Amon's POV

I'm probably making a huge mistake right now. Like, a gigantic mistake. Colossal, even. I've made a few dumb decisions in my life, but this one might just take the cake.

I'm still kind of convinced that I'm either high or dreaming because I can't process the things that have happened in the last ten minutes. I have so many questions, but for the moment I'm just following Milo's lead.

We get out of the building and I see a black car with tinted windows waiting for us. I gulp. I feel like I'm in a movie, and that's not necessarily meant in a good way.

Milo opens the door and gestures for me to get in. I hesitate.

"Come on, we don't have all day", he says, but in a soft way. Every single thing he says sounds gentle, there's something so comforting in his voice in this strange situation.

I get into the car, scooting over to the other side. Milo gets inside, too. I realize there's a wall between the driver and us.

Milo closes the door behind him and the knocks on the wall in a specific rhythm. Three fast knocks, then a single one, then four fast ones again. The car starts moving.

I look over at Milo. "I'm not gonna lie, this feels like I'm being kidnapped."

He chuckles softly. "You're not. You're coming along willingly."

I raise my eyebrows and he just smiles at me. He has a really cute smile actually, but I'm too overwhelmed to worry about that right now.

"Thanks, now I'm totally relaxed", I reply sarcastically.

He chuckles. "Just take it easy, you'll be fine", he says softly.

I sigh. Take it easy? How am I supposed to take it easy right now? This is crazy, it's absolutely fucking nuts. I shouldn't have gotten in the car, what the fuck is wrong with me?

I take a deep breath. I need to find out more at least. "Okay, so why can you do magic? Like, can everyone learn it or how does that whole thing work?"

"No, not everyone." He pauses and looks at me for a second. "It's actually kinda like in Harry Potter. You're born with magic abilities, usually in a sorcerer family. But sometimes there are cases of people that have abilities - or the gift, as people call it - without having parents that have the same abilities. It's very, very rare though."

"So what you're saying is I'm basically a muggle-born?"

He looks like he's holding himself back from rolling his eyes, but there's also a slight smile on his lips. "...Pretty much."

I nod and frown for a second, trying to figure out which question to ask next. "So how on earth did you find out that I have... The gift?"

He hesitates. "I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you yet."

"Come on, Milo, you can't just kidnap me and then not tell me anything."

"First of all, we didn't kidnap you, you-"

"-came along willingly, blah, blah, yes I know, now tell me... please." 

He sighs a little. "Fine. It has to do with the prophecy. It said that you're going to be the key to winning the war and help us return to peace."

Excuse me? "Did you just say war? As in fighting each other till death war?", I ask nervously. Oh, no, that sounds really bad.

He hesitates. "Kind, of yes. We're not actively fighting right now. But there's a threat coming..." He just seems to stare at nothing for a second. "You'll learn more about it soon. Now is not the time to tell you about everything."

I don't reply right away. I just look at him, and my attention is pulled to his warm, brown eyes. They're very pretty.

"Why should I believe you?", I ask, "I mean, for all I know, you could use me as a guinea pig and do experiments on me."

He chuckles. "If that was the case, we would have just kidnapped you."

"Thanks, that definitely calms me down."

He smiles a little. "Try not to worry too much, it'll be alright."

It's quiet again. "How many people are there in that headquarter?"

"Probably about 300. But we have more people stationed around the world to keep people safe", he replies.

"Safe from what exactly?"

He stares back at me for a few seconds. "Some awfully bad things."

He's being really ominous right now, I don't like it. He looks anxious, probably thinking about whatever that threat is.

"Climate change?", I ask, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

He laughs a little. "Actually, some of us are working on that, too. But we have more urgent matters."

I smile. His laugh is very cute.

"I see. Well, good. Or maybe not really."

"Soon enough, we are gonna tell you everything. Your future, the role you'll be playing, the threat... Everything. You have a lot to learn."

I nod. "So I'm basically attending a school?"

He smiles. "You can think of it that way, yeah. Kind of like the police academy, if you will. You'll get taught all the skills you need, you'll learn how to use your abilities. You'll get prepared for the fight."

That sounds terrifying", I mumble, more to myself than to him, but he hears me anyway and laughs a bit.

"I can imagine it sounds frightening, yeah."

It's quiet for a while. God, what am I doing? Why am I believing anything this guy is telling me? This is crazy. Absolutely nuts.

I nervously tap my fingers on the door. This drive is taking forever. I just kinda wanna get back home and have dinner, I'm starving.

At that moment, my stomach growls. Fuck, that's embarrassing. Milo looks over at me and I blush.

He smiles softly. "Don't worry, we'll eat as soon as we get there."

"You do eat, like, normal things, right?", I ask carefully.

He chuckles. "Yeah, we do. No rats or worms or whatever you can think of."

"Okay", I mumble, a bit embarrassed about the situation.

After another while of silence, the car stops.

"We're here", Milo says and I take a deep breath.

I open the door and get out, grabbing my backpack. We're standing in front of a castle.

My jaw drops a little and I just take in the view for a while.

I hear Milo chuckle. He must've seen my face. "Not bad, huh?"

I just keep staring at the castle.

"Come on, do you wanna eat or just keep standing here?", Milo asks me, a few steps ahead of me.

"Uh, sorry."

We get closer to the building and I stare at the black facade. It looks exactly like the kind of place sorcerers would live in. And that honestly makes me feel even more nervous.

He turns to me before we enter. "Just as a head's up: Most people here think very highly of you. Just smile, shake their hands, and thank them. We're gonna talk to the leaders later, we'll have dinner first."

"Wait, but they've never even met me", I say confused.

"Doesn't matter. Just... "roll" with it, okay? People have been waiting for this day for a while."

Just roll with it? How does he expect me to just roll with any of this? Oh god, this is a mistake.

Milo knocks on the door and a tiny little door gets opened and I can see a pair of dark green eyes.

"Is he here?", the man on the other side asks.

"He is."

Milo steps aside so the man can see me. He nods and then opens the door.

We walk inside. Milo nods at the man.

The entrance is... gigantic. The ceilings are high, the walls are pitch black, decorated with gold and red ornaments, and a golden glow seems to be floating in the air. It looks... magical.

Milo turns to me and smiles. "Welcome to the Crimson Coven, Amon."

I follow him through the entrance into another room that is even bigger. It's a hall with lots of big, black tables set for dinner. People are sitting down, talking to each other.

Our steps echo through the hall as we walk closer and everyone turns their heads. It gets very quiet as everyone is staring at me.

Oh god.

"Remember, just go with the flow. And smile, you've got a great smile", Milo mutters, leaning over to me.

I stare at him for a second, caught off guard by that casual compliment, and blush a bit. I never know how to deal with compliments, I just get all awkward about it.

Then people get off their chairs and walk up to me. Oh shit.

"Is that who I think it is?", a woman asks, her hands pressed on her face.

"It is", Milo replies smiling, "It's Amon Poe."

People start getting closer, pushing each other away so they can get to me first. I throw a helpless glance at Milo. He just mouths 'smile' and gives me a thumbs up. I turn back to the people.

One after another walks up to me and shakes my hand. Some thank me and I'm wondering for what, others tell me they believe in me. I'm just generally very overwhelmed with all of this, but I do as Milo said and smile and thank them.

"Okay, it's enough now, let him eat", Milo says to the group of people and they slowly walk back to their seats.

"Come on, let's sit down", he says to me and I just nod, still overwhelmed.

We sit down and I realize with relief that I'm sitting at the edge of the table, only next to Milo, and the seat opposite me is empty. That means I don't have to talk to anyone else.

Suddenly, people enter the hall, holding plates of food in their hands. Or at least I thought they were holding them. On second glance, I realize that the plates are floating.

Around the plates, there's this glow again, the same I saw when Milo used magic in my apartment. The colors around each of the people's hands are different and I'm wondering if everyone has their own color and if they can choose that color themselves.

They lift the plates over our heads and set them down on the table.

I realize that Milo has been observing me with a smile on his face. "Pretty astonishing, huh?"

I smile back at him. "Yeah." I look at the plate in front of me, still in awe. Then I gulp.

This is all incredible and really cool, but it's also absolutely fucking terrifying. All these people have such high expectations, and then there's the whole magic thing and the secret coven...

What have I gotten myself into?