Lithium

Chapter Five

Later that night, I laid up in bed, gazing through my window at the stars above. I thought back to what Aunt Gracia had told me earlier.

~ Flash Back ~

"Aunt Gracia...you're a witch as well, correct?"

"Of course. Not as powerful as your mother, but everyone in our family has magical power of some sort."

"Then I'm asking you, please teach me magic. I will take revenge for my parent's deaths."

There was a pause, a form of hesitation. I could see it in her eyes. There was something that was making her hesitate to teach me magic. Finally, she let out a small sigh and looked me in the eyes.

"Okay....yes, alright. I'll start teaching you magic tomorrow."

"Thank you, Aunt Gracia!"

And with that, I kissed her on the cheek and gone upstairs to work on my homework.

~ Flash Backs Ends ~

That was hours ago. Now, I was simply up in my room, staring out the window. My aunt had held on to the book, saying that she would keep an eye on it for me. I didn't really mind, as she was willing to teach me magic.

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The next morning was Saturday,  and I rolled out of bed around 10:00 in the morning. I rushed downstairs to find my aunt just placing breakfast on the table.

"Good morning, aunt Gracia." I said as I plopped down at the table. I took my food and began chomping it down.

"Woah, you're animated this morning." My aunt sat down across from me, sipping on a cup of coffee.

"I want to start learning magic as soon as I can."

"Alright, after you're done eating, go ahead and take a shower. When you're done, we'll start your lesson."

"Alright!"

I quickly finished my food, and hurried up to take a shower. After putting on a pair of jeans, and comfy dark grey, long-sleeved shirt, I headed downstairs to the living room. I found her sitting in the same chair as yesterday, but this time the book wasn't in sight.

I walked over and sat across from her. "Where's the spell book?"

My aunt smiled and leaned back.  "We won't be needing that in today's lesson."

"Okay...then what will we be learning about?"

"The history of witchcraft."

I stared at her blankly. "You're ... going to give me a history lesson?"

"That's right."

"So ... no magic?"

"That's right."

I blinked slowly. "Okay..."

My aunt straightened herself up. "You need to learn our history before our magic."

I sighed, "Alright, fine, proceed."

"Good. Now, our family dates back to centuries ago. And it wasn't until the year of 1000 that things began to go south. The Christian churches decided that witchcraft and magic were gifts of the devil, and went against everything, including God himself. In the 1200s, the official killing of witches began. The first recorded killing dated back to 1202, in which the first witch was burned at the stake. Of course, there were murders before that, but that was the first real witch those mortals ever caught. And so..."

I listened adeptly in the beginning. I promise you, I really did try to pay attention, but there was just so many things that kept catching my attention. Like the fly buzzing around the room, the soft sound of the occasional passing cars, and the way the light flicked every few seconds in the kitchen.

"...Faye, are you paying attention??"

I snapped back into attention. "Huh? Um of course I am! It's very interesting aunt Gracia! Please keep going!"

She stared at stared at me for a few seconds, accessing what I had just spit out. Finally, she sighed and went back to talking about the 1500 witch trials.

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The next day I woke up a little earlier, and raced downstairs.

Yesterday was history, so today MUST be practical use of magic!

I was right, but so very wrong.

I went downstairs to find my aunt already in the living room.

"So what's my lesson today, Aunt Gracia??"

"Our family tree."

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Day Three was modern day magic.

Day Four was how early magic influenced modern day magic.

Day Five was a lecture on the proper usage of magic.

Day Six was setting straight the myths mortals had on witches.

By Friday, I was grumpy and cranky. It has been nearly a week, and my aunt had yet to teach me a single spell. When I was teaching myself, I had already tried a spell within a couple hours of finding the spell book.

I shook my head. I knew I should be grateful for my aunt even offering to step up and teach me magic in the first place. Add that on top of everything else I already owe her.

I took the bus today because I felt like being alone in the morning. Because of this, I was in class for a while before school even started. About five till first period, Alaina walked in, and immediately rushed over when she saw me.

"Are you okay? You worried us when you said you were gonna take the bus."

I looked at her concerned face and forced myself to smile. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Even Alex and Jackson walking in couldn't brighten my mood. I was less grumpy and more disappointed now that the anger wore off.

"What's with the long face, Princess?"

Looking up, I could see Jackson studying my face for a minute. His eyes seemed to widen for a split second, but I decided I must've been imagining it.

"It's no reason. I'm just tired."

To my surprise even Alex was watching me with an almost concerned expression. Well, he didn't look as indifferent for once in any case.

I was silent for most of my classes for the first half of the day. At lunch, I decided to drop by the library to get a new book on my way to lunch. I walked in and headed back to the fantasy section as I usually did, when I heard what sounded like a one-sided heated conversation. Now I know, eavesdropping is bad, and I normally wouldn't do it, but I heard the name "Faye" come out, and that piqued my interest.

Sneaking over, I crouched as if looking for a book, and peeked in the next aisle over. In the middle of the aisle, there was a tall boy with messy brown hair talking furiously into a cell phone at his ear.

I'd recognize him anywhere ... just who is Alex talking to so adeptly?

"...Yeah, I just heard. *Pause* no, I don't. *Pause* Look, just be careful. We can't have her finding out too much." There was a pause again, and then suddenly his voice went deeper. "Be careful, Gracia. You know better than to step out of line..."

"Oh, Faye! Looking for another book?"

I startled and jumped about 10 feet in the air. I turned to see my favorite librarian standing behind me with a cart, stocking books in my section.

"Er, yeah."

"Well, we just got in a whole new series on elves and magic. Would you like you check the first book out?"

"Oh uh yeah, sure"

I accepted the copy from her and waited for her to walk away. As soon as she did, I quickly looked around the bookshelf. The aisle was empty; Alex was gone.