WICK

☆7☆

Whether it was the declaration itself or the idea of being within new city lines, she didn't know, but what Cattelaya did know was that the moment the words left her mouth, the younger girl went mute, the sudden feeling of overwhelming anxiety began bubbling up within the older girl; however she was certain that she wasn't feeling stressed from the move.

She glanced at the younger girl from the corner of her eye, doing her best to keep her head straight forward. She observed her sister the best she could; the feeling had obviously come from Alessia, but what she wanted to know was what had caused it.

Though they had yet to really even breach the city, the younger teen seemed on edge- no, excited about their new endeavors.

She noted how Alessia's eyes never stayed in one place, bouncing from the interior of their vehicle, to the cars that would occasionally pass them, to the sky above whose clouds crept across steadily and winds pushed the greenery that was starting to pop up, signaling an upcoming storm.

Her focus seemed to move almost in sync with her fidgeting fingers; which bounced between each other and the tuft of hair that made up what used to be neat bangs, from the corner of her eye Cattelaya watched as her sister's hands raked through the curly strands; twisting them around her fingers tight before releasing suddenly and ripping her fingers from the tresses before beginning once again.

The conspicuously awkward silence mixed with the younger girl's constant twitching was beginning to work on Cattelaya's nerves, she could feel the restlessness begin to creep up from within, followed quickly by that familiar urge.

The air around her began to thicken as both her mind and body continued to be tempted by the annihilating allure, she felt the palms of her hands begin to tingle against her will; the pulse of startling heat beginning to rise against the flesh.

She felt as though her body were in a twisted limbo, combating itself from the inside out.

Her lungs felt heavy, yet at the same time her arms and legs felt as strong as ever; like she could compete in every category the olympics without a sweat.

Her body felt as though it were ablaze, but one look at the goosebumps that decorated her arms and she would be mistaken for needing some time in the sun rather than an ice bath.

The girl let out a ragged sigh, her hands clamping down on the wheel once more; she knew that it would be impossible to ignore forever, especially since the tingling had made its way to the back of her ears, which had forever been her most sensitive area.

Without looking away from the road the girl reached back, blindly palming around the back, shuffling the various items that had not been tossed into the bed of the truck during the shift.

She could tell that her younger sister was watching her as the incessant jittering had ceased, yet despite the lack of movement she still felt the rush of adrenaline that had sent the waves of electricity flowing through her body.

Finally her hands found the familiar rectangular item, her arm retracted itself from the blind search in the back and instead brought the small Looney Tunes pencil case to the forefront; had she not been so focused on trying to dull the vibrations that had begun racking her body, she might've flashed her sister a smile to combat the hard stare that was burning the side of her face.

Alessia watched on with a piqued interest, her mind going through a billion scenarios, trying to figure out what exactly her sister had been searching for.

The medium sized case opened to reveal an abundance of multihued pens and various other stationery items, all of which was hurriedly pushed aside as the girl continued her hunt for the weathered old pouch.

At the bottom of the case sat the sac; its outer casing was almost like leather; except it was far too thick for it to have come from any of the normal creatures, the groves within the flesh were thick and the skin was tough, regardless of its worn state.

It was a known fact that the beast in which this hide had come from had been a ruthless, strapping monster with the the ability to withstand the highest of heats, the thickest of poisons and, as legend goes, even the highest of electrical currents.

The strong scent of musk emitted from the item; a natural defense against an unwanted predator.

Alessia watched in awe, too stunned to speak. A real Wyvern-skin pouch? She watched as her sister undid the sac, allowing the younger teen to peer into the

strange dark interior of the bag; the deep rust brown of the skin was a lot more difficult for the girl to look at than she would have initially guessed it would have been, her eyes drifted away from their unconscious assessment and in turn returned to her sister.

Cattelaya was thrilled to have Alessia's attention back, even if she had to pull out a mythical relic to do so.

The younger girl met her eye, giving her another pointed stare as she waited for the older girl to finish what she'd set out to do.

With a sigh, Cattelaya flickered her hand in front of her face; in front of her lips sat what appeared to be a rolled up piece of paper, however Alessia wasn't that naive.

With a somewhat soured expression; the younger girl watched on in horror as her sister brought up two of her fingers, now glowing cherry red, up to meet the item.

Her soured expression turned to alarm as she lunged forward, her hands wrapping themselves around the ascending arm in a desperate plea for her to halt.

Cattelaya froze as she forced the heat from her fingers to slowly leech out, leaving only a ghost of warmth to linger.

Suddenly she whirled her head towards her sister, the wild expression in eyes caused the other girl to flinch slightly as an inkling of fear had made its way to the forefront of her emotions, the slight motion was enough to give Cattelaya the endurance to reel in the current. For a moment, she expected Alessia; whose expression had shifted from her previous fear filled one, to a curious one, to say something, however after a moment the girl just furrowed her brow and turned away.

The static on the radio was the only sound for a while.

Cattelaya felt her mouth open and close repeatedly as she attempted to find the right words to break the tension that seemed so quick to rise between the duo; soon her annoyance began to grow at the situation; here she was in a small space with one of the people she'd been dying to simply see, yet they can barely have a proper conversation.

The older girl thought back to the conversation they'd had earlier; of her past and the friend that she could never have kept, the words seemed to flow so naturally then. And with the people at school too, so why is it so hard to talk now? Her mind screamed at her for the silence that remained, the rolled object forgotten for the moment.

After a while she gave up, a hefty sigh leaving her body as she slumped her upper half against her elevated legs; her fingers grasped her contraband, taking the small item between them gently.

She allowed her leg to fall slightly, just enough so that her knee rested just under the wheel; making sure the grip is steady enough that she was sure she could keep the vehicle in the right lane without swerving before she brought her remaining hand across her own body awkwardly, attempting to reach the lighter that she'd hidden beneath the masses of receipts that she'd acquired.

Of course those wouldn't be dropped in the shift. She was almost sure that Alessia could hear her eyes roll at that moment.

She felt as though she could give a victory holler as her hands grabbed the small square igniter.

She was sure she had heard a scoff come from beside her suddenly, she turned once more to face her sister; this time though, she made sure to deal with the rush that had begun taking up her body once more during her moment of distraction.

Her eyes were bright, but the wild edge had dimmed and the pulse of electricity that seemed to seep out of the girl's pores, now was a gentle hum in the air. She gave her sister a questioning glance before returning her attention to the highway as the once semi clear roads began to accumulate an influx the further they drove.

The younger girl once again gave her sister that disapproving stare, her eyes meeting Cattelaya's before pointedly going towards the item that lay innocently between her forefinger and digitus medius; the girl made a mental note to treat herself to some sweets, seeing as she had learned that in biology last year during her sophomore year.

Alessia cleared her throat, bringing Cattelaya's attention away from her much deserved reward and back to the issue at hand.

For a while they just sat with the older girl frequently looking away to maneuver the car around slow and ridiculous drivers.

Finally Alessia's voice rang out, taking with it the silence for a brief moment.

"You smoke?" The disgust was clear in her voice, as well as in the curl of her frown and furrow of her brow.

Cattelaya looked back towards her sister, her face twisting in thought as she weighed out her options internally. Eventually she shifted once more, bringing the joint to rest lightly between her teeth, it stayed there for maybe another second before she once again plucked it from out of her own mouth and extended her arm towards Alessia, as if she were offering the younger girl the substance.

With an annoyed huff, Alessia began her refusal; her face turning into a harsh glare at the thought of her sister offering her something like that.

Before her annoyance could grow however, she heard a chuckle escape the older girl.

Cattelaya watched Alessia amused, so easy to rile up. She thought before clearing her throat.

"Lessa Lou, I'm not offering it to you." She said simply, her voice a carefree drawl as she waited for the younger girl to comprehend what she had said.

For an instant, Alessia couldn't think about much outside of that ancient nickname that had been given to her so many years ago.

The not-so-creative name had been derived from an old bedtime story of a girl named Franny Lou who, though mortal, had fought and protected covens to her dying days and was said to have been the saving grace of at least a dozen of the original covens.

She mentally slapped herself, forcing herself to pay attention to what she'd just been told; her eyes slowly made their way back to her sister's hand, still dangling peacefully between them.

After staring at the limb and her sister for a moment more the younger girl let out an indignant sigh, her confusion finally getting the best of her.

"Well if you're not trying to offer it to me," she began in a brash tone, "then what are you doing exactly?"

Cattelaya couldn't help but observe the girl; the way her arms had crossed while she lashed out, the way she turned her nose up and away when she 'decided' that she no longer wanted to speak about something, how her entire body language shifted to a very closed off and reserved one, as opposed to her naturally open and inviting one.

She's really not changed.

For a split-second Cattelaya felt a niggling of fear begin to itch at the back of her neck, how would she react to me when I'm not ok?

Her body locked up slightly at the thought, she had never actually thought that the day would come when she would be able to be close to her siblings again; however now that they were there, an impending question began marching its way to the front of her thoughts.

Quickly she closed off those thoughts, mentally putting them in a box and locking them inside.

Alessia had noticed the fear that had slithered through her sister, as well as the look that had crossed her face; her curiosity thrummed at her incessantly, for a second she wished she'd been blessed with telepathy, that way she could just know what was going through the older girl's head.

In a flash the look of fear disappeared and was replaced with a boyish grin, the older girl held her arm out once more, "smell it," her voice was light as the request made its way to the younger girl, "tell me the first thing it reminds you of."

Though her sister wasn't harsh or demanding in the slightest, Alessia still found herself wary to follow the other girl's request.

It wasn't as though she didn't trust Cattelaya; they were family. Even while they were apart the connection remained, the lingering warmth from their reunion was enough of an indication for that fact to go indubitably, yet a part of her still hesitated.

Her eyes met Cattelaya's form as she patiently waited, no doubt having felt the rush of uncertainty and skepticism; her posture was relaxed, as though she were waiting for a frightened animal to see her as a friend rather than a threat, she sat with her usual leg however this time she rolled the window down once more and allowed her arm to hang out; Alessia couldn't help but notice the small hand waves she seemed to be doing against the steady wind current.

Her eyes stayed ahead this time though, watching the slowing traffic before the both of them; the city limits were approaching which had drastically slowed their pace once more.

The radio static had switched over and was playing a station that was blaring the recent hits of the 90's and 2000's, the atmosphere of the car had changed so drastically that Alessia had to ensure that she was still aware and had not slipped into some kind of dream-like psychosis.

Even Cattelaya's emotions seemed to have dulled in the moment, leaving her with a moment to think clearly.

Cattelaya wouldn't purposefully do anything to hurt me. She told herself, the small encouragement was enough to give her the courage to at least close her eyes and sniff; so without further thought, she allowed her eyes to close before leaning down towards where the item was now resting on her sister's open palm.

Her eyes opened abruptly though when she felt her nose crash against the gear shift causing it to throb immensely, immediately her hand made its way to the sensitive body part, as she attempted to massage away the jarring pain.

Her vision blurred as tears began spilling down her cheeks, she gave a distressed groan followed by a whimper of pain, she cursed herself along with the pain sensors that were in the human body.

On the side of her she also heard Cattelaya's voice muttering curses under her breath before she felt a sudden shock wave soar between the two of them, the sudden burst was powerful enough to have winded them both, however Alessia noticed that the pain had immediately disappeared, not even a lingering throb could be felt.

The only evidence that remained were a couple dried up tear trails that had slightly begun to slowly crust over, her dripping nose which had began running the very moment the first tear welled up and her still damp eyes that curiously gazed at the older girl who's emotions had suddenly become a welter of anxiety and something else that she couldn't quite pinpoint, yet the feeling had left a disturbing ambiance looming within the younger girl.

She watched as her sister attempted to catch her breath whilst keeping the vehicle driving smoothly, her hands once again straining against the wheel as her chest heaved.

For a moment she was afraid that the older girl was going to pass out, however after a couple more breaths Cattelaya turned her head to face her, and where Alessia had expected to have seen obvious signs of exhaustion, she was shocked to find none; if anything Cattelaya looked even more energized, it almost looked as though she were glowing, her gray eyes flashed dangerously causing a slight twitch to begin in her left eye

For an instant, Alessia thought that her sister looked feral; her energy levels seemed to be never ending and the use of ability was doing nothing except further fueling it.

It's almost as if her ability's feeding off of itself, she thought, briefly taking that notion in stride before trying to move her thoughts elsewhere.

Before she could find a different focus point, Cattelaya spoke up.

"Ok!" She began in a mock cheerful voice, her chest still rose and fell in quick succession as she'd still not fully caught her breath, however her face still showed her usual cheeky smirk.

"Let's take that from the top," she suggested easily, before her voice took on more of a joking note, "however can we please nix the whole 'headbutting' ordeal this time?" Her playful taunting had always been a quick and efficient way to force a smile out of the younger sister.

With a rueful smile Alessia nodded slightly, preparing herself for a heavy scent of m*******a before she leaned in, much slower this time.

She couldn't help but allow her eyes to draw over the strange cone, she considered the way it had been wrapped around itself, snug so that the contents could sit safely within, before being sealed once more with itself.

Not wanting any further hesitation nor distractions, Alessia reached forward, her hands shook slightly as she grabbed the delicate item.

A part of her felt as though she were rebelling; regardless of whether or not her guardian was truly there for her to rebel against.

Just holding the foreign object seemed like playing with fire; she felt as though she herself had been sat on the split of two paths, one where she was living her life before this substance had tainted the skin of her hand and the other was a life that she'd imagined a person who smoked and did that kind of stuff lived; one of danger and violence.

Her mind continued to race as she forced her eyes closed.

I can do this, I can do this! She cheered herself on; her thoughts being the only grasp of confidence she felt she had, slowly she began to lift the item, her sister watched out of the corner of her eyes as the small joint went higher and higher towards her nose.

Finally she brought it under her nose and inhaled deep, a herbaceous scent flooded her nostrils however this wasn't a usual street drug; these were actual herbs.

"What is that?" She asked incredulously, wanting less of an answer for what per say, and more so of an answer for why.

She could tell from the one sniff alone that the 'joint' contained Ashwagandha, Piper methysticum and Tulsi, all of which would help the body calm down.

"It's called 'Witch's Brew'; me and my guardian whipped it up as a way to help me calm my nerves and stuff," Cattelaya began explaining excitedly, however when she looked over at her sister the same mask of confusion remained.

"See, a lot of regular prescriptions don't actually work on us, as I hope you've noticed," she paused slightly, only continuing when Alessia gave a confirming nod, "good, however I also found out that street stuff doesn't affect us either," she continued earnestly, her voice began to come out faster as she rushed to get through her explanation.

"How'd you find that out?" Alessia interrupted, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Well, there was a period of time when I wasn't having the easiest time controlling my temper, during that time Liv and I had agreed that moving around so often would draw more attention to us as opposed to us staying relatively stagnant so we went out to search for anything that could dull my emotions for a while." She said easily, as though she were speaking of passing weather.

Alessia decided to ignore many of the questions that her sister's answer had cultivated and instead focused on what she'd been told, she could understand the use of herbs and the necessity to control your emotions.

However, what she didn't understand is why her sister had decided to use this particular method of ingestion, voicing her thoughts caused the older girl to pause for a bit, as though she had never been questioned about it; which, given the fact that most covens nowadays are spread across the globe, could very well have been true.

"Honestly, it's the fastest way to get it into my system; when I get too mad I don't have to wait for a pot of water to boil, all I gotta do is pull one of these out and burn it. Plus, it's not like I really can get in trouble for this," she left her sentence in the air just long enough for her sister to want to retort, and actually laughed at the resounding 'what do you mean?' that came from the younger girl, "what I mean Alessia, is that you can't get busted without actual drugs." The older girl replied, giving a deep chortle before snatching the joint from her sister, putting it between her lips and lighting the end.

The sweet yet musky smell wrapped around the car as Alessia turned the music up slightly, laughing at her sister as she did so.