“
Alyssa
let
’
s help your mother clear the table an
d then we can talk in my office,
”
h
e says as he slides his plate away a bit.
“
Are you kidding, I fully intend to tackle this with my hom
e grown v
ersion of magical maid,
”
Mom
says
send
ing
us a witchly grin
,
“
s
o you and Alyssa talk and I will bring
you
tea in a bit.
”
My
father
’
s
office is made of a rare dark wood with leather furniture spread throughout. The walls are decorated with unique masks from
China
,
Egypt
, Africa,
Ireland
,
Russia
and
Australia
plus
many others. He says there is a story behind each mask, very much like people and their many faces, with different beliefs, cultures, and backgrounds.
I sink into one of my favorite chairs, soft as a cloud.
“
Dad, this human guy at school was able to see me when I shifted next to Lisa. I know I was cloaked because he was the only one that saw me except Lisa. Lisa shifted away just seconds before
he walked up to me
.
”
I explain and
I slide further down into the chair, feeling like a little girl again.
“
What
is
this boy
’
s name?
”
He inquires
as he pulls his leather chair closer to the desk.
“
His name is Marc Colton, well, his full name is,
”
I clear my throat and attempt to sound like h
im. “
Marcus Dela Dante
Colton
.
”
I
finish smiling at my own antics.
“
Indeed, how interesting.
I believe his parents are international lawyers and quite good from their reputation. I will look into this
more thoroughly
. Does this Marc Colton show an interest in you, Alyssa?
”
Before I can answer my mother walks in with a tray of tea.
“
Did I hear you say Dela Dante?
”
She asks as she sets the tea down handing out cups and grabbing her own.
“
The Dela Dante coven use
d
to be one of the oldest covens in the witch world.
”
Father adds.
“
Years ago the last of the coven died in a car accident.
”
“
But D
ad, he is human, not a witch, and he could see me. Is there something wrong with my magick?
”
I ask expectantly.
“
Lisa and I have always been successful in cloaking ourselves and usually Megan, but I have noticed that we are not as strong if we are not all together.
”
“
You are stronger in numbers, but
it
’
s
not usually necessary to do a simple cloaking spell. I don
’
t think there is anything wrong with your magick at all.
”
Father sits there staring out the window in deep thought. Mother answers
,
“
I think this is something we should look into, I don
’
t believe your father and I know the
Colton
’
s
’
per se
, but
the name Dela Dante is still a very old witch name.
”
My father looks back over at me and adds,
“
We have told you of the seven covens in our world
, Worthingtons
, Oaken, Willowshire, Breechman, Venusians, Ashwinds, and Heavans.
”
“
There once
was an eighth coven up in the n
orth
country
.
The coven had d
irect descendants, true bloodline families
who
all of a sudden started dying off. One by one the bloodline of this coven began to vanish until there were only two left. These two were special
, being
lifemate
s and
both
were
true
bloodline
s
as well
.
”
“
How sad, does anyone know who would do that to one of our covens?
”
I ask with true concern. I begin to wonder to myself,
if that could happen to one coven
,
could it happen to
another
.
“
There was an unprecedented investigation by the
witch
council and we tried everything to uncover what happened, but unfortunately nothing concrete
surfaced
. We
concluded
that it was an internal power struggle,
something
against our code, but none the less, they killed each other off.
”
“
In truth,
”
mother
con
cludes
,
“
n
o one really knows what caused such a travesty and in the end
,
it made the other covens fully appreciate all that they have.
It
never happened before, to have an entire coven completely disappear such as the Dela Dante
’
s did.
”
“
That is why I
think we s
hould learn more of this family,
”
D
ad
concludes.
“
I am very intrigued by the story of an eighth coven and I
’
ll see wha
t I can learn from Marc. He
asked me to go
out;
I know I need to be careful about attracting too much attention though.
”
“
Well then, perhaps you could invite him to the track next weekend?
”
Father says with an i
nquisitive raised brow. Mom
and I look at each other in a state of wonder.
“
Ah,
okay
,
”
I say hesitantly, shrugging my shoulders
,
“
I mean why not?
”
“
Is he cute?
”
Mom asks with a
genuine
smile, already knowing the ans
wer from the look on my face.
“
That
is
settled then, next weekend you and Marc will go to the track. Does he have any idea that you drag race?
”
Mom asks as she collects
the tea cups.
“
Not a clue.
”
“
Good, a little mystery is always exciting
,
”
she resolves
as she takes the tea to the kitchen.
“
I
’
m
going to head up and get comfy,
”
I tell father as he smiles at me and then
he
drift
s
back
off into thought again.
Chapter 5
After a steaming hot shower
,
I pull my covers back on
the
bed
,
then
r
each over and check my messages
. I have two messages, one
from Megan and the other from Lisa.
I call them both and conference
us
together
. “
Megan, I especially want to
thank you for your help in this, y
our lovely intro to Marc.
”
Two sets of laughter echoes back at me after saying that.
Megan, still giggl
ing says
,
“
So
,
it worked did it?
”
I lay back on my pillow
unamused
.
“
Did what work, Megan?
”
m
y voice is a little harsher than I intended
, but
she knows I really d
o
n
’
t want attention from humans
anymore
than
necessary.
Megan clears her throat and says,
“
Look, the guy apparently has the hots for you
,
Alyssa. Marc asked about you
,
so I
decided
what could it
hurt?
”
I roll my eyes
inwardly
.
“
Just to remind you, I
’
m a big girl and I definitely don
’
t need a drop dead gorgeous human guy hot on my tracks.
”
Lisa says trying to hide her enthusiasm
,
“
He is hot, isn
’
t he Alyssa?
”
Megan g
i
ve
s
a
n
incredulous sigh
. “
Well, if you want my opinion
,
don
’
t knock it until you try it.
”
I shake my head
in irritation and rub my temples
. “
Yeah
,
yeah
I have other things on my mind
right now
, in case you forg
e
t we
’
re witches not sirens, Meg.
”
My mom knocks
lightly on the door and ask
s
,
“
Am I interrupting girls?
”
“
Hi Mrs. Worthington
,
”
Lisa
and Megan chime together.
“
Talk to you tomorrow
,
”
they
say in unison again and hang up.
Mom sits on my bed next to me.
She takes
my hand in hers and looks into my eyes
. “
Your
Father is a little concerned about you at the track tomorrow night
, you
are welcome
to stay here with me. We haven
’
t had a
girl
’
s
night in a while.
”
My mother rarely ever goes to the track with
us;
she enjoys being home whenever she has the opportunity. Usually she and the other ladies from our coven are over doing healings, spells
o
f protection, and blessings. I use to stay with her when I was younger and that
’
s how I learned to do many of the healing spells
. They
came in very handy for me to know since I was always burning my fingers and hands when I first started using my fire element.
I had to learn fast how
to control the flow of energy.
Contain the fire into a steady pattern and not out of control in full force at five hundred degrees or so. I worked on control until I could hold the fire in the palm of my hand without being burned.
I begin thinking ab
out the witches of our coven.
We don
’
t get sick or have any diseases. My mother and father are among the few alchemists left to conjure and mix remedies for the well being of our kind. My mother even create
s
an all natural herb
al
remedy to replace the chemical agents found in the modern
“
pill
.”
So I don
’
t have to be concerned with the sexual aspect of my life. It also answers the question why I
’
m the only child.