four more power to ya!

☆

         EVANORA LEARNED QUICKLY THAT NOT MUCH HAPPENED IN THE SMALL HALLOWEENTOWN OF HILLTOWN. Sometimes there would be a scandal of Susie cheating on Brad or whatever else, but there wasn't much drama or big news, definitely nothing truly exciting, unlike her old home. No, there was so much gossip where she used to live,

But Hilltown was much different and less fun, so there wasn't much to do. All her neighbors were practically carbon copies of each other, and no one outright showed their personality. Her and Colleen were the talk of the town for a while because of just how little there was to discuss. And while she loved people talking about her and having all the attention to herself, she didn't exactly like what this brought. Because it brought whispers about her mother and why exactly they moved, and of course everyone thought Colleen was a saint for bringing Evanora in.

Ugh, as if. Colleen was the exact opposite of a saint with how cold she was and how she just couldn't seem to grasp human emotions even though she used to be a human. Really, Evanora has no clue what Colleen could've done in her past life that would stand out and show herself to be good enough to turn into a whitelighter because from where she was standing, Colleen did nothing good. At least not to her.

All she did was train and put her in fear simulations like that of Divergent and tell her that she should be praising the Elders and calling them gods for "caring after her" after her mother's death. As if they cared about her or her mother's death at all. No one was looking into it, no one cared. Juliana Hathaway was just another dead witch, nothing more to them. They lost an Elder who could easily be replaced, Evanora lost her whole family.

But this isn't her sob story, and she's not going to start crying because of a dead mom, because she isn't an emotional little girl and it's not like all her tears would be real. Yeah, she was sad that her mom was gone, but the worst part wasn't even that she was dead; it was that a dead man left her with Colleen. Ugh.

And, of course, there was Elder Vera. The one who seemed to care about her, the one who brought her into the dreary Hilltown in the first place, and who didn't want to leave her alone. She would have to call Marisol the worst of the Elders for taking this whole "we care about you" act so far. No one cared about her anymore.

But that didn't mean Marisol Vera didn't pretend to care, or that she didn't make Colleen take Evanora over to the Vera household to have tea because it did. And that's exactly how she spent her Sunday afternoon when she could've been wallowing in her room and ignoring Colleen; sitting in the kitchen with an island between herself and Marisol with no Colleen in sight.

"I know that we might've gotten off on the wrong foot," Marisol began, stirring honey into her tea and Evanora snorted softly, "And you might not understand why we had to uproot you from your home –"

"No, I get. It's to protect me, or whatever, and to make my life a living hell," Evanora rolled her eyes. The last thing she wanted was a conversation with another Elder who knew her mother and thought that was grounds enough to try and parent her.

It wasn't, not at all, and it never would be. Because Evanora didn't need another mother; she needed her original, birth mother. She needed to turn back time and save her mother so that her life didn't have to change.

Marisol knew her mother, not her, and she was very different from the late Julianna Hathaway.

Marisol gave her a look. "For your protection, yes, not to make your life worse after your loss. The Council is doing everything we can to protect you," she softly corrected the teenager.

"But the Council is doing nothing to solve who murdered my mother," Evanora snapped back at her, "Instead of finding out the demon who killed my mother, you're just trying to get me away from it. Great strategy, guys."

The Elder made a noise at her sarcastic comment. Sipping at her warm tea before saying, "Other Elders would have you punished for speaking about the Council this way."

"Do I look like I care?" Evanora leveled her, "The Council has done nothing for me except give me a whitelighter with an attitude and no care for me, shoved me into a crappy little town I didn't wanna be in, and say well, that should be good enough and expect me to fall over my feet praising and thanking them. So no, I don't give a shit about your large egos and superiority."

"The Council is made up of the best witches to protect other witches and humans from demons," Marisol told her.

"The Council is made up of pretentious assholes who think too highly of themselves because witches worship them as gods. Well, newsflash, but that's not me," Evanora corrected her, "I see it how it is and I say it like it is."

"Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way, but it isn't the truth. There were no fingerprints to trace who the demon could be, which means instead of chasing a dead end, we're saving you," Marisol said, sipping her tea again.

Evanora rolled her eyes, "Look, I know you think you have my best interest in mind, and that might be due to you locking up your daughters' magic, but you don't. You don't even know me. The only person with my best interest in mind is me."

Marisol raised an eyebrow, "And how did you find that out?"

"Well, it's not like you told Maggie the real reason we moved to town, and you only wanna meet when no one else is home. A girl can wonder why she's being treated like a mistress," Evanora concluded and Marisol sighed.

"Magic is dangerous, I'm protecting them," Marisol explained herself.

"You're all about that protecting thing, aren't you? Always doing things in other people's best interest even though you don't know what that is," Evanora said, "I think it's about time you stop that. I don't need you watching over me, I don't need the Council overseeing my life, and I don't need you trying to be my mother. You already have two kids to parent."

Marisol looked away from her and, for a second, Evanora felt as though she had been too cruel. But that was only for a second and then she felt as though she hadn't drilled the message home yet. "Oh, wait, that's right. You're mothering me and trying to help me in my magic since you locked your kids' away. I'm the only witch around who you can help, so of fucking course you're trying to do things in my best interest.. How about your get off your high horse, tell your kids, give them their magic back, be a good mother for once, and stop bothering me."

Now she felt even crueler. That might've been a step too far, but Evanora couldn't find it in herself to truly care now that she felt so much lighter getting it all off her chest. She didn't need the stupid Council and their pity and false promises, all she needed was her herself. And if being too harsh meant that they stopped coming around and fucking up her life, then so be it.

Evanora got up from her chair and looked at the sad Marisol. "I think I'll be going now," she said and left the house without any complaint from the woman. As she breathed in the cold air, she felt more powerful, like something inside her liked her cruelty and darkness she unleashed for one second.

She was powerful, not powerless like she had been since her mother's death. Now she was the one holding the reigns of her life, not the Council or Colleen but her. And she was going to give them hell.

☆

HER LIFE WAS STILL AS BORING AS IT HAD BEEN BEFORE, BUT SHE STILL FELT BETTER ABOUT IT. She had spoken up with no one to shush her, she had said what needed to be said, and she was in full control finally. Life was going great for her and nothing could stop her now.

At lunch, she sat beside Tommy and opposite of Diana and Maggie, Brian sitting with the rest of the football team.

("You can't say anything, but Maggie totally broke up with Brian yesterday and now he's moping," Tommy whispered to her.)

Maggie looked overall happy and the same bubbly girl Evanora had seen her be before, though her eyes did sometimes stray to the football table where Brian was obviously saddened and not enjoying the fun. Everyone else at the table pretended not to notice.

"You're coming to the game this Friday, right?" Diana asked Maggie, who was glancing at Brian and not paying attention to the conversation.

"Hm? Oh, the game. Um, yeah...of course I'm still going," Maggie told her, "I mean, gotta support my favorite cheerleader."

"I still don't know why you dropped cheerleading last year. You were on your way to being captain – and you were the best," Diana said.

Maggie shrugged, "I don't know, I just didn't wanna anymore. But hey, now you're captain and you're amazing."

Diana visibly brightened at the compliment. "Thanks!" she chirped, "Oh, and Tommy – well, of course you're going. Nora?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Are you going to the game? Tommy and Maggie are gonna be there, duh, and I'm cheering, so..." Diana trailed off, looking at her.

Evanora looked between all of them. Football games didn't seem like her idea of fun, her and Jane never went to a single game when she was back home. Those were boring and none of the boys were hot enough for Jane to watch and the cheerleaders too bitchy for Evanora to ever consider them. But, well, maybe it wouldn't be too bad with Tommy and Maggie...

"Sure," she nodded, "I'll go."

Diana smiled widely, happiness shining to everyone. "Great! The games are fun and we have a tailgate beforehand."

"But you don't have to go to that, we never do," Tommy slid in quickly, "Usually, we get dinner before the game."

"Well, they do," Diana motioned between Tommy and Maggie, "And sometimes Maggie's mom and sister come. Brian and I never can because, well, we have to prepare for the game."

Evanora nodded. "Games a big deal around here?" she asked, seeing how hyped they were.

"Kinda," Diana confirmed, "It's not like your college has a team – too small and all of that – so high school football is all we have. And on a Friday night, it's either go to the game, go to movie or party, or stay home. What did you used to do?"

"Party," Evanora shrugged, "Or go over to someone's house. Football wasn't really a big thing and none of my friends wanted to go, so..."

"Well, now you're friends with me and it's a big deal," Diana smiled at her sweetly, but Evanora didn't get a friendly vibe from her. More like threatening like if you don't go to the game, I will end you. So she nodded and accepted her fate to spending every Friday night at football games. Well, until the season ended, and it was almost over anyway, so it wasn't too bad.

At least that's one less night with Colleen where they can do training or whatever else. And Colleen will have to understand because going to games made her blend in more, which the woman couldn't complain about.

Her eyes strayed to Maggie, who had a small smile on her face as Diana moved to talk to her more than to the whole table. There was a little sadness in her eyes over the recent breakup, but not much, and Tommy already told her he was sure they would get back together soon. But as she looked, she couldn't help but think that Maggie wasn't complete.

Completeness would be knowing that she's a witch and deciding her fate; whether or not she would accept her magic like Evanora had done when she was sixteen. That was the age of deciding for witches; the age where they got to choose a normal human life or one full of spells and demons. Acceptance also meant the appearance of a witch's natural gift, like her Katara-like abilities.

Her mother was sure it would be fire because of her temper, but the world seemed to laugh and give her the exact opposite; water. Calm, soothing water. Healing water. Not dangerous fire.

And while Evanora didn't think of herself as complete, she was far from that, she knew who she was. She was Evanora the teenage witch; a woman with magic. She knew this, she knew who she was, but Maggie didn't. Maggie had been lied to, and part of her believed she should tell Maggie the truth.

Because this was her life, this was a part of her, and she deserved to know. That was one thing Evanora would always admire and appreciate about her mother; at least the woman had the decency to raise her as a witch and not lie to her. But it seemed Marisol didn't have the decency.

But it wasn't her right to tell Maggie. They were barely friends, new friends really, and it wasn't any of her business. This was something Marisol had to tell her, not Evanora, so she just looked at Maggie and lamented over the fact that she was alone. Alone with no one else she could comfortably talk to about her witchiness.

She used to talk to her mother, even though they had their disagreements, because Julianna Hathaway knew a lot and always encouraged her questions. She never laughed her daughter off or shook her away, always took the time to listen to her questions and answer them the best she could. Julianna would always listen when she wanted to complain about the secrecy being a witch came with since she understood, and they bonded.

Now, she had no one, because there was no way in hell she was going to talk to Colleen or Marisol Vera about anything. They were isolated and on her NEVER TALK TO EVER list. So she had no one. And she was alone even though she could have Maggie, if Marisol had been decent enough to tell Maggie about her magic.

But that wasn't her place to say anything, though she would comment to Marisol about her terrible parenting. Well, enough anyway to keep the Elder away from her. So she resigned herself to lying and bottling up her frustrations, sipping at her water, and joining the conversation whenever she could to further her friendships with the group.