Today I choose to solely focus on what I want. Whatever my dreams are trying to tell me—I don't care at this point. They're going to have to force me to listen. I've just finished getting dressed for training with Amiyah. There are butterflies in my stomach, the excited kind.
David made breakfast, which is a first for me. It seems everyone in The Coven is some sort of chef. How is possible that all of their food is this good? He's made pancakes, and eggs, with sides of sausage—and the smell alone is—words can't describe it. After swallowing a plate, I head out. Amiyah told me to meet her under a tree with purple apples. Purple apples!
After walking for a bit, I find the tree in an open field, and under it in its shade, Amiyah sits.
"Good morning," I smile as I walk up.
"Good morning, princess. Did you rest up?"
"Yeah, I slept pretty well. I'm scared I'm going to begin having weird dreams again though."
"Well, dreams are often important messages. Anyway, let's get started. I'm going to skip the basics with you. I assume you know them already. From what David has told me, you struggle with aura control. So, we'll start there."
"Sounds good, but my ability….I don't know-"
"Don't worry about that right now. I want you to focus on building aura and maintaining the hold first, no release at all."
"Just hold it in?"
She nods her head confidently. I take a deep breath and flow aura throughout my body continuously without stopping. I get to about thirty seconds of holding it and I'm failing to see the purpose of this.
"What is this supposed-" Before I can finish, my legs go out and I fall down face first into the grass. My vision is blurred, and my heart is pacing fast as a cheetah. Amiyah walks over to me, well, two-three of her. She's a vague shadow standing in front of the blinding sun.
"This is your first lesson, it won't be easy," she says. "Your body has to become used to maintaining a high level of aura. This is the only way. You'll be fine in a couple of minutes. Then, you go again."
Again?! I feel like I'm going to die. But, just as she said, when a couple of minutes pass, I regain my strength. She has me repeat this process over and over. Each time I'm only able to hold the energy for about twenty-five seconds. This pattern continues for about two hours and at this point, I'm exhausted. Amiyah sensing this tells me that'll conclude training for today and meet her here again tomorrow. I sluggishly make my way back to David's home. People are staring at me like I'm drunk.
Upon reaching the house, I crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the day away.Tomorrow comes in a flash and Amiyah once again has me repeat the training from yesterday, and somehow I've improved by two seconds. I'm now able to maintain my aura for a whopping, steady, twenty-seven seconds!
"Good progress for one day, that's no doubt the Valentine blood in you," Amiyah says.
"No, it's my hard work!"
"Same thing today for two hours. I'll be here reading my book in the shade if you decide to pass out."
"That's very comforting, thank you so much."
I proceed with my training. Pushing myself near passing out every twenty-seven seconds. For the next two days, I continue the same thing. Each day improving my time by a few seconds. By my fourth day, I can maintain a steady one minute.
"One minute is good progress." Amiyah happily says.
"How long can you maintain yours?"
"About three. The highest I've heard possible is ten minutes. That takes an almost unnatural amount of control to accomplish. I think you've been on this one lesson enough though."
"Ten minutes?! I also notice you don't have any seals. But you're too strong to be a human from what I hear."
"Oh, yeah." She glances down at her palm. "I'm a bit different. But! Tomorrow, we'll start with your seals. I'm proud you're sticking this out."
I head home and this time Sam cooks dinner. They've been alternating who's cooking for the week since I've been here. I can sense things are awkward between them and it makes staying here a bit uncomfortable, but I'll manage. Sam is the only family David has left after all. He's prepared a nice meal and we all sit at the dinner table to eat. David asks how my training has been and I proudly tell him of the quick progress I've made. He, too, mentions my 'Valentine blood.'
"You have the look in your eyes like you're really starting to like it here," he continues.
"I am." I smile.
"I'm glad to hear that," Sam says. "You won't be taking my brother away again, will you?"
"Taking him away?" I chuckle. "How dod I 'take him away.' A month ago I thought he was a completely different person. This is all new to me."
"Keep her out of it, okay, Sam?" David says with a stern expression. "I don't understand why he's so bitter." He turns to me.
"I just didn't have a brother growing up. But you went a gave your life away to a kid who's a complete stranger," Sam says.
"You know what I do, Sam! It's part of the job. And at the end of the day, it's still my life, it was my decision."
Sam scoffs and stands up from the table. "Maybe her own brother can be actual family to her, huh? He'll be here soon enough, right?" He says walking off into his room.
"What is he talking about?" I turn to David.
He sighs. "I've been in communication with Elijah. Our spies have indicated he's been asking around, wanting to know where you are. He deserves to know."
"And you don't think Brianna will be on to him?"
"I gave him instructions on how to leave safely. I'm confident that he won't be followed. No one knows where you are. Brianna still has no clue of my true identity or origins."
"Let's hope so. I am excited to see him. We haven't gotten a chance to talk much about everything that's happened. When will he be here?"
"It'll be any day now."
I go back to eating my food, but my attention is grabbed by the grimoire still on the coffee table.
"Brianna gave it to me, surprisingly. I think she wants nothing to do with Helen."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Maybe take it to Maria, I'm not sure yet."
As I said, I'm only focusing on what I choose to—and what I can control. "Thanks for dinner." I hug David. "I'm off to bed."
The next day I head to the field where Amiyah is already waiting. We jump right in immediately: "How well do you the fire seal on your palm?"
"Not very well," I mutter.
"I want you to activate it."
I look down at my palm and sigh. Wondering how it'll go. "I don't think I want to. It's not even mine."
"You're the first case of being a child born from two light seals. I find it a bit fascinating. You don't?"
"What? To absorb magic? No, I'm sorry. I mean-I took a boy's seal away, his entire seal. Something like that isn't natural."
"Natural, unnatural. It's all magic at the end of the day. Don't worry about that right now, just activate it. If anything goes wrong, it's on me."
"You're starting to sound like Helen with that attitude. But, wouldn't both activate if I tried? I don't know how to turn on just one of them."
"That's the point of this lesson." She nods with a smile. "The harder seal first, the one that's foreign to you. Just to see if you have a true grasp on aura control."
I do as she says. The fire seal on my hand glows white, and a flame combusts in the air nowhere near my palm. It's about three feet away.
"Good, good!" Amiyah says. "Now the light."
I activate my light seal but a moment later the fire activates as well. A white flame bursts between Amiyah and me, creating a forceful push that throws our bodies back a couple of yards. I get up and quickly run over to her to see if she's hurt.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"
She chuckles to herself before bursting out in laughter. "That was….incredible!"
"What?! You could've died! That flame doesn't extinguish."
"Oh, I know! That was Holy Fire, well, a very tamed Holy Fire."
"Helen said the same thing, what's so special about it?"
"It's a lost spell here in The Coven, existing before multi-seals were even here. Said to be a weapon of choice for archangels. There are books in the library that tell of wars in heaven where angels used the fire to slay demons. Way back when, a traditional witch was actually able to tame it in spell form. She brought it to the other witches in The Coven and it was decided it was too powerful to be used, it was quickly banned before anyone else got the chance to learn it."
"That's a lot to process."
She shrugs, "they're all stories. The witch who 'replicated it' could've just been the one to create it, and to sell it, she maybe came up with a story. This is old magic here." She points to the fire.
"Speaking of demons, have you ever the name Lilith?"
"Lilith? No." She shakes her head.
A man suddenly comes walking into the field. "Elder, you're needed at the entrance."
"What it is?" She asks him.
"It's the Valentine prince, he's found us."