Witches in Training (#2 in the Witches Trilogy) [rewrites ongoing]

Chapter One: Late for Breakfast

VERA

"Vin?" I whisper into the silent darkness. "You up?"

Vinni flops over in bed to give me a pointed look. "No, Ver, I'm sleeptalking." She says dryly.

I turn over to face her. "Vin, I think I'm okay with being a witch now."

"Took you long enough." She mutters. At this time in the morning (approximately four a.m.), Vinni is generally irritable and grumpy, so I ignore her dry sarcasm.

"I'm only twelve."

"Well, it's a good thing you're okay with it, then, I can't imagine what would happen if you started sprouting powers and still deny it."

"What did you do when you found out what your power was?"

Vinni groans and pulls the blanket over her head. "What's will all the questions, Ver?"

"It's just..." I trail off.

Vinni's tone softens. "It'll be okay, Ver." She says. "Just go back to sleep, you'll feel better tomorrow."

I smile ruefully, but close my eyes and try to do just that, but I'm restless and kept up by this nagging worry.

I don't feel comfortable here, in this supposedly secure society. Vinni too, but maybe that's because she's hated it from the start. They say she's free to use her powers any way she likes, free to express herself, but then there are the rules.

You cannot use your powers for reckless use or gain. You cannot leave the community without specific clearance from a Board member. You must not wilfully destroy or vandalise the property of the Community. You must this, you must not that, you can only this, you can only that.

The Board, is, as you would expect, a council of big-shot officials within the Community, led by the vampire Parker McAvoy, who, according to him, is like a kazillion years old. He's more the typical vampire than Vinni's friend Melbourne-who's a vampire as well and is tanner than half the people in California-with pale skin, a tall lean frame and possible creep slicked-back brown hair and dark emo eyes.

Parker was nice to us, but both Deanne, another of Vinni's friends, and Vinni could both tell that he's a sneaky vamp with a lot of hidden secrets.

On the other hand, Parker's Phoenix sister, Alix, is super nice and looks twenty (she's really about ninety three, but she's more or less immortal like her brother) with bright red hair and real silver eyes. Our mom thinks everyone here is like Alix, nice and welcoming and open and friendly, but Vinni says she's got to be kidding. She says half the adults here are hiding something and that the half that aren't are just all-round suspicious.

I listen to my sister a lot nowadays. Maybe it's instinct, or maybe it's the fact that I practically spend half my day with her now. She's really busy during the day, her schedule packed with trainings and stuff, and more crammed than anyone else here. It's like they have some hidden agenda behind keeping her so occupied. I share a room with her, I eat with her, and I guess after three years of living together so much, you stop worrying about who has the TV remote.

Thoughts run through my mind, scrambling themselves and jumbling into an unreadable mass as I drift off to sleep.

It seems just minuted after I fall asleep that the lights snap on, glaring and white and dazzling, and Vinni sits up blearily, checking the time. "Seven fifteen," she grumbles as she swings her legs off her bed, "for once I'd like them to be inaccurate." Every weekday morning, the system wakes us up at 7.15 a.m. If we don't respond to the light, a siren blares. We learnt that the hard way our first week. And if that doesn't work, people come in to get you up.