Fateful Signs (Ballad of the Seer, Book Three)

Chapter 1 - Seventeen Days & Counting

With Lily gone, life in Ashland had become tedious. Nothing was the same to Dianna. The last seventeen days had all blurred together in a never-ending cycle of school, homework, and cheerleading practices. She had even considered getting a job, just to have something to do. That was how bad it had gotten.

        Besides feeling abandoned by her best friend, Dianna was also dealing with Jack, whose sudden mood swings were seriously whiplash-inducing. To a certain extent, Dianna understood his sullen behavior. After all, he had retriggered his curse and set loose a monstrous hell beast that couldn't be contained. Now, he was paranoid that he might hurt someone.

        Still, Dianna was not the type of person who dealt well with rejection, no matter how good the reason behind it. Jack had become so distant lately, barely even touching her; it was almost like she didn't have a boyfriend at all. If things didn't change soon, she was seriously considering making that a reality.

        That's not to say that Dianna didn't still love Jack. She did. But she didn't know how much longer she could handle him pushing her away. Their relationship had been reduced to a series of tepid, half-hearted conversations about nothing important. Of course, holding everything in that way wasn't healthy, and it always led to a screaming match - most of the screaming being done by Dianna - while Jack tried not to let his temper get the better of him.

        In fact, Dianna had just left his house after precisely that sort of encounter. She yelled at him for a solid five minutes about his sulky attitude and his serious lack of communication skills. And what did he do? He locked himself in his bathroom, as if she weren't even there. She yelled at him for that, too, before leaving in a huff. He didn't even bother coming out to tell her goodbye, which made her want to grab his baseball bat and hit that stupid, handsome face of his. She wished he would just tell his dad. Who better to understand his plight than someone who'd been through the same thing? But he was the broody, suffer-in-silence type.

        As Dianna sped toward town square for some much needed retail therapy, she wondered what Lily was up to. Probably some fantastic magical adventure that would solve everything and allow her to come home. At least, that's what Dianna hoped she was doing. She needed her best friend back to help her figure out what to do about Jack. Lily was much better with that type of thing. Dianna may have known more about boys, but Lily knew better about magic things. Surely Lily could get through to Jack where Dianna couldn't.

        When Dianna opened the car door, the wind blew her hair into her face and her mouth. She spit it out, sliding her sunglasses on top of her head, to act as a makeshift headband. She still hadn't adjusted to the new haircut - it fell to her shoulders now, which was much shorter than she typically wore it. She had been feeling so blah about everything, and she needed to make some sort of change. Everything in her life was so static. It was driving her crazy. Her hair, at least, was a change that she could control.

        Dianna grabbed her purse and got out of the car. She started in the direction of Threads - her favorite shop in town, that carried the best vintage clothes - when she spotted a couple of the town's new occupants strolling down the sidewalk in her direction, as if they were just any ordinary citizen. However, Dianna knew the truth about them. She pulled her sunglasses back over her eyes and ducked into the electronics store to avoid them.

        Dianna pretended to examine the shelves in front of the large picture window as the two witches passed. Dozens of them had arrived the day after Lily ran away with Duncan, on order from the Council of Witches, to search for her. Now, the town was overflowing with witches in every shape, size, and color.

        Dianna was the only person who could pick the new arrivals out of the crowd. Some sort of spell - similar to the charm that Ian had used to pretend to be a student at St. Steven's - had been cast to make them blend in. They were forgotten the instant people looked away from them. It obviously worked very well, since no one ever made mention of them. Sometimes Dianna felt like she was in one of those science fiction movies that Bobby was always trying to tell her about. The witches were the aliens who had invaded Earth, and Dianna was the only human who knew about it. It added to the loneliness that she had been feeling for a while now.