Finding Anamaria

Chapter 19 - Time Is Growing

There is 2 weeks left and less than 24 hours until Anamaria turns 15 years old. Time is passing. Ashton and Gretel are still trying to plan how to stop Maximus and save Anamaria. While Ashton and Gretel are trying to plan, Dante tries to make a potion in order to save Anamaria and make the Satanic Witch reveal their true self. Beatrix secretly helps Dante make a potion under Anamaria's watch. However, Anamaria has no idea and dies to see Maximus. Seth keeps Maximus distracted the same way he always has distracted him and tries to find new ways to keep his attention.

Gretel lies awake in her bed paraphrasing what she read last night with Ashton. "Bad childhood, Satanic father, deal shake..." She repeats to herself over and over. She turns to Anamaria's side and see her sleeping peacefully. Gretel sighs watching her sleep and gets out of bed. Quietly she tiptoes herself to the bathroom. She sighs looking at herself in the mirror thinking about life. Her eyes blood red from tiredness and her skin pale from stress from all this chaos happening around her. As soon as she gets out of the bathroom, she notices Anamaria's bed is empty. "CRAP!" she mutters under her breath. Gretel quickly puts on her shoes and runs out of the room.

As she runs through the halls, she bumps into Ashton. "Gretel!" "Ashton! Have you seen Ana?" "No why?" "As soon as I left the bathroom, her bed was empty and I didn't hear her get out of the room." "You don't think..?" Gretel nods her head in concern "Uh-huh.." "Crap..lets find her!" Anamaria smirks watching them both run to find her.

When Anamaria turns around, Maximus bumps into her. He shushes her and watches them leave. He checks his surroundings to see if anyone they know is near them. "Come on, I know somewhere we can go where we won't be found. Stay low." She nods and follows Maximus. Maximus leads her to a door that is an exit behind the school where students practice their magic outside. He looks around for somewhere to sit. He sees a small hill and decides to sit on top. Anamaria sits beside him "It's been so long. I don't understand why they are trying to separate us apart." "Who is separating us Ana?" "My brother, my best friend, everyone." she says looking down at the grass. "Well... he sighs grabbing her hand if they are separating us, only you know how you truly feel about me. And if you feel a strong way for me, you shouldn't let anything get in the way. No matter who or what it is." he smiles holding her hand. "Even if it's my own brother?" "Even if it's your own brother. Think about it. You turn 15 in two weeks. You are old enough to make your own choices. You don't need anything or anyone's acceptance, as long as you accept." She grips his hand a little tight. "You're right. I really shouldn't. But at the same time, they are just looking out for me." "Ana...look into my eyes.. she slowly turns and stares into his grey eyes I would never do anything to harm you on purpose or get anyone involved to do that.. he places her hand over his heart my feelings are real." She stares into his eyes and slowly leans in to kiss. He clears his throat. "What is it?" "I would like to kiss you, just want to save it on a special day." She smiles and nods. Anamaria leans her head on his shoulder and watch the sun rise above the horizon.

Gretel and Ashton take a break from their search for a while and decide to eat breakfast. They both get their breakfast and sit down at an empty table. "No luck huh?" Gretel sighs "Not even close." She opens the Strawberry Jelly and spreads it around her toast. Seth comes along with his breakfast. "Hey guys, how's your morning going?" Ashton scoffs."It's going alright. Ana is missing." Seth eats his cereal and thinks "Strange because Max is missing too. I passed by his room and he didn't answer." "I was awake before he was." "Pretty sneaky." Ashton grips his egg and sausage sandwich hard making the sausage ooze out. Gretel clears her throat noticing "Ashton..you're hurting your sandwich." Ashton drops his sandwich on his plate and gets up "I need to go before I blow up in front of you guys and I do not want you guys to see that. Excuse me." Gretel looks down at her toast understanding his tension.