The day of her birthday Katy woke up and again felt a presence outside. As Katy grew older, she was becoming more and more sensitive to the magic and presence of other beings, she was starting to gain the ability to tell what type of being they were, magical human, vampire, werewolf, and many other beings. This being was a magical human; one had a light to them; sadness and pain could be felt. She opened her mind to the being; she needed to know who it was before she went outside. Suddenly she was no longer in her bed.
Katy knew she was inside the memories of the person outside. She saw a being, whose skin was so pale, that it had to be from lack of sunlight, and the holes in her nose, ears, and lips where one could tell there were once piercings. Tattoos covered her; however, they were drained of all color, of all life. The only thing that covered her was a pair of torn-up pants, no shoes and her long blonde hair, which was dirty and matted. Kat sat and watched as a man ran out of a small cottage. Kat looked towards him; he was so tall; he had tattoos just as the person that lay on the ground, his hair black as coal, his eyes just as light as his hair was dark. “Aaliyah!” The being yelled as he pulled out his wand and rushed up to her.
“Robert…” Aaliyah tried to call out, turning over.
Katy could see there was a large chunk of flesh missing and there was so much blood. Katy tried to run to her, tried to do something but she could not as this was the past, a memory. Katy just stood and watched. Then it hit Katy who Robert was, it was Rob, the old brownie keeper at school. When he got his powers back it helped transform him back to who he was, a young and powerful Warlock.
“Oh Aaliyah… this was stupid.” Rob stated, as he took his wand out and started to speak the words needed to try and heal the wound.
Katy saw the fear in each of their eyes. Though Katy knew it worked in that memory Katy feared for her aunt’s life. She wanted to yell out to use phoenix tears or unicorn blood. “PHEONIX TEARS OR UNICORN BLOOD!” Katy yelled but she knew that they could not hear her.
Rob still looked up, as if he had heard her, and ran to his cottage and came back with a vial, which looked to contain unicorn blood as it was pure gold. He took off the cap and dumped the contents on the wound. It seemed like it worked, but that did not stop him from using anything and everything on the wound.
Aaliyah sat up with a start, and Katy was back in her bed. The memory ended.
Katy got up and threw on her cloak and her invisibility hat and ran outside. She stopped in the middle of the yard and looked around; she knew her aunt was here. But where was she? Katy opened her mind to find her. Her eyes snapped open she was right in front of her. Her aunt was invisible; Katy knew that it was just bending of the lights, which caused the effect. She knew if she took a moment to stop and think about it, she might think of a spell to use to reveal her aunt. Katy let her wand slip to her hand and thought of the elements but before she could say anything her aunt became visible. She had a hat like Katy’s. “Oh…”
“Katy, I can see you. It is my special ability. We all seem to have one in our family. I see the light bending, I can see past lies, I can see past deceptive spells. I wish I could just have seen what your mother, my sister, was turning into.” Aaliyah stated as she reached out and took Katy’s hat off.
“My mother is dark isn’t she, she is alive, isn’t she? Raven Ebony said that someone else was the power in the family.” Katy said and looked up at Aaliyah. Katy was shocked, though her aunt’s skin with still pale her hair was cut and dyed with bright colors of blue, purple, and red. The color started to come back to her eyes, and back to the tattoos, and the holes of her piercings were now filled with jewels.
“Oh, my little lost niece, yes, your mother is dark. I knew what she planned to do, that is why I sought her out. But when I got to New York, she was prepared for me. She blew up the square, allowing everybody to think she was killed. They thought I had done it because I was knocked out and the Guardians swarmed the area before the normal cops could be called. They threw me into the prison, branding me, without a trial.”
“You shouldn’t be here! Edgar would have to turn you in!” Katy said as she grabbed Aaliyah’s hand and tried to drag her off the property, she thought about teleporting, but knew that Edgar would find her.
“Don’t worry, I will leave soon. But I had to see you. You are so pretty; I can’t believe how much you have grown. You had to grow up quickly. It is not fair to you. Or your brother or your young friend. You all are so important to the coming war, I wish I could spare you the pain, but you already know that pain. The pain of loss, the pain of taking life.” Aaliyah stated, she did not even bother to ask.
“Yes…” Katy stated and looked up into her aunt’s eyes; she let her see the events that have played out the last two years.
“Oh, my Goodness!” Aaliyah gasped. “If they weren’t already dead, I would kill them myself. Putting you in that position is a crime! It is pure darkness. Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you are bad, it means you do what you must, and you know that it hurts, but allowing that dark power to remain on this realm is worse. You did right.” She stated and grabbed Katy into a hug. “That is your gift my niece, your strength, your light, don’t worry others may come your way, they seem to come into light around the ages of fifteen and sixteen, but not unheard of to start early, but you are only thirteen today.”
“Is there nothing we can do to clear your name?” Katy asked, now that she knew the truth, well some of it.
“Rob is talking to Oeric; let’s see if my headmaster brother can do something this time to protect his niece. I am surprised Lua hasn’t stepped in, she is the oldest, well Oeric is, he is our half-brother. I can’t believe they allowed you to remain on the streets.”
Katy was shocked, that her aunt gave information so freely. “They thought I was dead, but the trace picked up.”
“Oh, that makes sense but why are you living with the Hepburns? Not Oeric or Lua?”
“I live with the MacCathmhaoils actually. I am here for the break. Deen Hepburn is my best friend. And we had the custody trail last year, Headmaster O’Cuinn said he thought it was too dangerous for us to stay with him, and Lua concurred that it was good for us to stay within easy reach of Edgar. She said she would visit us, but she hasn’t yet, or even sought us out at school, except she told me at the end of the year that she would try to spend more time with me.”
“Oh. They are a nice family, I hear. I had to see you on your birthday.” Aaliyah stated, as she looked at her niece, so much of the Poe features dominated, but the Solomon traits enhanced them, for as much as Aaliyah hated Solomon, he did give her a niece and nephew. “I have something for you. Rob’s family was holding it for me.” She stated and took out a small pendent. “It is an aquamarine pendent that has been in our family from the beginning of times. It was given to the first woman of our family; it was given to her by the queen of the fairies. This gem was made of the tears of the fairies when Goodness died for our lives. They said to protect it; it would find its way to Goodness who will know what to do with it when the time is right. I believe my sister, your mother, is Darkness. You, of course, would be Goodness. You know you are.” Aaliyah said as she took Katy’s chain that held her blue topaz pendent and added the aquamarine one to it and clasped it back on Katy’s neck. “You will know what to do with it when the time is right. But for now, I must leave. You know that truth and that will have to be enough for now.” Aaliyah stated and hugged Katy. “Don’t say I was here; pretend that you didn’t know when they tell you of my escape.” Aaliyah stated with a wink and then teleported out.
Katy smiled and walked back into the house. Her aunt did not kill her mother. There was a deep sadness that her mother was her enemy but there was also a weight lifted from her. She had family. Blood family that would seek her out no matter the cost. And she would do everything she could to find out information on how she could save her family, her aunt from dying or going back to prison. Katy went back up and crawled into bed, after all it was only six in the morning. Katy fell into a dreamless sleep, and knew that no matter what, she had Deen and her family, and now she found out information about her mother’s side. She just hoped that none of them turned out dark.
Kris Charles - Author 