The Hybrid Heiress and the Rise of Shadows

Chapter 3

- SERENA -

“So, why did you run out of the lounge like you were being chased by a wraith, or a crawler or something?” Ellie asks.

We’re all in Caelina’s room since she wanted to see what the boys were doing outside. They’re currently revving their engines, spinning their cars around or whatever, something Caelina said is called ‘drifting’. Whatever it is, it’s stupid and loud. And them talking about engine sizes and admiring each other’s wheels – umm weird. Boys are weird.

Who cares, I mean a car is there to get you around; it doesn’t need to be fancy.

“Oh yeah… well, it was nothing really, just your scary cousin was there and I didn’t realise. He’s a lot scarier than a crawler or a wraith, I’m sure.”

“Oh, the one you run from like the plague,” she states as she drops onto Caelina’s bed with a big plop, making Caelina spin around from where she’s peeking out of her balcony and narrow her eyes at her.

“I don’t really… he just hates me for no reason.” I sigh.

Ellie rolls onto her stomach and looks at me intently. “I don’t know if it's hate per se.”

“It is.” I look up from the armchair at Caelina who now closes the balcony doors, leaving them open a c***k, allowing a wisp of air to make its way inside. “I’m failing. His unmistakable contempt during training is obvious. Although I’m at the end of the training hall he’s always so observing and it’s clear he thinks I’m pathetic. I don’t even know why I’m there. It’s like everything has to be compressed into this festering ball and if I somehow slip, it’ll unleash havoc.”

They both know what happened the last time I lost control…

“You’re there because you deserve to be there,” Ellie answers, giving me one of her blank flat looks that say, ‘Duh’.

“And you’re making progress with the excess power,” Caelina adds, her voice dropping. “We just need to keep at it, and with us being at the Academy, it’s going to give us more time too. We’ll have your back.”

I nod and the three of us exchange looks.

There’s something we’ve been working on, a way to stabilise and control my magic, but there isn’t much information on this kind of magic. Witches can draw on the energies around them; for example, Caelina is an earth witch, so nature is her calling, but how much power she can wield still depends on her own power. The source. I have witch abilities, but like my mama, I channel more from my demon roots.

When I lost control of my power a few times, Caelina was the one who had wondered if there was a way for me to use sigils to help harness my excess powers, so they don’t go out of control. We first saw mentions of it in a history book Ziven got for us years ago when we wanted to learn something. He never said where he got it, but it’s a tome that belonged to witches long ago.

“Well, what if there’s too much stored power? Either she’ll turn into a complete butterfly-covered tattooed freak or she’ll go poof like a bomb. Both options don’t sound great.” Ellie looks up at us and I look at Caelina.

“Well, I don’t think so. There’s a lot of power stored in each butterfly, and it’s not really inside of me, so I won’t explode, and I won’t be covered completely in tattoos. Half of these are empty, for now. And I do hope I can learn to control my powers, too.”

“Agreed, only seven are full, right Si?” Caelina asks. I nod and she pouts thoughtfully, then waves her hand in a flourish. “And you know me, Ellie. I wouldn’t have attempted it unless I knew it would work. I’ve tried it on other small animals, so I was confident.”

“True. And bottom line, if she poofs, she participated willingly,” Ellie adds morbidly, making my eyes widen before I laugh.

“Yes!” Caelina agrees.

I smile and nod my confirmation. Because if there’s a way for me to fix what happened to me, then I want to try it…

“And both of your moms still don’t know, right?” Ellie asks.

“No, they have enough going on, and Charged Sigils isn’t something used anymore, or more like it’s a practice forgotten,” Caelina adds.

“Or almost forgotten,” I muse, standing up and stretching.

I walk over to the doors that lead to the balcony and pull one of them open, stepping outside into the fresh air. The sky above is dark, the weather cool and crisp, the cold wind is pleasant, and I close my eyes for a moment as I place my hands on the balcony rail. Out in the open, that’s where I feel most at peace, especially when darkness has fallen…

The revving of an engine makes me startle and I look down, my eyes sweeping the vast grounds beneath us. I spot the sports car responsible; it has neon lights along the bottom, it’s a blue-green two-toned ride, one I know belongs to Theo.

I shake my head. They’re so loud!

I can see Ziven leaning against his own dark red car, watching Theo’s. Boys are standing, talking or examining something under the hood of the cars, and Zane… Zane stands against a tree a few feet away, his arms crossed, and his head turned towards one of the cars.

My heart skips a beat and he suddenly turns, his head snapping upwards, and although I can’t see his eyes from here, I know he’s watching me. The familiar heat of his burning gaze rushes over me and my heart thunders so loud I wonder if he can hear it. I slowly step back, turn and hurry inside.

Ellie c***s a brow. “What happened to you?”

I shake my head, shut the door behind me and change the subject. “Nothing. So, hot chocolate anyone?”

~~~

A few hours later, the movie we were watching ends and I stretch, glancing at the clock. It’s nearly 1am. We didn’t go down for hot chocolate as Caelina was full, so we decided to wait until everyone had gone to sleep for the night.

I’m in my red modal fabric pajama set, Ellie’s in black tracksuit bottoms and a sports bra, her hair braided back. She has a thing about sleeping with her hair open, and Caelina has her curls tied in a high bun on top of her head, so her curls don’t get crushed whilst she sleeps, and she’s wearing a floral blue satin night dress that reaches mid-thigh.

“Hot drinks here we come,” Ellie says, yawning.

“That movie was creepy,” Caelina muses, grabbing her matching nightgown.

“Mmm…” I curl up in bed only for Ellie to swat me.

“Wake up, we’re going to go down.”

“But the bed is warm!” I grumble, refusing to let go of the duvet. Caelina snorts.

“Whether it was or not, you just want to sleep, all the time.”

Sleep feels good. It doesn’t hurt…

I pout as I fold the bedding back carefully, knowing Caelina hates it when her things are messed with, and get up.

Ellie slips her hands into her pockets as we quietly leave the room.

“This is the worst time to be out of your bedroom, especially if your parents…” she trails off as both Caelina and I raise an eyebrow, but her pause hits me as I realise what she was about to say.

The dreaded time one might hear something they wouldn’t want to from their parents’ room.

Both Caelina and I look at one another, and the usual controlled stoic expression on Caelina’s face has dropped, her eyes glittering.

“f**k, sorry guys,” Ellie grumbles, and I know she regrets it because she puts an arm around both of us, hugging us both gingerly. Hugging isn’t an Ellie thing. She hates it.

The pain in my chest only heightens, remembering Mama and Dad’s stolen moments in these very halls.

What I’d give for Mama to get her mate back, even if I had to put up with hearing the traumatic sounds that no child wants to hear from their parent’s room every single day. It would be better than the silence.

“It’s alright, I don’t want to hear your dad, which would be gross,” Caelina adds, shuddering. “He’s so old now, I’m surprised he can still, you know.” She wrinkles her nose in disdain.

That makes us both cackle, and I clamp a hand over my mouth to stop it ringing through the halls. Ellie snickers. “I agree, he’s way too old. Maybe he takes Viagra.”

We all burst out laughing at the expense of Grandad Cassian and the mood feels a little lighter.

“Ok, really though, that was a s**t move from me, so to make up for it, I’ll watch whatever you guys want for the next three movies we watch together. Deal?”

“Deal!” Caelina says quickly, before hugging Ellie. “It’s ok, don’t feel bad, but I do want you to watch some chic flicks.”

“Ugh, it grosses me out when they get all touchy-feely. But I’ll do it.” She grimaces.

“What about when you date?” I ask, raising an eyebrow, my bare feet silent against the cool marble stairs.

“Lock mouths with a dude? Eurgh.” She shudders as we reach the bottom and turn down the hall, heading towards the kitchen.

“I’m sure when you find the right person, you won’t care about germs,” I respond confidently before I grab her hands and spin her around as I begin singing.

“When you fall in love

You lose control

You can’t hang on and you can’t let go.”

“Serena!” Ellie shudders. Caelina smirks as she joins in.

“When you find the one

You hold on tight…”

“Not happening!” Ellie growls as she runs off to the kitchen and we run after her singing loudly, no longer bothered if someone hears us.

“Cause you don’t wanna miss even one little kiss

And you couldn’t sleep, anyway

When you fall in love-”

We both come to an abrupt stop when we reach the kitchen which is not empty.

Oh gods.

My entire body heats up as I find myself staring at the group of boys in the kitchen. My heart thunders loudly, my face burning hot as I single out Ziven and try to control my emotions, knowing if I look at anyone else, I’ll die on this very spot.