Life by Patricia Silva (e books for reading TXT) 📕

"Who's 'we'?" he repeated.

"Just me and... Blake," I mumbled.

"That stupid wolf boy?!"

I looked up at him. Big mistake.

Tomas stood up. Now I was really in for it.

"Siena! How many fucking times have I told you to stay away from that stupid boy?! He's trouble, Siena, nothing but trouble! His family has always been trouble! I knew from the moment I first saw him as a little boy, I knew he was related to them! I knew I couldn't fucking trust them, any of them! Especially not him! He's not only led you into the forbidden forest, but he also got you all scratched up! I swear to god, Siena!"

I stood up slowly.

"Tomas, you don't understand," I said softly, "he didn't do this to me."

"He didn't?" Tomas raised a brow.

"No. Blake would never hurt me."

Tomas grunted. "I don't know about that." His eyes were glowing brightly, almost acting as a lamp to the dark room.

"If he didn't do that to you,'' he continued, ''then what did?"

"I'm not really sure..." I replied.

"You don't even know how you ended up like that?!"

"No, I do know. I just... I think it was... a doremal."

"A doremal?!"

"I was in the bad part of the forest, remember."

Tomas grunted. We stood in silence for a long time. Tomas' eyes were still glowing bright. My head hurt even worse than it had all day and I faught as hard as I could to not release the tears that were welling up underneath my eyes.

"Tomas. I'm sorry," my voice was bearly audible, but I knew he heard it.

"It isn't your fault," he replied.

"So... I'm not in trouble?"

He sighed. "You're only allowed to go into the forest if it's within sight of these houses."

"Fair enough," I said.

"And," he continued, "you're not allowed to see the Karts anymore." He turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Then, I let out every single tear that had been building up, all without making the slightest noise.

I heard wings flapping behind me. The owl flew away.

I stood there awkwardly, the moonlight illuminating my skinny, scarred, fatigued body. Today had truely been the worst day of my life.

I turned and looked in the mirror. My normally brown eyes were glowing bright yellow. They were swollen and, even in the half darkness, incredibly pink. Tears streamed, one after another, down my cheeks, down my neck, down my chest.  They didn't stop, they just kept flooding out, as if there were no end to them. I crossed my arms under my chest. 

 Imagine me as the queen. Me. This srawny, scratched up, troubled, stupid little girl.  

There was really no use for me in this world. Or the human world. Or the evil world.

 And I began to think, would there ever be?

    I walked down the hallway, throwing my packpack into my room as I passed it. I went straight to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, my scars were almost gone. I smiled, glad that my apperance was almost normal again, and because, even though it was friday, I was going to spend another week at Tomas' house. It's not that I didn't like my apartment, I just liked Tomas' house better. Sometimes, I felt that Tomas cared about me more than my own mother. If I did something bad, it was Tomas who punished me for it. If I asked her mom to pick something up for me, like deoderant, a snack, toothpaste, etc. , she would always forget, though Tomas would remember. My mom still thought my favorite color was purple and my favorite food was french fries. And those were my favorite things. When I was nine.

Over the week, I had learned more about fighting, and a bit more about healing, and I couldn't wait to learn more today. With all the practice lately, I'd been getting faster and stronger, more agile.

I went downstairs and turned on the tv, then sat on the couch until Tomas came home. We went into the forest, into a clearing about thirty yards from the houses.

"Okay, you remeber the tecnique I taught you on wednesday?" Tomas asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, that applies here," he said before darting at me. I fell against a tree and Tomas stumbled onto the floor next to me.

"I told you that it applies here," he said. I grunted and got up. Tomas jumped at me again, but this time he fell on his face. He got up and turned around. I was leaning against a tree on the opposite end of the clearing. Tomas charged at me a third time, his hands glowing. This time I didn't move out of the way, when he got near me and jumped at me I dunked and turned around to face him, my hands glowing. He got up and threw a ball of magic at me, but I caught it and threw it back at him in less than two seconds. Tomas was about to move, but it hit him on the side of his ribs. He fell back and winced as he clenched his side.

When a creature throws magic at you, it doesn't exactly feel pleasant. It burns and stings and kind of vibrates when it hits you, leaving a tender feeling and, depending on the strength and how much magic was added, it sometimes leaves a bruise. Since it was originaly Tomas' magic that I added my own to, it hurt even more. And I must've added alot of magic because it looked like it really hurt him when he got up, though he got up anyway and ran at me again.

Since we were closer this time, Tomas easily pinned me down, though I pushed back. We continued fighting for hours before Tomas decided it was time to stop because his apprentice was almost better than him. By that time, the sun was setting, turning the sky an orangish color.

Tomas and I entered the house and Tomas went into the kitchen to make dinner. 
 I went up to my room and found an envelope on my bed. I picked it up and a slight breeze blew in through the window, which I didn't remember leaving open. The envelope said SIENA in bold cursive writing. I opened it to a letter that read:

I know what you are. I'm not nearly as powerful as you might one day be, but not for long. I want your power and I intend to have it. I can imagine I am not the only one, however, I will be the one to have it. You must surrender to me, you must find me in the forest. You know where. If you fail to attend, I'll take her instead, but not the same day. In fact, you won't know when, niether will she. It will happen without warning. See you next Friday, Princess.

"Siena," Tomas called from downstairs. I stood there for a moment.

Was this real? Had I really just recieved a threat, and a threat for my sister? What did this mean? Who sent it? Were they planning on killing me or just taking my powers?

My eyes were glowing and her thoughts were racing.

"Siena!" Tomas called again.

I blinked. I quickly folded the paper back into the envelope and shoved it under my pillow. I shut the window and locked it then went downstairs, trying not to think about the letter, where it might have come from, or who might have wrote it.
 

I had sat through dinner, not saying a word. Now, I was helping my mentor wash dishes, not saying a word. My eyes didn't look up, I was deep in thought. I could feel Tomas' curious eyes on me. When we were done with the dishes I was about to leave the room when Tomas said "Hey, Siena?"

I paused. "Yeah?" I said, turning to face him.

"Umm...is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh. No it's just...you seem a little quiet...that's all," he said, running a hand through the back of his hair.

"Oh. Sorry, I'm just tired." I smirked so that he wouldn't think I was lying.

"Oh," he smirked back "I'm tired, too... you're getting pretty strong, almost knocked me out a couple times." he chuckled.

It was silent for a moment.

"Tomas?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"What would happen if..."

"If what?"

"What would happen if there was a girl, that was about to become princess, in say four months..."

"Well, she would have to go through training for a couple months before the coronation, Which reminds me, we're gonna have to-"

"No, I know that, but what if that girl was like...kidnapped?"

"Well, the coronation would be postponed and creatures would probably be looking for her..."

"What if whoever kidnapped her was evil, so she was trapped on the dark side?"

"Well, that can't happen unless she went into an unprotected region," he raised a brow at me, "Or if, for some reason, the protection spell on the whole planet just vanished, but the latter is impossible so..."

"Ok, so if she had a younger sister and the younger sister was threatened also, but she never went into the unprotected zones, then she would be alright? And so would the girl because the girl stayed away from unprotected zones, too."

"Well, yes, they would both be safe, but hold on, this is the most random, continuous question, Siena. Why are you asking?"

"Oh, it just popped into my mind."

"Oh...well, okay then."

"Tomas?"

"Yes, Siena?"

"Say there was this other girl...completely different girl. And say she got this letter..."

"And what would this letter say?" Tomas asked, obviously trying not to sound annoyed as he sat down at the table.

"The letter was from someone anonymous, who wanted her to come and meet them, so that they could kidnap her and take her powers..."

"Well, this imaginary girl should be scared. And if she's not scared then she's very brave. But brave or not, she should show the letter to someone."

"Like who?"

"Like a parent, or a mentor."

"Oh... but what would that letter mean?"

"Well...If that was a real letter, and it were serious, not a joke or something, then it would probably have been sent from an evil creature, because no good creature would want to take another good creature's powers. And if it were sent from an evil creature, then that means the protection on the planet has faded and no longer works. However, since there is no real girl who recieved a real letter, we don't have to worry about our protection."

With that, I got up and went upstairs. Tomas called after me, but I didn't stop. I came down a few seconds later and sat back down at the table next to Tomas, with the letter.

"What's that?" Tomas asked, a bit confused. I handed him the letter and he read it carefully, twice, then set it on the table.

"Well?" I asked shyly.

"Well..." Tomas sighed, "It seems as though the girl is very real...and so is the letter."

"So the protection on the planet has deteriorated...?"

"But, that's impossible, the spells were cast only..."

"Five-hundred years ago."

Tomas looked at me, then towards the letter and sighed.

"Nothing lasts forever, Tomas, not even magic..." I muttered.

"Well, when we go to the castle next week, I'll discuss this with the queen, this whole situation. But don't worry, Siena, you're gonna be fine. No one's going to come for you, or Sophia. I promise."

For a while we both sat there in silence, looking at the letter on the table.

I thought about the one creature that I haven't been thinking about for quite a while; Sophia.

I was tired from lack of sleep, from training with Tomas, from school, and now from this. I didn't know what was going on right now. However, of one thing I was absolutely positive. I wasn't going to let anything get to Sophia. Even if it meant losing my powers, I would keep her safe.