Gabriel’s POV
“Gabriel?” I heard somebody calling my name.
I grunted and turned to my side. “Five more minutes.”
Somebody chuckled. “Come on. It is 1 pm already.”
“You are lying,” I mumbled.
“I love to sleep as much as you do, but you have to get up,” somebody said and laughed again. “Nick’s mom is making us lunch and I am impatient to start the spell.”
I opened my eyes and turned to see Aria standing next to my bed.
She was smiling at me, but I could see anticipation and nervousness in her green eyes.
Her long hair was in a messy bun, and she was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and sneakers.
“Did you go out?” I asked and sat up.
“Yeah. Annie and I went to get some ice cream for later,” she said. “You know, for comfort after the spell.”
I laughed. “Ice cream helps?”
“Oh, yes,” she smiled brightly. “Ice cream is the solution to any problem.”
I laughed and she smiled at me. “Get up. We have a lot to do today.”
I grunted and got off the bed. “Yes, boss.”
“I’ll be downstairs. I think lunch is ready,” she said and left my room.
I went to my bathroom and did my morning business. I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower. I got dressed and went downstairs.
I can’t believe I’ve slept that long. I guess I was really tired from everything that happened yesterday. First, that fucker scared Aria and then she fainted. I kept my cool through all that, but on the inside, I was freaking out. I guess it took a toll on me.
Annie, Nick and Aria were sitting at the table eating lunch that Nick’s mom made us. There was steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. My mouth watered.
“Hello, sleeping beauty,” Nick said and patted the empty seat next to him.
“At least you know I am beautiful,” I teased and sat next to him.
Nick laughed and shook his head.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” Annie asked while slicing her meat.
I grabbed a plate and stuffed it full of food. I was starving.
“We eat and then I will examine Aria. After that, we can begin,” I said and started eating.
Aria nervously nodded and Nick frowned at her.
“You need to eat first,” he said. “You have barely touched your food.”
“I am too nervous to eat,” she said and leaned back on her chair.
“You have to,” I told her. “This will drain your energy completely. You need to eat before we start.”
“Fine,” she sighed and continued to eat.
I could see Annie was nervous too. She was looking at Aria constantly and squeezed her hand a couple of times.
I watched Aria trying to eat as much as she could, but I could see she was having trouble. Nick kept glancing at her plate and growled quietly the entire time. Nate wanted her to eat.
When I was satisfied with the amount of food she managed to eat, we cleaned the kitchen and went upstairs to my room.
“Lie down on your back,” I told Aria and pointed to my bed.
She walked over to the bed slowly. I could see her trembling. She took off her sneakers, climbed on my bed, and laid down on her back.
She looked nervously at me and gulped.
I smiled at her and took her hand in mine.
“It will be okay,” I told her. “I will do the exam first.”
She nodded and I placed my hand on her forehead.
I closed my eyes and focused my power on her memories. I could feel the protective barrier around a large group of memories. The barrier was firm, but there were no other obstacles. The spell was cast with light magic and its purpose was to protect. I couldn’t find traces of dark magic around her or her memories. This was a good sign. It meant lifting the barrier was going to be easy. And it shouldn’t harm her in any way. At least physically. I was worried about the reason why she needed to be protected.
I opened my eyes and looked at her green ones watching me closely.
I smiled at her and caressed her cheek. “It is a standard memory spell. No dark magic. I can lift it and it won’t harm you.”
“Okay,” she nodded and smiled slightly. “I am ready.”
I looked at Nick and Annie who were standing behind me. They were nervous but they tried to hide that from Aria. They were both smiling at her warmly.
“Bringing back your memories will take a while,” I said and turned back to look at Aria. “Probably a few hours considering that there is 16 years’ worth of them to bring back. You will be sleeping the whole time and you will wake up when the process is done. Your body might get sick. You will probably get a fever and chills. We will all be by your side the whole time.”
“You didn’t mention the fever before,” Nick growled behind me.
“It’s okay, Nick,” she said and smiled at him. “It is just a fever. You will be here to take care of it, right?”
He frowned but nodded and walked over to her.
“I will be here the whole time,” he said and kissed her forehead.
“Okay,” I said. “I am ready. Aria?”
She nodded and smiled at us. “Ready.”
Nick walked back to Annie and they both sat on the chairs beside the bed. I gave Aria an encouraging smile and took her hand.
I started chanting the spell in Latin. “Memoriae captae, in memoriam oblivionis, veni, retro et semitam illustra.”
Bright light captured Aria and I felt her grip on my hand loosen. She fell into a deep sleep.
Aria’s POV
I am four. I am playing alone in the garden of a small white house. The garden is full of flowers. I am wearing a dirty rag and my brown hair is tangled and full of dirt. I am hungry and thirsty. My grandma comes from the house. She is yelling at me. I don’t know what I did wrong. She slaps me hard and my small body collapses to the ground. My grandma hates me.
I am six. My school starts today. I am sitting beside a small girl with black hair and brown eyes. She is smiling at me. She is my first friend. Her name is Cassie. We shared our lunch and spent the entire first day together. We walk home together and laugh. My friend Cassie is a witch, just like me. She has both parents and a big brother. I am jealous of her. I don’t have a mom or a dad. She talks about her family, and I want to meet them. Maybe they could love me. My grandma doesn’t. She hits me and I don’t know why.
I am seven. Cassie is like my sister. We spend all our time together. We learn spells together. I love her family and they love me. Her big brother Jake is funny. He says I will be his wife one day. I don’t know what a wife does. Maybe I will know when I am as old as Jake. He is 9 and he is always teasing me and Cassie. We don’t like him playing with us because he always ruins our game. Sometimes he is nice to us, but he gets mean when his friend Zack is around. They are always teasing us. Zack especially loves to tease Cassie. Her mom says he likes her. But why would he be mean to her then? Cassie’s mom makes the best brownies. She always invites me over when she bakes them. My grandma says she hates Cassie’s mom. She doesn’t like me going over there. One time I brought back some of that delicious brownie and my grandma hit me so hard I couldn’t go to school for one day.
I am eight. My grandma told me I was a mistake. She said I should have never been born. She thinks I am dangerous for our kind. Why am I dangerous? I am small and I can’t even win when Cassie and I play and battle like knights. She is really mad at me, but I don’t know why. I asked her to tell me about my mom and dad, but she got really angry. I am very scared of my grandma. I think Cassie’s mom found out about my grandma hitting me because I saw them fight and Cassie’s mom told my grandma she would take me away. I would like to live with Cassie. After the fight with Cassie’s mom, my grandma said I can’t see Cassie anymore. I cried really hard.
I am nine. The kids at school are mean to me. They call me names because I don’t have pretty dresses like the other girls. I cry almost every day after school. Jake said he will punch everybody who makes fun of me. He is 11 now and he is so tall my neck hurts when I look up at him. He is protecting Cassie and me, but he still teases us all the time. Cassie’s mom says Zack still likes Cassie. She hates when her mom says that because she thinks Zack is stupid. She tells me that all the time.
I am ten. Something is wrong with my grandma. She made me breakfast in the morning and she bought me a new dress. The other night she sat down with me and cried. She told me she loves me, and she wishes she never treated me badly in the past. She promised to be a good grandma from now on. I don’t know if I should believe her. I am afraid she will hit me again.
I am twelve. My grandma is very good to me. She hasn’t hit me since the night she apologized to me. She got mad at me a couple of times and I got very afraid, but she didn’t hit me. She loves me now. Cassie is still my best friend. I love her a lot. We do everything together. Her brother Jake and his friend Zack are now 14. They are still teasing us, but they are more interested in dating girls now, so they don’t spend as much time with us as they used to. Somebody in school said Zack kissed a girl and Cassie got really mad. She said she can’t believe that Zack knows how to kiss. Her mom told her not to be jealous and she got mad at her. I think Cassie’s mom thinks that Cassie likes Zack.
I am fourteen. I think boys like me now. They tell me I am pretty, and I actually got invited on a couple of dates. Jake got mad and told me I can’t go. We got into a fight. I don’t know what his problem is, but he is not my real brother, and he can’t forbid me from going. My grandma just laughed when I told her about it. Cassie has already been on a date with a boy. His name is Blake, and he is 15 years old. She has a huge crush on him. I heard Zack hates him. I think Cassie’s mom has been right all along.
I am sixteen. Jake and I had our first date. He finally admitted he likes me. It took him a while and I had to listen to his jealous speech about other boys who had asked me out a couple of times before he asked me out. Cassie is so happy for us. She said we will finally be a family for real. I can’t believe she thinks we will get married. We have been on a date only once. He kissed me when he walked me home. My grandma saw and she teased me for a week. She is really happy for me. She says Jake is a good boy. And I agree with her. He is nice and kind and really handsome. He has black hair and dark brown eyes. He is taller than me and really muscular. His face is perfect, and his lips are totally kissable. I hope he will kiss me a lot. Cassie is dating Blake. Zack is still pissed about it, but he is stubborn, and he hasn’t told Cassie he likes her. He just sleeps around. I can see that Cassie is hurt, but she really likes Blake, and she tries to ignore what Zack does. I like Blake, but I think Zack and Cassie should be together. I hope Zack will stop being so stubborn and tell Cassie he likes her.
I am sixteen. In a week I will be seventeen. Yesterday I had a date with Jake. We have been going out for a couple of months now and I couldn’t be happier. He is going to college soon and it will be hard for us. But we promised to see each other as often as we can. He will come here, and I will visit him there. We had a lovely dinner. We held hands the whole time and kissed a lot after. Goddess, I love kissing that man. I am walking home from school and smiling from ear to ear remembering our date yesterday. I can’t wait to see him again. It was getting dark already. I had to stay in school a little longer because I needed to go to the library. I had to copy some notes from a book for my history essay. Usually, Cassie and I walk home together, but she had already left. I hurried along the path. I wasn’t far from my home when I heard somebody behind me. If I wasn’t lost in my thoughts, I would have heard him sooner. But it was too late. He was standing behind me, smirking and I could see his cold gaze travel up and down my body. I shivered and tried to run. He caught me and put his hand on my mouth before I could scream.
“Hello, little bird,” he said and smelled my hair. “I have been watching you, little bird. You are beautiful. And you are mine.”
I tried to scream but every sound that I made was muffled by his hand. Tears started to fall down my cheeks.
He dragged me to the forest line near the path and threw me to the floor. I tried to get up and scream, but he laid down on me and put his hand on my mouth again.
“Shh, little bird,” he whispered in my ear. “Don’t worry, I will not hurt you. You will enjoy this. And Victor won’t mind me playing with you before I take you to him.”
My heart was beating so fast I thought it would rip through me. My breath got caught in my chest and, even if his hand wasn’t covering my mouth, I wouldn’t be able to make a sound. His hands traveled all over my body. I thrashed underneath him and desperately wanted him to stop. It just made him more excited. He growled in my ear and kept repeating that I was his. His hand traveled down my pants, and he made a move to rip them off. I shut my eyes tightly, not wanting to see what is going to happen. But his weight suddenly lifted off of me.
I gasped and looked up. My grandma was standing over me in a protective stance. She used her magic to throw him off. She was yelling at him, but I couldn’t understand what she said. I was in shock. I looked over at him and saw him smirking wickedly back at me.
“I will be back for you,” he said. “You will always be mine. Don’t ever forget that little bird.”
He turned around and ran into the forest.
I couldn’t breathe. My tears clouded my vision. I started to shake violently. Sobs escaped my mouth. My grandma kneeled in front of me and took my face in her hands.
“I am sorry, sweetie,” she said, crying. “I will make it go away. I will make it better. I will make you forget. I will give you a better life. I promise.”
Darkness surrounded me.
I opened my eyes and screamed.
