《Evanora》


 Chapter 1

    tiny bedroom was barely enough to fit all her books, bed and a simple wardrobe. Which hold only two sets of clothing, the rest were more books and trinkets she needed for school. Evanore sat on her bed, with yellowed sheets musty smell. She had her eyes closed and breathed in softly. It wouldn''t take long before Medea, barged in to demand Evanora''s homework. Not that she would give it to her twin, not this time. This time she used another set of homework. She had made for her sister, specially for her. The answers all wrong, and with bad spelling. Not that Medea would be able to tell the divergence, nor will the teachers tell her that there was anything wrong with the homework. They will nod, and give her a high mark anyway. And Evanora, a slightly lower mark. Although her homework is perfect, not a single question wrong, or a word misspelled. They all did that because they, the teachers and specially the head misteres were afraid of their father.Bevan Razor, and Medea was the apple of his eye. Where Evanora was the black witch of their family, literally


    "She is right about that, mother." He said. Wow, he was standing up for her. Call the Crystal Pioneer, which was some kind of newspaper. This was only not something she was allowed or able to say out loud. "She is a black witch, after all." Madam Razor snorted.


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    "You never should have married that Vandran girl. I told you that her bloodline was not as clean as ours." Madam Razor said. Of course, and now the blame was once again on her poor dead mother. Alani Vandran, who herself was a white witch. Her equally dead parents were white witches. And Evanora knew, just like her grandmother, that there was only one black witch in her mother''s family. But only one was enough, for her grandmother.


    "Alani has nothing to do with Evanora''s magic, mother." Her father said. He was defending his dead wife, the love of his life and according to him his best friend. "It was written in the stars." Magic, both white and black, were written in the stars. Evanora had simply the misfortune of being born a few minutes later than Medea. Her grandmother scoffed and walked away. Her father turned around towards her. "I told you not to use that type of magic in my house."


    "It is a simple amulet, father. And I made it at school." She said, holding the amulet. "It was part of the homework for black magic. I used sage and lavender for it, no blood." He looked at it and nodded.


    "Those it work?" He asked.


    "Am I frozen to my bed?" She asked back. He shook his head. "Then yes."


    ********


    The yellow school bus stopped in front of the large mansion. It was ironic that after all this time and with all the magic the witches had to their disposal, the transport they used was a simple yellow school bus. Medea stepped in first, she waved to her best friends and sat down. Evanora took a deep breath, one more semester and then she would be free. Free to leave her home and go to collage. Free from Medea, and her friends. One more semester, she stepped into the bus and saw that her seat she normally would use was already taken. It was all the way back in the bus, perfect to read another book. She still went over there, the kid was not someone she recognized. He was slender, tall, with muffled brown hair. He sat hunched over, his noise buried inside a book.


    "Excuse me, is this seat taken?" She asked. He shook his head, he didn''t look up. She sat down and grabbed her book out of her old back. It surprised her to this day how this backpack was able to survive the weight from all her books. It didn''t matter, she knew that, even if the back fall apart. She wouldn''t get a new one, not even one of Medea''s old once she never uses. She opened the book and started to read. From the corner of her eye she saw that the boy looked at the book she was reading.


    "Is that not from a mortal writer?" He asked. She nodded, it was not a crime to read a book that was written by mortals. It was even recommanded. But not many witches did it, believing that it was not worth their time. "Is it any good?" He asked. She nodded once again.


    "I have never seen you before, so I am going on a whim that you are new." She said, he nodded. "Well, let me tell me advise you. If you do not want any trouble. Stop talking to me." He looked surprised.


    "I do not understand." He said. "I do not even know you. And you do not even know me."


    "Which is a good thing, believe me." Evenora whispered. "You seem nice, and I love to know you. But it is better for you to keep your distance."


    "And what if I do not want to." He asked. "I am ..."


    "Evanora, what the hell are you doing?" Medea''s voice screezed through the bus. All the students stopped talking and looked at her.


    "Reading." Evanora said. Quickly holding her book up. He did the same thing.


    "Who is that?" He asked.


    "What is that for a stupid question. I am Medea Razor, white witch and all that jazz. This here." Medea pointed at Evanora. "Is nobody, and you would be smart not to speak to her. She is not allowed to have any friends." He looks at her and her head hung a little bit. "But now here is the question, who the hell are you?"


    "Kayne Le Rouge." He replied, annoyed. Evanora looked at him surprised. The Le Rouge family was like her family, only they were well known for their powerful black witches. They, however, lived on the other side of the country, but it was possible that they just moved back.


    "You are lying, my grandmother would have told me when the likes of you were back." Medea said, pointing a finger at his chest. He snorted.


    "Madam Razor, is not all knowing. Miss Razor. And apparently neither are you." He snipped back at her. Medea''s eyes narrowed into slits. But turned around without a word. Evanora shook her head in disbelieve.


    "You really shouldn''t have said that." She said. "Now she will make sure that your life here would be a living hell. Medea is the queen of the school. Even the teachers, and the headmisteres, can not touch her." Evanora said. Kayne looked at her.


    "Why are you so afraid of her? She is nothing more than a bully?" He said.


    "I live with her." Evanora said. "I am Evanora Razor, black witch of my family and my sister''s favourite punching bag." She looked at him. He looked her in shock. She nodded slowly. "Yep, and now you will be her favorite target as well. Until you learned your lesson at least. Then she will move back to me, and do not tell me that I didn''t warn you. Because I did." The bus stopped and it was time for them to get off. "Oh and welcome to Romonia High, the best school for witchcraft in the magical realm. Or at least that is what the brocure says. The headmistress office is directly on your left. Have a nice day, and maybe I will see you in class." She waved and got off the bus. She admired Kayne''s spine. Something she lacks at times like this. One more semester and than she was finally free. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before entering the school.

 Evanora chapter 2

    So that was kind of unplanned, he met the most beautiful girl ever. Only to find out that she is a Razor witch. Not only that, but she was the first Razor black witch ever.  The only problem with her was that she didn''t have a spine, or not when her sister is involved. But during only his first hour at Romonia High, he was able to see why. Medea Razor was a spoiled little princess, who was used to be served on her hand and feet. Not only by the students, but also by the staff. Every little thing she did, had to be done with magic. Just to show how strong she was, he indeed found out how ruthless she was in her attempts to make him understand were he stood. Right at the bottom of the social ladder, together with her own sister Evanora. It was currently lunchtime and he spotted her sitting at a table all on her own, eating her sorry excuse for a meal. While doing some homework. They just came out of black magic class and had a good stack of homework. The teacher, had complimented her for the amulet she was wearing. And he himself had to confess that it was a good one, with a protection spell. He was even more impressed when she told the teacher how she made it. Only herbs, no blood. Which indicated that she was just as strong with her magic as her sister.


    "May I sit down?" He asked, she nodded.


    "As long as you do not talk." She replied, between bites and scribbling down in her notebook.


    "You know that homework should be done at home. Right?" He said, she looked up and was shooting daggers at him. With her pretty silver eyes. "Sorry, but you have barely something to eat." He looked at her and she sighed.


    "My problem is not my food, or the lack there off. I am the only black witch in my family, a disgrace, not worthy of the Razor name. According to Madam Razor, so I am not allowed to do black magic inside the house. Or near my can''t do wrong big sister. So I need to do the homework for black magic class during the lunch, and once we have a free period, that is after maths, I can go into the lab to practice my magic, or make my amulets." She said. He needed to confess, that indeed sounded like a problem. A problem he himself couldn''t relate to. His whole family existed out of black witches, his mother, father both set of grandparents. According to his grandmother, the stars favoured their family.


    "May I ask you one more thing?" He asked.


    "You already did ask me one thing. So please give me some peace and quiet before the lunch is over." She said, he looked at her homework. It was another protection charm. She also had a whole list of herbs and their effects.


    "Are you dead set on not using blood?" He asked. She nodded.


    "I am not even allowed to bring amulets inside the house, if I made them with my blood." She replied. He nodded and took his own books out of his back. He turned the pages towards the said amulet. The spell used for this charm needed blood to get more power. Power it wouldn''t get from normal herbs. He once grabbed his notebook and started to write down every combination he could think of.


    "Nightshade, can do the trick. Together with white oak leaves." He murmured. He wrote it down and took a bit from his lunch while doing it. "But that also leaves the door open for huge side effects." He looked up and saw that she was comparing his notes with hers.


    "Not if we use sage, or patchouli." She said and pointed to her list of herbs. "But that is indeed something I didn''t think of." She looked at him once her again. Her silver eyes, became as big as saucers. She quickly grabbed one of her amulets, and he felt a warm blanket wrapped around him. And to his surprise, he grabbed his own amulet. Something tried to hit them, and when he opened his eyes. Not sure when he had closed them, he was able to see a large poodle of water. He looked around the whole cafeteria looked shocked at them, everyone except Medea Razor and her two minions. All three of them looked smug and pleased with themselves. A teacher rushed in and looked at the three and then at Evanora and him.


    "Razor, Le Rouge, come with me." The woman said. He wanted to go against the woman, telling her that they didn''t do anything wrong. But Evanora grabbed his arm, and when their eyes met she shook her head. There it was it again, she didn''t have a spine. Or was it something else? He was not able to judge, not after the morning he had experienced with Medea Razor. They gathered their books and followed the teacher. When it happened.


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    "Shit." Evanora said. He turned around and saw that her backpack fall apart. It didn''t surprise him all that much, the thing looked rather old. But it was strange that it happened now. He dove towards the ground, to help her gather her stuff. Which was not much, most of her stuff was clearly in her locker. But it was a bit much to hold it in their two hands.


    "Here." He said, while opening his backpack. He shoved some items inside his, which relieved them for a brief moment. One of the items that was in her back was women hygiene products, something he found normal to be in a women''s backpack. But it was also the first things shoved in his.


    "Eww, Evanora. Are you on your period?" Medea said loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear. The rumours directly started to rise up, nobody laughed at this point. Except for the two girls right beside Medea. "What a dirty little girl you are. Now I know why your amulets are so good lately. You do not even have to cut yourself." That notion made him sick, and was a dirty comment to every female black witch in the school. Was there no one in this school going to stop this girl, she made this kind of remarks in the out and open.  Something that was not done in his old school. His hand shut op towards his amulet, Evanora reached for it. Knowing what he was going to do, but she was too late. The poodle of water that surrounded the table, they just vacated, rose up. And shot to the three girls who were still chuckling like hyaena''s. Their laughter turned into screams, ear deafening screams. The Razor family might carry some weight, but so did his. And this kind of behaviour, was not going to be unpunished. Not when he was around.


    *******


    The door of the headmistress office burst open. A much older version of Medea entered, together with his own mother. Who looked very disappointed, which he knew wouldn''t last long.


    "My poor, child." The older woman said, wrapping the still wet Medea in a tight huge. That would be Madam Razor, the woman then turned towards Evanora. And did something that sent him in a blind rage. The woman slapped Evanora in the face, the fire red markings were showing. He jumped towards the woman, his own mother grabbed him by the waist.


    "Calm down Kayne." She said.


    "She just slapped Evanor." He hissed. His mother repeated herself. "If she wanted to slap someone, she should have slapped me. I am the one who gave that spoiled little rat, a cold shower of reality."


    "Kayne Le Rouge, calm down. Otherwise, I will give you a cold shower." His mother said, and he knew that this was not an empty threat. At this point the headmistress, Hedvig Dukes, entered the office, quickly observing what is happening.


    "O boy, I am not getting enough paid for this." The woman said. "Madam Razor, mister Le Rouge is right however. He is the one who attacked Medea, but not after she attacked him first. But that is not the only reason why I called you here today. Normally I would turn a blind eye to this, but Medea made some very untactful comment. Something, another student would get expelled for."


    "And that is?" Madam Razor''s voice was sharp.


    "She made a comment about Evanora''s women hygiene products, and that it is no wonder that her amulets are so strong lately." Kayne replied, instead of the Headmistress. "I do not have to tell you, were this is going?" His mother, Lilac Le Rouge looked shocked. Madam Razor looked smug.


    "I do not see the problem. It is not a secret that black witches use blood to fuel their magic." Madam Razor said. Was he surprised by this reaction? Not really, but at least now he knew why Medea was so entitled. And not at all ashamed for her actions.


    "Wait, is that why you attacked that girl?" His mother asked. He nodded, and she closed her eyes. To open them with the kind of rage, he had seen once or twice in his life. "Headmistress Dukes, I am sorry to say. But I do believe that this is grounds for explosion, this kind of behaviour shouldn''t be tolerated. It is gross and backwards, I know for a fact that this girl''s mother is turning in her grave right now." His mother gasped for air. "Alani Vandran, was the kindest soul anybody could meet and she wouldn''t have stand for this."


    "You have no right to speak of my mother, lady." Medea snapped at his mother. Which almost send him over the edge.


    "I have every right. I was your mother''s best friend, until the day she passed away. I am also your sister''s godmother." His mother said, that was news to him. But his mother was not done. "How is Evanore treated at home?"


    "She is clearly afraid of her sister, and she is not able to do her black magic homework at home." He once again replied. "Judging from her backpack, she those not often get new stuff. If she gets anything at all." He held up the backpack, the bottom was hanging loosely. "And mother, to be frank. Madam Razor was comfortable slapping her, right in front of us." His mother nodded.


    "Good point." She replied. But she focusses on the headmistress. "My son those only know the girl, less then a day and he is able to name all of this. Is he missing something?"


    "Evanora, is also doing all of Medea''s homework." Headmistress Dukes said. His mother rolled with her eyes.


    "Alright, Evanora, Kayne go to my car. It is waiting for the two of you outside." She said, he wanted to ask why Evanora needed to come too. "Do as I say, Kayne." He nodded, he grabbed Evanora lightly by the arm, and softly pulled her outside. The fire red markings still on her face, and she was frozen in fear.

 Evanora chapter 3

    Evanora didn''t know how it happened, but she froze. She froze up when her grandmother slapped her, just like that. All what was said after that, went straight past her. When she woke up, she didn''t know how she got outside. She didn''t know why she was standing beside an unknown black car. But she knew that Kayne was chanting something, tears started to stream over her cheeks. Never before in her life had she cried. Not when Medea humiliated her in front of the interschool, this was not the first time. Not when her grandmother destroyed her mother''s cherry tree, not even when her father gave her a spanking for practising her magic inside the house. Kayne wrapped his arms around her, it was something she was not used too. It was nice, warm, comfortable and something she has being missing out off all her life. Her father never hugged her, nobody had done that. Which made her cry even more, and she didn''t care that anybody could see her.


    "Kayne, why is the girl crying?" An unknown woman''s voice asked.


    "I do not know?" His voice vibrated and calmed her slightly. "What I do know that Madam Razor, not only slapped her. But also put her under some sort of stunning spell." A stunning spell. "And I think it was not the first time." He might be right, but she was not sure. The woman behind her sighed.


    "I warned your father about this. When we moved to the other end of the country, to be closer to his parents. Alani made me promise to take care of her black witch." She said. The woman knew her mother? How, to her knowledge the Le Rouge family always lived at the other side of the country. But what did she know, she didn''t even know that she was attacked by her own grandmother. "Get in, we are going to the Razor estate. To collect Evanora''s belongings."


    "Why?" Kayne asked.


    "Because I have reason to believe that she is no longer save there. And I want to have a stern talk with Bevan Razor." She said. Evanora didn''t hear Kayne respond, but he slowly pushed her off him and guided her inside the car. She had the whole backseat to herself, still able to feel the stunning spell. But also feeling it wearing off, which was scary. A stunning spell was not a small spell to cast, but wearing off shouldn''t take this long. So Kayne was probably right, this was not the first time. And she found it odd that she never figured it out before, would she be this obedient if she was not under something to control her. But her father wouldn''t stoop so low, her grandmother on the other hand. She was not so sure about her, it was no secret that she hated her, but still to put her under a stunning spell. Kayne turned around in his seat.


    "How are you feeling?" He asked, softly. She wanted to tell him that she was fine, but that would be a lie. She was not fine, not fine at all. "There is no need to answer." His voice was soft and calming. "Mom, she is really out of it. Maybe you should stop the car and try to lift up the spell a bit more."


    "There is no need for that, you have done an amazing job. Now she needs to do the rest." His mother replied. "She is a strong witch, and she will be fine when we reach the estate. Once there, I want you to go with Evanora to her broom closet. I suspect that it is not much bigger then that, and collect everything she has in the bag, that I have in the back."


    "Will the bag be big enough?" He asked.


    "Silly boy, I put a spell on it." She said. The two became once again silent, leaving Evanora alone with her thoughts. His mother was right, she was a strong witch and she needed to get passed through this spell on her own. And she almost was passed it, when the car stopped right in front of her house. Her father was already waiting for them at the door. That was strange normally he would be at work, her father worked for the Ministry of Magic Regulation. Well worked for it was a big stretch, he owned his own company with reinforcers that aided the Ministry. "Wait a second." Kayne''s mother said, before getting out of the car. "Bevan Razor, it is being too long."


    "Not long enough, Lilac. How is Dillon?" Her father asked.


    "He is doing great, the move back did us all well." She replied, and now that the small talk was done. It was time for the big talk. "I am here to for fill my promise to your wife." He nodded.


    "You are going to take my daughter from me." He said, as dry as possible. Did he care about her at all, why was he not mad or sad?


    "Daughter, that is a nice way of putting it. Do you not mean punching bag? She is being bullied by Medea daily, she was just being slapped by your mother right in front of me and my son. Not only that, but my boy just lifted a pretty strong stunning spell from her." Kayne''s mother didn''t light up. But her father once again showed no emotion whatsoever.


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    "And your point is?" He asked, instead. Tears jumped right back, he those not care.


    "Well, if that is the question you come up with, then there is nothing left to say." She said, turned around. "Kayne, you know what to do. Evanora, can you show him to your room?" Evanora nodded, Kayne and she got out of the car. He walked to the boot, opened it and got out the single bag. She didn''t make eye contact with her father as she walked past him, he didn''t stop her or said anything to her. Cementing the feeling even more. "What has got into you?" Kayne''s mother screamed at him. "She is your daughter, Alani''s little girl."


    "She is not Alani''s little girl, Medea is. She is the reason why Alani is dead." Her father said. Evanora had one foot at the bottom of the staircase, and froze. She knew that her mother died during childbirth, caring twins as a witch comes with a lot of risks. But it was news to her that her father blamed her for it. Medea was also part of the problem, or did he forget that being a twin means that there are two.


    "Are you kidding me, she just looks like her when Alani was her age. The same dark cherry red hair, the same silver eyes that can light up the world with just one smile. Not that the girl smiles that much, now that I think about it. The only difference I see is her magic, Alani was a white witch, just like the rest of your family." Kayne''s mother said. It was nice to know that she looked a lot like her mother, there were no pictures of her and she knew better than to ask her father. She always wondered how she looked like. Kayne placed a hand on her shoulder, he was so sweet and carrying. He didn''t know her that long, they only met each other on the bus today. And he was more worried about her, then her own family was. They entered her room, and Kayne''s mother was not far off by calling it a broom closet. It never bothered her that much, until now. Was that an effect of the stunning spell, they, she now included her father in this, used on her? She didn''t know and once she was somewhere safe, she would spend a lot of time looking at the side effects of it all. Kayne placed the bag on the bed and started to grab the books closest to him.


    "Leave, the laptop. I will give you my old one, who is a lot more modern then this piece of junk." He said. She wanted to say that the piece of junk worked just fine. But she wouldn''t mind an upgrade, now that she thought about it. Was she ever happy with the thing, it could barely keep up with her. Not able to have too much open, and it was slower than a snail. She turned to her closet, the one set of clothing was waiting for her. Another school uniform, didn''t she had any more clothes. Something to wear in her free time?  She looked at it, apparently not. Why has this never bothered her until now? She didn''t have enough clothes, the laptop was indeed a slow piece of junk. Her room too tiny to sleep or breath in. The only thing she had enough off, were books. Not only magic books, but also normal reading books. She frowned, was this really her life? It was, and she hated it. No wonder that she has being praying to be able to escape after the semester ended. But now she wondered, would she ever be able to do that. Or was that just another lie her father told her to keep her calm and obedient. She didn''t want to know the answer, she collected the stuff from the closet and dumped it into the bag.


    *********


    Kayne refused to let her carry the bag on their way down. His mother was still at the front of the house, together with her father and now her grandmother. But when her grandmother saw Kayne, she lost it.


    "What is that boy doing inside my house?" She screamed. "Bevan, are you out of your mind? He is the one who attacked our sweet little girl."


    "There is nothing sweet, about Medea." Kayne snorted. "She is a spoiled rat, and I am here to help your other granddaughter. The one you are constantly placing under a stunning spell." Her grandmother looked shocked. "But never mind, forget that I was ever here." He grabbed Evanora by the arm and softly pulled her away from the people who were supposed to love her. The once she should feel safe by, a fake feeling she once had. Her grandmother turned towards Kayne''s mother.


    "You did a bad job, raising him." She snapped.


    "I raised him just fine. He protects those in need, he tells the painful truth. So I did my job well." She replied. "But now I need to take Alani''s daughter away from here. Before the likes of you getting her killed." Evanora looked at Kayne''s mother. "Or am I wrong about that?" What was going on here?


    "Come on, Lilac. You are not stupid enough to believe that." Her father said.


    "Alani believed in it, and so do I. So should you, or were those claims about her being the love of your life or your best friend a lie?" Lilac snapped at him. She raised both of her hands. "You know what I am wasting my breath. Alani made one big mistake in her life and that was marrying you. And when my time has come and I meet her again, I will tell her just that." She turned around. "Evanora, sweetie. Get in the car, please." The sweetie and please, were enough to make her do just that. The door behind her slammed shut, and she waited for the car to be in motion before she asked.


    "Can you tell me what has being going on?" Lilac looked at her through the rear view mirror.


    "I will tell you after dinner. When I have cooled down a bit, but know that I meant every word of it. Your mother made one mistake in her life and that was marrying your father." Lilac said. Her voice was still filled with heat. "I am going to keep you two from school for a week. Do not worry, you will not miss out on much. Because I am going to teach you how to use your magic, properly. Something tells me that leaving you defensless was part of their master plan." Evanora, still didn''t know what was going on. But she nodded, she sat back and looked at the world passing by. Before her eyes fall shut and she was taken over by a deep sleep.

 Evanora chapterr 4

    "Look at her, the poor thing. Fighting off that stunning spell left exhausted." His mother said, with the largest sigh he ever heard. He wanted to ask her what was going on here, but he knew that he would get the same answer as Evanora did. He looked at her, and she was indeed fast a sleep. It was the first time since he knew her, and he had to admit that it was not that long, that she was truthy at peace. "Kayne, be a dear and bring her to the guest bedroom. But do not wake her up. She needs the rest. They probably placed those stunning spells on her, while she was at sleep." He knew that the last part was not for him, but his mother cursing at the situation and the state Evanora was in right now.


    "You were right about her bedroom, mom. It was not much larger than the broom closet. She didn''t have any extra clothes, the most things she owned were books." He said. "A lot of them. I checked them for spells, before I placed them in the bag. But I think it would be better, if dad looked at them one more time." His mother, took one hand off the wheel and petted him on the head.


    "I knew, I raised you well. You have proven that to me over and over today. And I am so proud of you, and so will your father. Once I told him." She said, with a smile. "Once I calmed him down, and prevented him from killing that sorry excuse of a man. He and Bevan Razor were once thick as thieves. Like Alani and I were, we always hung out together. Back then it didn''t matter to us that they were white witches and it didn''t matter to them that we were black witches. I do not know what has changed that, probably Alani''s death. But that was not Evanora''s fault, she didn''t ask to be born. She didn''t ask to be part of twins, or even to be the youngest of the two." His mother sighed again. "I can tell you right now that she is a smart cookie, strong too. Kind, carrying, and all Alani''s good treats."


    "Mom, are you alright?" He asked, and she shook her head.


    "No sweetheart, thinking about Alani made me realize how much I miss her. She was my best friend, she couldn''t wait until she became a mom. Especially after I had you, there was not a day that went by that she was not over at our place. Dotting on you, she is the one who gave you your favourite teddy bear." He frowned, he knew the teddy bear. He still got it, although it was sitting on the top of his closet. But he never knew that it was not one of his family members who gave it to him, which he always assumed. "Do not worry about me. I will be alright, after Evanora is settled in and I told your father once he gets back from work." She looked at her watch. "Which will not take that long." He nodded, as the house he apparently was born in came into view. It was so different from the Razor estate, the old Victorian architecture. The large white oak trees that surrounded the house, giving it much needed shade. The leaves and bark of the tree could be used in amulets and potions. His family just moved back, the day before yesterday. So he was not yet used to the place, but it felt like home. The car stopped on the driveway and the butler Mister Caton Heliot rushed outside. He was an old family friend, and he had served Kayne''s grandparents before he moved with them.


    "Madam, young master. Welcome back home. And who is the young lady?" Heliot asked.


    "Do you remember Alani Vandran? " His mother asked. Heliot nodded.


    "Lovely lady, especially for a white witch. It is a shame that her life was cut so short." He replied.


    "It indeed is. This is her daughter Evanora Razor, she is going to stay with use." His mother said. "Kayne, please take her to the guest bedroom." She already asked this of him. But he didn''t mind that she asked him again.


    "Do you think it is wise to bring a white witch into your home, madam?" Heliot asked.


    "She is not a white witch." He replied for his mother. "She has a bag in the boot, can you place it in my father''s studies. Mom, I want to order some stuff for her on the Hex web. She is in high need of a new backpack and some extra clothing." His mother nodded.


    "I will order some underwear, and such." She said. "But good thinking. Go ahead, but keep it reasonable. Please." He nodded and walked away from his mother, with Evanora in his arms. She was still a sleep when he placed her on the bed. The guest bedroom was empty and very natural. The walls were an empty beige, and the sheets on the bed were pale, as if they lost all their colours. Maybe he could look for some bedroom decorations as well. He didn''t know her taste and it would be her bedroom, but a rug and some coloured sheets. Some art for on the wall, it will come a long way to make it a bit more cosy. He quickly went to his bedroom, which was just down the hall, and grabbed his laptop. Softly, and carefully, he sat down next to her bed. It didn''t take him long to order some decent clothes, something he saw other girls wear. He had selected a black backpack with a crescent moon on it. Which came with a nice pen case, some wall art was not difficult. A large poster with the tree of life seemed fitting, and he had selected sheets with the same design. The rug, was something else. He was debating between colours.


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    "Would she like, a cherry red, or plum purple?" He asked himself out loud.


    "Plum purple." She replied. "If you were talking about me?" He nodded, and she hid a yawn behind her hand. Clearly she was still a bit tired.


    "Plum purple it is." He said, and selected the colour. Paid for the order and now it was time to wait for the doorbell to ring. It could be that quick.


    "What did you order?" She asked. He could see in her eyes that she didn''t want to talk about her family. Not now, at least.


    "Clothes, sheets, wall art, backpack and a rug." He said, summing everything up. "Nothing to crazy. My mom is ordering some extra, woman stuff." He felt his ears turn red, he was about to talk about her underwear. From which he knew she didn''t have much of either. "Your books and other clothing are under investigation. We are not sure if they are spelled or not." Evanora nodded, taking that news pretty well. Maybe after what happened today, nothing would surprise her at this point. Or she was used to it? He didn''t know, and a part of him didn''t want to ask about it either.


    ********


    The doorbell ringed and echoed through the house.


    "There is your stuff." He said, and she looked surprised. "Did you never order something on the Hex web?" He knew that was a stupid question, of course she has not ordered something on the Hex web. She didn''t have any clothing to speak off, all the trinkets she had, she got through school. Maybe it was the same with her books, or that was maybe the one thing her messed up family gave her. There was a knock on the door.


    "Young master Kayne, are you in the young lady''s room?" Heliot''s voice came through.


    "Yes, I am. You can come in." Kayne replied. The door opened, and the old butler entered the room. He looked at Kayne, sitting on the floor and then to the now awake, Evanora.


    "Ah young lady you are awake. That is good, there is some tea downstairs." Heliot said. "Also young master Kayne, your mother wants to remind that she had told you not to go overboard." Heliot left the room.


    "Was that your father?" Evanora asked, and he shook wildly his head.


    "No that was Mister Heliot, he is the families'' butler. But we should go downstairs to look at all the new stuff." He replied. "My father will come home soon too." He stood up and placed his laptop on the now empty desk. "Is there anything we should know for dinner? Allergies and such. I do not believe your father has provided my mother with a list." She got up from the bed, but was still a bit wobbly on the feet.


    "I am deadly allergic to peaches, learned that the hard way." She said, the last piece of information didn''t get lost on him. Peaches, right.


    "I will inform the kitchen." He said, reaching out his hand. She shook her head, and took a few steps. But almost fall to the ground, if he was not there to catch her. "You have used all your energy, to throw off that stunning spell." He said. "It is now important that you do not push yourself too hard." She nodded and sighed.


    "It is so frustrating to know that my family would do such a thing." She said, he could only nod to that. He didn''t live in that kind of household, he didn''t have to walk on eggshells, afraid of what kind of punishment will come next. And now she didn''t have to worry about that either, although he knew that it would be a hard habit to break. He supported her downstairs, were his mother was waiting on them in the living room. The packages were stacked in one of the corners of the room.


    "Ah, Evanora you are awake good. I asked the kitchen staff to prepare some herbal tea, to recharge your energy." She said, holding up a cup. "Also the pink boxes are not to be opened in the common room. The rest is fine, and I need to say that I want to know what my son has picked out for you. I also saw that he ordered some stuff for your room. On that he and I were of the same mind." Now she focussed on him. "What did you order for her room?"


    "Poster, sheets, wall art and a rug. The cold wooden floor was not comfortable whatsoever." He said, his mother nodded.


    "I also ordered some sheets, and wall art. But then she is able to switch sheets from time to time, and the room has more then one wall." She said, standing up. Evanora walked towards the black velvet couch sat down, he was able to see that she was not sure what to do.


    "Heliot, can you bring those pink boxes to Evanora''s room please?" He asked. "And can you inform the kitchen that she is allergic to peaches?" He added. Heliot who was just outside the room, came in, nodded. Took the pink boxes from the stack and left the room. "A man of few words." He said, while walking towards the stack of boxes. Grabbing the first one, when he turned around he saw that his mother pushed a cup with tea into Evanora''s hands.


    "Here drink up, you will feel much better afterwards. I promise." She said. Kayne gave her the first box after she took a sip of her tea. He knew the brew and he agreed that it was the right thing to do. Especially after he needed to guide her from the stairs.


    "Here, I hope you like it."

 Evanora chapter 5

    Evanora didn''t know how to react, or what to say. This was the first time she received more clothes than she was able to wear. The fluffy rug was so soft and would give much needed colour to the room. The same goes for both pieces of wall art and the sheets. She almost teared up when she laid her eyes on her new backpack and pen case. Never in her live, and she meant never had she received something that was just for her. When she was little, she always got stuff that she needed to share with her sister. Which never happened, because Medea took the toy or game all for herself. And threw a pamper tantrum when Evanora wanted to take it, thinking of it. It was probably around that time that her family placed her under the stunning spell. To make sure that she knew her place, and that was around the same time she grew to love books. True they were not just for her, but Medea would rather hurt herself before opening a book willingly. Which funny enough she now had to, because Evanora was no longer there to do her homework. So books were the only gifts she was able to keep all to herself.


    "I see that someone got spoiled big time." A man with brown hair and bright green eyes came into the room. "You most be Evanora, Heliot already told me that you were here." Kayne''s mother stood up from the couch.


    "I am sorry dear, but I needed to act fast." She said, he gave her a smile. Laid his hands on her shoulders and sighed.


    "I am not made love, but please tell me everything." He said and she did. Kayne filled in the blanks, while Evanora sat quietly. She didn''t want to interfere, and some of the stories, well it was still hard to believe that it was all about her and not somebody else. "Shit. I am so sorry this all happened to you, Evanora." He said.


    "Me too, young lady." Heliot said, from the trashhold. "I do not trust white witches, for my own personal reasons. Your mother was the only exception to the rule, if I am being honest. But this is a new form of low. Stunning your own family member to obedience, humiliating you to such a degree that it borders on torture." Evanora looked at her hands. "I will stop there, I can see that it makes you upset, and I am sorry that I went this far."


    "It is not your fault, mister Heliot." She said softly. "It is what has happened to me, and I am glad that I am out of that situation. I still have trouble believing that my own family would do something like this." Every one in the room nodded softly. "But then again, I am the first black witch in the family. The second one in my mother''s family, so..."


    "That is still no excuse." Kayne said. "My family is known for their powerful black witches, but my cousin Cleo is a white witch and she is not being treated badly at all." Heliot nodded.


    "I forgot about mistress Cleo, but she is still so little." Heliot said, his voice was softer and warmer. Star contrast then it was before.


    "Dad, can you go over Evanora''s stuff? It is currently in your office, but we want to make sure that there is nothing on there that could harm her." Kayne said, and his father, Dillon Le Rouge, nodded.


    "Of course, I can with her permission of course. But now, can the two of you bring all this stuff to Evanora''s room?" He pointed to all the stuff that cluttered the living room. Evanora jumped up, ready to make an apology for the mess. "No, I do not want to hear it. You have done nothing wrong, but now it should go where it belongs. In your room, in the closet, on your bed, on your floor and on the wall." He smiled when saying this. Showing that he meant it, her father never smiled at her like this. Never. She had seen him smile towards Medea, but never towards her. She didn''t want to tear up, over something so small as a smile. So she quickly grabbed the first items that were near her. "Evanora, I am a therapist. From tomorrow on, you and I are going to talk." He said. "I have a feeling that you are needing it." She nodded slowly, before leaving the room. Her hands filled with stuff, she was being followed by Kayne and Heliot.


    ********


    The posters hang on the walls, the clothes were neatly folded in the closet. Except for one outfit, which she currently wore. It was a small dress, Bordeaux red and it was hers. The men had cleared her room while she changed, and once Kayne came back he himself had changed clothes. Wearing simple black jeans and a dark grey hoodie, which made his eyes more vibrant. They had changed the sheets on the bed, and Kayne was busy with installing some updates on his old laptop. Which was indeed an upgrade from her old one. While she packed her stuff out of his backpack and placed it into her new one. Placing her pens and pencils in the new case. There was still a lot of stuff still at school, in a magic secure locker. The book she has being reading on the bus was among them, but she however found the notes for the new protection amulet. She smiled, it was funny that she created all kinds of amulets to protect herself from her sister''s magic. Now that she thought about it, why were they learning how to make protection amulets? That was beginners stuff.


    "Kayne?" She turned around. "What was the subject of your black magic studies? At your old school, I mean." He frowned.


    "Channelling, we were learning how to channel another witch. The same as you. Why do you ask?" He asked and she held up her notes for the protection amulet. His eyes went as wide as saucers. "I already found it strange that you were focussing on that. I need to tell mom." He rushed out of the room. She grabbed her black magic books and they were all about making amulets. Was this also part of the stunning spell, if so, then the teacher were on it.


    "Evanora, is there something wrong. Kayne just told me that you asked him about the subject for black magic class." Kayne''s mother entered the room.


    "It is because I am still stuck at making various amulets. These are my books for black magic class." She said, and gave her the books. "And all I can remember is the teacher talking about making amulets and which herbs we can use instead of blood." His mother looked confused.


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    "That is indeed strange, because making amulets is beginners level magic. I can sense that yours are very powerful, don''t get me wrong. But it is still the basics. At your age, you should be learning to channel another witch, conjure up spells, with herbs, salt and yes with blood." His mother said, she looked at the book. "I am going to call the school tomorrow, because if this has being happening, then it is worse than I thought." She walked away without another word. This was all kinds of levels messed up. She grabbed Kayne''s black magic study book and started to read the first chapter. What the hell was she missing all this time, after a couple of pages she knew the answer. A lot. Kayne came back into the room.


    "Kayne, do you have a lab I can work in?" She asked. "I need to make an amulet that helps me study a lot faster, and one that is going to protect me from any more stunning spells." She held up the recipes for both, he looked at her and then nodded.


    "Come with me." He said. The walked through the hallways, which were covered in dark brown wood. Chandeliers with fake candles were hanging from the ceilings. There was some art hanging on the walls, but it was nothing more than a strange oil painting here and there. The lab however was a large green house, filled with various plant and herbs. In the middle of the glass building there was a witch circle, with two benches. A huge barrel filled with salt was standing against each one. "I am going to light the fire under the cauldron, while you gather the ingredients." She nodded, it didn''t take that long to gather everything and with Kayne''s help it didn''t even take that long to make the amulets.


    "Ohh, you two are in here. Making amulets." His mother looked at the recipes. "I see, well both can not hurt at all. The school was not aware of the stunning spells. But they were indeed told to keep Evanora on an information diet. So during this week I am going over everything you need to know about your own magic." Evanora wanted to curse, no she wanted to do even more, only she didn''t know what.


    "I am so sorry." She said, that was the only thing she was able to say. Although, she had nothing to be sorry for. Kayne''s mother apparently knew what she meant, so she didn''t say anything about it. "I will be a good student."


    "I know you will be, sweetie." Kayne''s mother said. "Alright, dinner is almost ready and then it is time for us to talk about what is going on."


    ********


    Dinner was for once in her life, warm and delicious. Most important thing of all she was able to eat everything without being afraid of getting sick, or ending up dead.


    "Evanora, sweetie. What do you know about your black witch ancestor?" Kayne''s mother asked. Evanora grabbed the class with pumpkin juice and took a sip.


    "Only that she was a black witch." She replied. "I do not know her name, I do not know what has become of her." Kayne''s mother nodded slowly.


    "Sweetheart." His father cut in. "Did you honestly believe that they would tell her? That would mean that she had the ability to fight back." Fight back, what was he talking about? Why would she ever fight back. "And then there is the fact that they kept her stunned, and in the basic level of her black magic studies."


    "Mom, dad. Please tell us what is going on? Because right now the two of you do not make any sense whatsoever." Kayne said, Evanora nodded. His mother sighed.


    "You, are right sweetheart. I am sorry, but this is not an easy story to tell. What I am going to tell you is the story of two witches, Kalliope Vandran who was a white witch and Onyx Vandran who was a black witch. And like Medea and you they were twins. But unlike you and your sister, they were the best friends. It was in the time that we lived in harmony, under the rule of the witch


    "So you all think that Medea and I are Kalliope and Onyx reincarneted? And one of use needs to defeat the other to determine who is going to rule the witches?" Evanora asked. Both his father and mother nodded.


    "Your mother, also believed it as well. Sweetie, from the moment she found out that she was pregnant with twins. She feared that this would happen, and she was right to do so." His mother said.


    "But what if I do not want to rule?" Evanora then asked, and Kayne''s mother sighed.


    "I am afraid that you do not have a choice in the matter, sweetie. Your grandmother, has being preparing your sister for this battle for a very long time. And now I am going to do the same for you, so that you have at least a small chance of winning, or better yet surving the fight." Evanora looked at her empty plate, this was a bitter pill to swallow and she was not sure if she wanted all of this. But Kayne''s mother was right, her grandmother has being training Medea. And Medea would kill her if she had the chance, so she needed to be prepared for the worst.


    "May I be excused?" She asked.


    "Always sweetie." His mother said. Evanora turned around and rushed out of the dinner room and up to the flight of stairs. She landed belly flat on her bed, ready to cry. But she didn''t have anymore tears left. There was a knock on her door and Kayne entered.


    "Evanora, I am sorry. But I wanted to give you this." He said, she pushed herself up. He was holding an old teddy bear. "Your mother gave this to me when I was a baby. I want you to have it." He placed the bear on the corner of her desk. "Maybe it will give you some comfort." He turned around.


    "Thank you, Kayne." She whispered. He gave her a warm smile while he closed the door.


    "Rest well. Tomorrow we will start those black magic drilling sesions." He said and the door closed. Evanora got up from her bed and took the bear in her arms. It was not the first time, she wished her mother was here and it wouldn''t be the last time.

 Evanora chapter 6

    with bacon and eggs, tea and orange juice were standing next to the plate. Evanora''s plate was standing empty on the other side of the table. She was not up yet, or she was up but was not yet downstairs. His father was already gone for work, he was a simple house doctor. Until his grandparents kick the bucket, then he will inherit the families business. Which makes potions and medicines for witches, he himself was already busy to study herbs and other ingredients. So that after high school could help in the family business, during the summer. Before he goes off to college, to further his knowledge. His mother was already working inside the business, she was not making any potions, but she was handling the sales and shipping.


    "Morning." Speaking of the black cat, there she is. "Is Evanora still in bed?" He shrugged.


    "I do not know, and I think that she stayed up pretty late. Studying, she seems to me that type of person. And she still has not given me my study book back." He said. His mother slowly nodded and sighed.


    "I will go up and look." She said, before turning around and walking out of the room once again. It didn''t take long, before she came back with Evanora at her side. Evanora had her cherry red hair in a ponytail, she was wearing a long brown skirt and a white blouse. Around her neck was some kind of bow tie. But he still could see the amulets under the blouse, and around her wrists. She didn''t wear any amulets in her ears, which was not uncommon for female black witches. Hex lately it was not even that strange for men to wear amulets in their ears. It became even stylish. "You were right, she was up pretty late. Studying, which is a good thing in my book. Which will make the things I am going to teach you a bit easier." Evanora sat down and Mister Heliot rushed in with a glass jar filled with orange juice.


    "Good morning, young lady. What do you want for breakfast? The cooks can make anything you want." Heliot said, and he started to list off all the items.


    "I never had Fairy bread before." She said, after he mentioned it. Heliot gave her smile.


    "Well, then we are going to change that. I will be back in a while, with fairy bread and tea." He said, Kayne looked at his mother. Who also sat down with her laptop. The tea cup next to her was still empty, but that will change as soon as Heliot entered the room. He placed the fairy bread in front of Evanora, together with a boiled egg. He filled the tea cups, before leaving the room once again. Evanora took a small bite, before almost attacking her breakfast. He did his best to suppress a smile, it shouldn''t surprise him that she didn''t have anything good, and something as simple as fairy bread. Which in his book was almost as criminal as keeping her under a stunning spell.


    "Kayne, can you take Evanora to the greenhouse after breakfast. We are going to jump straight into the deep end, and I do not want to waste any valuable time." His mother said. She drank the tea with one sip, his mother was known for having an iron throat and the tea was piping hot.


    "I will mom. What are we going to do first?" He asked, and his mother quickly looked up at him.


    "We are going to focus on channelling." She replied. His mouth fell open, channelling another witch was one of the highest level of black witch magic. Was Evanora up for it? She has being studying amulets, beginners magic for years. "Do not worry, I think she will do just fine. But we do not only have years of trauma to undo, but also she needs to learn how to work her magic and become even stronger."  Kayne nodded, and sighed.


    "But do we need to throw her into the deep end? Will this not backfire?" He asked. His mother looked worried, she thought about this too. But still she was going through with this plan. "Evanora are you done?" He asked, she took her final sip of her tea and nodded.


    "There is no day like today." She said, stood up and walked out of the dinner room. He smiled, he liked her spirit. But he knew that this was going to be an up worth battle, and one that was not won in one day. He even doubted that they could win it in this one week. All that he knew was that she was strong enough to at least learn the basics and maybe some more. Evanora walked through the greenhouse and inspected every herd that she was able to find.


    "Are you going to work in your families company once you are done with your studies?" She asked.


    "That is the plan, I am going to do basic lab work during the summer, to get some experience. Before I go to collage, where I''m going to study herbology. And you do you have plans?" He asked in return. She shook to his surprise her head.


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    "No, my plan was to go as far away from my family as possible. I thought I had sent out some applications, but now that I am awake. I am not so sure if I have really done that. Or someone in my family giving me the fake sense of light at the end of the tunnel." She said. "And besides that, now that I know were I am with my dark magic class. Which collage wants to have me in their program?" She looked at the ground. "Besides that, I am already away from my family which was the ultimate goal."


    "We will go over those applications later, if they are sent or not. If not, we are going to send them. With the whole story. Also do not worry about the level of your magic. I can feel that it is already stronger than yesterday, so that nighttime studies has done you some good." His mother entered the greenhouse. Kayne was glad to see the sparkle of hope in Evanora''s beautiful silver eyes. The small ponytail was bouncing with every step she took. If she is indeed a copy of her mother, he could see why Evanora''s father had fallen for her. But he also knew that she would have many suitors. He swallowed, he had seen how the guys at school looked at her. Even if he was there for only half a day, but nobody had made a move. Maybe because of Medea? He didn''t know, but even the fact that they looked at her made him feel slightly uncomfortable. "Kayne, did you finish those thoughts of yours?" He wanted to shake his head, but quickly stepped into the witch circle. "We are going to preform the magic lessons in here. And we are not going to stop after this week, but this week we need to make a dent. But before we do that, Evanora I have something for you." His mother gave her a box. "This was given to me, by your grandmother. Who wanted me to keep it safe until the time came to give it to you. From what I understood this is a family heirloom." Evanora opened the box and in it was a beaded neckless. The beads were made out of a black crystal, probably obsidian. "Kanye, why don''t you help her put it on?" Good question.


    "May I?" He asked. She gave him the box, and he picked the neckless out of it. Carefully placing the string around her neck. "It looks good on you." He said, when she turned towards him, she gave him such a warm smile that his ears were starting to burn up.


    "Alright now that is out of the way. Let''s begin."


    ********


    Kayne sat with Evanora on the ground, they were currently on day three. And there was no sign of improvement. Currently, they tried to meditate, to increase their magic. It was not that Evanora didn''t succeed in the other area''s of the black magic. She has improved a ton, she was able to conjure up spells, with the use of herbs and salt. She was even tried a spell with blood earlier today, but she was not able to create a link with him. He himself didn''t have any trouble linking up with her. Maybe this was still a bridge too far. But that didn''t stop her, he needed to give her credit for that. His mother and Evanora went over the collage applications, provided by their school. Which were as they suspected, non-exciting. Not that this stopped his mother to send some out for her, Evanora had also her first council session with his father. Which according to his father was even more eye-opening than he had hoped. Kayne opened his eyes to look at her, today she was wearing her hair in a simple braid. His mother offered to put there some flowers in, but she had declined that. She had chosen for a set of jeans and a black jumper.


    "You are staring at me." She said, with a soft smile. "I can feel your gaze, with my third eye." It was another part of her black magic that has grown. She was able to see with her third eye, and she was doing it without thinking about it. "But I still can not find the connection with you. But there is something else." She held up her hand, and a glass of water flew into it. Without her having to say a spell or do some sort of ritual. Which meant that she had channelled another witch, the only question was who. Black witches were not able to channel everybody, that would have being too easy. They needed permission from the other witch to do that, or his eyes went to where the neckless was hanging. Or she was not channelling a living witch, she could be channelling one of her ancestors. Which made her even more powerful, if she would learn how to control it. And maybe in time she is able to channel all of them.


    "Well done, Evanora. You got it." He said. "I do not know how you did it. But you did." She placed the glass on the ground, after a few sips.


    "Well that is good to know." She said with a sigh. "It took me only three days." He started to chuckle.


    "It took me three months, to channel my first witch." He said. "Granted I didn''t like the guy very much and he hated my guts. So that might not have helped one bit, but I am babbling. Maybe we should take a break, and have some tea?" He just said that when Heliot entered the greenhouse, with tea and a little saucer filled with small pastries. He placed it all in the middle of the circle and sighed.


    "You two have being at it since breakfast, and you two should be eating well." He said. Both of them reached out to one of the pasties on the saucers. It was one with pumpkin spice, another thing she had discovered she liked. He quickly removed his hands.


    "You take that one. I will take the one with strawberries." He said, grabbing that one. She chuckles and put the pastery in the mouth. A bit of butter cream got stuck on her noise, without her knowning it. He reached out to her and whipped it of. Just noticing that their faces were close together. A bit to close.


    "Do I interupt something?"

 Evanora chapter 7

    Kayne shot back towards his corner, that was close, a bit too close. Would they have kissed, if his mother didn''t enter the greenhouse? She didn''t know the answer to that question. But she felt her cheeks burn up. He was looking sheepish too, so he was thinking... She didn''t know what he was thinking, all she knew was that their faces for a moment were very close to each other.


    "Oh, good the two of you, already have some tea. And our cook did really well with those pastries, maybe she has one more sweet tooth to satisfy." She said, with a soft sigh. "But how did it go?" Kayne started to tell his mother that she was able to channel someone. But he believes that she didn''t channel someone alive. "Well, that takes a very special of band between a witch and said ancestor."


    "Can it be her mother?" Kayne asked, and it was strange that he currently had a clear mind. She didn''t have a clear mind at the moment. Hex all she can think about was the almost kiss.


    "It can be, it can also be her grandmother." His mother said. "The only way we can know that for sure is a seance. But I am of the state of mind to let the dead rest. If they want to help with their magic, I am fine with that. But I am not going to disturb them any further." Evanora nodded slowly. The fog in her mind started to lift.


    "I am agreeing with you, madam Le Rouge." Evanora said. She knew that Kayne''s mother didn''t like to be called that. But Evanora was not comfortable to call her anything else. "I am going to do my other homework." She got up and grabbed another pastry and her cup of tea.


    ***********


    The greenhouse was over all her favourite place inside this house, but her room came pretty close to that. She has now fairy lights hanging around her bed. She loved to sit on her rug, with her back against her bed. Which she was doing right now when Kayne knocked on her door. She was just busy noted down her last answer to the maths homeworker, school had sent them a crap load of homework. It was more homework than she had ever done, even when she also did Medea''s homework. Maybe they got the memo that she was no longer on an information diet, or this was another attempt to stun her magic practice. Because it would take away a lot of time to make it. If she didn''t have Madam Le Rouge''s guidance, or rather Madam Le Rouge''s attitude to magic lessons first other homework later.


    "Hey, how are you doing?" Kayne asked. She sighed and placed down her pen. She closed her notebook and lay it next to her. Grabbed another book off the stack. Herbology. She smiled, it was one of her best subjects, and she was pleasantly surprised that she was not far behind with that at all. But it was still a lot. He sat down on the rug and sighed. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you this. Is homework always this crazy?" She shook her head.


    "No, even for a week''s worth, this is a lot." She replied. With a sigh, she opened the book and another notebook. "But there is not enough homework to keep me down. Even if I need to work on it, until the sun comes up." She noted down her first answers, he looked at her in awe. "What?"


    "It is really nothing, I am just surprised how ..." He said, and he was weighing out the words. "Resilient, tough, strong, smart. You are." She looked down at the notebook, she was lost for words. But she knew the answer to the next question, so she wrote it down to keep busy. "It is a good thing, you know." She nodded, still lost for words. "I am sorry about earlier." Why was he apologizing? Once again she looked up at him, he had the brightest green eyes. Grass green, or maybe even greener. She was not sure about what kind of plant or shade this type of green it was. He was so handsome, maybe a bit too handsome for his own good. She had seen how some of the girls were looking at him, in the half a day he spent at their school. Even the white witches were looking at him, and they knew that he is a black witch. She had even seen Medea look at him, with the same kind of hunger, she herself were currently feeling.


    "I am not." She said finally. He looked at her with a small smile.


    "What?" He asked.


    "I am not sorry, about what happened earlier." She said, her cheeks started to burn up. He came scooted a little closer, and butterflies stared to fill her stomach again. It also happened to her earlier, she lay the notebook away. And did the same, for the second time that day, their faces were inches away from each other. She closed her eyes, and she could feel his breath on her skin. His lips softly brushed against hers, and she leaned into it. The butterflies in her stomach went crazy, and she wanted this feeling to last forever. But a knock on the door broke them up, she wanted to curse at the person responsible. Which was mister Heliot.


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    "Ohh, I am so sorry. But next time, if you want privacy, close the door." He said. Kayne nodded slowly, and sighed.


    "What is it, mister Heliot?" Kayne asked.


    "There is a full moon tonight, and the cook wants to know what kind of moon cake you want? She of course already knows that Evanora might not know which flavour she might like." He said. She looked confused, she knew that all kinds of magic were charged by the sun and the moon. And the full moon, was especially known to be a supercharger.


    "It is a family tradition, we always eat moon cakes during the night of a full moon. Our cook mixes in some special herbs, that helps us connect with our magic." He explained. "She knows what I like, strawberries. I think that Evanora would like dark chocolate." Mister Heliot nodded.


    "I will inform the cook." He said, and he closed the door. So they were alone once more, but she closed her eyes. The moment they had before was gone, and there was so much homework to be done.


    "I need to go back to my homework." She said with a sigh. He nodded, and got up. She wanted to tell him to stay, or to bring his books in here. So that they could study together, she had learned that she liked studying with him. During their black magic lessons.


    "I will be back in a short second, I am going to get my books." He said, and he left the room.


    *****


    They did study, until Kayne''s father came to get her for one of their sessions. She didn''t want to go, but it was part of her healing progress. It was still too early to say this for sure, but she was helping her. He made her feel at ease, and heard. And that was something she never felt before. After their session, it was time for dinner. And once again it was tasteful and warm. The meat was perfectly cooked and seasoned, the same goes for the potato''s and veggies. The moon cake with dark chocolate filling was so nice, and just calling it delicious was doing it a dissevers. She didn''t know what the cook of her family was going, but this was so much better. Even the cold food, was poorly seasoned. She also was not used to the well-prepared breakfasts in the mornings, at her families'' estate she would get a bowl of tasteless gruel. And mister ... was really upset when she asked for some honey to make it a bit sweeter. But right now, she was in some kind of heaven with good food and even better company. Kayne looked at her with a large grin on his face, during dinner. She only dreaded that fact that all this came to an end, and she needed to go back to the large pile of homework that was waiting for her in her room.


    "Mister Heliot, can you bring some tea to my room? I am going to need it." She said, when the butler came in to take away the plates. He bowed his head slightly.


    "I will, young lady." He said. She nodded and went to her room. She sat down on the rug, and opened the first open. Kayne didn''t enter her room, this time around. Not even to pick up his books and his homework. Mister Heliot, brought her some tea later in the evening. "Your tea, young lady. I need to say this, but they really work you to the bone at that school of yours. They didn''t when I was your age, so many moons ago. But then again, I am not a candidate to become the next witch queen."


    "Do you really believe in that?" She asked, he nodded.


    "I do, young lady. And so did your mother." He replied. "And your mother was not the type to believe things easily, but she spent hours upon hours studying everything there is about this whole prophecy. Which made her, me and madam Le Rouge a believer. Your sister and you are the new white and black princesses, and there in nothing the two of you can do about it." She nodded and took a sip of the tea. "I am going to leave the pot behind, so that you can pour more. I just poked my head around young master Kayne''s door. I have done that for years, to see if everything is alright. But the young lad, is fast a sleep. Sitting at his desk, using one of his books as a pillow." She needed to chuckle, it was not hard to imagine that. Still, it was thanks to the tea, that she was not suffering the same fate. "Do not work until too late, young lady. Tomorrow is another day, where you can enrich yourself with knowledge." She nodded and took another sip of her tea. She once again went over her notes, and sighed. Why, in hex name why. Did she need to write a paper about the black and white war, why o hex, why did she need to do all of this homework in the first place? She knew for a fact that this homework wouldn''t affect her academic score. Maybe if she copied it, she could send it to one of the universities. As proof of her commitment and such. She still didn''t know what she wanted to do after this semester. Maybe she will ask for a job at the Le Rouge''s family business, just like Kayne. Maybe she would be good ad it, and she could spend more time with Kayne. She smiled and went on with her paper.

 Evanora chapter 8

    A scream that made him shiver through the bone woke him up, another scream made him jump up from the chair and rushed towards the one screaming. Mister Helliot already told him that Evanora suffered from nightmares, he always pokes his head around Kayne''s door.  To see if he needed anything, when he was little it was rather to see if he was still in bed. Instead of doing hex knows what. But Helliot has also extended this practice to Evanora. That is how Kayne and his father know about her nightmares, Kayne opened the door. Evanora was sitting straight up in her bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was not screaming, but she was clearly in panic. He rushed towards her bed, sat down and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his, sobbing as hard as she could. He didn''t know what her nightmare was all about, but it was dramatic to see her like this.


    "You died." She said through her tears. "We were walking through the hallways of school, and we were attacked by my sister and her friends. And she... And she... Killed you." She broke for a second time. "She just killed you, because she knew that it would hurt me." His hand went over her back, slowly, hoping that it will calm her down at least a little.


    "Breath Evanora, breath. I am still here, I am still alive." He said softly. It would take four more days before they needed to go back to school, but he doubted that she would be ready to face her sister. Her sister had tormented her whole life, will she be ever ready to face that?


    "Oh, young master Kayne." Helliot entered the room. "I heard her scream, and I... I am going to grab a glass of water for her." He turned around and left the room. But was quickly replaced be his parents.


    "Kayne, what happened? Why did she scream like a banshee?" His mother asked, with a sharp tone in her voice. What did she apply? He knew all too well what she meant with her sharp tone. She had broken off the kiss earlier today, or was it yesterday at this point. He didn''t know, and it didn''t matter. He would never do such a thing, and as his mother she should have known that. Helliot wormed his way into the room and gave Evanora the glass of water. She still didn''t say a word, but had stopped crying. He still could feel her shake, even though he was no longer holding her. "Kayne, answer me."


    "Liliac. Evanora just had a nightmare." His father said.


    "Did she? Then why is he here?" Kayne frowned, this woman sounded not at all like his mother. His father was also surprised.


    "Who are you, and what are you doing in my wives body." He said calmly. The woman looked at bit smug. "Leave my wife, my family and Evanora alone. Madam Razor." Kayne looked shocked at his father, then at his mother. But his mother shook for a short moment, and almost collapsed. Almost, but his father was there to catch her. "It is safe to say that this was not a normal nightmare, no wonder she was screaming like a banshee."


    "What just happened?" His mother asked, and his father explained it as softly as possible. Evanora gave the now empty glass back to Helliot, who took it back to the kitchen. "That b..."


    "Dear, there are children present." His father cut her off. But Kayne wanted to say the same thing at this point.  Even though his father did not like the language.


    "Kayne, she knows that I have feelings for you. And she is going to use that against me." Evanora said, softly. "She is going to kill you, harm you. All to get to me." He again wrapped his arms around her.


    "Let her try, I am right now not impressed." He said, that was a lie. But still he needed to comfort her, right now. She was just being attacked by her grandmother, again. His mother, who is a very powerful witch, just got her body snatched. But Madam Razor was not able to preform any magic through his mother. Which in his book was a good thing. Still he knew that his parents, together with the cook and mister Helliot were going to enforce the wards once again. And he would help them, if they let him.


    "Kayne, stay with Evanora." His father said. And they didn''t let him help, which was not surprising. Protecting the home was a parent''s job, parents and staff in this case. And he in this case was neither. He nodded, and his parents closed the door. They probably place an extra ward on the door just in case.


    "Kayne." Evanora said, she was at this point leaning against him.


    "As long as I am here, I wouldn''t let anybody hurt you, not here, nor at school." He said. She was already being hurt, to be fair, but he was not there to protect her in the first place. But now that he was here, her eyes started to fall shot. Sleep once again was taking over, which was good. That meant that she has calmed down enough.


    "Please, do not leave me." Her voice was thick of sleep. He wanted to answer her, but she was fast a sleep before he could. He laid her down, and lay right next to her. His arm wrapped over her.


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    "They need to use force to take me away from here." He said.


    *********


    "Kayne. Sweetheart." His mother''s voice said softly. He didn''t want to open his eyes, he really didn''t. Because that would mean that he needed to leave the beautiful dream, and he was not ready to do so. "Kayne, I give you five seconds, or I grab the plant spay." Normally it would be a bucket of water, but then she would also wake up Evanora. No, he hadn''t forgotten the fact that he was currently sleeping on the top of her sheets. His arm still wrapped around her warm and still sleeping body. He was also extremely aware how his body was reaction towards that fact. "Ka..."


    "I am awake, mom. I am only not going to open my eyes." He whispered.


    "So it is awake, good. What the hex do you think you are doing?" She asked. He could reply with one of his dry jokes, but he had a feeling that his mother wouldn''t appreciate that.


    "She asked me to stay with her, and she fell asleep while leaning against me. So that is what I am doing." He said, it was the truth, and his mother sighed. He couldn''t see the reaction on her face, for that he needed to open his eyes.


    ''Get out of that bed, you smart ass." She said, the tone in her voice made it clear that she was not joking around. Not that he would doubt that for a second. He slowly opened his eyes and sighed. "I know what happened last night, and I know that she was terrified. I can not blame her for that, I can not blame you for your protective instinct. But I am not okay with the two of you sleeping in one bed." He slowly, and carefully, climbed over Evanora to get out of the bed.


    "Even if it makes her sleep?" He asked.


    "Even if it makes her sleep. I am however glad that she found it in her to do that. Hex, know I didn''t sleep a wink after what happened. Neither did your father nor Mister Helliot. We were pretty shaken up." She said, and he couldn''t blame her for that. He couldn''t blame her for anything that happened last night.


    "Her grandmother most be a strong witch." He said. His mother nodded.


    "Stronger than I thought. I hate to admit that." She said, and she motioned for him to go out of the room. "We will talk later about this all. I want you to take a cold shower." He nodded and left the room, with great reluctance.


    ********


    After the shower, he sat at Evanora''s desk, with the not so small collection of his books and homework. Busy to work away the large history paper, maths questions and some basic herbology questions. Which to his surprise was the smallest part of the amount of homework he needed to do. He was brought up surrounded by all the herbs mentioned in the book, so this all was too easy for him. Not that he was complaining, his mother has decided to leave the magic lessons for today. To give Evanora, him and herself some time to recover. His father also called off all his clients, to stay home and to pamper his mother. Who was still a bit shaken up after that body snatching ordeal. He finished his herbology homework and moved to the next one on the pile. Why did they get so much, his mother had told the school that she was going to help with their magic? As a result, Evanora, and he were being punished with all off this, he even doubted that this was all for one week. Or the four days that they would miss, they would go back to school on Monday and then all of this needed to be done. He looked at it, if everything was as easy as herbology, then all of this was not a problem. Only, it was not all that easy. He might be a natural with herbs, number and magical spells. But he failed in ancient text, which with his luck was a whole other paper he needed to write. In said text. He moaned softly, because he didn''t want to wake her. Well, there was no way, he was going to complete this part of the homework on his own. Maybe his father was willing to help him with this, he opened the book and started reading. While writing down some notes, from the pieces he did understand. But then something caught his eye, it was a drawing of beaded neckless. The beads were black as the night, it looked a lot like the neckless Evanora was wearing. He picked the book up and slowly walked out of the room, down the stairs and towards his father''s office. He knocked before entering.


    "Dad, can you help me with something?" He asked. His father looked up from his notes.


    "Sure, what is it, son?" His father replied. Kayne placed the book in front of his father. "That is Abano, one of the ancient languages." His father said. "It is one of the more recent ones, spoken in the time of the black and white war." Kayne nodded. He already knew that, he was maybe couldn''t understand the language fully. But he knew about the time period when it was used. He pointed with his finger to the drawing of the neckless. "Ah the Ko za?shto?, better known into our modern tongeu, the spirit thread. The neckless is also a relic from that time period. It is believed that it was created by, Kalliope Vandran, right after her sister Onyx was killed. And that the family added a bead, when one of their family passes away."


    "Why?" Kayne asked.


    "To make it easier for the next black witch, to channel their magic. Why do you ask?" His fatehr asked.


    "Because EVanora, is currently wearing the Ko za?shto?. And yesterday she was able to channel someone, but it was not me." Kayne explained. His father''s eyebrows shot up. "Mom, and I suspect that it was one of her ansectors. Which makes now sence with that thing around her neck."


    "Well if that is the case, then Evanora will only become stronger. Because like I said, every bead reprocents a dead family member. And if she is able to unlock all the beads." His father said.


    "Then maybe she has a fair chance against her already fully trained sister." His mother said, while she ented the office. "Which is the whole purpose of the neckless."

 Evanora chapter 9

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    ********


    All the members of the Le Rouge family, and staff, gathered in the greenhouse after dinner. The clean-up could wait. The ingredients were gathered in no time and that is when everybody formed the circle inside the witches circle. Slowly chanting, Evanora cut her hand for a view drops of her blood. It dripped on the onyx, the rest of her amulets except the Ko za?shto? were inside the cauldron with the rest of the herbs.


    "With my blood, I bind the spell. With the help of my ancestors, I bind the spell. With the magic of this household, I bind the spell." She chanted. She repeated this over and over, she took the onyx and dropped it in the cauldron. "With my blood, I bind the spell. With the help of my ancestors, I bind the spell. With the magic of this household, I bind the spell. Amulets of protection, transfer your magic unto this crystal. Amulets of spells, transfer your magic unto this crystal." Her head was starting to hurt a little. The spell was taking a toll on her, good, that was a good sign. "With my blood, I bind the spell. With the help of my ancestors, I bind the spell. With the magic of this household, I bind the spell. Amulets of protection, transfer your magic unto this crystal. Amulets of spells, transfer your magic unto this crystal." A green flame, burst out of the cauldron. Lighting up the whole greenhouse and all the witches that were gathered there. "With my blood, I bind the spell. With the help of my ancestors, I bind the spell. With the magic of this household, I bind the spell." The flame disseapered and the only thing left in the cauldron was the onyx. None of the other ingredients, none of the other amulets. "It worked." She took carefully the onyx out, it was warm. But it didn''t burn a whole in her hand. "Thank you all so much." The others clapped, and cheered. The members of the Le Rouge family walked up to her.


    "Are my eyes deciving me?" Grandma asked. "Two of the beads nof her neckless just light up." Evanora''s hand shot up.


    "Mom, she is wearing Ko za?shto?. And I think she has reached another anscestor." Da said. Grandma nodded slowly and smiled.


    "A new amulet and a new anscestor. You are a lucky girl." She said.

 Evanora chapter 10

    Kayne was not surprised about the fact that his grandparents adopted Evanora, as one of their grandchildren. What did surprise him was the fact that they agreed to help Evanora with her amulet. But it was thanks to them, it worked so well. And he was even more surprised that, the next day, he was not able to find any of his amulets. But it made sense when he found a similar looking amulet made from onyx on his breakfast plate. His grandmother gave him a soft smile, when his eyes fall on it.


    "I may have taken the creating of this one upon myself." His grandmother said. "Evanora, is a very smart girl, and you are a target for that Razor girl as well. So I made a similar amulet for you. It will not be as strong as Evanora''s, because I used my own blood. But it will be strong enough." The crystal hung on a silver cord, he placed it around his neck and gave his grandmother a smile.


    "Thank you, grandma." He said. Evanora entered the dinner room and she looked amazing. She was wearing the school uniform, with her hair except for a few pieces that were tight back with a clip. The black sneaker heels, gave her a bit of an edge. So did the one onyx amulet, she gave him a smile.


    "Oh, my. Is that the new school uniform. Well, it looks steaming." His grandmother said. Not using the right words, but she was right, Evanora looked hot. "But wait a second, you need some make-up to make this thing off. Luckily for you, I always buy more than I need. But I am a woman, so..." His grandmother stood up and rushed out. But she was back mere seconds later, together with his grandfather. Evanora was just taking a few bites of her fairy bread. "Alright, eat first. Then I will help you with this. I do not know if you have holes in your ears, but I also have some nice earnings that would look awesome with your outfit." Evanora took huge bites, and flushed the bites away with the tea. "Here." His grandmother sat down on the chair next to her and started to apply all kinds of things Kayne didn''t know the name of. But he could see that it indeed made her look even prettier than she already was. Evanora did have wholes inside her ears and while his grandmother applied the stuff, she put the earrings in. Which was a simple star and moon on a chain. He suspected that his grandmother had bought those things with Evanora in mind. He wouldn''t be surprised by that, because it sounded like something his grandmother would do. "Alright, you are done, my sweet." Now the whole family was gathered in the room. "You now look like a young woman, who is ready to concur the world." Everyone nodded in agreement. Kayne looked at his watch, it was time for them to go.


    "Are you ready?" He asked. She took a deep breath.


    "No, but I am not willing to cower away." She replied. He nodded, fair enough. They were not going to face his tormentor, they were going to face hers. She stood up from her chair, walked over to him. They grabbed their backpacks, who were charmed with all kind of spells to protect the shit ton of homework. Maybe it was not such a stupid idea to put this kind of stuff in digital, like the mortals. But that was he back talking, or was it. His new car was waiting for them, in front of the house. He smiled, all his life he has being waiting for this. He has driven cars before, but that was always his mother''s car. Or Mister Helliots. Never a car of his own. He opened the door for Evanora and went towards the other side and got in.


    *******


    There was one spot reserved for students, right in front of the school. Was this fate or some other crappy thing that was at play here. He didn''t know, but Medea was waiting at the front door. Together with her friends. They didn''t notice him driving the car, they noticed the car, but not them. Thanks tot the tinted glass, but that wouldn''t last long. He parked and looked at Evanora.


    "You look beautiful, and powerful. Know that my whole family is behind you, and one other thing." He said.


    "What is it." He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the lips.


    "Know that I love you." He said, he checked the rearview mirror for any lipstick. Which was not the case, and if it was, he would wear it with pride. Like any man should, he could get out of the car and walked towards the other side. Under the watchful eye of Medea, who looked at him with a scowl on her face. He opened the door and Evanora swung both her legs out of the car. She stepped out and tossed her hair over her shoulder. He smiled, at her and slammed the door behind her shut. She took him by the hand as they walked towards the front door.


    "Look who got herself a boyfriend. What was wrong with the both of you?" Medea sneered.


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    "Nothing." Kayne said. "We just didn''t want to see your face, that is all." He shrugged and guided Evanora passed the trio. She sighed with relief when the doors were closed behind them.


    "Did you see her look at my one amulet?" She asked, and he nodded. He indeed saw Medea and the other two girls looking at it as well. "At least that is one battle won, for now." He nodded again. They walked hand in had towards her locker. Which hold some of her books that she needed for the first class. "They are casting a fire spell, can you feel it?" She whispered. He didn''t only feel it, he reacted by casting a protection spell. The small fireball, bounced against the barrier and turned directly into smoke.


    "I saw that Razor!" The headmistress stood at the other end of the hallway. "Nice blocking spell, mister Le Rouge. And that for a Black wizard with so few amulets." He wanted to growl at her, that woman could ruin the whole plan by just pointing out the crystal that he and Evanora currently are wearing. "You must have channelled Evanora to be able to block that spell. But I hope your mother has told you, that you shouldn''t rely on only that."


    "She did, headmistress Dukes." Evanora next to him chimed. The headmistress nodded and looked at Evanora from head to toe.


    "What a new outfit and some make-up all not can do. You look good girl, no longer the grey soft-spoken mouse. In front of me right now is a confident young woman. Madam Le Rouge, has done well to take you under her wing. I might hope the two of you have finished your homework."  Headmistress Dukes said. He could hear the mocking tone in her voice, and he didn''t like it one bit.


    "No worries, we did. I hope no other poor soul gets sick, here at school. Because that one needs another week to recover from only that." He said, with the same mock in his tone. He wanted to let her know that it didn''t go unnoticed. At least not by him, he couldn''t speak for Evanora or the other girls. Headmistress Dukes narrowed her eyes, good, she got the message.


    "Good, go to your respective classes." Headmistress Dukes said. They all nodded and did just that. Evanora and he walked towards the front of the classroom and dumped both their history papers on the teachers'' desk. The poor man looked at this.


    "What is this?" He asked.


    "Our papers, about the Black and white war." Evanora said. "It was part of our homework." She gave him the letter that was sent to Kayne''s mother. He looked at it and sighed.


    "What is that woman doing? The war is not even a subject in my lessons." Mister Void said. "And I do not doubt about any of the facts that are in here, so I am going to give the two of you an A and that is it." Kayne looked at Evanora, and she looked at him as well. The same thing happened to them, in all of their lessons. Medea didn''t bother them during the lessons, and during lunch. But he knew that it was silence before the storm, and he was right about that.


    "Didn''t you find it strange, that none of the teachers knew about the homework?" Evanora said, as they leave the school. "None of them. And that mister Ebonywood didn''t even comment about the lack of amulets."


    "That is because he knows about the one we both are wearing. He knows what it is and what it contains. He is likely impressed, and a bit jealous that we have it." Kayne replied. He raised his hand, to conjure up another field. And this time three balls of fire were thrown against it. The earth under their feet started to shake, that was until Evanora stopped it with a spell of her own.


    "Well, well. You do not only have a new look, you also have become stronger." Medea''s snide remark cut through the air. Evanora just shrugged.


    "I am just as strong as before, only I know much more about my magic." She said. That was a lie, Kayne was impressed. Evanora could tell a lie, how know? He didn''t, and he was not going to make Medea wise to the fact, either. Another ball of fire was thrown at them, when someone else made the ground shake again. Bot of those attacks did nothing, Evanora had still the stabilizing spell up and he has the protection shield.  Those three were not that smart. "Watch out, air spell." Evanora whispered. He looked up, and he saw that Medea was creating a huge storm, with thunder and all. It was a pretty powerful spell, he needed to give her that. "We need to be careful to not show our hand." He nodded, it would be a shame if they lost that advantage.


    "Well, first we need to break that storm up." He said. "Before it hits its full strenght." She nodded, they both raised their hands and starting to chant. Evanora grabbed a knife out of her back and cut herself, which was not needed for this spell. But Medea didn''t know that, it was a distraction. A good one, he might add. The storm imploded and blasted the three girls towards the ground. Evanora and he took their change and rushed towards his car. Medea got up and rushed towards the car.


    "I am going to tell daddy, that you used blood magic." Medea said with a smug face.


    "Feel free, he has no longer have the power over me." Evanora said, she slammed the door and he drove away.


    "Have I told you how smart you are?" Kayne asked. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.


    "I do not think you have." She said, and he sighed.


    "Well, then there is no time like the present. You my love, are the smartest person I have ever met. And you are also the most beautiful person." He said, she started to chuckle. This made him laugh, hard and loud. He already loved to hear her laugh, but he loved them laughing together even more.


    "I love you." She said. He took one hand of the wheel and grabbed her hand. Softly sqeuzing it.

 Evanora chapter 11

    Mister Helliot was waiting for them, by the front door.


    "I am glad to see you two in good spirits. I could hear some explosions, while I was working in the greenhouse. Half an hour ago, and I figured that it was the two of you." He said with his dark rumbling voice. Kayne was holding her hand again, which warmed her heart. Just as much as the kiss that he gave her before they entered the school. He told her that he loved her, and she said it back. So did this indeed meant that they were now a couple? Maybe, she didn''t know. Maybe, needed to ask him this. This all was new for her, maybe it was new to him too. She gave Helliot her now normal weighting backpack, and followed Kayne towards the sitting room, where Ma was waiting for them.


    "Wow, you two are almost glowing. With power and love." She said, with a large smile. Kayne and Evanora sat down on the couch and grabbed the tea cups that were already waiting for them. "The grandparents, are currently out on a shopping spree. Be prepared for a present overload, my mother-in-law said something getting a lot of femine products and some stuff you guys might need for school. But is wouldn''t be surprised if it didn''t stay with just that. Do you guys have any homework?" Both of them shook their heads.


    "No, and do you know what is strange. None of the teachers knew about it, they just gave us a high mark." Kayne said, and his mother started to chuckle.


    "Why am I not surprised, and it didn''t surprise me that the topic''s of almost all the subjects had something to do with the Black and white war." She said. Kayne took her hand and slowly brought it to his mouth. "Ahh, you two are just so sweet. But you two are not permitted to sleep together, not under my roof."


    "Ahh, Lilac, let the two of them have their fun. We all have being there." Grandmother came into the room, followed by grandfather. His arms were packed with shopping bags, boxes. And his arms were not the only once packed, Mister Helliots and Da''s arms were too. Mister Helliot walked in and out of the room three to four times. Ma was right, this was more than only femine products and school supplies. Evanora saw shoe boxes, bags from cloth stores filled the room. There were bags filled to the brim with make-up, and jewellery for men and women. There were belts, and so much more stuff hidden inside the bags. "I already went out of my way to buy them protection."


    "Mother." Da said, pretty loud. Evanora felt her cheeks burn, this all so new to her, and they were talking about sex.


    "What, we all have being there and then at least they will be safe." She said. "And do not mind the rest of the stuff. I love to spoil my grandson, and now my freshly adopted granddaughter." She gave Evanora a smile. Evanora looked at all the stuff, was all that for her? "I might have gone a bit overboard."


    "I know you went overboard." Grandfather said, with a soft chuckle. "But I get it. Eva is never being spoiled in her life, and this is part of your love language." Eva, this was the first time anybody used a short version of her name. And it was with so much love. He got up and picked up two boxes. He gave one to Kayne and one to her. "Please open it." The doorbell rang, she opened the box and in it were some black heels. Those old-fashioned ones with a string, she had seen some girls at school wear them before. And she always wanted a pair. But her father would never give her something like this. He would do it for Medea, but she would never wear something like this. She started to tear up, and she knew that it was so silly to cry over shoes.


    "Thank you, I always wanted those." She said. Her voice was a bit chocked up.


    "Where in Hex name is my daughter!" Was that her father''s voice. "I just heard her speak, where is she." He entered, and was shocked to see all the boxes and shopping bags. "Evanora, what the hex is all of this? And what the hex are you wearing?"


    "That is none of your business, Bevan." It was Da who spoke up. Evanora was still holding the shoe, but was slowly cowering further into the couch. "My mother, is just spoiling her. Why are you even here?"


    "I heard from Medea that she was using blood magic." Evanora''s father snapped.


    "She is a black witch, of course she is going to use blood magic." Grandmother snapped at him. "Why do you act so surprised?" He glowered at her. But he lost a bit of his anger.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "I am upset, because it signals the fact that Evanora is getting stronger." He said. Of course, she was getting stronger, what did he suspect when she moved in here.


    "So it was you, who placed all those protection spells on her books." Da said. Were their protection spells on her books, it was the one presents that Medea would never claim. So it sounded like the perfect way to smuggle in some protection spells.


    "Who else, Dillon. I needed to protect my daughter, from my mother. When the two of you moved away, I didn''t have any other choice. To keep her as weak as possible, so that she was not a threat for Medea. Otherwise, my mother would have killed her." He said. Evanora let the shoe drop, and it fell back in the box. So, it was her father who kept her on an information diet. To keep her as weak as possible, and then there were all those protection spells on her books. Who were always in her room, the only room she was able to stand up for herself.


    "So let me get this straight, you neglected her, treated her badly. Put her on an information diet, to protect her against your mother." Grandma said. He nodded. "And that was the only thing you could think of. You could have sent her to us."


    "My mother would notice what I was doing, and she would have killed her." He said.


    "She didn''t kill Eva, when I came to get her." Ma said.


    "There you answered that one yourself, you and your son were there. Witnesses, she would never get away with murder. Right in front of the two of you. If you left her alone with Evanora, she would have ended up dead, and she would play it off as an accident." He said, and strangely enough, Evanora believed him. "And to be honest, I am just scared to lose her. Just like a lost her mother." It was so strange that he was speaking like she was not even in the room. And she had enough of it, she jumped up from the couch.


    "You already did! You already did lose me! I might not be dead, but I will never see you as my father. I will never forgive, you." She screamed at him. She stepped over the boxes and bags and rushed out of the sitting room, up to the stairs and to her own room. But she didn''t slam the door, hex, she didn''t even close it. She wanted to hear what he has to say, after her little outburst.


    "I think it is better that you leave, Bevan." Da said. There was no response, other than the slamming of the front door. It took quite some time for someone to come to her room. It was Kayne, with his hands full, with the shoebox and a few bags.


    "Grandmother, asked me to bring this to you. It is not something to heal the wounds that were just created. But I do not know what her end goal is, but here it is." He said, and he placed everything on her desk. "There is a lot more, and I do not know what she was thinking. Buying all this stuff, she clearly likes you." She didn''t know what to say about that, she didn''t know what to think either. She just felt nom, all she wanted to do is nothing. He sat down, wrapped an arm around her, and just sat there.


    ********


    She didn''t have much of an appetite, but she still went down in one of her new outfits. The rest of the family just let her be, there was no therapy session today. There was no amount of therapy that could heal this fresh wound, at least not now, and everybody knew it.


    "Evanora, sweety. Grandpa and I are going home tomorrow. When the two of you are at school." Granmother said. "If I do not see you tomorrow, I at least want to have said that you are a gem of a person and everybody would be blessed to know you. I do not condone your father''s actions..."


    "Ma! Now is not the time." Da said.


    "There is no time like the present, Dellion. I am old and might not have another chance to say this." She said, or Evanora wouldn''t survive the upcoming battle. But she said nothing, it was not needed in her opinion. "But I went to school with your grandmother, I barely interacted with her. But in the rare occasions that I did, she was not a pleasant person to be around. She was cruel, rather than mean. With a burning hatred for black witches, she never liked your father''s relationship with my son and daughter-in-law. So I believe your father when he said that he faired for your life. Again, I do not condone his actions. He at least could show you some love and affection. Giving you enough clothing, and not just old school uniforms. He should have given you the shoes that you wanted. I know it is not all about stuff, but those small signs of affection can make someone''s day. I saw that when you opened that box, I made your day, and I didn''t even know that you always wanted those." Evanora nodded slowly, she knew grandmother was right about that. She believed her father as well, but that didn''t mean that it didn''t hurt. She looked at her still full plate, she had only eaten a few bites.


    "Thank you, grandmother. May I be accused? I am not that hungry." She said.


    "Sure." Ma said. "Helliot, can you bring her some tea or some soup to her room?" She wanted to say that it was not needed, but she knew that it was no use. Helliot was going to do it anyway.


    "Thank you." She said, she got up and walked out of the dinning room.

 Evanora chapter 12

    "Dellion, I do not know what to say. But seeing that smile whipped off her face, as soon as Bevan walked into the room. It really broke my heart." Grandma said. Kayne looked at the empty chair, he was unsure what he could do to help. And it was not helping that the adult members of his family didn''t know it either.


    "I know, ma. I saw all the progress I made with her ephorate into nothing. Which is so disheartening." Dad said, and Kayne slammed his hand on the table. He jumped up from his chair. None of his parents or grandparents said something to him, they didn''t call him back or better, yet they didn''t tell him to calm down. They just let him be, maybe they knew that he was on his way to Evanora. To comfort her, or just be around her. He didn''t know what he would do once he saw her. Maybe holding her and let her cry her eyes out, or let her vent how much she wants. Or just be there in silence, until she tells him to get the hex out. And maybe even then he would stay with her, or stay close by in case she might need him later. Her door was slightly a jar, she might have heard him come up. But he knocked, just in case. She sat on the rug, holding the shoes his grandmother had bought for her. He just sat next to her.


    "She was right, over the years I have learned to stop asking for things. I didn''t ask for toys, clothes, not even for some honey in the tasteless gruel our cook made. I was glad when my father brought home a book, and that was the only time I was legit happy. The last time that I ask was something, was right after our first day at .... That is when I saw one of the senior black witches, with this kind of shoes. And I really needed new once, they were no longer waterproof and the sole came loose. I asked my father if we could go to the shoe store to get some new shoes, telling him everything I am telling you now. He didn''t look at me, he looked behind me and said no. Now that I know how scared he was for my life, I believe that when I asked that. She had appeared behind me, and he was scared that if he had said yes..." She stopped and lowered her head.


    "That she would have hurt you, more than she already did." He finished for her. She nodded. "He was protecting you, in his own twisted way." She nodded again. "Did he give you new shoes?"


    "He did get me new shoes, not the once that I wanted. But they were sturdy and waterproof." She said, while pointing towards the shoes that were standing in front of the closet. Those shoes were no longer sturdy, and he doubted that they were waterproof right now. But she has being wearing them for five years, which was a long time. The pair he was using right now was two years, and that was long for him. "And now I have so many shoes, clothing, jewellery and all kinds of make-up. And all I am really grateful for is the fact that grandmother went out of her way, to get all these things for me. Your mother and you too, you went out of your way to give all the things I might need. And not only the stuff that I can thatch, but also the love, the roof above my head and simply the fact that I can use my magic however I want. I feel grateful, and right when my father walked in. It felt like a rug was pulled away, and that gratefulness turned into selfishness. I was somehow glad that he could see that there were people giving everything I ever wanted and more." Kayne grabbed her hand.


    "That is not selfish. All you ever wanted was love, all that stuff is extra. You needed a new backpack, you needed new shoes, you needed a new uniform, and you needed my family." He said, she lay her head on his shoulder. "You are finally free to feel your emotions, and you do not know how to handle that. Which is understandable."


    "I know that I love you." She said. He smiled.


    "That is good to know, because I love you too." He responded. "Even though we do not know each other for that long." She took her head from his shoulder.


    "Even so, you were the first person who came into my life that went against Medea, Starla and Clover." She said. So that were the names of the other two girls, good to know. "You were the first person, that wanted to attack my grandmother after she slapped me. Although I do not know much about what happened after that. I know that you held me after my grandmother attacked this house. You told me that I was beautiful, strong and smart. And no one before you has ever told me that. So yes, we do not know each other that long. But you did all that is a short period of time." His mouth almost dropped. Was he aware that he made such a difference in her life? He wanted to slap himself. The first time they spoke, she warned him. She warned him about Medea and the things she might do to him. Not once, during that conversation, was she thinking about herself, and the possibility of having a friend. A friend with the same fondness for reading. A friend that could stand next to her, when her own sister was making her life a living hell. He moved his shoulder slightly down to see if she was not leaning on him with her full weight, which was not the case. She lifted her head and looked at him, a bit confused. He cupped her face into his hands, kissed first her noise and then her lips.


    "My grandmother was right, you are the most beautiful soul. And anyone who is not able to see that, is a stupid fool." He said, before he kissed her again.


    *******


    They lay on the bed when Mister Helliot knocked on the door. Kayne wanted to curse, he had forgotten that his mother asked him to bring some soup to Evanora''s room. What he hadn''t forgotten was the ban on sex, something Evanora, and he, had ignored. At least they had made use from the protection his grandmother bought for them.


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    "Young master Kayne, are the two of you decent?" Mister Helliot asked, there was nothing that went past the guy. "You know what, do not answer that question. I really do not want to know. I will place the tea and the soup in front of the door." They could hear the rinkeling from the china, and then his footsteps walking away. Quietly, they looked at each other and started to chuckle.


    "We better get dressed, because it will not take long before my mother comes up and gives me an earful." Kayne said. She snuggled closer against him, and wrapped her arms around him.


    "But I am cold." She said in a what whinny voice. He chuckled to that and kissed her on the forehead.


    "Then you better dress up, princess." He said and pushed the covers off him, wiggled himself free and grabbed his underwear from the ground. He threw her some pyjamas from the closet, which was nothing more than a nightgown. But she was able to get it on pretty quickly, before the door flew open and his mother, followed by his father and grandparents, burst into the room.


    "Lilac, calm down. They are just kids fooling around, we all have being there..." His father said, before he saw Kayne in nothing more than a boxer short. "Put some clothes on, in hex name." Kayne rolled with his eyes and put the rest of his clothes on, under the soft chuckle from his grandparents. "Good, can the two of you come downstairs. There are a lot of stuff in the sitting room that still needs a place inside your rooms. I see that the box filled with protection already made its way up here, which I now consider to be a good thing." His father turned around and bumped into his own parents. "Alright, the two of you, there is nothing to see here. Just two young teenagers."


    "Ohh, alright. Eva, do you have a moment for me. You and I have something to discuss, my dear." His grandmother piped up. His mother did not leave the room, not until he left the room. He quickly walked out of the room, she walked past him and grabbed his sneakers and socks.


    "So, now you do not have an excuse to come back later." She snapped at him. He sighed, he was old enough to drive a car. He was going to college next year, but he was not allowed to have ... "Do not even think about it, young man. Now keep on moving, Evanora need to put something more on than that nightgown." She closed the door and motioned him to keep on going. While she kept watch, she even picked up the tray with soup and tea. Kayne was met with snickers from his grandparents, who were already busy with dividing the presents in two piles. His father was quiet, for a short period of time.


    "You two did use protection, right?" His father asked. Kayne felt his ears burn up.


    "Yes, dad, we did." He replied, under his breath. "I am not that stupid." His father chuckled. His father placed some boxes in his hands and walked off with another pile.


    "Come on, I will help you get this to your room." He said. It took another three times up and down to get all the boxes and bags into his room. And then was it the challenge to get everything in the right spot. He didn''t like to have his stuff all over the place, and it helped to avoid his mother. He folds his new clothes and placed it in the closet, the new notebooks and pens went on his desk and new books went in the bookcase. "Son, oh wow. You are already done with tiding up." His father entered the room. "Your grandmother wants to see you downstairs." Kayne nodded and went with his father. Evanora sat on the couch, but his mother was sitting next to her. So he was forced to sit somewhere else, he sat down on the same couch as his father.


    "Kayne." His mother started. "Can you please tell me in which language I need to speak." She took another deep breath. "I told you not to have sex with her, she is..."


    "She gave her consent and we used protection. Mom, please like dad said. We are young and in love. We knew what we were doing." He snapped at her. "Evanora has a mind of her own, and if she didn''t want to continue or felt uncomfortable..." He stopped and frowned. "Why am I explaining this to you, I am your son, and you should know me better than this."


    "Hear, hear. Wise words for one so young. You are your mother''s son." His grandmother said, she now turned her attention to his mother. "Those where the exact same words, you said to me when I lost my marbels over something similiar. The two of them are old enough to make these kind of decisions." She now moved her gaze slightly to Evanora. "Eva, dear. I just heard for Lilac about your predicement. The one you have with your higher education." Kayne smiled, his grandmother was going to offer her a job in the family bussniss. "Although I think it is not imposible to get a positive response, it is still in the realm of, most likely not going to happen. That is why I sugest the following. Why do you not work for us during the summer and if none of the schools reply in the year that follows. So can have experiance in the work force, do rescource and such. To make your changes for the next year higher." Evanora nodded.


    "I was already playing with the idea of asking you if I could work for the bussniss. I however like to start at the bottom, I do not want to be accused of napetism." She said. His grandmother started to chuckle.


    "That is no problem, you will be my lab assistant. Then you start at a lower position and have enough lab time, we even can roulate you to Lilac''s side of the company to learn the administration side of it all." His grandmother said. Evanora nodded once again and the smile was back on her face. She had her spark back, and that was in his book a good thing. "Good, now that we have agreed on that. Go to bed the two of you. Tomorrow is another day of school."


    "Go to your own beds." His mother said, she lay empasis on the word own. He wanted to groan, but saw that Evanora supressed a yawn. She must be tired and it was pretty late. So this time he would listen to his mother, this time.

 Evanora Chapter 13

    Evanora sat at the dinner table, her plate filled with bacon and eggs for a change. The cook had burned the fairy bread and didn''t have time to make new once. But he had some extra eggs and bacon. She didn''t mind, it always tasted better than the gruel she was used too. Kayne was already done and was in another fight with his mother. She was glad that it was not about what happened between them yesterday, although she was not ashamed about it. Kayne was right when he told his mother, that it was none of her business. No matter how kind she is to her, this was something between Kayne and her. He looked at her and gave her a wink.


    "Kayne, I am serious." His mother snapped at him.


    "And so am I, mom." He said. Evanora took her last bite and stood up. "But, we need to go to school. We do not want to be late." He quickly walked out of the dinning room. She followed him, wearing the heels his grandmother had given to her yesterday. He opened the door for her. "Here you go, princess." She smiled when he said that, it was so cute. Now she needed to come up with a nickname for him, or did she? She didn''t know if that was even a thing, maybe she should ask him about these things. And he didn''t know, she should ask one of his parents. The car stopped in front of the school, they arrived a bit earlier than the school bus. In the hope, they would avoid Medea for as long as possible. And it worked, the school was mostly empty. The car park was full of cars, but most students came with the school buses. "I need to go to my locker, to get some stuff before the lesson starts."


    "Alright, go, I will be alright." She said with a smile, while casting a protection spell around her. "Do not worry about me." He gave her a small smile.


    "It is my job, as your boyfriend, to worry about you." He replied. She wanted to give him a huge, which was not possible because of the protection spell.


    "Then you should hurry back to my side." She said, and walked away with a skip in her step. She was happy, probably, no most likely the happiest she has ever being in her entire life. Something she thought she would never have, not while she was under her father''s roof. Which she no longer was, and that was a fact she couldn''t deny. She opened her locker and got the things she needed for her classes. When two arms wrapped around her, where was her protection spell?


    "Did you miss me?" He asked. She smiled, still worried about the spell. "Do not worry, your spell is still up. I was just in it when you cast it. So I am under it too." That was good to know.


    "Ewww, you are inside a school. Not your own bedroom." Medea''s voice cut through the air. Could she not give them this one moment?


    "It is just a hug, Medea. Grow up." Kayne snapped at her. "Nothing of what we are doing here is above the parental guidance of thirteen." Some of the other students started to chuckle, all of them are is some kind of relationships themselves. And all of them have shown their affection in the same way as they did, some of them went even further then a simple hug. Medea was clearly not happy with this reaction.


    "I heard that daddy showed up yesterday. What was your punishment for using blood magic?" She said smug.


    "He couldn''t punish me, even if he wanted too." Evanora replied. She turned around and grabbed Kayne''s hand. "It is no longer in his power to forbid me things, to punish me in any shape or form. I am living with the Le Rouge family now. All of them are black witches, so I am allowed to use blood magic. And if you want to excuse us, we need to go to class."


    "I am going to tell daddy." Medea chimed, Evanora rolled with her eyes. Was her sister really this dumb, or was this all an act.


    "And what are you going to tell him, pray tell?" Evanora asked her.


    "That you have a boyfriend, and that your boyfriend drives a hex ugly car." Medea looked smug, while she was clearly fishing for reasons to make her upset.


    "Fine, tell him that. Only a small warning, there is absolutely nothing he or you can do about it." Evanora said, before pulling Kayne with her.


    ************


    "Daddy!" Medea''s voice rang through the house. "Daddy!" She entered his office and he was already looking at her, just the way she likes it, all the attention on her, as it should be.


    "Where is the fire, Medea?" He asked, his voice sounded a bit cold. That was something new, he was always cold towards Evanora, but never to her.


    "It is Evanora." She started to pout, she wanted to continue. But he raised his hand and lets out a deep sigh.


    "There is nothing I can do about her, sweetheart. She those not live under my roof, and there is nothing I can do about the things you don''t like." He said. "There is really nothing I can do. She is a black witch, and is now practise her own kind of magic. She is going to be good at it, and that is something to keep in mind." Medea looked at me shocked, this was not something she didn''t expect. Normally, he would give her anything her heart ever could want. Even if that meant that it would hurt Evanora in one way or another.


    "But, daddy." She whined. Why was he not doing anything? He even didn''t look at her, was there something wrong with her? If so, then was this Evanora''s fault. Everything that went wrong in Medea''s life was Evanora''s fault, at least according to her grandmother. And her grandmother was always right.


    "Your father is right, he can''t do anything. Evanora is well out of his reach, but that those not mean that she out of yours." Her grandmother entered the office. "So tell me everything. How many amulets is Evanora wearing?"


    "One. She is only wearing one. Kayne Le Rouge is also wearing one. They are so stupid, everyone knows that black witches need to be decked out with amulets to keep with up us white witches." She said. But her grandmother didn''t nod, or smiled with her. Which she normally did, when she degraded Evanora.


    "That is strange, she had fifteen, to twenty amulets when she lived with use. And she would never be so stupid to believe that she those not need them any more. So she has combined them in one amulet, which is probably made from onyx or obsidian." Her grandmother said under her breath.


    "Onyx, that crystal, is the more powerful of the two." Her father said. How did they know that, they were white witches and the study about crystals was a black magic stuff.


    "Good thinking, Bevan. The time you spent with the Le Rouge''s was time well spent." Her grandmother said, Medea was able to detect the venom in her grandmother''s voice. It was subtle, but it was still there. "And she is probably channelling the Le Rouge boy. Give her more magic, and he has studied black magic for years, unlike her." Medea frowned, she has heard about that channelling thing. Still, she didn''t fully understand that concept. But all she needed to know is that Evanora had another source of magic. "Which means that you need to get rid of that boy, before you get rid of that black spot."


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience."Wait, mom." Her father jumped up. "Evanora is still my daughter. Your granddaughter."


    "No, Bevan. She is not my granddaughter, I can''t have a black witch for a granddaughter." Her grandmother said, Medea nodded slowly. She agreed with her grandmother, she couldn''t have a black witch for a sister. "Besides, Evanora is just in Medea''s way to become queen." Wait what? Queen? Was she a princess or something? She smiled, well that makes all sense, she was the prettiest girl in the school. She tossed her platinum blond hair over her shoulder, all the boys kept staring at her and all the girls were jealous of her. Besides being pretty, she was also very powerful. No one in her class came close to her. But that means that Evanora was a princess too, which made her blood boil.


    "Mother, you can not really mean that. They are both so young." Her father said.


    "They are the same age and Kalliope and Onyx when the Black and white war started. So you either suck it up or get out of the way, at the end of the week one of the two will be crowned Queen." Her grandmother said. "And my money is on Medea." Wait, at the end of the week, that was pretty soon. But that was fine by her, the sooner she was able to get rid of Evanora, the better. Her father jumped up and walked out of the office.


    "Then I will get out of your way, mother. But do not think for one second that I am okay with this." He said, from the hallway. Only to hear the front door slammed shut, near moments later. Where was he going? It didn''t matter, there was work to be done.


    **********


    Bevan sat in his car waiting for Dillon or Lilac to step outside or to come home, either of the two options was fine with him. He didn''t want to go inside the house, he wouldn''t do that, Evanora. Not again, she had such a huge smile on her face and the shoes she had asked for years prior in her hands. He knew how much she wanted them, and how helpless he felt for not being able to give what she wanted for once. He wanted to give them to her, he wanted to do nothing more. But his mother, and he knew that it was easy for him to blame his mother for everything, and most of the time she was the force behind it all. Moments prior, she was plotting to get rid of Evanora and Kayne. He was sitting in his car, in front of the Le Rouge estate, to warn them. He felt obligated to do so, hex no matter what has happened in before this all. Evanora was still his daughter, and he hated himself for what he had done to her. A car stopped in front of the house and Dillon stepped out. This was his change, he got out of his car.


    "Dillon." He said. Dillion, who was on his way to the front door, he looked kind of angry to see him, and he didn''t blame him for that. But he wouldn''t be here, if it was not needed.


    "What do you want, Bevan?" Dillion asked. Bevan raised his hands up, to show that he those come in peace. Kind of. "I am not going to let you inside my house. Not until Eva tells me that it is alright to do so."


    "Do not worry, Dillon. I do not want to go inside. I am also not here to course her more pain then I already have." He said, he knew Dillon well enough to know that he didn''t beleave him. And that didn''t matter, the fact that he has hurt Evanora was more then enough. "I am here to warn you, my mother..."


    "Stop blaming this all on your mother, man!" Dillon screamed. "I know her and she is a pretty powerful witch. She even menaced to attack my wife in her own home. But not everything is her fault, take some responsibilty for your own bloody actions!" Wait what? That was new to him, his mother has not told him anything about that. Shocker, she has a secrets. He shock his head, he was not here to talk about what his mother has done. He was here to warn them about what she is about to do.


    "I know, Dillon. I am as much to blame as her, but that is not why I am here. I am not here to blame all what happens to Evanora on my mother. I am here to warn you, my mother has gotten the idea to get rid of Evanora." He said.


    "That is nothing new." Dillon said.


    "What is new, is that she moved to deadline to the end of this week. And not only Evanora is in danger, your boy is too." Bevan said. Dillon now looked shocked. "I am so sorry man, but there is nothing I could do except from warning you."


    "That is crap." Dillon said.


    "They are both my children, Dillon. "I am not proud of how I treated Evanora, but it was the only way I could think of to protect her. I know I do not have a backbone in my body when it comes to my mother. But I know that at the end of this week, one of my daughters is dead and I as their father has failed them." He said, tears were now streaming over his cheeks. He didn''t want Dillon''s petty or anything. At least he was right now able to say it out loud, it was the truth. He didn''t only fail Evanora, he failed Medea as well. He should have taken his girls and moved far away from his mother. Raising them, in the way Alani and he wanted to rais them. Instead of doing that, he stayed and his mother took over. He enabled her behavior towards Evanora and Medea. He hung his head. "I can not forgive myself, I will never forgive myself for what I have done. I didn''t protect them, I just delayed the enaviable. But please Dillon, do what I was not able to do, protect your son and my daughter. Protect them both." He turned around, he had done what he came here to do and now it was time for him to leave.


    "Bevan, I will do my best to do right by Eva" Dillon said. Bevan looked over his shoulder and his heart stopped. Evanora stood in the doorway, her silver eyes big as saucers.


    "I know you will. Evanora, I am not the father you deserved. I am sorry for being a spineless coward, but know that I love you. But please forgive me for not being able to watch this fight being played out. I can not watch this anymore in the knowledge that one of you will not survive..." He cut himself off, he needed to get out of here. He needed to get away from this all. He sprinted towards his car and drove off. Not able to look in the rearview mirror, but he was not going home. No, he meant what he said, he was not able to see how this playes out. But before he could take himself out of the ocassion, there were some things that he needed to set in motion. Things he needed to do before¡­

 Evanora chapter 14

    Evanora looked at Da confused, her father was acting strange.


    "Da, I think he is going to do something stupid." She said. "Something very stupid." He looked at her and nodded.


    "I know Eva, did you hear the warning?" He asked, she nodded. Her father might not have seen her, but she had seen his car and when he got out she had opened the door to tell him off. Not expecting to hear that she had until the end of the week. "Can you tell the rest about the warning as well. I am going after him, making sure that this stupid thing of his does not end him." He turned around and rushed towards his car. Evanora closed the door and ran towards the sitting room, where every one else was waiting on Da. Kayne became so angry when he heard about the warning, Ma became silent and Mister Helliot was contemplating something.


    "So that means that they do not know about the Ko za?shto? and the source of your magic. They think that you are channelling young master Kayne." Helliot said with a low voice. "So that does mean we have the upper hand." E#vanora looked at him, somewhat surprised. Her grandmother and sister, were planning to kill Kayne and her before the end of the week. Her father has going off to hex knows where, doing hex knows what. And they got the upper hand? She was not seeing it, and it was clear that Kayne and Ma didn''t see it either. But Helliot didn''t stop, which was strange. "Madam, you might have forgotten that I am specialized in protection spells. This is why your mother-in-law has hired me, so many moons ago. This also why she has sent me with you, when you moved to this side of the country." Ma shook her head.


    "No, mister Helliot, I haven''t forgotten that. But I am failing to see how this is going to give Evanora the upper hand and safe my son in the process." Ma said, she sounded a bit deflated. Kayne looked at his mother and then looked at his hands. He was not able to see it either.


    "Mister Helliot, correct me if I am wrong. But there are white magic spells from which it is imposible to protect ourselves from. And I do not doubt that my grandmother knows this kind of spells." Evanora said. "And did I ever tell you that my sister is a prot¨¦g¨¦, my grandmother only has to show her the spells, and she knows how to duplicate them. This was the most frustrated thing about her, when I was forced to do all her homework." Mister Helliot nodded.


    "While it is true that those spells do exist, I have a few tricks of my own. Young master Kayne, if you would be so kind to follow me." He said, and he motioned for Kayne. "I only need Kayne for this, young lady Evanora and Madam Lilac. A witch needs to have their own secrets from time to time." Evanora felt uneasy by the idea, but she trusted mister Helliot. So she stayed back with Ma, and nipped at her tea. It was cold and tasteless, but there was nothing to do about it now. There was nothing she wanted to do about it now. She drank it, placed the cup back on its saucer and stood up.


    "I am going to my room to meditate." She said, not waiting for an answer. She always hated the idea, of sitting around and then to find out. So she was going to do something she knows best, study. Study, meditate and focus on her own magic, her own spells. Her own strenght, she knew that she needed more time. But this is all the time she got, and the minutes were ticking away. She closed the door, and opened up the laptop, put on some rain sounds and listened to it. Grandmother has given her candles, and she placed them in right formations. She didn''t have to light them up with a lighter, she was going to use her magic for that. One other way that was going to grow her magic, using it more. She closed her eyes and hold her breath, the warmth of the fire warmed her face. A little smile formed on her face and she started to listen to the rain sounds, her mind started to drift to places. Places she has never being, in different time periods as well. She was able to see the stars, the moon and the sun in one sky. Her magic started to grow with every breath, she was maybe not able to see the stones of the Ko za?shto? light up, but she was able to feel it. She was able to feel her ancestors as she unlocked their bead, and maybe there was a small shiver of hope that she might survive this.


    *******


    Da was not home during dinner, and Kayne and Mister Helliot were still busy with hex knows what in the greenhouse. Which was a pain in the behind, because she needed some herbs. But maybe the kitchen has some dried ones. Which didn''t have the same effect that she wanted, but it had to do for now. Maybe it would have even a better effect, she wanted to growl at herself. Of course, it those not have the same, or better effect as fresh herbs. Who was she kidding? Not herself that much was clear, still she didn''t know how much longer the two were going to spend inside the greenhouse, and it didn''t seem right to interrupt the two. The front door opened.


    "Where the hex is Helliot?" It was Da, Evanora''s fork fell out of her hand when he entered the kitchen. He looked, horrible, defeated, did her father something stupid like she had predicted. Must be, he didn''t look her in the eye. Was that blood on his white shirt? Her heart stopped beating for a brief moment, her hand went up to the Ko za?shto?. It was warmer than normal, and she was able to feel another bead. "Eva." He started, but she shook her head. She already knew what happened, and there was no need for him to say it out loud to her. Her father was dead, and Da had done everything he could to prevent it. He already made it clear when he left that he didn''t want to be around, when his two daughters would fight until the death. He didn''t want to see who of the two won and who would end up dead. And this is how he decided to do it, by not be alive when it starts. And how did she feel about it? She didn''t know how to feel. The man has being absent from her life, for quite some time now and now... She didn''t or want to think about it. "I am so sorry, Eva. I just took my eyes off him for a split second."


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."It is not your fault, Da. I knew he was going to do something stupid when he left. That is why you went after him." She got up and sighed. "I need to prepare myself for the big battle." She went towards the kitchen, the cook gave her the dried herbs and bowl. She took those back to her room, where she burned the herbs by using her magic.


    *******


    A soft knock landed on her door, she didn''t open her eyes. But she was able to sense Kayne coming into, it was not his smell or how he normally walked. She was now able to sense his magic, and that from mister Helliot. Not in the same way as she was able to sense her sister using spells, that was sensing the magic when it is being used. But now she was able to sense when it wasn''t being used. She was almost able to look deeper in Helliot''s spell, knowing what it was and how it worked. But she agreed with him, that every witch needed their own secret spells.


    "I heard the news about your father, I am so sorry, princess." Kayne said.


    "There was nothing, any of us, could have done. He was a full-grown, capable of making his own choices. He had made up his mind when he left this estate, and I believe with my whole heart that Da has done everything in his power to prevent him from doing it." She said. She still hadn''t opened her eyes. "I am grateful, that Da at least tried to do what he could." She sighed. "But right now, I can not stop with what I am doing. To grief the man that was supposed to be my father, the man that should have given me his world. Should have protected me from every type of harm. Instead, he gave that all to Medea, he has even given her the opportunity to do what she wishes. Because I am almost forced to go to his funeral, and we both know who is going to be there." She opened her eyes. "Please know that I love you, and that I have a lot of fate in Helliot''s magic. I can feel it from here, but I do not want to put it to the test." He looked confused.


    "Do you me that you don''t want me to come?" He asked, she nodded. "But I want to be there for you." She opened her eyes and looked him straight in the eye.


    "And I want you to be there, by my side. But I know what I am asking from you if you were besides me on that day. I can''t and will not lose you, because of that motion that I want you there. I will not put you in any kind of danger if I can help it. I am so sorry, you''re my knight in shining armour. You have proven to my that over and over. But I am not willing to risk your life, I love you too much for that." She took him by the hand. And kissed the palm of it before placing it on her cheek. Which were soaking wet at this point, she had not even noticed that she was crying while saying all of this. But maybe this brings over to him, how much she means it. He and his family were being a light in her dark life, and she will not repay them by taking Kayne away from them.


    "I understand that you are trying to protect me." He said, he did the same with her hand and she could feel his wet cheeks. "But there is a possibility that I am going to loss you, princess. And I do not know that I am ready for that. You have been my first love, and my heart refuses to beat when you are not near. I do not know if I would survive your death." She wanted to give him a hug, both of them were ready to put the other above themselves. And there was no way that he would let her go on her own, she knew that much. Even if she put a spell on him, he would move the heaven and earth to break it. And she knows that he would succeed in doing that, in a blink of an eye. She hated this, she hated this so much. And she loved him so much, her heart started to beat faster and faster. She closed her eyes and placed her noise in his hair. She loved his smell, she would hate the fact that she might lose it. Tears were dripping on his jumper, his tears were forming a wet spot on her clothing too.


    "I love you." She whispered.


    "I love you too." He whispered back. There was a knock on the door and Da entered.


    "I hope that I am not interupting, but seeing on your faces that you were talking about the up coming battle and the fact that not only Eva, but also Kayne is targeted." Da said, and he sat down. In his hands he has a selection of herbs, the same once she got from the kitchen, only these were fresh. He pointed at her. "You do not want him to be there." His finger then shot to Kayne. "And you want to be there, so that you are able to protect her." There is no winning side here. "To be honest with you two, Ma and I just had the same conversation. And we also know that there is in winning side in this. We came up with the idea of keeping the both of you in here, but for how long? Until Madam Razor has given up? Which will happen with her dying breath. Until Medea gives up? Which will also happen with her dying breath. Also they can bring the fight to us. And besides that I am somewhat obligated to go to Bevan''s funeral. He was at one point in time my best friend. I was there when he took his last breath. Which can mean that they could use me as beat." He sighed. "The only way that I can see, is going as a family. Watch each others backs, the funeral is the day after tomorrow. So the two of you have time to prepare. Your mother has already contacted school, and even threatend the headmistress to prefent another huge pile of homework." Evanora felt a smile form on her face. Her cheeks were still covered with tears, she had not stopped crying. Knowing that what Da said was all true. Her grandmother, and sister will never stop until they get what they wanted. But that would mean that on the day after tomorrow one of the Razor sisters will die. That would mean that one of them would wind up to be a murderer. A fate that those not seem fair, a fate her mother tried to avoid. She swallowed, would she be able to kill her own sister? She didn''t know and she hoped that it wouldn''t be something she would forward too.

 Evanora Chapter 16

    Kayne was not able to sleep a wink, today was the day of the funeral and the day of the big battle. His parents and mister Helliot have spent the whole day, yesterday teaching them all kind of spells and ways to defend themselves against the white witches magic. Evanora''s head lay on his chest, they were still dressed in their pyjama''s. But neither of them wanted to be alone during the darkness of the night. The only difference is that she was able to get some shut-eye, but that was only after he placed a sleeping spell on her. One that would only last eight hours, but it those mean that she was able to get some rest. He only wished that he was able to place that spell on himself as well. But it didn''t work at all, and he has given up after a few tries. A soft knock landed on the door, Helliot pocked his head through the small opening.


    "Ohh, young master Kayne. I should have known that you were in here." The old man said.


    "I am dressed, Helliot and she needed me." He replied, Helliot nodded. "I will not lie to you, Helliot, but I am really scared. I am scared that I will lose her. If that is the case, then I do not know how to live on." He looked at her, she was clearly still unaware of what was happening right now. Of what he was saying. "I know that I am young, but I already know that she is the love of my life. The mother of my future children, if we are so lucky to have them. I will stay at her side until the end of time, and maybe even beyond that. But I also know that if she is going to be killed today, that I will follow her soon after that."


    "Young master Kayne, I hope for all the members of the Le Rouge family. Hex for all the black witches inside this kingdom that she survives. But your words are echoing that of an ancestor of mine. Leif Riddle, he was married to Onyx, and he was a white witch if you can believe that. He is the one who killed Onyx. Not because he hated her, or the magic that she practised. Simply because he loved her so much and the wolves were at the door. He killed her in her sleep, and soon after that he ended his own life. During the war, the couple had two children. One that became young lady Evanora''s ancestor and a newborn baby, which became my ancestor. He had placed the newborn under the guardianship of Anna Le Rouge and her sister Marion Helliot." Kayne frowned.


    "Why?" He asked. "Why not place both children under their protection?"


    "Because the newborn was a black witch, the first child was a white witch." Helliot said. "And now it is time for you to lift that sleeping spell of yours and for the both of you to get ready." He walked out of the room, and Kayne did just that. Evanora opened her beautiful silver eyes. Those eyes were the death of him.


    "Morning, princess." He said. "I am sorry about the sleeping spell, but you needed the rest." She nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek.


    "I know, and thank you." She said, her voice thick of sleep. They pushed themselves out of bed, she towards her closet and he towards his own room. Getting dressed was not difficult, all red. The witches colour of grief, red, just like the blood the flowed inside them. He put on the same set of clothes that he wore to his grandfather''s, his mother''s father, funeral. Black jeans and a blood-red blouse. He brushed his hair and looked at himself in the mirror. He hated this so much, and he meant everything he had said against Helliot. He sighed and went towards the dinning room, where the smell of bacon and eggs greeted him. His parents were already sitting at the table, bot of them were dressed in their finest clothes. His mother smiled at him, with a thin smile. Helliot had told him about his feelings.


    "Did you sleep well?" She asked, he shook his head. "Did Evanora sleep well?"


    "She better be, I placed her under a sleeping spell. Before you are going to say something, she was thinking all endlessly and she needs the energy. She needs all her strenght today." He said. His mother smiled.


    "The only thing that I was going to say is why didn''t I think of that. You are right, she needed the rest." She said. "I am sorry that you were not able to get some rest." He sat down and took a sip of his tea. Evanora entered, she was wearing a blood-red top with black leather pants and high knee boots. Over her top, she was wearing a long coat that reached the ground at the back. Her cherry red hair was for the most part loss. Except for one single braid, she had ruby earning in her ear, and her make-up was mostly black. She looked fears, not at all like a girl that is mourning the loss of her father. Which didn''t shock him, the beads of the Ko za?shto? were shimmering with power and so did her onyx amulet. He smiled, that was his girl and he loved her so much that it hurt. She sat down and took, just like him, a sip of her tea. "Eva, you look good. Is that the clothing that grandmother has given you?"


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings."It is, I was thinking of wearing a dress. But if events today end up in a battle, a dress wouldn''t be practical. So I went for this instead." She said. His mother and father nodded.


    "You look so awesome." His father said. "It shows how far you have come in just a couple of weeks. And that is something your father would agree on with me."


    "Do you have your knife?" Kayne asked.


    "There was a special space for it inside my boots. Knowing my grandmother, she would demand that I hand everything that I can use for blood magic over. So I am taking a decoy knife with me." She said. He smiled at her, Evanora is ready for battle.


    "Good." That was the only thing he needed to say.


    *******


    There was a small drizzle on their way from the car to the little hall that her family had rented out for the occasion. She however was not face by a bit of rain, it was a funeral after all, and it would be somehow feel wrong if the sun was shining. Men and women were walking past her, while she made her way. Employee''s from her father''s company, employees of the ministry. Some neighbours and some people she knew from school, all of them looked at her with pity in their eyes. All of them most likely knew that they were not walking into one funeral, they were walking into two. Only she doubted that her grandmother would spend much time on her if she was the one that lost.


    "There she is the black spot of the family." Medea''s voice said, she was standing at the entrance of the hall. Her arms fowled. "I hate to say it, but you look good. Gone is the grey mouse, hallo black witch." Medea herself was wearing a long skirt and a blouse. The skirt however was spacious and easy to move in. Her hair was loss, she was wearing black make-up just like Evanora did. Only her lips were red instead of red. She raised her hand. "Knife. There is no way I am letting you use blood magic today." Evanora rolled with her eyes and placed the second knife that she had brought in Medea''s hand. "Well, that was easy, a bit too easy."


    "I already knew that I needed to hand it over, so why should I make a fush." Evanora said, she shrugged and tried to enter. But her grandmother blocked her way.


    "Hand over the second knife." Her grandmother said. Evanora groaned and took the knife out of her inside pocket.


    "Here, happy now?" She said. Her grandmother looked behind her. "They will hand over their knives too, if you want." Da, Ma and Kayne were already holding them up.


    "Good, it is best that you know your place. Black spot." Her grandmother hissed. Evanora entered the hall and took place on a seat in near the door. The rest of the family took place beside her. The ceremony started, and she didn''t she any tear.


    *******


    Kayne walked outside it was now clear, no clouds, no rain. Evanora was talking with his mother about something. It was costume not to leave right away after a funeral, even if you know that the life of the woman you love is in danger. He hated the fact that they were still here, he hated that he didn''t know where the danger was coming from. Medea and Madam Razor were in a private room to grief, and Evanora was not invited. Not that she would ever go in there alone with the two women that want her dead. But that left him blind something, he now figured out, he hated. His father, who stood right next to him, was just as tense.


    "Can you feel the magic, son?" He asked. Kayne nodded, the last couple of minutes he could nothing but the magic. What kind of spell were they weaving, it was not something he has ever faced before. Something that might be in the realm of spells Helliot warned him about. White magic that was forbidden by law to cast, something that wouldn''t stop Madam Razor. He rushed towards Evanora when something strange was gathering above her head.


    "Evanora!" He screamed, the dark cloud became solid and a large bolt of pure white light shot out of it. He pushed her out of the way and got hit, the ground was soft in contract with the pain he was currently feeling in his entire body. He could hear her scream, he could hear both his parents scream. But that all sounded so far away, everything else but the pain seemed so far away. Until that too melted away, he didn''t feel, he didn''t hear, smell or see. He was not dead, he knew that much. But it was not far off, luckily he had Helliot''s spell to protect him. A spell from which his parents do not know how it works, and Evanora didn''t know either.