Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,102
steady.
Amber shook her head. “I don’t really know anything about that, but I asked Nell once if we were Wiccan, and she said no. What Marica taught us was ancient magics, from her homeland. Marica said that her family had been powerful for many generations, and they had passed on their secrets. We didn’t worship anything; there was no mention of demons or anything like that. And I know that wiccans usually worship the elements, right? We didn’t do that.”
“How often did you have these ceremonies in the woods?” Luke too was remaining calm.
“Every other week or so. Marica would tell us when we were meeting. Of course, the Chem. club was happening almost every day after school. My parents were starting to get worried, but then, on the other hand, for the first time I was happy and involved, so they didn’t tell me I couldn’t go.”
“What else happened at the meetings in the woods?” Michael asked.
Amber pursed her lips. “Well, they all pretty much started like that, then after we would chant over the potion, each girl would perform something—Marica called it proof of power. It could be something small, like creating fire, or bigger—levitating or whatever. And then after that we danced around the circle, and then we’d chant again, and sometimes Marica would talk, then we would leave.
“I mean, I know it sounds lame. But being part of it… and Marica telling us how our power was growing exponentially… and how we had to keep silent about it, because that was part of the power. She told us we could be unstoppable. She said that we were all her daughters, that she had foreseen that she would come to this place, which was a mystical spot, and that she would pass on her secrets to us.”
I caught Michael’s eye. “That would be exactly what Nell’s looking for—someone who calls her a daughter. I can see how Ms. Lacusta drew her in.”
“Yeah,” Amber agreed with me. “I could tell that Nell was really… almost possessive of Marica. From what I heard from the other girls, Nell had started messing with witchcraft —they call it the power—about a year ago. I think in the beginning, in her mind it was a link to her mom. She had her mother’s books, and of course she probably knows people from her family who still practice it. But she didn’t get very far, and she wasn’t happy with the spells she’d found. Julie said they thought Nell was getting bored with that and was finally going to stop making them play along. She had started dating Kyle, and they were all relieved.
“But then Marica arrived. She sought Nell out, spent time with her, and convinced her to help start up the chemistry club. Nell was… I think it was Liza who said that Nell had been infatuated with Ms. Lacusta from the beginning. She was—and is—possessive of her, even among all of us. She hated her to give attention or time to anyone else.”
“That’s one of the reasons Nell hated me right away—Ms. Lacusta was nice to me that first day.”
“It was more than that,” Amber said slowly. “Marica talked about you that first day, too. She said there was power in you. She didn’t know what it was, but she was excited. She wanted Nell to be your friend, to get you to join us. And Nell—that was the first time I saw her freak out. She screamed at Marica, she said she hated you and there was no way you were joining us. Nell said that if Marica brought you in, all of the rest of us would leave.”
My heart accelerated. Ms. Lacusta sensed power in me? Was that just a coincidence, or did she really know something?
Michael frowned and tightened his grip on my hand. I could feel his protective nature leaping forward, and I heard him think darkly that Ms. Lacusta would never get near me again.
“After that, things got worse. Nell wasn’t the same nice person she had been. Well, to be honest, she had been getting kind of snappy even before you got here. I think Marica might have been—I don’t know, almost getting bored with Nell? Nell followed her around like a puppy sometimes, and although Marica probably liked that at first, Nell was maybe getting too demanding. It might have been that you were just a convenient excuse for her to start to make a change.”