Rejected, unloved, and lost.

Chapter 6

Sky carefully climbed off the bed; she grabbed her jumper and threw it on; it still smelt like Theo. She had caught Archer, his wolf, rolling around on her clean laundry last week. He had huffed at her and sat on the bed, letting her lay on him like a pillow and use him to keep warm. He seemed to recognise that Sky was more comfortable with him in this form, even if he couldn’t understand why. It was a new thing Sky didn’t use to be comfortable with Archer at all, he was a large wolf, and it could be somewhat intimidating; she didn’t really know anything about wolves. Slowly Sky was starting to understand Archer more. She liked how Theo/Archer smelt; it was always a bit like a bonfire, and the morning after bonfire night, the fog from the bonfires and the fireworks. But still kind of foresty. Kayla and Remi, however, smelt sweeter, a hint of parma violets, strawberries and some honeysuckle and lily too, but not just any honeysuckle and lily, the ones in the bottom of Skys grandma’s ‘human’ garden.

Once dressed, Kayla handed Sky another jacket to put on. She pulled out the bag they had under Sky’s bed for this eventuality. It contained blankets, hats, scarves and gloves and had enough space to hold clothes if anyone had to get furry; both twins would today; it would take a while to reach the waterfall on foot in the pitch dark. The girls headed downstairs, where Theo was waiting with a picnic bag; he was stuffing a thermos into the side pocket. “Ready to go?” He asked as he straightened up.

They headed towards the tree line; Theo hid to Sky’s left and Kayla to her right. They each threw their clothes at her; she folded them neatly, packed them in the bag, and then threw them on her back. Archer was first back out; he usually was. Werewolves were giant compared to their natural counterparts, but that was common knowledge. However, Archer was maybe the biggest she had seen in the pack, fluffier than a malamute, with the temperament of a hyper puppy. He was primarily grey, with a few black spots, like his paw, the middle of his tail, and one ear. Sky thought he looked adorable as a wolf. Remi was on the smaller side, even for a female. She was sleek, with thick and warm fur, but it didn’t look it. Remi was almost entirely black; she had a white tail tip. She was gorgeous and still one of the top fighters in the pack despite her size. She used it to her advantage, as most men would underestimate her. Sky loved playing with wolves’ fur; Archer was perfect for snuggling into. Remi was calmer and more level-headed than Archer. Kayla said it was the virtue of being female. Where Archer was adorable, Remi was simply drop-dead gorgeous.

Remi carried the picnic bag with the food and drinks, and Sky rode on Archer’s back, the rucksack with clothes and blankets on her back. The twins seemed to race through the forest every time they did this. Rylee burst free as soon as Sky settled on Archer’s back. Again, she was her fire drake, chattering excitedly to Archer and Remi. Rylee was egging them on, telling them how she would beat them today and calling them losers. Sky chose not to translate this, as she did most things Rylee said.

The twins set off with a howl. Both ran full out; Sky couldn’t see anything as they ran. It was a blur of green and brown. The wind in her face rushing through her hair. Her fingers curled into Archer’s fur, her arms around his neck. She wrapped her legs around his middle, trying to be gentle but still keep herself on his back. After about 5 minutes of running, Sky rested her head on Archers and closed her eyes. It took Archer about 10 minutes to run to the waterfall; Rylee and Remi had beaten him. Sky was sure that Archer was deliberately slow to have her on his back for longer.

The waterfall is an amazing place deep in the woods. Not even all the pack knew where it was. It was full of natural beauty; the water was a fresh sparkling, crystal clear blue. There wasn’t even any moss on the stones; Sky didn’t understand how but it was something else. Rocks surrounded most of the pool; some initials were carved into them. When Theo first brought Sky out here in the summer, they had jumped from the top of the waterfall, and Sky had practised her control over the water here. They brought Kayla next time. Both twins would bring Sky together and individually when they wanted some time with her or when she was getting too stressed out with schoolwork.

Once everyone was assembled, Sky called Rylee back; she returned to Sky’s shoulder and wrapped her now salamander-shaped body around Sky’s neck. Sky pulled out and separated the twin’s clothes, throwing them off in separate directions to huffs of thanks; she then turned her back; there wasn’t much tree cover here.

Theo started to pull out food while Kayla laid out the picnic blanket. Sky wrapped herself in another blanket and sat down, leaning on Theo for now. She nibbled at the food he had pulled together for them, holding the large paper cup of hot chocolate close to her body.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Skylar Aged 15-16 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Sky was eating alone in the corner during the celebration after the welcoming ceremony, Jaimie had come to sit with Sky. They didn’t say much, but there was a strangely comfortable silence, like usual, between the two. For some reason, they were just content; he was one of the few people that Sky didn’t immediately hate, maybe because he didn’t hate her. Rylee didn’t like him much, and she warned Sky he was a monster and that Sky shouldn’t trust him. Kailiani had stopped by for a few minutes to congratulate Sky on not killing anyone, which was her biggest fear going into the ceremony; she also fed Rylee some chicken, which Rylee loved. Though Kailiani soon realised it was a bad idea, Rylee attempted to char the chicken. She missed, and the burst of fire scorched the floor barely millimetres from Kailiani’s foot. Kailiani squealed loudly, leaping aside quickly, “Ry! You terrified me! You could have burnt me. Bad……fire creature!” She told Rylee, who chuffed smoke back and took the chicken from her hand. Sky and Jaimie just laughed at the interaction between them. Sky was sure that Rylee only did these things to scare Kailiani. Rylee had pretty decent aim when she was deliberately using her fire now. All bets were off if she was startled, scared, or even angry, though her aim went to pot. But if Kailiani wasn’t hit now, Rylee didn’t plan to hit her, only make her jump because Rylee thought it was funny to scare people.

Sky and Jaimie seemed to spend more and more time together over the next year. They shared a tutor because they both had a good command of the element of air. They started sharing those sessions. Jaimie did pretty well in training. It took Sky a little longer to get things because she couldn’t use the regular spells; she had to devise her own. They spent time doing homework together, helping each other where they could. They practised their magic and generally hung out. They both enjoyed being outside; Jaimie would offer to walk dogs for other coven members, and Rylee would play with the dogs, shunning Jaimie whenever he tried to interact. Sky and Jaimie often sat under trees, watching the animals and chatting about nothing in particular.

Jaimie finally asked Sky out on their first date just before she turned 15; it was September, and they went to see a scary movie and had pizza at a well-known local restaurant. It was Sky’s first date and, at the end of the night, her first kiss too.

It was the start of a seemingly adorable relationship. Sky and Jaimie already spent much of their free time together; now, they were joined at the hip. They went practically everywhere together. Jaimie did seem to calm Sky down, to begin with. They would go out every couple of weeks. The coven elders were sure there would be a handfasting after the pair finished school. They approved of the relationship, especially as Jaimie seemed to be a calming influence on Sky. There was some concern that Sky would be a bad influence on Jaimie; however, this was quickly dismissed. The coven expected that the relationship would fall into their typical expectations, him being the more dominant partner and being able to control her rather than being swept up in her nonsense. Jamie was pleasant enough right now, a decent boy and good boyfriend who seemed to care about Sky and Rylee, but the coven, in general, seemed to be stuck in the ’50s; they encouraged traditional gender roles.

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The teenagers were still being taught by the coven about their powers and how to use them. As they turned 16, though, these sessions started over the summer, so Sky was a little younger. They would teach boys and girls separately; girls were taught how to use their powers to help them keep house, look after children, and potions that would clear up spots, healing magic for when children injured themselves. Sky’s powers were not suited for cooking, housework, makeup, and stuff; they were tailored for blowing s**t up and defending people and places. When this became clear to everyone Sky was taught with the boys, things changed a bit between the young couple. They would often be paired together, Sky would hold back, not wanting to hurt him, but he went at her full strength. When Sky went at Jaimie full power, he got seriously injured, and she was no longer allowed to train with the others.

From then on, he was always rougher with Sky, dragging her around and talking over her and making decisions for her, “you know, you useless piece of witch, you had better learn how to cook and keep a house like a human because I sure as hell will not be doing it” he would often tell her. But whenever he pushed Sky too far, so she tried to dump him, he would be nice again for a while.

There were more and more arguments; some turned physical; well, mostly Jaimie got physical. Sometimes, Sky tried to defend herself in the first few arguments, but she stopped when it only worsened things. Her mother expressed concern about this behaviour, though she was the only one. However, Sky was too far sucked into Jaimie’s stories and apologies. The promises of “I love you so much, baby”, and “It’ll never happen again, I swear,” or even “if you stopped doing X and winding me up, then it wouldn’t happen.” Sky’s behaviour took another nosedive. Her clothes were darker and her accessories scarier. She was fighting and arguing more at school.

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Sky’s parents threw her a Halloween-themed 16th birthday party. Everyone dressed up, and the food was green, black, and purple. Sky dressed in her skeleton costume, her face painted with incredible detail. Jaimie was also dressed up as a skeleton; though he had a mask on, he refused to let Sky put makeup on him.

It was a brilliant evening. A few people managed to sneak in bottles of alcohol, and most of the teenagers sat in a corner drinking subtly, then playing spin the bottle truth or dare with an empty bottle. Sky was dared to sing karaoke, go and dance with Peter and other elders, let Rylee loose to char the food, and take Jaimie out onto the dance floor and properly snog him where everyone could see. Luckily she drank enough not to remember most of these things or anything else she did that night.

Unfortunately, the elders were sober, and they remembered. Sky received an exceptionally long lecture on her behaviour and being responsible. As a punishment, Sky was made to clean the community centre without magic (not that she would have tried to use any).