Alone

Rosemary is still leaning over the two, looking at them happily. You could see in her look that she knew very well what was going to happen and she was enjoying this moment very much.

"What is this?!" Nova breaks the silence, not knowing what to think first. "Why..why is my…" her voice shaking.

She doesn't know if she should focus on the fact that Rosemary herself and several of her loyal henchmen were standing before her, that she had a bloody wound on her neck or the fact that her blood was a completely different color.

She was scared, in pain, and kept turning to the boy next to her. She still didn't know what he wanted from Rosemary so badly, but she knew she wouldn't just give it to him.

"Gentleman. Would you please be so kind?" Rosemary commands and turns.

Together with the two girls, she makes her way back to the door they came from. Without a single word or answer, the three disappear.

The spacious room is now only filled with them two and multiple older men who were working for Rosemary.

They walk towards them with heavy steps. Several of them grab Aiden by the arms and drag him across the bloody floor toward the next room. Two others pick up Nova and head in the same direction.

Aiden didn't have an ounce of strength left to fight back, and Nova notices in a moment that his head is hanging down, indicating that he is unconscious.

They walked down a long corridor that was dark and not as well maintained as the previous room. They turn a few times and head downwards to the room that is located under the house.

The walls were stone and the ceiling was slowly crumbling. Cool air touches Nova's face and within seconds she is greeted by a musty room lit only by a few old lanterns. The room is almost the same size as the living room above them, except that there are only a few old cells that form some sort of prison.

She notices shackles and chains on the walls and a large layer of dust and dirt covering the ground.

They open the first cell and without a second thought throw Aiden in, who bounces off the dirty wall with full force and lands on his left side. They close the cell again and open the other one right next to him. All the cells are connected, it's just that each has a different door. They throw Nova in.

She hits the old bars and dirt from the ground sticks to her bloody hands. She was still bleeding, but no one seemed to mind.

They shut the door to her cell tightly and head back up the stairs. Nova rolls onto her other side and looks around. Everything is spinning before her eyes and the darkness that surrounds her will soon engulf her.

She looks at Aiden for a brief moment and then her eyes start to flicker and she slowly closes her eyes.

"These are the best sweets! I tell you we must find out where they came from!" says Winnie happily, holding several unwrapped candies in her hand that she bought at several stalls in the school garden.

"You'll just be sick and then of course I'll have to deal with you! Whenever you're sick, I always have to carry you home!" Kai says holding even more unwrapped candies in his arms.

"Oh please, it's not that bad and hey, my mom loves you!"

"But that's the problem Winnie! I'm at your house more than at my own! She treats me like I'm her son!"

Winnie doesn't listen to him, however, and immediately turns back to the stall. Kai just rolls his eyes and follows her.

"Remind me why I'm doing this anyway?" Kai turns to Rosalie who is standing quietly beside them.

"Because her mom isn't the only one who thinks of you as her family Kai."

Kai thinks for a moment and looks at Winnie. "I hate that you're always right."

Rosalie smiles softly and then feels a touch on her shoulder. She immediately turns nervously to notice Kalen and Faye looking directly at her impatiently.

You can tell they're in a hurry to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Um, Rosalie? Who is that?" Kai asks looking at the two strangers in front of him.

Winnie stops rummaging through the sweets and a curious look forms on her face.

"Do you need anything?" she asks.

"Hi um...I'm Kalen, this is Faye. We'd like to borrow Rosalie if possible." Kalen asks in a completely different tone than normal.

He didn't mean to sound suspicious or dangerous. Faye just raises an eyebrow and shakes her head. Kai and Winnie look at each other and it's clear that they don't believe them.

Kai doesn't feel the least bit confident in Kalen's presence and Winnie doesn't like the look of the tall girl behind him.

However, Rosalie senses that something is wrong and looks thoughtfully at the green grass beneath her feet.

"For what reason?" Winnie asks, standing in front of Rosalie.

Kalen just holds on and forces a small smile. "We didn't mean to disturb you, we just need her help with a small matter."

Winnie approaches him, touches Kalen's chest with her finger, and pushes him away from her and Rosalie. "That's not good enough."

At that moment, Kalen has a little trouble not telling everything he knows, so Faye pushes him aside and stands in front of the two girls. Faye didn't have a single reason to be nice to one of the witches. She probably hated them more than her old name, but she didn't want Kalen to do anything worse.

"I'm sorry, today is not his day. Rosalie, we are looking for someone and we really need your help. Like, right now." Faye says with a persuasive tone in her voice.

Winnie was about to say something when Rosalie grabs her arm and smiles.

"I know them, Winnie, I'll be right back right?"

"Fine but let us know if anything happens yes? I don't like the look of them."

Rosalie just nods and together with Kalen and Faye leaves the school garden.

The three of them head away from the school grounds, it's not far and in a few minutes, they find themselves at the side of the street, not far from the house where Kalen and Faye live.

Even though it is still morning, the cold air followed them and they could notice a few puffy clouds in the sky.

"You really decided to come all this way? What could be so important?" Rosalie asks confused.

"It's about Nova. We don't want to scare you but we're 100% sure she's somewhere with Rosemary right now," explains Kalen who finally didn't have to hold back.

Faye just looks around worriedly and Rosalie hopes she didn't just hear Kalen say what he said. She has no idea how to answer that and she doesn't understand how she didn't notice that Nova was in danger. But it occurs to her at that moment, it must have been right after she left the school when she had that bad feeling she chose to ignore.

"What?" she says in a weak voice. "How could you let this happen?!"

"We know the person who took her, he was an old friend of ours who we thought was living a lovely life in Ashwick," Faye began.

"But it seems Rosemary isn't the only one who's playing the liar. Her whole flock are liars. For some reason, he came back and needed to use Nova as a guarantee that Rosemary will give him what he wants. We still don't know exactly what it is. and if he was even telling the truth." Kalen adds.

Rosalie runs a hand through her curly hair and starts pacing.

"Two against one. Are you telling me two vampires can't beat one?"

Faye turns on her. "Not when he's threatening to turn your little party into a bloodbath. Of course, normally I wouldn't care, but it's not in my best interest."

"We wouldn't come here if it wasn't necessary. You're the only one who can find her." Kalen says looking at Rosalie.

It was clear from his look that he cares about Nova as much as she does. A few days ago she thought he only wanted to protect her because he didn't want Rosemary to bring back Selene, who would destroy anything she set her eyes on, but she saw something in his eyes that made her listen to him.

"Can you somehow find her?" Kalen asks impatiently.

"There are plenty of runes and spells that can find a person or thing you've lost, but it won't work without something to focus the rune's energy on." Rosalie begins to explain.

Faye frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Spells need a source of energy, witches draw it from the earth and everything around them, but for spells that involve living beings they need some kind of anchor. Something to guide the energy in the right direction. I need something that belongs to Nova or something that she has with her that I can focus on."

Knowing it wasn't going to be easy, Kalen sighs and looks around worriedly. Faye, however, is calm. She wasn't sure, but she knew what Rosalie was talking about. She knows what she can focus on.

"I have one thing in mind…"