Capítulo 0008

The candles burning placed on shelves around them provided enough warmth against the cold emanated by the black stone walls in contact with the ground's wet soil. The scent wafting from them tickled her nostrils pleasantly. In the meagre light, Josh's copper skin and dark brown eyes glowed alike.

"How does it feel like to do magic?" Eira raised the question and saw the corner of Josh's lips twitch. But they didn't form a smile as she had expected. It seemed as if he struggled to keep a straight face in response to her words. These actions made her feel more self-aware and wanting to keep a check on her mouth.

He considered her with a gaze, his dark-brown eyes twinkled and then answered, "Everyone individual feels differently about magic. Some feel powerful, others feel happy. For me, it's liberating."

She nodded briefly and wrapped her fingers around the while wax, bringing it closer to her.

What would it feel like to her? Eira spared a moment to think about the question and then heaved in a breath.

"Incendio."

Eira murmured the incantation but nothing happened. She waited impatiently with bated breath but the candle refused to set alight and her lips curved into a frown. The candle fell from her loose fingers on the table.

"That happened with me as well on my first attempt," Josh confessed and folded his arms. "Then my mother told me to focus. Focus and think of what I wish to achieve in my mind. A burning flame on the candle," He said the words with a calmness that elevated the hair on her neck.

Flame. A burning flame, red and blue, Eira told herself. She pictured it in her mind.

Picking up the candle again, Eira stared at it for a while before whispering the incantation, "Incendio." To her ears, the voice sounded a lot unlike hers and, there it was—a beautiful golden flame with a blue centre, adding to the glow in the scarcely illuminated room. The frown on her face turned upside down. She felt happy—genuinely happy after a long time.

"I did it!" Eira squealed with gleaming eyes.

Josh gave her a curt nod, "That's the simplest spell. I learnt it when I was five. There are complicated spells require the perfect coordination of three things: clarity of mind; precision in hand movements and the correct incantation," Eira held onto each word. "This one just needs some will."

Josh reached for the grimoire he'd picked earlier and began flipping the pages— yellowed and spotted, with edges that look like they were burnt. Eira spotted writings and symbols in a dark ink.

The smile on her lips stayed put as she watched the candle burn.

I did it. Without the help of a match stick or lighter.

It flickered once in a while—threatening to blow out despite the absence of wind but never went off and thus continued to be the fuel to her grin.

Suddenly, a question struck her mind and Eira let it out before giving it another thought. "Why me?" Eira asked, her eyes were still on the burning candle but her mind was out of reach, somewhere deep into thoughts.

"I would say it was fate but I don't believe in such things. Don't misinterpret this, but you aren't special. You weren't an option but our only hope; just a way to increase our chances at winning. We wanted any help we could get," He shook his head lightly, "There are no other witches or warlocks in Orilon. Not anymore," Josh gulped before continuing, "I was surprised when Damien found you but then I discovered you were adopted."

"So, what the old people say is true? There were witches in our town once and all the other things?"

Josh said, "About twenty covens, yes."

"What happened to them?"

Were they dead? Did she belong to one of the covens?

There were several questions entering her mind one after the other, choking her brain with curiosity. She mentally begged to receive some answers.

"They moved away." Josh informed her.

Why? She wanted to ask but instead the question that left her was: "Why do you need my help? I bet you're powerful enough to defeat these enemies of yours." Eira hadn't discovered who these enemies were. She presumed they were supernatural beings—other vampires. Or were they centaurs?

"I wish I was. But I'm not. And two are always stronger than one. In fact, you were born more powerful than I would ever be. It's the principle of nature," Eira laughed at that answer. She didn't believe Josh to be kind to use flattery on people. But then he went on to narrate a story and his words seemed believable.

"Thousands of years ago, when humans were first blessed by nature with magic, only females were deemed worthy by the Tree Goddess to wield this power of sorcery, for they had the ability to birth new life like a tree gives life to new leaves and flowers. Initially, there were no warlocks, only witches," He said, his eyes were on her but they seemed to be lost in a land far, far away. "But then there was a boy who wailed constantly, jealous of his own mother who could make things appear out of thin air and heal humans on the verge of death. The mother loved her child deeply and sacrificed her life so her powers could pass over to him. It is said that the trees wept that day, crying green tears. Their leaves rustled in grief conjuring a storm. The love of a mother for her child knew no bounds. From that day on, boys inherited the ability to perform magic from their mothers too but they were meant to always be lesser powerful than the sorceresses."

Eira sighed, impressed with the story. "Who told you that?"

"My grandmother," Josh smiled again, and that made Eira smile as well. She wondered how old he truly was. He didn't appear to be older than twenty-five but he talked like a man with significant experience, someone who had seen and knew of the world.

"Where's your family now?" If magic was inherited, it meant his parents were sorcerers too. From the information she had acquired, he lived in the Carters' Mansion with Nate and Damien who were both vampires. And from his words she had discovered that he didn't like them completely.

"Gone with the other covens. Probably scattered over the world—I don't know. I haven't seen them in a long time." She saw the sadness displayed on his face. His eyebrows had furrowed but his eyes were on the spell-book, unconvincingly pretending to be reading.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Eira bit her lips.

"I wanted to. I couldn't. Because I was kicked out of the coven and labelled a traitor," He pressed his lips together and lifted his eyes finally from the page.

Why were his answers never satisfying? They always paved in way for more curiosity. More questions. Eira wanted to know more. She needed to.

Eira almost failed to contain a gasp at his answer. It was difficult to link the word 'traitor' to him. She saw him as an honourable man.

"Was that a long time ago?" She enquired, failing to believe his words even when they were said in a tone of brutal honesty.

"Feels like yesterday." His dark eyes met her and a dangerous smile swept across his face.

For a moment, neither said a word. Silence reigned over them; in the air floated a hundred questions Eira was yet to receive an answer to. She filtered them and picked the most important and relevant one.

She jutted her elbows forward and placed them on the table, resting her chin on the knuckles of her intertwined fingers. The action succeeded in drawing Josh's attention fully to her. He closed the grimoire and tucked it aside and looked at her.

"Who are we fighting against? Or should I ask what are we fighting against?"

Eira feared he wouldn't answer because he opened the spell-book again. The sound of pages flipping filled the air apart from the cracking of burning flames about to extinguish. Then, he stopped at a page. Silently, Josh passed the book towards her and gestured her to read.

Her eyes first went to the hand-drawn pictures on it. At the top a full moon; a naked man at one end, in the middle what seemed to be a man with a bad posture like her—a hunched back, with hairy body and at the other end, a beast. A four legged hairy beast with sharp canines and claws. A wolf.

Then her eyes flitted to the heading and a sigh of awe left her.

Werewolves.