The Sea, The Sky, And The Devils Underneath

Chapter 22- The witch

Rowan, Cal and Lisa hurried off the bus behind Chelsea. They all stared at her as ahe skipped over to Sam and gave him a huge sloppy kiss on the cheek. Sam didnt seem to mind since he had the hottest girl in school on his arm. As Chelsea and Sam walked away, Chelsea turned around to see all three of them giving her a hard look. She gave them wide eyes and nodded before turning back around and trotting to class with Sam.
"Okay we have like ten minutes is it worth trying to find this witch?" Cal asked unoptomistically.
"Not really. We should get to class and then try find her at break" Rowan replied. They all shared a quick look with eachother before walking to class. The two hours went passed at a snails pace. Rowan kept banging her table with her pen and tapping her feet. She looked at Cal and Lisa who seemed perfectly calm, making her feel slightly rediculous but when there was one minute left she saw Lisa and Cal become a bit unsettled too.
"Bingo." When the bell for break went all three of them rushed out of the class room.
"Okay we have-" Lisa checked her watch.
"Twenty minutes to find the witch and get her on board."
"We should split up." Cal stated.
"Okay here is a picture of her." Rowan said as she held her phone up with a picture of a young girl on it. Her hair was short and black in a pixie cut with a purple streak going through her fringe which swept across her right eye. Her skin was pale and she had a silver ring going through her left nostril.
"Okay." Cal whispered with a rather disturbed look on his face.
"Lets go." Lisa added before they all ran off in different directions. Rowan checked the toilets first and then the seating area. It was crowded and busy. Not really somewhere a witch would hang out.
"Where would a witch go? They read alot so... The library? Cant be any worse than this place."  Rowan ran off towards the library. It was quiet in there and Rowan herself spent alot of time in there with Sam. She glanced over at a table in the far corner. Before she knew what she was doing she had wandered over to the table and was now tracing her and Sam's engraved initials on the table. A shadow of what once was. She lifted her eyes over to a book shelf where she saw the witch sitting. She had leaned against the shelves with her headphones in and her jacket hood up. Rowan slowly started to walk over to her but when she was only a couple of paces away the witch looked up. Vanessa looked right at her. It was like she was searching Rowan's soul through her eyes.
"Hello." Vanessa mumbled quietly. Her voice was like velvet but was deep and mysterious.
"What are you doing so far from home?" she asked looking back to the book she was reading.
"What?" Rowan was very confused.
"I would have thought you would be splashing around in the water. May i say you have very nice legs for a fish." she gesture pointing towards Rowan's legs.
"How did you know?" Rowan wondered, sitting next to her on the floor,  tucking her legs aside and pulling her skirt over her knees.
"I could see it on your face. You arent the first mer person i have met. And you all have the same look on your faces. The same deep, emptiness in your eyes. And if you know what you are listening for, the same sound in your souls."
"What sound?"
"The sound of the sea. The waves crashing, whales humming, sharks hunting, sea weed swaying. You have the soul of the ocean." Vanessa finished.
"I know what you are too." Rowan added trying to sound at least a little intelligent.
"Doesnt everyone? Well, anyone who notices me at least." Vanessa whispered looking at the book which was resting in her lap.
"Look, we need your help Vanessa. No one else can help us." Rowan and Vanessa stared at eachother, into eachothers eyes. Rowan could tell Vanessa was searching them.
"I will help you to defeat the demon." she spoke abruptly.
"How did you know? Like seriously this is really freaking me out now." Rowan was a bit flustered. This girl knew everything before she was even told about it. Rowan wondered what else she knew.
"I felt the demon's presence in the school the minute that boy arrived. Nobody believed me though. They just thought i was crazy. I knew someone would come to stop him i just didnt think it would be a hatchling." Vanessa scoffed.
"How come you couldnt tell i wa.s mer before then?" Rowan asked feeling slightly clever.
"I knew. I just never told you." her eyes wandered away to another book shelf. Rowan felt like an idiot. Of course she knew. Everyone knew what she was but her.
"Could you tell Cal was a Mer aswell? Or Lisa a child of the wing?" Lisa had told Rowan what her... Condition was called a few days ago. Rowan only had been able to use it now and she felt very sophiticated using it.
"I could tell there was something about Lisa. Her soul had a white glistening veil over it when i searched her eyes. It was so bright that i blacked out. The art teacher just asumed i  needed fresh air. Searching souls is dangerous depending on who you're searching. And as for Cal it was obvious. His eyes, his build, his shaky legs, and that time when he got splashed and ran to the janitors closet." Vanessa smiled at Rowan. She had a nice smile but it was for a very short period of time. It only lasted a few seconds before she frowned again.
"Anyway we've got off topic. Will you help us?" Rowan asked hopefully.
"Sure. But just remember this." Vanessa paused. She came closer to Rowan's face and whispered;
"If your gonna defeat the fire, you wont get out of it without getting burned." Her words were dark like they came from another dimension, full of meaning and are  something you must remember in order to survive. Rowan didnt know what to say.
"Lets go find your friends before they go on a wild goose chase." Vanessa said whilst standing up. She was wearing joggers with the school polo over it. Her jacket covered most of her face and she had a black rucksack slung over one shoulder because the other strap was broken. Her arms were full of books about withcraft and her headphones hung out of the the top of her unbuttoned polo shirt.
"How do you get away with that?" Rowan asked with a confused expresson on her face, looking Vanessa up and down.
"No one cares what i do. Now no more questions. Call your friends."
"We arent aloud our phones in here." Rowan whispered.
"You know what i mean." Vanessa mumbled giving her a rather i know more about you than you do look.
"Ohh..."
"Cal, i've found her."