Anuket Johnson (Ann)

        He was beautiful. His eyes were silver, like frost. His hair, as dark as the night itself. All of his features came together in order to create the most beautiful creature ever to be created.  And he liked me. I set his heart racing just as fast as he set mine.

        "What's magick like?"  I strummed a lonely melody

        "It's like... Your guitar. Each string makes its own individual vibration but together they flow and move and dance. Like magick." He twisted his fingers around mine at the guitars neck. I could feel my pulse speed up.

        "Show me?" This was our ritual. I’d ask about magick and he’d show me. Right after I played him a song.

        “Play me something?” He shifted excitedly on the blanket like a little kid does when he’s about to receive a treat.

        “What song?” When I first met him he didn’t know what a guitar or what I was. Apparently, humans aren’t common here.

        “You know which one.” I strum the guitar and the chords prompt lyrics to come forwards. Our voices melded together and we sang.

The best thing about tonight’s that we’re not fighting…

        Demetri’s eyes glittered like diamonds. They shifted to a darker brown as vines crawled up the cave walls. I continued singing and strumming even as he held his hand out and a thorn less red rose sprung up from his palm. He tucked it behind my ear. The chords still continued to flow but my voice didn’t. He was singing alone.

Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you. Over again…

        This is treason. He and I aren't supposed to love each other the way we do. He is an Earth Witch, a Terre. I am human, maybe. I have no magick, no powers to indicate otherwise. But... I'm here. Only the Elemented can survive on this planet so that must make me one of them. Right? This wasn’t right. I could get him thrown in jail or worse. I stood. He didn’t stop singing.

A girl like you is impossible to find. Impossible to find.

        His eyes slid back into their normal shade of silver/gray. His mouth was frowning. I already knew what he was going to say. Every single time I went back home we had this argument.

        “Why do you always leave? You can-“

        “Stay here. I know, I know. I wish I could stay. It’s just-“

        “You have your little sisters. I know. But Virianne-“

        “They cannot come here, Demetri.” I was always firm on this point. There was way too big of a chance that Elise and Elaine wouldn’t be able to survive here like I do. He touched my cheek and I leaned into his palm.

        “I love you.” My heart beat faster. This wasn’t part of the routine. I smiled and let his words hang in the air. I wasn’t ready for those three words. We are… I don’t know what we are. Are we a couple? I didn’t have the courage to ask him this.

        “Bye.” I pulled away from his intense stare and tried not to feel guilty for leaving him. I had to or the door was going to close and I would be stuck here for another day. I wouldn’t mind but… the twins needed me.

        Demetri closed his eyes and whispered ‘Goodbye’. My heart broke at the sound. The mahogany door materialized before my eyes and I gasped at the glory of it. It was no different from the last time I saw it or the time before that. The door was surrounded by ornate swirls that seemed to never end or begin. Just as my hand touched the cool brass doorknob a rustling came from the mouth of the cave. Along with a hand…

****

        I rolled over just as my alarm rang with the sounds of Taylor Swift leaking out of its speakers. In the next room I could hear the sounds of the twins shuffling around. The sky was still dark outside. I glanced back at the alarm that read 7:03 AM in red lights. I sighed in frustration. Not at having to get up at such an ungodly hour- though that wasn't too great either- but at the fact that I had another dream. I was always teased and tantalized by the magic dream world that the other me lived in.

        As quietly as I could I slipped out of bed and flipped on the light. Suddenly, I felt nervous. There was something wrong or something different about my room. Cautiously, I inched backwards towards the door frame and grappled for the handle. All the while my eyes roamed my room for anything out of order. The blue-green walls were still covered with band posters, the desk was still covered on random papers, and my closet door was shut tight. Nothing seemed out of order yet that nervous feeling never left.

        The coolness of the knob beneath my palm soothed my heated fingers. A sense of déjà vu washed through my mind as I remembered the mahogany door from my dream. A hand reaching through the vines right before I woke up. I gathered up what was left of my common sense and decided there was nothing to be afraid of. This is my room and I will not let myself be scared by a little nervous feeling.

        Even though my legs felt as though they were about to give out below me I shuffled towards my closet door and slowly eased the doors open. The nervous tingling morphed into more of a buzz. My head was swarming with the possibilities of what could be hidden behind my clothes. Could it be a robber? A rapist? A three eyed four legged monster that smells like grandma? I shoved my hands between the clothing and pushed it all apart.

        "Aha!" I exclaimed, forgetting to be quiet. I quickly covered my mouth as if it might draw the word back in. I sighed at my own idiocy. There was no robber, rapist, or three eyed grandma monster hidden inside of my closet. I glanced back at the clock. Damn it! It was almost seven-thirty and the twins were supposed to be at school by eight.

        Rushing, I pulled off my ducky pajamas and yanked on a random bra, t-shirt, jeans, and shoes. In the end I probably looked like a mismatched mess but that didn't matter. The fact that it's almost seven forty-five and the twins and I aren't even out of the house yet is what matters. I practically ran into them on the way down the stairs.

        "Come on, girls!" I whisper shouted this at them as we made our way out of the door. As quick as my nimble fingers would allow I buckled Elise and then Elaine into their respective booster seats and drove.

****

            “So, Anne? You up for it?” Maria, in all of her brunette glory, asked me. I hadn’t heard a word of what she was talking about. I sometimes tune out when she speaks. More than half of it was unrelated to whatever she wanted to tell me about in the first place.

        "Sorry what?" She rolls her stormy grey eyes at me and looks down at her salad. Maria tosses bits of lettuce around her plate with her fork. I hate it when she does that. I ask her something and she just pretends like nothing happened. A frown threatens to waltz across my face. Then, a miracle. The entire cafeteria went silent. You could hear a pin drop.

        I glanced at Maria to see what the buzz -or lack thereof- was about. She wasn't looking at me. I peeled my eyes away from her astonished face and in the same direction she was. That was when all breath left my lungs. This just cannot be happening...

Anuket Johnson

I glanced at Maria to see what the buzz -or lack thereof- was about. She wasn't looking at me. I peeled my eyes away from her astonished face and looked in the same direction she was. That was when all breath left my lungs. This just cannot be happening...

He was here. How could he be here? This- this can't- How? Demetri Aquaine was staring out at the entire school body. It couldn't be him. He isn't real. He's a figment of my imagination, a story. Yet, he's here. I had to get closer. I stood up from the uncomfortable blue chair at my table with Maria and my other friends. The chair skidded across the floor loudly and everyone was now either staring at Demetri or me.

        His eyes floated over to me and I could practically feel the shock rolling off of him. Even from this distance I could see his eyes shifting. With a minuscule shake of my head Demetri's eyes stopped its change and went back to his usual frost colored irises. The cafeteria was still deathly silent. Even the lunch ladies and teachers had stopped what they were doing to watch this ordeal. I don't know how I got my feet moving. Everything in me told my feet to move faster and my arms to wrap around him and breath in his earthy scent. I couldn't do any of that without embarrassing Demetri and myself in the process.

        Whispers echoed across the cafeteria. I was immediately reminded of how each chord of my guitar reverberated along the walls and the vibrations bounced across intermingling vines.That wasn't you, Ann. Remember, it wasn't you.I told myself this to remind myself that it was the other me, Virianne, that he likes, loves even. It kept me from launching myself at him in front of every student at Marksman High. Memories of dreams past swiped across my mind as I continued to make my way towards him.

        The cafeteria returns to normal by the time I'm five feet away. The only exception being Maria and the rest of our group staring with their mouths wide open and their eyes filled with confusion. Maria's salad lays untouched. The smell of extra greasy pizza wafts into my nose and I nearly gag on the smell of school food.

        Demetri cocked his head to the side in wonder at my wrinkled nose and frown. Dark black hair shifted into his eyes and I so desperately wanted to brush it aside. He isn't yours. But he is, technically. I could feel Maria's eye burning a hole into the back of my blue t-shirt. I gesture towards the cafeteria's front exit and he reaches for my hand. I quickly shove it into my pocket before he grasps it.

        "Shall we?" He asks. I nod and walk away from Marksman High School next to a boy that shouldn't be alive much less at my high school. This is me, worrying about whether or not someone exists when they're physically standing next to me. How did my day go from scaring myself to running late all of the way to this?