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A sharp crack of thunder woke me from my sleep. Lightning, brilliant and white-hot, flashed through my curtains, illuminating my shadowed room for less than a second. I lifted my covers off me and climbed out of my bed, whilst wiping my sweaty forehead. With every loud clap of thunder, my heartbeat quickened. I was never fond of storms.

I opened my curtains and peered outside. Raindrops splattered the window. I watched the forked lightning cut the sky like knives, slicing through the inky clouds.

I peered down at my hands, overwhelmed by the immense power I possessed. Aurelia had been so shocked that I lifted my bed off the floor that she called for Mother, who was as bewildered.

I hadn't meant to use that much power. I could feel it in me now, though, rippling through my blood like waves. The exhilaration of being able to lift something in the air was indescribable, and that was just one power. There were eight more powers that I possibly possessed, and although part of me was terrified of the fact that I was a witch, excitement brewed inside of me at the thought.

I closed the curtains and walked back to my bed. There was just one thing I needed to do first. And I wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

When the first rays of light flooded into my room, I quickly dressed, and sprinted out of the house before running into Aurelia or my mother.

I grabbed my bike, climbed on, and cycled onto the road leading to the city centre where Lucas and Evan lived. I'd been putting it to the back of my mind for a while, but I knew I needed to tell Lucas the truth about what had happened between Evan and me in the woods that day. My palms grew sweaty at the thought. I knew Lucas would be disappointed in me, especially because I promised that nothing would happen between Evan and me. I wasn't sure if there were any feelings there, though. My mind grew fuzzy at the thought.

When I arrived at their house, I dropped my bike in its usual place and knocked on the front door. When Evan opened the door, I couldn't help feeling surprised. Evan didn't really seem like the "early morning" type. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed; his hair was ruffled and he was half-naked. I tried to not look at his bare, muscular chest.

He grinned at me. "Good morning."

I cleared my throat before speaking. "Morning. Is Lucas up?"

His face seemed to drop slightly. No doubt he was disappointed I mentioned his brother instead of giving him attention. "Yeah. Yeah, he is. He's having breakfast. Why?"

I shrugged. "I need to speak to him."

"About?" he asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

I dropped my voice to a whisper. "About what happened between us the other day."

"I thought you said not to tell him?"

"I know what I said," I sighed. "But I have to tell him the truth. It's only right."

Rolling his eyes, he stood back so I could walk in, and then he grabbed my hand before I could walk any further. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I need to tell him, Evan," I insisted, pulling my hand out of his.

I walked into the kitchen, my heart in my mouth. How the hell was I going to tell him?  He was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal and reading the newspaper. Unlike Evan, he wore a shirt and smart pants; his usual attire.

"Morning, Lucas," I said.

He looked up from the newspaper he was reading and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Ivana!" He grinned, stood up, and walked over to me, pulling me into an embrace. My heart pounded nervously in my chest. Stop being such a chicken, I told myself.

When I pulled away, he was still smiling, and his cheeks were flushed. "I'm so happy you're here. It feels like forever since I've seen you."

"I know," I chuckled. "It does, doesn't it?"

"How have you been?" he asked.

Oh, you know, I've been fine, apart from finding out I'm a witch. "I've been great, thanks," I smiled. "I have to talk to you, though."

He frowned. "About?"

I knew Evan was listening. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

"Um, sure," he said. "How about the library?"

I nodded in agreement and let him lead me up the stairs onto the first floor, where he turned left down a long, white corridor. He stopped in front of the second door on the right, turned the handle, and walked inside, me following closely behind him. I was greeted by rows and rows of books, neatly stacked on wooden bookshelves that covered three walls. There was an area at the back of the room where there were three leather, cream-colored sofas.

I ran my fingers along the spines of the books, smiling. "This is amazing," I breathed.

"You like to read?" he asked, sitting down on one of the leather couches.

"Yeah," I replied. "If I had a library like this at home, I'd spend every minute of every day in here."

He chuckled. "That sounds like me." I sank down beside him. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I...I don't want you to be mad, Lucas. I...I -"

He slid his hand into mine and squeezed it comfortingly. He was so nice. That's what made it worse. We weren't dating, but I still felt like I owed him an apology for what happened. I did promise not to go near Evan, after all. "Just tell me, Ivana."

"The other day, Evan took me to the woods behind your house. We...well, we -"

"You...what?" he asked, frowning.

"We kissed. Well, I kissed him. But nothing else happened," I told him.

He slowly nodded, and I could almost see him processing, in his mind, what I just said. "Do you have feelings for -"

"No," I said, firmly. That wasn't exactly the truth, though. I wasn't sure. Part of me wanted to feel his lips again, and his body pressed against mine. But did those count as feelings?

"Then why did you kiss him?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess I just got caught up in the moment. I'm...I'm sorry, Lucas. I know I said I wouldn't go near him, and I lied to you."

"Stop it, Ivana. You don't need to apologize," he smiled, squeezing my hand.

"You're seriously forgiving me?" I laughed, relief flooding through me.

"Of course," he said. "I know what my brother can be like."

"Don't be angry with him. I was the one that kissed him," I said.

He nodded and stood up, pulling me up with him. I could tell it was bothering him slightly; I felt a lurch of guilt in my stomach. He kissed my hand. "Do you want to go somewhere today?"

"I'd love too, but I have work," I groaned, rolling my eyes.

He chuckled. "Later, then?"

"I'll try," I promised. "But you know what my mother's like."

Work dragged. And dragged and dragged and dragged. Every minute felt like an hour. My fingertips twitched and my palms shook, like the power within me was itching to be set free. Instead of just sitting at the front desk, I paced the aisles, restacking already perfectly stacked products, and then restacking them again. Sadie watched me from the front desk, her arms folded, and her brow furrowed with worry.

"Ivana," she said. "What are you doing?"

I stood up and wiped my hands on my jeans. "Making sure everything is neat."

"I'm pretty sure they were already neat," she said.

"Sorry, Sadie," I muttered, walking back to the front desk.

She shook her head. "What's up?"

"Nothing," I answered with a shrug. "I'm just...bored, I guess. There's been hardly any customers today."

"There's hardly ever any customers anymore," she sighed. "If this carries on, I'll have to close."

"What? No, Sadie, you can't do that!" I protested.

"Why? Because it's a family business?" She snorted. "Kids these days don't go hiking. They're too busy posting those selfie things on Intergram, or whatever it's called."

"Instagram," I corrected. "And you can't close. Where will I work, then?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find somewhere. You're a clever girl, you'll figure something out."

"Just think about it, okay? There'll be more customers soon, seeing as it's holidays coming up. We'll have tourists."

She sighed. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?" She fell back onto the chair behind the front desk. "Just go home, Ivana."

"I haven't finished my shift -"

"Go home," she insisted.

I hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." I pushed open the door to the shop and shivered when the frigid air hit me. After zipping up my jacket, I climbed onto my bike and cycled home, my fingers twitching around the handles.

"Ivana," Liana cried happily, smashing into me as I walked in through the front door. I chuckled and hugged her. I caught a fresh scent of apple as her hair brushed against my face. "Boy, am I glad you're back."

I pulled away. "Why? What's happened?"

"Nothing. Aurelia and Mother have just been acting really weird."

I snorted and shrugged off my jacket. "So the usual, then?" We walked into the living room together, where Aurelia and our mother were sitting. They were chatting in hushed whispers, but immediately stopped when we appeared in the doorway.

"Ivana," Aurelia smiled. "You're home."

"Yep," I said. "And?"

"Are you ready to practice? I want to see if you possess any more powers," she said, standing up.

I shrugged. "Alright. And Liana?"

"What about her?" Aurelia asked, her brow furrowed with confusion.

"Is she coming to practice with us, too?" I felt Liana's hand slip into mine. It was sweaty, and I knew she was scared. She was scared of failing again. I didn't want to see that happen a second time.

"No," my mother said, firmly.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because it seems you have more power than your sister. From now on, your practices will be separate."

I glanced at Liana, and she frowned at me.

"Enough of this," Aurelia sighed. "Ivana, you'll be practicing pyrokinesis today."

"Pyrokinesis?" I asked.

"Yes. The ability to create and control fire with the mind," she said. "Unfortunately, I don't possess pyrokinesis, but Mother does. She'll be helping you today."

"Come, Ivana," my mother said, standing up and walking out of the room, toward the back door. I gave Liana's hand a reassuring squeeze before following her. Aurelia followed closely behind me.

My mother came to a standstill in the middle of the garden and she turned around to face me. My hands started shaking again.

"Pyrokinesis is easy if you know what to do," my mother said, rolling up the sleeves of her blue blouse and placing her palms, face up, in front of her. "It's not too different from telekinesis, apart from the fact that you're creating something instead of just manipulating an object."

I nodded.

"Like you did with telekinesis, try and imagine what you want to do in your mind. Clear your mind of irrelevant and impertinent thoughts. Focus on what you want to create. In this case, it's fire. Picture the flames in your mind. Picture them flowing through you, rising out of your hands." Without even looking down at her palms, flames rose out of her palms. The vividity of the orange flames startled me. How can a human being produce fire? How? But then again, we aren't humans, are we? We're witches.

Swallowing, I stared at the flickering flames in her palms, trying not to look at my mother, who I knew was watching my every change of emotion. She closed her palms and the flames distinguished.

"Go ahead and try," she said.

I lifted my palms up in front of me and stared at them, trying to picture flames rising up from them like my mother.

Flames.

I urged them, commanded them. A burning sensation grew in my stomach and climbed into my throat. Everything around me became a nebulous blur; my palms were the only things in focus.

And the flames came.

They rose from my palms, flickering, and fluttering, their bright orange hue blinding me momentarily. They rose and rose, trembling in the wind, their color gradually turning a bright lilac, and then a dark violet.

It was hypnotizing and exhilarating and simply terrifying all at once.

And I loved it.

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A/N

Hey, guys! I really am enjoying writing this book. I'm so proud of how it's coming along. I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am writing it :) I have so much planned for it, and I can't wait to share all my ideas with you!

Don't forget to like and comment if you enjoyed it. I love hearing your feedback :)

Olivia J Clarke

(Gif: Evan White ~ Jensen Ackles)

©  Olivia Clarke 2016

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