Illusion and Reality

Illumination Circle

For two days I tried my best to stop thinking about the things that were not in my control. It was not much use, I spent the days in my room. Lily did not come with any more ideas and I was glad about it.

But staying in the house was not helping me anyway, I needed to get away from the house.

And that’s what I did.

“Why don’t you have plants covering every inch of your house like Astrid?” I asked Val, sipping the hot chocolate.

“That is because she gets her power from nature, I on the other hand get mine from the celestial bodies,” hearing her made me realize how little I knew about them and their world.

“You live with her, Lily is her family friend, and yet you do not know about this?”

“It must have slipped my mind,” I added an awkward laugh.

Valeria did not laugh, “So how do you like it here?”

“It is good, different from home.”

“Do you miss home?”

Her question caught me off guard, I looked at her without saying anything.

She sighed, “For how long are you going to hide the truth from me?”

“Truth?” I took a sip of my hot chocolate.

“I know you and Lily are not from our world,” she ended the sentence and looked at me for confirmation.

I started coughing the hot chocolate out, soon I felt Valeria rubbing soothing circles on my back.

“You can’t tell anyone please.”

“If I wanted to snitch, you all would have been in jail a long time ago,” she looked at me in disbelief.

I bit my lip anxiously, “How did you know?”

“When I first met Lily, I realized her aura was different, but I thought maybe that is because she is from a different coven. Then I hugged you and your aura was different. Let’s not forget the fact that you know nothing about us, not even about the queen’s murder. I would have never said anything to anyone because I consider you as my friend.”

Her words made me feel slightly guilty.

“I am sorry Val, you are my friend but it was not only my secret so many people are connected with this. You should understand my point here, we are far away from home, we don’t know when or if we would go back, I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble because of me.”

She looked at me with sympathy in her eyes, a look that I got so many times, a look that I did not like, “I was just upset because you did not tell me, but now I can see your point.”

“Thank you so much, Val,” I smiled at her.

"But I still do not understand how did you get here?"

"To be honest, I don't know, it was the stone in that pendant I was wearing and a blue light appeared from it, when we woke up we were here,” I replied.

She remained quiet, then realization hit her, "That stone is extremely rare and does not activate just like that. You need a witch to use it and not just any witch, a very powerful witch," she explained.

"Lily and I were alone there, maybe the old lady who gave the pendant to Lily was the witch."

"You do not think it is suspicious?”

“Of course I think it is suspicious, why us? Only if I had a penny for all my unanswered questions,” I chuckled.

“I will try to find something for you, do not worry the sun and moon will guide us,” she beamed.

“Thanks, Val,” I smiled.

“Your secret is safe with me and I hope you will take my secret to your grave,” she said with complete seriousness on her face.

I frowned, ”what secret?”

“My coven is Illumination circle, we have one source of power only, sun or moon. It is very rare to have both.”

It made me realize the young witch with a unique taste in jewelry and a love for bright clothes was not ordinary in any way, “Why did you tell me your secret?”

“Because you are my friend and I trust you.”

She looked outside the large window.

“I should leave now.”

“No, wait here,” she said and ran to a room. Not even a minute later she came back with a bracelet, it was a charm bracelet that had a crescent moon in the middle and tiny stars around it.

"Whenever you need my help just hold the moon and say my name,” she said, giving me the bracelet.

"Thank you so much, Val,” I hugged her and said goodbye.

Lily was not in her room when I came back, which meant Astrid was not in the house as well.

I decided to go back to my room, on the way I saw Lucius’s room, and without giving it much thought I opened the door.

The smell of his cologne instantly hit my nose, the room and the furniture were painted in different shades of grey matched with white. There was a king-sized bed in the center and a large window in front of it, leading to the balcony. I went to the desk near the window and opened the first drawer, it had some papers but nothing useful.

I closed it and opened the one below it, the contents inside were not different. I was about to shut it when my eyes fell on the royal stamp on the top of it, the date was what surprised me the most, it was dated 30 years ago.

Before I could search for something else, I heard some footsteps, I panicked and put everything back in the drawer. But thankfully the tapping of the heels was from Lily.

I waited for a few seconds and ran towards my room.

It was dinner time soon, Lucius was the last one to join us. The sound of forks and spoons with some chatting filled the room. 

All the delicious food in front could not bring my dead appetite back to life.

“You have barely touched your food, are you feeling alright?” Lucius asked, which caused Astrid and Lily to stare at me.

“I am not hungry.”

Astrid went back to earing but Lily kept looking at me, I gave her a small smile.

The dinner was normal after that, everyone went to their rooms whereas I went to the garden.

I sat there enjoying the silence of the night alone with my thoughts.

I put my face in my hands, the list of questions kept increasing daily and I was getting curious, “what will I do?” I mumbled.

“What is going on?”

I heard the voice and looked at Lucius standing in front of me with a scowl on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“I am worried about you, I know something is bothering you and I want to help you,” his eyes held concern.

"I just want to go back. I want everything to be normal again. I don't belong here,” I said in a small voice.

"Astrid has a lead but she will tell us about it tomorrow. I know you miss home, but you have Lily here with you. Things do not stay the same forever."

A humorless chuckle escaped my lip, “Lily has already made friends here, she is like one of you guys. If we get stuck here forever she will not be alone," I said it for the first time to someone, I was scared that after a while everyone will continue their lives here and I will end up alone. I was scared of all the things happening around me.

"You are not alone Samara, Lily made some friends here but no one can take your place in her life, we all know that. You have me, I am never going to leave you alone,” he said in a serious voice. His words gave some comfort to me.

I wanted to ask him about everything but instead, I gave him a smile.

“It is getting late, you should sleep now.”

I nodded, “Thank you, Lucius.”

“You do not have to thank me,” he took a step closer. My heartbeat escalated as I stared into his eyes, I saw his face getting closer. 

I closed my eyes as I felt his soft lips on my forehead, “Good night.”