Juliana did add a dark purple streak and a light purple streak in her hair near her temples. It made her feel better and made her like she was a bit of a new person. Maybe this year, things will be different. Maybe when she joined the volleyball team, she'll make a friend...maybe she'll even get her first boyfriend...well, Josh was her first boyfriend, but they were in the mental hospital at the time and that shouldn't count. They were on medication and couldn't agree to anything.

Elena actually took the time out of writing in her diary to put eyeliner on Juliana. Elena seemed happy to show her how it was done.

Juliana decided to braid a lock of her hair, but she didn't even get halfway done with it, before she used a bobby pin to hold her braid down. She figured that it was good enough.

When she walked in the kitchen, Aunt Jenna asked her, "What do you want for breakfast?"

Juliana shrugged, "I don't know."

"Toast," said Aunt Jenna sounding panicked. "I can make you toast."

"That'll be fine," said Juliana.

"Lia, you should know that it's all about the coffee," said Elena as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"I don't like coffee," Juliana grumbled. She really didn't. All coffee was to her was caffeinated bean water.

"Is there coffee?" asked Jeremy, coming into the kitchen, wearing all black clothing. Juliana glanced at her clothes: black skinny jeans, a gray sleeveless tee-shirt, an opened leather zip-up vest, and black chunky boots.

As far as she knew, she was supposed to be the one that wore dark clothing, not Jeremy.

"I still think you should get rid of the nail polish before the douche makes fun of you," Juliana said to Jeremy.

"And how do you know if he will?" asked Jeremy.

"He was the one who started the rumors about me and he hates you," Juliana pointed out. She faltered as Jeremy looked at her. "Besides, if he does, tell him that Corey Taylor wore red and black nail polish, so there's that."

"Here's your toast, Lia," said Aunt Jenna, passing her a plate of toast.

Juliana took the plate, "Thank you, Aunt Jenna."

"Do you have everything? Your binder? Your notebooks?" asked Aunt Jenna.

"Yes," said Juliana. "I packed my bag last night."

"I can't believe that it's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared," said Aunt Jenna.

"It's okay," said Juliana. "We understand why."

"Lunch money?" offered Aunt Jenna.

"No," declined Elena.

Before Juliana could grab a few dollars, Jeremy took it all. Juliana exclaimed, "Hey! I plan on eating lunch!"

Jeremy grudgingly handed her a few dollar bills.

"Thank you," replied Juliana.

"Oh, here, this was left to you," said Aunt Jenna handing Juliana a small brown envelope that felt like it held something in it.

"Who is it from?" asked Jeremy, sounding a little suspicious.

Juliana looked it front and back. It just had her name on it. "It doesn't say."

Jeremy took the envelope from Juliana and opened it.

"Give that back to her, Jere," replied Elena sounding disapproving.

Jeremy tossed the envelope back to Juliana. Juliana took it and stuck it in one of the side compartments of her bag.

"Is there anything else I'm forgetting? A number two pencil?" asked Aunt Jenna. "What am I missing?"

"Don't you have some big presentation today?" asked Elena.

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at..." Aunt Jenna started, looking at her watch, "Now. Crap!" She removed the hair band from her hair, letting her hair down.

"You can go, I think we can handle ourselves," said Juliana.

Aunt Jenna looked at the three of them and sighed. She took her stuff and walked out.

"You okay?" Elena asked Jeremy.

Jeremy muttered, "Don't start." He walked away with his mug.

Juliana rolled her eyes at her brother's rudeness.

"How about you, Lia?" asked Elena. "Are you okay?"

Juliana considered lying, except no...she had made a promise to herself after the funeral to be more honest to her siblings, except for the whole witch thing. "No. I'm just feeling anxious over everything."

Elena seemed to relax, like she was glad that her younger sister was being truthful and not shutting her out like Jeremy. "I would say that's good to hear, but...after everything, it's natural for you to feel anxious."

Juliana nodded and looked at Elena. "How about you? Are you okay?" After all, Elena kept asking if they're okay and no one asked her.

"I'm not..." Elena admitted, "But I will be. Do you want a ride with Bonnie, Caroline, and me?"

"No, I want to get to the school early to see if I can join the volleyball team," said Juliana. "If not, well, I'll see if I can try out for volleyball."

Elena nodded, "Okay. Be careful out there, they still hadn't found that one couple."

Juliana looked over at the TV to see that two pictures of a couple were still on, and with the caption saying STILL MISSING.

"I will," Juliana said.

"What was in that envelope anyway?" asked Elena.

Juliana almost rolled her eyes. Of course Elena was nosy, but...Juliana took the envelope out of the side compartment of her backpack and opened it. There was a folded note and a necklace.

The necklace was a bottle that held something blue in it, which was sealed off with a cork. On the bottle it said Drink Me on it and next to the bottle had a silver key pendant. She took it out and Elena snatched it. She looked at it and Juliana looked in the envelope, spotting a folded piece of paper. She took it out and opened it to read:

"You're mad, bonkers, completely off your head, but I'll tell you a secret...
All of the best people are."

Have a great first day of school.

Your friend,
Damon

Juliana frowned at that. Her encounter was actually real? How did he know where she lived? She didn't even tell Damon where she lived! It was actually a little scary.

Elena was examining the necklace, as if Juliana was going to get killed by a necklace.

"That's cute," said Elena, and put the chain over Juliana's head and settled it around her neck. "There." She moved Juliana's hair from out under the chain and fixed it.

Elena took the note from Juliana's hand and read it. Elena frowned, "Who is Damon?"

Damn it. How do I explain it? Juliana thought as she took the note back, sticking it back in a compartment. "Well, I thought I was hallucinating talking to a guy. You know that I'm delusional and have hallucinations." That wasn't really a lie. After he vanished in mid-air she was sure that she had imagined him. No one, besides her family, and her sister's friends would dare to talk to her.

Elena seemed to consider this. "You know, I'm beginning to doubt that you're mentally ill. Bonnie is beginning to tell me that you're not."

Juliana frowned at that, "Really?"

"And she did predict Obama and Heath Ledger," said Elena.

"Rest in peace, Heath," muttered Juliana. She really loved his portrayal of the Joker on Batman. "I better get going." She gathered her bags and took off.

After about five minutes of walking, Juliana really regretted not taking Elena's offer of being driven to school. She took out her iPod and ear buds and put her ear buds in. She looked at her music albums and picked the album One-X by Three Days Grace.

She started walking again. She got a block down when from the corner of her eye; she noticed a blue convertible pulling up alongside her.

Now, she knew that she should run in the opposite direction or something, but she stopped and looked to see that it was Damon.

"Want a ride?" asked Damon.

Juliana hesitated and thought, screw it. She went to the passenger side of the convertible and opened the door. She got in and closed the door. Before she could even buckle her seatbelt, Damon took off.

"I'm glad that you got my first day of school present," said Damon grinning.

Juliana looked at her necklace, "Oh, yeah, thank you for giving it to me. I appreciate it, but you didn't have to give me something."

"Of course, I had to give my friend something," said Damon.

Juliana frowned, "You think of me as a friend?"

"Yes," said Damon. "Even the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland had friends."

"Okay," said Juliana. "I guess I'm the Mad Hatter? What does that make you? Alice?"

"I'd like to think I'm the White Rabbit," said Damon. "I seem to lead people down the rabbit hole. Do you always walk to school?"

"No," replied Juliana. "I usually get a ride with my sister and her friends. However, I decided to go to school early to see if I can sign up for the volleyball team."

"I see what you're doing," said Damon.

"Oh, do you now?" asked Juliana a little too harshly.

Damon seemed amused at her harshness. "Yes, you're going to pretend to be the White Rabbit and lead the whole team down the rabbit hole into your madness."

"And I'm going to host tea parties with them," Juliana joked.

"Don't forget to invite me," replied Damon. "I'll be the March Hare and I'll assume your sister is going to be Alice."

"And my brother can be the dormouse," replied Juliana.

"Why the dormouse?" asked Damon.

"He's...into the getting high scene," said Juliana. "So, he's kind of sleepy at times."

Damon nodded, "I see."

"I mean, it's to cope with trauma," said Juliana. "Unless he actually likes it, then that's a whole other story."

"Trauma?" asked Damon.

"Well...four months ago, my parents, and Jeremy, he's my brother, kind of got into this accident. Jeremy and I are the survivors," said Juliana. She wasn't going to tell Damon her problems. He wasn't a therapist.

Damon nodded, "I'm sorry. My parents died a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that," replied Juliana. She meant it.

"My brother is the only person I have left," said Damon. "It's complicated."

"Was there a girl involved?" asked Juliana.

"What?" asked Damon.

"I heard that sometimes when brothers decide to stop talking to each other, that there's a girl involved," Juliana responded.

"And the other times?" questioned Damon.

"There's also toxic behavior that makes you stop talking to them," replied Juliana.

Damon nodded, like he understood. "Do you want a ride back home after school?"

Juliana almost cringed at the offer. "Jeremy and I usually walk home after school." She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted Damon to drop her off at home. That would raise a lot of alarm bells and questions that she really didn't want to answer; especially from Elena.

"Okay," said Damon.

They finally got to Mystical Falls High and Juliana looked up at the building. She felt dread at seeing it.

"Hey, it's okay," said Damon. "It's your first day of school, so it's reasonable that you you're going to be dreading it."

"I'm just dreading what Lockwood would say about me this time," said Juliana.

"What he would say about you, is probably about himself," replied Damon.

"Thanks, I think," replied Juliana before leaving the convertible and started walking to the school.

After dealing with the female coach for the school volleyball team, Juliana got some medical forms that a doctor had to fill out and other things that she promptly forgot. She stuck them in her bag and left the girls' locker room. She was thankful that Lockwood and Co. weren't lurking by just to get their creep on.

She went to find her locker and opened it.

"Lia!" a male voice called and Juliana almost hurled herself right into her locker.

She turned around and found her sister's ex, standing right next to her. "Jesus Christ, Matt. What the hell?"

He was wearing his leatherman jacket, which was red with black sleeves. Despite him being friends with her sister when they were younger, he never really paid any attention to her and Jeremy. That was before everything went to hell...before Lockwood turned into a dick.

"I just wanted to know if Elena talked about me over the summer," said Matt.

Juliana stared at him in disbelief as she put a few notebooks on the shelf in her lock. They were busy grieving their dead parents. She spoke as evenly as she could, "No. I'm sorry, Matt. If she did speak of you, it wasn't to me or Jeremy."

Matt nodded and left, without as much as another word. Juliana rolled her eyes. And her siblings and parents called her a drama-queen?

She put another notebook on the shelf.

"Adrienne?" a different male voice asked.

And for the second time that day, Juliana nearly threw herself right into her locker. She turned and looked at a different boy. He looked to be slightly older than a high school senior. He was also stunningly attractive.

"I'm sorry?" replied Juliana.

"I thought you were someone else," replied the guy. "Sorry."

"Its fine," replied Juliana.

The guy started, "You just happen to—"

"Look like someone who was like a little sister to you?" finished Juliana.

"Yeah, how did you guess?" asked the guy.

"Do you by any chance have an older brother named Damon?" asked Juliana.

"Yeah, why?" the guy asked.

"I met him like last a day or so ago," said Juliana.

The guy nodded. "Do you know where the receptionist area is at?"

Juliana almost sighed, "Do you want me to walk you there or...?"

"Yeah, walk me there," said the guy. "I'm Stefan Salvatore by the way."

"Juliana Gilbert," replied the girl as she closed and locked her locker. She started leading Stefan to the receptionist. "Are you related to the guy that owns the boarding house?"

"He's my uncle," replied Stefan. "I'm staying with him."

"Because your parents died?" finished Juliana, almost cringing at how she sounded at what she said.

"Yeah, Damon told you that?" replied Stefan.

"He did, today," replied Juliana. "He drove me to school."

"He must like you," said Stefan.

"He said I remind him of a little sister figure he had or has," replied Juliana. "Adrienne. What happened to her?"

"It's a...complicated mess," said Stefan.

"I'm assuming she died," said Juliana.

"No, she didn't. She...went missing. Vanished without a trace," said Stefan. "We tried looking for her, but nothing. She disappeared as if by...never mind."

For a brief moment, Juliana thought that he was going to say 'magic' but no...she couldn't go there again. She didn't want to spend more time in a mental hospital. "Abductions are terrifying like that," she responded. "One minute, someone's there and the next..."

"Nothing," responded Stefan.

They made it to the receptionist area and Stefan smiled at Juliana. "Thank you for the directions and conversation."

"Yeah, you too," she responded and walked away. She heard Stefan laughing and realized what she had said.

She got a few feet down the hall when she heard a female yell, "Lia!"

And for the third time, Juliana almost threw herself into someone else's open locker.

She turned and saw a blonde girl wake up to her. "Caroline?"

"Yeah, how are you?" asked Caroline, pulling Juliana into a hug.

"I could be better," replied Juliana trying to ignore how people openly stared at them. Yeah, the popular cheerleader hugging the school nut job. What has this world had gone to? "I could be worse. I could be Jeremy right now."

Caroline cringed at the mention of Jeremy. "I saw you talking to some hot guy. You know he's far too old for you, right?"

Juliana scowled, "Of course I know. If it wasn't new, he would've had talked to me."

"He's new?" asked Caroline with far more interest.

"Obviously," replied Juliana. "He talked to me." She turned and continued down the hallway back to her locker.

Some time had passed and then, "Hey, Lia."

Once more Juliana nearly hurled herself right into her locker. "What is it, Elena?"

"I found out that Jeremy had gotten stoned right before school," said Elena. "Can you talk to him? He listens to you a little more than me."

Juliana sighed, "He barely talked to me over the summer because he was to busy getting high. I doubt he'll talk to me."

"You're his twin," said Elena. "Twins have that special connection."

"Well that connection was severed after the accident," said Juliana.

"You can try," said Elena. "I'm tired of watching him destroy his life."

"Me too," replied Juliana.

Elena seemed to brighten, "Then you'll talk to him, right?"

"I guess," mumbled Juliana.

Elena brushed back a lock of Juliana's hair, "Thank you, Lia."

"You're welcome Elena," said Juliana. "Matt asked me if you were talking about him over the summer. I told him that if you did, it wasn't to me or to Jeremy."

Elena sighed, "Thank you."

The bell rang.

The first class that Juliana had was math, after that was science.

After science was when Juliana managed to find Jeremy among the sea of students. She tried to get through the large group, but she couldn't.

"Hey, move it! The mixed bag of nuts has somewhere to be and people to see!" Juliana shouted. Luckily a few people stepped out of her way so she managed to get to Jeremy quicker. He tried to run, but couldn't get far.

Juliana managed to catch up to him. "Hey, Jeremy, I wanted to compare our schedules to see if we have any classes together."

Jeremy groaned, but produced his schedule. "I know why you want to talk to me."

"Duh, I just told you that I wanted to compare schedules," Juliana said.

"I know Elena talked to you," said Jeremy.

Juliana looked at schedule. Besides math and science she had a cooking class that she decided to take, then gym, history, art, Spanish 2, and then English. Her brother didn't have any classes with her, which she wasn't surprised at. She knew that the schools usually split up twins so that it would be less 'grouping'.

"She did," Juliana admitted.

Jeremy groaned, "I don't want another lecture."

Someone rammed straight in Juliana, making her stumble right into Jeremy. Luckily they didn't lose their balance and Juliana saw the back of Lockwood.

Juliana yelled, "Watch you're going, ass—"

Jeremy nudged her to make her stop her yell. "Ignore him; we all know what he is."

Something was bothering him, Juliana could tell. "What's bothering you?"

"You mean besides him purposely ramming into you?" asked Jeremy.

Juliana was actually touched that Jeremy was mad on her behalf. He was finally caring about her again. She nodded, "Yeah, besides that."

"He said something that pissed me off," said Jeremy.

"Let me guess, 'I heard that the crazy chicks are the best at sex. I plan on testing this theory, starting with your crazy twin sister,'" Juliana said using a false imitation of Lockwood.

Jeremy looked angry, "He already said that to you?"

"No, but I heard that a variation of that in the mental hospital. In one of our group therapy session things, one guy said that his father told him to never stick his dick in crazy. He dated this one girl who was so abusive that he almost killed himself just to get out of his relationship with her because he couldn't see a way to get out of it," explained Juliana. Jeremy looked horrified. Juliana continued, "The last thing was something that no doubt Lockwood would say. I wouldn't put to much stock in what he said to you though. He's just trying to piss you off and its working."

"You guys had group therapy sessions?" asked Jeremy.

"Yeah," explained Juliana. "We just talked about problems and we empathized with each other." She shrugged.

The bell rang and Juliana was actually a little glad to get away from the conversation. Sure, she brought up her stay in the mental hospital, but she really never liked talking about it.

It was the last time she saw her parents alive and it was just uncomfortable talking about it.

She still remembered that one fight between those two boys that turned practically into a mini-scale riot with everyone trying to fight each other. She was a little ashamed to admit that she had joined in the fight and started flinging a chair around.

The day seemed to drag on slowly, until it was time for her favorite time of day: lunch.

She grabbed a tray of lunch and looked around for a place to sit, but it seemed like everywhere was full or she had a few people glare at her for daring to look in their direction. Well, that sucked.

It was either find her brother outside somewhere or sit next to the trash, where she was sure would gladly accept her. Maybe she'll become friends with the trash.

She made to move to the trashcan when she heard, "Hey, Juliana!"

She turned around, bracing for something to be thrown at her, but instead there was two girls that waving her over.

Maybe her luck was changing. Or they wanted to humiliate her somehow.

She walked over to the two girls, almost suspiciously.

"You can sit with us instead of hanging out with the loser trashcan," said the blonde girl.

Juliana was a little offended on behalf of the trashcan.

Maybe she really was mentally ill, if she was offended over a trashcan. She sat down with them.

"What did you do to piss off Tyler Lockwood?" the red haired girl asked.

"You mean besides existing?" asked Juliana.

"Not that, but anyone who can get under his skin is a friend of ours," said the blonde girl. "I'm Sydney Cooke and she's Abigail Bell."

The red-head, Abigail nodded. "Yeah."

"Wait, how come you don't like Lockwood?" asked Juliana confused.

Sydney shrugged, "He's just an ass who thinks he owns everything because his dad's the mayor." She rolled her eyes.

Abigail nodded, "Yeah."

"Enough about him," Juliana cut in. She really didn't want to talk about Lockwood. It would just stroke his ego. "Why did you want me to sit with you two? I'm a bag full of crazy."

"We heard that you want to join the volleyball team, so you're cool with us," said Sydney.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll rub off on you?" Juliana asked.

"Crazy can't be rubbed off," Abigail said. "Besides, why would we want to fit in? Standing out means you're a lot more memorable."

Juliana guessed that Abigail had a point there.

"We saw you talking to the new guy," said Sydney. "Who is he?"

"His name is Stefan Salvatore. His uncle runs the Salvatore Boarding House," said Juliana. "He has an older brother and that's all I know about him."

They ate their lunches in silence before Sydney asked, "Hey, do you want to come with us to the Mystic Grill?"

Juliana almost cringed at that, "I don't think so. I have some things to do to after school." It was mainly go to the cemetery and write a letter to her parents, but she'd rather not have them think she was crazy.

The rest of the day seemed to pass by in a blur and Juliana felt better when the bell rang. She left the school and stood on the steps waiting for Jeremy to leave. When he emerged, Juliana started to walk down the steps.

"Hey, sorry I can't walk with you, I plan on going to the Mystic Grill," Jeremy said.

Juliana sighed, Of course. "If you keep that up, Vicki might get a restraining order against you. Or at least, Lockwood would make her get one just to piss you off even more."

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "Are you going to the back-to-school party tonight?"

Juliana shrugged, "Probably not. That's not my scene. I better go. Don't want you to hold you up on stalking Vicki."

"I'm not stalking her," replied Jeremy.

"Yes, you are!" Juliana yelled. She attracted a few looks, and she took a deep breath and let it out. She didn't want to have an argument with her brother in front of the school." She's dating the biggest jerk in town and you can't accept that. You plan on going where she works just to see her and flirt with her. You can't accept the choice she made. Therefore the only thing you can do is stalk her because she doesn't want you anymore. That's not love, that's obsession. I am not going to stand in your way of stalking. And if you get in trouble for it, then you deserve it."

During her tirade a wind had picked up, and Juliana turned and walked away from her brother.

Juliana was halfway home when she stopped to calm down. She started feeling guilty about snapping at Jeremy like she had, especially in front of almost the whole school, but she was just angry at how her brother was ditching her for a former lay and to stalk said former lay.

She knew that she and Jeremy needed space away from each other, being twins and all, but it still hurt a lot. Maybe she was too immature for her own family.

"Juliana!" a voice called.

Juliana turned and looked around, but she didn't see anyone. She turned back around and nearly ran into Damon, who was holding a paper bag.

"What the hell, Damon?" replied Juliana. "Why do you do that?"

Damon seemed amused, "I saw you walking alone and assumed that your brother decided to ditch you."

"He has...other things to tend to," responded Juliana.

"Something girl related?" asked Damon.

Juliana flatly said, "Something like that." She looked at the bag that Damon was holding. "I see you bought some things, don't let me hold you up with that."

Damon looked at the bag and held it out to Juliana, "Actually this is for you. It was originally Adrienne's and I figured that you would have a better use for it."

Juliana took the bag and looked in it. She took out a red leather journal with an embroidered heart on the cover. It looked like it had been kept in very pristine condition. She opened the cover.

This Journal Belongs To: 
Adrienne Ainsley

"You're giving me her diary?" asked Juliana stunned. "I'm not reading her secrets." She put the journal in the bag and held back to Damon, who didn't take it.

"I think you should really look at it," said Damon.

Juliana sighed and took the journal back out. She turned to the first page and looked at it.

Telekinesis
Telekinesis is the ability to move things with one's mind. Using one's hands is the most used method.

Juliana looked at it and looked at the page. There was something about controlling the four elements and she turned the page again.

Pain Reduction Spell
This simply reduces pain and it does not heal anyone. It is very easy to use.

On the other page there was:

Liquid Gathering Spell
This spell gathers liquid, such as blood droplets in a small bowl.

Juliana looked at Damon confused. "Why did you give me this?"

Damon smiled, "Adrienne was a witch and I'm giving you her grimoire."

Juliana felt her face pale. Stefan did say that Adrienne had vanished, as if by...but a witch?

"Every witch needs a grimoire after all, so I'm giving you hers. You need to start somewhere. I believe that Adrienne would love for you to have it," Damon said. "You know, as one witch indirectly helping out another. I have to go." He turned and walked away, leaving Juliana with more questions than answers.

Juliana walked in the door when she got home.

"Hi, Juliana, glad to see that your home," said Aunt Jenna.

Juliana smiled back at her, "How did you thesis thing go?"

"I think it went well, but they weren't happy that I was late," said Aunt Jenna.

Elena walked in, "Hey, excuse me. I have to go to the bathroom."

Juliana stepped aside as Elena went upstairs.

Juliana went to the living room.

"Hang on, Lia," said Aunt Jenna. "Don't you have homework to do?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Don't you think you have to do it?" asked Aunt Jenna.

"Yes, but I don't want to," said Juliana.

"Where's Jeremy?" asked Aunt Jenna, finally noticing something was off.

"He went to the grill," replied Juliana.

The doorbell rang and Juliana frowned. She hoped that it wasn't Damon, so she got up and opened the door to see that it was Stefan.

Stefan seemed surprised, "Hi...Juliana, was it?"

Juliana nodded, "Yeah. No offense, why are you here?"

"You're Elena's younger sister, right?" said Stefan.

"Yes," replied Juliana slowly.

Elena was at the door, "Who is it?" She saw Stefan. "Hi."

"I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier," said Stefan.

Juliana was frowning, "How do you know where we live?"

"It's a small town, so I asked a few people," said Stefan.

Juliana nodded and took that as her cue to leave her sister to her...whatever she passes off as flirting. She also rather not be third-wheeling that conversation. She went to her room and took out her books. 

She set them on her desk and looked at Adrienne's journal...no grimoire.

Damon had given it to her for a reason. He believed that she was a witch. Adrienne was apparently a witch.

And Damon believed she was.

That was a lot more relieving than she wanted to admit.

She picked up the grimoire and opened it to the telekinesis page. She heard the downstairs door close, so she guessed that either Elena or Stefan left, or both.

She looked at the page to continue reading:

Telekinesis is most-commonly used nonverbally, but it can be used with the word 'motus'. It requires the most concentration. It is best to start off small before moving on to something bigger to use.

Juliana looked for something to use and noticed a pen that was on her desk. She looked at the pen and held out her hand, imagining the pen coming to her. She motioned for the pen to come to her. It didn't work.

"Motus," she whispered and waved for the pen to come over.

It flew and hit her right in the face. It was a start.

It was her first display of magic!

She actually did magic!

The door burst open and Jeremy was standing there. He looked worried.

Juliana was surprised to see him. "Hey, I could've been changing."

"Vicki told me that he saw you talking a creepy older man and that he gave you something," Jeremy said. He looked at the journal that Juliana was holding. "Did he give you that?" He went over and grabbed it. He looked at it and his frown seemed to deepen.

Juliana looked at the grimoire and willed it to come back to her.

It responded because it flew out of Jeremy's hands and flew right back into Juliana's.

She didn't even know who was more shocked: her or Jeremy.

"What the hell was that!" exclaimed Jeremy.

Juliana felt near tears, well, things were going to go to hell because of her.

Aunt Jenna called, "Is everything okay up there?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Lia just showed me a video!" Jeremy lied effortlessly. He closed the door. He turned to Juliana, "Do that again!"

Juliana grinned and looked at her desk chair. She moved her hand and the chair moved up in the air and then fell with a clatter when Juliana lowered her hand. She heard footsteps on the stairs and she ran over and sat down in the chair.

Jeremy started spinning the chair when there was knock on the door.

Aunt Jenna opened the door and asked, "What in the world is going on in here?"

"We're just playing," the twins said at the same time.

Aunt Jenna frowned, "Well, be careful. That sounded like it hurt a lot."

"It did," replied Juliana.

Aunt Jenna nodded, "I don't want to take any of you to the hospital."

"We'll try to be careful," said Jeremy grinning.

Aunt Jenna nodded, "I'm so glad that you two are getting along again."

"What do you mean by 'again'?" asked Juliana.

"You two were avoiding each other like the plague," said Aunt Jenna. "And I'm glad that you two are hanging out with each other once again." She smiled at them and left, closing the door

Jeremy looked at Juliana, "So, that night...when we somehow escaped the car...was that really...magic?"

Juliana nodded, "I think so. I don't really know why or how I did it. I don't know anything about spell casting. The only thing so far magic-y was me using telekinesis."

Jeremy sat down on Juliana's bed and started looking through the grimoire. "Who's Adrienne Ainsley? She sounds familiar."

"I think she was a friend of the new guy, Stefan, and his brother, Damon. They both said that she was like a little sister to them. She disappeared," explained Juliana. "Damon gave it to me because Adrienne was a witch." It was strange, telling him her secrets.

"Who the hell is Damon?" asked Jeremy. "Is it that creepy guy that Vicki saw you talking to?"

"Yeah," replied Juliana. "I saw him at the cemetery a few days ago, before school started and for some reason I told him that I was a witch. He only struck up a conversation because he thought that I was Adrienne. Strange thing, though, Stefan thought I was Adrienne as well, which is why he started talking to me."

"Strange," replied Jeremy, looking down at the grimoire.

"I know," replied Juliana, "If she disappeared, why go to a high school?"

"Not that, but this spell," said Jeremy. He held it out to Juliana, "When was this book written?"

Juliana looked at the Longevity Spell. "I don't know. I assume it's been a couple of years."

Jeremy was frowning, "That's strange then. When we go to the party at the Falls—"

"We?" asked Juliana.

"You're going with me. With what you can do, you'll be fun," said Jeremy.

"I don't want to spark another witch hunt. I don't want to be either hung or burned alive, like what happened over there at the Witch Burial Grounds," said Juliana.

"That must hit pretty hard now, considering that you really are a witch," responded Jeremy.

Juliana shrugged, "A little. It was still messed up what they did to those people, though."

She took the grimoire back and looked through the pages, stopping on that apparently paralyzed people, which was to basically prevent people from moving. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" asked Jeremy.

"For snapping at you earlier and calling you a stalker," replied Juliana.

"It's okay, I think I needed to hear it," said Jeremy. "I think I really need to get over her. She did make her decision and she's with Lockwood now. I should apologize to her."

"Don't," replied Juliana. "That would make anyone uncomfortable. Just...stay away from her. If not, I will set your stuff on fire."

"Just because you can do that now doesn't mean you can be a jerk to my stuff," replied Jeremy.

"Relax," replied Juliana. "I haven't even gotten that far yet. All I can do is telekinesis," replied Juliana. "You don't have to worry about a thing."

They sat in silence and Juliana said, "You know, I think that if I kept my mouth shut on my delusion of being a witch, I think our parents would be alive."

"It's not your fault," replied Jeremy. "I think if I hadn't insisted on arguing with Dad, he wouldn't have gotten distracted."

"Sometimes I wonder what I saw that made me yell," Juliana said. "I...I thought I saw something and just screamed. Why were you giving me weird looks lately?"

"I thought you knew something about the accident and I wanted to ask you," replied Jeremy. "I guess it was a lot stranger than I thought. Who would've thought that magic saved our lives? I just wonder why it saved us and not our parents."

"I wonder that too," replied Juliana.

"You know maybe we should skip the party and just hang out here. Maybe watch a couple of horror movies or your Alice in Wonderland movie," Jeremy said. He looked at the grimoire, "Or I can help you practice your magic, or both."

Juliana smiled, "We can do both."