Hidden

Chapter 3

“It looks like a lichtenberg figure,” Reid Silva stated as he stared at the picture on the screen of his wife’s cell.

Cici scowled at her husband, “Alright then. What is that and what causes it?”

Cedar sat on the sofa in his father’s study as he listened to his parents in their panic over Viola’s new markings.

“Lightning causes them. It’s the scarring people get after they’ve been struck by lightning.”

Cedar sighed, “But when did she get hit? And how??”

His father shook his head, “That I don’t know. Viola knows better than to keep that sort of thing from us, so my only guess is maybe it’s just her. Maybe she’s actually awakening?”

Cecily sighed and paced in front of the sofa, “But she should have done that years ago.”

“Isn’t that part of the reason Cedar came home though?” Reid asked as he rubbed his hands over his eyes tiredly, “Did Vi say anything to you about it, Cedar?”

He thought over his earlier conversation with Vi, “She mentioned a dream but that’s all.”

Cecily huffed and plopped down on the couch beside her son, Sphinx chose that exact moment to hop into her lap and settle there. The woman sighed and stared at the cat, “You knew about this, didn’t you?”

The cat purred and closed her eyes. Sphinx usually had a smug air about her but this time it was worse. Cecily swore under her breath and fell back into the couch, “I guess we have to tell Vi about this now….”

“Where is she right now?” Reid asked suddenly.

Sphinx quickly hopped out of Cecily’s lap and padded around the crack in the door and out the room, leaving Cecily stunned and staring after her cat.

“I think she’s in her room,” Cedar mumbled. After she’d found the markings on her back, quickly showered and had since been hiding out in her room while the rest of them tried to figure out what to do.

Suddenly a falcon crashed at the window, scratching the glass with his talons frantically. Cedar hurriedly pulled the window open to let the falcon in, “Hugo, what’s--” he began but was cut off when there was a big boom in the air, making the ground tremble.

The three of them rushed out the office and onto the back patio, anxious to find the source of the boom. The forest was eerily silent in the night air until there was another boom, only now Cedar realized it was thunder as he watched a bolt of lightning shoot into the dark sky before fading away.

Cecily quickly ran back into the house only to come back moment later frantic, “Viola’s not in her room!”

~~~

Viola climbed the ladder up to the old treehouse. Miraculously, it was still standing which was shocking since it was built by a fourteen year old Cedar and a six year old Viola. Their father had gone behind them to fix the dangerous parts that they had messed up. After Cedar got too old for it, Viola and Chloe began hiding out in here, even camping out overnight.

It had been about three years since she’d last been out to the treehouse and part of the floor had began rotting and falling away. She made sure to stay against the trunk of the tree, under the roof, and away from the rotting floorboards.

Falling through the floor was a very bad idea on her part. No one knew she was out here so if she fell she’d have to wait until someone figured it out or crawl her way home, and that was only if the fall didn’t kill her.

She sighed and stared up at the stars through the gap between boards and mostly naked tree limbs. The sky was mostly clear. Absentmindedly, she reached back to run her fingers over the branched scarring on her back. It didn’t make sense. How could something just appear out of nowhere like that? She was fine the day before and nothing could have caused it while she was out with Cedar either. Her back was struck by lightning in a dream but that’s it.

Crunching leaves alerted her that someone was nearby. Frowning, she turned to see who it was, flashing her flashlight in that direction, but aside from the pair of glowing yellow eyes reflecting the light, no one was there. She leaned over to see the fox creeping around the base of the trunk and leap onto a fallen tree.

Viola watched to see what she was up to until she climbed the tilted tree trunk onto a branch holding the treehouse and then leap onto the platform holding Viola.

“That looked practiced. Did you make this your home or something?” she murmured to the fox as she sat a few feet directly in front of her.

The two stared at each other until a floating light in Viola’s peripheral vision caught her attention. She watched it float around in front of the tree house, winking in and out of existence, an ordinary firefly. At least until it floated closer to her.

Hovering just out of reach of the platform, the floating orb of light was as round as her head.

The fox began growling at the light, the fur on her back raising up, her fangs bared in threat. Viola tried to scoot away from the angry fox and creepy floating light, until she felt the boards under her give out.

She yelped in surprise as she was dropped into the space two boards had been just a second ago. Her pant leg snagged on a precautionary bolt jutting out from where she’d fallen through, preventing, for the time being, her from falling head first to the ground below.

The light followed her, floating a foot from her face and before she could try to swat it away, she was suddenly somewhere else.

The forest was replaced with a fancy room, like a parlor those big fancy old houses had in the movies. Viola was still dangling upside down but now she was held from someone’s hand, dangling from a balcony high above a solid marble floor. The brass spindles were cold against her back and the railing dug into her calf. The ceiling above her seemed to go on forever as the stairs circled up and up.

She screamed. How had she suddenly ended up here? The person holding her ankle was a man, tall and dark and strong. His face was distorted, as was his voice when he spoke.

“You’re done getting in the master’s way. I tried to go easy on you, expecting that he might enjoy your power but you’re too meddlesome to risk it,” he growled at her.

Terrified, she tried to reach up, for the railing but instead of grabbing anything, her fingers slipped right through and blue lightning shot from the tips of her fingers.

Horrified, she watched as he easily avoided the blow and lean over her again with a gruesome grin, “It’s over for you, Silva.” He released her ankle and she felt herself falling.

She screamed again as lightning shot out of her hands again but instead of cracking her head on marble, she landed on the hard forest floor, the trees big roots surrounding her on either side, the landing had knocked the air out of her.

Gasping and in pain, she tried to sit up only for the fox to stand on her chest and stare down at her. Stay down, she heard a female voice order inside her head. Confused and pinned down by the fox, she looked around, searching for the man who she’d seen just before she’d fallen, wondering if she’d imagined it.

The fox moved and sat beside her, Viola, you fell while you were under a will-o-wisps illusion. Rest and I’ll explain more later.

She stared at the fox in shock, “Is that you?!”

Yes.

“Am I losing my mind??” she shouted and quickly sat up, causing the world to spin.

I would say you finally got your mind. It has taken me years to finally be able to approach you.

“I...I don’t understand.”

The fox huffed, We’ll talk more later. Sphinx and Hugo went to get your family.

Viola glanced around the forest, “I could just walk home now. That glowy thing is gone now.”

It’s still here, but that’s not our problem now. There’s another threat heading this way. She said as she sniffed the air and took her place in front of Viola. She growled, the fur on her back raising in defense.

“What’s coming this way?” she asked but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the brush in front of her rustled followed by a low hissing sound.

A white head poked out from under the bush as the snake from the earlier slithered toward her, tongue dashing out, tasting the air, only pausing ten feet from the fox.

“What’s that thing doing here??”

She growled again at the snake, Probably here to scare you out of using your powers.

“What powers??”

Before the fox had the chance to answer, a falcon dove from the sky and landed on the python’s back tearing at it with its talons. The snake’s fangs came up, snapping at the falcon only to just narrowly miss his neck.

She heard her mother shout her name just as Sphinx leaped beside the fox, protective of Viola. She turned to look at her mother, too stunned to open her mouth to tell her she was alright.

Cecily crouched down beside where her daughter lay on the ground and cupped her cheek in a hand. “Vi, what happened, are you alright?” she asked as she gently touched the tender spot on Viola’s head.

Viola winced and nodded, “I fell and hit my head but, otherwise, I think I’m fine… What’s going on?” she asked as she glanced back just in time to see the giant snake retreating back into the forest.

Cedar ran up behind them with their father, “Is it gone?”

Viola pushed her mother’s hands from her and stood, “What’s going on?!”

Her father rested a hand on her shoulder, his usually intense green eyes looking more gentle than usual, “We’ll explain at home…”

~~~

Viola sat on the sofa in the Silva home’s living room. She held a bag of ice wrapped in a dish towel to the back of her head, and after her father had deemed her concussion free, almost been force fed over the counter pain meds, they’d finally sat down and agreed to talk. She scowled at her family with the bird, the fox, and the cat, staring back at her.

“Now are you going to tell me what’s going on? Or are you going to tell me that this is all a hallucination from a head injury?” she asked, meeting her father’s eyes for a moment.

Cecily took Viola’s free hand in hers, “Sweetie…. We, our family, all of us, aren’t ordinary people…”

Viola stared at her mother suspiciously, “Go on…”

She sighed, “Viola, we, all of us, are witches.”

She’d had enough and snatched her hand from her mother’s and stood, dropping the ice pack on the couch, “Mom! I’m serious! What’s going on!”

She stood. “I am being serious. See, look,” she said and pointed to the ice pack Viola had just dropped.

Viola watched it, “What abou--” she began but before she could finish, it lifted off the cushion and floated up into the air until it hovered in front of Viola’s face.

She waved a hand under and over the pack before looking at her mother, jaw dropped, “How…”

“It’s magic. I told you, we’re witches,” she stated, staring at her silently.

Viola shook her head, “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Cedar gently nudged Viola to sit back down, “Mom’s power is telekinesis. Mine is premonitions.”

“And you’ve got elemental powers like me, but flinging lightning into the air is a bit more intense than my earth and water powers,” her father said with a lopsided grin.

“How do you know I have lightning powers?” she asked quietly, she just couldn’t seem to wrap her head around what they were saying. It was as if she could hear them but they weren’t speaking english.

“We saw them. Do you not remember?...” her mother asked quietly.

She thought over the events prior and remembered the glowing orb and the illusion it showed her, “I thought it was all just in the dream…”

A will-o-wisp caught her in its hallucination. She unleashed her power at whatever it was she was seeing in the vision. The fox’s voice rang in her head.

Viola looked back to the fox, “How is she talking?”

Her mother laughed, “Oh, that’s your familiar. She’ll keep you safe and help you learn your magic.”

The fox climbed into her lap and licked her forehead lightly, That’s right. I’m here for you. My name is Karma. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Viola Silva. Karma bowed her head. Viola could hear the emotion in her voice and feelings coming from her, feelings of content and worry and relief and affection.

“Karma…” she whispered before running her fingers through her fur. She looked up at Sphinx and the falcon, “What about those two?”

Sphinx hopped up into Viola’s mother’s lap and bumped her head against Viola’s shoulder, Do you really even have to ask, Kitten? I’m your mother’s familiar! Sphinx’s voice was more playful and womanly than Karma’s. Karma seemed like she was young, like Viola, while Sphinx’s was just a little lower.

The falcon squawked at them from where he rested and flapped his wings, I’m insulted that you don’t remember me. My name is Hugo, and you used to chase me as I flew! He turned to Cedar, You need to teach her respect when she goes to that school of yours, Cedar.

Viola stared at each animal in turn before turning to Cedar and then her parents, “What does he mean?? The school??”

Reed Silva sighed, “Vi… you need to go to the magic school…. You’ll learn what you need to to control your power there and be able to learn about the other creatures.”

“I have to switch schools suddenly because I might have some power?? What about Chloe and track??”

Her mother sighed, “Viola, had we known that your powers would awaken so late, we would have had you in that school to begin with…. We would have been teaching you what you need to know in advance.…”

“What do you mean awaken late…? When was i supposed to get them?” Viola asked suddenly.

“Most witches get their power when they’re ten years old, you should have started showing your power six years ago…,” Her mother whispered.

Six years ago? Why had it taken so long for this to happen…? “Fine then, I’m defective! I don’t need to study magic! I want to stay at my school!”

Cedar sighed, “You can’t stay there. You can’t control your power, witches are a secret from humans. If they find out about us we’ll be hanged and you can’t keep that secret right now. You don’t have a choice. You’re coming with me back to the school tomorrow.”

“Why can’t mom and dad just teach me here?? Why do I have to go to some weird school?!” she demanded.

“You’ll be safer at the school, Viola…,” her mother said, “You need to learn magic properly.”

Viola quickly stood up, storming out of the room, “I don’t care! I refuse!”

“You don’t have a choice in the matter, Viola!” her father shouted to her back but she ignored him as she stormed into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.