The Burden on Her Shoulders

Old Friends, New Loves

Rosalyn doesn't leave Michael's side as she watches her mother scream in her unconscious state. But as the woman shows signs of waking up, she leaves. Michael follows after her. "Rosalyn?"

"I'm leaving. She has her family back." She almost runs to the elevator.

"You mean the witches? Rosalyn, you can't leave. Please. You don't know it yet, but this is just the beginning of the shit show. You don't know it, but our destinies have us as enemies, but it doesn't mean we have to be that way. I feel your power and I know you feel mine. We can change the world for the better. But not in the ways we were born to do.

"I know you felt the pain. Growing day by day as we got older. But when we finally met, it vanished. If we're separated again, it could be worse for both of us."

They're on the surface now, standing in the lingering light from the setting sun. "I know, Michael." She looks at him. "I can't bear going back to Rome. What should I do?"

A relieved look graces his features. "Come back inside. I'll contact my Miss Mead and I'm sure she'll . . . No, that won't work. I don't know what to do. Miss Mead would never allow you to stay with her. We'll figure it out, though. I'm not losing you again." He pulls her into a hug, his cape engulfing the both of them.

~

Rosalyn stays at Hawthorne with Michael the two weeks leading up his test. It's the happiest two weeks she's ever had. She feels loved with Michael. They are not black and white; they both live in the gray areas of life.

She is not all good, and he is not all bad.

Two days before the witches come back, the warlocks bless Michael with good luck for the test, but Rosalyn is forbidden from attending. Instead she sits in her room and reads until Michael comes back. She sits up when the door opens, but it's John Henry that walks through it instead.

"We need to go." He grabs her bag and begins putting her clothes in it haphazardly. "Michael isn't who claims he is."

"Wait! I know! I know everything!" She stops him. "I know who he is, but that's not who he wants to be."

He grabs her chin and looks into her eyes, which shine brightly with her love for the boy. "Well, that won't do." He snaps his fingers and she falls unconscious. "Sorry, princess. It's to keep you safe." He puts an identity spell on her before sending her to West Virginia.