The Devil May Tempt (Predicted:Unraveled)

Prologue

Dreams. Hallucinations. Visions... They seem to blur into one reality when Azura looks at Xander.

As soon as she starts to discover why, a whole new world comes to life... A world where she can, not only read Xander's mind, but also be in it-a power that worked solely on him...

But that was only the first of the discoveries she was still to make.

xxx

Prologue

Amelia stood in the open desert, glancing out at the horizon. She watched the sun as it lowered and dipped into the sand, leaving behind an orange glow.

The day was calm. No sandstorm, no gale; it was as if the Earth, too, was reminiscing at the death of Hayden.

"Come on inside, it's getting dark," said a soft voice from behind her. Dianne was acting like everything was alright. She didn't shed a single teardrop on hearing of her husband's death. She was trying to be strong for Amelia and her sister, but in turn, she was holding it all inside, and anytime now, it would explode out of her like a volcano, which wouldn't be good.

Amelia held the hand of her mother and led her into their house. As soon as she saw Xavier inside, her heart stopped. She didn't know he had come. Why would he come?

'Your father died, I had to come,' thought Xavier, peeping into her mind.

'I don't want you here. You've already caused enough trouble for this family,' she thought to him.

'Your heart says otherwise,' he thought.

'Stop it! Stop invading my thoughts!' Amelia projected back to him along with a frustrated vibration.

'If only you believed me, you'd know your thoughts are not yours alone.' He was absolutely calm, and something about his darkened eyes told her he was enjoying this.

Amelia was tired of Xavier. He got the best of her, since the very beginning, when they first met.

She was climbing the large stone near her house, and failing miserably. She had scraped her knees countless times trying to reach the top, but never succeeded. Her father had told her that he was the only one who could do it, and nothing got to Amelia more than the fact that she couldn't do something. Hayden, her father, had his own special way of planting his left foot in the crevice between the uneven ends of the rock. Her foot couldn't reach there, thanks to the heriditary height issues that ran in the female side of her family.

Amelia was about to give up, having scraped her elbows too, but then a hand appeared at the end of the rock - a muscular one. She didn't know whose it was but she wanted to grab it. She was willing to risk anything for the famous view from the top of the stone.

She took the hand, and as soon as she felt herself being lifted up, she let go of the stone. The strong hand led her up to the top of the stone, and helped her sit on the ledge. It was only a few seconds later that her eyes fell on the owner of the hand.

In that instant, her heart stopped. She did not knew this strange looking boy. Never had she seen a person with hair so golden, eyes so light, and skin so white. It was scary, almost. But how could she be scared? How could she be afraid of such beauty?

'I know I'm a strange creature to you,' said a deep voice in her head, with a strange accent that she had never heard. She didn't know how to react. Whose voice was that? How would he know what's going on in her head? How was he thinking to her? Was she just imagining things? Amelia's mind was spinning with questions. But everything indirectly pointed towards the boy sitting next to her.

Legends that her mother had told her of flooded her mind.

They are dark, dark creatures...

They can lure anybody, at any time...

They can turn into something so beautiful...

The salt will reveal their true faces...

"Hello, I'm Xavier," said the boy, breaking her out of her thoughts. The voice was exactly the same as the one that played in her head, with the same accent. Was he really a...Wizard? Could he be? She had never believed the stories, but this was strange.

"Amelia," she said anyway. If it was what she thought it was, she couldn't get it angry.

"That's a beautiful name," he said, taking her hand and kissing it's top.

What was he doing? Amelia did not understand why he kissed her hand. Was this tradition, where he was from?

'Yes it is... I'm from England, a cold land far north from here. I am not here to harm you. Only to meet you.'

What did he want from her? Why wasn't she running for her life? What was it about this boy that kept her in her place? Was he controlling her body?

'I cannot control you.'

"Stop getting in my head!" She shouted suddenly. She knew she shouldn't have done that. If at all he was a wizard, she would be dead for doing that. But he didn't kill her. He didn't do anything.

"It's not upto me. We're bonded," he said, confusing Amelia.

"That's absurd."

"Think as you may." he replied, standing up and jumping off the rock in one swift motion.

"Are you coming, Amelia?" he asked from the bottom.

She didn't know why she jumped, but she did. She was on edge around him, but she still trusted him for he had held her hand while trying to get her up on the rock.

*

'What do you want? Why are you back? I thought you went home for good,' she thought to him, pushing the memories of their first meet to the back of her mind.

'I did, but I had to come back. You were so distressed.'

'People die all the time.'

'Not Hayden. It wasn't his time yet.'

'Of course it wasn't! Your mother killed him!'

'No she didn't. It was someone else.'

'So you say...'

'I know who.'

'Who?'

'You,' Xavier thought to her.

*****