Chapter 9: Confrontation

ARTEA’S POV

The silence was heavy and there was tension A LOT of tension. Rhett hid behind me and the 3 siblings stares were making me feel small. After getting dragged out of the corner we were hiding in we didn’t utter a single word. Where should we even begin?! We appeared to be stalking him, and we may have discovered their secret... BY ACCIDENT!

“What were you doing?” Kane finally spoke up still giving an intense glare. “What were We doing?! What were YOU doing?!” My tone was a little bit shaky but with determination. “You weren’t supposed to be here.” Krisana said to me and looked at Kane with menacing eyes “She wasn’t supposed to see that” she scolded her younger brother.

The three of us were going back and forth answering questions and scolding each other, Rhett was overwhelmed by the situation so he went small.

“Guys!” Kelani finally spoke up after being silent for so long “What are you all doing?! Artea already saw what Kane did and there is no point in arguing” she took a pause and looked at me “We need to tell her now” the other 2 fall in stand with her.

SHIT

My mind was debating on running far away from them or following them and finding out the truth… about them… about me… about this other world that was invading my world ever since we moved here.

So here I am in Kane’s car going to somewhere, the silence was heavy Rhett was still in his small form hiding in my pocket I think. We were now on an isolated road trees and plants were stretching from either side of the road. The sun was hours away from setting and everything screamed danger.

We finally arrived on a house— no— mansion. It looked old but with style it did not looked rundown but it screamed victorian era. What if they kidnap me to keep me from running my mouth? What if they kill me? Fuck— thoughts were raising through my head and my anxiety keeps my heartbeat at a rapid pace—

“Artea? Don’t worry we won’t hurt you… We just want talk” Kelani reassured me and gave me a soft smile. I nodded at her and followed the three. The house was beautifully decorated some of the decors and furniture looks like they dated far back. Are witchy things needs to be old? Or that is just a preference?

“Krisana who have you brought?” A mellow cold voice interrupted my sight seeing and my gaze turned onto a chestnut haired woman. “Mom, this is Arte… you know the gir—” Kelani was cut off by her the woman they called ”mom”, “Ahh, bringing her here for what? Telling her about our existence? Can I talk to you for a sec?” The chestnut haired woman gave a pointed look to the three siblings.

She gave me soft smile and told me to sit and that they will be right back, so I did I didn’t want to protest the woman radiated authority over the place and besides it is not polite to talk back and rude to someone who owned the house.

THIRD PERSON POV

The three siblings were nervous about their mother who requested… well more like commanded to have a short talk with them. The chestnut haired woman were amused, confused, and surprised that her children brought Artea to a place that they considered a safe space for their coven.

In her mind bringing Artea here will cause trouble in the future, a lot were already happening like the surge of magic wafted through the air, Kane’s suspicion about the girl, and Artea’s encounter… not like she would know.

“Eamque Silentii” their mother put a spell to silence the room, no sound will go out. ”What were you three thinking?! And why?!” She yelled at her kids, the three immediately lowered their heads because of their mother’s tone. ”She caught us—“ Kane was cut off by Krisana saying “Us!? She caught you!” Krisana pointed at Kane angrily to which the boy only glared back.

The older woman only looked at Kelani expectantly to explain the situation with no details left out, the youngest and middle child were still arguing and giving each other death glares because of one’s recklessness. “There was an incident mother” Kelani started “flies manifested in the school locker room and there were a swarm of them. It could only be fixed by magic and it means that it was summoned by magic.” Kelani explained the situation of how Artea caught Kane doing a spell.

The mother Vertrude only sighed and said “We can’t do anything about that now—”. “Why don’t we erase her memory?” The middle child, Krisana, suggested, “I don’t think it... will… work” all eyes were now on the youngest child “I tried to look into her memories… but there was something pushing me out” Kane dropped her shoulders.

The mother Vertrude furrowed her brows at the statement and all fell silent. “Like a barrier?”, “No…like it is pushing me out… after that I had a headache” The Vertrude conversed and talked about what will they do next after all Artea already know about the existence of other supernatural beings. If they decided to keep her in the dark for much longer the girl would find answers in other places.

The older woman came back with her children to the room where Artea is at. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting Artea” she sat across from Artea “My name is Beatrice these three are my children” she said pointing at the three siblings who are now sitting on the couch.

“You already know my name and I just want to know what happened in the locker room” Artea looked at Beatrice in the eyes her voice filled with anxiousness. “Yes…Yes… well… If you don’t mind can I ask you one question?” Beatrice asked her softly not wanting to pressure the girl, the Lenner only nodded.

“Did you do things that a normal human cannot do?” Artea only looked at her frozen trying to keep her face emotionless, not wanting to give them a sign that she’s lying. “No… I only saw Kane doing…” she paused and thought of her next words “something”.

“Artea…” the girl looked at Kelani her eyes slightly widen at the aura she was feeling from the girl, it was mixed with frustration and annoyance “don’t lie now after all I saw your little fae” the two had a little staring contest but was broken when Beatrice asked Artea our Rhett.

Artea answered that Rhett found er on the side of the road when she was going home. That was more or less true, the Lenner was smart enough to not trust the Vertrude… yet.

After the Vertrude family explained the witch occurrence to Artea she was a little shaken, in the middle of the conversation she became a little bit light headed. Beatrice offered her some tea to prevent her lightheadedness due to the informations she was receiving.

The oldest sibling and the youngest walked the Lenner girl out of the house in dead silence, Krisana went to her room still annoyed by the events. “I’m really sorry that you were sucked into this new world, A” Kelani apologized to Artea, the girl remembered the aura Kelani gave off a while ago and it made her a little shaken up. ”So fas a sign of apology Kane will be driving you home!” She offered all happiness when she heard Kane object “No way! Nope! You do it”

“Lil bro you were the one who got caught and plus it was your car”. Artea and Kane just looked at each other and then watched Kelani wave them off. At first it were dead silence and lots of tension until one of them decided to speak up.

~~~

“Don’t give up without trying”