How Soon Is Now

Part One - Chapter Five: The Divide Deepens

Amber stared at Nicola in thought, she had to admit that this was interesting to her since she hadn’t heard of anything like this before; she nodded her head having listened to everything that her friend had said.

“I won’t tell Lydia,” Amber said making Nicola stare at her confused, she hadn’t expected anything like this to ever happen; they were meant to keep their secret from the townsfolk and not interact with them.

When it came to the divide of the coven, Nicola had thought that Amber would fall under Lydia’s side not her’s; Amber laughed making the blonde watch her confused.

“You’re the first one of us to be able to do something like that by yourself… you really think I’m going to tell Lydia that you are more powerful than her,” Amber said, it would only bring trouble to the coven and they didn’t need more fighting than they already had.

Nicola nodded wondering why she was being so nice, she hadn’t realised that she had been using her powers without the group and she knew Lydia would flip when she learnt the truth.

Amber watched Nicola interested; she had always known there was something special about her, she knew that Lydia would never have the power that Nicola processed naturally.

“What do you want Amber?” Nicola asked, the two girls were completely opposite; not only did they both control conflicting elements, they were two very different people.

Amber stared at her for a moment before she shrugged and smiled at her sweetly at Nicola, who frowned; she didn’t know what to expect from the child of fire but she knew that she had to play nice if she wanted to keep things to get out to Lydia.

“I can be nice to other people…” Amber said making Nicola raised an eyebrow at her wondering what she meant by that; Amber chuckle as she looked at her deep red painted fingers nails amused.

“Listen Nicola… we may not like each other, but I can understand why you like to help people,” Amber said making Nicola nod; she continued to watch the brunette warily, not sure where this was coming from.

Amber sighed and rolled her eyes, she was often alone and she knew that by making this decision that there would be no going back; she was tired of hiding away from everything.

“I’m bitter… yes I get it, but I like what you do even if I don’t show it… a lot,” Amber continued, Nicola stared at her wondering what had gotten into the brunette; they had all known each other since they were little when their parents had been murdered.

The two women were silent until Miranda hurried into the bedroom, she looked confused at seeing Nicola and Amber getting along for the first time in years.

“Neena’s back,” Miranda said before leaving the room to tell everyone else the news; Nicola and Amber look at one another wondering if they had heard the other witch right.

***

Neena hugged her brother with a smile, they hadn’t seen each other since she had left to travel America; she pulled away and looked at the rest of her coven.

“It’s so good to see you all again,” Neena said while Lydia and Nathan move to greet her; they had missed the other witch and was glad that she was finally home.

Nicola leant against the wall as a chill crept up her back as she looked at the other blonde witch; she didn’t know what it was but she had a bad feeling now that Neena was home.

“What is it?” Miranda asked quietly as she peeked at Nicola, she wasn’t sure what had set the blonde on edge; she knew that Nicola had premonitions and they relied on her to do warn them if things were going to go bad.

Nicola frowned as she looked at Neena; she didn’t know what it was but there was something off about her; this wasn’t the same woman that had left and that fact alone put Nicola on edge.

“I have a bad feeling…” Nicole said softly as Miranda stood next to her; the two watched their coven fawn over Neena who was talking about her travels.

Miranda looked at the blonde worried, before there was a tinkling sound, she sighed turning to look at her brother who was frowning; the group turned to look at the heavenly swirl of lights appeared.

Nicola rolled her eyes as the man who appeared, she disliked Gideon due to his thoughts on how the coven should behave; he wasn’t acting like an Elder should and it made her nervous to around him.

“Neena… it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Gideon said approaching Neena who smiled at him with a glint in her eyes; Nicola frowned as she watched Gideon as he spoke with Lydia and Neena.

“Pompous twit,” Adrian said approaching Nicola and Miranda, he like his sister and friend didn’t like Gideon’s views on how they should use their powers; he favoured children from the Connors and Jones lines over the rest of them.

Lydia and the others all seemed to agree with him which often led to him visiting them; even if the elder council didn’t like it, it wasn’t something that they were meant to be doing.

Nicola nodded in agreement with Adrian’s statement, as he stood next to her; they watched as Gideon talked with Lydia, it set her on edge and she would never trust him.

“So how are things?” Gideon asked as he sat down on the couch, he smiled at Lydia who nodded as she picked Katrina up and sat down across from him; he was sure that she was the perfect leader for the coven of Hallows Town.

The cat fidgeted before she hissed at Lydia which caused her to drop her, Gideon frowned as Katrina moved away from the brunette to meow at Nicola.

“Things are going great… if Nicola would stop saving people,” Lydia said offering Nicola a glare, she was tired of things like this happening; it undermined her and it had to stop.

Amber rolled her eyes at the brunette before she spoke up, she didn’t see why they were trying to bring Nicola down especially when she had only saved a little girl from dying.

“Jealous much?” Amber said making a couple of the others look at her surprised that she was sticking up for Nicola; it was a known fact that the two witches didn’t like one another.

Gideon sighed and shook his head, he had hoped to pull Nicola off this path but it didn’t seem to be working; he needed her to fall into darkness.

“Why do you insist on ignoring what I have told you?” Gideon asked making Nicola roll her eyes; she crossed her arms and glared at Gideon, she disliked him and she hated how he talked down to her whenever he was visiting.

“Because I’m doing the right thing… I’m using my powers to help people,” Nicola snapped making Gideon frown before the blonde turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

It wasn’t another moment before Miranda, Adrian and surprisingly Amber followed after her; Gideon frowned as he realised the divide between the coven was deepening.

Neena glanced at him knowing that she’d have to help pull the others back to Lydia’s side and away from Nicola; the other blonde would be dealt with in time.

“Excuse Nicola, Gideon she’s forgotten how much you have done for us,” Lydia said knowing she’d have to speak with Nicole; the blonde was becoming more troublesome if she continued then Lydia was considering binding her powers.