Psychic

I went home immediately afterwards. There was no point in staying after I saw Bella storm into her room. Bella was perhaps the most stubborn person ever, so I knew that she wouldn’t be leaving it anytime soon for anymore confrontations with her mother.

I was honestly still in shock about who Bella’s mom really was. Bella’s mom was the kind of woman to make fresh baked cookies whenever I came over. She was the type of mother who came to every event and was a strong member of the PTA. Bella’s mother, however, was not some backwoods Hunter of the supernatural. It just wasn’t plausible.

But even if I couldn’t totally believe what I saw, I knew that it was real. Bella’s mother and her side of the family were Hunters – Hunters that were out to get me.

Well, if my life couldn’t get complicated enough, am I right?

It seemed that the Hunters knew a bit more about the Warlocks and the magical community than Magnus and the rest of the Warlocks believed. They knew enough to know that Victoria escaped and that the Warlocks were after her and me. Despite her intentions, Bella had just tipped off the Hunters (and maybe even Hawthorne and his hooligans) that I wasn’t just another suspect for being the next Psychic, I was the next Psychic. The Hunters might not have known what my abilities were, but they sure had a pretty good idea that they were valuable and dangerous.

Man, I just knew Bella’s big mouth would eventually cause a catastrophe, I just didn’t know that it’d be on this big of a scale.

At home Amy and Rick were just as I left them, and they barely seemed to register my arriving home early. Everything was as I left it, even if the world felt like it was falling apart.

By the time school rolled around the next day, Bella didn’t show up. Bryce even asked me if I knew where she was. Apparently she wasn’t answering any texts or calls – very unlike Bella. I told him that she was sick, not wanting to accept the fact that she was contemplating actually agreeing with her mother.

Bella was the kind of person who never liked to make people unhappy, which was why it was so weird when I originally heard their fighting from the sidewalk. I knew that she would sometimes agree to terms she would normally never agree to if it meant everyone was happy. I was afraid that would mean she would agree with her mother to bring me to the other Hunters.

I trusted Bella with my life, but I wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to keep her own opinions in that right.

I wasn’t too afraid of the Hunters per se. The information that Magnus had shared about them made them seem like a ragtag group of rednecks in over their heads, and I was sure if I was able to hone my powers more, I could convince them to let me go. All I needed was access to their heads, and they didn’t even know it.

Perhaps that was my strongest asset at the moment. Bella might’ve accidently told them that I was a magical creature of some sort, but she never said what I could do (to my knowledge), so they had no real way of protecting themselves from me.

The only obstacle would come if the Hunters actually tried to bargain me to Hawthorne. That would be bad considering the fact that he probably wanted to kill me.

All I knew was that Victoria and Magnus both needed to know about Bella’s mother. Magnus would be able to help protect me from being captured whilst Victoria could teach me how to enhance my ‘silk-speaking’ abilities so to say.

The only problem on that front was that Magnus hadn’t shown up to school and I wouldn’t see Victoria until after school. That meant that I had to sit through a whole day’s worth of pointless lessons with no distractions while more important things were on my mind.

I mean – who cares if the sixth President, John Quincy Adams, enjoyed skinny-dipping in the Potomac River?

(True fact)

But when after school did roll around, things got a bit more complicated than I wanted them to be.

I was walking to the town square, where Victoria and I normally met, when Magnus literally bumped into me at full speed. We both fell into heaps on the floor, my overly stuffed backpack saving me from injuring my back any more than it was from caring the thing.

“Magnus?” I questioned, more than a bit confused.

He reached his hand out for me to take, which I did. When we both got off the sidewalk, Magnus’s earlier expression dispersed into a stern accusatory stare. “Who are you meeting?”

I tilted my head in mock confusion, hoping that he wouldn’t be able to see through my façade. “What do you mean? It’s after school, I’m going home.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Oh yeah? Then why are you heading in the opposite direction of your house?”

I was about to answer, until I figured out what that meant. “Wait, how do you know where I live? Did you follow me home or something?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is-“

“Of course it matters!”

He sighed and crossed his arms. “Liv, we don’t have time for this?”

I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes at him, determined to change the subject. Magnus would die if he knew I was meeting Victoria, the one person he believed to be more malicious than Hawthorne. “Where were you during school then?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, if you’re here now, then you obviously weren’t sick or something. And, in case you can’t tell by my fidgety nature, I had something really important to tell you about.”

He turned less defensive in one moment. “Did you see Victoria?”

“Not really, no.

Magnus got flustered. “Well, then what is it?”

“There’s something I need to tell you about Bella.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, obviously annoyed. “Look, Liv, I don’t care about some sort of fight you and your best friend had, I really don’t. Now if you had some sort of supernatural problem, like if you saw Victoria-“

“Bella’s mom is a Hunter.” I interjected before he could continue.

“Wait, w-what?” he sputtered.

I sighed. “I was walking over to Bella’s house last night when I heard yelling coming from inside, which, you know, is a strange thing because Bella’s family never fights or anything, right? So I looked into her mind, and I saw her and her mom yelling at each other. Apparently Bella’s mom was on the phone with her brother talking about interrogating me or something, so Bella got all mad and confused, and then her mom explained that she was a Hunter and that the Hunters got word that you Warlocks just lost a valuable prisoner and that there was someone else connected, and I was one of the suspects – which you didn’t even tell me that I was – and then Bella accidently told her that I was some sort of magical creature and now they know that I’m dangerous, but they don’t know what I can do and I’m just freaking out.”

Wow, that was the longest run-on paragraph of my life.

Magnus was shocked. “Okay, so explain that all again, but slower this time.”

I did, and Magnus got even more worried. In fact, he looked quite scared.

“This isn’t good at all.”

“You think?” I exclaimed.

He started muttering to himself, almost pacing.

“What is it?” I questioned, having known him long enough to know that he was anxious.

“The reason I was gone from school today was because Hawthorne had me following a lead. Some local Hunters had captured warlock in the town over, which totally disregarded our peace agreement. It looked like they were rallying up for something. I had no idea what it was, but they must’ve been gathering up forces to, well, capture you.”

Well, this was now worse than I thought. Not only were the Hunters aware of my existence and trying to trade me for something the warlocks had, but now they were gathering a ton of forces because they believed I was that dangerous.

I was just a fifteen year old girl, they didn’t really believe that they needed an armada to capture me, did they? What could I do to these born and bred fighters?

(I mean – reading their minds isn’t too scary)

(Well, unless you count the controlling bit that I still hadn’t quite mastered.)

I knew that this meant I would have to find Victoria almost as soon as I left Magnus. Now more than ever I needed her to teach me how to control my powers. If I could control minds, then I would be every bit of the scary creature the Hunters believed me to be. (Not to mention that I could singlehandedly defeat their army.)

And just to think I still had the sixteenth birthday to look forward to where I apparently would take down Hawthorne, which might somehow result in my death because Hawthorne’s followers would certainly try to kill me if I dethrone their leader – even if I had a great reason. After that the Hunters would probably want me even more.

“That’s just great, am I right? I’ve got Hawthorne and a bunch of rednecks after me, right?” I stated, almost hysterically.

“And, don’t forget Victoria.” He added.

“Yeah, her too.”

I had forgotten that I was still supposed to fear Victoria. Magnus didn’t know that I was basically being mentored by her. He didn’t know that the whole incident in Wallington wasn’t her fault. He didn’t know that she was innocent.

From anyone’s point of view, right now I was the prize trophy that everyone wanted to take.

I didn’t like being on the chopping block very much.

In fact, it still kind of scared the little girl inside of me that there were so many people out to get my head. I mean – it wasn’t my fault that I was a psychic. It wasn’t like I chose to be what I was.

“I think you know what this means, Liv.” He chides me. “We need to make sure you’re safe. You’re no longer only being pursued by Hawthorne’s thugs, now you’ve got the Hunters on your tail – not to mention the fact that Victoria could come back to get you too at any time. There’s only one place that I can think of that is safe for you.

“I need to turn you in.”