In Vendetta House (The Vendetta Series #1)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Aunt Nelly is the first to recover from her shock. She glares at Courtney until Courtney picks up her friend and helps her out.

"Okay, everyone. Why don't you all go prepare for dinner while I talk with Ariel," she commands, coming over.

She clasps a hand around my upper arm-a little too tightly, if you ask me. Her nails are digging in and leaving crescent marks. I wince as she ushers me upstairs to where I presume is her office, leaving everyone else to slowly recover and start moving off. I just manage to bend down and grab my fallen beret.

We walk through a dimly lit hallway with creepy portraits hanging on the wall: the kind where you feel as if the eyes are following you everywhere. As we go through more hallways and up more stairs, we pass so many dorm rooms and classrooms it feels like we're walking through a labyrinth. Left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right and repeat. What's worse is Aunt Nelly doesn't say a single word the entire way and I had no idea what just happened.

"So, it's nearing dinner already? Where does everyone eat?" I say, trying to ease out of the awkwardness Aunt Nelly's silence was creating.

"Dining room, ground floor," she says, and we lapse into a silence again.

We arrive at a door. She gently but firmly pushes me in.

"Sit," she orders. I sit obediently, while she paces the room.

"Soooooo...." I drag on, "What's up?"

"Ariel," she says, giving me a serious look. How do adults do that without looking constipated? "I don't think you understand the seriousness here."

I roll my eyes. "So explain to me. Why was everyone staring at me like some freak?"

"This isn't normal Ariel, no one has every demon power. How do you think you're going to be able to contain them all? Return to society?"

"How about I just not contain them at all? You know, use them like I'm supposed to?"

"That's out of the question, Ariel. You're here to contain your powers and that's final."

She rummages her desk loudly and I heave a giant sigh. There really was no getting out of this.

Aunt Nelly finds what she's looking for and hands me a handful of anklets. I take them and spread out the six-each with a different color-in my palm. I'd admit I am hugely skeptical to wearing them. After seeing what it did to Indigo-Streaks by doing something as little as moving my beret, what if it gave me a giant shock by accidentally using my powers? However, I had to win Aunt Nelly's trust, that was my only chance of escape. Refusing to put these on would be trouble. Besides, she'll probably just knock me out again and put them on me herself.

"Cute," I say, "I thought I had eight powers, why only six?"

"We invented these anklets by doing a before and after, to confirm it works. Say we had two fire-users, that's orange in case you're wondering. First, we let one wear it and one go without, then we see the problems of the wearer and alter the anklet with a third fire-user, fix the problems on a fourth and so on until the last wearer was significantly more in control than the non-wearer, a chain effect you may say."

That made absolutely no sense to me. But I pretend I completely understand. "Okay, so...?"

"You'll learn a lot by not interrupting, Ariel."

"Whatever. I'm rude. I get it. Go on."

"Anyway," she continues. "As I said before while introducing you, you're only the second spirit-seer in the entire house, hence two people cannot make a spirit-seeing anklet. As for the other mental power, that goes by the color red; telepathy. Also only two including you."