COLOURS || Seth Clearwater

FOURTEEN

Rosalie had to practically carry Lucinda home that night.

The witch and gotten herself absolutely hammered. Lucinda had done her best to avoid Rosalie in the club they'd found in Seattle, even tried to go home with someone. But Rosalie had caught her each time and forced her to drink a potion Lucinda had made for herself. One that made her instantly sober.

Because of that potion, she felt fine when she woke up the next morning. She absolutely hated it.

"How are you not hung over," Alice asked her from next to Rosalie as soon as Lucinda walked into the kitchen for breakfast. The witch only offered her sister a coy smile and sat down as far away from Bella as she could get.

"I'm a witch, darling," Lucinda chuckled, wiggling her eyebrows before quietly thanking Esme as the woman set a plate of pancakes down in front of her. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." Esme chuckled quietly and patted her shoulder, which made Lucinda smile.

"I don't doubt that," Rosalie chuckled. Esme frowned when she realized that the two were ignoring Bella, who was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal, but she didn't want to pressure her kids into liking someone.

When Rosalie stood up and went to find Emmett, Esme going to find Carlisle, and Alice in search of Jasper, it left Lucinda alone with Bella. She clenched her jaw in mild annoyance, then let out an unimpressed sigh. Lucinda dug around in her pockets until she found the bottle she was looking for.

"Here," she muttered, sliding it across it the table towards the human girl. "If you drink it up on the mountain, you won't get sick. I can't do anything about the cold, but that isn't my problem," she explained quietly, then stood up and marched down the hall to her room. Lucinda grabbed a box — one she'd enchanted with a spell to keep the bones inside from breaking down — and left her room with it.

"Lucinda!" She stopped at the sound of Edwards voice, and slowly turned to face him.

"What," she muttered, avoiding his gaze.

"Thank you." Lucinda stared at her brother for a moment, nodded with pursed lips, then left the house.

She walked through the woods, knowing them like the back of her hand. When she finally found what she was looking for — that being the stream separating Forks from La Push — she set the box down with a shaky breath. Sitting down on her knees, she allowed her fingers to trail across the intricate carvings before resuming her task.

Lucinda lifted the lid off the old teakwood box and carefully set it on the ground next to her. She dropped in a handful of acorns, tea leaves, and coal ash, making sure the last ingredient was sprinkled across the bones.

Lucinda stepped back, bringing her hands up and allowed the faint red mist to fall from her fingertips and envelope the box completely.

"Amissa Reducere," she whispered softly, clenching her jaw.

The purple mist lifted the bones from the box and placed them together correctly, and Lucinda watched as muscles and ligaments and veins slowly grew to cover them. Lastly, she watched as the beautiful orange, white, and black striped fur covered it's body, and the mist set it gently on the ground.

The Siberian Tiger let out a low snarl as it regained its footing, before walking towards it's masters side.

"Zara," Lucinda whispered softly, falling to her knees to stroke the top of the big cat's head. "Hello, my Darling." Zara purred and nuzzled her head into the womans hand, closing her eyes. Lucinda let out a faint chuckle. "It has been a long time, hasn't it."

"So, um, not to ask a stupid question or anything, but, why do you have a tiger?" Lucinda looked across the river, taking notice of the three men watching her.

She didn't recognise two of them, but she knew immediately who the third was.

He was the youngest — it was easy to tell with one look at his face — and he had messy black hair like the rest of them. He was the only one wearing a shirt, and his shorts seemed to be pants that had been cut off at the knees. She didn't recognize any of that.

It was his eyes.

They were the same eye's she'd see on the wolf in the clearing, almost two days ago. She recognized the soft warm colour of brown. It was impossible for her to not see it.

"Because she's my pet," Lucinda answered simply with shrug. A low rumbled echoed through Zara's chest, and Lucinda let out a low chuckle. "I know, love; but you can't kill them."

"Does anyone else find it even mildly alarming that she's talking to a tiger?" One of the boys asked, and Lucinda wanted to laugh.

"I think your pet's pretty cool," the younger boy cut in, shooting his two friends a dark look.

"Thank you," she mused, looking back down at Zara.

"Are you really a witch?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

"She literally brought a dead tiger back to life, that was a stupid question Seth," one of his friends snorted, and Seth gave them a blank look.

"Well, if you switched out the first letter for a different one I think it would be more accurate," Lucinda chuckled, smirking faintly, "but yes, that is what I am." Seth nodded a wide smile on his face. "Well then, boys, I'll be on my way." She picked up her box and walked with a sway in her hips, Zara close to her side.

"Wait!" Seth called, looked at her with pleading eyes. Lucinda turned to face him, tilting her head to the side.

"Can I help you?" She mused, arching a brow.

Seth smiled awkwardly.

"Would it be possible for me to talk to you before the whole thing goes down with the new born army?" Lucinda pretended to think, glancing at his two friends. She touched the small glass bottle hanging from her neck for a brief moment before tilting her head to the side and looking at him with calculating eyes.

"I'll tell you what," she chuckled. "If you somehow manage to live through this, I'll have a civil conversation with you. I'm not promising that Zara will be civil, or my other pets, but I will be." She noticed Seth swallow nervously at the mention of her other pets, but she only stared at him.

"That works for me," he nodded, chewing on his lower lip. Lucinda shot him her signature smirk, and walked away.

"She's something else, man," she vaguely heard one of Seth's friends say. "She'll need time."

"You don't see me running, do you?" Seth countered breathlessly and for the first time in a long time, Lucinda smiled.