Zore

Broken Boundaries

I got to the clearing like the devil was on my heels. I have no idea who this Matteo guy thinks he is, summoning me to a very sketchy place such as this, but I was going to give him a piece of my mind. And I don't know what he thinks he knows about my aunt, but I was going to straighten him out something fierce!

"Nice to see you again, Azora." I turned and my breath caught. It was the beautiful stranger from the day before!

"Azora, let me properly introduce you to my brother, Niccolo." Brother! I knew Matteo looked familiar! They might have different colored eyes but the hair and the noses screamed brothers! "You can call him Nicco" he joked. At that, the brother in question rolled his eyes and replied "Please ignore this buffoon, you can call me Nick."

"UH. Nice to meet you both again. I guess. But why meet so close to my home? And what do you know about my aunt that I don't?" At that, the brothers shared a look, and all traces of the playfulness from earlier were wiped clean off their faces.

"Your aunt is blackmailing us to get what she wants."

"Your power, Azora. She needs it to take over Coven. She wants to rule the Supernatural world with her partner."

"His name is Nicholi; our uncle."

"Ha! My aunt doesn't date. Whew, you almost got me there. Now, what do you too really want?"

"Zore." I turned so fast that I almost got whiplash. That name. It's like the remnant of a memory trying to break to the surface.

"I'm sorry, but you must know, Seraphina is not your aunt. I don't know what she told you, but your mom has been searching for you since the day you were taken all those years ago. By Seraphina."

"Enough! You're lying!" How could they say something like that?

"Azora it's true! Open your eyes, you two look nothing alike! Why would she hide you away all these years, never letting you go to school until now? Telling you about your powers only yesterday, it's all so she could take advantage of your inability to control your powers. Don't be stupid enough to believe in her, Azora."

"Matteo, that's enough!" My head was spinning, this couldn't be true. I had a mother and I was taken from her. How could Aunt- How could Seraphina do this to me?!

"Well, insulting her intelligence after overwhelming her with so much information is not going to help us help her. I told you your temper is too out of control."

"Go to hell, Nick! Just because your Alpha, you think you can treat me like a kid! She needs to make a decision before Seraphina gets back tomorrow!"

"Shut up both of you!" I need to calm down and catch my breath, but these two are driving me up a wall. Wait, why do I smell smoke?

"Azora. Please calm down." I looked up, only to see Matteo and Nick surrounded by a ring of fire. Wait was that because of me?

"Azora, you have to put out the fire."

"But I don't know how?!" I screamed and that only seemed to fuel the fire.

"Calm your mind, Azora. Picture the thing that brings you peace the most. And then picture this clearing in its most ideal state" I thought about my favorite place in the woods not too far from here. It's beautiful flowers and the stream that I used to swim in. I thought of this clearing but without the fire and when I opened my eyes, that was how it looked. No fire anywhere.

"Good job Matteo. You just saved our asses."

" Yes Matteo, thank you. Sorry for almost turning you guys into hot dogs."

"No problem. I guess having a temper does come in handy when you're learning how to control it. Those are the things I do when I get pissed at Nick." I smiled at that, he might have his faults, but he does seem like a decent guy.

"Well, let's get back on track, shall we? Azora, the truth is you're going to need to control your powers and fast too. We know someone that can help but she's very far away and going there will put you in danger." Matteo and I gave Nick the same confused look. He sighed but continued. "On the plane ride over here I wondered, 'How is it that Seraphina was able to keep you hidden for so many years?' It's possible that she could've found some way to suppress your powers while simultaneously erecting a protective layer in this city. Think, have you ever been outside of Phoenix?"

"Only once, when I was little. Maybe six or seven. I complained to Aunt Seraphina that I wanted to go to Disney World and hug all the beautiful princesses that they showed on TV. Aunt Seraphina said there was no way she would bring us to Florida, so we went to a resort in California instead. When we got there, however, my bracelet slipped off and when I looked up I was far away from Seraphina. I have no idea how I got there and this guy tried to take me away, but I got scared and ended up on top of one of the rides. Do you think I teleported myself there?"

"It's possible" Nick replied. "But witches aren't known to be able to teleport so young. What happened to that bracelet you were wearing?"

"I don't know, I lost it a couple of months ago, around the same time I started having these weird dreams." The two brothers shared a glance.

"Anyway," I said, continuing my story, "Seraphina found me and my bracelet, she put it back on and we left immediately. I never left Phoenix again."

"I'm sure you're thinking the same thing that we are. Your bracelet was used to constrict your powers to prevent you from using them and also to prevent other magic users from seeing you as anything other than human. However, it doesn't shield your identity very well the further you are from the state. Now your bracelet is gone and you're almost eighteen. That means, no matter what, every supernatural creature with the balls will flock to you in hopes of using your power for their own gain."

"And face Seraphina's wrath? I don't think so, Brother."

"They're desperate, Matteo. Time is running out."

"So what do we do now? And how do I know that I can trust you two?"

"You're gonna have to take a leap of faith Zore." There goes that name again.

"Either way. We have to get you away from Seraphina."