Amethyst

Chapter 12

Zane's POV

Weeks went by and nothing happened.  There was one occasion where we thought that another arson attack might have been linked but it turned out that it had been an accident.  We weren’t sure if the council had hit a dead end and couldn’t pin point her or they had already known where she was and had just decided that they were going to sit and lie in wait until she was at her weakest. 

Whatever the reason, for the next three months we were constantly on edge.  It affected Lea and I especially, never knowing if a moment might be our last together.  We tried desperately to hide it from one another but it was obvious not only to ourselves but to those around us.  Mum on more than one occasion found herself having to comfort me though she didn't know what was worrying me.

I hated not being able to talk to her about it because I knew that my behaviour was playing on her mind.  She often asked if there was something wrong between me and Lea or if something had happened at college though I reassured her there was nothing, nothing i could tell her at least.

In the time that Lea and I spent together, we spent a large part of it preparing ourselves for when she eventually had to leave.  Though her family took over the larger arrangements, to feel like I was helping in some way I’d bought Lea a pair a doc martins.  All though they weren’t the most graceful of shoes, they were so hard wearing that no what she had to deal with I knew that she’d be able to cope with it.  She wore them every day just in case she needed to leave and she managed to turn those chunky black boots into the ultimate fashion accessory, girls all over the college wearing a pair within a month of her being seen in them. 

I also helped her pack her bag.  I made her a list of the absolute essentials and the things she didn't own I went and got for her.  Though her family insisted that I needn't have gone to such lengths I felt much happier knowing that when she did have to leave that while she was gone part of what I had done would help her.

I sat with them as they planned for a speedy departure.  It was decided that Michael and James would go with Lea while Peter and Mia remained in Holyhead.  Though the initial idea was for all of them to leave they decided that the trail left behind by five people on the run would be too easy to track.  Instead her parents had decided they would stay and hold off the council as long as they could.

Her mum also spent a lot of time researching ways to trigger the change by reading through a whole library of spell books which had been passed down to her.  These books contained information about the witch who had owned them and information about their change was well documented in most. The only link she could find between those that changed early compared to those who waited years were that their lives had been in danger.

As a way to preserve themselves the change was forced and it allowed them to change prematurely.  Mia even testified to this as she had been in a car crash when she had changed, in doing so she was able to escape the car before the petrol tank caught on fire.

However there was an issue with this plan.  Not all of those who were in life threatening situations had under gone the change, in fact one section in the back of a book was solely dedicated to those that had died before they were able to mature, among those names were the people who had died trying to control their powers before they were able.

The risk that came with putting Lea in that kind of a situation was not something that we were willing to bargin with.  It seemed that her only option was to run and hide until the change came to her naturally.

Through all this hardship it was difficult at times to focus on the positives but Lea always reminded me of them when things got difficult.  With Lea spending so much time around me she was starting to get along with John and Luke while even finding the confidence to make her own friends.  A girl she became especially close with was a girl called Bella from her Art class.  Eventually the two became so close that Bella joined us at lunch almost every day.