Faithless

Chapter Fourteen

Cam took his time showing Jasmina around. She could tell he was trying his best to sell the place to her, but she refused to give in just yet, even if she had nowhere else to go. They went back to his room so Jasmina could check her phone, which had twelve missed calls from her dad, five messages from him, and two from Candice. Both of them sounded worried, but for different reasons. It was an unwritten rule of friendship that the girls would always let each other know they had arrived safely, and Jasmina had broken it. She sent Candice a quick message to calm her down, and then looked back at her dad’s messages. She sighed deeply to herself.

“Problem?” Cam asked, sitting beside her.

“Kind of. I don’t really know what to do.” Jasmina mumbled.

“Say you’re staying at friend’s tonight then stay here. I know Ruby would like you to stay. Maxine is at home with her parents, so I’m sure Ruby could use the company.” Cam offered. Jasmina thought about it for a while then nodded, sending her dad a message, saying exactly what Cam had said. She locked her phone then put it back in her bag with no intention of glancing at it again for the rest of the evening.

“So what was with the girl back downstairs? The one that walked off in a mood.”

“That's Sarah, she’s… Difficult. But she’ll get over it soon enough. She just hates how much attention you get.” Cam smirked.

“Attention?”

“Well yeah. You’re kind of a big deal. You’re not in a coven but you’re already pretty powerful, you just haven’t realised it yet. Not to mention how rare your powers are.”

“So you only want me for my powers? Oh how used I feel!” Jasmina said sarcastically, while throwing herself backwards on the bed. Cam just shook his head.

“It’s not like that I swear.” He smirked.

“So then, where am I staying tonight?”

“There’s plenty of room here. Take your pick. There’s Eight bedrooms on this floor, plus two bathrooms.”

“Wow. So much for subtlety.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well surely it’s going to turn some heads, a bunch of mostly unrelated people buying a house with eight bedrooms. I mean if I were a hunter looking to see if some witches and warlocks have moved in, I would check to see if anyone had moved into a house with seven or more bedrooms, and there can’t be many of those lying around.” Jasmina explained, shrugging. Cam just nodded.

“Never really thought about it like that.” Cam shrugged.

“Maybe it would be best if you moved into two houses next door to each other. You could take a fence panel out in the back garden so you have easy access to each other.”

“Trying to chase us out?” He joked.

“No I just mean I… Well I did see…” Jasmina trailed off. “You died here. Cam. What if the hunters are already watching you? I mean all of you.”

Cam moved Jasmina into the room next to Ruby, so that she was near a familiar face. Ruby was practically dying to be able to show off her power to someone who didn’t know what it actually was. Cam was a little apprehensive, but in the end Jasmina managed to convince him it was fine. She needed to get used to being around magic and there was no better time to start than right now. She went into Ruby's room with her and Cam, who wanted to supervise, just in case Jasmina got freaked out. He never actually said that was his intention, but Jasmina could practically hear his thoughts screaming at her.

“When did you decide to move in?” Jasmina asked Ruby.

“Pretty much as soon as they offered I guess.” Ruby shrugged. “I get why you didn’t though.”

“What do you mean?”

"Cam said that your powers could easily be mistaken for an overactive imagination, with the whole vision thing and everything."

"Oh, I see." Jasmina mumbled, looking at Cam. He just shot an apologetic look.

"Anyway, you want to see something really cool?" Ruby said, excitedly.

“Sure.”

“Ruby, you can only show off your tricks when you explain what they are first." Cam warned, shaking his head.

"I can astral project. Can I do it now?" She sighed, glaring. Cam just shook his head looking at Jasmina, who was confused as anything and she just knew it must have shown.

"Astral projection is when Ruby here can project her spiritual self, out of her body. Her body kind of sleeps and she can move around and do whatever she likes. She's able to touch and pick things up, but she can't get hurt, well her projection can't, her body still can."

"And if I practice enough, both forms will be conscious." Ruby beamed. Jasmina just nodded, trying to wrap her head around it. All of a sudden, Ruby's head just dropped and her body slouched. Jasmina went to check on her, but Cam put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. All of a sudden it was like a bright light, and then there, standing right in front of Jasmina, was another Ruby. She froze, just staring at this second figure, trying to make sure it was real. It was like Jasmina had completely forgotten how to speak. How to even move her limbs. Jasmina weakly looked between Ruby, the slouched, unconscious one, and this other form.

"Ruby, that's enough magic for now, Jas only just got here." Cam scolded lightly. The second Ruby disappeared and the original woke up, grinning from ear to ear. Jasmina didn't even know how she was meant to react. This was supposedly who she was now, a witch. So this kind of thing would need to become second nature to her at some point. She knew that probably everyone here was hoping it would be sooner rather than later.

"I'm going to go and check my phone. Candice must be going out of her mind." She said quietly, rubbing her head. She wanted an excuse to be on her own for at least a minute. Today suddenly felt as if it had been a really long day, and she wasn't sure how much more she could take. It was like it had finally hit her, that this would actually be her life. Watching people astral project, or control the elements, or suck information from books.

Jasmina walked down the stairs and snuck outside. She wasn't sure if she was actually meant to be out here, and she didn't want to wait to find out either. She walked to the tree line and got as far from the house as she could. It was still in sight, but she doubted they could see her from here. Then finally she curled up into a ball and prayed she would just wake up already.

Jasmina sat outside for at least half an hour, but she never woke up. It was the first time that she actually wished that she was just having trouble telling reality and dreams apart. Jasmina wished that she could say she was still asleep in her dorm, about to wake on Sunday, after a day of shopping with Candice and Logan. She wished that she could say she had just dreamt of Cam, as hard as it was to think. He was always showing up, at times where she could have just been asleep. Like when she went down to the lake and Cam appeared, she could have been asleep in her room, then dreamt the whole thing, which would have explained the flowers appearing in the field like they did. Jasmina ended up in the same place that she had started, which made it hard to tell if she was dreaming or not.

She didn't like these ideas swirling around in her brain, making her head hurt. It was bad enough that she had grown up with everyone around her, saying she was crazy, but now she was even talking herself into it too. She didn't like how her brain was working. It was twisting her sense of reality.

"Jas, it's not really safe out here." Cam said out of nowhere. She yelped, nearing falling off the tree stump she was perched on. As quick as lightning, Cam caught her, lifting her up. She took a step back, running a hand through her hair. "Is something wrong?"

"No... Well yeah but... I don't know." She sighed, crossing my arms. "You have a bad habit of showing up at the wrong time."

"When would be a good time?" He smirked, tilting his head to the side.

"When I'm awake." She breathed, hoping he didn't pick up on it. She walked back in the direction of the house, but Cam caught her arm so suddenly that it took her off balance yet again.

"Wait, you think you're dreaming?"

"Just forget I even said anything." Jasmina sighed. “It’s just a theory I was working on.” She pulled her arm out of his grip and let it slump at her side.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing I just… It’s a lot to take in I mean, it was all fine in theory, but I guess it just hit me that it's all real. This is where my life is heading.” Jasmina gestured to the house frowning. She started to head back, putting her hands in her pockets.

"Wait Jas, I can help you."

"How?"

"Because I can do this." He shrugged. Pulling her in tightly, kissing her on the lips. Jasmina was so shocked that she tensed up, just for a second, before melting into his arms. Just as she felt like lust was taking over completely, he pulled back. "Was that a dream?" He smirked.

"I'm not sure yet." Jasmina sighed lightly, causing him to chuckle.

"Alright, I'll just see you in your dreams then." Cam shrugged, smirking, his typical trademark smirk. He kept his hands on her waist, while Jasmina's were on his chest. “Come on. Let’s go inside, everyone is getting ready for dinner anyway.” He said, letting go of her waist. She nodded, putting her own hands back in her pockets. She kept her eyes to the floor and headed towards the house, but Cam stopped her.

“What?” She mumbled

“I’m not going to have to get used to seeing the top of your head again am I? Come on, don’t be so shy.” He smiled, pulling her closer. He wrapped an arm around her waist and they headed for the house. Cam was taller than Jasmina and could cover a lot more ground in his strides, but she still kept up as they entered the house. He let go of her waist once they were inside and led her into the kitchen where everyone else was standing around.

Cam sat her down at the end of the table, then sat next to her, like he was some kind of barrier. Aiden sat opposite Jasmina, and Ruby next to him. She winked at Jasmina, still smiling like always. The table was already set, and the others began piling plates in front of them.

“Monica always over does it whenever there’s new people.” Cam whispered.

“Who?”

“I’ll introduce you later.” Cam explained. Everyone else sat down and dug in. Cam loaded his plate, and Jasmina's, although she wasn’t actually all that hungry. She mostly pushed the food around, while everyone else chatted to each other. Sarah was constantly glaring daggers, to the point where Jasmina actually thought she was going to burn a hole into her head.

Her staring was putting Jasmina off, making it hard for her to focus. She felt uneasy and knew she was slipping out of control over her own power. Jasmina wasn’t used to that feeling and she didn’t know how to stop it. She could feel that she was tensing up, which Cam noticed too. He nudged Jasmina's shoulder, but she didn’t look at him, instead she shut her eyes tightly.

“You’re going to lose control, take a drink.” Cam whispered. Tyler was next to him, and Jasmina knew he had caught what Cam said. Jasmina opened her eyes and reached for the glass. The second her fingertip made contact with the glass it flew into the wall, like it was repelled by her touch. Jasmina froze, watching the pieces shatter, then land on the floor. The room had gone silent, all eyes on her.

“Freak.” Sarah muttered. Jasmina looked down at her hands, then back to the shattered glass.

“I should leave.” Jasmina whispered to herself. She got up then headed up stairs. She put her damp jacket on and slung her bag over her shoulder. Cam came rushing in behind her, shutting the door behind him and catching her arms, making her face him.

“You can’t just go.” He sighed.

“I have to. I can’t stay here with her. She set that off. How can I join a coven with her in it, if that’s the effect she can have on me.” Jasmina rambled.

“You mean Sarah? She’ll get over it eventually she just has a problem with new people, Ruby suffered through it too.” Cam explained, but Jasmina wasn’t listening anymore. She could feel a headache growing, and for a second she blacked out. She remembered the feeling from before.

“Cam it’s happening.” She mumbled. Jasmina pulled him out of the room and ran down the stairs, just as the front door burst open. Tyler came rushing down the hall, but she blocked his path, using a shield. He looked to Jasmina, then put his back to the wall, staying out of sight. Two hunters came through the now wide open door. Sarah was next, coming from the kitchen, but Jasmina used the shield to push her backwards, with such a force, she practically glided through the air.

Then it was Jasmina. The two hunters had frozen, watching Sarah being flung backwards, but they turned to Jasmina and Cam standing on the stairs. Before Jasmina could react, Cam pulled her backwards, then set alight to the hunter’s hands, making them drop their weapons. Aiden came out of the kitchen and blew them out of the house with just a flick of his wrist. Jasmina let down the shield she created in front of Tyler, then he and Ewan headed outside. She didn’t want to think about what they were going to do next.

“How the hell did you know to do that?” Cam asked, stunned.

“You were so worried about me exposing magic, after that window blew up, how much did time did actually spend looking into the vision that caused the window to blow in the first place?” Jasmina said quietly. Cam muttered a few words to himself in disbelief. Jasmina on the other hand was disappointed that she didn't recognise the house from the inside as soon as she had arrived, but she had been preoccupied then and hadn't even thought about that vision since it had happened.

“Sorry. I didn’t think.” He muttered, keeping his head low in shame. Jasmina rubbed his arm, trying to offer at least some comfort.

“It’s not your fault. It’s hard for you to know what I saw unless you actually saw it too. How are you meant to do anything about it? My vision, my responsibility.”

“Doesn’t just have to be your responsibility. We can handle it together.” Ruby said, standing at the bottom of the stairs, trying to offer Jasmina a small smile of support. Jasmina and Cam came down the rest of the stairs to meet her. Jasmina stood with Ruby, while Cam glanced outside to Tyler and his father, then assessed the damage to the door. Sarah came storming out of the kitchen, covered in small cuts and bruises. She was heading straight for Jasmina, but Aiden grabbed her arm, while placing himself directly in front of Jasmina, blocking her from sight. Jasmina couldn't ignore the guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew that she had been the one to cause the injuries to Sarah.

“Don’t.” Aiden practically growled. Sarah just huffed, then walked outside.

"I didn't mean to." Jasmina mumbled quietly. Ruby wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her gently.

"You just saved her life Jasmina. Don't sweat it." Aiden grinned. "It's not like she didn't deserve it anyway." He just shrugged. Ruby let out a small laugh, rubbing Jasmina's arm in support.

"I'm pretty sure I wished I could send her flying like that plenty of times when I first met Sarah. Good on you for making it happen." Ruby winked. Jasmina didn't want to admit it but they had both made her feel a bit better, but she couldn't ignore the uneasy feeling she felt whenever she looked towards the door. Tonight had been far too close for comfort for all of them. Ashleigh came out of the kitchen and ran straight upstairs, Jasmina could hear her banging around and assumed she was starting to pack up her things. Jasmina took a few steps closer to Cam who was still focused on the scene outside. Eventually he stepped away, closing the gap between him and Jasmina.

“Well one thing's for sure.” Cam sighed, pulling Jasmina in his arms. “We can’t stay here.”