Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter 10: Revelations

Thelma

I feel goosebumps begin to form down the nape of my neck at her words. What did she mean I was being hunted?

Madam Emma stands up and speed walks to another table in the corner of the room. She picks up a pipe and puts it in her mouth. She retrieves a lighter from her pocket and proceeds to light the pipe. I can hear her chanting something beneath her breath before taking a puff.

She walks back to where I am still sitting, her blue eyes looking at me as she takes a long drag of the smoke.

Is she really taking a smoke break? Now?

“Tash moesh. Tash moesh,” she chants before blowing a cloud of smoke into my face.

I wave my hand around to fend off the smoke without much success. I try to hold my breath and cough. What the hell? Suddenly I hear a ringing in my ears and something tapping insistently on the window.

Madam Emma walks over to the only small window in the room and parts the black curtains, which hang on a flimsy string nailed to the top of the window seal. I blink my eyes, now watery from whatever was in the smoke she blew in my face. When my vision partially returns, I see that same white raven, which appeared outside the diner, on the other side of the glass.

“A royal guide spelled just for you. Majestic,” Madam Emma says, a hint of admiration in her voice.

Wait! So the bird did belong to her? So had the bird told her about the danger-death thing too?

This is insanity. Birds don’t…no, birds can’t talk! I’m ready for a camera crew to jump up from behind one of the ancient furniture artifacts in here and shout, “You just got punked!”

“Is that your bird?” I ask.

“That is your guide, Thelma. A royal guide, I must say. Most of us get owls. Ravens are usually linked to royal sirens such as yourself,” Madam Emma says. “Blowing the smoke in your face was to chase away the blank canvas that was around you to get a clearer reading. Your guide thought you were in danger and showed up.”

I stare at her as I try to conjure up some kind of processing cells in my brain to interpret what she is saying, but I draw a blank.

“Siren? You mean the loud noise in my head?” I ask.

Madam Emma puts the pipe in an ashtray on a smaller side table before reclaiming her seat near me.

“Do you honestly not know what you are, or rather who you are?” I don’t answer. I think I know who I am….Is that a trick question?

“Did you turn twenty-one years old recently?” she adds.

I nod. “Two days ago.”

She puts three fingers to her forehead and taps it four times, before moving the same hand down to her chest and repeating the gesture.

“Praise be. You came into your power then. Have you suddenly found yourself to have strange new abilities or have unexplainable things been happening in your life?”

The vision of me levitating, the ability to hear peoples; thoughts and conversations in my head…heck, I could even hear a bird. The flying pans and short-circuiting of electrical appliances...hell yeah, weird shit was happening around me.

“What powers?” I ask, but I am not sure I want to know. The last thing I need to be told is how I am a mutant or something equally as gross.

“Your birthright powers. You are a witch, Thelma,” Emma says.

I stare at her, before bursting out into hysterical laughter. Had Rebekah put her up to this nonsense? What in the Harry Potter-Hocus Pocus was this charade?

“Witch? Nice one. So what now? Am I going to get an invite to Hogwarts?”

Emma smiles at me; her eyes are a bit mysterious.

‘There is a snake under your chair,’ I hear Emma’s voice say clearly in my head. Emma’s mouth didn’t move. I jump from my seat and instinctively look underneath my chair.

“There isn’t any snake. I just wanted to prove something to you. You heard my thoughts without me opening my mouth, right?”

I shake my head in disbelief. This has to be a dream.

“How?! I mean, Why?! Why can I hear your thoughts?” I ask frantically.

“You are a witch, Thelma. A siren witch in fact. Amongst other abilities, you can hear hidden thoughts when you open yourself to them. It will take a bit of practice, but you will soon get the hang of it.”

I frown as I sidestep the chair making sure there really is no snake lurking underneath it. I sit down after I’m sure it’s safe. “How…how am I a witch? There are no witches in my family.”

“Are you sure about that? From what I see, you are a pure blooded witch. This means both of your parents are of a magic lineage. You are a very powerful witch with more powers than just siren abilities, however, you’re not invincible. I’m still getting that danger-death warning.” She gulps ominously before continuing, “Thelma, you need to protect yourself.”

I wipe my brow with the back of my hand. This is all too much to wrap my head around. “Danger from who or what? Protect myself, how?!”

Emma remains quiet as she again takes my cup and looks inside it. I wonder if she will tell me that there are some dementors coming after me. I have always thought them to be fictitious, but now I’m learning that supernatural fantasies are much more real than I ever could have imagined. I wonder if fairies and unicorns are real too.

“I see human hunters gathering to attack you and your home. Hunters have always been a threat to our existence, but I sense a more sinister force is still waiting to attack. As long as you stay around your family and the people you love, they too will be in danger. You need to leave as soon as possible.”

Suddenly I remember Uncle Fernandez saying that our family are hunters. So is that true? If my family are hunters, why would they target us? If you plant apple seeds, you harvest apples...not grapes. How was I born in a family of hunters, yet I came out a witch? Ma isn’t a witch…or is she? Nothing about this made sense.

“Where will I go? I can’t leave my mother or little brother.” I shake my head defiantly before asking, “Also, what is this sinister thing that wants to attack me and why?”

Emma frowns. “When I try to delve deeper into that part, a dark mist chokes and blinds me. So, all I can tell you is that this threat originates from a very dark and ancient power. You aren’t strong enough to fight a rabid dog yet, let alone an evil of this nature. But, what you can control is you leaving this place. If you want to protect the people you love, you need to go. You need a place where they can’t ever find you.”

I swallow hard and exhale. I can’t imagine leaving Ma and Roy, but if my presence would put them in danger, then I have to reconsider.

“Where will I go?” I mutter.

“I see the form of a man. He is your only hope and the help you require. He can protect you and save your family. However, he will want something in return. If you want him to help you, you will need to help him.”

“Help him how? Who is this man? What will he want from me?” I can hear the desperation and frustration in my voice.

“He is no man; he is a hybrid. He is the offspring of a vampire and a wolf, with Leviathan powers coursing through his veins. With him, you will be safe, but you will have to sacrifice a part of yourself in exchange for his protection of you and your loved ones.” Emma puts the cup down on the table again.

My stomach is in the tightest of knots hearing ‘sacrifice a part of myself,’ although, for my family, I’m used to sacrificing. If there are no other options, I have to do this. “Where do I find this man…I mean hybrid?” I ask.

Emma leans back in her chair and smirks. “Go home for now, Thelma. No one finds Kwaad. He will find you.”

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter