Awakened (Unbound, Book 3)

Chapter Three

Luna's afternoon rush turned into an evening parade. When I poked my head into the café, she was running from table to table like a mini tornado, serving and clearing food from customers, only stopping to accept payment. It didn't seem like it would die down anytime soon, either, so I left the same way I arrived, and locked the door behind me. Since she hadn't known I was there, she wouldn't be expecting me to stay. Besides, I always said things I would regret whenever I talked without thinking about what I wanted to convey first.

Once I got into my car, all I wanted to do is drive to Briarville—my true home. The clearing would be a great alternative, but if I went there, there was no guarantee I'd leave again. So I pulled onto Main Street and headed in the opposite direction of Dwyer Manor, a.k.a. "prison", and drove in circles around the town until supper time had long since passed.

Nobody came out to greet me when I gave into the inevitable and went home just after eight. I ran straight to my bedroom and shut the door. With my memory came my powers, which meant locks weren't necessary to achieve uninterrupted privacy. All I did—all I had to do—was a simple visualization, and I was guaranteed no interruptions.

It was new, being able to use the Craft so effortlessly, but so easy. I couldn't even remember why I couldn't embrace it, and the fire that had scared me was a distant recollection. All the people who couldn't handle it and went to my mother for help... none of them were me. I could not only handle my abilities, but by controlling them, I could pick up exactly where my mother left off. If only she'd been around to see me accept it.

That is, once I come clean about my memory and having abilities, which I couldn't do until the prankster was put in her place. Then I could out myself and figure out what really happened to my mother—having powers could definitely help me with that endeavor, not to mention what I had to do with Zachariah's ominous revelation about Devland.

Ignoring Onyx following me, I went to my desk and sat down, and let the bag lay at my feet beside my chair. I leaned forward, rubbing my hand under the middle desk drawer, and visualized it expanding downward like an inversed desk elementary students used where the top lifted to store supplies. Of course, this was made by magic only I could manipulate instead of being manufactured, but I couldn't keep using heat registers to hide secrets. It's like, the bigger the problems you had to hide, the better the spot had to be. And if Onyx showed me where to look, what was stopping her from showing someone else?

The cabinet descended and I pulled out the top file folder without needing to glance down. Then I pulled out my mother's first Book of Shadows from my bag and set it to the left of the folder, leaving just enough space between so each could open without overlapping. After being given charms from Devland to "help" me forget, it had been easy to use magic to spell personal items so that they couldn't be revealed or opened by anyone else.

I didn't need the Book of Shadows, but ever since I retrieved it, I had to see or feel it at all times, or I couldn't relax. At the Manor, the book could remain visible—nobody was coming in without my say-so—and at school, it kept my back warm sitting at the bottom of my bag. For now, I opened the folder and began methodically organizing the clippings I found about my mother's death, first by chronology, and then by what made sense.

It could be in a mound for how much information it lacked, never mind what I didn't understand.

The police and Aiden had said that my mother had died in a car accident with Zachariah and Opal at her side. I always thought that meant she'd been hit by another car. Since it hadn't happened during winter, and both rain and ice weren't a factor, what else could it have been? An accident. That didn't explain why she rammed a concrete pillar head-on, or how nobody was found inside of the car, but on the ground—with bruising attributed to having worn seatbelts.

The fact that Luna said Zachariah is alive was beyond my investigative skills, especially considering I saw his body—in the morgue.

One-by-one, I read every clipping again, but found no new insights. It doesn't make sense. Even if she somehow lost control, my mother was a High Priestess. Zachariah was her mentor... and Opal was trained to protect against all things human and supernatural. Why wouldn't she use her gifts? Why hadn't Opal intervened if she was attacked? What the hell was Zach doing? If he couldn't die for good like Luna said, he should have laid down his life first to give my mother a chance, no matter the cause.

What was I missing?

I glanced down to Onyx and sighed, and then got up, retreating to my bed. Onyx jumped up, circled, and plopped down, making me laugh. "In a minute, Girlie." I pulled down the covers and called over my shoulder as I went through my bathroom into the dressing room. "Let me change and wash my face. Then I promise it's bedtime."

Ten minutes later, I came back and stopped at my desk for my mother's book before climbing into bed. Disappointed I had learned nothing new but satisfied that the clippings were back in the file and hidden in the drawer, and that I had searched as meticulously as possible, it was easier to focus on the problems needing immediate attention. Not that those riddles were any easier to solve. If I had my mother's entire collection of Books of Shadows, I'd get the help I needed, but that just presented another issue without a solution. Where are they hidden?

Someday, if I was old or wise, I'd write this down for others to learn from. Take knowledge as it's given, no matter what it costs, or you'll end up like me: powerful but ignorant. Strong of essence, weak of skill, and feeling oh-so-horribly alone in a world void of trust.

Sorry it is shorter. I will be posting the next chapter more quickly and I promise it will be more :p Don't forget to let me know what you think so far. What do you think will happen now that Nora has most of her memories back?