Chapter 21:

Wednesday morning, I woke up, went downstairs to eat, and then there was silence. We all sat down for food, and nobody talked. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of forks hitting plates, thumping of food hitting the plates, and a low growl coming from Marcus. I looked up occasionally, and his eyes were glued to mine. I sighed and just went on with my food.

After we got done eating, I helped do dishes with Donny. "Man, this is a lot easier with your around," Donny commented. Then we heard a low growl coming from the corner of the room in which Marcus was standing, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes and headed to the door. As I reached the door, Dad came over, gave me a hug, and whispered into my ear, "Eve, I love you. Be good with the ladies today, okay? All you need to do is believe in others, but most of all believe in yourself." He gave me a kiss and went back in to whisper, "Ignore your uncle."

I chuckled as I left the house to the boys loaded up on the four-wheelers. I got the pleasure of sitting with Sly and Evan. "Sly, is our life ever going to go back to normal?" I asked as the wind rushed through my hair.

"I don't know, Eve. I had never heard about this choice we are going to make until this year. I never even knew that the world of ours is this complicated," Sly replied while driving. "Not only that, but I am half witch."

"What was lifelike before I came here?" I asked.

"It all revolved around school and training. We were about ready to have a challenge to see which of us kids were going to be the next alpha," he explained while he drove.

"Wouldn't it go to you? I mean, Marcus is our uncle," I said, thinking it was like a monarchy.

"Yeah, but I never wanted to be the alpha. I never wanted to make a choice like that. You know, a choice that would decide the fate of our lives," he said sarcastically.

I chuckled, "Yeah, I can understand that, but I guess fate has something in store for us. What do you think?"

"I would like to say no, but we both know that would be a lie. Fate hates us both… but at least we both have each other now. Even if we do not know each other's past with our parents," he said with a tear running down his check.

"Yeah, I am glad I have you as a brother," I said, giving him a hug.

"I am glad to have you as a sister. Will you promise to me that we will never keep secrets from each other?" he asked, wiping away the tears.

"Of course. Family should trust and never keep secrets from each other."

"At least we have that wrapped up. Now, hold on tight. Let us see if we can beat the others to school." Increasing the gas, I looked over to Evan, who was smiling.

"I am so glad to see Sly in a better place because you are here," Evan whispered to me.

"Thanks," I mouthed to him.

Arriving at the school first, we had to wait for the others and for the doors to be unlocked. "Great driving back there, Sly!" I said, fixing my hair.

"Thanks, Eve!" he exclaimed as he jumped off the four-wheeler.

"You are a completely different person lately," Evan said.

"Be quiet. I am not!" Sly exclaimed.

"Sure, you are not," Evan said before getting plowed to the ground by Sly. They started wrestling and I just stood there refereeing the whole fight and laughing.

"Now! Now! Boys that is not appropriate!" Miss Parman said, walking up behind us.

"Sorry, Miss Parman," I exclaimed, picking the boys off the ground.

"If you boys have that much energy then you should go out for wrestling," she said with a sly smile.

"Maybe, next year," Evan said, as he whipped dirt off his clothes.

"Well, you better. We need werewolves like you," she said with a smirk. "Now, I will see you in class."

After she had left, Evan turned beet red. Sly looked a little happy with himself. "Yeah, we should be the werewolves this school needs," Sly said.

"We would be great at it," Evan said.

"Guys, this is not like we are at home. We have to be careful," I said as I slapped them on the back.

Hearing a vehicle pulling up, it was John and Kenny. "If you would have told us there was a race, we would have taken it seriously," John remarked as he hopped off the four-wheeler and stood next to us.

"What would have been fun about that?" I asked.

"True," John said with a shrug.

"Why are you all dirty?" Kenny asked.

"They were fighting and got caught by Miss Parman," I said.

"Nice going," Kenny said. "Let's do it again." Getting into a fighting position, I glared at Kenny who slightly chuckled at my glare.

Hearing more cars pull up, there was Feuera and… other witches I guess got out of Blau's car. There was Baer and his group in an old hearse. Then there was Jeffrey driving in with Liam and his group. Jeffrey got out of the truck and instantly all my boys jumped in front of me and let out a growl. If I could see their eyes, I am sure they would be a different color. "Let's go to the homeroom," I said, dragging the boys with me.

Walking to homeroom was a challenge, we looked like we were ready to take on the world. The fight last night might have created a rift between the adults and the kids, but at least it made the bond among us kids stronger.

In the classroom, we were the first ones to arrive. Sitting in our normal seats, Feuera and her group came in to sit at their seats. I noticed that there was a seat next to them. I got up and sat by them. "Hi, Feuera. I hope you know that I am coming home with you guys tonight."

"Yeah, we know. This is Feniks in the Christmas colors. And this is Tiera in the orange and yellow. I think you and Feniks are in the same classes with you and that beast boy," Feuera said with anger when it came to John.

"His name is John. And that is what I wanted to talk to you about, Feniks. Would it be all right if John and I sat next to you during school?" I asked.

"Yeah, that would be all right." Feniks said in a raspy voice that sounded like he spent a lot of time yelling or casting spells.

"Okay, great. I better be going before I get into trouble again with them, because I didn't tell them what I am doing," I said with a smile.

"They get mad at you for doing things like that?" Tiera asked in a super sweet voice.

"Not mad; they worry about me. They are all like siblings to me, "I said without thinking.

"I don't know; I have seen the way two of them look at you, especially that big one and the shy one's brother; they look at you like they love you." Feuera said.

"Okay… well, bye. I will see you later," I said, wanting to get out of that conversation.

Walking over back to the boys, I could see how much they disliked the idea of me talking to the Lichts, but they knew it was no use to try and convince me otherwise. So, we sat in silence as the class started.

"Good morning class," Miss Parman said as she did roll call. "And have a wolfy day."

I chuckled out of the room as we separated into our classes; John, Feniks, and I went to our first room.

I could tell that John wanted to say something, but he never did say anything. It was either because he feared what I was going to say, or he did not know what to do with Feniks there. For the rest of the day, we learned how to do something in our classes. I was too distracted with the tension between John and Feniks to care. There was so much tension you could light a fire with a single spark.

As the final bells went off for the day, they quickly separated. We went out to the four-wheelers and waited for everyone else to come. "What is so bad about Feniks?" I asked John as we waited for everyone else.

John rolled his eyes and let out a low growl. "I just don't like him. He is bad news."

"Is that because he is a witch?"

"No," he said with a twitch in his arm.

"Sure," I said as everyone else came over to join us.

"What does that look for?" Sly asked John.

"Nothing, come on. Let us get home," John said roughly.

Evan looked at me and back at his brother. "Sorry, we asked." As Evan and Kenny got on the four-wheeler to go home, they both looked at me with concern, but Sly put his arm around me and they calmed down. As they rode off to the west, Blau in a blue car pulled up beside us and exclaimed, "Come on. Follow me!"

I nodded my head, and we rode off to the north of town to the Lichts house.

Once we arrived at the house, it felt like I was back in Kansas again. "This is like what my home in Kansas felt like. Mom never left her roots behind. They were with her always, even in her job description." I said, hopping off the four-wheeler and thinking about Mom.

"What was Mom's job?" Sly asked, wanting to know more about Mom.

"She was a nature conservationist. She did everything in her power- well human power- to help the environment," I said with a chuckle.

"Mom keeps sounding cooler and cooler," Sly said with a smile.

"That is because she was… and still is in my mind… come on. Let us learn about the Lichts," I exclaimed.

"You ready to talk to Mei?" Feniks asked, slamming the door to the car.

"Yeah, Let's talk to Mei," I said, coming back to reality.

Walking into the house, I felt like I was walking into the old house. I rounded the hallway into the kitchen, and I was expecting to see Mom, but instead there were Mei, Blau, and another lady sitting there talking. "Good evening, Eve and Sly. How was school?" Mei asked, sounding nicer than the last time she said a word to me.

"It was fine. Uhm… who is this?" I asked, directing my hands toward the lady in the white and purple.

"Oh, this is Metalla. She is Feniks and Tiera's mom." Mei explained. "Remember witches can be only female except for the twins. So, what would you like to learn about?"

"We want to learn the truth about the past with the Dunkels and the Lichts." I said, with Sly's hand on my shoulder.

"Okay. We are more like the Dunkels than what we would like to admit. We have a similar life to the Goeds and the Slechts. Most of the members of the Dunkels were part of the Lichts. The members of Dunkels did not like the way that I was running things and decided to leave and start their own coven. Everything in this supernatural world was supposed to have only one coven for each town. However, people believed that it was not fair and wanted it their way; everyone else shall bow down to them," Mei explained.

"What do you mean by 'bow down to them'?" Sly asked.

"It sounds exactly how it is. They think that they are better than all humans and want to kill them. They think that no matter what happens, life's better without other people in it," Feuera added with her same attitude as before when Sly is with me.

"Feuera, that is enough. She wants the truth, so let us give it to her. They only like themselves, a few humans, and a few other people. Are you sure that you want to talk to them?" Mei asked.

"I will have Sly with me. And I think I have a connection into the group. I have met some of them at school and at the zoo. They actually wanted me to come to them and talk about the Keuze," I explained, remembering the creepy time with them.

"Did you actually talk with them about the Keuze, though?" Blau asked.

"Yeah, they were actually interested in what I had to say," I said, meaning that no one else cared what I had to say.

"See, if they didn't need you, then they would just get rid of you and never get to see you again. Are you going to see them, too?" Mei asked.

"Yeah, Baer said it would be okay," Sly said.

"Who is Baer?" Feniks asked, sounding hurt for some reason.

"He is one of the Dunkels. Him, his sister, and his friends. They go to our school. Have you ever met him?" I was a little confused.

"We never talk to people outside of our group." Feniks said defensively.

"Maybe you should talk to others. It won't hurt you," I said with a hint of attitude.

"Yeah, but they don't want to talk," Feniks said up to my face.

"Okay, that is enough. If you do not have any more questions, Eve, you might want to go home and do your homework," Mei instructed.

"Okay, thank you, Mei and everyone. I will take my hot-headed sister home now. See you tomorrow at school, Feuera, Feniks, and Tiera," Sly said, pushing me out the door.

Getting back on the four-wheelers to get home, I felt as if something was still not good about something… as if there was a lie happening. "Wow, I never knew Feniks to be so fierce," Sly said, bringing me back to Earth.

"Yeah, Dad made it seem like Feuera was the problem, but he must never have met Feniks," I joked as we speed home.

Arriving back at the house, supper was ready, so we sat down. Nobody asked what we were doing back home so soon… but they could tell by the smile on my face that it went well.

After we ate, it was homework and training time. We spent hours on our training that was nothing different from before. Then it was bedtime.

When I went to my bedroom, John came and knocked on my door. "Hey, Eve. How was your day with that Feniks guy?"

"I was not there to just see Feniks. I was there to see talk about the Lichts," I said with a yawn.

"Okay, so how was it? Talking to the Lichts." John said sarcastically.

"Fine, I learned a lot." With a little more energy in my words.

"Okay, do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Not really. I just want to go to bed. So can you leave me alone for tonight?" I asked nicely.

"Oh, yeah," he said, backing out of the room.

"Okay, night John." I said, really wanting to go to bed.

"Night, Eve," John said, heading to his room.

As the door closed, I saw golden lights flying across the room as I drifted to sleep.