Ember gripped the armrests tighter, her nails digging into the soft worn material, her breath sounding ragged in her own ears. She had to get control over this rage she was feeling. She really was starting to lose it.

"Ember!" Arwen's distraught voice filled the room.

Why was her aunt yelling? She was just sitting there, trying to calm herself. There was no reason at all for her aunt to yell at her.

She could hear her grandmother mumbling under her breath, words that were not decipherable. Ember opened her eyes and lifted her head slowly, to see her aunt standing behind the couch, hand outstretched towards her mother, fear evident on her face.

"Arwen, sit down this instant." Nori directed, her voice clear and unwavering.

Whatever it was that made her aunt so apparently anxious and tense didn't seem to afflict the old woman.

Ember temporarily forgot her own anger, it was now replaced with confusion as she surveyed the room curiously, looking for anything that would pose a threat to her aunt or her grandmother.

"What is it?" Ember questioned the woman standing behind the couch.

"I- I- It's nothing." Arwen stammered, slowly making her way back around the couch and perching in the edge. Her eyes darted from Ember to Nori, and then suddenly her face smoothed over, she cleared her throat, sitting back further. "I'm sorry. I thought I saw something at the window. I must have been mistaken."

Arwen's voice had returned to normal as if nothing peculiar had just taken place. Ember twisted in her chair, glancing at the window behind her.

"She's lying." The ghost voice whispered, making Ember blanche.

Oh god, not now. Please not now. Not again. Was that what frightened her Aunt, what she saw at the window? If it was Ember had to know. She felt safer with her aunt and her gran than she had by herself in the glade.

She looked to the two women, for any sign that they heard the voice.

Her grandmother sat serenely in her chair, sipping her tea, and her aunt gave no indication of being fearful, as she had moments before. She just sat eyeing Ember warily. There was no way that Ember was going to admit to the two women that she was hearing a voice, that she was possibly having a mental break down.

"What did you see?" Ember questioned.

"There was nothing there, Ember. Now really, we have a lot to discuss and its not getting any earlier." Her aunt waved her hand dismissively.

"An I not be getn any younger." Nori shot out with a grin. An obvious attempt to lighten the now tense atmosphere.

The seconds seemed to stretch by, silence filling the room once again. Ember chewed her bottom lip, wishing that things weren't so tense. She looked down at her hands, resting on her lap, playing with a string that had loosened from her robe. She had managed to get the blood and dirt out from under her nails, thankfully.

Wait.... Her hands! Blood! The hilltop.... Blood dripping through her fingers! The knife!

She flexed her finger out, turning her hands over slowly, studying her palms.

An involuntary gasp escaped her. Where were the cuts on her hands? She knew that she hadn't imagined it all. She had felt the blade. She had seen the blood. She knew that her aunt and her grandmother both sliced her palms.

"Och, tis tha matter, girl?" She heard her grandmother question.

Ember held her palms out towards the two women, showing smooth pale flesh.

"The cuts," she whispered, "they're gone."

Ember looked between the two women, then back down to her now smooth flesh.

"You cut me. You both cut me. With that knife." Her voice was soft as she spoke.

She looked between the two women again, waiting for either of them to explain this to her. She watched as her aunt's face paled in the glowing heat of the nearby fireplace. Her grandmother, however, continued to sip her tea, as if she hadn't heard the near panic in her granddaughter's voice.

Finally, Nori set down the still steaming cup of tea, turning to face her granddaughter.

"Twas tha ritual, my dear. Tha athame we be using tis a magical tool. Blessed by our Goddess."

Ember leaned forward, listening to the soft lilt of her grandmother's voice.

"Ifin' it had been jus any ordinary kitchen knife, you'd a still be a bleeding. Was yer magic that healed ya." Her grandmother said it so simply, as if it weren't anything out of the ordinary.

Ember was so engrossed with what her grandmother was telling her she didn't see the look on her aunt's face. If she had, then she would have questioned the explanation her grandmother had just given her.

"So, what was your ritual like Gran? Were you my age when you found out about magic?"

Nori smiled, a faraway gaze in her soft green eyes. "I was younger when I had my magic, twas a different time back then. Ma made me be waiting until I turned eighteen for me own ritual though. Ma raised us girls in magic. Tis how she kept food on tha table,'specially after me Da passed, so we all was knowing what magic be growin up." Nori smiled wistfully at the mention of her father's death.

Ember reached a hand towards her grandmother, her eyes shining. The old woman grasped it lightly giving her a squeeze.

"But you raised Ma and aunt Arwen up like that too didn't you?" Ember asked, glancing over at her aunt.

"Aye. I did, but they didna have their ritual until they be turning twenty-one. I wanted em to 'ave a little more time ta be keeping their girlhood. They knowed about magic an I raised em teachin em the old ways. You see them both be havin their magic, jus like you did, but until the ritual, the powers they be having couldna be accessed fully." Nori's eyes flicked to Arwen then.

"But, I haven't had any magical abilities at all, Gran. So what was different with all of you? Am I just not very.." Ember paused, searching for the right word, "...magical." Ember shrugged, frowning slightly at the thought.

"When yer Ma and Da died, you was just a babe. Yer aunt an I decided tha you needed ta be raised away from here. We was wantin to be giving you a chance at a normal childhood."

Ember snarled at the word, "There was nothing normal about my childhood. Kids were cruel and their parents were worse. They didn't want their children to be friends with the weird little witch girl. Aunt Arwen's shop was well known, and so was what she did. People didn't want that around them or their children. Like it was some contagious disease that they could get infected by."

Arwen scoffed, "Ember, most of those people came to me for something at one time or another."

Ember folded her hands in her lap, tilting her head, an eyebrow raised, "That may be the case, but they still took out their fear and prejudices on me."

"Ladies, please." Nori interrupted. "Em', I am sorry you be feelin like ya didna get a normal childhood. It was me hope that it woldna be that way, but there be nothing we can do ta change it. So, that be enough from tha both of ya'."

"Yes, Ma." Arwen bristled.

Ember remained silent, her shoulders rigid.

"When ye were just a wee babe, ya exhibited power, even then,"Nori continued, ignoring the powerful stare radiating from Arwen.

"Ma'..." Arwen interrupted.

"Tis time to tell this girl tha truth, Arwen. She be deserving ta know, an it will help answer some questions she be havin. So, you best," Nori pointed a finger at Arwen, " be silent, unless you be having something worthwhile ta add ta the tale."

Nori turned her attention back to her granddaughter, seeing the confusion etched clearly on the girl's face. "Before yer aunt left w' ya ta start yer new life, I bound yer powers. What we did on tha hill tonight, gave em back ta ya."

Ember sucked in a harsh breath at the revelation. She stood and walked to the fireplace, her back to the two women.

Why would her aunt take her to a foreign country, where they knew absolutely no one? And why would her grandmother bind her powers? It didn't make any sense. To give her a normal childhood just didn't seem to wash. There had to be more to it. They were still keeping something from her. She felt it in her gut.

Ember knew then that there was no use in asking. Her aunt clearly hadn't wanted her grandmother to even reveal that her powers had been bound her entire life. Whatever secrets the two women were keeping from her, Ember knew that she would have to discover them some other way. But how? She needed to learn as much as she could about her magic. Then maybe she could figure out what secrets they were hiding from her.

Ember turned, stepping away from the roaring fire. "I don't feel my magic, Gran'. Will you and Aunt Arwen teach me?" She smiled sweetly at the women, hoping that it was reaching her eyes, not wanting to give away her true feelings to them.

Nori smiled up at the girl, "Aye. We will. Ya already know more than ya think, from workin in tha shop w' yer aunt."

Arwen spoke then, for the first time in a while. Ember wasn't used to her aunt being so quiet and passive and hearing the woman's voice was oddly comforting despite the events of the evening. "I was planning on going to the shop for a bit tomorrow, to continue setting up for opening. I would like it if you come and help me. After all, you are going to running the place too.

"I would like that." Ember replied.

"Good," Nori stated, pushing herself up from the plush chair, " Now, I be getting tired and it be late."

Nori stopped I the doorway, turning to Ember. "Don't be forgettin tha book. An don-na be stayin up too late."

She motioned to the thick bound leather book still sitting on the table, then she was gone. Ember heard her footsteps retreating and a soft click of her bedroom door.

Ember knelt in front of the table, her hand hovering over the old book.

"Em'." Her aunt's voice brought her attention away from the book momentarily.

"Hmmm?" the young woman questioned, lowering her hands to her lap.

"I just wanted to tell you that your gran and I only did what we thought best for you at the time. We will help you in any way you need. Goodnight, Em'. Don't forget to turn off the lights on your way up." With that said the woman left the room, leaving Ember alone once more, not waiting on a response.

Ember slumped back against the front of the chair, tired from everything that had happened that night and everything that had been revealed to her. She pulled the robe tighter, a chill washing over her. In the silence of the now empty room, Ember could hear an odd sound coming from behind her. From outside of the study windows. 

A steady rhythmic noise, a 'gurrhr', a low rumbling.

Just like when she was in the glade.

The weariness she felt temporarily forgotten, Ember made her way to the back of the house. She stood quietly, listening for a moment. Hearing the noise, she slipped out of the house, through the back door, silently padding towards the source of the unusual sound.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim surroundings. The old hawthorn tree stood tall and unwavering just outside of the house, adjacent to the room she had occupied just moments before. Exactly where the noise had been coming from.

Nothing was there, save for the huge tree, and the animalistic sound could no longer be heard. Odd.

Up until she rounded the corner, she heard it. A steady, constant thrum.

Ember shivered in the brisk late-night air. She felt as if she were being watched.

Looking around, not seeing anyone, or anything, she turned and quickly headed back into the house, locking the doors securely behind her.

Ember pressed herself up against the wall, willing it to open and swallow her whole, as she heard the noise start up again, right outside of the doors she had just closed.

Back in the study Ember picked up the book, turning off the lights as she made her way up to her bedroom. 

Fatigue had set in once again and all she could think of was crawling into her soft welcoming bed. Cracking open the book she barely made it halfway through the first page before her eyes slowly fluttered closed. She felt herself falling, into a black abyss; endlessly deep.

She was running; running through the forest. The trees blurring as she sped by. Her heart thudded in her ears, shouts from behind propelling her forward. They were after her. She couldn't let them catch her. If she did, they would kill her. Kill her for what she was.

"Leave me alone!" She tried to scream, but all that came out was a fierce roar.

The sound she emitted made her stumble slightly She looked down at the ground, at her front paws digging into the ground for traction...

Paws!!!

Her speed increased, fueled by the angry shouts coming from behind her, and the fear in her own heart at what the hell she had become.

Ember's eyes flew open, her breathing rough and shallow. It was a dream; Just a dream.

Pale light peeked through the shutters, letting her know that it was early morning. She was safely tucked away in her bed, but the dream had felt so real. It was as if she could almost still smell the damp forest surrounding her. She sat up, rubbing her eyes gingerly.

What the hell was that dream all about?

Ember grabbed her journal from the nightstand. She usually wrote down her dreams, when she remembered them. In all honesty, she would prefer to forget this dream, more of a nightmare, but she felt compelled to capture as much detail as she could while it was still fresh in her mind. It felt like more than a dream to her, and somehow it was important for her to remember.

A soft knock came at her door and a moment later her aunt entered her room, not waiting for Ember to invite her in. Ember ignored her, continuing to write in the small green book. She was almost done.

"You had a dream, then?" Her aunt asked taking a seat on the end of her bed.

Ember closed the book, placing back on her nightstand.

"Mmm, more like a nightmare." Ember replied, tiredness lacing her voice.

Her aunt raised an eyebrow, "Want to tell me about it?"

Ember chewed her lip, her mind drifting back to the dark dream. She shook her head. Her aunt would only worry if she told her about the dream, and she had been acting strange enough since the ritual. Was it the guilt that made her aunt act the way she had last night? Ember wasn't sure, but she just needed things to get back to the way they were. Or rather she needed her aunt to get back to the way she was. Not the skittish, docile creature that she had been last night.

"No, aunt Arwen. I'm fine. Just trying to get the details down before they," Ember fluttered her fingers up and away from her head.

The woman smiled, "Alright, well if you change your mind." She slid from the bed, turning to Ember before leaving the room. "Breakfast will be done soon. After that, I'm headed to the shop."

"I'll be down soon." Ember called out after her aunt, throwing back the thick blanket and making her way to her bathroom to shower and get ready for the day ahead.