~Layla~
We were sitting around the coffee table that doubled as a treasure chest. The antique chest was withered in places and some of the color had come off but the gold plated handles were in perfect shape.
Analise lifted the floral ceramic tea cup up to her tinted lips and took a sip. I poured more sugar into my cup and saw as it melted when the spoon stirred it around.
This was my second cup, we had been talking for a while about things that had nothing to do with what was happening. I asked Analise about her life and her past and though she was vague in her answers I found out a great deal.
Her parents died when she was young and she was brought up by a witch on the other side of the country. She spent most of her twenties traveling from state to state helping people out with readings and premonitions. She wanted to do good and send people off on the right path but unfortunately, whenever someone’s different they get used and Analise was no exception. She was hunted down by a group of vampires whilst living in New Orleans. They wanted her for her powers, to keep for themselves and to use for their own advantage. Powers made us strong and whoever wielded it held power over others.
Analise ran away from New Orleans, she found a covet of witches on the outskirts of North Carolina and stayed with them on the country side. Together they practiced magic and worked as healers and nobody bothered then. People, however, never stopped chasing her because they knew what she was capable of. The witches she lived with were ready to help in any way they could but she didn’t want their lives to be put at risk. One day when she came home to her house she found her friends sitting down in sadness, it turned out that one of the witches had been taken and she refused to tell the men where Analise was so they killed her. Analise, again, left and ran too keep her friends safe and herself as well.
They told her how her powers were beyond that of a witch, how she posed a threat seeing as she could see in the future and see things that would happen.
For the remainder of her thirties she lived on the run but how she ended up here was still a mystery, she ended the story and changed the subject.
“How long have you lived her for?” I asked as I looked around the small space and zoomed in on the details.
It was remarkable how much stuff she had in the little space that the house allowed but it all worked and it was very personal. You could see what type of person lived here and all of her things seemed to have a story behind it.
“Long enough,” she said with a smile.
“Long enough means what-three years? More?”
“However long a person lives in a place doesn’t matter. What matters is how long that place feels like home,”
“Does this place feel like home?” Analise again smiled, she seemed to always be smiling but the slow shaking off her head had me wonder wether or not it was just a coping mechanism.
“I haven’t felt at home since-“ she shrugged her shoulders and her eyes drifted away.
“-since I can’t even remember. Home is important, Layla. Home is not where your house is, it’s not where your family is, home is where your heart is.” I shifted in the chair. Where was home for me? Where was my heart truly at peace? It was kind of obvious although I didn’t want it to be because of all the messiness around it.
Analise shimmied in the chair and reached out her hand.
“Hand me your cup,” she said. Now she was smiling so wide that I could see her pearly teeth.
I handed her the cup and she looked giddily as she poured out the liquid in her hand.
“What are you doing?” I gasped and leaned over to help catch everything but it didn’t fall to the floor. The tea fell into the palm of her hand and stayed there in a thick bubble.
“Not a witch, huh?” I asked with a raised brow. She laughed and bit down on her lip.
“They did teach me a thing or two.”
“You can be taught magic even though you’re not one yourself?”
“technically i am descendant from witches, far back in my linage there has been dabbling in magic but I wasn’t born with that gene. However, I am still able to perform simple things, such as this.” The liquid moved around in the palm of her hand, it filled in the creases and wrinkles and formed a round sphere.
The golden leaf in the center started floating up to the surface and behind it I could make out a flower and a ring but there was something else there that I couldn’t decipher.
“What’s that?” I asked quietly as I pointed to the shape behind the leaf.
“That’s the wand,” Analise said and looked closer at it. She poured the tea back into the cup and everything melted away. With a heavy sigh she put the cup away and told me that I couldn’t drink it now.
“What does the wand mean?” She picked up her own cup and repeated the same the thing. Pouring the liquid out into her hand it turned a lilac color and swirled in silver strings. A broken branch dipped to the surface and a crown floated up.
“That’s good right?” I said cheerfully, hoping that she got some good news but based on the somber expression on her face I assumed I was wrong.
I leaned back and dimmed down the cheerfulness when she poured her tea back into the cup.
“The wand you got was the fools wand, it’s said to bring with it bad choices and grief. The leaf symbolizes nature and balance, the cracks in the leaf means it has been broken and the flower- it was a violet flower- it is a message of death and resurrection.” I gulped.
“And the ring?” She smiled, finally.
“A promise of what could be if your choices line up with the path.”
“What-what’s the right path?”
“I can’t say, you have to make that decision on your own. You have all of the information, Layla, you know everything already. From here on forth, it will all be on you.”
My eyes flew open and I sat straight up in the bed.
Rubbing my eyes I could feel the hangover headache coming on and I dragged myself down to the kitchen to make some coffee.
“I know everything…everything will be on me. Fuck,” I cursed as I dragged my hand over my face.
’Why am I never invited to these meetings?’
She takes my spirit, you have your own spirit and she can’t bring both
’I still feel left out’
Clara whined.
What do you suppose she meant by that?
’Maybe that you already have all of the answers, you just need to trust them’
Yes but which ones do I trust? The answers I have about Nathaniel or the ones I have about Kade?
’Layla, one of those leads to pain in us and the other leads to complete extinction in werewolves all over the world’
So you’re saying we should trust Kade?
’He’s the only one who has fought for our trust, others have done nothing but question it’
When did you get so wise?
’I’ve always been wise, that’s why that magician should’ve invited me too. I want to get my tea read as well’
Next time I’ll ask her to bring you too
’That’s all I ask’
