Forsaken

Episode 9

"Haizea!" Harper whispered under her breath as she hugged the young girl.

"I'm here now. Let's go home." She added. The young girl just nodded as new tears were forming in her eyes. Harper took her sisters' hand and turned to Aldrich.

"Thank you for your hospitality and care for my sister," she said in a formal matter, and turned to the young boy as well.

"Thank you for comforting her."

The boy stood from the bed and gave her a small crooked smile and a polite nod, as his father started to speak.

"You are very welcome, Miss Willard. Haizea is welcome here anytime."

And with that, Harper led the young girl out of the mansion and in direction of her former childhood home. Once inside, she kneeled down and came face to face with Haizea.

"I am so sorry, Haizea!"

"Wha.. W-What will ha-happen n-now?" The girl asked between sobs.

"You will come live with me. I will take care of you and I promise you, you will start to feel better with time, little one." She answered and hugged her little sister once again.

"I have to go to the gathering in the Great Willow Hall soon. A new Head of the coven is to be chosen. I can stay with you for another half hour." Harper told the little girl, while still holding her.

"Can I please come with you? I don't want to be alone," the girl begged between sobs.

"You are too young sweety, you should stay here, I'll call someone." Harper answered, but the girl pushed her sister away and gave her a defying look.

"I was fine with Alaric, then you came to get me and now you want someone else to watch me when you go away again? You always come to see me and then leave again right away! You should just have left me alone!" The girl started shouting, and to Harper's surprise, a potted plant and a vase started to float up into the air, just to come crushing down to the floor, followed by books and other objects. The strawberry blond hair on the girls' head started to rise up into the air as well, and a few streaks of the hair turned into a light blue shimmering color, matching some blue specs in her usually amber-colored eyes.

"Okay Haizea! Hold on! Let me think. I won't leave you again, okay?"

"You promise?" she asked and wiped a few tears away from her little cheeks, while her red and blue glowing hair was slowly falling back into place. A book and a coffee mug stopped mid-air.

"I promise" Harper answered and watched the objects slowly flow down without being crushed.

"Goddess Haizea. How long have you had your powers?" Harper muttered, and sat down on the floor to be at a closer level with her sister.

"Always" the girl shrugged and sat down too.

"Why didn't mom tell me?" Harper asked mostly herself.

"Mom doesn't want.. didn't want people to know. So I try to hide it, but sometimes I can't control it very well." Haizea answered.

"You really are special, you know?" Harper said with a crooked smile, and embraced the girl once again.

"You sound like mom now," the little girl muffled into her sisters' chest.

Harper felt a little worried over the news of her sisters' powers. Normally, a witch's powers manifested around 13 years. Her own came when she had just turned 11, making her an early bloomer herself. But to have had them since birth? And this strong? That was as rare as it gets. Harper frowned. How could she not have known? And even more importantly - what should she do next?

"I think we better hide your powers a little bit better from now on, little one. I will help you control them and also make a potion to bind them a bit, so they wont be as strong." Harper finally spoke.

"Mum wanted to do that too. Then she died." the girl replied with a sad face, looking at the floor.

"Mum had her wise moments. Let's follow through on this plan." Harper concluded and stood from the ground.

"We better get going soon. Can you start packing your things? You have 15 minutes until we have to leave for the meeting. Bring your big cape as well. We don't want to draw too much attention to us today." Harper said, and watched her sister nod and go to her room.

"This is such a mess," Harper sighed, and decided to go through some documents and other papers that might seem important. She would have to bring most of it, if she wanted to investigate further why her mother had suddenly passed away.

The 15 minutes went by fast, and Harper had ended up throwing most documents into two briefcases to take with her. She would like not to return to her former home later, so she put a spell on the briefcases to make them shrink. She quickly shoved them into her pockets and when she came out of the office, her sister had already brought a suitcase with her.

“Do you have everything?” Harper asked her.

“I have Lizzy, and Mingo and Tara and Flora and..” The girl started to answer before she was cut off by Harper.

“What are those?”

“My dolls and teddys.” Haizea answered, as if Harper was supposed to know this.

“And your clothes?” Harper continued.

“I didn’t know what clothes I would need. But I brought my cape!” She answered and showed her hands holding her cape.

Harper sighed and held her head for a moment.

“You went to pack your toys?” She asked to clarify.

“Yes.” Came the answer.

“Then we have to return here after the meeting to pack real things.” Harper concluded with another sigh.

“Tara and Lizzy ARE real!” said Haizea.

“Sure. Let’s go. Leave the suitcase.”

_______________________________

Nylah went to the bakery early to get started on the baked goods of the day. She had never opened the store alone before, nor had she baked everything on her own. But Harper had given her all of her recipes and some directions on how to handle things like opening and closing the store. Unlocking the door to the bakery was the first step and that went well. Getting everything ready before customers started coming would be the real challenge. She skimmed some of the easier recipes and decided to mostly make basic breads and buns. Then she could focus on maybe one or two more interesting variants. This bakery was known for having different things almost every day anyway. People here loved the surprise of a varied selection that would change from day to day, instead of all the regular stuff everyone else had. It also helped that everything Harper made was usually mouth-watering delicious.

After having spent about two hours making dough, mixing, measuring and shaping things, Nylah could finally have a steady flow of bread going in and out of the oven. She was starting to fill up the shelves with some baguettes when she heard a knock on the front door. She quickly stole a glance at the wall clock, but it only confirmed that it was not time to open yet. It was too early to take in customers. She went to the door and decided to peak through the curtains, but what she saw only made her laugh out loudly. Chaz stood on the other side of the door, tilting his head to the side in the same manner as herself, as if he too was peaking through a curtain. She quickly unlocked the door and let him in. Still slightly laughing, she asked him:

“Hey Chaz, what are you doing here?”

“Harper sent me a quick message yesterday about the whole situation and asked me to look out for you every once in a while. I decided that once in a while should be right now!” He answered with a big smile on his face.

“Great! Let’s get to work then!” Nylah chirped, and smirked when she saw his face drop slightly over the idea of having to work.

“I guess I can’t just watch you do everything then,” He answered with a smile and found an apron.

“What are we making? And more importantly, what am I eating first?” Chaz’s bright smile was instantly back on as they entered the back of the store.

“We are making croissants and scones next. You can have a piece of baguette bread with butter, and if we have leftovers around noon you can eat anything left.” Niela replied in a business-like manner.

“Whew, tough crowd. You are more strict than Harper about eating her goods before customers can buy them.” Chaz said with a wink, and got started on shaping the croissants.

“I want to do good.” Nylah simply said, while rolling out the dough for the scones.

“So, have you given any thought about joining a pack?” Chaz asked conversationally and casually changed the subject.

“Yeah, I think I might take you up on the offer. I mean I can’t stay a rogue and a pack could probably help me with an education, which is something I would really want. But I want to live on my own, preferably at Harper’s to begin with.” She said thoughtfully.

“I think I could probably convince my alpha to make you a pack member who lives outside of the pack. You just have to have something to contribute with. Make yourself a valuable member, so that he can’t refuse you.”

“I don’t have any valuable qualities though.” Nylah started to shoot down the idea.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure something out!” Chaz said firmly.

“But don’t tell him exactly who you are and where you come from. I have a feeling he would find a way to exploit it. I am not 100% sure I like my alpha to be honest. But the pack is fine for the time being. Maybe when I find my fabulous mate I’ll leave. I mean, look how awesome I am? I have got to have the most gorgeous piece of ass out there waiting for me!” Chaz winked and smiled widely like a lovestruck fan-girl, which made Nylah giggle. It was her first time meeting a gay man, but she definitely liked him.

“And believe me, you must have the most handsome mate waiting for you too. I mean look at you! Hard working and gorgeous at the same time. Trust me, the two of us are in for a treat!” He continued with an unimaginably even bigger smile. Nylah just blushed and buried herself in her work. She hadn’t given a mate much thought just yet. Of course, she liked the idea, but she was still a few years from being able to find him. And she really wanted to get her life on track first. Probably starting with joining a pack, now that she had some savings, a steady job, a place to sleep and somehow.. friends.