it worked. I sent Zara the voicemail so she could analyze what it said and started searching for the "Black-Briar Curse" (that's what she decided to call it, much to my displeasure) or anything related to it. Zara had promised me that she wouldn't tell me anything about it until I'd calmed down and, to be honest, I was glad to hear that. 

I woke up the next morning feeling nervous about the school day. I threw on a plain white tank top and black jean shorts. I went to the living room and grabbed my usual black sneakers with a dark purple stripe on each side. I went through the rest of my morning routine while humming Paradise City by Guns N' Roses. 

On the way to school, I worried about accidentally revealing myself to the entire school. Zara did her best to help me calm my nerves while we walked to school together and she succeeded, for the most part. The main thing I was worried about was keeping cool around Brittany, who loves pushing my buttons in the entirely wrong order and trying to get me in trouble. It's not that I didn't want to pummel her with balls of light, but a true superhero wouldn't abuse their powers. That sounded really stupid.