Believe

Chapter Eleven of Believe: Trouble

“Wh…what? You have got to be kidding me.” I looked at Euan, he had to be crazy.


         “No, I am in no way kidding you.” Euan looked grimly at me, I could see there was no lie in his eyes.


         “That’s not possible, there are no such things as…as witches.” I felt my head begin to spin, everything felt so surreal. This had to be a dream.


         “I have wanted to tell you for a long time, but you had to see with your own eyes. You had to see your own power before I could tell you.” Euan tried to put his hand on my face but I pulled away.


         “This isn’t real. This can’t be real. This isn’t real this can’t be real.” I continued to chant my mantra, hoping it would somehow wake me up from this nightmare. I felt darkness closing in around me. I suddenly felt incredible tired and the darkness tugged invitingly at my brain.


         “Gabriella….Gabriella.” I heard Euan’s voice almost as if he was whispering and my vision became tunnel like. The last thing I remembered seeing before my vision went totally black was Euan’s concerned face.





         The smell of the sterile hospital room was thick in my nose. My mother was snoring slightly to the right of me; her head drooping on her chest. I could not sleep. I just watched as my dad’s chest moved up and down, willing him to take the next breath, and the next. He could not die, right? He was my dad, he was suppose to be invincible until he was, like, eighty. I continued to watch my dad, my ears only hearing the sound of the heart monitor. I needed him to live, he was my strength.


         I jumped slightly as I saw my dad’s hand twitch. The doctor had called my mom and me in because they had said there was not much time left and he had been showing some signs of neural activity that suggested he might wake up long enough for us to say our goodbyes. I woke my mom just as my father began to say her name.


         “Marie, Marie…”his voice was weak, nothing like what I remembered, but it was still his voice.


         “Thomas?”My mom questioned in a small voice.


         “Marie,” I watched as my father miraculously sat up on his bed. I could not believe my eyes. He was not even supposed to form complete sentences, let alone be able to sit up.


         “This was my choice, the man deserved to live.” I didn’t remember him saying that. Had he actually said those words?


         I watched as my mom slowly nodded her head in understanding, “I didn’t know I would have to live so long without you.”


         “Remember to be strong, and remember to live.” My father said hoarsely and turned to look at me.


         “Gabriella,” I turned my eyes wide to my father. “Remember to believe, even when it seems impossible. Just believe.”


         My dad lay back down on the bed with help from my mom. I seemed to be glued to my seat; suddenly what my father had said made sense. I watched as my mother began to cry and gave my father one last kiss. I felt tears run hot and quick down my checks. The moment seemed all too real. I knew I was dreaming, but it felt like I was actually there, reliving the moment all over again.


         I watched as the heart monitor slowed to a slow steady beep, the tears building up inside of me, threatening to burst through the careful barrier I had place against them. Suddenly, unlike what had actually happened, I cried. I cried my heart out. I felt completely empty.  I felt so sad; I didn’t think I was every going to be able to be whole again.


         I looked up; I felt the eerie feeling of someone watching me. I looked all around the room and at first I saw nothing but the doctors and nurses rushing around the room, trying to get my dad’s heart to beat again, but then I saw him. He was standing in the corner of the room, looking as if he had just won first place in some sort of race. Matt stared at me, a small smile curving his mouth. He pointed one hand in the shape of a gun and closed on eye.


         “Got you,” he whispered as he pretended to shoot me.


I sat up straight in my bed; I felt the tears running down my face and my heart beating wildly. That dream had been all too real. I had felt exactly as I had on the day my dad had died. I was gasping for air as the tears I had held back since the death of my father came spilling out. I felt so alone, so very alone.


         “Gabriella?” I heard a voice question. I nearly had a heart attack as a blue light flickered on to the left of me.


         “What the hell are you doing in my room?” I questioned trying to pull myself back together while bringing the covers up to cover my chest.


         “I offered to wait here till you woke up so that your mother could get some rest.” Euan moved to the edge of my bed, bring the strange blue light with him. It flickered in the palm of his hand. I stared at it, hardly believe it to be real.


         ‘Believe’ the voice of my father resounded like a bell in my head. So, I was supposed to believe that the McCready’s were witches and I was one too? Right Dad, right, that is real great. Funny, even. How was I supposed to believe that? My parents had never said anything, I was just all of the sudden suppose to believe I was a witch?


         I slowly put my hand out to the flickering blue flame. It was almost beautiful if I had been scared out of my mind. I mean seriously, who would actually believe that Euan could conjure blue fire in his hand? As my hand drew closer to the flame I could feel its heat. I wanted to touch it, but Euan moved it away as soon as I got close.


         “It’s called witchfire. You can’t touch it, you will burn yourself. It is very much like real fire.” Euan said. He closed his hand and the fire went out. A full moon illuminated the bedroom and played across Euan’s features. Everything was still so strange.


         “Can….can I do that?” Euan merely nodded his head at my question.“How?”


         “Hold out the palm of your dominant hand.” Euan placed his hand under my right hand as I brought it out. “Now, think. Deep within you there is a power. This power is almost like a little ocean that sways back and forth. You have to capture a little bit of the power and bring it up to your palm. Imagine that the flame is in your hand, think of what it will look like.”


         I closed my eyes and let Euan’s voice wash over me, listening to every direction he gave. I felt what he was talking about, but instead of an ocean, I felt more of a wind. It was shimmery golden wind; I tried to catch a little bit off it. I tried to bring the tiny particle I had caught to my hand, but the first couple tries it seemed to disappear and I couldn’t find it anymore. I found my third and final piece and tired to bring it to my hand one last time.


         “Good!” Euan exclaimed. “Gabriella, open your eyes.”


         I opened them slowly, almost afraid of what I would see. There, in the palm of my hand, danced a little flame. I stared in amazement at it, but the longer I stared the bigger the flame seemed to get.


         “Gabriella, stop concentrating on it so much, you are feeding it more of your power.” Euan put a hand on my check and my eyes snapped up to meet his. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the flame die a little. It made my palm tingle; it almost felt like when Euan and I touched. I closed my hand, letting the fire go out.


         The tingle was there, I wanted to ask Euan what it was. I wanted to ask him so many questions, but it seemed my mouth didn’t want to work properly. He leaned in a lightly kissed my nose. I looked up at him quizzically, he smiled at me and leaned in again kissing me on the mouth. For a split second I wondered if what I was doing was wrong, I mean he was on my bed. My fears were whipped away instantly as Euan pulled me closer to him. I felt the heat of his hand against my bare arm; it sent tingles up and down my arm. It sent tingles up and down my body. His lips met mine and I felt my heart double its pace. I kissed back softly.  He began to pull away, smiling, and I couldn’t help but to be slightly disappointed.


         He smiled down at me before saying, “you should go back to bed.”


         The nightmare, which had disappeared as soon as I had seen Euan’s witchfire came flooding back to me. I felt sick to my stomach. I had no wish to go back to sleep. Euan seemed to sense something was wrong.


         “Gabriella?” Euan smoothed my hair and had me look him in the eye.


         “I…had a nightmare before. I don’t want to go back to sleep. He will be there, Euan I think he is in my head.” I was feeling really panicky. I seriously was hoping that Matt was not in my head. He had to be a witch or wizard or whatever to. He had to be, it explained everything. What if he had put a spell on me when he had kissed me?


         “Who? Who?” Euan placed both of his hands on my face lightly. The feeling of his hands on my face made me calm down a little.


         “Matt,” I whispered. The name hung heavy in the air between us.


         “Why do you think he is in your head?” Euan whispered. There is something about evil things; you always have to whisper about them. I have no idea why, it just seems appropriate.


         I hesitated for a moment. I had told Euan so much already, at least about missing my dad. I still had some reservations about sharing the entire process of my dad dying with him. It was something I did not like to relive, but I had once heard if you told a dream then you would never have it again. Telling the dream definitely seemed more appealing. I spilled my dream to Euan. He took all of it very well, nodding in places, with a serious look on his face. I started to cry halfway through and ended up apologizing for crying. Crying always made me feel so stupid. He patted my back and I continued my story, when I got to the end, he just sat and stared at me.


         “Euan?” I asked reaching out to put one of my hands on his. The action seemed to make him jerk back to reality.


         “Gabriella, you have nothing to worry about. He couldn’t get into your head, you made the Promise.” Euan smiled slightly at that.


         “What’s that?” I yawned. “Matt said something about it.”


         “I will tell you tomorrow, for now you need to sleep.” Euan smiled and got off of my bed and turned to leave.


         “Wait.” I said. “Please stay with me.”


         “You have no idea what you are asking.” Euan said. His face was hidden in half shadows, but I could tell it was strained.


         “You were in here earlier, please, just till I fall asleep, then you can leave.” I patted the bed next to me. Somewhere inside of me I knew I shouldn’t ask him to stay in here with me, but he had already gotten permission right? I wasn’t going to do anything. I actually was extremely tired.


         Euan seemed to deliberate for a second. “Fine, but just until you are asleep then I will leave.”


         Euan came to the bed and laid next to me. I scooted closer, laying my head on his chest and listen to his steady heart beats. I felt one of his arms snake around me and I instantly felt warmer. I snuggled in a little closer and with a giant yawn I closed my eyes. It seemed in no time I was asleep, listening only to Euan’s heartbeat, extremely glad that tomorrow was the start of Christmas vacation.





         “Gabriella!” I heard a voice yell. I sat bolt upright in my bed. I looked around my room, but heard no other calls. I figured it had to be an ending of a dream I couldn’t remember.


Daylight stabbed through the curtains at my eyes, I got up glad I had no more troubling dreams the rest of the night. I got up lazily and put on a pair of lounge pants and a t-shirt. I had no wish to go anywhere today. True to his words, Euan had slipped out once I was asleep. I wondered vaguely if I snored. I brushed my hair and put it in a high ponytail. Eleanor had not come to wake me up this morning, I decided to go find her, or Euan, whoever I found first.


         I found my way downstairs, there seemed to be no one about. I walked into the dining room and the kitchen and no one was there. I was not even sure where any of them slept. They couldn’t have possibly slept this long. I knew my mother was gone for the morning news cast, but she would be home soon. I wondered about the kitchen, grabbing an apple, then headed back out to go to my bedroom. 


         As I got to the foyer the front door opened. Wallace and Eleanor where carrying Euan, who look as if he had just been mauled by a bear. His clothing was slashed and I could see blood staining the blue color of his shirt. The apple dropped from my hands and rolled across the floor to bump into Wallace’s shoe. He looked down at the apple then to me.


         “Look what you did you stupid girl!” He shouted angrily. “Look what they have done to our boy!”


         “Wallace, don’t talk to her like that!” Eleanor snapped. They moved Euan’s body into the living room. I followed them and watched as they placed him onto the couch. Blood continued to seep through his cloths and onto the couch. I saw his eyelids move slightly and breathed a slight breath of relief, at least he was alive.


         I rushed over to Euan, leaning down next to him. Eleanor and Wallace were having a hushed conversation above me, but I paid to attention to them. I grabbed one of Euan’s hands, not care as blood tarnished my hands and brushed Euan’s cheek with the back of my other hand. His eyes flickered open and I felt relief flood through me.


         “Gabriella, help me.” His words were forced and he gasped for breath.


         “How? Euan, please tell me how. I want to save you. Please…help me.” I whispered desperately looking up at Wallace and Eleanor who still hadn’t noticed Euan was awake.


         “Heal me. They can’t. Don’t…have right…power…”he struggled to get each word out; I felt my heart quicken its pace. “Picture….look like before…put hand…on it…”


         I had absolutely no idea what Euan was talking about. How could I heal him? I wanted to save him, I needed to save him. I couldn’t lose him too. Snow mixed with blood was dripping on the wood floor from Euan’s sleeve. Wallace and Eleanor had turned their attention back to Euan. I looked up at Eleanor and Wallace and then back at Euan and suddenly it clicked. He wanted me to use my new power.


         “I will try Euan.” I placed my hand on his face where it looked as if he had been burned with something. I thought back to what I had read in the library with Matt on our first date. All of the Matt’s family members had died of similar wounds. I shook my head, I needed to concentrate on healing Euan.


I pictured the way his face had looked last night, prefect and beautiful, and grasped for a tiny bit of power. I felt my hand tingle, slowly the tingling stopped and I looked down at Euan. His face had healed completely. It did not even look as if he had been hurt at all.


         “How…?” Stared Wallace, but Eleanor quickly cut him off.


         “Don’t question her Wallace. Gabby, please…Heal his other wounds.” I could hear the tears in her voice. I knew only too well what position Eleanor and Wallace were in.


I nodded and looked at his body. He was only wearing a long sleeved blue shirt with a jacket over top and dark blue jeans. I could see blood seeping through a cut in the shins of his jeans. I moved to his leg and looked at the wound. It was a deep cut with raw blisters around it. The cut was about as long as my middle finger and just as deep. I tried to concentrate on what his leg should look like.


         I put my hand on his leg, hoping I could heal this one too. This one was harder, I could feel my power drain out of me. Once I felt the tingle go away, I looked to see if it had healed. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. What I was doing seemed completely implausible and if it wasn’t for the obvious results, I would have never believed it was real.


         “Where else?” I asked gruffly. I was starting to feel woozy and lightheaded.


         “His chest is really bad.” Eleanor was clinging to Wallace. Eleanor detached herself from Euan and began to lift up Euan’s head. Wallace came over and gently lifted his torso into a sitting position. They both stared at me and it took me a moment before I realized they wanted me to undress him. I blushed deeply as I quickly took of his jacket and shirt.


         Once Eleanor and Wallace laid Euan back down I had a chance to look at his chest. There were on both shoulders that went to about his clavicle and one large slash across his lower abdomen. There were smaller, shallow cut all over his chest, but they didn’t look like the needed healing. I looked up Eleanor, not sure that I was strong enough to heal everything.


         “You can do it.” Eleanor encouraged. I looked up at her momentarily and then fixed my eyes on Euan’s chest.


         It seemed to take years. There were only three deep cuts, but it took a lot of concentration and more of my power than I had though. The worse on was the long gash on his lower abdomen and right side. Blood was slowly, but steadily draining from the slash. I knew that he had a broken rib there, I just was not sure if it had punctured the lung or not. By the way he was breathing I was thinking that he must have. I decided to heal it first. I had finished healing one of the shoulder wounds already, and the second one could wait.


         I placed my hand over the wound in his side and began to think of what it should look like. Where the rib should be and what the lung should look like. I was thanking God that I had decided to take an Anatomy class. I picture the wound healing over with everything right inside of it.


I felt sweat bead on my forehead as I concentrated harder, willing for the wound to heal the correct way. I had to save Euan, I just had to. I didn’t want to lose him, I couldn’t lose him. I opened my eyes and looked down at my hand. It was glowing a golden color and I could see the skin of Euan’s side closing up, almost as if there was an invisible zipper pulling his skin back together. I shut my eyes tightly against the sight. It had made my stomach churn. I felt the tingling in my palm stop. I removed my hand carefully and looked down at where the wound had been. It was gone, thankfully. Euan seemed to be breathing easier; I looked at the last cut. It was small, but I felt very drowsy.


         “Gabby, you don’t have to do the last one. It will heal in time.”Eleanor said. I shook my head, it was just one more.


         I put my hand over the cut and dug for the little bit of power I had left. It pulled it to the surface and my hand began to tingle, but then it grew hot. I couldn’t move my hand. I opened my eyes to see the golden light that I assumed was my power was being mingled with a strange green light.


“Gabriella!” I heard Eleanor shout. I looked up surprised. “It’s magic, Siduous magic! You have…have to…be careful I don’t know if you can get out of it.”


         I looked down at my hand; the green magic seemed to be twisting itself around my arm. Obviously Eleanor did not know how to heal wounds made of magic and Euan was unconscious, I would have to figure this one out on my own. I watched as the green magic made its way up my arm. It inched along and coiled itself around my wrist. The tighter and tighter the pressure on my wrist got, the more I was reminded of a snake.


An idea came into my mind, I was not sure what I was capable of, I wasn’t sure if I had limits on things I could or couldn’t do, but it was worth a shot. I tried to picture the magic on my arm forming itself into a snake, an actual living, breathing snake. I felt its cold, smooth skin coiling around my arm. I heard Eleanor gasp and I opened my eyes to find myself face to face with a cobra, I really should have imagined a garden snake.


         “Get…it…off…”I whisper through gritted teeth. “And kill it.”          


          Wallace grasped right behind the head as Eleanor grabbed the snake’s tail. They looked at each other and simultaneously spoke words that I could not understand. The snake vanished right before my eyes. I looked at Eleanor and Wallace, but neither one would meet my eye. They took their places at the head of the couch and I looked down at the cut. 


         I put my hand over the wound again, willing there to be no more malignant magic in Euan’s body. I watched as the last cut healed over and heard Euan breathe a sigh of relief. His eyes fluttered but did not open. I looked up at Eleanor confused. I had thought Euan would wake up after he was healed. I looked down at him again; he seemed to be breathing normally.


         “He will be all right dear.” Eleanor said to me kindly. “He just needs time to recharge, his body has been through a lot of stress.”


I nodded once and looked tiredly down at Euan and then at the staircase which I could just barely see though the front room door. “How are you going to get him to his room?”


“Since it is obvious you know what we are and are aware of your powers, we can just levitate him now. The only reason we were carrying him in the first place was because we weren’t sure if you knew anything about us yet.”Wallace said, as he spoke Euan’s body lifted from the ground to about three feet in the air.


I was tired enough I was not even amazed by Wallace’s power. I attempted to get up, but my legs wouldn’t support me and I instantly fell back on the ground. I saw Eleanor give a sympathetic look to Wallace who nodded. Wallace stood behind Euan’s body, which was hanging eerily in the air, and directed him up out the door and up the stairs. Eleanor came to my side and placed an arm around me


“You look awfully pale dear.” Eleanor touched the couch and instantly all the blood from Euan disappeared and it looked exactly like it had before. In the back of my mind I told myself I needed to lean that, than my mom couldn’t yell at me about stains anymore. “Rest for a little while, you will feel better.”


Eleanor helped me up onto the couch and I instantly fell asleep.


I woke up to the smell of muffins. I knew I couldn’t have been asleep long, muffins didn’t take long to make, but I did feel recharged. I heard the front door open and close and I walked into the parlor to see who had come in. To my surprise it was my mom. Usually she was not home until much later, but I was glad to see her none the less.


She was wearing her favorite red pea coat and a pair of black slacks. Her hair was twisted into a knot in the back of her head. She was still wearing her camera make-up and looked very worried. She took one look at me and then rushed over to give me a hug. There was something strange about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.


“Oh honey, are you all right?” She squeezed me tighter as she asked her question.


“Yes, I am fine. What’s going on?” My voice mother’s voice had been laced with worry, I was truly confused.


“Eleanor called me, she said Euan had been hurt and…I was afraid that you were hurt to. I rushed home as soon as possible. What happened?” My mother pulled back from me and looked me in the eyes. Again I sensed there was something strange about her. I heard Eleanor swing open the dining room door and quickly looked back at him. She looked slightly confused, but didn’t say anything.


“Euan just got hurt while out in the woods, that is all.” I said, still trying to figure out what was wrong. Then all of the sudden it clicked. My mother’s eyes, which were usually a bright blue in color, were as green as the trees in the summer and her coat. She hadn’t had that coat since the day my father died.


“Mom, what…” I had gotten out that much when a million things seemed to happen at once.


I heard Wallace shouting from behind me to get away from ‘that woman’. The woman behind me grabbed my waist and covered my mouth with the other hand. I struggled to get out of her grip, but she held me tight.  Eleanor started toward me, but the woman took her hand off of my mouth and faced the palm toward Eleanor. A white burst bloomed from the palm of her hand. Eleanor fiddled with something at her belt, then sent a stream of water into the white cloud. The cloud dispersed and Eleanor began sending jets of water at the woman behind me. I could hear the water making contact, feeling cold as the water ran down the back of my shirt. I continued to struggled against the woman, she said a strange word and I could no longer move. It felt as if I had a rope around my entire body.


She stepped away from me, allowing me to topple to the ground. I struggled against the invisible bonds which held me, but they held tight. The woman was using both of her hands now, to fend off Eleanor’s water. Wallace had run down the stairs and opened the front door. He stood with one foot in the house and one foot on the front porch, sending what seemed to be medium sized rocks. As the first rock made contact with the back of the woman’s head, she reeled forward, landing face first on the ground.


Eleanor took a cautious step toward her, then suddenly was thrown back, hitting the wall and sliding down it. Eleanor did not move and I could see a deep red staining spreading across her pure white hair.


         “Eleanor!” Wallace yelled out. He brought his hand up and started rapidly firing his rocks. The woman deflected the rocks with one brush of her arm. They landed with heavy clunks just inches away from my head.


The woman lifted her hand again and Wallace’s hands snapped to her sides and he toppled over to the ground and started to wriggle around. The woman twirled her finger around and Wallace was on his back and zooming toward us. The woman stuck her foot out and laughed as Wallace’s head hit the sole of her shoe. She took one look down at him and spit.


“Don’t even think about trying to save her.” Then I was suddenly up in the air. I felt like I had strong rope tying my hands and feet together. Then the lady moved her finger and I was lying horizontal in the air, following the woman in the red coat.


I was trying to think, but Euan had said he didn’t know what elemental base I was. I tried to think about fire, but nothing seemed to come. I started to panic, I didn’t know where I was going but I was sure I didn’t want to go there. Maybe I could do some sort of mind magic, every other person seemed to be able to. I tried to force my thinking on her, willing her to black out, to stop walking. 


We were halfway down the driveway now, I was trying harder than ever to wiggle free of whatever she had put me in while trying to make her pass out. She turned back to look at me and I saw her real appearance. She had thin, brown hair that just brushed her shoulders and large eyes. She looked like she had not aged well with wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Her mouth was a thin hard line which opened as I looked at her.


“Stop trying to get into my head you little bitch,” and with that she raised her hand and smacked me across that face. It was an extremely hard blow and I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness, but I continued to try and get into her head. She turned back to look at me again and raised her arm. I closed my eyes against the blow and this time I was out cold.