Where have you been?

"Curtis, where the heck have you been for the past few days?? I have been looking for you everywhere!!" said Maddie as she finally saw Curtis after so long as he was walking in from the hall to the lounge as Maddie happened to be walking out of the lounge.

"I had to go to the Cauldron headquarters to do some things" replied Curtis simply.

"And you did not think of telling anyone where you were going??!" asked Maddie in annoyance.

"I told Stella, I thought that she would tell you, I had no time to stop and inform you where I was going" said Curtis as Maddi sighed.

"You know what, alright, that's fine, that's besides the point, we have something else much more important on ground" said Maddie.

"What is it Maddie?" asked Curtis as he did not think that Maddie was actually talking about something important, she usually overreacted and blew things out of proportion.

"Curtis, I know what you are thinking, and I am not overreacting here, this time it's very important" said Maddie as she could read from the expression on Curtis's face that he did not think what she was going to say would be important.

"It's about Annie" said Maddie and as soon as Curtis heard that It was about Annie, the casual look on his face changed to a confused one.

"What about Annie?" asked Curtis.

"I don't know why or how it happened, but Anni has changed for the past few days" said Maddie.

"Changed how?" asked Curtis as he did not get it.

"She's colder, she's not herself, she gets easily irritated and angry for no reason, she's always lost in thought, and there's just this cold dead look in her eye, it's not her at all Curtis, you need to do something" said Maddie as Curtis still did not get what Maddie was talking about.

"Maddie calm down" said Curtis.

"No I can't calm down, Annie has been distant, she doesn't want to be around anyone, she doesn't even come eat dinner with us Curtis, it's that serious" said Maddie.

"Curtis, finally, where have you been?" asked Matt as he caught sight of Curtis and Maddie as they were talking and he walked to them.

"I had some things to take care of at the Cauldron headquarters" said Curtis as he replied.

"Whatever, that doesn't matter, Curtis something is wrong with Annie, and I mean seriously wrong" said Matt as Curtis frowned.

"You notice it too?" asked Curtis.

"Yes I do, everyone does, and we are all worried" said Matt.

"Annie is not herself at all, there is something serious wrong with her, she always wants to be alone, and she gets angry when you speak to her, she is more violent than usual" said Matt as now Curtis was worried, now that Matt said that he noticed Annie change in behaviour as well, he knew that this was very serious.

"I mean just two days ago, she was alone in the lounge and she was deep in her own thoughts, I tried calling out to her and when she snapped out of it she shouted me and accused me and Maddie of reporting her and just annoying her" said Matt.

"And she's refused to speak to us" said Maddie as Curtis looked at her.

"This is strange" said Curtis as he seemed to be thinking.

"More than strange Curtis, this is worrying, you should see her yourself and then you will realize that we aren't exaggerating" said Maddie.

"Wait Curtis, so you didn't feel anything strange coming from Annie?" asked Matt as Curtis looked at him and he shook his head.

"Not at all, I never felt any strange energy coming from her, which is what is surprising me, I should have been alerted if there was something strange going on" said Curtis as he was worried, this was strange, now that Annie had her powers back, they were supposed to be linked and connected as usual, and they were, but for him not to be able to feel any change or difference with her powers of behaviour, then there was something seriously wrong somewhere.

"Well then, something is wrong if you can't feel it" said Maddie.

"But it doesn't matter, if you can't feel it, you can see it, come on you have to see Annie right now and snap her out of whatever it is that is affecting her like this" said Maddie.

"Yes Curtis, you have to, because Annie behaving like this is something else, I am worried that this will lead to something even more dangerous" said Matt.

"Alright, alright, let's go find Annie" said Curtis as both Maddie and Matt nodded.

…

"You know, you really should use your powers more" said the voice in Annie head as she was in the library.

"For what? There is no need for me to use my powers" said Annie as she replied.

"Oh but there is, how do you expect to be more powerful than Azazel and everyone else if you don't use your powers?" asked the voice.

"I guess that you are right" said Annie to herself when she suddenly heard the door of the library lock and she looked up to see Maddie, Matt and Curtis in the library with her.

"What are you all doing here?" asked Annie as she stood up and Maddie wanted to say something but Matt stopped her, they had already said everything that they could say, only Curtis could talk to her now.

"Annie, we need to talk" said Curtis.

"Oh stop lying Curtis, let me guess Maddie and Matt reported me to you just as usual, how original, how nice guys" said Annie as she laughed and she clapped as Curtis could feel a dark aura emanating from her, now he knew why he didn't notice it, he had to be close to her to feel it.

"Annie, you need to calm down, this isn't you" said Curtis.

"Oh just stop it Curtis, stop it, all of you stop it!" said Annie.

"I am sick and tired of everyone telling me what I can and cannot do, where I can and cannot go, how I can and cannot feel, I am sick of it, it's getting old, you all should just leave me alone, you don't see me interfering in your lives, so you shouldn't poke your noses in mine!" said Annie with anger.

"Well excuse us if we care about you Annie!" said Maddie as she replied and Annie turned to look at her.

"You can't see it, but we can, this isn't you Annie, why are you just so angry? So cold? So fed up of everyone and everything, what happened? Because this is not the Annie that I know" said Maddie as her voice became soft.

"Who told you that you know me in the first place?" asked Annie.

"You see, there's the problem, everyone thinking that they know me when you don't know me at all!" said Annie.

"Annie, look you aren't like this, you are loving, sweet, and caring" said Maddie as Annie scoffed.

"Well what if I want to be hating, sour and cruel?" asked Annie as she laughed and Curtis, Maddie and Matt knew that this wasn't Annie at all.

"I thought so, it's my choice, not yours" said Annie.

"Annie listen to us, you need to calm down and think rationally, you are not okay" said Matt as Annie looked at her.

"Okay my foot, you guys aren't the ones to tell me if I am okay or not" said Annie.

"You guys don't understand, none of you understand me at all, you aren't the one who has to kill that horrible man Azazel, you don't have the weight of everyone's expectations on your shoulders" said Annie.

"You say that this isn't me, but do you know just useless I was before, I was so powerless that I couldn't even defend myself, not to talk about anyone else, because of that naïve, sweet attitude I let Azazel win, but not anymore, this time I am going to get rid of him for good, and not you, or you, or you, or anyone else for that matter can stop me" said Annie as she smiled.

"Annie, you know that you aren't alone in this, we understand you" said Maddie.

"Save it, this little discussion is over, I am out of here" said Annie.

"Annie, you aren't going anywhere until we talk properly" said Curtis as Annie looked at him and she frowned at him.

"You are not going to trap me here, I am not going to stay here and watch you all insult me" said Annie as she turned to the door and she moved her hand as the door melted and she walked to the door as Matt held her hand and stopped her from moving any further.

"Let me go!" said Annie as Matt looked at her.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere Annie" said Matt as Annie frowned at him and she stared at him.

"Matt, let her go" said Curtis as Matt looked at him with a look of refusal.

"Just let her go Matt" said Curtis as Matt reluctantly let her go as Annie walked away with a scoff.