Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) (2 page)

Slowly, she began to return to her old self, and even though her bubbly personality was not my usual type, I found myself loving each and every second I was around her.

“Good morning my beloved brother and his beautiful girlfriend,” she greeted, prancing towards us.

Blake rolled his eyes and I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear. Not at the beautiful comment, but the one about me being Blake’s girlfriend. Even though Blake and I had not discussed the girlfriend/boyfriend title, we were certainly that. I think when you each travel through time, risking your lives to save one another, titles become irrelevant.

“Good morning Abby,” Blake said. “You are
extra
chipper this morning.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I be? I have the most amazing family and my favorite student is an all-powerful Astoria.” She winked at me, taking a seat beside me at the table. “So are you ready for another day of my torture?”

I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at that comment. “It’s not torture Abby. I told you, I want you to do your worst on me. If Blake would allow it, I probably wouldn’t sleep so you could drill spells into my brain all night long.” When I found out that I was not only a witch, but a very special and powerful witch that only exists every two hundred years, it made me feel like I had to try even harder to perform and be successful.

It felt like Blake’s stare was burning holes right through me. After turning towards him, I saw the look of disapproval and frustration in his eyes.

“I’m just trying to give you some balance, Meredith. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself. You need to relax a little more and trust that it’s all going to work out,” Blake’s face softened as he spoke.

“I’ll make you a deal. When the day comes that I can defend myself and actually say a spell correctly—with no slip-ups—then I’ll find some balance.” My tone was serious. I appreciated all that Blake had done for me, how he always had my best interest at heart, yet I didn’t like it when he told me when and how hard to train. I knew what I was capable of and confident that Abby would never give me more than I could handle.

“Give yourself some credit,” Blake said, still trying to reassure me. “You’re doing very well, especially under the circumstances.”

By
circumstances
, I assumed he meant that I should give myself a break considering it was only a couple months ago that I found out I was a witch. That my entire family had been witches and that they had died at the hands of two men who were trying to kill me in order to take my power. Oh, and not to mention being transported back over a hundred years of time, too. I guess all of that should allow me to be a basket case, right? Sure, it was scary and confusing... but in a weird way, it also made all the sense in the world because I had never felt like I belonged anywhere until now. What helped more than anything were the two people sitting beside me. It was clear to me that I would never be able to repay them for all they had done for me.

 “Are you all ready to go?” Abby’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

“Uh, yeah. Let me just get my bag,” I said, pushing my chair away from the table.

As I walked out of the kitchen and into my bedroom, I could hear Blake and Abby whispering to each other... Actually, arguing would be more accurate. As much as I wanted to stay and listen in order to find out what they were saying, I was already pretty sure it was about me and I was also pretty sure I had heard variations of this argument before.

Since it was clear that I would be more of a permanent fixture here at the Harper estate, Samuel and Annette—the best parents Blake and Abby could ask for—insisted that I should have my own room; my own space. I hadn’t been excited about being separated from Abby or Blake, mainly since the only available room was located on the first floor, near the kitchen and far away from the both of them on the second floor.

After grabbing my bag, I stuffed my journal underneath a pillow and headed back down the hall to the kitchen. Before turning the corner, a sound distracted me. I followed the noise down the hall and into Samuel’s office. Samuel sat in his desk chair murmuring something to himself as he tore through a book in front of him.

I cleared my throat, making him aware of my presence.

He fumbled around on his desk for a moment, covering the book he was just rushing through. “Oh, Meredith.” He seemed flustered. “Good morning. How are you?”

I fidgeted with the strap on my bag, suddenly feeling embarrassed that I had just barged in on him. “I’m fine, Samuel. How are you?” It always felt strange to call him by his first name, but he’d insisted on it when we first met.

“Oh, I’m doing fine... just fine,” he answered. It seemed that he was trying to hide his flustered demeanor and I had to admit to myself that it was unusual, because he normally exuded calm.

“You sure? When I walked in, it seemed like something was troubling you. Maybe I can help?” I felt a little bad for prying, but I wanted to help if I could. I always felt like I owed the Harpers so much. They had risked quite a bit for me and now I was living in their house. It never seemed like I would ever be able to repay them for all of their kindness.

“It’s nothing, but thank you for offering.”

 I hesitated, wanting to ask if he was sure, but it was clear that he didn’t want to tell me. “Okay. Well, Abby and I are headed out for the day.”

He smiled. “Tell Abby to take it easy on you. I know how tough she can be at times.”

 “She’s not that bad.” I shrugged.

“Oh, she’s that bad.” He laughed gently. “I’ve seen her in action. She can be quite demanding when it comes to her role as a teacher. Maybe you’re just tougher than you give yourself credit for.”

I smiled timidly, said goodbye, and then proceeded back towards the kitchen where I found Abby and Blake still sitting at the table.

“Don’t tell me how to train my students.” Abby’s voice was barely above a whisper, but her tone was bitingly cold.

Abby’s head jerked up when she noticed me standing in the doorway. She stood up quickly and shoved her chair under the table. “Ready to go?” she asked, irritation pouring out of her.

The tension in the room was thick. Blake turned around to face me and a small grin appeared, revealing the dimple on his left cheek, which immediately made me feel more at ease. “Have a good day in training. Don’t let this one work you too hard.” He jerked his head in Abby’s direction.

Abby rolled her eyes and stomped towards the front door. It killed me to know that they were arguing about me and I felt guilty because I cared for them both and I didn’t want to see either of them hurt or upset. Despite only knowing Abby for a few months, she had become like a sister to me. The connection we had—that I had with all of the Harpers—was unmistakable, and I knew there was something between us before I even found out about my destiny. Now that I knew what I was and that they were the ones chosen to help guide me, it created an even stronger bond between us.

Abby and I were silent on our walk to Steer Swamp. She still looked annoyed and even though I wanted to ask exactly what their argument was about, my gut instinct told me not to butt in. Instead, I tried to focus on our lesson from yesterday and wondered what new lesson she had in store for me today.

It was times like this when I wished my flying was better. We could have skipped this long, awkward walk and just got to training already. Abby decided to put my flying lessons on hold until I could defend myself with spells a little better. She said that it was more important for me to learn how to protect myself from dark magic, rather than run away from it. Abby had also decided to designate Steer Swamp as our official training grounds. It was where we had trained a few times back when I originally found out that I was a witch, so it seemed natural to continue using it in 1905.

After walking through a maze of trees, we approached the clearing. The area was not as developed as it was in my time, of course, but it was still covered in trees, and was still the safest place to practice magic.

As usual, Abby already had everything set up. I walked over to the blanket she had laid out and picked up the lesson plan for the day.

Resisting Mind Control
was scrawled across the top of the page. According to the council’s rules, mind control was not allowed and was only used by the witches who practiced dark magic. So, for those of us who practiced clean—
good
—magic, it wasn’t allowed; unless it was by a teacher trying to help a student learn how to protect ourselves against it, of course.

When Abby and I took our seats I noticed there were a few containers beside us, each of them holding different substances. I leaned over, peering into each of them, trying to figure out what they were and wondering how they pertained to today’s lesson.

“Come on, no peeking. You’ll find out what each of them contains soon enough.” She bit her lip, trying to hide a smile. I immediately wanted to question what she meant, but before I could get the words out, she began her explanation.

“Okay, you will really have to concentrate on this one. Learning how to block out the different aspects of dark magic can be complicated, but once you have it down, resisting it will become instinctual.”

My nerves caused my stomach to squeeze. It was a feeling I got almost every day we started a new lesson. Abby always made everything sound so easy, but I guess teachers are kind of known for that—making it look easy, building up your confidence, watching you fall flat on your face, then giving you a
good job
pat on the back as you try and pick up the pieces of your ego that are scattered around you. Well, that’s how it went with Abby and I anyway. She was always so positive when I didn’t get a spell down right away; telling me to just keep practicing and that I would get it eventually.

“Okay, so let’s start with closing our eyes and picturing a large stone wall.” Her voice was soft and soothing, making me feel a little more relaxed.

I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes and pictured the wall.

“Now, in your mind, build that stone wall to be the tallest, strongest wall that you can imagine. Let it wrap around your mind, your thoughts, your insecurities, your weaknesses. Let the wall block out anything that tries to penetrate it—don’t allow anything through—push against the fears, the doubt and the negativity.”

I took in a deep breath and attempted to focus on building the stone wall in my mind. I allowed it to grow until it couldn’t grow anymore. I pushed out any negative thoughts and weaknesses; not allowing anything but positivity through.
This wasn’t so bad
, I thought to myself. Maybe, just maybe, I could learn a spell on the first day and master it.

Or, maybe not.

Out of nowhere something cold splashed on my face. It left me gasping and trying to catch my breath. “What the hell was that?” I exhaled loudly, staring at Abby.

“Hey, don’t look at me. You did it to yourself.”

I looked down at my right hand that was now holding an empty container.

“You got pretty confident there, but you let your wall slip, leaving it easy for me to penetrate. I just made you pour a glass of cold water over your head, but imagine what dark magic could get you to do. You can
never
let your wall down when dark magic is around. They will seek it out, wait for you to be at your most vulnerable and then they will attack.”

“Let’s do it again.” I huffed, gritting my teeth and wiping my face clean.

“Dammit!” I shouted. “Why can’t I get this?”

Four hours later, it felt like I hadn’t made any progress. My head felt like it would explode if I concentrated any harder on putting up that stupid stone wall.

“Meredith, relax. You’re doing great.” Abby paused, looking at me with sympathetic eyes. “Maybe Blake is right.” Then she stopped and shook her head in disgust. “Eww… I really don’t like how those words sound coming out of my mouth, but I’ll go ahead and admit it. Maybe he’s right; maybe I’m being too hard on you and he’s definitely right about you being too hard on yourself. ”

I knew that they had been arguing about me this morning, but Blake couldn’t be more wrong.
I couldn’t afford to waste any time when I quite obviously couldn’t even get simple spells right, yet
. Most witches found out about their destiny and started training at a much earlier age than me, so I already felt way behind. That coupled with being an Astoria put an immense amount of pressure on me, one that I took very seriously.

I moaned and rolled my eyes. “Seriously, Abby. S
top
. You’re right, Blake’s wrong. Look at me. I’m struggling here. I’ve been at this for hours and you can still penetrate my mind. You can manage to make me do all sorts of horrible things to myself with no problem at all. Apparently, my mind is weak and is open for any kind of attack!” I took in a deep breath, striving for patience. It wasn’t in my character to get this frustrated so easily, but when it came to perfecting spells and learning my craft, my patience was limited.

“Not that I don’t
love
hearing you say I’m right and Blake’s wrong, but I think you need to give yourself a break. You’re way ahead of most students. I know you feel this pressure because you’re an Astoria, but it will take a while for you to come into your powers. You still have to learn like everyone else. Just so you know, you’re doing an exceptional job.”