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Suppressed

April 12, 2012
By Diana3090 BRONZE, Bell Gardens, California
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Diana3090 BRONZE, Bell Gardens, California
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Favorite Quote:
"The only difference between me and a mad man is that im not mad" -Salvador Dali

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Author's note: This novel was inspired by a personal experience.

Amerigo’s heart thumped in such a dramatic way that he felt as if it was going to burst out of his rib cage. He looked to the outside of the car glancing nervously and attentively at the passing buildings that displayed bright and alive lights of all colors. The car hastily turned and as they entered the abandoned and depressing alley to escape the lights, the driver was forced to turn off the headlights in a quick flash. The driver stopped the car a couple of feet away from the way they had entered and turned off the engine to keep their place a secret.

The car was full of silence, an awkward silence that haunted all four of the passengers. No one spoke anything, no one opened their mouths; it was completely awkward. The driver sighed deeply and took her hands off the driving wheel to place them on top of her head in worry. She made a grunting sound as they slid down her face and back at the wheel. A couple of minutes passed that seemed as centuries to all of them.

“Why aren‘t you yelling at me as usual?” Eden carefully asked breaking the silence. Eden had dared to ask . She and the three other teenagers were driven out of the street of Las Vegas. Nora glanced at her daughter and gave a small smile to go with it. Eden returned the look at her mother and then at the boy that sat behind her through the side mirror; Alex was as confused as Eden. In all of this, Amerigo kept his sight outside the car and tried to avoid the conversation at all cost.

“Do you want me to yell at you?” She asked her daughter with a serious tone as she crossed her arms. Eden thought about it, it was the first time that her mother wasn’t blowing her head over something that she had done, and the fact that she wasn’t yelling confused her.

“Not really, but why aren‘t you? I ran away across the country and with a werewolf.” Eden said. “I would expect you to at least scowl at me.”

“I‘m not going to scowl at you Eden, and neither will I scowl at your new…husband.” She sighed and glanced at Alex through the head mirror. Alex looked at her and felt uncomfortable; it was the first time that he was meeting his mother-in-law and her dark wolf-like eyes frightened him. “Hey kid, what‘s your name anyway?”

“My name is Aleixandre madam.” He answered quickly fearing to upset her.

“Aleixandre, that‘s a nice name.” She admitted and gave him a smile through the head mirror. Eden couldn’t understand what was happening; her mother was being kind to her new-according to the Nevada law-husband. Her mother was acting as if she hadn’t abandoned her family and city; she was acting as if it really didn’t happen. “What about you, do you have a name?”

“Amerigo.” Amerigo slowly responded as he kept his sight outside the window. He didn’t want to get involved in the conversation.

“Nora, I still don‘t understand.” Eden continued she did not want to let the subject go.

“Understand what, why I’m not screaming my head off? I‘m not yelling at you, because I have a good idea of what both of you are going through at this moment.” She sighed. Eden remained quiet.

Aden inspected her violet school handbag, for she was preparing for yet another day of high school. This particular day, which was Monday, usually drove her crazy. Books, pencils, pens, US history book, spell books and I-Pod were all there, yet she felt as if she was forgetting something, something important.

“The cauldron, the cauldron!” Her twin sister shouted repeatedly as she ran past her bedroom. Aden peeked outside her bedroom door and watched her sister’s blond shoulder length hair swing inside her room as she ran in.

“That‘s right, the cauldron. I completely forgot.” Aden remembered as she grabbed the giant piece of metal that was neatly placed next to her computer desk and magically forced it inside her bag.

“Where did you leave it Eden?” Shouted their mother from down stairs, she was in the kitchen.

“I don’t remember.” Eden responded. “Hey Aden, have you seen it?”


Aden walked out of her room fully dressed in her school uniform and headed to her sister‘s room. She wore a black velvet vest engraved with a crest that read: Bronx Academy and under it a leafy dark green polo shirt. She also wore a platted black and green skirt, knee high black socks and black and white checkered Vans.

“Maybe you wouldn’t have such a difficult time finding your school supplies if you would clean your room once in a while.” Aden suggested as she looked at her sister’s room through her purple glasses.

Eden’s room was a complete disaster. Clothes covered every inch of the once visible dark blue carpet. Her bed displayed the bottom of her mattress as the covers were wrapped in a swirl of pink and turquoise colors. Her computer desk was piled in Chrome body spray, two boxes of heart shaped earring containers, a giant Arrow Head water bottle and pieces of construction paper. On her TV hanged a necklace, a bubble gum pack and a couple of other things. There were towels everywhere and her closet was mounted with books, shoeboxes and loads of papers.

“Shut up! This is my room I can clean it if I want to or not! Besides, if you don’t like it, the door is right there. ” Eden Shouted as she picked up a pile of clothes, which she was unaware if they were dirty or not; at the sight of her sister she threw them back at the floor.

“How you can lose that thing, Eden, it‘s as big as a table lamp!” Aden asked as she crossed her arms in bewilderment. “And especially how could you lose it in here?”

“I didn’t lose it!”

“Oh really, then where is it? If I was you I would hurry and find it, you know mom has to be early to work.” Aden warned as she left the room and headed downstairs. Eden smiled and suddenly remembered that she had substituted the cauldron as a chair one summer chair less day. She quickly dug it out from a mountain of clothes and placed it inside her pink school handbag, it automatically disappeared.

“If you didn‘t find it don’t come crying to me that you need a new one because that‘s your problem.” Their mother said to Eden as she appeared into the kitchen. Their mother was a woman in her early forties with brown, very light brown hair held in an elegant bun. She wore a gray, pink, and striped business suite with pink stilettos; she was a lawyer.

“No need for a new one, I found it. I would never lose Bob; he’s like a brother to me.” Eden assured as she patted her bag and grabbed a green apple. Eden then gave a giant bite at the apple.

“Thank god he‘s not our brother, mom would have killed you if you would have lost him.” Aden said. “Never mind, mom wouldn’t do the terrible mistake to leave you with a child.”

“I know she wouldn’t, I wouldn’t trust myself with a kid either.” Eden admitted and shrugged.

“Speaking of the cauldron, where did you find it?” Their mother asked, she seemed intrigued.

“Funny thing, I’ve been sitting on that thing all summer. Can you believe I thought it was a chair! You can‘t blame me though, I haven‘t used one since we went into vacation.” Eden stated with a full mouth.

“In your face! Mother, I believe you owe me some money.” Aden demanded as she extended her palm in front of her mother’s face expecting the money. Their mother appeared a twenty-dollar bill unexpectedly and rolled her brown wolf eyes behind her own lenses.

“Damn, I was sure she would have lost it.” Their mother sulked. Eden looked at her mother with a hurt facial expression. She had figured out her mother and sister’s little bet.

“Don‘t be a sore loser Nora.” Aden sneered to her mother and made sure that what she had received was actually money and not some magical replica of it.

“Sore loser my ass, I bet you both plotted this out so you could make your mother twenty dollars less rich” Their mother sneered back and crossed her arms. “You are so lucky to have each other, especially to be twins.”

“What are you talking about? It‘s not the greatest thing. It‘s weird having a girl looking exactly like you.” Aden said. “Especially is she‘s like Eden.”

“Hey! What‘s that suppose to mean? For you information, you don‘t look exactly like me. You have the dullest attitude in the world, and you don‘t even use your Chromo…”

Chromo was a special and rare hair condition in a person’s hair where when the person touched a section of their hair, it would change to what color that person wanted. Eden and her twin sister were fortunate enough to be born with the ability, and Eden would take advantage of her strange hair. Eden would Chromo her hair depending on how she felt, but instead of doing her whole head, she would only do her long bangs.

“That‘s because I don‘t want to look like a freak. No offence mom, but I‘m already a sorcerer and that’s already far from normal. I just don‘t want to add to the list.” Aden admitted. Eden glared at her sister and rolled her gray eyes.

“Aden, you shouldn‘t be ashamed to be a sorceress, that‘s who you are and who‘ll you‘ll ever be. That‘s the kind of blood that runs inside of you. You just have to accept it.” Their mother sighed as she made her car keys fly to her hand and headed for the door. She couldn’t understand her daughter sometimes; Aden wasn’t happy being who she was: a sorcerer. She wanted to be “normal“, but since she knew that she would never attain this goal, she tried her best to avoid doing any magic when it wasn’t extremely necessary.

“I wish I didn‘t. I wish I was a Natural.” Aden whispered softly as she followed her mother.



Bronx Academy was a prestigious school to Naturals, non-magical teenagers, like how the sorcerers called them. While Natural parents would pay the education of their children, not so Natural parents would send their not so Natural teenagers to learn at no expense. The academy was divided in to five smaller, more individual schools with their own buildings, entrances and faculty members. There were five individual buildings on the campus, two on the east connected by a bridge, two on the west also connected by a bridge and the last building was on the north, which was a bit more separated from the others… isolated. All the buildings created a pentagon shape from a bird’s point of view. They were all blue, crimson blue, that made them look the same, except that every building, had a different silver number engraved on them.

All students wore the same school uniform that consisted of black vests, polo shirts with black pants for male and plaited their individual building assigned color with the black skirts for female. Witches and wizards wore the color green, werewolves white, other magical creatures purple, and vampires’ ruby red. Naturals were a little more different when it came to their uniform. The Natural students wore Navy blue slacks, white polo shirt with a navy blue vest and black tie.

Sorcerers studied in building 200. Apart from the cafeteria, mall area and the segregated library, building 200 was the only place that they were allowed to go inside the campus. The cafeteria was located in the back of the isolated building and in front of the cafeteria was the Garden of Eden like Mall Area. Werewolves studied in building 300. A bridge bound their building to Building 200. Building 400 was for magical creatures such as Elves, Fairies, Ogres est. they were all mixed because they all fell into the same category. The building connected to the 400’s was that of the Vampires’. The 400s was heavily guarded and kept away from the last and isolated building, which you would consider it the “main” building of the whole academy, just because it sported Bronx Academy on it. This building was the Natural’s building, the normal school for normal teenagers.

“Don‘t you ever wonder why we can‘t all see each other?” Eden asked her best friend Iris as they walked into their own entrance to Bronx. “What I mean is, us and the rest of the other teenagers that come to Bronx that don‘t ‘wave a wand around’.”

“No. You know quite well that our kind aren‘t allowed to talk to them fellers. You know how things are Eden, since Naturals control this world we liv‘n in, we were forced to blend in w‘them. But you know so they won‘t try n‘ hurt us no more we get segregated from the rest of them when it come to school, so they won‘t know who’s a witch or an Ogre n’ they won’t come n’ hunt us no more. ” Iris reminded her friend. Iris was a seventeen-year-old enchanter who a proud Oklahoman was born teenager with a southern dialect. She had light, short blond hair that matched her very light brown freckles on her cheeks. Her hair was so short; she would spike it from the back.

“Anyway, why would you want to see them? Werewolves are hairy, Naturals boring, Creatures short, and Vampires pale and toothy. What else is there to see?” Iris continued.

“I guess nothing, but haven’t you ever wondered? I’ve never seen a vampire in my life, or that I‘m aware of. In a way guess you’re right, even if I did want to see them; the giant locked bridge would let us through.” Eden Admitted.

“You know what‘s stupid? Why is that there bridge connecting both buildings if we can never go yonder?” Iris wondered. “Hav’n that bridge was a pretty stupid idea if you as me.”

“I‘ve heard stories where people actually used to cross that bridge. I‘ve heard that a long time ago all of our societies used to talk to each other. ” Eden sighed.

“Well that was a long time, and I still think it’s stupid.” Iris grunted.

As both girls continued their stroll to class, they came across a wooden trophy case that held their part of the school’s achievements, trophies, and medals. Visible to the eye, inside the case sat an old gold plack that read:

67th Annual National Sorcerer Debate Tournament
First Prize winner:
Gabriela A. Lombardo
Los Angeles, C.A year 1983


“That name, Gabriela, where have I seen it before?” Eden asked herself aloud as the old award caught her attention.

“I dunno.” Iris shrugged. It suddenly hit Eden. No wonder that name had seamed familiar, that name, Gabriela Lombardo, had appeared in some of her parent‘s documents that she had found in their room. Eden had discovered earlier last week a number of documents that contained that specific name all over them, it seamed as if this woman was very involved in her family yet she had never met her. Her parents had never mentioned anything about her; she was a stranger to Eden.

“Yeah it does, but I’ve seen that name in some of my parent’s documents. I think that Nora knows that woman or something.” Eden said. “She must be important because she appears in most of my parent’s documents, but I‘ve never met this Gabriela Lombardo before.”

“Well then why don’t you ask her who she is?” Iris pushed. “What if she‘s her twin or sum thing.”

“Nora, having a twin sister, that‘s impossible.”

“Hey, no’ ting’s impossible in this yer world. You‘nd Aden are twins, maybe your mama is a twin herself.” Iris Shrugged.

“That may be true, but don‘t you think she would have told Aden and I about her.” Eden asked.

“Maybe she didn‘t know herself or something. Remember that you know nothing of your mama‘s family.” Iris Reminded Eden.

Their mother’s whole family was a mystery to Eden and Aden. They knew nothing of a grandmother or of an aunt of uncle. In their eyes, their mother could be an alien or something else because of the lack of information from her past. As children, Aden and Eden once deduced that their mother was a government spy, but that theory was abolished when their mother delegated with them and convinced them to drop the thought. Years later, Eden realized that their mother was right and that this foreign woman could finally be the relative the twins were yearning to know of.

“What if I try and get in touch with this woman?” Eden asked Iris after a couple of seconds of deep thought.

“That could be a good idea, but first ask your mama.”

“But what if she denies knowing her or something?” Eden bit her lip and cocked her eyebrow.

“She can’t deny it, as her young’n you have a right to know. That woman, her twin or not, is apparently very close to your mama and you just wanna meet her.” Iris pointed out and crossed her arms.

“You‘re right Iris, if that woman is my aunt or any other relative I have the right to meet her.” Eden said with confidence.

…Seniors: Don’t miss out on Cupid’s Arrow Convention on February 14! Find that certain people before you graduate because remember: we all have to be engaged by June. This was your Student Body President: Gera Douglass…

…and your Student Body Vice-President: Jarmara Sumner…

…with the morning announcements, have a great Bronx day!

“Thank God that‘s over.” Eden whispered under her breath. Eden was sitting in her second period class: Astral Projection. She sat bored out of her head with images of today‘s cafeteria food filling her head playing to her favorite Sorceress rock band: Lodestones Green. With all this going on in her head, was Eden paying attention to what her teacher, Ms. Ramona, was saying before the annoying daily announcements were said? Nope, of course not. Eden wasn’t the sharpest tool in the toolbox, unlike her twin sister, yet she wasn’t the dullest. She tried her best all right, but sometimes her best wasn’t close to trying at all.

“Thank God that’s over. As I was saying before I was interrupted by the announcements, you will all receive books which I will expect to put into practice all you have learned today.” Eden suddenly heard Ms. Ramona’s voice echo inside her head. Ms. Ramona was a short woman with long curly, fluffy, black hair. She wore black dressy pants with a green Mexican traditional Poncho on.

“I don‘t get it? What was it we were supposed to do again?” A student blurted out.

“Have you been paying attention-oh why do I ask this question if I already know the answer to it? I will repeat myself yet again for all those who drowse in my class. We were talking about the Total Recall of Your Dreams. It‘s very simple and to do this you have to be asleep of course. I hope this will be an easy ‘A’ for all of you.” She began and wrote on the black board: Total Recall of your Dreams. Eden sighed and grabbed her black composition book and a black pen.

“Like I said before, it’s very important for you to relax your body before bedtime which will be step one to your experiment homework. For those that have a tough time relaxing your body some things that you can do to help will be either meditating or, my personal favorite, controlling your breath in a quiet place. The second step is now when you are in the border line of sleep, you are able to make suggestions to your brain. What I need from all of you is to suggest to your brain to remember all of the dreams that you have that night. This will help with your project.”

The older woman waved her left hand in front of all the students, and as a result, a black book suddenly appeared on every desk. The books were one inch thick, of a brownish-reddish color hard cover, and with Iron silver colored edges.

“And what’s the book for?” A girl named Athena asked as she raised her hand. Another girl that isn’t the sharpest tool in the toolbox, Eden thought. Well, actually I don’t even think that she’s part of the toolbox.

“The book is for you all to record every dream you have. Writing will not be necessary for you, because you must keep the book somewhere besides your bed during the night. In the morning, you will discover that your dreams have been recorded; the book will do the writing for you. I do have to warn you though; the first couple of nights will be hard when it comes to sleeping. You will be constantly be waking up at different hours of the night to find that your dreams are being recorded in the book, but in about three day’s you‘ll get used to it.”

She walked around the classroom with one book in her hand and suddenly paused in front of Eden. Ms. Ramona looked sternly at the seventeen year old for a brief moment. Eden stared back and bravely kept her sight on the teacher’s cold honey eyes.

“I am warning all of you, the book and I can tell the difference between a dream and something made up at the last minute. I expect six or more dreams to be remembered per night. Don‘t ‘Aw’ me, the average person has ten dreams a night. ” She said as the class simultaneously groaned. “So, do I make myself clear? Eden?”

“Very clear Ramona.” Eden responded and gave one of her fakest smiles while she pushed her turquoise bangs off her face.




Fifteen year-old Gabriela sat in her Algebra 2 class waiting patiently for her Chapter 15 test results. As always, she studied days in advance preparing herself, testing herself with any work problems she could get her hands on, and even after the test had been the day before, she continued to self test herself for fear to loose the just obtained information. She rapped her brown hair between her for-finger and bit her cherry lip-glossed lips as she calculated an equation in her head. Gabriela had a sharp face that made her wolf-like brown eyes seam bigger, greater, and lovelier. As she sat there, on her desk with thousands of questions running through her head, she suddenly heard her teacher.

“Gabriela Lombardo…99%”

She sighed in victory, An A not so bad, she thought. Even with the victory of a percentage of 99, she knew that she could do better and was ready to prove herself in the incoming test. As the school bell rang, she began to gather her materials and like all the teenagers, poured out of the class rooms into the hallways towards freedom. School had ended for the day.

It was Bronx Academy, year 1983, season: Winter. Gabriela walked out of building 200 into the chilly and white New York streets; her breath became visible in the cold air as she walked on the freshly layered snow that sat beneath her feet.

It was Tuesday and Santiago, her mother’s personal assistant, was scheduled to pick her up from school. On Wednesdays and Fridays, her father’s personal assistant, Eric, would pick her up from Bronx and on Tuesdays and Thursdays Santiago was to pick her up. Mondays, her father’s other assistant Clarissa would pick her up. As she looked for the black Limousine, she heard her name called out from a distance. It was her closest friend named Suzan Whitman. Suzan was a very light colored girl with large green eyes and red-orange hair that was clipped back from her face. As she scurried towards Gabriela, Suzan’s over sized Bronx Academy jacket danced around her small body.

“Hey, didn‘t you get the memo, Naturals have to go to school on that other building.” Suzan asked as she lifted an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She then pointed away from their building.

“Ha ha, very funny Suzan.” Gabriela sarcastically said. Gabriela pulled on the green beanie to cover her ears from the cold as she continued her search.

“What day is it today?” Suzan suddenly asked.

“Tuesday.”

“Ah, so today is Santi‘s turn to pick you up?” Suzan asked as she helped Gabriela look for a fancy black car.

“Yes, but it’s very odd, he‘s not here yet.” Gabriela responded after a long sigh had escaped her mouth.

“You rich people and your assistants, why can‘t your mom or dad just come and pick you up?” Suzan puffed and placed her hands at her invisible hips.

“Father is at Washington DC accompanying President Regan and mother is at one of her meetings.” Gabriela responded and she crossed her arms to stay warm.

“I see, if Santiago doesn’t come I could ask my mom to take you home.”

“My house is an hour away from yours.”

“So, you know my mom love road trips!” Suzan smiled. “Or better yet, I have the greatest idea in the world; want to come over my house? We can watch movies and drink hot chocolate, it’ll be groovy!”

“Who says ‘groovy’ anymore? ” Gabriela laughed as she saw Suzan’s “innocent” smile. “I would love to go, but I have a spell exam tomorrow and I have to study for it. Hey, now that I think about it, you have one too!”

“Yeah, about that…I have created a perfect plan. I was going to clone myself so Suzan II could take my test for me. The clone would successfully pass it and then the passing of the exam will cause a domino effect in my plan to rule the world. What do you think, genius isn‘t it?” Suzan laughed. Gabriela smiled at her best friend‘s crazy idea.

“Yes, genius ideas Dr. Suzan, but one question… how are you going to make a clone? We haven‘t learned how to do the cloning potion.”

“This doctor, Nurse Gabriela, has some tricks up her uniform.” Suzan assured. “Hey, look there‘s Santiago.”


Gabriela arrived home and pulled her beanie off to hang it on the coat hanger across the door. Her house was not a normal American cookie cutter home, it was a pent house and it was in the fanciest buildings the New York. The Pent House was the entire 31st and 32nd floor. It had five bedrooms, two floors, a giant swimming pool with a waterfall, a library, an elegant dining room, a garden and a giant living room that hosted a giant chandelier on the ceiling.

“Gabriela, where were you? Why didn‘t you arrive home when you had to?” Gabriela’s mother yelled as she approached her. Her mother wore a white business suite that had a matching white pearl necklace and earrings. The woman had dark brown hair in elegant curls and stunning gray eyes. Her mother was Bethany Lombardo, the Regional Commissioner of the Social Security; she was also involved with politics like Gabriela’s father who was the Secretary of State.

“I thought you were at a meeting?”

“Don‘t change the subject young lady. Why weren‘t you here when you were suppose to be here?” Bethany barked.

“Santiago picked me up late.” Gabriela calmly explained holding back her tongue.

“Santiago told me that you weren’t where you were supposed to be. Did you walk that Suzan to her house? Did Suzan need a baby sitter? I don‘t think so, you know that you have to be home by a certain time Gabriela.” Her mother reminded her.

“But I-”

“But nothing! That Suzan, I don’t like her.”

“You don’t even know her! How could you judge Suzan if you‘ve never met her properly?” Gabriela asked.

“I know her mother!”

“So, you can‘t critic Suzan because you have already branded her mother? For your information mother, I happen to be very acquainted with her mother and I like the detail that she picks Suzan up from school.” Gabriela shouted.

“And what does that have to do with anything Gabriela?” Bethany responded. Gabriela sighed.

“You just don‘t understand do you?” Gabriela asked softly.

“I do understand. How could the Council of Augury allow a half vampire/ sorcerer to study at Bronx, that’s just ludicrous I tell you. ” Bethany began her protest of the day as she headed towards their dinning room.

“Mom, for the final time she is not a vampire. Whatever false information you have heard are just rumors, and just because she has a lighter skin completion than every one else that doesn‘t mean she has vampire blood in her.” Gabriela growled and rolled her yes.

“It‘s not that I believe it, it‘s just that she is just to…to… light skinned. I think it‘s barbaric that a fine sorcerer like Damien Whitman would end up with a leech like that woman Angelic.” Bethany recoiled.

“She’s not a leech!”

“Of coarse she is. If you met her back in my years at Bronx, you would agree with me.” Bethany assured.

“I would never agree with you on anything if it was the last thing I did.” Gabriela said under her breath.

“I told him that she was a blood sucker but he didn‘t listen to me. I told him: ‘Damien, you can’t marry that girl, she’s not like us.’ But he didn’t listen to me.” Her mother spoke in an as-matter-of fact tone to Gabriela. Gabriela ignored the words that were rolling out of her mother’s mouth and rolled her eyes.

“Mother, if that lie were to be true, my perspective would still remain strong. I don‘t see the wrong side of having two different kinds together. Why can‘t we all just be one polyglot society? Why do we have to hide who we are from the rest?” Gabriela suddenly asked her mother.

“Listen young lady, we’ve already tried, centuries ago and do you know what the out come of it was: The Witch Hunts. Your ancestors were murdered because those Naturals found out who we were and decided to try and wipe us out like rats.” Her mother yelled.

“You don’t know that if that was the reason for why they acted like animals with us, and if what you pledge was the reason, people change. We‘re in the 80‘s!” Gabriela debated.

“Yes we are, but trust your mother. Being separated educationally and not knowing who‘s who in this world helps keep us at peace. If one stupid mistake interrupts it, we are all done for.”

The sun fell off the sky that late school day afternoon. The DeVandre family gathered for their scheduled dinner where Aden, Eden, and their parents were dining. They ate on their elegant willow table and sat on their also willow chairs with white leathered seats. They were having Italian and their parents red wine.


“Iris and I were walking in school today and we found a plack that belonged to a girl named Gabriela Lombardo, mom do you know who that is?” Eden unexpectantly asked her mother as she shoved a piece of meat in her mouth. Her mother paused her eating and looked into the abyss for a couple of seconds; she knew of what plack her daughter was speaking.

“No, why do you ask?” Her mother responded. The only sound in the room had turned into the sound of silverware clanking as the family ate.

“Oh really, I would think that you would know who she is.” Eden nonchalantly and sweetly said to her mother. Her mother paid no attention.

“According to you Eden why would I know who she is.” She replied again.

“It‘s because I thought that you would know who that would be. Do you have a sister named Gabriela?” Eden continued with her questions.

“No, I‘m an only child.”

“Then who‘s Gabriela Lombardo, because apparently you‘re very buddy-buddy with this woman.”

“What?”

“Who‘s Gabriela Lombardo, mom?”

“Are you interrogating me Eden?” Her mother placed her eating utensil on the table and looked at Eden.

“Yes, yes I am. Who is this woman?”

“I‘m your mother, I shouldn‘t have to tell you if I know who that woman is.” Her mother informed and continued eating.

“Why are you getting all defensive? I just asked you a simple question.” Eden asked her mother and leaned on the table to get a closer look at her.

“I happen to don‘t like to be interrogated and I don’t know who she is.” She responded as she saw her daughter lean closer to her in an interested manner.

“Dad, do you know who Gabriela Lombardo is since mom‘s gotten all clamed up?” Eden harshly turned to her father who looked confused yet at the same time a little shaken. He had blond short hair, night colored eyes and a kind face with a five o’ clock shadow. He was the same age as their mother; now he wore a suit with a sky blue shirt and a stripped red and blue tie.

“Eden-.”

“Where did you hear this name anyway?” Their mother suddenly asked as she crossed her arms.

“I found some papers in your room that were practically flooded with that name. Why won‘t you tell me who this woman is?” Eden sharply responded as she looked at her.

Their mother remained silent. Eden’s father became nervous and Aden looked confused.


“Why were you in our room?” Her mother suddenly demanded.

“Because you told me! I was only in there when you told me to look for your checking book, and I just happened to stumble into a couple of papers that had that woman‘s name in it.” Eden harshly responded; she kept her eyes on her mother.

“Why were you looking around if I told you specifically where it was?” Their mother suddenly demanded.

“It wasn‘t where you had told me! You want to know where I found it. It was with the documents that you had well hidden with Gabriela Lombardo‘s name all over them.” Eden spoke back.

“No it wasn‘t I didn‘t leave it with those documents!”

“I don’t mean to interfere with your debate but you are getting really defensive over that person mom.” Aden suddenly spoke out and drank a little from her glass cup.

“I am not!” Their mother boomed and stood up from her seat. Her face was flushed with a magenta color and her breathing was hard and rapid. Their father looked at their mother and held her hand trying to calm her down.

“Do you have a twin sister?” Aden suddenly began asking with question beginning to bubble inside her.

“No.” Her mother answered her as she returned to her seat. She took a deep breath and sighed.

“Then why are Eden and I twins?”

“I don’t know! I think it runs in your dad‘s family.”

“That doesn‘t make any sense, Dad doesn‘t have a twin siblings or a twin family history in his family.” Aden stated and cocked her head as she waited for her mother to say anything in return.

“The only explanation that is left is that you must have a twin and that that woman Gabriela is your twin!” Eden sighed and pounded her fist on the table as if she had just made a life-changing discovery.

“I already told you, I don‘t have any brothers or sisters. This is getting ridiculous.” Their mother rolled her eyes and continued eating.

“OMG she does have a twin.” Aden gasped and covered her mouth. Eden quickly rolled her sister a face expression that said that she couldn’t believe what she had said.

“What the hell is OMG?” Eden asked her sister as she cocked her eyebrow and giggled as she ridiculed her.

“It means Oh My God, and it‘s very popular with the Naturals.” Aden returned her twin’s cocked eyebrow and rolled her eyes.

“That is so LAME!” Eden giggled and rolled her eyes back at her mother. “Want-to-be be Natural.”

“Hey!” Aden expressed and pouted. “There‘s another expression that says LMAO.”

“Aden, your changing the damn subject, shut up!” Eden hissed.

“You’re the one that started picking on me.”

“Can you please do me the honor of shutting up with your stupid Normal phrases? Coming back to our original conversation, why don‘t you want to talk about her? Did she do something that brings you bad memories or what?” Eden asked returning her attention back at the previous conversation.

“NO… both of you have to respect the fact that I don’t want to speak of her.” She growled.

“So you do know her!” Aden piped up and looked at her mother.

“Why don’t you want to tell us who is Gabriela Lombardo?” Eden was stubborn, she wanted to know why had the mentioning of this woman‘s name had caused her mother to react as she had.

“Eden, Aden stop questioning your mother. If she doesn‘t want to speak of the Gabriela woman you have to respect her decision. ” Christoph suddenly shouted as his daughters.

“If we have an aunt some where we have the right to know dad!” Eden suddenly shouted and burrowed her eyebrows in anger. Aden nodded in agreement.

“Don‘t you find it strange that we know nothing of mom‘s family dad? Have you even met anyone from her family. If she is our aunt, Eden is right, we have the right to know.” Aden agreed with Eden.

“She‘s not your aunt!”

“Then who is she?” Aden cocked her eyebrow and fiddled with her fork.

“That woman is part of your mother‘s past and she doesn‘t want to speak of her.” Christoph told both teenagers in a calm manner.

“So do you know who she is?” Aden asked.

“I certainly do not.” He answered rather hastily and wore a mask of stern face expressions.

“I think that you‘re both lying.” Eden’s eyes went into slits not believing them.

“Believe what you want.” Their mother sighed finally and harshly scooted her chair back so she could leave the dinner table.

Eden sighed in defeat and continued eating, not taking her eyes of her mother. Nora stared back and then left the table, not looking back at her family. Christoph watched his wife leave and said nothing more.



Gabriela sat in her room reading Moby Dick. Her room was big, the size of a living room that held a king size bed with dark pink covers. Her room was very nicely furnished, and elegant with a light brown wooden dresser that held perfume, and other make up supplies. There was a purple been-bag chair on some corner of the room under the green/purple rug. As she read, she flipped through the pages and learned more about Ishmael and his whale-obsessed captain.

“Gabriela, can you some down sweetie?” Her mother’s voice echoed from the living room. Gabriela closed her book and headed towards the living room.

Bethany sat on their white leather couch with a couple of mail cards on her hands. She had a particular letter on her hand and as her daughter descended from the stairs and got closer to her mother, a smile crossed her face.

“You have mail.”

Bethany handed her the letter and she opened it without care. It was a letter from the National Debate Team for Sorcerers; also know as the N.D.T.S and it read:

Ms. Gabriela Amysadai Lombardo,

Congratulations! At the N.D.T.S, we have heard of your excellent work as a debater, and due to your excellent work, you and another member of your school have been chosen to represent Bronx Academy in Manhattan, New York in the annual National Debate Tournament for Sorcerers. The debate tournament will be held in Los Angeles, California from December 20 1983 thru February 23 1984.

Gabriela will be verbally competing with the best magicians from all over the nation and she will be exposed to new people, atmosphere and even cultures. She will have an all paid expense stay at the Biltmore Hotel for the time that she will be competing. To reserve your spot, please send back a letter accepting your spot in the tournament. To return your letter, please burn in blue flame. We expect your response no later than by November 3rd.

Sincerely,

Antoinette Van Matron

Antoinette Van Matron
Senior N.D.T.S. Director


“What do you think Gaby? Are you going to compete or not?” Her mother excitedly asked. That was the first time her mother, Bethany Moore but also known as Bethany Lombardo, had ever given her daughter a nickname. Gabriela looked at her mother in bewilderment because of what she had called her, and of course, she was in shock for the letter.

“I…I”

“But you have to do it! Gabriela, this is your time to shine darling.” Bethany commanded.

“But what about Christmas, I don’t want to spend the holiday debating.” Gabriela acknowledged.

“Christmas comes once a year, this opportunity is one of a kind, and you have to do it no doubt about it, get the spell mail and send back a letter.” Bethany continued and waved her daughter away so she could mail it. Gabriela lowered her sight in disappointment, she felt, as she had not gotten a saying in it. Bethany noticed her daughter’s reaction and grabbed her hand.

“Gabriela, how many times have you won the debates at school?” Her mother asked as she sat Gabriela down on the confused.

“I‘ve won all of them. I’ve won them all since I joined the debate team.”

“Exactly Gaby, I know that you are ready to fight the rest of those kids who call themselves debaters. You‘re a Lombardo, Lombardos get what we want and fight until we get it. I want you to beat the shit out of all of them, you‘ve already beat the ones here, it‘s time for you to take on the national kids. It’s time for you to take on the ones who can really debate, leave them speechless. Don‘t do it for me, or for you, or for papa, do it for Bronx.” Her mother said. Gabriela still didn’t feel secure and she felt a bit worse after their talk.

“Thanks mom. I‘ll make Bronx…proud.” Gabriela sighed and gave a fake smile.

“That‘s a good girl, now go and send it.” Bethany ordered as she herself left the living room for the outside garden.

Gabriela looked once more at her mother leave and back at the letter, her herself also began to move. She went directly to her second room, a private room a couple of doors away from her bedroom where she performed all her enchantments, and burned a letter in the blue dancing fire.




Eden and Iris sat in their spell class three days later. They were about to show the class their experiment of creating their own creature out of simple potions. All the class was ready; some had created unicorns, new types of dogs and many other things. Iris and Eden weren’t ready at all.

“I can‘t believe you for‘gt to do your half of the spell Eden.” Moaned Iris. She held her head in despair; Eden felt guilt fill her soul.

“I am so, sorry Iris. I was very, very busy yesterday.”

Flashback-

Eden lay on her bed; her Chromo-dyed hair matched her covers that were dark blue, midnight blue. She held a red and rubber ball the size of a golf ball and constantly threw it up in the air. She catches it back as it falls.

“I know I have something to do, but what?”

End of Flashback-

“I asked Aden to lend me her spell book and some of her ingredients but she shot me down. I told her that she would get it before her own class. She got pissed at me!” Eden groaned as she took a quick glance at the ingredients that Iris had brought from home.

“I don‘t want to sound like a geek, but I can‘t afford another F! My grade’s gone so low I’dnt think I’ll make it to senior year! ” Iris worried as she picked up a bottle that read: Potato Bug Hair.

“Don‘t panic Iris, I‘ll-”

“May I remind all of you, if you fail to complete this assignment, you will automatically fail this class? I know all of you, except for some certain people, will absolutely have no problem with this assignment.” The teacher warned. He placed a giant red-rust colored cauldron in the middle of the class. The desks of the classroom and been placed in a circular shape and at a great distance from the cauldron to give the sorcerer a good distance to perform his or her potions. Eden bit her lip and looked at Iris.

“Eden, I‘m scared.”

“Let’s see whose next; ah, Iris Parker and Eden DeVandre, your creature please.”

Eden looked at Iris and grabbed Iris’s brew chest that held her half of the potions. Iris followed her friend meekly and stood quietly next to the cauldron. Eden sighed, opened the chest, and grabbed some random portions from the classroom’s supply cabinet.

“Hello, my name is Eden DeVandre and this is my friend here Iris Parker…” Eden cleared her throat and smiled. Iris smiled a sheepish smile and waved

“Hi.” some random student waved. The class giggled at the response.

“I didn’t ask you to introduce yourselves Iris, Eden what will your creature be and what potions will you use?” The teacher asked as he grabbed a notepad to write things down.

“I thought that you first wanted us to introduce ourselves?” Eden asked.

“No, I just want to see your creature. Now can you show the class?” The teacher clarified.

“But sir, how will my fellow classmates judge my creation if they don‘t know my name?” Eden gasped, as she bought time and thought of a potion that they could do.

“Everyone in this class room knows who you are so if I was you I would demonstrate you potion, right now.” The teacher ordered and tapped his notebook. Iris and Eden looked at each other and wore faces of uncertainty. Eden then sighed as she realized that she could possibly create a good creature out of the supplies that they had.

“Well then good sir, Iris and I decided to create a new creature…we named it a…uh…a…”

“A Chucho, short for Chuchepatasuar.” Iris blurted out and nodded her head sharply.

“A Chucho, that’s a very interesting name. Is it Latin?” The teacher asked as he wrote in his book.

“Sure, lets go with that.” Eden smiled an innocent smile and nodded as she had agreed.


“All right girls, I want to see your Chucho creation. You may begin and take your time.”

“Ok.” Both girls said simultaneously. Oh well, lets see what comes out Eden thought

Eden began to drop all sorts of liquids into the cauldron: herbs, oils, and a dash of dragon’s blood. She made it seam as if she was carefully measuring every ingredient she dropped in. Iris mimicked her friend and would glance occasionally at her friend with her eyes yelling, “I have no idea what I‘m doing!”

The cauldron began boiling a dark almost black color. Just for the heck of it, she added a bit of her purple Chromo hair into the cauldron with hope it would change into a more pleasant color. The class was impressed as they showed signs of approval of the color the potion had changed into.

The potion suddenly changed to light purple, then pink and out of cauldron, a creature emerged. The creature was small the size of a base ball, it was deformed as if it had been hit by an atomic bomb and it was pink and furry with bolding spots that revealed a black scalp.

The class began screaming and running away from the creature as it
shot out of the cauldron. Some students would trip and fall as they encountered the rearranged desks and identical book bags that lay on the floor. It bounced around the classroom wall and between the running and chaotic students that just seamed to run in circles as in unsure where to go. The teacher seamed frantic to control the atmosphere and seamed to have forgotten his emergency training he had received for events like these were to occur.

“Everyone remain calm!”

No one listened. Eden and Iris followed the creature around the room until in crashed out of the classroom door window and went into the building hallway.

“Our creature!” Shouted Iris and ran after it slamming the door to the classroom open.

“My grade!” Eden followed. Both girls found themselves outside in the hall along with their classmates who ran out of the room and into the lone hallway. As the classmates screamed in the halls, some students began to peep out of their own classroom doors to see the commotion that was happening while instruction time was occurring.

“Iris, we have to find the thing and fast.” Eden said as she bit her lip and began to worry. The creature was nowhere in sight.

“I agree completely. Eden, I think you should look yonder. I‘ll go theta way.” Iris instructed as she pointed to another long hallway. Eden nodded in approval. Iris ran away from Eden, hit the end of that hallway, turned at a corner, and was out of sight. Eden ran the opposite direction in which Iris had ran, and quickly looked at every corner she ran by to see if that little monster was anywhere in her sight as students ran past her.

The hall had strangely become empty as she headed down stairs to the lower floor. The only sounds that inhabited the floor were of her sneakers as she walked and of the muffled lectures that were heard from the closest classroom. She couldn’t believe that she had to hustle to find a monster that she had created before anyone else found out about her mistake. Eden could already hear it: her sister making fun of her because she couldn’t perform a simple creature spell, the whole student body giggling and making jokes about her and her spell gone wrong. Her imagination was so vivid she could hear the actual giggles and whisper as she would walk by the students.

Eden decided to stop to catch her breath; she held her chest and held her head down at the floor as she gasped for air. As she looked up, she saw the thing bouncing at the end of the hall, stopping to only look at her with its giant black eyes. It looked at her as if mocking her and saying “come and get me.”
Hey, come here. ” She carefully whispered to it and carefully began to get close to it. The creature slowly backed away from her keeping its sight on her.

“Don‘t be that way, come with me and ill give you candy.” She bribed again and continued to get closer to it. It did something with its head that resembled shaking in disagreement.

“Come on!” She then shouted in anger and ran towards it; it turned around and ran away.

“Fuck!” Eden shouted as the thing looked at her and then bounced away. Eden ran after it and slid to an unexpected halt; she gasped and stood as if frozen in her place. The creature had stopped in front of two giant doors and turned around to look at her. The doors were dark green with a giant chain that made sure the doors would never open. The chain was once white silver but now it was black and rusty.

“Here monster, get away from those doors.” Eden sweetly smiled, whispered, and slowly extended her hands to grab it.

The creature looked back at Eden, and its mouth curled a nasty upward way that made it seam as if it was smirking at her. Eden’s fake smile instantly morphed into a frown as it turned back and faded into the doors.

“Oh crap.”

Adeni Sforza gazed outside his classroom window in the fourth floor of building 300. He watched the sidewalks, and few people passed underneath him, some of them were the witches and wizards that dared to walk past by the front entrance to their building. All of the buildings had different school hours so the students would stay away from each other, and they had different school entrances way from each building. Only one hour left of class and he was free.

As if time had few by, the bell suddenly rang, Adeni grabbed his books and began heading towards to class room door.

“Adeni, may I have a moment of your time?” The teacher asked. Adeni stopped dead and looked at the teacher with his dark chocolate brown eyes. He was seventeen years old, had a beautifully constructed face, a chiseled face with dark brown hair.

“Of course Ms. Lu.” He said. Ms. Lu sat on her chair and Adeni grabbed a chair and sat in front of his teacher’s desk.

“Adeni, I see you in a near by future being someone very successful. For what I‘ve seen, you are also a brilliant debater, out of all the students in Bronx that I‘ve seen debate, you are superior compared to them.” Ms. Lu began.

“Well, thank you, I suppose.”

“I know you may be wondering why I‘m telling you this, so let me get to the point. I know that you have so much talent; and I want the nation to know that like young witches and wizards, we werewolves could debate as good as or even better than they could. I want to make a risky proposition Adeni.” Ms. Lu said seriously. She got closer to the boy.

“When I moved into a new apartment, I discovered this letter that was meant for a Bronx student in building 200 named Charlie Stuart. It says of a debate tournament meant for students such as those that study in building 200, and as you see, the tournament is not that far away.” Ms. Lu said as she handed Adeni the open letter. Adeni silently read the letter and looked up. “It’s in two months.”

“You want me to compete against them under a false name?” Adeni asked.

“Well, yes if you put it that way. I know it sounds like a crazy idea, and it may be risky but I think you’re up for the challenge.”

“It says there that I have to compete with another student from building, what if they ask questions?” Adeni wondered. “What if the person that I compete with knows the real Charlie person?”

“Tell them that you‘re new and if that does seam to occur, say that it‘s a common name.” Ms. Lu simply responded.

“That does sound good, but what if magic is involved?” Adeni said in an uncomfortable tone. He placed the letter down. “Don‘t get me wrong, I‘m very interested but I‘m just a bit worried if they find out that I‘m not one of them.”

“I don‘t think you will have anything to worry about. The debates are in the day and while the full moons are out you could hide in the night.” Ms. Lu confirmed and crossed her arms. “What do you think?”

“…if the debates are in the day, then sure, I‘ll do it.” Adeni shrugged and gave a side smile.

“Wonderful! I‘ll take care of sending the response back. ” She thought aloud.

“How are you going to do that? The letter says that you have to send it through some magical way.” Adeni asked.

“I may be a werewolf, but I also have some tricks on my fur. Adeni, mention this to no one, I‘ll take care of your parents and all you have to worry about is winning. Show them that Bronx also has very good wolf debaters too.” Ms. Lu smiled. She got the envelope and letter and put it in her purse. Adeni was nervous but excited.

What had he accepted? What did he get into? Apparently, he didn’t think about it, but it was now done.



Suzan hugged Gabriela as she was about to board Flight 218 to Los Angeles, California. The competition began in two days and she was heading west of the country, away from New York.

“Good bye Gabriela! I‘ll miss you!” Suzan wept, she cleaned the tears with the long black sleeve of her sweater.

“I‘ll miss you too Suzan!” Gabriela fought the tears from rolling down her eyes.

“You better call me every day! I‘ll be waiting for your call.” Suzan smiled.

“I will, I will!” Gabriela promised. They hugged for the last time.

“I expect you to win this Gabriela. I expect you to be no less than number one.” Her mother said. She grabbed her by the shoulders to show she was very serious.

“I‘ll try my best mom.”

“Your best better make you the winner.” Bethany warned. She hugged her mother ignoring what she had just said and then drifted off to hug her dad. Zackary Lombardo had strangely taken the moment to see his only child leave New York. He then kissed his daughter in the forehead.

“Take care Gabriela. No matter how good or bad you do, you will always be a winner to your father.” Her dad said and hugged her again.

“Fight 128 boarding passengers. Please begin boarding the plane.” A woman informed over the speaker. Gabriela broke the embrace and looked at where the voice was coming from; she then grabbed her black suite case and headed to the boarding door glancing back one last time to say good-bye.


Adeni put his suite case down as he walked threw the Hotel’s fancy glass doors; he was there. He watched teenagers talking to each other, laughing; he was amongst them, one werewolf amongst a hundred and ten sorcerers and warlocks. A giant white banner hanged from the hotel lobby that read:

Welcome N.D.T.S Participants!

He felt uncomfortable and knew that he was completely alone.

“Excuse me, can all the participants of the debate competition please meet me in the conference room in five minuets.” A woman announced and then walked away. The swarm of teenagers began moving to the giant conference room; Adeni followed the crowd after giving his luggage to a bellhop. The conference room was a very large one filled with rows and columns of white chairs for the contestants to sit on. A podium in the front of all the chairs now was empty. All the contestants began taking their seats and continued talking amongst each other. Adeni knew that he had to look for his debate partner; he knew that he had to find him or her, but he didn’t know who or where to start.

“Can I have your attention?” A young woman spoke onto the microphone. All the magicians settled down, and looked at the woman; she wore a pink dress.

“Welcome all to the 67th Annual National Debate Tournament, my name is Antoinette Van Matron and I am the senior advisor. Before I begin, I hope that you have all been acquainted with your school partners and that your team is ready for the wonderful experience you will all encounter. Congratulate yourselves; you are all the best debaters in this country.” Antoinette began. Teenagers began cheering and some even went to the point where they stood up and clapped their hands. Adeni smiled at a random teenage boy that tried to do the wave with what seamed to be his debating partner. Antoinette signaled them to settle down as she wore a friendly smile on her face. Adeni turned back his attention to his thoughts and looked around, worried at the fact that he hadn’t found his debate partner.

“Like all competitions out there, there are rules, and this tournament is no exception. One of our very important rules that you all have to abide by is that there is no magic what so ever. No spells, hexes, potions, anything that is not Natural-like is not allowed.” Mrs. Van Matron firmly informed as soon as the students settled down.

“What!”

Many kids gasped at the sudden news. The noise level began rising in the hotel conference room.

“Why not!”

“I can‘t believe this!”

“I need you all to settle down. This is a debate tournament, not a magic one. Let me just warn you if any of you are caught doing any magic of any sort, you’re team will be disqualified and sent back home.” She warned over the sudden murmurs.

Adeni felt as if a great amount of weights had lifted from his heart. He breathed a little better and now felt as if it was going to be a fair fight.

“But why no magic?” A voice asked from the front row.

“We are in a very open hotel and as you all are aware we must not show any signs that we are different from the Naturals that run this hotel. We must show no signs that we are different, that is one reason that we ban magic. We are also doing this to prevent any unprincipled division.” Antoinette calmly explained.

“To apply this rule into play, all your rooms have been hexed and if anyone who tries to be funny and breaks the rules, will be caught at once.” She continued. The teenagers were still murmuring; a sorcerer leaned close to Adeni and rolled his green eyes.

“Can you believe her? Not all of us are cheaters, I think it‘s going to be hard to live without magic. Don‘t you agree?” He asked.

“I personally don‘t think that it‘ll be that hard.” Adeni said and half smiled, he then looked away.

“Changing the subject, the teams will begin tomorrow. The debates will be cross-examination debates as you all are aware of, and we will start by school alphabetical order so make sure you are always ready. The debates, as you have been aware, will be coed. It’s the first time since the organization began that we have the girls and boys debate in teams against each other, so we‘re going to see how this works out. ” She finally said. “Now all I have to say is; welcome!”

Gabriela sat in the Hotel lobby that same night; she sat looking at the teenagers leaving in herds, acting as if they had known each other for years instead of only just one day. She didn’t know anyone and she knew that she had to look for her debate companion but she didn’t want to get to know no one. Even if she had to get along with her ghost partner, she was just there to win, not to make friends.

Adeni looked around the Hotel lobby after he had asked another debater what school he hailed from and suddenly thought he saw some one that he recognized; it was a girl. He recognized her as one of the girls that would dare pass by in front of building 300’s front entrance. When he would see her she seamed very calm and even sometimes very serious, he dared to confront her for he felt that this quiet girl was his fellow partner.

“Hey, are you here for the tournament?” Adeni asked randomly. Gabriela looked up from her book to see a handsome person trying to talk to her. His chocolate eyes melted threw her.

“Yes.” She replied returning her attention to her book.

“Ah- me too. Hey, what‘s your name?” He asked and sat next to her. Gabriela looked up and saw that he had taken a seat; she realized that if she didn’t answer him, he wouldn’t leave.

“Who would like to know?” She asked as she shut her book and used her finger as a bookmarker.

“A guy.”

“And that guy would be…”

“Charlie, Charlie Stuart.” He answered.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Gabriela Lombardo.” Gabriela answered and reopened her book. She continued reading hoping he would leave.

“So Gabriela, can I guess where you‘re from?” Apparently, he didn’t want to leave.

“If you want to…go ahead.”

“Let me get a signal here…” Adeni jokingly said. He held his head, as a fortuneteller would to contact spirits. He then closed his eyes. Gabriela glanced at him a couple of seconds. “Hum…let me guess, Bronx Academy in Manhattan, New York.”

“You‘re right, how did you know?”

“I see you are a smart girl, you ask so many questions.” Adeni laughed as he saw Gabriela’s amazed yet confused reaction. He also saw that she had completely closed her book. “To answer your question, I’m not a stalker, but I’m actually a physic and a wizard. Weird right?”

“It is very strange. Since you know where I hale from, I have the right to know what school you will be representing.” Gabriela stated and crossed her arms.

“If you would love to know, I‘m also from Bronx Academy.” Adeni admitted.

“Really, so you must be my companion in the tournament.” She questioned; she then became interested.

“Yes, yes I am and I really hope to work with you.” He continued and gave a very courteous smile at her.

“I hope it’ll be pleasant to work with you too, but what I find a little odd is the fact that I‘ve never seen you before.” Gabriela admitted and cocked her eyebrow.

“You know what‘s funny, I‘ve never seen you too.” Adeni quickly answered. “But it‘s because I just enrolled to Bronx a couple of days ago, I still live in Italy but I‘m moving to New York after the end of the tournament. They chose me to represent Bronx too because of the debating fame I have back in my home land.”

“Interesting.” Gabriela sighed and headed for her book.

“Hey, do you think it’s going to be challenging?” Adeni thought fast. Gabriela sighed and looked at him.

“I expect it will be, I‘m not jeopardizing my education so it could result as waist of time.” Gabriela shared and nodded her head. Gabriela then looked at another crowd of teenagers leaving the hotel. “I know that we’re a team, but shouldn‘t you be talking to them, they seam fun.”

“Nah, I’m not interested. Do you want me to leave or something?” Adeni asked. A smile grew on his face; he had dimples! Gabriela stayed quiet and bit her lower lip not looking at him.

“I see. Gaby, you are a very mean girl.”

“Don‘t call me that. My name is Gabriela and I expect you to call me by my name, not Gaby.” Gabriela snapped.

“Sorry, I didn‘t mean to offend you and your very elegant name.” Adeni said as he looked away. “You should try to be nicer, people like pleasant and keen girls.” Her eyes went into slits.

“So, if I may ask without getting shouted at, what book are you reading?” He asked as he tried to look at the title.

“Black Boy by Richard Wright.” Gabriela answered showing him the cover of the book. The book had an African American boy on it.

“Ah…looks very interesting.” Adeni added. “Is it?”

“Yes.” She simply answered. Adeni sighed, he hated her short answers and wanted to leave but there was something about her that he thought was interesting.

“What is it about?” Adeni asked again. “Is it a love story?”

“No. It‘s an autobiography.” She grunted and looked away.

“Is it a love autobiography?”

“No, just an autobiography.”

“I thought you girls read love stories?” Adeni pondered.

“That‘s a stereotype, not all girls read love novels.”

“Oh, sorry I guess.”

Awkward silence.

“Say I know that I might not know you so much, but we should go out some time when we‘re not busy tearing the other schools down.” Adeni asked, he also thought she wasn’t so bad. “Maybe on the way I could dip you in sugar and hopefully that‘ll help with your problem.”

“I don‘t need to be ‘dipped in sugar’ and I have no problem.” Gabriela answered; she went back to her book. “Anyway, I don’t think so, I‘m not interested.”

“Really, I don’t believe you. You seamed as if you were. What about as friends? ” Adeni pushed. “I could get you off that book for a while.”

“No, I don’t want to be your friend.” She coldly stated.

“But I do.”

“Listen Charlie, I know that I have to work with you for the sake of our school, but don‘t push it.” Gabriela warned.

“I was just trying to be friendly.” Adeni innocently shrugged.

“If you want to be my friend so badly, how about when pigs fly.” She got her book and stood up. She looked at him and walked away. “When that day arrives, we‘ll talk.”

“That can be arranged.” He shouted after her, she glanced back at him and gave a hidden smile.



“The doors: my grade and an adventure or death and an F.” Eden tried to decide and she had to decide quickly. She knew the consequences that followed if she crossed the locked doors and if the Council or any other sorcerer found out. She gently touched the cold doors and made her choice; she decided to cast a verbal fading spell. She quickly looked back if the halls were empty and when the coast was clear, she faded through the doors.

With out focusing her and covering her eyes, she faded through the doors and quickly ran across the bridge to the other pair of sealed doors. Eden didn’t feel right, she felt as if she didn’t belong as soon as she arrived to a strange looking building. White walls, class room doors and rows of lockers all seamed to make the place human yet in Eden‘s eyes she was convinced it was not. The doors were a dark color and terrorizing which intimidated her every follicle in her body. Eden was in werewolf territory, she was the first witch in almost a century and a half to step into building 300.

Eden ran threw the unfamiliar halls unaware if she was going the wrong way or if she was going to run into someone that might do harm to her looking for the chup-whatever thing. She grew desperate watching the halls disappear behind her and feeling time slow down with every step she took. When almost all hope was lost and she was on the verge to pulling all her hair out of her head, she saw the monster heading towards some stairs. Eden chased it and followed it blindly through a door. When she realized where she had walked in, she shrieked. Eden was in the boy’s restroom.

“Where the hell are you, you stupid monster!” She cried as she covered her eyes to avoid seeing anything and walked blindly.

“Hey!”

A boy her age stepped inside the restroom and looked confused. He wore building 300’s uniform and his dark brown hair was spiked up, his brown eyes looked at Eden with shock. Eden turned as she heard his voice and opened her eyes to look at him, her Chromo bangs unrepentantly changed to a pink shade. The person instantly quietly and carefully turned back to the door and locked it.

“Don‘t you dare get near me.” Eden warned. She began to sweat as she held her hands high in defense.

“What are you doing at this building, why have you come here? Answer me!” He demanded, his raging voice echoed in the bathroom walls.

“I don’t have to answer you anything.” Eden barked. She began looking for the creature in the room, but always kept an eye on the unknown werewolf. He just stood, watching her every move carefully.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you care?”

“You‘re in my building I have a right to know.” The boy coldly responded.

“Stop your bitching, I’ll tell you so you could leave me alone. I’m looking for my creature that happened to just wonder in to your territory.” She forcefully explained. She stopped her searching and looked at him as she spoke.

“Liar, why would anything that belongs to your kind be here?” He questioned.

“You think I wanted to come over here? I came because my creature wandered over to your building. I don‘t want to talk to…you.” Eden explained as she looked at the sinks.

“Creature, is that what satin worshipers call everything that isn’t human.” He growled.

“Fuck off, we’re not satin worshipers. You don‘t know anything about my kind, mutt.” Eden cackled, she opened the stalls and checked inside.

“I am not a mutt witch; I’m as human as you are.” He clarified.

“I prefer the word ‘sorceress’ thank you. Listen, I don’t want to waste my time fighting with a wolf, I just want to find my…creation and get out of here.” Eden sighed; she turned back and looked at him.

“I have a name just like you, so you can just stop calling me wolf.“ The wolf told her.

“Thanks for letting me know…”

“It‘s Aleixandre.”

“Great! Now that I know your name, if you would be so kind to help me find it Alex I could leave much faster, and you could do…well, whatever you were going to do. ” Eden said. Alex sighed in frustration; he just wanted her to leave, so he accepted to help her. He eyed around, but saw nothing anywhere; he only saw the girl and himself.

“There‘s nothing hiding here, it’s only us.” Alex quickly concluded.

“Yes there is now instead of just standing where you are move and look around.” She ordered. Alex growled and began searching. “Look harder, I know it‘s here.”

“I don‘t see anything, I don‘t even know what I‘m looking for!” He told her as he searched under the bathroom stalls. He felt stupid looking for something he didn’t know about, he had no idea how it even looked or any other description of the creature.

“It‘s pink and ugly…that should help you spot it out.” Eden described.

“There is nothing pink other than your hair!”

“Yes there is, stop being pessimistic!” Eden cried at him and held herself together. “I bet it‘s using my Chromo…”

“Hey girl, your hair changed color.” Alex pointed out. Eden’s pink bangs turned blood red; she headed for mirror and looked at it.

“That‘s freaky, my hair has never changed by itself.” She wondered as she gazed at her refection and touched her hair with such care. Eden then held her hair up close to her grey eyes to inspect.

“I be it hasn‘t…” He added sarcastically.

Eden cocked her eyebrow, gazed at him through the mirror, and then turned her attention randomly to the blue tiled floor. There was something strange shape that stood out of the tile. The shape camouflaged with the blue color of the floor tiles but it watched her wondering if she had recognized it. Apparently, she had because she immediately snatched the shape.

“You stupid thing! Change color and show that I’m not crazy! ” Eden yield as she banged the camouflaged creature repeatedly on the bathroom sink, the creature squirmed in her hands and finally changed into its originally pink color.

“What the hell is that?” Alex asked as he gazed at the monster with a putrefied face expression.

“This is what I was looking for, this is my creature. I made it in spell class.” Eden shared as she struggled to keep a hold of it. “Do you have something I can put it in?”

“No?” He asked. “What is it called anyway?” Alex got closer to her and patted the ugly creature as she held it with both hands. The creature licked Eden’s hands.

“I forgot, I‘ll just name it Alex. It kind of looks like you anyway.” Eden joked. She smiled at him. “I‘m Eden, by the way.”

“If I make a dust bunny out of my fur, I‘ll name it after you.” He also joked. For the first time, Alex looked at Eden in her gray eyes other than at the color of her uniform; she also looked deeply into his eyes. There was a long silence that seamed to last for an eternity.

“I have to go…you know, back to building 200. Thanks for you help.” Eden said but didn’t move to leave. She bit her lip in embarrassment.

“Anytime. Hey, I know this might sound crazy, but can I see you again?” Alex asked. Eden seamed surprised.

“You want to see me again?”

“Yeah, I could show you around during our lunch period, it‘s at eleven.” Alex asked her. “Can you meet me here?”

“I don‘t know, you know because of the fact that I‘m a sorceress and that you’re a werewolf…” Eden worried. “You know that we shouldn’t even be talking to each other right now, right?”

“Don‘t tell me that you‘re scared. We aren‘t going to do anything…you won‘t get caught. I‘ll make sure of that.” Alex made sure.

“Who said anything about being scared? I am not scared to hang out with you, I laugh at the faces of the Council of Augury because I‘m not scared” Eden laughed. “Fine, I‘ll be here".

The night was young two days later, and that day Gabriela and Adeni had been chosen to debate. They both did excellent; the topic of the debate was a simple one, of whether Christopher Columbus was to be seen as a hero, or a villain? Gabriela and Adeni did their research in a nearby library. They had defeated the opposing debater by stating that Columbus was to be seen as a villain. Adeni had tried to get Gabriela to be a little friendlier during their first debate but it didn’t work that well. After another hard day of debating, Gabriela was arriving at her suite number 227 that she shared with other girls who were competing. The suite was a large one that had a small hallway that led to four rooms, a lounge, a kitchen and a bathroom…boy how sweet the suite was!

“Gabriela, something came for you.” One of her roommates shouted from the lounge couch, she stood up and handed Gabriela the cutest stuffed pink pig. The pig held a letter that had written: Gabriela Lombardo.

“Thank you, do you know who left it?” Gabriela was confused but interested, she toyed with the stuffed pig‘s right ear.

“No, I just found it on the door when I got here. ” The room mate shrugged. Gabriela took a seat on the funky looking gray couch and opened the letter.




Pigs can fly, look outside.
She laughed a little as she read the containing letters in note, but then there was a sudden sharp nudging feeling that made her want to look outside. Out of curiosity, she walked over into their suite balcony. The sun was almost gone and the city lights looked lovely under the yellows and oranges that the sky portrayed. The cold air blew her hair as she looked around and she saw nothing.

“Hey you!” Shouted a voice from bellow. She followed the sound and looked down and saw that a few floors bellow her and across another balcony, Adeni was looking at her. “Took you such a long time to get the letter.”

“Why are you wasting your time on these things? You should use this time to study.” Gabriela responded as she waved the stuffed pig at him.

“I‘m not wasting my time, I‘m going to prove to you that pigs can fly!” He responded and flashed her a successful smile.

“I am quiet aware that they can fly. The only way that one will fly is by enchanting it, which you can‘t do or you will be banished of the tournament.” She reminded him. Adeni laughed at her response.

“I won‘t enchant it, but if I get a pig to fly, will you keep your promise?” Adeni asked.

“What promise?”

“You and me, one night out into the town of Los Angeles.” Adeni reminded. Gabriela cocked an eyebrow and hid a smile, she said nothing.

“I‘ll take your silence as a yes.” Adeni brought out another identical pig held tightly on it as he began to climb up the fence that secured his balcony. As he made sure that his feet were tightly rapped on the balcony, he launched the pig up in the air towards Gabriela. Gabriela saw the pig fly, stretched her arms and caught it; she almost lost her balance as she did.

“Does that count?” Adeni asked at her.

“It didn‘t fly, you launched it at me.” Gabriela theoretically explained.

“Yes it did! If we look up the word ‘fly’ the definition says ‘to travel or move in the air’, it traveled. From my hands to yours way up there. ” Adeni also explained. “It counts.”

“No it doesn‘t!”

“Yes it does!

“Fly has myriads of definitions.”

“Very true, it does and that‘s what one of the defections.” Adeni smiled.

“No it isn‘t.” Gabriela grunted at him.

“ I‘m coming over there.” Adeni announced, as he began climbing towards Gabriela’s balcony. The sun had stopped shinning and the new moon let the stars reappear in the sky.

“STOP! Are you mad, what are you doing?” Gabriela screamed as she saw his shape get closer. “Go back! You‘re going to kill yourself!”

“Gabriela, is something wrong?” The roommate asked from inside the room.

“Nothing‘s wrong. I just saw a spider.” She lied. “I‘m going to stay out here for a while to clear my head from the debate, I‘ll be in shortly.” She closed the balcony doors and pearl curtains, she then took a seat on the patio chair that faced the city. Adeni arrived and smiled at her.

“It counts.”

“Fine, fine you‘re right it‘s valid. Can you now leave me alone ?” She asked as she toyed with the pig’s ear and then looked at Adeni.

“Not yet, I want my promise.”




The school cafeteria was full of noisy students the day that Eden visited Alex during his eating period. Eden felt strange, at that time she would be in class holding on to dear life so she could stay wake, now she was in wolf territory and even wearing a wolf’s uniform.

Eden decided to hold her hair in a bun, Chromo it all black and styled light turquoise thick glasses. She wanted to go as herself but Alex had told her that she would stick out like a sore thumb if she only Chromed part of her hair because werewolves didn’t dye their hair; it had to do something with their fur. Taking this sad news and morphing it into an adventure she not only wore her hair in a solid color but also decided to look different so people would recognized her if they saw her outside Bronx and would suspect. That day, Eden DeVandre transformed into Samantha Gomez.

“I always thought werewolves were only guys.” Eden said as they passed a group of girls laughing, they were sitting on a table. One of them was literally sitting on the table.

“Werewolves are both male and female, in reality, we get most of our werewolf traits from our mothers.” Alex explained. “If our people would be wiped out and there was only one she-wolf left, she would rebuild it even if had a kid with a human.”

“What form of government do you guys have? Do you have a group of people that sort of govern your society like we do? With us, we have the Council of Augury. It‘s made out of the 12 most powerful sorcerers of the United States. There are many councils all over the world.” Eden asked, she had so many questions. It was only once that a witch could ask another creature questions.

They headed inside the orange colored cafeteria where it was swarming with teenagers heading in and out of the building with food, or waiting to obtain it.

“ You could say that we have something kind of like that; The Pack Leaders. We only have 5 though, since there‘s not a lot of my kind. We mostly live in France and there are some of us in Italy and here.” He explained. “And there is only one woman in our counsel by the way.”

“I think there‘s like five women in our council.” Eden tried to remembered. “I‘ve been meaning to ask you, In my society I’ve always heard that when there is a full moon you lose control, and that when you transform-”

“Back up a little. One: we don‘t go crazy when there‘s a full moon. The moon makes us stronger and it’s the only moon phase that we change forcefully, we can‘t help it. Two: we don’t go on a killing spree, we’re actually very peaceful, we don’t fight against each other; unless you count’s wrestling, and it is true we can change on our free will. ” He grabbed a food tray.

“Oh, and just to let you know, we‘re not that quite human.” He added quickly as he saw Eden’s reaction as she saw what some guys were eating, it was raw meat. “Did I mention that we are more werewolf than human?”

“You lied to me then, yesterday you told me you were as human as I am.” Eden laughed, she smirked at him, he smiled in return. “ Out of curiosity, are there vegetarian werewolves?”

“No.” Alex chuckled and shook his head. “they wouldn‘t last.”

“Can I ask you a question, I don‘t know if you‘ll know what I‘m talking about though.” Eden suddenly asked cocking her eyebrow as she received a raw chicken leg and an orange juice carton. Alex nodded in approval. “Do you know about the couple?”

“What couple, there’re a lot.”

“You know, the couple of the sorceress and the werewolf.” Eden carefully asked loud enough for Alex to only hear. Alex’s face turned cold and he sighed.

“Oh that couple, yeah I know of them. To tell you the truth we don‘t talk about them a lot in our society.” Alex confessed as they stepped out of the cafeteria and into the sunny mall area.

“Us either, but what do you guys know about them?” Eden asked.

“Why do you want to know?” He asked full of suspicion.

“It‘s because I‘ve always wanted to know your kind‘s side of the story to that event.” Eden responded.

“Are you here to get information of my kind out of me?” Alex seriously asked as he halt and sternly looked at her.

“What? No. Why would I want to do that?”

“I don‘t know, maybe to send back to your people or something.”

“If that were the case then I don‘t think that they would have sent me. They would have sent someone smarter who can actually do a perfect spell without having it end in the Principal‘s office.” Eden admitted.

“Wow, you aren‘t very smart are you?” Alex blurted out. Eden seamed hurt.

“No, so what?” She growled back. “Are you calling me stupid?”

“I‘m sorry I didn‘t mean to say that.”

“Of course you didn‘t.”

“Geesh, I said I was sorry.”

“Did you really?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You owe me for calling me stupid. Answer my question.” Eden pouted.

“The one about the couple?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we don‘t know how exactly they fell in love but this it how it‘s told in our society. It’s said that they met a couple of years ago but others say that they met in the 15th century, I‘m not quite sure which to believe but it has the same story. Its not known how they met, or what their names are but for the sake of the story we always call her witch and him wolf.”

“Yeah, I have a little problem with that word witch, it‘s a little offensive to my kind and to me. Why don’t you call her Sorceress instead?” Eden interrupted and dumped her food in the garbage can nearest to them.

“Ok then, we‘ll call her sorceress. Well the deal is that they met and they fell in love. My people say that she enchanted him with a potion knowing that he was a werewolf and that their love would never be accepted. She gave him the potion on the same day of their meeting and he fell in love with her. The potion wore off months after the second full moon and it turned into real love. They held their relationship for a whole year and to fuel their emotion he would meet her in Central Park on nights of full moons where they would make love. Somewhere in the middle of the their romance, she became pregnant and casted a spell so that the baby would never be born.”

“The abortion.” Eden whispered. Both stories had the abortion in common yet their story was different. It was the most cruelest part of the story in Eden‘s perspective.

“Yes, the abortion. Apparently the girl casted the wrong spell and caused major harm to herself. It was so bad that she had to be hospitalized and that’s where the sorcerers found out that she was pregnant of a werewolf. How did they know it was of a werewolf, I have no idea. So what happened is that your leaders and ours found out about this act of treasury and decided to separate the lovers. They decided to send her to the farthest place from New York and the werewolf to the farthest place from the girl. The werewolf realized the plan of the Pack Leaders and turned against them harming and killing the main leader in a battle. He was brutally murdered by the worst way a wolf could be killed: being sent into the pit of the ancestor wolves. The ancestor wolves are the first humans to have been the offspring of the wolves and humans decades ago. They’re still alive but only the Pack Leaders know where they are because if they are found and killed by the other societies, my kind would perish in an instant.”

“Wow, your story is so different from ours.”

“You think so?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, our story is way different. The abortion was caused because your council found out and they kidnapped the sorceress and well, they yanked the kid out of her. In my society the couple met on an event that was only meant for our kind and the werewolf crashed it. The sorceress was murdered by burn at stake.” Eden shared.

“Aleixandre!” Both teenagers suddenly heard. The voice came from a group of teenage boys who were staring at both of them. The group consisted or four boys: One had silver hair with frightening black eyes; he was sitting on the blue table on which they were eating on. Another had black hair, it was very short to be a high school senior but he stood next to another guy that had pale blue eyes and light brown hair, that boy smiled. The forth had a nasty scar on the side of his left cheek, he looked mean and aggressive.

“Who‘s that you’re talking with?”

“You‘re not going got introduce us?”

“I was just going to, this is my friend Eden.” Alex introduced. Eden smiled as the guys. “Eden, these are my friends: Kier, Amerigo, Constantine, and Greg.”

“She smells different…she smells new.” Greg seamed suspicious, his soulless black eyes were in slits, he smelled the air around her.

“Do be stupid! she does not!” Amerigo, the boy with the pale blue eyes, slapped Greg in the back of his head. Greg growled and rubbed the back of his silver head.

“He‘s kind of right though, I‘ve never smelled her sent before.” The short wolf named Kier admitted.

“It‘s because I‘m new to Bronx.” Eden piped.

“Really, from what school?” Constantine asked.

“Victoria, in Chicago, it’s a new school. ” Eden lied perfectly.

“I discovered her in the building library, she stays there in lunch. ” Alex explained. “I asked her yesterday if she wanted to hang out with us and she agreed.”

“No wonder we’ve never seen her before. You‘re a geek.” laughed Amerigo. Alex scowled at him but Eden joined him.

“Yeah, so true.”

“How long have you been here in Bronx?” Asked Kier.

“A couple of days…”

“Well I‘ve never seen her even in one of my classes.” Greg acknowledges.

“I‘ve never seen you, that means we don‘t have classes together.” Eden cleverly said. Greg shrugged as he saw that she was right.

The three teenagers( Constantine, Greg, and Kier) shrugged at the fact that it was strange that the girl had not been seen before in a building of only 200 students, yet Amerigo didn’t. There was something strange about the girl, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He said nothing.

Gabriela walked on Hollywood Blvd. The street lights were blinking on and the buildings shined of extravagant colors, pinks, pearls and blue lights. She wore a red knee high dress and her waving brown hair loose and free. She rolled her hazel eyes as she realized who she was with, she was with her debating partner: Charlie Stuart. Both of them had no competition that day, the practice debates were over and now the real debates were starting.

“Come on Gabs! It‘s not like if I‘m going to rape you or something. We‘re here for fun, to see Hollywood.” Adeni sighed as he saw her reaction of not wanting to be there.

“I can‘t believe I‘m here.” She mumbled and folded her arms. “I shouldn’t be here with you, I‘m fifteen and you‘re seventeen.

“There is nothing wrong with that, my mother is three years older than my father. ” Adeni pouted.

“But they are adults, we‘re teenagers.” She shot at him.

“We can work it out!” He told her, she stopped dead on her tracks in front of the Chinese Theater and looked at him, rolled her eyes and then continued walking.

“I just realized something .” Adeni suddenly blurted out and walked after her. “you have a crush on me.”

“No I don‘t, I think you‘re annoying and you should grow up and stop chasing after young girls.” She shouted.

“Oh really if that‘s what you think then, why are you with me now? Why did you go along with this whole promise thing, you should have just told me that you were playing. Why are you blushing?” He pointed out as he stopped her. Gabriela looked away from him, her face lit up with anger.

“ I don’t know if your peanut size brain notices that we are standing under a red neon light. ” She sighed as she pointed at a giant sign above them that read: “Hollywood Blv. Gift Shop” The red light caused their skin color to appear a reddish one; In reality, she was blushing.

“And for your information, I didn‘t want to seam like a jerk that‘s why I continued with this game. I actually feel pity for you, I feel bad for you because you begged for me to go out with you. ” She continued and laughed a bit. “It was pathetic.”

“Well as pathetic that you think it was, it worked. Yes, I did beg but I got what I wanted which is I have you here tonight.” Adeni shrugged and started walking away from her. Gabriela followed him.

“Yes, you got me here because I feel bad for you, not because of anything else.” She barked after him.

“I know.” He hid a smile and glanced back at her.

“I know you know! Do you know all that I could be doing right now? I could be studying for the next debate, we could be at the library getting books about worldwide green space.”

“Ok, from now and on we are going to have rules in this date: One, you don’t speak of the tournament…”
“What Rules? What Date? This is getting ridiculous, I’m not here in Los Angeles to get to know Hollywood, I‘m here to compete and win. I have no time to play games. ” She exploited. “I‘m leaving.”

“…Two, for you to calm down.” Adeni grabbed Gabriela from her arm as she walked away, she stopped and tried to get away from Adeni’s clutches.

“Let go of me Charles, I‘m done with this.”

“Lighten up, you‘re a teenager Gabs”

“Don‘t call me that! I told you not to call me that! It‘s Gabriela to you and to everyone else. ” She demanded.

“You should see yourself right now, getting all worked up because of a nickname. You’re so serious, it‘s scary how serious you are.” He whispered, his eyes looked disappointed and she noticed the change in them. Gabriela stopped fighting and just stared in to his eyes. “I know that you want to be the best, everyone wants to always be the best. Believe it or not, I want to win this too, but I have that balance between when I‘m serious and when I can play around. This is that time to play.”

“You need to lighten up, you need to relax and take a breath. Remember that you‘re still young, because you act as if you‘re an adult.” He sighed as he looked at her look away. Adeni gently grabbed her chin so she would look at him again. The reflection of the sign above them was seen in his dark eyes, yet they also screamed peace, quiet and disappointment.

“You don‘t know-”

“Of course I don‘t know, I don‘t know your life. You‘re thinking that I’m just a stranger that wants to go out with you, that I don’t know anything about you. In a way you are right, what would I know, I’m only your debating partner. ” He shrugged. “But then you‘re also wrong, in these talks we‘ve had, I learned something about you, you‘re different from the rest. Gabriela, you‘re a fighter, your soul is of a warrior. But you need to tell that warrior to chill, because it’s interfering from letting that nice girl there is inside of you from coming out. ”

Gabriela stayed quiet, her heart was beating for what she had just heard, she thought about what Charlie had told her. Charlie was right in a way, she only had two friends, some people didn’t like her attitude, she was demanding, her main focus was school and she hardly went out with anyone, not because her parents didn’t allow her but because she didn’t want to. It was true, she was a fighter, she fought for what she believed in and all the way to the end if she had to.

“Ok, I won‘t leave.” She decided, Adeni now held her hand and she looked at it with peace in her heart.

“Gabriela, look at me and promise me that at least for tonight you will forget everything and have a good time with me. Can you do this for me?” He asked. She looked up and at him with frightened eyes she nodded.



Gabriela was preparing to go out with Adeni again, It was New Year’s Eve and they were going to celebrate the New Years together eating at a nice restaurant that was across the Hotel. A couple of days had passed and the number of teams had descended in the tournament. Gabriela looked franticly for a rose shaped broche that her father had given her, she couldn’t find it.

“Maxine, have you seen my rose broche?” She asked her roommate. Out of the kitchen appeared a teenager of age seventeen with a spoonful of chocolate ice-cream in her mouth. She wore a large Mickey Mouse light blue colored T-shirt that looked like a dress on her and also pink slippers.

“Nope.” She muffled as she took the spoon out of her mouth. Natalie, Gabriela’s old roommate, had been kicked out of the tournament, along with her team, for trying to cheat with magic; apparently living without magic for some people became hard.

“I can‘t believe it! Of days of all days and I had to loose in today!” Gabriela grunted.

“Maybe you left it back home, are you sure you packed it?” Max asked as she dug for more ice cream in a bucket of ice-cream that she held.

“Yes I am so sure.” The door bell suddenly rang and Gabriela, afraid that Adeni had arrived, quickly made a grab for her black coat and harshly opened the door. On the door, Adeni didn’t stand, but in his place a group of girls.

“Are you Gabriela Lombardo?” One of them asked. The group looked older than Gabriela; there were five of them with all dark hair. One of them stood out most, the one that had hazel eyes like Gabriela’s but she had a beauty mark next to her lips; she was the one that had asked the question.

“Yes, who would like to know?” Gabriela asked as she looked at the girls, she also felt Max’s presence behind her. Max had now gotten a hold of another bucket of ice-cream.

“Hi, well this is very embarrassing. I‘m Maribel Cordoba and these are Kathleen Portman, Rachel Moros, Emma Luxemburg, and Clara Rodriguez.” Maribel introduced all of them, after there was an awkward silence.

“I don‘t want to sound rude but what do you want?”

“We just wanted to get some things clarified.” The girl named Kathleen spoke.

“Like what, about what?” Gabriela asked impatiently.

“Well, is it true that you and your partner Charlie Stuart are dating?” Maribel blurted out.

“What? where did you hear that?”

“So you are with him!” Max cried, her mouth was full of ice-cream. “I knew it!”

“No, I‘m not! God, why are you wasting your time asking me this stupid question.” Gabriela grouched.

“Does that mean you aren‘t, it’s because we just wanted to know since you both spend so much time together. We thought you were dating.” Emma admitted, the other girls nodded.

“ Of course Charles and I spend so much time together, we’re in the same team. If you ladies are so interested to know, there is no dating going on between us, we are very good friends and I think he thinks the same.” Gabriela lied about the second part, she knew that Charlie had a giant crush on her because he had told her. The girls looked understanding and nodded to each other in approval for what Gabriela had just told them.

“So you don‘t like him in any other way other than a friend?” Clara asked.

She stayed quiet, not knowing how to answer that question.

“We were wondering, since you know him so much, do you think one of us has a chance with him?” Kathleen giggled. Gabriela boiled inside, she hated the fact that these girls had asked her such a stupid question, but she also thought it was a question that she couldn’t truthfully answer.

“I don‘t know-”

“Oh come on Gabriela, you do know! Who would look better with Charlie?” Maribel smiled. “Wouldn‘t I look good with him by my side?”

“Keep dreaming Mari, he is so mine.” Emma sighed.

“Gaby will help me get him, right Gaby.”

“Don‘t call me that.”

“You wish! I know Gabriela more than all of you, she‘s going to put in the good word for me.” Laughed Maribel. How could you say that? I barely just met you Gabriela thought.

“He‘s so dreamy, his eyes are so sexy!” Rachel drooled. “I‘ll take him if you don‘t want him Gabriela.”

“Like I said, I‘ll take him. He has me under a spell.” Emma sighed and giggled simultaneously.

“Who has who under a spell?” Adeni asked. The girls turned and gazed at him. He wore a black tux with a red tie; he held a red rose in his left hand. The five girls smiled at him, Gabriela sighed in relief.

“Hey Charlie, we were just talking to Gabriela right now and she said you should ask me out sometime.” Maribel batted her eyes; he looked at Gabriela and she looked away.

“Really Gabriela, you said that?” He asked her with a smile. “Why are you temping me to cheat?”

“Cheat?” Rachel was confused.

“Yes cheat, we’re dating.” Adeni handed Gabriela the red rose, she accepted the rose with a face reaction that asked: why did you say that?

“Gabriela just told us that she didn‘t like you, that you guys weren‘t going out.” Kathleen stated.

“She said that! Wow, Gabs you just broke my heart.” Adeni laughed sarcastically. “I know that you do have feelings for me other than friendship, and you know that I do too. Let‘s get to the point and go out. I know you want to but you‘re just forcing your feelings away. You‘re afraid that I will hurt you; that after this competition we will go our separate ways and that I’ll never talk to you again, leaving you love sick. ”

Gabriela stayed quiet as she held the rose in her hand, she looked astonished. His eyes were shining brightly, as if hungry; the five girls were sort of frightened and felt uncomfortable.

“You have two options right now, you either go out with me on a real date, not some friend meeting and let out all those little feelings that you have inside; because I know you have them in there. Or two: you never see me again and you will always wonder until the day you die what would have happened. ” Adeni said. “I know that you want the first choice, trust me Gabriela, I know you more than you know yourself.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you Gabriela, see you later.” Maribel quickly said and left, the other girls said nothing and followed her. One by one they ran off and as Adeni had spoke his final words, Max dropped her spoon and in a zombie like state walked away in to her room. Gabriela felt uncomfortable, she felt small as if she was being manipulated the handsome so called “sorcerer”.

“Ok” was all she breathed, he held her hand and they went in to the night.

A couple of days later Aleixandre and Eden had became attached to each other, Alex would ask Eden to wait for him after school and when she did they would be off for pizza or ice-cream on 3rd and Manchester. Apparently, they didn’t care that they were from different…well almost different races. Teachers were beginning to suspect of their absences from classes so that’s why they decided to see each other after school; that particular day, Eden became surprised.

“What are you doing? I thought your geeky Natural‘s practice was today.” Eden asked Aden in an almost worried tone. Eden had bumped into her twin sister on her way to Building 300 and Alex was about to come out any minuet.

“There was Eden, but sadly the band teacher had to leave early and I went to Katie‘s house to ask her if she was coming to our own practice. Why aren‘t you home yet? School‘s been over for an hour?” Aden asked. She carried a clarinet case on one hand and a music book on the other. Her i-Pod was on blast mode and you could hear that she was listening to The Day I Left the Womb by Escape The Fate.

“What kind of music is that Aden?” Eden pointed out. “You wanna-be Natural.”

“There is nothing absolutely wrong with this music Eden, I like it and may I remind you that you like some of their songs too?” Aden pouted as she held her device and turned it off.

“Like only one song!” Eden stuttered and hid her face as she looked away from her sister’s glaring gray eyes.

“It still counts.” Aden replied. “You haven‘t answered my question though.”

“I was heading home, but I stayed a bit late after school for help. As you know, I‘m failing Spells and Potions.” Eden barked and crossed her arms.

“Yeah, I heard what happened. I wouldn‘t blame Mr. Lopez for failing you. ” Aden laughed. “The school knows, by the way, that you created a monster that ran free threw our building , but hey at least it didn‘t go out of the building to somewhere else.”

“I wouldn‘t exactly say that I failed, I have a D- and I guess that‘s good enough for me.” Eden declared, she remembered the fact that the monster had gone out of the building and that because of that little trouble maker she had met Alex, the Werewolf, but she didn‘t mention it to her sister. She would make that meeting into a giant chaotic big deal “Why aren’t‘you home?”

“Katie told me that we should still practice even if Mr. Barrientos had to leave early, so a couple of friends and me are meeting back at 200 and we‘re going to practice.” She explained and began heading towards the building.

“Well, good luck with that, I have to go.” Eden sighed as she began walking the opposite direction from her sister.

“Where are you going? You know you‘re going the wrong way.” Aden asked.

“I‘m not going home yet, I‘m going to go grab some ice-cream first. I‘ll meet you at home.” Eden shouted as she quickly walked away, not looking back at her sister.


Alex waited for his witch friend, he knew that seeing her was wrong, he knew that if her council and that if his Pack Leaders found out about their relationship, they would follow the same fate as the couple that had gone through this before. Some people said that the story of the lovers had been a lie, that it was only a legend. Others did say that it did happen, that a wolf fell in love with a witch and their fate ended up being a tragic one; they both were killed. In reality, no one really spoke about this story, it was as it was tabooed.

“Hey you.” Eden said as she hugged Alex, she had changed out of her uniform and was warring some blue jeans, brown boots and a nice V-neck brown shirt.

“What took you so long? I almost thought that you were letting the fear of this relationship kick in already.” He laughed as he greeted her.

“Relationship?”

“No, I didn‘t mean it that way. We do have a relationship because we‘re friends but that‘s just it. Not like a boyfriend and girlfriend one…you know like friends that we are-I‘m talking to much aren‘t I?” Alex babbled.

“A bit more than expected.” Eden truthfully said and walked towards the ice-cream counter. “You‘re strange Alex, you like a sorceress.”

They both took a seat on a table for two, right next to the store window. Eden spooned her cookies-and-cream ice-cream while Alex looked out the window, not touching the desert.

“You aren‘t going to believe it, my twin sister almost caught me with you.” Eden sighed, Alex glanced at her and turned his whole body to face her.

“You have a twin? Since when?”

“Since the day I was born, her name‘s Aden. She‘s older by ten seconds.” She took a spoonful of ice cream and ate it. “Do you have brothers?”

“I had a brother, his name was Atlai but he died in a car accident a couple of years ago.” Alex shared. Eden felt a wave of sadness fill her and responded by hold his hand. She gave him a tender squeeze.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t know-I didn‘t-” She softly stuttered as her face became flushed with shades of pink.

“It‘s fine don’t worry about it.” Alex hid a smile and chuckled a little. “now who’s talking a little more than expected.” Alex looked at the hand that laid on top of his and then he looked at Eden. Eden then quickly removed her hand and hid it under the table.

“Oh, I‘m sorry.”

“No don’t worry, It’s O.K.” He asked, he felt nervous being in front of her at that moment. “Can I tell you something? ”

“Sure, I guess.” Eden shrugged pursing her lips.

“I know I may not know you enough to say this, but I have to admit that I have feelings for you-the romantic type though.” Alex admitted. Eden gazed at him and then placed her spoon down on the table. She felt awkward, sort of uncomfortable in a way.

“Alex, I-I think you‘re a great guy and I‘ll tell you the truth, I have feelings for you too but remember our situation.” She said seriously.

“I know of our situation, I know and I‘m reminded every day of it.” He growled. “What if we try it, what if we try to sustain a relationship.”

“I don‘t know, it‘s dangerous and we wouldn’t last long. I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you this but by next year I‘m kind of going to have to be forced to chose a husband.” She shared carefully and in an awkward tone. Eden kept her eyes lowed at her slowly melting ice-cream.

“Husband? What do you mean by husband?” Alex jerked up and cocked an eyebrow.

“Well, that‘s how our society rolls, to keep our society alive we marry each other at a young age. We end up marrying our class mates because we know that they’re the same magical type.” Eden explained. “By next year on June, I have to have chosen a husband or my parents will chose him for me.”

“Do you want a husband? Do you even want to get married?” He was outraged.

“No but-”

“But what? How can you marry someone that you don‘t love just because of tradition? You don‘t like anyone from your kind, you like me…I‘m not from your kind. Is your society based on lies?” He interrogated and tried to remain calm.

“I never said that! You‘re just jumping in to conclusions.” Eden raised her voice a little and burrowed her eyebrows.

“Well that‘s what it sounds like, does the word happiness even exist in your society? ”He asked.

“Yes it does and my parents are full of happiness! They have been married almost twenty years and they love each other very much.” Eden defended.

“Well that‘s one couple that ended up happy, what are the chances that it will happen to you? ”He rolled his eyes and cackled a little.

“Your pushing it Alex!” She pointed out and growled.

“I‘m just being realistic, sorry for letting you know.” He harshly blurted.

“Well then, if you‘re going to continue acting like a jerk I don‘t want to talk to you anymore.” She shouted and stood up from her seat and headed towards the transparent double doors to the ice-cream shop.

“Where are you going?” He roughly asked her. Eden turned around briskly and gave a nasty angry smirk.

“Home and away from you. When you decide to take that pole out of your ass, we’ll could talk again.” She shouted and left the ice-cream store slamming the door shut. The man behind the counter looked at Alex with thought in his eyes.



The restaurant was almost isolated when Gabriela and Adeni sat in their table. Gabriela felt strange, as if she was sitting with the enemy, she felt a abnormal vibration that descended from him and it scared her.

“Would you like some water?” He asked as he held a water pitcher and smiled at her. His eyes reflected the candle light from a candle that burned in the middle of the table.

“No thank you.” She said politely and sat quietly sat on her chair.

“What‘s the matter Gabs, you seam quiet.” He asked and grabbed her hand; strangely, it was soft.

“Nothing‘s wrong, I‘m just thinking.” She assured.

“No, there‘s definitely something wrong with you. Please don‘t tell me that it was because of what I told you in front of those girls. I just wanted them to leave you alone.” Adeni laughed, Gabriela breathed a little bit and let loose a smile.

“ You really freaked me out back there, I thought you were serious.” She smiled.

“About what?” Adeni asked smiling.

“About me being your girlfriend and you knowing me more than I know myself.” She said, her smile then degenerated as he looked at her with a serious face.

“I wasn‘t, I wasn‘t kidding. I know you‘ve always had feelings for me, I could smell it a mile away. You know that I‘ve always loved you but you didn‘t even say anything about that!”

“Hold on, Love is a strong word, you don‘t love me; I hardly even know you.” She looked puzzled.

“Trust me, I think I‘ve know you more than you think.” He said “That‘s how I figured out that you liked me.”

“But that doesn‘t make any sense at all.”

“Things always don‘t have to make sense.”

“Ok whatever, but what you‘re saying is not true. You know how-well what I think of you.” She said.

“You‘re lying.” Adeni said softly, Gabriela stayed quiet. “I know you.”

“Stop saying that! You don‘t know me at all.” Gabriela began to get irritated.

“Have you realized that you haven‘t moved your hand away from mine all this time that we‘ve been talking?” He recognized. Adeni was right, her hand had stayed under his throughout the whole conversation, this fact then made her blush.

“So, do you take my offer? ” He asked again, he raised his eyebrow and smiled devilishly at her. A thought occurred to Gabriela that made her return his smile at him.

“What‘s your SPA?” She suddenly asked with the sweetest smile she could create without hurting herself. Adeni’s smile disappeared; he was confused; he had no idea what was a SPA.

“You‘re completely ignoring my question Gabs, do I take that as a ‘no’?” He asked. What the hell is an SPA? He asked himself is it a spell that I should know or what?


“Mine is a 5.3, I know it‘s really high for a high school freshman. What‘s yours, do you even know what I‘m talking about?” Gabriela ignored, as she talked a giant smile spread across her face, he looked confused.

“Believe it or not I have no idea what you‘re talking about, but just to let you know, you‘re ignoring the question again.”

“SPA stands for Spell Point Average, it‘s like a GPA, but instead of measuring your grade, it‘s your magic… and you call yourself a senior.” She rolled her eyes.

“Oh that! In Italy it‘s named… something else, mine is 7.5” Adeni lied and drank a bit of water from his glass cup. Gabriela cocked her eyebrow and gave a small laugh.

“I don‘t believe you.” Gabriela grabbed pen and napkin and began doodling.

“Why not?”

“You say that you have the SPA of a college Senior, I think you’re smart but I can’t believe that you have a higher SPA than I do.” Gabriela laughed; she looked at him once from her napkin and continued with her drawing.

“Why, you‘re so cocky.”

“If you think so.” Gabriela looked at her wrist watch for the time and stood up, she walked over to Adeni; Adeni stood up.

“Where are you going? I thought we were going to spend New Year’s together?” He asked. He didn’t understand what was happening; he didn’t understand why Gabriela was looking as if she was going to leave. Unrepentantly as he stood up, she grabbed the collar of his jacket pulled him towards her and then kissed him.

“About your answer, here it is.” She handed him the folded napkin to him using her middle finger and index finger and then walked away as simply as she had arrived. When she left, he opened the napkin and in black inked letters, Gabriela’s slanted hand writing said:

Yes I accept…

What am I doing? Alex thought as he crossed several witches in the school cafeteria. Alex had realized that Eden was right, he had been acting like a jerk; that he was wrong to have judged her society and how things ran with it. At that moment, he was in building 200’s lunch period and he had gone to look for his witch friend, even though his lunch would be in an hour and he would be eating in the same place, everything looked foreign to him.

“Guys are such jerks, seriously Iris.” Eden said as they sat down on their usual table, they placed down their lunch trays and then sat across each other.

“I know! My brother hid my spell books and now I don‘t know where they are!” Iris sighed and drank from her juice box.

“But Edgar‘s five.”

“So, that doesn’t give him an excuse to hide my books. I think all guys should go into the deepest hole in the world and stay there until the end of time.” Iris nodded and crossed her arms.


“Wouldn‘t that be an opening to hell?” Eden asked.

“Don‘t know, don‘t really care. If they were all to appear in yonder magical hole I wouldn’t suffer much that you’d the rest would, that‘s why I stick with them girls.” Iris smiled.

“Lucky for you.” Eden coldly said and rolled her eyes.

“Eden, can I please talk to you.” Said a familiar voice that stood behind her. Eden turned around and saw Alex looking at her, dressed in a building 200 uniform. He looked serious but his eyes looked gloomy.

“What are you doing over here?” She whispered observing the perimeter.

“I need to talk to you” He said.

“You can get killed if they find out who you are.” She hissed as she pulled him closer to her face.

“I just want to talk, it‘ll be quick. I promise to leave right after.” He promised. Eden glanced back at Iris who in all of this stayed quiet and said nothing.

“I‘ll be back.” Eden sighed and stood up. Iris nodded her head in approval and gave her a small smile.

“What do you want?” She harshly asked as they relocated and were finally alone. They stood under the bridge that united building 200 and 300 away from the noisy atmosphere. Eden leaned on the 200 building and crossed her arms avoiding Alex’s gaze and whole body.

“I wanted to apologize about what I told you yesterday, I shouldn’t have questioned what you believe and I shouldn’t have told you that you weren’t going to have a happy marriage.” Alex sighed as he strolled around her and once in a while would stop to look at her.

“You‘re right, you shouldn‘t have.” Eden puffed and rolled her eyes keeping her sight away from him.

“I‘m also sorry I reacted the way I did yesterday, it‘s just that I like you so much that the thought of you marrying someone that you don‘t love freaked me out a bit…and I guess I got jealous.” He continued.

“Well, you shouldn‘t be jealous. I‘m not going to get married if I‘m not in love with that person. I told my parents that I rather live alone that marry and be miserable for the rest of my life. My mother agreed with what I have decided. ” Eden told him, Alex felt more comfortable with Eden’s choice and sighed. “There are so many things I wish I could tell you but, this is a much as I can say for now.”

“Don’t worry, I understand. What did your dad say?” Alex asked. “What was his reaction?”

“I wish he could have just agreed with my mom like most couples do but he was a bit angry with me. It‘s my life and I don‘t want to live in misery.” Eden shrugged. “I’m not going to get an arranged marriage with someone I don’t love and I wish he would understand that. But I guess he doesn’t because he married someone that he actually loved.”

Alex was speechless


“Hey, you know what; I think we should get together.”

“What about our societies?”

“If you‘re up for the challenge, then I‘m with you Eden.” Alex decided. Eden cocked her head and folded her arms; she began to tap her foot impatiently.

“Well, aren‘t you going to ask me?”

“Ask you what?”

“If I want a hot dog.” Eden sarcastically said and rolled her eyes. “To be your girlfriend.” Alex felt stupid and held Eden‘s hands softy. He felt nervous and took a deep breath.

“Eden, will you be my girlfriend?” He asked sheeply looking straight at her gray eyes. Eden looked serious asking herself if this really was happening but then but then smiled.

“Ok, sure.”




Days later the atmosphere had calmed, only fifty teams remained. Gabriela’s team fought, screamed and luckily they had made it to the top ten debaters; Adeni, also being part of her team, was also in the same situation as his girlfriend. It was no secret that Charlie Stuart and Gabriela Lombardo were dating, and everyone in the competition knew and respected that.

“So Charlie, you know that the days are passing by and then the day will come when I’m going to have to return to Manhattan and you back to Italy.” Gabriela reminded him as they both lay on his suite bed. They held hands and her head rested on his chest. She could feel his heart beat and every time she breathed.

“I know, but I told you that I’m moving to New York right after the competition. I have an aunt that lives over there and I know she‘ll let me stay with her.” Adeni lied, he had no aunt in New York, and he didn’t even have an aunt. Adeni’s father was an only child and his mother only had brothers that were very young. Anyway, his family was the only branch of the Sforza family that lived in the United States. Gabriela raised her head and looked at him straight in his eyes.

“Your parents aren‘t coming with you?” Gabriela asked. Her tone of voice was soft and lovely which caused him to smile.

“Nope, I decided to come and live here in America alone.”

“Won‘t it be difficult to live without your family?”

“I don‘t get along with my parents anyway, I‘m not leaving anything important behind.” He said.

“I don‘t care, they’re your parents. After the tournament ends I want you to go.” She said softly.

“It sounds like you want to get rid of me.” Adeni laughed.

“I don‘t want to get rid of you, it‘s just that you have a life in Italy and I don‘t want you to leave it behind.” Gabriela said.

“Trust me Gabs; I won’t be leaving a great life behind.” He sighed.

“So you‘re willing to leave your family and friends for the same education that you could get over there? You‘re leaving your mother and father, won‘t they be crushed?”

“I was going to leave anyway, I‘m eighteen in three months. My parents don’t give a shit about me anyway. ” He said and looked at her face which was a mixture of sadness and anger.

“What? Don‘t look at me like that.” He laughed, she rolled her eyes and then up her head back down on his chest.

“Are you an only child?” She suddenly asked.

“No, I have a younger sister named Catalina and an older brother named Vyron. I’m the middle child. ” He shared, he was actually telling the truth to Gabriela this time.

“I wish I had siblings, it‘s only me in my house and it gets kind of lonely.” She also sighed.

“It won‘t be lonely anymore, I‘ll be there to keep you company.” Adeni said and kissed her softly on her lips.

“Ok, ok. Are you picking me up tonight?” She asked as she freed herself from Adeni’s embrace, she smiled at him. Gabriela and Adeni were going to the annual Debater’s Ball that night. The Debater’s Ball was a giant celebration held for the debater’s in the hotel restaurant.

“Of course.” He said.

“Don‘t forget to wear your tux Charles, I know you’ll forget.” Gabriela assured, Adeni made a sound that sounded like a donkey. It was a formal event and everyone had to look their best.

“I won‘t forget, I know to wear a tux.” He said in a matter-of-fact tone. He rolled his eyes.

“Ok, but don‘t forget to pick me up…at five.”

“I know, I know! God, you‘re worse than my mother.” Adeni joked. Gabriela was not amused.


The sun was sinking in the sky and the L.A lights were begging to sparkle brightly. Gabriela wore a silver shinny dress that was accompanied by a misty gray shall that covered her shoulders. She also wore a diamond bracelet on her left arm and diamond earrings; her long brown hair was in an elegant bun.

“Wow Gabriela, you look beautiful.” Max smiled as she looked at Gabriela come out from her room into the living room. Max was sitting on the couch trying to put on her black leathered heels.


“Thanks, you don‘t look so bad yourself.” Gabriela returned the compliment. Max was really styling the 80s look. She wore a black tight dress, with net style tights. Her hair was big, it was teased to one side and she wore dark red lipstick and blue eye shadow. Unlike Gabriela, Max was really into the whole 80s fashion when it came down to going out; Gabriela was more of a classy dresser. “Is Caleb going to pick you up?”

“He should be here in a couple of minutes.” She answered and as she spoke her last words there was a knock on the door. Max with a big smile on her face opened the door, and then she sighed in disappointment.

“Gabriela! Prince charming has arrived!”

With complete confidence, Gabriela walked up to Adeni and kissed him. Max pretended to recoiled in disdain.

“Whoa, get a room! Not this one though.” Max joked.

“That won‘t be necessary Max, Gabriela and I have to get going.” Adeni responded and offered to carry Gabriela’s coat, she nodded in approval.

“I would ask you to take care of her, but you‘re the one that she has to be taken cared from. I‘m just messing around.” She laughed. Max had grown to be like an older sister to Gabriela, an older sister that Gabriela never had. Max was very protective of Gabriela and joked that she would take her back to Las Vegas, where she lived, so she could live with her. Max was from Las Vegas, Nevada and her parents owned Caesar’s Palace. When her parents would die, she would, as the older of two kids, inherit the casino, hotel and her parent’s I Love Lucy video collection.

“Max, I don‘t need to be taken care by anyone.” Gabriela assured.

“Of course you do! Every time you see guy you fall under a very frightening trance.” Max giggled. Adeni smiled and Gabriela blushed but frowned at Max.

“That‘s not true.”

“I‘m just playing! But it kind of is true.” Max’s words got softer as she spoke each word.

“Well Max, Gabriela and I‘ll be heading out. We‘ll see you there.” Adeni spoke.

“Yeah, I‘ll look for you guys when the dancing starts. So we could dance together!” Max smiled but then her glistening eyes became dark.

“Charlie, take care of her, I mean it. Make sure she stays away from the freaks tonight.”

As Gabriela and Adeni arrived at the hotel restaurant, they realized how dark and big the place was. In every table, there were red candles glistening and making the crystal glasses shine. There were several chandeliers on the ceilings that reflected only a small amount of light so the candles could lighten the tables. Many participants were already dining to the very classical music of the small orchestra in the small stage of restaurant; it consisted of two violins, a Cello and a Viola.

“Welcome to Berdugo, are you here with the competition?” The waitress on the restaurant entrance asked. She stood behind a podium that had a small little light to shine the papers that were on it.

”Yes, yes we are my name is Charlie Stuart and this lovely young lady is Gabriela Lombardo.” Adeni informed and smiled at Gabriela.

“Ah yes, Charlie and Gabriela. Come this way.” The waitress said as she picked up two menus and walked away; they followed her. As they crossed the room they realized that they were going to be seated at the balcony of the restaurant. As they arrived outside, they saw a round table with a blood colored table cloth and two white candles in the middle of the table that were burning brightly. Along with the candles stood two crystal glasses, a glass pitcher of water a bottle of Sidereal and some white china plates and silver dining utensils. They each took a seat cross each other.

“Isn‘t this beautiful?” Gabriela sighed as she looked at the table and then at him.

“Very.” He responded and held her hand from across the table.

“I can‘t believe that this is almost over, that this will be over in a couple of days.” She sighed and softly stoked his hand; she then looked at the L.A nights. Her heart became heavy and she felt a rough feeling in her throat.

“You‘ve said that many times Gabs.” He responded.

“I know I have, it‘s just that I‘m going to miss all of this: these lights, the hotel, you.” She said, her voice began to choke but then took a deep breath to keep the tears from rolling out.

“I‘m not going anywhere, remember. I‘ll meet you back to New York.” He said. Gabriela smiled and nodded; she then gazed back at the sky and sighed.

“But what I‘ll mostly miss is watching the sunset here, it‘s completely beautiful. Doesn‘t it take your breath away?” Gabriela asked. The sun was falling in the sky causing the sky to appear a dark orange and pink color. As the sun also settled, the stars were rising up at top, beginning to dimly shine. Adeni looked at the sky but then something caught his attention; a small white circle was breaking thought the sun light. It was the moon and it was full.

Adeni kept his eyes on the moon not believing what he was seeing and then cursed himself. Why had he lost track of the moon cycle? Why didn’t he pay attention to it? Adeni’s next thought was that he had to get out of the restaurant and way from all those people before it was too late.

“Are you ok you look terrible.” Gabriela was concerned. Adeni sported a very frightened face; he had gone pale and just stared at the dimmed moon in terror. Gabriela turned around and looked in the sky for anything bizarre. “Did you see something in the sky?”

“No! Of course not sweetheart-no. I‘m just not feeling so good all of a sudden. I don‘t mean to be rude but I have to leave.” Adeni quickly said and stood up keeping his eyes glued on the sunset. Gabriela turned around and looked puzzled.

“What? But we just go here.” She stated as she saw him standing. “Sit down you looked OK a couple of seconds ago.” .Gabriela felt confused.

“I really have to go.”

“Do you have a headache or something? Do you feel dizzy? Why don‘t you want to stay?”

“No, no I just can‘t stay Gabriela.” He insisted and grabbed his coat. Gabriela stood up and couldn’t believe that he was going to leave her.

“Would you like to order?” The waitress asked as she arrived with a notepad and a pen, she looked at both of them.

“No thank you, we were just about to go.” Gabriela forcefully said and turned to Adeni with a face jester that said she couldn’t believe what was happening. I can’t believe he’s leaving, I can’t believe he’s just going to walk out on me. She thought. “Charles, tell me what‘s wrong, why the hell are you leaving?”

“Can we do this another time Gabs, I promise to explain everything later but I really have to go… I‘m sorry.” Adeni darted into the restaurant and ran all the way across the room. Every one gazed at him as he ran because Gabriela was shouting his name. A couple of minutes later, she decided to follow him to see where he was heading to.

Adeni began to feel pains in his side as he got to the lobby. Because he didn’t have enough time to wait for the elevator, he looked for the stairs and ran all way to his suite. Gabriela saw him run to the stairs and decided to follow him, always staying her distance from him, watching him as he began to hold his side. As he arrived to the pass way that led to his room, he began to stumble on the walls and on the floor but he continued his way. Gabriela saw Adeni in his pain but didn’t want to blow her cover so she bit her fist to hold her from calling his name and helping him. When he arrived to his door, he shoved the key into the key whole and grunted in pain as he fell into his room. Adeni tried to close the door but Gabriela stopped it from closing; he got his forces stood up and tried to close the door.

“Don‘t you dare to close this door! If you do, we are so done!” She threatened and tried to open the door. Adeni’s strength failed him again which caused him to fall on the ground holding his ribs and grunting in pain.

“What‘s wrong with you? Why would you leave me when we were about to spend dinner together?” Gabriela asked him. “Can you at least tell me what is wrong so I could help you?”

Adeni began to back away from her as a frightened child would do from an abusive parent; Gabriela closed the door behind her and tried to get closer to him to help him. Her face was full of concern.

“Please leave.” He begged.

“What?”

“Leave,” He grunted.

“Charlie you‘re starting to frighten me.” Gabriela whispered.

The pain became unbearable and having his girlfriend reject his order irked and irritated him.

“Leave me alone!” He hissed.

“But you’re in pain, let me-”

“GET OUT OF HERE!” He roared, he began holding his face with his hands and looked away.

“I‘m not going anywhere! I don‘t know what‘s wrong with you but whatever it is I could try and help you, please just tell me what‘s wrong” Gabriela begged, tears began swelling in her eyes from the fear of something happening to him. She got closer and touched his shoulder tenderly but he slapped it away.

“Gabriela leave, you can‘t help me in any way. I‘m begging you to leave by the good way.” He softy said and glanced at her, his eyes had changed shape and color; they were darker and bigger.

“No.” she firmly decided.

Adeni tried to protest one last time but it was too late, in a couple of seconds, his tux ripped into shreds and his body became covered in fur. His fur which turned out to be a shade of gold was soft and thick. As Gabriela saw his transformation from man into wolf she held her mouth so she would not scream. Her eyes filled with terror and tears, she slowly backed away. Her mouth and arms trembled uncontrollably as she saw a giant wolf before her. Gabriela let a sob escape her mouth and she ran out of the room.

Aden grunted as she grabbed some papers off Eden’s computer desk and then set them back down. She searched franticly; she had a good idea that Eden had taken her Astral Projection class book. “I just don‘t get it, why can‘t she just spend a couple of minutes of her life cleaning her room.” She mumbled. There, under Eden’s failed Spanish quiz she discovered the book and opened it. She began to skim threw it, just to make sure it was her’s, but as she read, she gasped in terror. “What are you doing?” Aden jumped and dropped the book on to the floor; it made a loud “Thud”. Eden glared at her sister as she held Aden’s Astral Projection book or AP for short. “I…I was looking for my AP book. I thought you had it.” Aden carefully said. Aden had realized that her twin sister held the book in her hands. “No, you left it down stairs; I was heading to your room to give it back to you.” Eden also said carefully. “Is that why you‘re in my room?” “Yeah.” “Did you read it?” “What?” “I know that what you dropped was my book, did you read it?” Eden demanded. Aden tried to hide that she had, but it was too hard. “Eden we have to talk.” “Shit.” Eden groaned. “Why do you dream so much of a wolf? Who is that wolf? Do you know him?” Aden demanded herself. “No, I don‘t know any wolf, you know that we can‘t talk to them.” Eden rolled her eyes and then looked away from her sister. Aden glared at her not believing her sister. “I don‘t believe you.” “Don‘t believe me then.” “Eden, do you know how serious this is? Did you think about our reputation, dad‘s reputation?” Aden asked. She harshly picked up Eden’s AP book and violently shook it. “Now I have no idea what you‘re talking about.” “You know what I‘m talking about! You know exactly what I‘m talking about!” Aden yelled. “Aden! If you‘re going to yell close the damn door!” Shouted their mother from the living room. Aden grabbed the door and slammed it shut. Eden didn’t dare to look at her sister’s face; she could feel the anger and frustration in it. “Was it something I said?” Eden faked stupidity and batted her eyes, she gave a wide smile. “Don‘t act stupid, you and…and…a dog!” Aden howled trying to keep herself calm. “A werewolf!” “Oh that!” Eden giggled. Aden was outraged; she hadn’t found it as a joke. “What do you mean by ’oh that’! I can’t believe that you’re taking this as a joke! ” “I‘m not taking anything as a joke, I just think it‘s funny that you‘re taking this so seriously. Alex and I are just friends.” Eden shrugged. Aden felt as she wanted to choke her sister at the moment. “Alex? Friends? How did you even find out that he was a werewolf? WHERE DID YOU MEET HIM?” Aden roared. “School.” “Eden, there is a reason we can‘t speak to them. They are dangerous.” “That‘s where you‘re wrong, they aren‘t dangerous. How can you judge someone if you don‘t know squat about them? Alex is a wonderful guy, he‘s smart, funny and very cute. What they have been telling us about them is false, not true, lies!” “How do you know that he isn’t lying to you?” Aden asked. “He isn‘t, I know about his family, I know everything about his society and guess what, he knows everything about ours.” Eden yield back. “You’re with him aren’t you? How could you tell a wolf about our society, how could you!” Aden then threatened. “I‘m telling mom.” Aden decided as she began heading towards the door, Eden beat her to it and blocked the door way. “No, you‘re not going to say anything to her. I love him, please Aden at least this once, just this once can you please keep this to yourself.” Eden begged. “Please.” “Love him? What will happen if the Council of Augury finds out? What will happen to you? Have you even thought about dad‘s reputation?” Aden folded her arms and tried to stay calm; Eden stayed quiet and bit her lip. In reality, Eden hadn’t thought about her dad’s reputation; Christoph DeVandre, a popular Politian in New York City. “Since when do you care what the Council of Augury says?” Eden coldly asked a confused Aden. “I’m your sister, I’ve always helped you. Remember when we were seven and you accidentally killed our dog Borbujas; I blamed that on me. Also, do you remember when you broke mom’s wedding frame while trying to cast a repair spell because you had also broken dad’s bowling trophy? I blamed that on me too.” “You broke that trophy, and mom‘s wedding frame, but Borbujas was an accident!” She yield. “I blamed it on me! Remember the punishment I got for saving your sorry ass?” Eden made her remember. “That‘s not the point! Eden, you can‘t see this Alex guy. He‘s not one of us, so you have to stay away before this gets out of hand.” Aden groaned. “I don‘t care what you say, I‘m still going to see him and you will ether help me or I will let the world know every bad thing you’ve done. Don’t try and black mail me because the world already knows of the stuff I can do, but how will it react when it finds out that the perfect, intelligent twin has some dirty little secrets of her own. ” Eden black mailed. Aden stayed quiet and kept her sight on the ground. She thought of the things, the horrid things that Eden knew. Aden had a dark, almost pitch black past that no one knew anything about, so no one asked questions. “You wouldn‘t.” “Oh, I would.” “You‘re lying.” “No I‘m not.” “You can‘t say anything! They‘ll kill me.” Aden shrieked. “Your silence for mine. Do we have a deal?” Eden harshly negotiated. Aden remained quiet and gazed at her sister with eyes of hatred. “Whatever it will take for you to stay quiet about my business.” “Hey, you brought this upon yourself and I‘m just happily using what I know against you.” Eden smugly smiled. The mental picture played constantly in Gabriela’s head, over and over again every minute of what she had saw: ‘Charlie’ turning into a wolf. She looked outside her hotel window, watching the sun set and the night sky unveil a beautiful belt of shinning stars. She looked dreadfully as the moon, her once best friend that had become her worst enemy; it was one-fourth full. Gabriela felt anger, she felt as if she had been lied to as she had been deceived in the worst way. Her heart ached and her eyes hurt from the constant hours of crying and hurting. “Gabriela, I‘m leaving.” Max whispered. Gabriela turned to see Max holding her suit cases and her coat on her hand. Max had a sad expression and looked at her friend; feeling her pain. Gabriela said nothing. “Good bye.” She responded dryly. Max’s team had lost the previous debate and was now returning back to Nevada. The numbers dropped and now there were ten teams left. “Gabriela, please don‘t let him bring you down. Try and work with him, at least for your school.” Max said softly and stood in her place. “If you ever need anyone to be there for you, I left you my number and address on in the kitchen, next to some ice-cream. Ok?” Gabriela didn’t look back at her. Max sighed and lowered her sight in sadness. Max grabbed her bags and walked out glancing one last time at her. Gabriela still looked outside her window, not showing any signs that she had moved. And finally she left. “I‘ll be ok.” Gabriela whispered. A couple of minutes later the doorbell rang and Gabriela looked back at the door, she walked slowly, without energy towards the door and opened it. As quickly as she opened the door she tried to close it but Adeni had his foot in the doorway. “Listen to me Gabriela; I need to talk to you.” He said. “No, leave me alone! I never want to see you again!” She shouted as she pushed the door so it would close, he pushed back. “I just need a couple minutes to explain.” “Are you going to lie some more? Are you going to tell me that what I saw was just an illusion in my head?! ” She shouted, her voice began cracking but fought the tears that escaped her eyes. “No I‘m not, I just really need to talk to you.” He shouted back, you could hear the rage in his voice. “No, no, no, no! Leave me alone, you hurt me enough!” She cried and let the door go. Adeni stopped forcing the door and saw Gabriela on the floor crying her eyes out, she then held her head and was quiet for a couple of seconds. Adeni quietly closed the door and kneeled to softly touch her hand. “Stay away from me, never touch me again. I was stupid to have fallen in love with you! You lied to me and I trusted you, you told me you were someone you weren’t; is your name even Charlie or just part of your sick little character? ” She demanded and stood up to get away from him, Adeni didn‘t tell her about his real name. Gabriela walked towards the balcony. “Leave now before I hurt you, leave and never come near my people again.” She trembled in anger. “Gabs…” “Don‘t ever call me that! Don‘t you ever call me that again. ” She roared and pointed at him with a trembling finger. “Can you listen to what I have to say? I‘m really sorry I lied to you, I didn‘t know I was going to fall for you I didn‘t know this was going to happen. I knew that I was going to have to lie to you and now that you know that I‘m not of your kind it hurts me to see you heartbroken. I didn‘t mean for all this to happen, it wasn‘t planned.” He tried to explain. “Bullshit! You’re lying, ‘it hurts you to see me heartbroken’ what stupid girl do you think I am to fall for such bullshit. If you were going to hurt me at the end, why did you even ask me to have a relationship with you? Why did you make me go through this if you knew in the end I was going to end up hurt? ” She asked and harshly dried her tears with the back of her hand. “I didn‘t know, I had no idea it was going to be a problem.” “We‘re from different worlds, of course it‘s going to be a problem!” She streaked. She gave a sarcastic laugh. Adeni remained in silence and avoided Gabriela’s enraged eyes. “I wish I had never met you, I wish I had left that day you wanted to talk to me. I wish I could-” “Shut up Gabriela! For once in your life can you please listen to me? You‘re right, I know that I should have never asked you to be my girlfriend and it’s true that it would be best off if you never met me; but you need to calm down.” He said. Gabriela knew that was right and forcefully took a deep breath to remain patient. “I will calm down, but I want you to please get out of my sight, my room, and my life.” She simply requested. Gabriela felt her body go numb and pointed at the door. Adeni wanted to explain everything to her, but she didn’t want to hear it. Gabriela was hurt and anything he would tell her at that moment would just bounce off her and would be yelled back at him. “Can I-” “No, get out.” “But-” “This is your last warning, if you don‘t leave right now I’m going to use my incantation and hurt you so badly, you will never see the full moon again.” She softly warned. “No Gabriela, you can‘t use your magic, you‘ll get us kicked out of the competition.” He reminded her. “You‘ve worked so hard to be where you are and you‘re just going to throw it all away because you realized what I am, don‘t do it.” “You just don‘t want me to hurt you! You don‘t care about our status in this debate now and I’m starting to realize it and you shouldn‘t be here anyway.” She realized as she got closer to him and sharply poked at his chest. Adeni walked backwards as she got closer. “I know I shouldn‘t-” He began. “And you‘re a wolf.” She coolly hissed and stopped on her tracks. He remained quiet. “To tell you the truth, I don’t care if they find out that you’re a wolf or not, but do me a giant favor and leave, get out of my life.” She went to the door and opened it for him. “Now.” “If you would just listen-” “Get out of my f*ken room!” Gabriela roared. Her heart was pounding with great speed but she hid how upset she really was. “Fine, I‘ll leave, but I won‘t get out of your life.” He promised as he walked out of the room. Gabriela slammed the door shut.

“Thank you Joseph.” In the TV screen appeared a young woman wearing a black skirt and a dressy teal buttoned shirt. She stood behind a familiar place to Gabriela, the reporter stood behind the building that led to her once home.

“Yes it is true, Bethany Lombardo the wife of politician Zackary Lombardo just had a cardio arrest earlier in the day and she was rushed into the hospital. As we all remember, Bethany suffers from heart trauma since 1895 and had been hospitalized before; ever since the death of her only daughter Gabriela Lombardo… ”

Nora’s interest in the news had left once her mother’s name Nora sat down trying to watch her favorite TV show while she checked her documents for some papers for her next court case. Nora had to defend a young woman that had been accused of child neglect but in Gabriela’s point of view, that woman was a guilty as her name was Nora DeVandre. Eden and Aden had left the house for a couple of hours and her husband was always busy at work so she had the house all to herself. As the show went to commercials a special report popped into the TV screen.

“Good evening this is Crystal Montenegro.”

“And Joseph Wong reporting this special report.”

Nora looked attentively at the TV.

“We have just been informed that the Regional Commissioner of the Social Security, Mrs. Bethany Lombardo just had a cardio arrest at her Manhattan Pent House. We’ll go live with the report, Anna? ”

was mentioned. She had heard everything the reporter had said but she really didn’t care. Gabriela Lombardo was dead to everyone, she tragically fallen off the Pent House balcony twenty-five years ago …well at least that’s what her mother had told everyone that the heir of the Lombardo/Moore fortune was dead. They all believed it. In reality, Gabriela hated her mother to death, she hated her because of her, the woman that was supposed to protect her, made her go through so much shit, so she didn’t mind if she died or not. Gabriela then grabbed the remote and changed the channel.


“Well, my fortunate contestant, the time has arrived to announce our finalists.” A woman in an English ascent said as she spoke into a microphone, was one of the judges in the competition. She stood behind a podium while the media was taking pictures in the front row. To her right, sat six teenagers; Gabriela, a girl named Victoria, a boy named Anthony, another boy named Saul, another girl named Rosan and at the end Adeni. Gabriela didn’t dare look at him though her heart ached for him, she missed him so much and wanted to hug him for the rest of her life but a voice in her head, the powerful sorceress inside said:

He lied to you

He’s from another society and he knew it

He doesn’t care about you and he never did

Why are you still thinking about him Gabriela, he‘s not thinking about you! He got over it!

She sighed and realized that she was right. Gabriela put her thoughts behind her and tried to look her smartest, even though she had to be sitting next to her partner.

Meanwhile…

Adeni sat on his chair, he didn’t feel comfortable for the first time ever since he began his relationship with Gabriela, and he felt alone. A dog amongst spells. He wanted to speak to her so badly, explain but that wasn’t the moment or the time to say anything to her. Adeni thought that she hated him; he thought that she would never speak to him again; he was also worried about his debating. Because of all the drama that had occurred with Gabriela, he couldn’t think straight and had been losing all the past five debates. Adeni was afraid that he wasn’t going to end up as one of the finalists.

“The first finalist team with the most debates won is of the team from Manhattan, New York, Gabriela Lombardo and Charlie Stuart.” Gabriela stood up and smiled at the crowd of people. She had made it, only two more groups to defeat and she would win. She then wondered; who would be the unfortunate souls? Adeni also stood and dared to glance at Gabriela, Gabriela felt his sight on her, looked at him and caught his gaze; quickly, she looked away and folded her arms. A cold anger filled her.


“The second finalist team with the second most won debates won is from Salem, Massachusetts, Victoria Papiewski and Saul Carter.” The girl named Victoria stood up, she had short brown hair with natural white high lights on her hair; she smiled and along with her the boy named Saul also stood. Victoria glanced at her partner and gave a wide smile at him. Gabriela looked at two of the rocks on her way to success, which were Victoria and Saul, piece of cake she thought.


“Now, we all know that the team from Concord, New Hampshire was supposed to be one of the last finalist teams and that. Anthony McKinnon and Rosan Drake are absolutely wonderful debaters, but there is a reason for the fact that they aren’t finalists.” The woman continued. Gabriela looked at the two teenagers that gazed at each other.

“Mr. McKinnon and Ms. Drake have broken the rules. Both young teenagers decided to try and sabotage one of our finalist teams, and as the rules go we d-”

“It wasn‘t only us, Victoria was part of it! She was the one that made us do it!” Cried Rosan. She stood up and pointed at the shocked girl. The audience gasped as Victoria jumped up her seat and slapped Rosan across the face.

“Lies, all lies! I would never do as low as to cheat in a competition. Why are you blaming me?” She shouted.

“You told us on one would find out! You‘re the one that‘s lying.” Rosan shouted as she grabbed her face.

“Judas! If we go down, you‘re coming with us!” Anthony then blurted.

“Victoria, how could you!” Shouted Saul, her partner.

“I wouldn’t be the one to be pointing fingers; some of the ingredients were mostly yours Saul!” Victoria pointed back.

“That‘s not true, you lying-” Saul jumped up his seat and shacked his fist menacingly near her face.

“Not true, not true! You lie; all of you lie through your teeth! I would never sink so low to sabotage a person!” Victoria shouted and got up to his face.

“You‘re the one that wanted to sabotage Gabriela and Charlie, you know that they’re good debaters; you know that Gabriela is better than you will ever be.” Rosan exclaimed back.


“She is not! She‘s not as good as me. Why should I waste my time and energy on some stupid kid?” Victoria gasped.

“Don‘t talk about her like that!” Adeni growled at her, he stood up and was just inches away from Victoria’s face.

“I don‘t need anyone to defend me, especially someone like you!” Gabriela exclaimed.

“Calm down everyone, please take your seats.” The woman tried to calm the atmosphere but no one would listen.

“I‘m just trying to help you out! Why won‘t you let me help you for once.” Adeni turned to Gabriela.

“Don‘t try to play the victim, you know that you shouldn‘t even be here anyway. You‘re not worthy of being in front of me.” Gabriela growled.

“I think Gabriela’s team should be the one to leave.” Victoria began. Gabriela turned and looked at her straight in her eyes.

“What did you say?”

“Gabriela don‘t.” Adeni pleaded, he grabbed her shoulders.

“Let me go, this doesn‘t concern you.” She said.

“You heard me, you should leave you don‘t belong here. You‘re just a snobby little nerd who doesn‘t have a life. You’re stupid for leaving Charlie, he loves you so much and you can‘t open your eyes to that fact. You didn‘t know how lucky you were, you had everything and your rotten attitude got the best of you. ” Victoria shouted. Gabriela stayed quiet and looked at the floor, then at Adeni. Adeni returned her gaze.

“That‘s my personal life. And what happens in my personal life doesn‘t concern you.” Gabriela yelled back.

“It‘s true, it doesn‘t concern be but I guess that‘s what made you the manipulative person that you are.”

“Take that back you bitch.” Gabriela growled and out of the blue, Victoria’s palm made contact with Gabriela’s face. Gabriela returned the punch and both girls fought. Both girls fought so violently that they ended up on the floor pulling each other’s hair, rolling and punching each other. There was so much commotion!

“ENOUGH!” Antionette shouted out of nowhere. Antionette casted an incantation that tore the girls apart. Both girls were launched at opposite sides of the room and both hit the ground with hard thuds.

“This is completely unacceptable! Especially coming from both of you.” She yelled. Adeni went to Gabriela’s aid but she ignored his help and she helped herself up.

“Victoria, I could see very clearly that what Rosan and Anthony accuse you of is true, please leave the competition immediately.” Antoinette said as she glared at Victoria. Victoria seamed upset and tired to argue back.

“This is ludicrous! Why won‘t you send her out, she‘s the one that called me a bitch!” Victoria protested.

“You were the one that hit her! Look at her face; she has a huge bruise on it!” Saul blurted out; Gabriela’s right side of her face had a mark that began turning a purple-green color. She touched it and it hurt.

“I don‘t need your help Saul, now if you three would please just sit down until the judges and I decide what to do after this, this dramatic session . ” Antionette sighed, the three teenagers sat down but they were escorted by a police officer. Saul turned to see Gabriela for the last time and smiled at her, he mouthed ‘good luck’ Antionette had a group meeting with the other judges. They discussed the subject for a couple of minutes.

“I don‘t know what to say, this has never occurred before.” Gabriela over heard one of the judges says to another. Two of the three remaining teams had plotted against Gabriela and Charlie, the competition could end like this. She wouldn’t allow it.

“I have a suggestion.” She suddenly blurted out of nowhere. Every eye turned and looked at the girl; she felt a giant drop of sweat fall from her head and slide down her face.

“A suggestion? What would be your suggestion Ms. Lombardo?” One of the judges turned and asked.

“I am quite aware that both parties have committed fraud against my team, and I do agree that both should be disqualified like the rules have said to do.” Gabriela stated. “And even if, I know that we still have to have a final debate. Bronx Academy at least cannot win because of a forfeit.”

“What are you implying?” Antionette asked.

“We are going to still have the final debate, but it won‘t be in teams.” Gabriela finally said. “It will be a Lincoln and Douglass debate to be exact. Charles and I will debate for the title of the best debater in not only our school, but in the whole nation.”

“Charlie and Gabriela, debating for the title of the best debater in the nation? That‘s not fair!” Cried Victoria from her seat. “That‘s completely not fair.”

“You have absolutely no more saying in this topic Victoria.” Growled another judge that wore a large white beard.

“A Lincoln and Douglass debate? That sounds like a very good idea.” Antionette admitted.

“We all know that Bronx Academy is going to gain the best debating school title, but doing the final debate to see who‘s the best? I must agree with Antionette.” The other woman judge admitted. “I does seem like an acceptable idea.”

“I have a concern what about the past debaters that were disqualified due to their other team member’s betrayal to the rules. Victoria is right in a sort of manner. That wouldn‘t be reasonable to the past debaters.” The third judge cocked his eyebrow in debate.

“Then next year will have to change the debate rules won‘t we. Right now we can‘t think about that in this stage of the tournament. Anyway, all four of these past constants went against the rules by deciding to help Victoria in her plan.” Antionette decided.

“Well then it‘s settled. The final debate will not be in teams ladies and gentlemen. The final debate of the year will be Bronx Academy VS Bronx Academy; Gabriela Lombardo VS Charlie Stuart for the title of the best debater in the nation. ” Antionette announced to the whole media who took pictures of everything that was occurring. Gabriela felt as if her heart sinked a little.

“Their final debate will be a difficult one, The witch hunts. I know it’s a very controversial topic but I know they could do it. Congratulations finalists!”

Adeni sat in the Los Angeles public library where he was surrounded by mountains of books of the same topic: witch hunts. The topic seamed easy to Adeni, yet at the same time it was difficult. He felt it was simple because he had been chosen to be pro the witch hunts but he would be telling a hurt Gabriela how he would see these hunts as positive. He didn’t want her to take it the wrong way. As he turned the page of a book named Witchcraft and Magic in 16th and 17th Century Europe there was a large “thud” in front of him; he saw an isle of books skid aside.

“Why are you still here, you know that you don‘t belong here.” Gabriela harshly asked. Adeni closed his book and looked at her.

“Please don‘t-”

“What, I‘m just stating the obvious. The jig is up, you know I can easily go to Ms. Van Matron and she’ll kick you out.” Gabriela threatened.

“Do what ever you want but I’m determined to stay here. I don’t want to leave you, I know that if I leave you won’t see me again.” Adeni calmly explained.

“You are such a lair! Don‘t come to me with those silver colored words because they don‘t or will ever work with me.” Gabriela hissed.

“Gabriela stop, I don‘t want to argue. I‘m sorry that I lied to you, it hurts to have you find out that way. And you‘re right, I don‘t belong here, but I love you enough to stay here amongst all these powerful beings to be close to you. I need you to please understand that I didn’t plan my feelings towards you, can you please stop hating me. ” He truthfully asked. Gabriela looked into his eyes and felt a cold shutter of wind hit her body.

“How can you expect me to not hate you when you lied to me the worst way. How could you tell me you were someone you weren‘t. My people don‘t mix with yours and everything, every love, kiss, hug and anything that has to do with you is now dead. You don’t mean anything to me anymore, I could care less if you die right at this minuet. You should go back to where ever you came from because no one , absolutely no one wants you here.”

“Can I just clear the air a bit, hopefully it will help you believe me. My real name is Adeni Sforza, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you earlier, but I came here using Charlie Stuart’s name. I also wanted to say that… I did lie about coming from Italy. My parents are Italian and to tell you the truth I do live in New York too, I go to Bronx just like you.” Adeni confessed. “I‘ve seen you before walking by building 300, you and another girl and I always found you fascinating. I couldn’t believe that I was meeting you that day in the lobby. ”

“Oh great, when all of this is over you‘re going to stalk me.” Gabriela nastily groaned and rolled her eyes. “Why don‘t you just make this easier for every one and leave Adeni.”

“I‘m not going anywhere, I don‘t care what you say I‘m not dropping this.” He harshly decided and stood up.

“Do whatever you want, make a fool of yourself I DON’T CARE just stay out of my way Adeni, or you’ll get to know the other side of me which isn’t very loving.” Gabriela warned.

“Oh, there‘s another side? I thought you were rotten all over.” Adeni smirked, he was trying to provoke her.

“Don‘t push it, stop trying and leave me alone.” Gabriela shouted.

“Never, I‘m staying here, I‘m going to beat you in that final debate and I‘m going to show you that werewolves are better than your wand waving people.”

“Keep dreaming, let‘s see who can win: my kind or your rabid infested people.”

“Rabid, oh wow that‘s the best you can do Gabs. Come on you debate! You should know how to talk shit to me, it comes with the talent of debating.” He laughed. Gabriela face became red with fiery.

“Shut up you…you…agh!” She shrieked in anger and stomped her foot harshly on the ground.

“Shush, we‘re in a library!” Shouted a random woman from a far. Adeni began laughing at the fact that she had gotten in trouble, he found it amusing to get her angry. Gabriela rounded up her feelings and sat down on a chair next to Adeni.

“I know you still love me, but you‘re just hurt. I don’t care if I have to fight you to the end, I’m going to win you back. Even if I have to win you in this thing, I’m going to get you back no matter what.” He promised. His dark eyes glistened brightly and she looked into them but then meekly looked away.

“let‘s see if you do.” Gabriela said as she stood and walked away.



Alex looked back and forth, from one to another. He looked at Aden who expressed a not so happy look at both Eden and him. The girl was identical to Eden, same blond hair, except her’s was fully blond and not chromed like Eden’s was, same gray eyes and face jesters. The difference was Aden wore dark purple glasses.

“Aden, this is Alex; Alex this is my sister Aden.” Eden said as she introduced them both. Aden had a stare that caused him to shiver, she seamed scary. Aden couldn’t believe that she was sitting in front of one of her society’s enemies.

“Listen wolf, I already told Eden what a horrible thing she is doing to our people. I‘m not going to say anything, only so our family won‘t be shamed. I suggest you both watch your backs completely.” Aden said sternly.

“She‘s saying that she approves.” Eden whispered in Alex’s ear; well, that’s what Eden thought her sister was saying.

“Thanks, I guess.” Alex was insecure yet confused, he glanced at Eden for help yet she looked as confused as he was.

“I‘ll leave you guys alone for a while so you can talk. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Eden then left the table they were sitting in. The three of them were all in Burger King, it was the most human place that Eden could think of. The three of them sat next to a large window that faced the street, Alex and Eden were sitting across from Aden. At the moment, Aden was sipping on her soda filled cup; there was an akward silence.

“How long.” Aden questioned as she pushed the cup away.

“How long what?” Alex asked.

“How long are you both going to continue this game? You well know that it‘s impossible for you and my sister to end up together.” Aden simply said, she folded her arms to her chest, Alex remained quiet.

“I personally think that you should end this now, before things get…worse. Are you aware that you are fighting a battle that can‘t be won? Do you know how this will penetrate my family…of coarse you don’t. ” Aden laughed and answered her own question sarcastically. “This little game that you and Eden are playing won‘t harm your family as much as it will hurt mine, your parents aren‘t people of the media. My father is a politician and my mother a lawyer just to let you know.”

“If this gets out, my family reputation will be ruined, it‘ll be ruined because one of the daughters decided to have an…an…affair ,if you can call it an affair, with another member of another society we aren’t allowed to talk to. ” Aden barked.

“I love Eden, I‘m not going to say anything about our relationship, we‘re going to keep it in the DL.” Alex finally said.

“In the DL, really? You‘re going to get fed up, you can‘t keep it in the down low forever. What if you want to get married, what if you want to have kids one day, how will you have them, in the DL?” Aden asked. “Listen, I‘m not here to get you to doubt about my sister, she ‘loves’ you too I guess, but you‘re not one of us; you seam like a good guy though.”

Alex was confused at what Aden was saying, he knew that she was completely right in one point but he was confused if she ether was trying to be nice to him or intimidate him.

“Listen, I‘m sorry if I busted your bubble but if you want, I’ll help you out until this crashes.” Aden sarcastically offered as she saw his face which looked really bummed out.

“This isn‘t going to crash Aden. I‘m sorry but we aren‘t going to be separated.” Alex harshly said.

“Oh yes it will, wake up and smell the coffee ‘Alex’ you aren’t one of us. What you and Eden have will never turn into something permanent. My sister is going to get married in a year and she won’t be marring you. ”

“I‘ll beat the odds, we‘ll beat them. We‘ll change the world, we will unite our worlds; I know we can.” He hopefully said, Aden suddenly guffawed.

“OMG, how old are you! You‘ll never change the world with love haven‘t you heard of what happened to the last couple that were found together? The wolf ended up dead and the witch died in the abortion clinic. Do you want this to happen to you and to Eden, do you really?” Aden harshly asked.

“No, but as long as we feel like this towards each other, I know we can do anything.” Alex growled. Aden couldn’t believe this guy, she thought that he was way over his head. Eden was right though, he was cute but he was childish, she still couldn’t believe that a teenager was really hoping to change a society with love.

“What ever you say.” Aden rolled her eyes.

“I hope that you guys got to know each other a bit better.” Eden suddenly shouted as she sat next to Alex. She grabbed Alex’s arm and placed it around her shoulders.

“Eden, I have to say, Alex is something alright.” Aden smiled at her twin sister, Alex frowned.

“I knew you would like him.” Eden giggled and scooted over closer to Alex.

“You were right, and as I told Alex, I‘m going to help you guys out as much as I can. You‘re my sister and I want you to be happy.”

“You are, oh Aden that is the greatest thing you‘ve ever done for me! Ohmygod you don‘t know how much this helps us!” Eden sighed, Aden smiled back at her sister and at Alex.

“Are you serious?” Alex asked, he was baffled.

“Very serious, now I have to go. I have my astronomy class at 7:15 and I don’t want to be late.” Aden announced as she picked up the half full cup of soda and magically but discreetly launched the cup at the nearest trash can.

“Aden! May I remind you we‘re surrounded by Normies!” Eden whispered, her eyes were very wide.

“I know, got to go then, see you later.”

The room was restless. Gabriela waited with sweat forming on her forehead for Adeni who hadn’t arrived yet at the final debate of the year. She stood in front of her wooden podium and looked across into the restless crowd. People were beginning to settle in their seats, some were chatting away, others were flipping around papers. She then turned her attention at the three judges that talked amongst themselves: An unknown woman of young age, brown hair, big blue eyes and a beauty mark next to her left eye. An unknown man sitting next to her with a fuller body, round baby soft peach cheeks and glistening dark gray eyes; the third judge which she already knew, Antoinette Van Matron. Antoinette caught Gabriela’s sight and smiled at her as a sign of good luck. Gabriela gave back a weak smile.

Gabriela then looked across to an empty podium that Adeni was suppose to be behind. He still wasn’t there; she began to worry. What if they found out that he wasn‘t part of their society? What if they had killed him? Gabriela’s mind filled with these and many other macabre thoughts, but shook them out of her head. The thought of Adeni being captured and murdered by other sorcerers frightened her and she didn’t want to think about it fearing that what she was thinking would become true.

Suddenly, and very harshly the main wooden white door opened and Adeni entered the room. At the sight of Adeni, Gabriela’s heart jumped and filled with relief, he had arrived, even if it was ten minuets late. She cocked her head a little as she realized that there was something odd about him, he looked different. Adeni looked exhausted, there were dark circles under his black eyes and his skin was pale as he stepped under the stage light. His rebellious dark hair was especially messy looking as if he had just woken up and had arrived without combing it. Gabriela couldn’t stop staring at him and suddenly she realized she had a foolish smile on her face; she pursed her lips to hide hid it and looked away. He quickly shuffled a handful of papers and placed them neatly on the wooden Oak podium, he didn’t look at her, or even glance a little to wish her good luck. Adeni kept his eyes on his papers and smiled a forced smile at the judges to indicate he was ready to begin.

“Nice of you to join us Mr. Stuart.” Antoinette said as she stood up. Gabriela tried to make eye contact with Adeni but he kept his head low concentrating at his papers. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 67th annual Sorcerer Debate Tournament. Today is the final and most challenging debate of this whole season, Ms. Gabriela Lombardo will be the prosecutor and Mr. Charlie Stuart will be the defender in our final debate of the year: Witch Hunts. Gabriela, you may begin.”

“The witch craze began in the early 15th century in Europe and it was in the middle Ages where it was first thought that women had a pact with the devil and that they were sinful. I stand on the firmest Negation in our topic of witch hunts because the hunts not only imprinted our society with the dreadful and offensive name ‘witch’ but it also gave us all a stereotype that we were all involved with the dark arts and were members of the satanic kingdom that people were thought that existed. Because of these witch hunts we were also forced to not only hide our true persons but we’re to this day seen as monsters. I find that these acts were an unnecessary art that just separated mankind because it also killed a large amount of innocent people that were pointed at being witches. Those people didn’t deserve to die. Some were falsely killed because of misunderstandings of the Naturals.” Gabriela began.

“Mr. Staurt?” The male judge suddenly spoke to indicate it was Adeni’s turn. Adeni had blacked out for a few seconds.

“It‘s a…it was a good thing, these witch hunts. I stand on the firmest Affirmation in our topic of witch hunts due to they helped rid our society of many witches that actually caused great harm to people. For example, the witch that you are all very aware of called Gristle, she caused the death of hundreds of innocent children just because she couldn‘t bare some of her own. The Normals caught her and gave her what she rightfully disserved.” Adeni carefully began. Gabriela shifted uncomfortably in her podium and cleared her throat.

“Gristle may have got what she disserved but what about other witches that were killed for no reason. It says here in this book Witch Hunts: 17th Century Dilemma that 90% of the woman that were killed in these barbaric hunts were innocent, and that partly half of the woman were actually Normies.” Gabriela said as she lifted up a big thick book that read: Witch Hunts: The 17th Century Dilemma in big bold letters.

“That may be true but I also have an article from “Magik Times” that dates back to 1688 and it says that most of the witches caught and burned were, like I mentioned, hurting our society. Gristle, and even the biggest traitor of our society, Anna Elizabeth Scott, who may I remind you tried to expose all the paranormal to the Naturals and almost began a revolutionary magical war, were all killed at stake.” Adeni responded. Gabriela had to admit, Adeni was really good at debating, she could almost admit he was better than her.

“ These barbaric acts of human kind stereotyped all of us as monsters. Last time I checked I wasn’t a monster or part of the Satanic kingdom. Because of the witch hunts people are afraid of us and won’t interact with us if they find out our true Nature and they became afraid and because of the fact that they couldn’t explain what was happening during their time they began to blame everything on our ancestors. Innocent people were murdered, my ancestor Samantha Laud was mistakenly executioned back in 1654 when she was only trying to help the sick. Most of the sorcerers that were killed were only trying to help, just like my ancestor. My society didn’t disserve this, they were falsely murdered for things that Naturals couldn’t explain.” Gabriela said.

“Our society-”

“You mean mine.” Gabriela snapped, the audience made an unexpected noise of astonishment. Gabriela had let her anger flow out of her, every time he would say his society she was reminded of the lies that he had told her. She felt herself shaking and her lips quivering.

“My society didn‘t disserve this, we had rules back then that our people still abide by. Naturals would slaughter people just because they couldn‘t explain some evens such as loss of crops and other things so they automatically tried to make it our fault. Do your research Charlie, because only 1% of the sorcerers that existed in those times had a pact with The Dark One. Naturals stereotyped us as evil, wicked and Satan loving people when we are just like them; unlike other mutt infested societies which are more animal than human. Witch Hunts were unnecessary and barbaric that showed how stupid and ignorant people were in their time.” Gabriela looked at Adeni with shinning almost hungry looking eyes.

Adeni glanced at his papers on the podium and back at Gabriela’s smirking face, she waited for another attack but it never arrived. Adeni looked at the crowd who waited for words to drift out of his mouth, and then he looked at the judges…saying nothing. Everyone was waiting, everyone began to sense something either wrong or awkward; the crowd began to murmur.

“Does the defender have anything else to respond to the prosecutor?” Antoinette asked Adeni as she looked up from some paper work and fixed her reading lenses.

Adeni sighed, lowered his sight from the judge and grabbed his pile of papers to suddenly descend from the podium to walk out of the room. As Adeni walked past the files of sitting people that murmured, some that stood and watched him leave, he held his breath and didn’t look back or say anything. Gabriela blinked and couldn’t believe what had just happened as the entrance doors of the conference room slammed shut. The murmurs evolved into loud talking, the judges stood up and talked amongst themselves and Gabriela still didn’t understand what was occurring; she just stood behind her podium watching people. She opened her mouth to speak but no words would come out, she just stood there wanting to know what had happened. Antoinette stood up and hurried out of the room after Adeni, just after a few brief words with the other judges.

What happened? Did he forfeit? Why did he leave? Why did he so that?

These were the questions in Gabriela’s mind at the moment, she looked up above her head and saw the light on top of her grow stronger. Gabriela lowered her sight and shielded her eyes from the darkness that she had caused herself to see after so much light that had hit her eyes. A couple of minutes later the doors to the conference room opened and Antoinette walked back in the room, all eyes were on her. The room became a ghost town as she whispered more words to her fellow judges, she then cleared her throat.

“Sorry about the inconvenience, but Charlie Stuart seams to have decided to drop out of the competition.” Antoinette awkwardly shared, she then sighed. “Since Mr. Stuart decided to forfeit, I suppose our new 1983 debate champion is Gabriela Lombardo from Manhattan, New York.”


Adeni quickly and harshly packed his belongings in his room, he had walked out of the competition and Gabriela. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could, he wanted to forget everything and as he grabbed his belongings he thought of everything he had been through the past month, now he wanted to forget it all.

“Why did you leave, why did you forfeit?” Gabriela demanded as she barged in to the room. Hearing the sound of Gabriela’s voice, he glanced at her showing acknowledge that he knew she had entered the room. He then returned back to his packing.

“Why is it that when I see you, you always interrogate me with questions?” Adeni asked as he continued packing his clothes.

“You left me, you had a great opportunity to win-me. Why did you forfeit, why did you do it? ” Gabriela harshly asked ignoring his question. Adeni didn’t glance back at her again and the fact that he hadn’t made a slight different movement since her question made her grow inpatient.

“Adeni.” Gabriela harshly said and crossed her arms. “Are you listening to me?”

“How could I not, you’re pretty hard to ignore.” He admitted as he continued moving. Gabriela grunted and walked over to him and sat on his open suite case. She crossed her arms and sighed deeply waiting for him to respond. Adeni rolled his eyes.

“Answer my question or I‘m not moving.”

“Get up Gabriela.” He rolled his eyes at her childlike games. Gabriela held a stern face hand tightened her crossed arms.

“I‘m not moving, tell my why you left.”

“You either get up or I’m going to hurt you.” He threatened and took hold of the handles.

“Is that a threat?” She asked holding tightly on to the blue suitcase.

“Get up.”

“Answer my question.”

“Get up witch.” He growled.

“Oh…offensive.” She sarcastically toyed. Inside she was boiling with anger at the fact that he had called her a witch but she couldn’t afford to express it at that moment.

“Do you really want me to tell you, alright fine I will. While we were up there, fighting as usual, I realized that you were right. This is not my society and it will never be, I don’t belong here. I was pretending I was someone that I’m not, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I shouldn’t have been part of this competition in the first place , so I let you win.” He said, pulled his suitcase from underneath her, closed it and stood up from where he was kneeling on. Gabriela fell awkwardly on his neatly done bed. She knew he was about to leave and stopped him by holding on tightly to one of the suitcase handles.

“Well you shouldn‘t have…I- why… can I say something? I want to apologize, I‘m sorry I said those things to you, I was just hurt and angry. I shouldn‘t have treated you like I did.” Gabriela said, she took a deep breath and looked at him straight in his night eyes.

“Apology accepted, I have to leave now can you please let go.” Adeni coldly said as he harshly yanked his belongings and headed towards the door. He didn’t dare look back at her. Gabriela gathered her emotions and stood up next to the corner of the bed looking at him.

“Don‘t-don‘t leave, you won. I give up.” Gabriela simply begged. At the sound of her words Adeni halted in his tracks and turned to face her. She glanced at the floor wanting to avoid his eyes but then got the courage and looked up.

“What do you mean ‘you won ’, I won nothing! I gave up the contest and I get the picture that you hate me. Explain to me Gabriela because I don’t seam to understand, how could I have won anything!” He shouted in amazement, his voice was full of anger.

“ You did win something at the end. I don‘t hate you and I never have. I was just filled with deep anger and hate because of -well you know of what. I can‘t hide it any longer, I do miss you and I do want you back you know. It just hurts me that you had to be…”

“I had to be what, a werewolf? Why don’t you go ahead and say it: werewolf .I‘m sorry if I busted your love bubble by not being a wizard. ” Adeni laughed sarcastically.

“ I know, I’m sorry too but, I-I do love you. I wish we could have a relationship but I shouldn‘t be talking to you. I shouldn’t know your name.” Gabriela bit her lip.

“Guess what Gabriela, you do know my name and it sadly happened, we fell in love.” Adeni confirmed. There was an awkward silence in the room where the only sound consisted of both lovers breathing, it seamed to last for an eternity. Gabriela’s sad eyes suddenly widened and looked at him, they were full of thought.

“How are we going to do this?” She asked cocking her eyebrow.

“Do what?”

“See each other.”

“You want us…hold on, what?” he double took and wore a confused expression on his face.

“Adeni, listen to me. How are we going to see each other once we‘re back home? Or what, you don‘t want to take a shot at this?” Gabriela asked smiling. Adeni looked at Gabriela as if she had gone absolutely crazy.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

“Yes of coarse. Why do you ask?” Gabriela pondered. Her smile disappeared and became replaced with a cocked head and a cocked eyebrow.

“Because you, a completely powerful-sorceress, of all people in your society is asking me, a werewolf, to sustain a forbidden relationship that could get us both killed if people realize that we’re sustaining it.” Adeni clarified.

“Yeah, so.”

“And you‘re taking this so calmly.”

“I‘m not going to freak out or anything, we‘re just going to try it out. Besides what are the chances that people will know that you‘re a werewolf?” Gabriela shrugged.

“There are big chances that people will find out.” Adeni nodded.

“Are you afraid?” Gabriela suddenly asked and smiled a little. Adeni blushed and looked away.

“Of coarse I‘m not! I was just worried about your wic-sorry, sorry I know very offensive to your kind. I was worried about what you would think that your society would say, which brings me to this question : what about your society?” Adeni asked seriously.


“ I didn‘t really think about it. Wow, and now that I do…I really don‘t care.” Gabriela truthfully said. She shrugged it off.

“Are you sure? If you don’t feel comfortable we could end this now before we begin anything, but that‘s if you want.” He proposed backing away from her keeping his distance.

“No, I want to try this out, Sorcerer or not I like you Adeni.” Gabriela said and smiled at him.

“ You just surprised me, knowing you, I didn‘t think you would actually be ok with this.” He admitted. Adeni was still a little confused at what just happened.

“Well you knew the old Gabriela, I‘m different now and I know that this relationship won‘t end up in disaster. ” Gabriela promised. “I promise.”

The loud and annoying school bell chimed and all the classes at Building 200 ripped open and unleashed numerous of wild teenagers…Gabriela was one of them. As she crossed the endless hall, teenagers greeted her with cheers and claps. The well known students of Building 200 passed by and would say “Hello” and “Good job Gabriela” and one guy even told her “Way to kick ass!”. In response to the remarks she would smile at them or return some words, at that moment Gabriela Lombardo’s name was in everyone’s lips. Gabriela was the most popular girl at Bronx, even amongst the other buildings.

As Gabriela continued her walk to freedom, the exit to the building, she came across a large wooden trophy case that displayed and kept achievements. As she scanned the awards she came across a giant golden plack that read:

67th Annual National Sorcerer Debate Tournament
First Prizewinner:
Gabriela A. Lombardo
Los Angeles, C.A year 1983


The smile that she held in her lips died at the sight of the plack, she felt shame fill her heart every time she saw that plack. Gabriela knew that she had won only because Adeni had forfeited and to her it was as if she hadn’t won at all in her eyes. Gabriela would have wanted to beat her lover in a fair debate and have won that way instead of how she had won.
Gabriela was determined to look away from the plack and she did to only continue he path to the exit of the building. She suddenly got her happiness back not because she was getting the attention of the teenagers again, but because she knew that Adeni was going to meet her outside the building ready for them to go out. As she burst on to the outside world she searched around for Adeni. She searched in groups of teenagers but she didn’t see his dark brown hair, she then saw that he wasn’t there at all.

She felt confused for a few minuets, but then concluded that he was maybe late or that he was maybe waiting for her on the entrance of his building. When Adeni had told her that he would wait in front of a building, Gabriela hadn’t really understood which building he would be at because when he told her they were at the noisy airport and she had to get away from him. After half an hour of waiting, she decided to walk home, and she also concluded that he had forgotten.

As she walked with her hopes on the ground and her head low, a random yet familiar dog began following her. His black golden fur shun in the melting snow. Gabriela glanced at the dog a few time and began questioning the reason why he would follow her, she also discovered that he had a piece of paper poking out of his mouth.

“Shoo, go away.” She said as she stopped to stomp her foot to frighten the animal. The canine stopped and stood in his place, he looked bigger than an ordinary dog, furrier and wilder.

“Leave, go away.” She hissed as she made a swishing movement with her arms so the creature would leave. It stayed where it was, in it’s place, completely disobeying her wishes.

“Fine, I‘ll leave but STAY…stay.” She commanded as she slowly backed away from the dog. As she turned to cross the street the canine ran after her and stopped her in the middle of the New York traffic. Cars were honking, the light had changed from bright red to green and people were yelling at her to get out of the way. As she tried to get out of the way and take the rock hard canine with her, the canine suddenly dropped a note right on her feet.

“Move it kid!”

“There‘s a side walk you know!”

“Get off the street!”

Gabriela quickly picked up the note and coxed the canine to follow her as she ran onto the side walk. The canine wagged it’s tale and followed.

“I‘m getting off! Leave me alone! Up yours!” She shouted back at the drivers. When she got to safety on the sidewalk, she gazed at the canine with exhaustion and then back at the busy street.

“See what kind of trouble you get me in!” She scowled at it, she then focused her attention on the note she held on her left hand. She then unfolded the note which said:

Gabriela,
Sorry that I couldn’t meet you at school in my human form, I thought that it would be too dangerous for people to see us together . I have good news and bad news. Bad news: apparently the werewolf community knows who you are and that you won the competition so we can‘t be seen together... At all. Good news: they don’t know that I went to compete…to answer your question, yes I am this wolf in front of you. Let’s go to your house where we could be alone.

Adeni

Gabriela pondered if the note was true, that if the cane-wolf in front of her was certainly her boyfriend, she looked at it and the wolf wagged his tail.

“Adeni?” She softly asked. “Is that you?” The wolf suddenly howled softly as a reply.


The couple exited the elevator that brought them to Gabriela’s Pent House. They both entered the house quietly without making any noise. To Gabriela, no one seamed to be home at the moment, not even the maids.

“Adeni, my room is the second door in that hallway, go and meet me there.” Gabriela instructed him. Adeni nodded and quickly ran on his four legs to her room.

“Ms. Lombardo, you‘re home early.” Said a younger servant as she appeared from the flower garden doors. Gabriela quickly turned to face the servant. She was young, dark brown hair; she was a mix of Indian and Latino.

“Yes, hi Asa is my mother home?” Gabriela asked in a calm tone.

“I‘m very sorry but your mother said to tell you that she went on a business trip to Texas. She‘ll return in a few days.” Asa softly said. Gabriela displayed her most hurt face expression that she had in her shelf of face expressions. Inside, she was happy and relieved that her mother was gone.

“I see, what about dad? Have you seen him?” Gabriela questioned, hoping that the servant would say he was on a trip too.

“Your father will be back by seven, he‘s still in his office. Don‘t worry Gabriela, at least you‘ll have him tonight.” Asa said. Gabriela blew a piece of hair away from her face as she always knew that her family, she didn’t even know if she could call it a family, would never act like a family. Gabriela and her parents never ate together, one day it would be her and her dad, another it would be her and her mom, but always it was just her alone. As a kid, Gabriela never experienced being tucked away at night by her mother, or even being told a story before bed by her father…she was always alone.

“Thank you for the emotional support Asa.” She sarcastically said. “Well since it‘s me alone again, I‘m going to be in my room. I would appreciate it if no one looks for me.”

“Of coarse Ms. Lombardo.”

As Gabriela opened the door to her room, she saw Adeni laying on her bed still in wolf form.

“Hey, no paws on the bed.” She joked, Adeni jumped off the bed and pushed her to sit on her bed.

As Adeni backed away from his lover, his bones began to crack and he began to growl in a painful way and his body was changing. The transformation wasn’t the most glamorous, it looked, felt and was painful. Hairs began to grow inward, his eyes grew smaller, human size. As he redeemed his human body, Gabriela closed her eyes and dared not to see him, in fear that he would be naked after the transformation.

“You can open your eyes, I have clothes on.” Adeni told her. Gabriela peeped from an opening between her fingers and saw that he was right.

“That really sounded painful, did it hurt?”

“I‘m not going to lie to you, yes it hurts and a lot. Sometimes the pain is so unbearable that some werewolf have no option but to stay half way transformed. ” Adeni shared. “My bones are very different from yours or any Normal, mine are a little more flexible, but even so the pain is so difficult to face.”

“How often do you transform? ” Gabriela asked as she was laying on the bed.

“I try and do it once a month, when the moon forcefully turns into wolves. ” Adeni said with a small laugh. “As you could remember.”

“I remember.” Gabriela dryly remembered. She remembered the night when she had discovered that her boyfriend was actually a werewolf. She remembered the hatred that she felt, the anger that burned inside her like a torch.

“Gabriela, that‘s all in the past. You know that I‘m sorry that I didn‘t tell you, and you know perfectly well why I didn‘t tell you.” Adeni apologized as he saw Gabriela’s mood change his eyes.

“I know, I know, but you don’t know how hurt I was.” She said.

“I could imagine it, I would be loathing you too if I found out that the love of my life was lying to me everyday.” Adeni sighed. Gabriela hugged her legs and placed her head on her knees.

“Can we please change the subject.” She looked away. Adeni sighed at the sight of Gabriela in agony.

“I just want you to know this Gabs, I don‘t care if I have to transform a million times, as long as I see you it doesn‘t matter the pain I have to endure.” He said. Gabriela first looked at him with a serious face and then a smile grew.

“Come on boy! Come on!” Shouted Gabriela at Adeni as Adeni ran in his wolf form past some servants. A year had passed by since Gabriela and Adeni decided to become a couple, Gabriela was now sixteen, and a junior in Bronx, Adeni had graduated with honors from his building and was now living alone in an apartment he had gotten in the heart of Manhattan. Adeni had also gotten a good job with the city county and was attending community college to study medicine, he wanted to become a doctor.

“That dog Gabriela! Handle that dog!” Shouted her mother as Adeni ran past her. Gabriela had told her mother months ago that she had found poor unfortunate Adeni in the gutters and she wanted to give him a home, her mother hesitated but accepted that Adeni stayed to “live” in the pent house. Adeni was always at Gabriela’s house in wolf form every opportunity he got, and he would leave when it was time to sleep.

“I got him mom! I‘m going to my room, leave me alone for a while!” Gabriela shouted as she ran after Adeni. Adeni ran straight into her room.

“You‘re always in there Gabriela, you should try and get out of the house more often.” Her mother yield. “And take Adeni with you!”

“And you should try and spend some time with your daughter, but I guess that none of those things are going to happen.” Gabriela shrugged as she looked back at her mother. Bethany looked shocked at what her daughter had just told her.

“Gabriela you shouldn‘t have told that to your mother.” Adeni admitted to Gabriela as she walked into the room, he sat in his human form on her bean-bag chair, he was starting to grow a beard.

“Hey, how can she expect me to do something when she won‘t be an example.” Gabriela stiffly said.

“You shouldn‘t talk to her like that, she‘s your mother.”

“There’s a word that I don‘t believe in. I feel as if I have no mother, that woman out there is just a woman. That word ‘mother’ is a female who takes care of her children, protects them, shows them affection. When have I received that from her? Never. Bethany was always away from home, I was practically raised by maids! ” Gabriela rolled her eyes and stuttered a little.

“Don‘t you think that she was gone so she could give you the life that you have now? Look where you live, you live in the most expensive penthouse in New York. your mother worked hard for what you have now, she worked so that you could have the wonderful life you have now. ” Adeni said.

“No she didn‘t, she told me herself that she got where she was because my grandfather worked with the president.” Gabriela said. “She didn‘t do this for me and if she did it’s not noticeable because at least now she doesn‘t ever spend time with me.”

“She‘s always working, I‘m sure that she wants to but she‘s just always busy.” Adeni smiled.

“Wrong again, if she wanted to spend time with me, shouldn’t she be here trying to communicate with the only kid she has? If she does want to, she has a funny way of showing it. Lets face it, she ignores me Adeni, it‘s like if she doesn‘t care about me!” Gabriela cried.

“I think your mother cares about you.”

“Are you trying to defend her?” She demanded.

“I‘m not trying to defend anyone Gabriela.”

“It sure sounds like you are trying to defend her Adeni.”

“I‘m not, but I think you and your mother should have a better relationship, she was the woman who brought you into this world.” Adeni carefully suggested.

“Let me ask you a question Adeni, how‘s your relationship with your mother.” Gabriela growled.

“…Natalia and I had a good relationship.” He shared.

“Well lucky for you.” Gabriela walked away from him and sat on her room desk, she began to read. Adeni rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Gabriela, lets not fight.”

“I‘m not fighting, it just bothers me that you are on her side.”

“I‘m on no one‘s side!” Adeni yield, he stood up from the chair. Gabriela looked at him, she had never seen Adeni so angry before. Not ever since the day of the final debate a year ago. “Why can‘t you understand that!”

“Fine, whatever, your not on her side.” She rolled her eyes and kept reading, she now rearranged her seating and sat with her back facing Adeni.

“Are you really going to act like this on the day of our one year anniversary?” Adeni asked her. Gabriela looked up and looked at him as if he was crazy.

“What? No it isn‘t.”

“Yes it is Gabs, it‘s on the 31st.” Adeni reminded her. “Tomorrow is New Year’s.” Gabriela thought to the night that he asked her to be his girlfriend, she remembered it was one day before New Years, and he was right, tomorrow was New Years. Her eyes went wide and smiled a sheepish smile.

“Now do you remember.” He asked cocking an eyebrow.

“I remembered, I was just testing you.”

“Yeah right.” He rolled his eyes. “Well unlike you, I did remember and I prepared the most romantic day of your life. Today it‘s just going to be me and you.” Adeni then went over to Gabriela and squeezed her shoulders tenderly as a sign of affection.

“Gabriela! Since when do you lock your door!” Shouted a familiar voice from outside, it was Suzan and she was banging on the door full blast. Adeni and Gabriela began to panic in fear of Suzan seeing Adeni in her room. Gabriela thought fast instructed Adeni to hide under the bed as she rushed to open the door.

“Hey Gabriela, ready?” Suzan asked as she walked in her room. “Where‘s your dog?”

“Adeni‘s not here, Asa took him out for a walk. When you ask if I’m ready, you mean-.” Gabriela asked as she sat on her bean-bag chair. She sat at an angle where she could see Adeni and talk to Suzan simultaneously. Suzan, as she would always do, threw herself on Gabriela’s bed. As Suzan attacked the bed, Adeni from beneath held in a scream from all the pressure that was placed on his body. Gabriela quickly shifted her eyes to the bottom of the bed to look at an almost flat Adeni biting his hand and squinting.

“Don‘t tell me that you forgot.” Suzan gasped. Gabriela looked from Adeni to Suzan and realized that he was having trouble breathing; she then grabbed Suzan and harshly sat her on her seat.

“Best if you sit there, my bed hasn’t been that sturdy since Adeni came in the picture.” Gabriela lied. Underneath the bed, Adeni breathed again. “I‘m sorry, what were you saying.”

“Gabriela I cannot believe you, today is my birthday. You didn‘t celebrate my birthday last year due to the competition but you promised me we would go to Six Flags today.” Suzan reminded her in a very annoyed tone.

“Six Flags? Oh, oh! My, I am so sorry I totally forgot. You know that I‘ve been busy but we‘re going today?” Gabriela asked.

“I‘m not going to answer that question.” Suzan pouted and stood up she was starting to get annoyed at the fact that her best friend had forgotten her birthday.

“Oh, well…um…isn‘t it late to go?” Gabriela asked, she looked at the clock in her room which read 10:14 A.M.

“If you don‘t want to go then I won‘t beg you. I just thought that maybe this year you would spend my birthday with me.” Suzan said as she began to walk out. Gabriela bit her lips she wanted to go out with her best friend but then at the same time Adeni had planned the entire day a romantic day for them. The sad part of this problem was that she didn’t remember both events at all.

“Wait Suzan!” Gabriela shouted.

THUD!

“What was that?” Shouted Suzan from the hallway. Adeni had perpously hit the bottom of Gabriela’s bed with his fist to get her attention. The sound was so strong, deep, and loud that Gabriela peeped in her room and glared at Adeni.

What about us? he mouthed.

“Nothing, I don‘t know what your talking about. Hey, I‘ll meet you outside I have to get my sweater.” Gabriela said as she walked back in her room right after she made sure that Suzan was walking to the elevator. She then closed the door.

“I think you should get a planner.” Adeni suggested as he crawled out of the bottom of her bed.

“I am so sorry, I had totally forgotten about you and about Suzan‘s birthday, can we reschedule?” She steeply asked not meeting her boy-friend’s eyes. He growled feeling angry.

“Fine, go to Six Flags, have fun. Just go and have fun.” He sighed not looking at her. She felt guilt in her soul, she wanted to spend the day with her boy-friend but she had already said yes to Suzan.

“I am so sorry Adeni.” Gabriela sighed, she felt like shit. Adeni didn’t look at her.

“Just go, I‘ll see you tomorrow.” He said. Gabriela grabbed the random sweater Adeni was holding and she kissed him on the cheek.

“Do you want me to bring you something?”

“Bring me a funnel cake, those things are good.” Adeni told her and then smiled at her. Gabriela gave him a small smile and left the room.



Christoph didn’t know how to tell his lovely wife, he didn’t even know if he should tell her at all. Gabriela was already laying on their bed reading a book like always, this time it was a new book named Half the Sky. Christoph looked from his laptop screen to his wife, her long brown wavy hair was free on her shoulders.

“Do you want to tell me something?” She asked keeping her eyes on her book. Apparently, Christoph had been glancing back at her for some while that showed that he wanted to tell her something.

“No, why would you say that?” He asked, keeping his eyes on his laptop. He was having second thoughts.

“I don‘t know, you just keep looking at me as if you want to say something.” Gabriela said. “So whatever you want to say, spill it now.”

“I don‘t have anything to tell you.” He lied.

“Alright then.” Gabriela sighed leaving the topic hanging in the air. She said no more.

“I heard about your mother.” He suddenly said. “I‘m terribly sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about, she‘ll get better. Bad weeds never die.” Gabriela sighed. Christoph was now confused, was his wife aware that her mother had died an couple hours ago? Apparently not.

“Nora, do you know that your mother died a couple of hours ago?” He carefully said closing his laptop. Gabriela closed her book and glanced at her husband for a minuet, her face had no expression on it.

“I would really appreciate it if you called my by my real name when we‘re alone.” Gabriela coldly asked.

“Did you hear me? Your mother died a couple of hours ago.” Christoph slowly repeated and cocked her eyes out of amazement.

“I heard you the first time. I guess weeds do die.” She shrugged turning back to her book. Christoph was surprised at his wife’s coldness.

“How could you say that.”

“What?” Gabriela shrugged at her husbands shock.

“Your mother just died.” Christoph gasped.

“ So, what do you want me to do, go to her grave and ask her for forgiveness for hating her for all these years because she ruined my life.” Gabriela asked.

“Gabs-” He accidentally blurted. Gabriela looked up from her reading.

“Gabs…he used to call me that.” Gabriela remembered, a soft smile grew on her face. Christoph knew who she was talking about and sighed.

“That wolf.” Christoph said simply, he looked at her with hurt eyes.

“Yes that wolf, his name was Adeni, and yes, if your still wondering, I still hate her.” She snapped.

“All she did for you was for your own good, she didn‘t want you to make the mistake of mixing with those people.” Christoph said. Gabriela suddenly became outraged.

“No she didn‘t, she just didn‘t want to ruin her wonderful reputation.” Gabriela snapped and rolled her eyes. “She never cared about me!”

“That‘s not true.”

“Oh yes it is, you didn‘t know her.”

“I know that I didn‘t but, you have a better life. Imagine how your life would have been if you had stayed with that wolf. You would have been miserable” He said.

“You don‘t know that, I would have been happy with Adeni and my son.” Gabriela shouted in anger. She stood up and walked up to their bedroom restroom.

“Gabriela come back to bed.” Christoph sighed and went after his wife. Gabriela was in their restroom looking at herself in her own mirror, they had he and she bathroom sinks. Gabriela realized that she was aging, she still had the same attractive face she had when she was a teenager but she was looked like time had beaten her. Christoph put his arm on Gabriela’s shoulder, she shrugged it away.

“You should have never opened your mouth.” She sighed. “You should have stayed quiet.”

“I didn‘t want you hurt you.” He sighed. Gabriela turned around and got out of their bathroom, and sat back on her bed with her arms crossed.

“Of coarse you didn‘t , you knew that was going to happen to me. I should have never married you.” Gabriela rolled her eyes.

“I have to confess something, when I was going to ask you to marry me, I was warned of all you had gone threw and that you loved that-Adeni so much that you would never fall in love with me as you had loved him. They told me that you would hate me for the rest of your life because I was taking the place of…Adeni. ” He sighed. “But they didn‘t know the other part of the story.”

“You should have listened to them Chris.” She whispered as she grabbed her book and left the room.

No! NO! Let me go!

Gabriela suddenly remembered the memories that she had shut out of her life for so many years. Her ear splitting screams filled her head along with her begging, herself suffering and her pain. She remembered the blood, a lot of blood, the blood was everywhere in the room.

Hi Gabriela.” Said a scrawny boy as he got closer to Gabriela, he was skinny had black eyes with blond short hair.

“Hey Christoph.” Gabriela responded, she and Suzan were headed to lunch and they had just met up with their friend Chris.

“Hey Suzan, oh hey Chris how are you doing? Good and you.” Suzan said to herself out loud and crossed her arms, she felt ignored by her friend.

“Oh, hey Suzan, I didn‘t see you there.” Chris suddenly acknowledged.

“Didn‘t see you ether since you’re so short.” Suzan said as she looked away. Christoph De Vandre was a tiny bit shorter than other teenage boys that went to Bronx, yet he was one of the smartest it their building.

“Are you guys going to the dance?” He asked.

“The Masquerade Ball this Friday?” Suzan asked.

“No Suzan, the other dance.” Chris sarcastically said and rolled his eyes.

“I don‘t know, I would like to go.” Gabriela uncertainly said.

“Well I want to go, why don‘t we all go together.” Suzan suggested, she bounced in place in thought of the three of them going to the dance together.

“So, we have to ware masks.” Gabriela thought out loud, she began to think about a certain person.

“Yes, It‘ll be fun. Come on Gabriela!” Chris smiled at her trying to convince her to go to the dance with him.

“Why don‘t you pick on her when she states out the obvious?” Suzan asked as she put her hands on her hips.

“Because Su-zan, it‘s Gabriela.” Chris darted at her with his dark eyes “She doesn‘t always state out the obvious like you do.”

“Are we going or not!” Suzan demanded impatiently, she had completely ignored his comment.

“I’ll give you guys an answer tomorrow, I have to discuss this with my lawyer.” Gabriela said.


“What?” Adeni jerked up and he sat on his bed, he had just received the news of Gabriela’s invitation.

“Come on Adeni, it’ll be fun!” Gabriela jumped in place out of happiness.

“I don‘t know, what if some of my people recognized me.” Adeni questioned.

“No one will recognize you, you‘ll be warring a mask.” Gabriela informed as she gave him a tender kiss. “I‘ll get you one of those masks that will cover your entire face”

“Are you sure everyone will be wearing one?” Adeni asked, not feeling secure.

“Its Masquerade everyone has to ware masks, come on lets go.” Gabriela begged.

“Fine I‘ll go with you.” He sighed playfully rolling his eyes at her .

“Great! So it‘s going to be Suzan, Christoph, you and I at this Friday’s dance.”

“Wait, wait, who the hell is Chris?” Adeni asked as he sat up and cocked his eyebrow.

“Christoph is a friend of mine, he‘s probably going to go with Suzan though.” Gabriela explained. Adeni breathed a little, he was a little of the jealous type. Who wouldn’t be, Gabriela was beautiful; her wolf like brown eyes, long light brown hair and her brain. Adeni thought that she was just perfect.


The mall area glisten in the night sky under the hung Christmas lights that surrounded the perimeter. The tables were elegantly decorated with dark purple, red, black and gold colors and glittering masks of different styles and colors that were the center piece. There was a band that played soft music as students walked out of building 200 onto the open spaced mall area.

“Wow, this place makes the Debater‘s Ball look like shit.” Adeni admitted. Adeni wore a black mask which covered his entire face, the mask had a giant long sharp looking nose. He also wore a black suit with a dressy purple shirt.

“Adeni.” Gabriela scowled at Adeni, he had his arm around her shoulders. Gabriela had a strapless gold dress on with a gold mask that had long feathers and covered half of her face.

“Righteous, He has your dog‘s name!” Suzan giggled. Suzan wore a screaming pink dress and her red hair was straightened, her mask also covered half of her face like Gabriela’s but on the eye holes they had long and exaggerated eyelashes. Adeni stayed quiet.

Chris had gone with Suzan, even thought he had really wanted to go with Gabriela. He always had a giant crush on his friend, ever since the moment they had met in their freshmen year but he had never the courage to tell her. His mask also covered half of his face like both girls but it was just simply green. As the four teenagers grabbed a table, Adeni glanced subtlety around the location.

“How did you meet Gabriela-Adeni is it?” Chris asked Adeni.

“Yes it is; I met her in the Debate Tournament last year, went against her a couple of times and then we began to talk. I just happened to be in town and she invited me to your dance,” Adeni simply said.

“Where are you from?” Suzan asked, she became interested in Adeni.

“Adeni‘s from Sicily, it‘s a city in Italy.” Gabriela responded. Suzan wowed in amazement and Chris looked away and rolled his eyes a little under his mask. Adeni then saw Chris’ reaction.

“Wow, why did you come to New York?” Chris asked giving a hint of attitude at the Italian boy.

“I actually live here now, Gabs and I are seeing each other.” Adeni returned his attitude and a hidden smirk to go with it. Chris’ face became emotionless.

“No way, why didn‘t you tell me-Gabs.” Suzan gasped and then snorted a little as she had called Gabriela ‘Gabs’. No one was allowed to give her a nickname, she hated nicknames but she guessed that Adeni was the exception.

“I was going to tell you today.” Gabriela suddenly smiled, she turned pink under her mask.

“No wonder your dog‘s name is Adeni, did you know that Adeni? She has a dog named after you!” Suzan laughed. Adeni couldn’t help and chuckle at Suzan, he thought that she was a pleasant girl. Suzan was really something else, she never went with the fads of style, and always wore a giant sweater with anything that she would be warring. The dance was a giant exception, she actually wanted to look nice that night.

“Congratulations, you got the strongest girl in Bronx.” Chris dryly admitted.

“That‘s so not true.” Gabriela gasped and blushed under her mask.

“Of coarse it is! your magic level is out of this world, everyone knows you‘re the strongest and smartest person here.” Suzan smiled.

“Don‘t forget the loveliest.” Chris whispered under his breath. Adeni boiled inside after hearing Chris’ opinion. “With your magic abilities, I wouldn‘t be surprised if the Council of Augury requests her.”

“Request her?” Adeni blurted. “What do you mean?” Gabriela glanced at Adeni and then at her obviously confused friends. She didn’t have to look under their masks to see the puzzled faces they wore.

“What do you mean ‘what do you mean’? You should know.” Chris reacted with a don’t-act-stupid tone of voice. Adeni suddenly realized that he was blowing his cover, they were starting to suspect that there was something different about him.

“I don‘t know what your talking about, in Italy no one speaks of our council. I don‘t know anything about them, they are truly a mystery to me.” Adeni quickly thought. Gabriela sighed a little at Adeni’s save.

“Over here we talk about them all the time. Can you even talk about them in Italy?” Suzan asked.

“Nope, to be truthful, I don‘t even know what they are. I just know that they are the leader‘s of Italy‘s sorcerers” Adeni lied some more.

“ If you’re interested we’ll tell you all you have to know about the Council of Augury.” Gabriela suddenly said to Adeni, she didn’t want to seam to quiet that it would make her friends wonder.

“That is a fabulous idea Gabriela, let me start! Our council is 12 of the most formidable sorcerers in the US. As you are aware, there are councils in every country with the same number of members, only 12.” Suzan began. “Michael Goetz-”

“-Riva Judge, Jonathan Fernandez, Andrea Oldenburg, Sergio Romero, Justin Levin, Samantha White, Joseph Wu, Augustus Mauls, Zahra Mathews, Christina Williams, and Audrey Washington.” Chris recited.

“How do you know all of them?” Asked a surprised Suzan.

“We just had a review yesterday about the council members.” Chris dryly remember both girls.

“Oh.” Gabriela dumbly said.

“Well, nobody in this table cares about yesterday‘s test. Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by someone, our strongest member is Michael and he’s really old. Apparently if you join the council you live longer. ” Suzan sighed.

“He‘s 145 to be exact, am I right Gabriela?” Chris pointed out and asked Gabriela. Gabriela nodded in agreement, Adeni rolled his eyes. This Christoph guy was starting to piss him off.

“Thanks for the nerd fun fact Chris; so the council was the one that kind of isolated our kind from the rest. They decided right after the witch hunts that our society couldn’t afford to lose anymore of our people to humans, so they warned the sorcerers to stay quiet about their identity or risk dying. Everything became peaceful after that decision, we still got along with the werewolves and the rest until the council got in a nasty argument with the werewolf council. ” Suzan continued.

“It‘s said that the werewolves, on one of their lunar days, went after a group of our kind and killed them, the council was very outraged. They were so angry that they went to war with the werewolves, we won the hounds.” Chris smirked. Underneath the table, Gabriela held Adeni’s hand in support, she knew that he was upset. Adeni couldn’t believe that that was what sorcerers thought had occurred, that group of werewolves were being hunted by a group of witches

“The council then decided to separate us all from the rest, but since they knew that the Normals control most of this world we were told to still live among them, like every creature has been asked to.” Suzan explained.

“Even if we were asked to live amongst them, they told us that for our safety, we were to learn apart from them and to not let them know where we studied so they wouldn’t bother us. Bronx is…sort of the exception.” Chris explained.

“Interesting. So what if, oh I don‘t know, you were to meet a werewolf?” Adeni suddenly dared to ask. “What would you do?”

“That will never happen, a werewolf wouldn‘t dare and show his identity.” Chris responded.

“Well what if one did reveal his identity, what would you do?” Adeni pushed. Gabriela began to realize Adeni’s little game. Why was he asking this questions to my friends, he knows that he can’t open his mouth especially while being surrounded by a large number of sorcerers, Gabriela thought.

“First of all, I think it would be so cool to meet one. I know that we aren‘t suppose to talk to them, or even know who exactly they are but it would be great. I would totally be it‘s friend.” Suzan expressed, she then sighed. Suzan more and more got on Adeni’s good side, her answer had pleased him.

“I don‘t have to think what I would do, I don’t really care for them.” Chris shrugged. Chris, on the other hand, gave Adeni a really bad impression. Adeni bit his lip under his mask and rolled his eyes.

“Way to kill the imagination train Christoph. Say, what would you do Gabriela?” Suzan dryly said and then asked her best friend. She held her head on her hands and smiled. Gabriela gave a small smile and shyly glanced down, looking away from her friends.

“I don‘t know, I would be his friend too I guess, depends if he‘s nice to my friends.” Gabriela answered simply. She knows , Adeni dryly thought.

“Well this talk really got boring, we should go and dance while the band is playing.” Chris sighed and looked away. The group hadn’t noticed but a band had just began playing, they were singing.

“Sounds groovy to me, lets go.” Suzan pulled Christoph up and began to dance in place. “Are you guys coming?”

“Adeni and I have to talk a little, then we‘ll meet you guys in the dance floor.” Gabriela sighed and gave her friends the green light to go and dance. Suzan shrugged and then dragged Christoph away from his collar. In a matter of seconds, they were gone and out of sight.

“I don‘t like that guy, Christoph.” Adeni growled and held her hand. “He‘s annoying.”

“No he isn‘t, he‘s a really sweet guy but he‘s just not used to having other guys hanging out with us.” Gabriela informed.

“Yeah right, he just doesn‘t like me because I‘m your boyfriend. He‘s jealous and he completely digs you.” Adeni told her.

“That‘s not true, he likes Suzan. He told me so a few days ago.” Gabriela shot back and laughed a little.

“ He lied to you. You could tell that he likes you.”

“That‘s not true.” Gabriela concluded.

“I know what I‘m saying is true, and I better not see him trying to pick you up because if that does happen, he‘ll meet the werewolf he says he doesn‘t like. Lets get out of here.” Adeni proposed and stood up.

“Where are we going?” Gabriela looked at her boyfriend with a confused look on her face.

“Trust me, just take my hand.”

Gabriela grabbed his and he lead her through the crowd of dancing teenagers and out of the party. While they crossed Building 200 to get to the outside, Adeni couldn’t help and look at the building, it was almost like his building except it had different colors. The night was dark, the moon was a sliver of silver light in the sky. The streets were solitary, not a car in sight of the New York street, which was a little odd but possible.

“Where are we going?” Gabriela asked as they walked in the street. A few street lights were on, that made the night look peaceful. It was very late in the night.

“We, lady Gabriela, are heading off to the park. To escape all of this.” He answered as he pulled of the mask and let his face get a breath of air. Gabriela followed afoot and pulled her’s off too, the night breeze also softly hit her face. They both then held hands and began to run playfully through the blocks until he stopped her, lifted her up in the air and kissed her.

As they continued their sojourn to the park, they began to see in the night, the park lights and trees dancing in the semi-dark. The park was beautiful, in the day and in the dark, it was quiet and peaceful. It had a breathtaking view of the Statue of liberty and of some of the New York lights. Adeni and Gabriela then found an empty park bench and walked up to it, swinging their united hands.

“I remember when my brothers and I were younger, our parents would bring us to the park in nights like these. We would be in wolf form though.” He remembered and sighed at the memory. “We would spend almost the entire night just playing and watching the city.”

“What do you think about a family?” Gabriela suddenly asked.

“What do you mean, my family?” Adeni asked as he put his arm around Gabriela to keep her warm.

“No, our family.” Gabriela responded softly and glanced away as she answered.

“Gabs you know that-”

“I know, I know, but it would be nice to at least imagine that we can.” Gabriela sighed and let her shoulders slouch. Adeni and Gabriela both knew that as much as they wanted to, that no matter how much they dreamed, they would never be allowed to have a happy ending. They both knew that they were hurting themselves, that every day a hole in their heart was being carved out, a hole that knew that they would never have a real relationship.

“A girl, I would like a girl.” Adeni then said.

“No thank you, a boy would be much better you know.” Gabriela contradicted, she chuckled a little. “Girls whine too much, guys not so much.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes it is. A boy would be just wonderful, I would name him Bob.” Gabriela defended. Adeni suddenly began laughing at an uncontrollable level, she glared at him.

“What‘s so funny?” She demanded and crossed her arms.

“That name…‘Bob’, what kind of name is that! It sounds boring, I’m not having a kid named ‘Bob’!” Adeni laughed and repeated the name in a monotone.

“It‘s a nice name!” Cried Gabriela.

“No it isn‘t.” Adeni said, as his laugh died down. “trust me, if you want to torture your kid for the rest of your life go ahead and name him that.”

“Take it or leave it Adeni, if it‘s a boy Bob Sforza it is.” Gabriela smirked.

“Over my dead body. Hey, what about Aden, that‘s a nice name.” Adeni suggested.

“Aden?” Gabriela repeated, she liked the sound of that name, it wasn’t that bad.

“Nice isn‘t it? I like it because it was my grandfather‘s name, he was a very strong wolf you know. One of the best in New York.” Adeni shared and then looked at Gabriela. “We are totally ignoring the idea of having a girl right now aren‘t we?”

“We aren‘t having one.”

“I do think so. Now that we have a name for a son that will never come, lets think of the little girl that will.” Adeni then pondered. “I like Gabriela as a name.”

“Gabriela, why Gabriela?” She asked in bewilderment.

“I want her to be named after her mother.” Adeni said softly, he looked directly at her wolf-like eyes. Gabriela felt herself blush under the night light.


The wall clock read 2:32 in the morning on Gabriela’s room wall. Adeni and Gabriela walked into her dark room not caring to turn on the light. They kissed with such passion it caused them to walk unsteadily inside the room. That same night, they both displayed their love to each other, they both became one.

Eden quickly grabbed her suitcase and placed it harshly on her bed. She began throwing her clothes and personal belongings in the case, without organizing it. Her mother and father weren’t home, it was only Aden and herself. At the moment Aden was downstairs completely oblivious to what was happening up stairs.

At the wave of her hand, Eden transformed her suite case to the size of a baseball and hid it inside her black Bronx Academy school bag. As she went down her list of thing that she held in her head, she suddenly remembered: her magic supplies. In her house, they had a separate room where her family would shelter all their spell ingredients, the room was downstairs right next to the living room. Eden crept down stairs as quietly as she could and saw that Aden was sitting on the couch closest to the supply closet, she cursed under her breath.

“What are you doing?” Aden suddenly asked as she kept her sight on the TV. Eden jumped and held her heart at the sound of the question and stood up straight.

“Nothing, you?” Eden answered calmly and walked to the closet. Aden then turned her hole body and stared at her sister as she walked by, she noticed that she had her school bag on her shoulder.

“Why do you have your bag?” Aden continued asking. “Are you heading out or something?”

“Can’t a girl walk around with her school bag while she‘s at home?” Eden responded and rolled her eyes as she “looked” for the ingredients she needed, “if you would love to know inspector, tomorrow I have another spell project and I need supplies from the Supply Closet”

“Alright, but you better stay away from the Rosemary, I need that for Marco’s class.” Aden warned and turned her attention back at her TV show. Eden sighed in relief and was surprised at how easily she had tricked her sister. She opened the closet and grabbed a little of every ingredient- even the Rosemary- and put it in her bag. As she got out of the room, she realized that Aden had left the living room. She had strangely left the TV on.

“Where are you going?” Aden demanded as she descended from the stairs. “Why is your room empty?”

“What are you talking about?” Eden rolled her eyes and headed towards the door, apparently, Aden had discovered Eden’s plan. Aden ran down the stairs and blocked her the house entrance, she looked furious.

“You were going to run away, weren‘t you!” Aden exploded at her sister. “ Tell me, what the hell is going through your head!”

“Nothing is going through my head, but I am leaving Aden. I‘m leaving with Alex to Vegas.” Eden yelled back. Aden couldn’t believe what she had just heard, her sister was leaving everything that she knew just to be with a guy that she wasn’t even allowed to see. Another thing she could believe was the stupidity of her sister, she didn’t know that Eden was this stupid.

“Really Eden, you really surprised me this time. You successfully reached your peak of stupidity.” Aden said threw gritted teeth. “I can‘t believe that you were actually going to leave your family, friends, everything for a…a…WOLF that will probably abandon you as soon as another broad crosses his way!”

“I‘m not stupid, I‘m in love. Alex and I love each other and I‘m doing this because I love him enough. I know you wouldn‘t understand because you‘ve never felt like this for any one. You are cold hearted Aden, you think that you‘re not but you are. What Alex and I are facing is tough, but we want to stay together for the rest of our lives. We‘re getting married.” Eden stood her ground.

“Shut up, that‘s not true! What your doing is so ridiculous, you‘re not ready to get married, have you thought this thoroughly?” Aden slapped her sister straight on her face. Eden then held her bruised side pf her face with her hands.

“Yes, yes I have, I’ve thought about this for months! I‘m leaving Aden, and you better keep your mouth shut if you know what‘s good for you.” Eden warned.

“Traitor, TRAITOR!” Shouted Aden on top of her longs, she shook with anger.

“I‘m the traitor? You are so wrong, you‘re the traitor! May I remind you that I‘m not the one that tried to assassinate the Council of Augury?” Eden shouted menacingly. Aden covered her ears and fell to the floor as Eden reminded her of the horrible things that she had planned and had done to their council. Aden repeatedly yelled at her sister to shut up in fetal position. “You don‘t like the memory, hum? It’s traumatizing isn‘t it, I know that it is. ”

“Shut up Eden, shut up, shut up!” Aden cried and began to rock back and forth on their wooden floor.

“You don‘t like to hear the terrorizing things that you did to them don‘t you. You know what the best part is of all this, they’re still looking for you.” Eden sighed and crossed her arms.

Two years ago Aden and a group of teenagers had gone after each member of the council and tried to kill them, she had gotten tired at the fact that they had so much power over the rest of the sorcerers and she thought that if she destroyed them, she could finally be a normal teenager. Aden knew that she was powerful; she even thought that she was a little more than her mother, and decided to rebel with another group of teenagers. Apparently, their treacherous plan failed when they failed to kill the council, the council had shown that they were stronger than all the teenagers put together. Eden had discovered her sister’s treacherous plans put promised to remain quiet, she didn’t want her sister in jail or worse: dead. The council began a search for the seven teenagers that tried to murder them, they never found them because the five committed suicide and one moved to Greece. Aden, as the leader of the group, stayed quiet about what had happened but was forever traumatized at the fact that one day she would be caught and slaughtered.

“I know they are, they‘ll slaughter me like a pig Eden. I know they will, like I tried to kill them” Aden bawled and rocked back and forth.

“Yes they will. We‘re going to make a nice little deal here sister of mine. You are going to help me and in exchange I‘ll keep my mouth closed for the rest of my life.” Eden bargained as she kneeled and looked at her sister up from close. Aden looked up into her sister’s grey eyes. “Get up, you look pathetic.”

Aden pulled herself together and glared at her sister, she stood up and wiped the tears away from her face, her sister was a monster.

“What do you want me to do?” Aden dryly asked her sister as she sniffed her tears away. Eden began to walk pacing thinking of her plan.

“We are going to put in play your knowledge of spells today, you’re going to clone me. That clone is going to live as me for as long as I live.” Eden proposed.

“A clone?” Pondered Aden, she looked surprised. “I can‘t make a clone Eden.”

“Yes you can, I know you can.” Eden coldly said.

“A clone?” Aden repeated softly.

“Yes a clone, now hop on it before mom and dad arrive.” Eden ordered and directed her sister to their Supply Room. Aden felt uncomfortable and sighed, she had never created a clone before. No matter if she didn’t have the experience, she had to help her sister, her life depended on it.


Bethany walked to her room one day, she walked steadily and quietly like always. She hated the sound of feet running or of heavy footsteps. Suddenly, she heard laughter coming from Gabriela’s room, the curious mother followed the laughter to her daughter’s door. Bethany realized that Gabriela had forgotten to close the door of her room, Gabriela loved her privacy and would always lock the door every time she was in her room; this was strange of her not to have done it. She didn’t want to bother her daughter, with that attitude that Gabriela carried, she was capable of kicking her out of her room and never speak to her again because she was trespassing. Wanting to avoid another dramatic argument with her daughter, but curious at the fact that her daughter was laughing so much, Bethany decided to peep inside the open crack of the door.

The sight she was seeing was completely shocking to Bethany, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. As Gabriela, her own blood, sat on the edge of her bed, Adeni- the supposedly street dog that Gabriela had found in the streets of New York- was transforming from a dog to a human. Bethany gasped but kept quiet at what she was watching; the bones popping out of his skin and moving, hair being dragged inside his skin and what was worse was the sounds of the bones as they arranged themselves.

“Oh Adeni, and you‘re still ok with transforming everyday?” Bethany heard her daughter ask the “dog”

“How many times am I going to tell you Gabs, it‘s fine with me. I don‘t care how many times I have to transform.” The wolf sighed and leaned over to kiss her daughter. Bethany’s eyes were wide with anger and astonish, she couldn’t believe that her daughter was kissing that wolf. She couldn’t believe that her daughter had gotten involved with a wolf, a creature that their kind wasn’t suppose to have any contact with-or at least know that they have any contact with them.

Bethany couldn’t take the betrayal of her daughter to their society, so she carefully and quietly walked away. She didn’t look back, she didn’t explode on her she could have though. Bethany could have slammed that door open and demanded an answer from her daughter, but she didn’t she was better than that. Bethany wasn’t going to say any thing, at least for now.



“Gabriela!” Shouted Suzan from across the school hall. Suzan looked happy and about to burst with excitement. Gabriela was at her locker getting her books for the next class, it was passing period and they only had five minuets to get to their next class.

“What‘s wrong?” Gabriela asked a little puzzled as she took a glance at her friend’s face. Suzan’s face had a smile so wide that it would hurt Gabriela’s face by just looking at it.

“Guess what, you are so not going to believe it! I have the greatest news in the world!” Suzan bounced peevishly as she approached her friend. Gabriela waited for her bouncing friend as she got closer.

“ You, Gabriela Ami- whatever your name is too long-, have been requested by no other than the Council of Augury!” Suzan’s voice crescendo in the hall with every word she spoke. The students that had been walking near them stopped and cheered at the shouted out news. Gabriela seamed confused and horrified at the news.

“Suzan! Let‘s get out of here!” Gabriela suddenly fake smiled and grabbed Suzan from her baggy sweater and pulled her away from the cheering crowd.

Gabriela pulled away her friend out of the building and into the mall area. They stopped right under the bridge that connected the 300’s and the 200’s just a couple feet away from the door. The mall area was deserted, they were alone.

“Why aren‘t you happy? This is great news, you’re going to be one of the council!” Suzan pondered when they got to a more isolated section of the building. Gabriela sighed and held her face in her hand for a couple of seconds. Suzan looked around and pursed her lips.

“I-I‘m really confused. How did you find out?” Gabriela finally questioned her friend.

“ Trust me, I have my ways of figuring out. The thing is that you should be happy, once you leave school your life is made! You won‘t have to look for a job, or even have to live amongst the Normies any more!” Suzan said as she crossed her arms and smiled.

“Don‘t get me wrong Suzan, I am happy about it but I still want to be part of the Natural‘s world; I still want to live here in New York.” Gabriela sighed as she looked at her friend.

“You know perfectly well that you could come and visit, Virginia is a great state and it’s not that far from here either.” Suzan shrugged and gave her friend a small smile.

“That‘s true.”

“Imagine when Adeni finds out? He‘s going to be really happy for you!” Suzan giggled and suddenly her smile disappeared from her lips. “Oh wait, you‘re going to have to leave him if your going to join the council.”

“Hold on, what do you mean that I have to leave him?” Gabriela asked her friend, she cocked her eyebrows.

“Believe it or not, one of my ancestors was requested a couple hundred years ago and he had to leave my ancestor with kids and all. It was kind of messed up. ” Suzan shared as she fixed her school bag on her shoulder. “If you are requested, you can‘t have kids or a lover or anything.”

“I‘m not leaving Adeni! I‘ll tell the council no thanks.” Gabriela decided. Suzan’s face was full of shock as she dropped her bag. Her bag fell with a loud thud.

“You can‘t do that! You know that you can‘t do that!” Suzan gasped and shook her head harshly. “Once they request you that‘s it, you have to be one of the council.”

“I know, but I don‘t want to leave him.” Gabriela softly said.

“Gabriela, it‘s the council, the Council of Augury!” Suzan gasped as she held her friend. “You can‘t pass this opportunity.”

“There you guys are, I‘ve been looking for you guys everywhere!” Chris said from far away. He opened the building 200’s door to the mall area and had seen his friends outside the building. “Why are you guys outside?”

“Guess what Chris, Gabriela‘s been requested!” Suzan suddenly blurted out. Gabriela rolled her eyes and groaned a little.

“What? How do you know?” Christoph asked when he got closer to his friends. He looked nervously around the perimeter.

“Ok, I‘ll tell you guys. I went to the principle office and I overheard him saying that you had been requested!” Suzan shared and clapped her hands in a giddy matter. “They‘re got a letter and they said that you got one dent home too!”

“Congratulation Council member!” He said as he hugged her tightly and spun her in the air.

“I‘m not joining the council.” Gabriela dryly stated, his face dropped in terror and he let her go immediately.

“But you have to, do you know now many people want to be in your place? There are millions of people in the United States and they chose you.” Chris gasped.

“I know, but I can‘t.” Gabriela groaned.

“Why not? What’s stopping you?” Chris asked holding her shoulders and looking directly at her wolf like eyes.

“Adeni. She‘s going to let this opportunity roll by because of Adeni.” Suzan blurted out. Gabriela gritted her teeth and thought that she should give her friend a muzzle for her birthday, hopefully that would help her mouth from blurting everything out into the world.

“What?” Chris yelled, he couldn‘t believe that she was going to let the opportunity go because of that person. Christoph didn’t like him, he was very odd and he felt that he didn’t disserve her. “You‘re really going to let this go because of him.”

“Can you please leave me alone, I can‘t leave him for reasons you won‘t understand.” She explained and grabbed his hand to get them off her shoulders, he was hurting her.

“What is there to understand, he‘s going to be proud of you. He has to understand.” Chris groaned in anger.

“Gabriela you‘re not married to the guy!” Suzan shouted.

“I know that I‘m not.”

“Then let him go. You can‘t pass an opportunity like this.” Chris cried.

“No, It’s because you guys don‘t understand.” Gabriela sighed and walked away to leave her friends.

“You‘re living in a fantasy and reality will hit you if you don‘t open your eyes before it‘s too late.”


Gabriela walked out of the elevator and found her home was its usual emptiness she had gotten accustomed to. As she passed the extravagant living room, she saw from the corner of her eye her mother watching her, and sipping on a china tea cup in the process. Bethany watched her daughter with hungry like eyes and felt an anger fill her heart as she saw her traitor daughter cross the room. Gabriela’s pace slowed down as she felt her mother’s sight on her, until she stopped in the middle of the door way and looked straight at her mother, she wasn’t intimidated.

Bethany tried her best to remain as calm as she could, even though she felt a harsh rough feeling on her throat as the tea slid down. She sat on the large living room’s leather white couch, alone and in the middle of it; everything was completely awkward at the moment. The nearby grandfather clock ticked the time.

“How was school?” Bethany suddenly asked breaking the swallowing awkward moment. Gabriela kept her wolf like eyes on her mother, with a completely neutral expression on it.

“Good.” She dryly responded and stood her ground. The large Bronx bag she carried began to hurt her left shoulder, yet she showed no sign of being uncomfortable.

Tick-tock

“That‘s great I suppose. Gabriela come and sit next to mother.” Bethany ordered and patted the couch seat next to her. Gabriela groaned and forcefully slouched on the other couch across her mother. She dropped her heavy bag on the floor and crossed her arms, Bethany said nothing and drank more tea.

Tick-tock

“I have better things to do than watch you drink tea Mother.” Gabriela told her as she began to drum her right fingers on her left arm.

“I bet you do.” She responded and placed the cup down on the glass table that way in front of her. She then wiped her mouth and looked sternly at her daughter. Gabriela returned her mother’s look and cocked her eyebrow.

“Gabriela darling, I‘m trying to be calm and just. I want to talk to you about Adeni.” Bethany sighed.

“What about him? Adeni behaves, he‘s potty trained and he‘s not a bother.” Gabriela harshly defended. She thought that her mother wanted to get rid of her “dog”.

“Of coarse he‘s not a bother, but what I want to know is where did you find him?” Bethany asked.

“In the street, I was walking home and he followed me home.” Gabriela sort of lied. She was starting to fell a little intimidated from her mother.

“Ah.” Bethany sighed and grabbed her cup again, she felt the right side of her mouth began to twitch. She felt her daughter was lying, and it angered her so much.

“Is that all, I have a test in two days and I want to study.” Gabriela asked, she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible; she didn’t like the negative vibration that lingered in the room at the moment.

“We are not done Gabriela!” Bethany suddenly roared and stood up. Gabriela was confused at her mother’s out burst and stayed sitting on the couch she was on.

“Alright then if we’re not finished, tell me what you have to say.” Gabriela roared back but remained on her couch, her arms remained crossed.

“You have such a repulsive attitude! How dare you scream at your mother!” Bethany screamed and remained standing up.

“How dare you scream at me!” Gabriela shot back. “I‘m no servant of yours!”

Bethany began to settle her breathing and tried to calm herself down; she then returned back to her seat and still kept her sight at her daughter. Gabriela rolled her eyes and looked away.

Tick-tock

Tick-

“I saw.”

“Saw what? It would help if you were a little more descriptive.” Gabriela growled as she looked away.

“I saw Adeni…turn in to a human.” Bethany whispered with hate. Gabriela couldn’t believe what she had heard, her mother had seen him; she then glanced at her mother and just looked at her in her gray cold eyes.

“That‘s impossible.” Gabriela said as she tried to confuse her mother. “dogs can‘t turn in to humans.”

“And you knew that Gabs, you knew all this time. You brought him here to my house, to my house, a werewolf!” Bethany ignored and said threw gritted teeth, she tried to control her anger.

Gabriela stayed quiet, she didn’t know what to say, really she didn’t. She felt a cold air hit her back, it was the fear she was feeling at the moment.

“How could you, how could you defy our society? How could you betray us, me and your father?” Bethany demanded and launched her tea cup at the floor causing a big crash and mess on the carpet floor.

“I betrayed no one!” Shouted Gabriela and stood up.

“Is that what you think, really, is that what you think?” Bethany cackled and shook her head as she laughed. “Don‘t you act stupid with me Gabriela… I saw you kissing him.”

“Mother-”

“Don’t ‘mother’ me, I want this to end before this monstrosity gets reveled. I never want to see Adeni- or whatever his name is- ever in my house.” Bethany ordered and pointed a finger at her daughter.

“ You don‘t understand!” Gabriela roared.

“I don‘t, of course I understand! I received a letter for the Council of Augury, and they requested you. I don‘t want you to shame my reputation and this family just because of your feelings. Do you know how much this can hurt my family, we can become outcasts if the Council finds out.” Bethany coldly growled in a low voice and threw a letter at Gabriela’s lap. Gabriela looked at the letter, but she didn’t open it.

“That‘s all you think about isn‘t it, your precious reputation. You don‘t care about me.” Gabriela slowly said with the hatred building up in her voice.

“The council could go and kiss my ass!” Gabriela rolled her eyes and crumbled the letter. Bethany was so shocked that she punched Gabriela on her face. Gabriela stumble back and she began to tear up.

“Never say anything like that ever again.” Bethany warned and held out her finger at her daughter. Gabriela remained quiet and said nothing but just held her aching side of her face.

“You are going to listen to me, and you are going to do what you say.” Bethany instructed. “You are going to get that wolf out of my house, and you are going to end this foolish relationship.” Gabriela said nothing, she could say anything; her mother had discovered her secret. She just glared at her mother and held her face.

“She knows. She found out that you‘re a werewolf.” Gabriela informed Adeni, she looked away in sadness; she just couldn’t look at him. “She told me that I have to break up with you.” “How did she find out?” He asked, he felt a little out raged. “I don‘t know, but she confronted me yesterday and ordered me to leave you and to accept the request.” Gabriela softly said. “The request, you got requested?” Adeni asked and cocked his eyebrow, suddenly a smile spread on his face. “That‘s great!” Gabriela then dared to look at his face, his eyes sparkled. “No, that‘s not great, I have to leave you. One of the things you have to give up while you’re in the council is having a relationship, having a family. I don‘t want to be part of the council, if I‘m going to give up love.” Gabriela sighed. “Why did they request you so early?” Adeni then asked. “Don‘t they know that you still have the rest of your life to live?” “I was meaning to tell you this Adeni, and I really hoped that I didn‘t have to.” Gabriela began. “My society is very different from yours, well you already know that part. I didn‘t tell you that in my society we have to marry at an early age, we have to marry by the time we turn twenty-three.” “Why?” He asked holding her hand. “We have to marry our kind, we aren‘t allowed to marry anyone outside our society.” Gabriela ordered the words out of her mouth. “We marry to keep our society alive.” “Oh, I see.” Adeni sighed and looked away. “That‘s why they send it early, so you won‘t have to bother to look for a husband.” “But I already have chosen my husband.” Gabriela admitted. “Who, cherry apple over there?” Adeni grumbled and rolled his eyes. He was referring to Christoph. “No.” Gabriela said. “I meant you.” “Gabriela, you know that we can‘t.” Adeni reminded her of the awful truth. “You have to look for someone else and you know that.” “But I don‘t want anyone else.” Gabriela cried in frustration. “All right then, if you don’t want to be with anyone else accept the request. Either way we can’t be together any more, if you don’t accept the request you still have to end up married, and if you do accept it you can’t be with me anymore. If you don’t want another person, then you know what to choose, I understand. What ever you decide, I want the best for you.” Adeni said, he gave her a tender smile. Gabriela fought the tears from rolling down her cheeks but couldn’t win. “I‘m so sorry.” She sobbed and held her face with her hands. Adeni grabbed her hand held her, she sobbed and beat Adeni’s chest softly in anger of what she had done. Adeni stroked her hair and couldn’t believe that they were finally done. Suddenly, Gabriela broke out of their embrace. “No, I‘m not going to let it end like this, I‘m not going to let this get in our way.” Gabriela stated as she angrily dried her tears. “I‘m not leaving you.” “Gabriela, you have no option, as much as it hurts we have to. You’re about to become part of the council.” Adeni sadly reminded her. “F the council! I don‘t want that, I don‘t want power, I don‘t want a married life with a person that isn‘t you.” Gabriela shouted. Adeni was surprised, he had never heard her talk that way. “But-” “But nothing! We are going to stay together, we‘ve gone through so much just to give it up. Don‘t you agree?” She asked. “I do, but how. Your mother knows that I‘m a wolf so I can‘t appear in my wolf form anymore at you house.” Adeni asked. Gabriela stayed quiet, she couldn’t believe that this was happening to her it was so strange, so like- “Romeo and Juliet.” Gabriela thought out loud. “What?” “I read Romeo and Juliet, it’s a love book and the characters used to see each other by sneaking out. The thing is that they had help from a maid and a priest. ” Gabriela began and walked around pondering. “The point is that if we are going to stay together, we can‘t do it alone we need help.” “Who‘s going to help us? As far as everyone knows, our kinds can‘t be together. We need someone who‘s crazy or stupid enough to help us.” Adeni said. “Your right, we need someone who‘ll also keep their mouth shut.” “No way, that is so awesome!” Exclaimed Suzan. Gabriela and Adeni had Suzan sat down on her bed and they stood before her, they had told her about Adeni. They were in Suzan’s house one block away from Gabriela’s house. “Suzan, calm down it‘s very important for you to stay quiet about this.” Gabriela sighed to her friend, but it looked as if Suzan wasn’t paying attention; she just kept her eyes on Adeni. “How did you guys meet? How is it to be a werewolf? I‘m sorry but I still can‘t believe this, you‘re a werewolf! I‘ve never met one before, I‘m so excited!” Bounced Suzan on her bed. Adeni just smiled and was kind of amused at Suzan’s interest in him. “Suzan, listen to me. You are the only person that could help us.” Gabriela snapped her fingers in front of Suzan’s hypnotized face. “My mother discovered the fact that Adeni‘s-” “-a werewolf.” Suzan finished her best friend’s sentence with a radiant smile on her face. “You‘re a werewolf!” “Yes, can you please focus Suzan? Gabriela’s mother found out and we need your help so we could see each other. ” Adeni carefully explained to her. “I‘ll help you guys, you don‘t have to worry about that.” Suzan smiled. “But what is it that you want me to do?” “Mom!” Gabriela shouted from her room. A couple of days had passed and Gabriela was home getting ready to leave for Suzan’s house. “What now Gabriela.” Her mother responded from the living room. “I‘m heading off to Suzan‘s house.” Gabriela let her mother know as she headed towards the door. Gabriela hadn’t seen Adeni in a couple of days and was so excited to see him, her heart ached for him. “Gabriela, come here for a minute.” Ordered her mother, Gabriela rolled her eyes and marched to the dining room. Her dining room was extremely fancy, there was a giant shinning chandelier that hanged from the ceiling. There was a long elegant table that could seat about ten people, that table was rarely used by her parents it mostly used for business dinners. The floor was white marble, paintings hanged on the white walls and a couple of antique vases would help decorate the large room. Bethany sat on the head chair with dinner surrounding her. “What, make it quick I have to leave.” Gabriela sighed as she stood on the door way. “I just want to remind you that is was for the best Gabriela.” Bethany said as she place a piece of fruit in her mouth. Gabriela bit her lip and looked away. “Of course it was.” She breathed and walked away. Gabriela arrived at Suzan’s house and greeted her Suzan’s mother. Suzan’s mother was a short woman with a pair of large glasses and large green eyes, she like Gabriela and Gabriela liked her in return. Suzan was waiting for her with Adeni in human form in her room, they both sat in front of the TV watching a show. “Took you long to get here.” Suzan smiled as she saw Gabriela in her doorway. She stood up and Adeni smiled at Gabriela. “I‘m going out.” “With who?” Gabriela asked as she closed the door behind her. She dropped her backpack on the floor and sat on Suzan’s blue carpet, Adeni gave her a quick kiss and placed his arm around her. “Guess, he‘s a really good friend of ours.” Suzan winked and grabbed her giant sweater, Suzan wasn’t wearing one of her giant sweaters and she looked rather stunning without it. At the moment she had a tye-died tight shirt on. “Chris? I thought you hated him?” Gabriela gasped. “Yeah, well there‘s a really thin line between love and hate.” Suzan sighed “and I guess I crossed it.” “So you’re going to leave and leave Adeni and me alone here? What will your mom think?” Gabriela asked looking at her lover. “I‘m sneaking out, anyway I’ll help you and Adeni catch up and have your time together.” “Come on Gabs, I‘m not going to hurt you.” Adeni played and bit her softly on her hand. Gabriela smiled. “What did your mom say about Adeni?” Gabriela asked. “Since my mother hates dogs, Adeni appeared in his human form. She thought he was here to help me with my math.” Suzan told Gabriela. “She thinks you’re here for help too.” “You‘re so lucky that you haven‘t seen Adeni turn into a human, it‘s pretty shocking.” Gabriela shared. “You see his bones pop out of his body, it‘s not very glamorous.” “Wow, I want to see! Does it hurt?” Suzan asked. “ Like I told Gabs, yes it does hurt and I know It’s not good for me but I‘ve gotten used to the pain.” Adeni sighed and hugged Gabriela. “Ouch.” Suzan eeked and then gazed at her best friend. “Gabriela, are you ok?” Gabriela had gone pale and she began to swallow her saliva hard, she looked as if she was going to either faint or vomit. Suddenly, she pushed Adeni’s arm off her and darted out of the room in to Suzan’s nearest restroom.

Gabriela gazed at herself in her bedroom mirror, she looked different. A couple of months had passed, her mother hadn’t suspected a thing and she still saw Adeni by heading off to Suzan’s house. Adeni and Gabriela were happy, everything was wonderful at the moment but suddenly there seamed to be something that worried Gabriela, something that she didn’t know wither to make it a big deal or not. Every day, it seamed to Gabriela that her stomach was growing and it caused her to wonder, it confused her.

She focused her attention yet again at her stomach and this time from an angle. She realized when she picked up her uniform shirt and looked; she was starting to get stretch marks on the sides of her belly. She looked as if she had eaten as if there was no tomorrow, her new belly was small though.

“Gabriela!” Shouted a familiar voice from outside her window, it was Adeni. Gabriela quickly tucked in her shirt back into her skirt and ran to open her balcony door.

“Adeni, how did you get out here! ” Gabriela asked as she opened the door and let him inside her room. “My mother could find out.”

“I wanted to see you.” Adeni sighed as he stepped inside and gave her a tender kiss on her lips. “Is that so wrong?”

“No, but how did you get up to my room? I live in the pent house Adeni, in the 32nd floor of this building.” Gabriela asked. Adeni rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“It‘s not the first time that I‘ve climbed up some floor to see you.”

“I know, but I‘m afraid that we‘ll get caught.” Gabriela nervously said and furrowed her eye brows.

“Well none of this wouldn‘t be happening if Suzan hadn‘t left.” Adeni growled and rolled his eyes. Suzan had been forced to go to Canada to visit her aunt for the weekend, so that meant if Suzan wasn’t home Gabriela and Adeni couldn’t see each other. No Suzan, no Gabriela in Adeni’s world.

“You know that she didn‘t want to go, anyway we just wouldn‘t see each other for three days.” Gabriela defended her friend.

“Three days is to many days without you.”

“Ok, now your sounding weird to me.” Gabriela cocked her eyebrows, she sat down on her bed and then suddenly glanced at herself in the mirror. Her eyes traveled to her growing belly.

“Adeni, I really have to speak to you about something.” Gabriela suddenly said as she looked away from the mirror and looked at Adeni’s face. Adeni took his usual place on her bean-bag chair.

“Don‘t tell me that she found out again?” Adeni asked, groaned and pulled his head back.

“No it‘s not that. Adeni, I know this might sound strange but I think I‘m pregnant.” Gabriela stumbled, his face was full of confuse. There was an awkward moment.

“What?” Adeni asked. Gabriela’s news hadn’t processed in his head and he thought he had heard wrong.

“I think I‘m pregnant.” She repeated her words.

“Pregnant?”

“Yes.”

“As in having a baby inside you?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, lets think about this. Why would you think that?” Adeni asked as he harshly rubbed his forehead.

“I’m not making this up, for the past few days I’ve noticed that my stomach is growing bigger.” Gabriela dumbly said, she scratched her head.

“Maybe it‘s a food baby, or maybe you‘re just getting fat.” He blurted out. Her eyes went into slits and she crossed her arms.

“I am not getting fat thank-you-very-much, and if I were, I don‘t think that my belly would be the only part of me growing.” Gabriela snapped.

“Sorry, sorry. I thought it could‘ve been a possibility.” He shrugged. “So that‘s the reason that you think you may be…pregnant?”

“Well, that and the fact that I haven’t had my period in the last couple months.” Gabriela also let him know.

“Ah… you haven‘t gotten your-girl thing.” Adeni stumbled and looked away. “So it‘s 100% sure.”

“Not 100%, but I think I am.” She said yet again.

“Lets take this back a little, so you ‘think’ you are? How are we going to know if you are for sure?” He asked her.

“I have an idea, why don‘t we wait a couple of months and see if anything pops out of me?” Gabriela sarcastically proposed as she clapped her hands and gave a sarcastic grin. Adeni didn’t find it so hilarious. “I‘m going to take a test, that‘s how we‘re going to find out.”

“Are you going to try one of those Natural ones that they use? Those things look painful, as if you have to stick it up there or something.” Adeni’s skin crawled.

“No, I kind of don‘t trust those Normies stuff. I‘m going to use our way of figuring it out. I‘m going to use The Potion.” Gabriela said as she grabbed a couple of spell books from her personal library of books, she then handed one to Adeni. Adeni looked puzzled and began to go through the pages.

“Look for The Potion, or pregnancy potion, one of those two names.” Gabriela said as she went through a book. Adeni obeyed her command and flipped through the pages of the four inch book.

“Gabs, and what happened if you are pregnant?” He suddenly asked. Gabriela looked up from her reading and took a seat right in front of Adeni, right on the floor. “What are we going to do?”

“I don‘t know, but right now my only worry is actually coming out positive. I‘m only a teenager, and so are you, we can‘t afford to take care of a kid right now, we still have our lives to live.” Gabriela softly responded.

“Whatever happens, if you are pregnant I just want you to know that I‘ll stay here right next to you. I helped made that kid, it‘s my responsibility too and as a dad I‘m going to be there for it.” He told her, Gabriela began to tear up and smiled at what he had just told her. Adeni wasn’t going to leave her in this, she wasn’t going to be left alone if she were to have a child.

“Do you really mean it?” She asked wanting to believe him.

“I do.” He responded and turned his sight back at the book. “Look, I found it.”


The potion room was dark and on the walls, hundreds of potions stood at attention. The giant cauldron stood in the middle of the room, ready to be used and room was a large one, it gave Gabriela enough space to walk around in so she could do the spell correctly. Adeni held the potion book at a distance away from the cauldron and gave Gabriela the names of the ingredients to add to The Potion. He felt even more out of place at that moment, he was helping a witch with a spell and it was weird.

“Baby‘s breath.” Adeni continued reading from the book. Gabriela grabbed the dried flower from a jar and placed it inside the boiling pot.

“Something called Adam and Eve root.” Adeni stumbled. Gabriela added the root and that caused the cauldron to burst alive. A thin cloud of some sort of smoke began arising from the cloud, they began to suddenly hear bubbling from the cauldron. The bubbles that appeared began to pop and descend back into the cauldron.

As Adeni continued to name each necessary ingredient, Gabriela kept placing them inside and glancing nervously at Adeni. The almost not visible liquid that laid under all the fog changed to a light pearl color.

“Is it normal for it to change color?” Adeni was concerned, he had never seen a spell being performed.

“Yeah, don‘t worry it‘s completely fine.” Gabriela shrugged and cleaned her hands with a light blue rag that laid on a counter. “I think it‘s ready.”

“How do you know?” He asked.

“When spells are ready, they go under a chemical change that ether change the odor, color or texture of liquid.” Gabriela explained as she leaned on a shelf. “What does the rest of the potion say?”

“Its says here that when it‘s ready, you- the woman that thinks is pregnant- have to blow on it and then when the fog departs, you have to place your hands inside the cauldron. If the potion turns purple then you are expecting, and if it does remain pear then we’re safe.” Adeni clarified and closed the book shut.

“Sounds good.” Gabriela sighed as she turned to face him. Adeni put down the book and looked at her.

“How accurate is this potion anyway?” Adeni suddenly asked her.

“Pretty accurate.”

“Everything‘s going to be ok, don‘t worry.” Adeni softly said, he grabbed her hand and kissed it; then he kissed her. Gabriela became nervous.

Quietly and carefully, she began to control her breathing and took a deep breath and blew into the cauldron. The breath of air traveled and caused the cloud of fog to sink in the liquid and make a sort of hole big enough for Gabriel’s hands to go threw.
Gabriela looked up at Adeni for support and she found it, he smiled at her. Gabriela then dipped her hands inside the cauldron. Inside, she felt the potion surrounding her and her hands suddenly became numb. The numbness of her fingers then began to disappear and in it’s place she felt as if the potion was being sucked into her body, into her veins. It felt warm and not painful as it was flowing inside her body.

As she felt a good number of the potion returning to the cauldron, the pearl color began to show swirls of purple color mixing with it. Gabriela felt her lungs go dry, she felt breathless as she saw the pearl leaving and being taking over by the horrid purple color. Adeni looked at Gabriela, Gabriela had tears rolling down her cheeks as she dipped her hands out of the potion. He was afraid to get closer to her, but she needed him in this tough situation. Adeni hugged Gabriela and she cried, she cried her pain and her embarrassing disappointment.

“You can‘t be pregnant! How did this happen…pregnant?” Shouted Suzan in the Bronx Academy library. Gabriela hid her face in embarrassment; she still couldn’t believe that she had messed up her life.

“Suzan, if you want why don‘t you scream it out to the hole school?” Gabriela sarcastically groaned.

“Pregnant?” Suzan whispered as she let her shoulders drop. “you‘re pregnant?”

“Yes, for crying out loud! Will you stop repeating it?” Gabriela kept her face hidden. Suzan sighed and in a shocked matter looked at her friend. Gabriela felt her gaze and looked up.

“Are you sure?”

“How many times do I have to repeat myself, yes I‘m having a baby.” Gabriela grew irritated.

“Adeni.” Suzan suddenly blurted and crossed her arms.

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“I don‘t know….five to seven months.”

“Gosh, you’re so young Gabriela.” Suzan still awed. “What‘s the plan?”

“I have no stinking idea.” Gabriela sighed as she pushed her hair out of her face and extended her arms on the table.

“Do you know what it is?” Suzan asked as she held her head with her left arm.

“No.” She dryly responded.

“To tell you the truth, I couldn‘t tell that you were pregnant.” Suzan truthfully admitted and shrugged.

“Good, that‘s why I kind of took your idea of wearing giant sweaters.” Gabriela also admitted.

“Really, I just thought you wanted to copy my style because it was cool.” Suzan pouted and Gabriela chuckled a little. Suzan smiled because she had brought some relief into her friend’s horrible day.

“Does he know?” Suzan then asked.

“Yeah, he knows.”

“If you do end up keeping it, what are you going to name it?” Suzan asked, Gabriela half smiled.

“I really haven‘t thought of a name, but Adeni likes Aden.” Gabriela told her as she sat up straight on her chair.

“Aden, for a girl or boy?”

“Boy.”

“That‘s a strange name, it kind of reminds me of the Garden of Eden.” Suzan admitted again and grabbed her school bag, she then took out a piece of paper and a pen.

“Really, I don‘t see a resemblance.” Gabriela shrugged off. “Hey, what about the name Bob. I like the name Bob.”

“Bob, as in Robert or just Bob.” Suzan asked as she wrote.

“Bob as in Bob.”

“There is no way in hell that Adeni will let you name him Bob.” Suzan laughed.

“I think it‘s a nice name.” Gabriela pouted.

“Keep telling yourself that. I made a very awesome list of names you should take in consideration for your kid.” Suzan began as she held her list to her face. “I was thinking: Isabel, Anna, or even Francisco.”

“I don‘t think so.”

“Well if you don‘t like my ideas, then you should go name hunting yourself because that poor little kid won‘t be named BOB. It‘s a nasty name, right Francisco?” Suzan cooed Gabriela’s tummy.

“May I remind you that I‘m the mother here, I‘m the one that decides the name.” Gabriela continued to pout.

“This seams still very weird, I still can’t believe that your pregnant.” Suzan sighed.

“Gabriela…are you pregnant?” A voice from behind the girls said. Both girls turned and saw Chris staring at both girls in shock. They both bit their lips.

“Chris, I really need you to listen to me and to please don‘t over react.” Gabriela carefully said.

“You‘re pregnant! How could you be pregnant?” Chris asked in shock.

“Christoph please listen to me and sit down.” Gabriela stood up and grabbed his arm. Chris jerked his arm away from her. He couldn’t believe that the love of his life was pregnant at such a young age.

“How could you do this to yourself? Do you know how distrustful this is to your family?” Chris cried in anger.

“Chris, shut up and listen to me. It was an accident.”

“Does your parents know about this mistake?” Christoph asked as he was convinced to sit down. Gabriela glanced at Suzan and said nothing, she had completely forgotten about her parents.

“No, and they won‘t find out.”

“How could this be possible? Who‘s the dad?” Christoph asked. Suzan looked away and Gabriela scratched her head, not sure if to tell him who the dad was. “Well?”

“Adeni-” Suzan suddenly blurted.

“SUZAN!”

“What?” Christoph shouted.

“Gabriela and Adeni have always been together, they never broke up and I help them see each other!” Suzan suddenly wailed and covered her face with her hands.

“Damn you Suzan!” Gabriela cried and began pacing around their little library area isolated from the rest of the library. She walked through the isles of books and then back to see that Suzan was bawling her eyes out on the desk and Christoph was quiet and couldn’t believe what he had heard.

“It‘s all my fault!” Suzan suddenly cried. Gabriela couldn’t believe the drama number that Suzan was performing at that moment.

“No it‘s not, it was my fault. I‘m the one that ended up pregnant.” Gabriela sighed and patted Suzan on her back.

“Gabriela, have you thought about your mother‘s reputation? Your mother warned you once, how could you go against you‘re mother‘s wishes?” Chris asked her.

“I know, and I don‘t care she can warn me a million times. I‘m not going to leave him, we‘ve gone through so much to just throw it away. Just for the record, I don‘t care about my mom‘s wishes, she could go jump in a river for all I care. She doesn‘t understand anything of what we‘re going through.” Gabriela shouted at Chris.

“You were with a wolf…a werewolf.” Chris cried.

“How do you know that?” Gabriela demanded.

“It‘s not important how I found out, but the fact is that I know that that Adeni was a wolf!” Christoph whispered and hunched his body as he said the word “wolf”

“Who told you!”

“That doesn‘t matter the fact is-!”

“Yes it does!”

“I told him Gabriela! I‘m so sorry!” Suzan blurted out again as she wailed and held her eyes in despair. Gabriela rolled her eyes and wanted to grab her friend’s throat but held herself back.

“Suzan how could you?!” Gabriela roared. “I trusted you!”

“What she did what was right. You shouldn‘t be involved with those people!” Christoph scowled.

“I don‘t care and who cares if he‘s a wolf!” Gabriela turned her attention to Christoph and barked.

“We aren‘t suppose to be speaking to them and you know that.” Christoph shot at her.

“The last thing I need is for you to be telling me what‘s right and what‘s not and who I can talk to.” Gabriela shouted at him in anger.

“I‘m not telling you, I‘m reminding you the rules that we have to live by.” Christoph shot back.

“To hell with those rules, I‘m going to defend what we have no matter what it takes. I love him and I will fight for him, even if it gets me against my mother.”


The sky was gray two days later as Gabriela headed home from another day at school. She felt herself wobble as she took each step and she began to feel the baby kicking; it kind of bothered her at the moment. As the kid kicked, she began to hold her building belly in pain, she also squinted her face as she took each step. When she stepped out of the elevator that took her to her house, the baby began to kick her like crazy.

“Calm down kid, you‘re hurting me.” She whispered to it as she placed her hand on her stomach.

“Gabriela!” Roared her mother as she heard the elevator bing. Gabriela rolled her eyes and marched straight to the dinning room. There was something wrong, because when she entered the room, she saw that her mother, father and Riva Judge, a member of the Council of Augury, were sitting on the dinning table looking at Gabriela. Riva was an older woman with silver thin hair that fell on her shoulders like a white waterfall. Her face should the years of experience that she held, but they were more noticeable in her dark chocolate eyes.

“Gabriela Lombardo, such an honor to finally meet you.” Riva said, she signaled Gabriela to take a seat on the main chair of the table. Gabriela was confused and stayed in her place. “Come, please sit you‘re in your house.”

Gabriela obeyed but kept her guard up, there was a strange feeling in the air and it hated her.

“First of all, do you know who I am?” Riva began as she crossed her hands and placed them on the table. Gabriela nodded in response. “Great, we‘re off to a good start.”

Gabriela glanced at her parents that were cold and distant from their daughter. They nonchalantly looked away and tried to avoid eye contact with her.

“I‘ve heard of what you can do, I‘ve seen you SPA and your GPA and I must say that you‘re an excellent candidate to be my assistant and to one day replace me as a Counsel Member.” Riva continued as she flashed a tender smile as she spoke.

“Thank you, I suppose.” Gabriela awkwardly replied, she the felt her baby kick again.

“I‘m aware that you‘ve been requested to join the council, and that you were suppose to become my assistant as soon as you graduate from Bronx Academy.” Riva said and drank a little water from a glass cup that sat next to her. Gabriela nodded in response and said nothing. “But, I have now been informed that you have broken one of our greatest rules that we have.”

Riva’s face turned stern in a flash and Gabriela felt cold sweat on her back. She then glanced at her parents who still wouldn’t look at her.

“What are you saying?” Gabriela burrowed her eyebrows in confusion. The baby kicked again as if telling her get out of there! , this time it made her flinch a little.

“You know exactly what the council member is referring to.” Bethany suddenly said in a low voice. “I warned you once Gabriela, I warned you and you didn‘t listen. You went against my wishes, our family and our kind.”

“I did not!” Gabriela suddenly shouted and stood up in anger. She was completely outraged and couldn’t believe that they had found out again about her relationship with Adeni.

“Gabriela sit down.” Riva calmly commanded. “we could talk about this without any yelling.”

“Council member, it‘s not a big deal!” Gabriela ignored her and stayed at her feet.

“Yes it is and we are going to talk about it like adults. Either you sit, or I sit you down.” Riva warned. Gabriela forcefully let her body fall onto the elegant burgundy and light brown chair.


“Now, can we all remain calm and talk about this?” Riva calmly sighed. “This is very serious, you have destroyed the balance that existed between our societies. By being with this werewolf boy, you have destroyed what we‘ve worked for centuries.”

“What you‘ve worked for is insane! Are we going to go around and ask every person that we know if they’re a sorcerer? Is that how you’re going to start isolating us? I think that instead of being apart, we should all be together. We all have our differences but same qualities and we should learn to come together because we are different from the Naturals.” Gabriela explained.

“We‘ve tried before young lady, and because of that mistake a number of our people suffered.” Riva replied.

“ We could try again, our times have changed! People are more open minded and liberal these days.” Gabriela shouted, forgetting to control her anger.

“Gabriela you can‘t have a relationship with that boy, I already talked to you about this and you disobeyed me!” Bethany’s voice raised.

“Shut up! No one is talking to you mother!” Gabriela roared as she held her hands in fists. She was so angry she began shaking, Bethany was completely shocked.

“Leave that boy immediately, you‘re not allowed to see that boy anymore.” Bethany yelled on top of her lungs.

“Mrs. Lombardo, please settle down.” Riva asked calmly but Bethany wouldn’t listen, both Gabriela and her mother were boiling rockets that were ready to explode at any second.

“I don‘t give a flying damn what you say, I‘m going to keep seeing him if you want to or not.” Gabriela shouted and stood up again pounding on the table.

“You‘re a traitor! A traitor to my society and to my family.” Bethany returned the screams. “I have no daughter!”

“Fine, disown me, do whatever the fuck you want! I can‘t and I‘m not going to leave him!” Gabriela said again.

“Oh really, what‘s stopping you.” Bethany shouted.

“I’M PREGNANT!” Gabriela’s screams echoed threw the dinning room walls. She couldn’t believe what she had just said, she couldn’t believe that she had just told her mother, father and even a Council member that she was expecting a child from the wolf. Gabriela looked at her mother who couldn’t believe what she had heard, Bethany couldn’t believe it. Riva covered her mouth in shock.

“Pregnant?” Bethany stuttered.

“Oh Gabriela you have made a horrible mistake. You betrayed your people for someone who will not be worth it, you turned your back on the people who have always been there for you just for that boy that will leave you when he realized that you are bearing his bastared child.” Riva sighed in disappointment. “A child that-”

“That is no child, that‘s a monster! A freak of nature!” Bethany interrupted, she grabbed Gabriela by her arms and pulled her harshly closer to her.

“Don‘t touch me!” Gabriela roared as she snapped away from her mother’s clutches. She then held her stomach and squinted from the pain the child was bringing. “Adeni knows, he knows about my baby.”

“What will happen to that child?” Riva asked, she seamed a little comprehensive.

“She is going to abort, that child will not be born.” Bethany responded in anger.

“No, I‘m sick and tired of your bullshit mom. I‘m going to keep it and I don’t care what you of the council says, I‘m never going to let him go. I don’t care if I have to go against you or the council.”

“I should have aborted you when I had the chance!” Bethany yelled. “You ruined my life!”

“What stopped you! You‘re a horrible mother, I wish you were dead! ” Gabriela shot back.

“I wish you had died the second I gave birth to you!”

“I wish I would have! I feel really sorry for you, daddy, you have such a atrocious wife. I would never treat my children the way you treated me! I will never be like you!” Gabriela cried as she held her stomach.

“You will learn to respect me you ungrateful whore.” Bethany yield as she lifted her hand up in a threatening manner.

“Hit me! Go ahead and hurt me!” Gabriela taunted. Bethany lowered her hand in anger.

“Zackary, tell your daughter something!” Bethany suddenly turned to her husband and cried. Zackary was quiet all this time, he was still in shock that his only daughter was expecting a baby. Zackary stayed quiet, he wouldn’t look at Gabriela.

“You turn to my father because you cant fight your own fights. You are weak Bethany, you are trash and you are shit. You were never a mother to begin with. You are nothing, you are unrealized.” Gabriela softly said.

“Shut up slut!“ Bethany Roared. “Zackary!”

Bethany’s screams echoed in the room. The silence that proceeded were knives in everyone’s chest as the attention had been now shifted to the man of the house. To the man who adored his daughter to death, yet loved his wife as much. His face showed no expression on it. Inside of him, he was torn apart and battling a complex choice that he had to make.

“Honorable Judge, I think it‘s best if we charged my daughter like a traitor she has become.” Zackary finally said, he stood up and looked at Gabriela. Gabriela felt tears rolling down her cheeks. “But first, it‘s best if we have an abortion.”

“Daddy please!” Shouted Gabriela, she began to weep.

“I believe it is the best.” Riva responded, she raised her hand in the air and four hooded people entered the room. The people wore dark purple coats that covered their entire faces.

“What‘s going on?” Gabriela panicked.

“Please escort Ms. Lombardo to an abortion clinic.” Riva harshly ordered the hooded sorcerers. Bethany ordered a maid to bring her the house phone.

“Don‘t touch me! Let me go, let me go!” Gabriela cried, she squirmed and tried to fight but she was too weak and the sorcerers held her with a hard grip. “Daddy why?”

“Good evening, this is Bethany Lombardo and I wanted to make an emergency and private abortion.” Bethany talked on the white marble phone.

The hooded sorcerers pulled the pregnant teenager and tried to get her out of the dining room as Bethany Zackary and Riva left the room.

“I will alert the council of this situation, they don’t know this is occurring but I‘ll try and not harm your reputation.” Riva said, she suddenly disappeared leaving a screaming Gabriela and two disappointed parents.

Aden sighed as she watched her sister’s clone walk around the house perfectly taking Eden’s original place. She also sighed to try and keep herself calm, so her parents wouldn’t realize it wasn’t their real daughter. Apparently, Aden was very good because she saw that her parents hadn’t noticed a single thing; a couple of days had passed. “Aden, come and help me with the dishes.” Gabriela shouted from the kitchen. “What about Eden, why don‘t you ask her too?” Aden talked back as she walked into the kitchen. Gabriela was cooking dinner in their large kitchen. She suspended four plates of food towards her daughter using her abilities. Aden rolled her eyes and levitated the plates and held them in the air. “I said Aden, not Eden.” Gabriela responded as she glanced at Eden who sat quietly on the dinning table. Gabriela felt there was something different about her daughter, but she quiet couldn’t place her finger on it. “Hey mom, I got an ‘A’ on my physics exam.” Aden blurted, she felt her mother’s stern gaze on her creation. “That‘s great dear…and what about you Eden?” Gabriela asked as she placed a piece of chicken in her mouth. Eden’s slouched body became attentive towards her “mother‘s” question. “I didn‘t take it, it‘s been canceled until further notice. My period is taking it until Friday because Mrs. Romano had the fantastic idea to give a lecture on acids and bases.” Eden rolled her eyes and then quickly gave a glace to Aden. Aden slightly gave a small smile in approval. “Well, I‘m very sorry to hear that.” Gabriela commented back, Aden relaxed as she thought that her mother hadn’t seen her silent approval. “Christoph, there is something different or wrong about Eden.” Gabriela told her husband as Aden had left for her room and Eden was in the living room watching TV. Gabriela and Christoph were washing the dishes. “What do you mean?” Christoph asked as he put away some clean dishes. “What I mean is that there is something strange…I can‘t quite place my finger on it but I know there is something wrong.” Gabriela began to whisper as she kept watch to make sure that Aden was still in her room and that Eden was still watching TV. “Why are you whispering?” He whispered back as he leaned closer to his wife. “Because I have a feeling that Aden knows something that there is something wrong with Eden.” Gabriela responded and walked toward the sink to grab a towel. “Maybe she‘s just become aware that she‘s a junior and that she has to start acting like one.” Chris guessed. “What about her sight, there‘s something strange about her.” Gabriela asked. “Maybe she‘s on drugs?” Chris shrugged, Gabriela scowled at him and launched him the towel that she was holding. “That better not be the case. Why would you ever think that?” Gabriela scorned at her husband. “It could be a possibility.” Chris sighed and returned the dark chocolate towel back to it’s original place at the sink. “I don’t think so.” Gabriela doubted. She then said to herself: “Eden‘s not that stupid.” “Then what do you think is wrong with our daughter?” “I don‘t know, but I’m not going to find out.” Gabriela sighed and left her husband to confront her daughter. Eden was sitting on the black leather couch with both her feet on the couch pillows. “Eden, can I have a word with you?” Gabriela asked her daughter. “Eden” sighed and turned off their TV to see what her mother wanted but then glanced at the stair that led to the rooms. “I‘m listening.” Eden sighed and looked at her. “Listen, is something bothering you?” Gabriela asked as she sat next to her daughter. “No.” “Are you sure?” Gabriela asked again, she looked deeply into Eden’s eyes but found that there was no reflection in them; they weren’t full of life. “Yeah. Trust me mom, there is nothing wrong with me.” Eden sighed and looked away. Gabriela felt strange, now she knew that that there was defiantly something wrong with Eden. She suddenly got an idea and wanted to test it. “ Ok, I‘ll trust what you’re telling me Eden. ” Gabriela forced a smile on her face. The clone returned it and turned the TV back on, but Gabriela then magically turned it off. “Now that I know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you, can you help me with something?” “With what?” “Oh, you know something simple like with a potion.” Gabriela asked slyly , Eden looked confused and a little worried. “As in magic?” Eden dumbly asked and wiped her eyes. “Yes, magic? Do you think you could help your mother?” Gabriela sweetly asked. The clone didn’t know what to do, clones couldn’t use potions or anything related with what they had been created with. It’s not that they weren’t allowed to, but that they just had no magic. “I would love to help you mother, but I‘m about to start studying for the test I told you about.” Eden stuttered. “Mother? Since when do you call me mother?” Gabriela chuckled and rolled her eyes, now she knew that she was right about what she suspected. Eden shrugged and pursed her lips. “What‘s so wrong with me calling you mother?” Eden suddenly asked, she didn’t understand what was happening. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, but you‘ve never called me mother before-” Gabriela responded and rested her head on her arm. “-Eden Arielle. ” Gabriela waited for any type of sign that Eden would explode from being called with her oh-so-hated middle name. Eden never liked her middle name and she would usually explode yelling to ‘not say that’. Eden remained quiet and cocked an eyebrow unaware of what had occurred. “You‘re not going to say anything?” Gabriela asked. “About what?” The clone asked and half smiled. “Eden hates being called with her middle name.” Gabriela calmly explained. “You blew your cover by not responding.” The clone’s smiled disappeared, she sighed and crossed her legs admitting that she had been caught. Gabriela’s face turned stern in a quick instant. “Let me guess-Bat Heart, Cat Bones and of coarse the classic: Thieves Vinegar. ” Gabriela gave a list of some of the ingredients that the clone had been made out of, the clone looked at her directly. “What now?” The clone sighed. “I know that Eden’s not that skilled to create an almost perfect clone, so there was someone else involved in your creation. My deduction is that it must have been Aden who created you, tell me why. ” Gabriela demanded calmly with a menacing tone in her speech. “I can‘t tell you anything. You cant get anything out of me.” The clone responded and bit her lip. She seamed full of high esteem at the moment like any clone would act in that situation. “Are you sure about that?” Gabriela asked and crossed her arms. The clone said nothing but just gazed at Gabriela through her artificially green dyed bangs. “I want to make sure to know who you‘re really dealing with.” The clone’s face gave a hint of fear but then she quickly hid it. Apparently, just like Eden, the clone had no idea how powerful Gabriela was. “I want to tell you something, I‘m not just the mother of the girl you‘re trying to replace, but I‘m also someone that could destroy you faster than you were made. You have two options: ether you tell me or I‘ll turn you back into dust.” Gabriela threatened. “Your choice.” The clone began to move in her seat uncomfortably, she kept looking away on to the stairs wishing for Aden to descend from them. “Oh, I‘m so scared.” The clone then laughed and hid her worried face. Gabriela laughed vilely and cause a white and blue vase to fly across the room and harshly smash into the wall. “You better tell me where the hell is my daughter before you flying across this room!” Gabriela yelled and stood a few inches from the clone’s face. “Aden, that girl who created me only knows, I don‘t know where this Eden girl is at. I just got orders to substitute her to act like her for a couple of years.” The clone began to talk. “What I know is that one of your daughters ran away or one thing along those lines.” “See, that wasn‘t so hard was it?” Gabriela sighed and harshly grabbed the clone’s arm harshly. When she grabbed the arm, Gabriela began releasing her magic onto the clone’s body. The clone’s skin began to turn pale and transparent and instead of seeing bones and veins a purple liquid was visible. The clone began to gasp from the pain that Gabriela’s magic brought to her, she began to slowly twitch descending to the floor from the pain until it was too much that it caused her to burst. The living room became covered in purple spots of magic potion as she exploited. “Where‘s your sister?!” Gabriela demanded as she burst into Aden’s room. Aden was on her bed reading the book Woman Warrior and when her mother burst in covered in purple looking liquid, she looked up calmly. “Down stairs, or in her room. I don‘t know.” She calmly answered. “Bullshit, you know where she is and just to let you know next time that you want to create another clone, you have to teach them small details about the person that they‘re suppose to replace.” Gabriela advised to Aden. Aden felt her heart drop and began to fell nervous. “Where‘s your sister?” “I don‘t know what you‘re talking about!” Aden shouted and dropped her book to the floor. “Yes you do, you‘re the only one that can create a perfect clone between you and Eden. You better tell me where your sister is.” Gabriela growled and her eyes went into slits as she grew furious with every second. Aden remained silent. “What‘s wrong, and why is the living room purple?” Christoph appeared in Aden’s room completely confused at what had happened a couple of seconds ago. “The clone said Eden sneaked out or ran away Christoph, and that Aden has something to do with it.” Gabriela informed her husband trying to remain calm. She began to pace around the room, Aden bit her lip. “What clone? What are you talking about, she was just downstairs.” Christoph said wearing a perplexed face jester. “That wasn‘t her, she was a clone and I destroyed her. I told you something was wrong with her.” Gabriela sighed and kept her self calm by avoiding her daughter. “Is that true Aden? Where is your sister?” Christoph looked at his daughter. Aden looked tense, she tried to speak but she couldn’t feel the words come out of her mouth. She felt a giant knot in her throat. “I can‘t-I can‘t tell you where she is.” She finally forced out of her mouth avoiding her parent’s gaze. “What the hell do you mean that you can‘t tell us? We‘re your parents, she left without our permition and when she get‘s home you and her will both get it.” Gabriela cried in aw and anger. “She‘s not coming home. She left forever.” Aden whispered guiltily and held her head on her knees. Gabriela stopped pacing and looked at Aden as if she had just said the funniest joke in the world. “What are you saying?” Christoph asked as he glanced at Gabriela who looked extremely furious. Aden felt the lump get bigger as she looked into her mother’s wolf eyes change into eyes of a hunter behind her glasses, ready to eat the pray alive. “Where is SHE!” Gabriela roared and lifted her daughter up from the bed clawing at her fingernails in her arms. Aden began to tear up and cry, her mother was hurting her. “She ran away, she ran away!” Aden repeated desperately. “She ran away to Las Vegas!” “Las Vegas?” Chris asked, he was confused. “She ran away with a wolf named Aleixandre, they went to get married.” Aden cried tears rolled down her cheeks. “A w-wolf?” Gabriela whispered and let Aden go. She felt her own heart fall and she began to tremble from the news that she had just received form her daughter. She couldn’t believe that this was happening, she just couldn’t believe it at all. “Yeah, they‘ve been seeing each other for a while now. I told her to leave him but she wouldn’t listen to me. I told her to think about your reputations about our society but nothing!” Aden bawled, she wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to face her parents. She then softly rubbed the place where her mother hand stabbed her in her arms. Gabriela pulled herself together to only discover that Christoph had left the room. “Christoph!” Gabriela shouted desperately after him and followed him downstairs. Christoph was standing in the living room speaking on the phone. “Councilmen, yes-our daughter Eden DeVandre. As soon as possible…goodbye.” Christoph said as he saw Gabriela’s horrified face, he had alerted the council. Her story was about to repeat on to her daughter’s life. “What have you done? Who did you call?” Gabriela asked even if she already knew the answer. Fear became the host in her body, she felt as she couldn’t breath. “I alerted the Council of Eden‘s treachery. They will arrive in a couple of minutes Gabriela.” Chris sighed and returned the phone to where it belonged. He showed no expression. “They aren‘t going to show her mercy. They will do to her what they couldn‘t do to me!” Gabriela whispered in fear. “If that‘s what a traitor gets, then she should get killed.” Christoph stated indifferently. “How could you say that, how could you not bite your tongue!” Gabriela’s voice began rising until she roared. “I‘m a traitor, you married a TRAITOR!” “ You‘re not a traitor, it was different with you.” Chris shouted back. “Different? Different?! You‘re right I was different, I‘m more of a traitor than my daughter because I was pregnant! They didn‘t kill me because they were afraid of my power, because they couldn‘t afford to lose some one as powerful as me. Eden, on the other hand will die.” Gabriela shouted. “You single handedly ruined my daughter‘s life. Weren‘t you satisfied with ruining mine?” Gabriela yield and screamed as she was being held down in one of the abortion center’s private room. Gabriela, the four hooded sorcerers and Bethany waited in the same large room for the specialist to arrive. The hooded sorcerers held Gabriela’s arms and legs on the bed she laid on while Bethany sat on a chair in the corner working on some work related paperwork. “Let me go!” Gabriela cried, her voice was staring to get horse from all the screaming she had done. Her voice echoed through the almost bare room walls. “Quiet, shut her up!” Bethany ordered the men as she looked up from her work. One of the hooded men nodded and waved his hand on top of Gabriela’s mouth, suddenly Gabriela went mute. Being mute didn’t stop Gabriela from continuing her screaming, she knew inside of her that she could brake the spell so she closed her mouth, took a deep breath, and screamed her lungs out in silence until she broke the spell. Gabriela was certainly more powerful than the hooded men when it came to magic. “Good afternoon, I‘m doctor Bolivar.” The doctor yield as he walked in the room, a young woman wearing a white nurses uniform walked behind him. Gabriela breathed tough and deep respirations but suddenly became too weak from all the energy. She had used up from the screaming and fighting; her face had turned bright pink. “Good afternoon, I’m Bethany Lombardo and this my- Gabriela.” Bethany introduced. Gabriela looked at the man and managed to spit at him on the face with her belly on the way, she then looked away. “Such a lovely girl.” He said sarcastically as he wiped the spit off his face with a napkin. “Very lovely indeed, so can you please inform me of what type of abortion process will be done It?” Bethany asked. Gabriela raised her head but was then harshly put down by one of the men. “Touch me again and I‘ll bite you hand off.” Gabriela threatened. The hooded man moved his hand away from her forehead. “A simple procedure madam.” The doctor said as she began to get ready for the abortion, he put on a pair of gloves and sat at Gabriela’s feet. “To the looks of it, I first have to know how far off is your daughter.” He then touched Gabriela’s belly softly. “Gabriela, be a dear and tell the nice doctor how far are you.” Bethany ordered kindly. “F you.” She wheezed again. “Not to worry, I can tell you is she refused to.” The doctor said as he saw Bethany’s face begin to change color of how outraged she was. The doctor pulled off Gabriela’s uniform skirt off and the nurse quickly covered Gabriela’s intimate parts with a light blue cover. Gabriela felt cold and uncomfortable, but even more when she felt the doctor’s finger inside her, she didn’t dare move. “Gabriela‘s almost due, she‘s approximately seven months. There is no way that we can perform an abortion in this advanced state.” The doctor decided after he was done. Gabriela sighed in relief and half smiled at the great news. “What are you talking about, of course you can. I’ll give you two thousand dollars if you do her the abortion.” Bethany shouted, she took out her wallet from her purse. “Mrs. Lombardo, do you know what could be the consequences of an abortion at this stage? Your daughter may never have children again, or even worse she can die of a hemorrhage or of an intoxication from the fetus’ feces. ” He warned. “I don‘t care, do whatever you want so the bastard wont live. I‘ll pay you whatever you want, I have the money. Ask me for anything.” She screamed in desperation. The doctor looked at his nurse who looked back at him with thoughtful eyes. “But your daughter-” “Listen, you don’t know how filthy rich I am. If you do this, I will pay you more than you will make in a year. I don‘t care if my daughter dies, I don‘t care if she never has children ever again. I just want that dead and out of her life.” Bethany explained. “My daughter committed a crime against my family so it won‘t make a difference is she leaves here alive of dead.” “Mrs. Lombardo, I have a master‘s diploma from Harvard University. I know the medical field like the palm of my hand, and its completely out of question to put your daughter’s life in danger with this type of advanced abortion I‘m sorry but I can‘t.” He finally said and stood up. “If your mind is made up, then I completely understand.” Bethany sighed. Gabriela sighed deeply and wept from joy. “I guess…I‘ll just have to find another doctor who will accept ten thousand dollars with the addition of the original price of the abortion.” “Ten thousand?” “Yes, exactly what you heard...ten thousand dollars, for you and your nurse here.” Bethany gambled. The doctor looked thoughtful, Gabriela could hardly see his face due to the fact that her belly was in her way, but she felt something wrong. “Ten thousand? Five for each or each gets ten grand?” The doctor asked, he became interested. “Which ever you want, I have the money.” Bethany smiled, she knew that she had them in her hands now. “No, please don’t! Please don‘t do this to my baby!” Gabriela pleaded to the doctor. “Shush dear, your mother and Dr. Bolivar are making business.” The nurse sweetly said and patted Gabriela’s hair. As the nurse returned her hand by her side, Gabriela made an attempt to grab her hand with her mouth; she achieved her goal. Gabriela bit the nurse’s hand with so much strength that she felt the iron taste of blood fill her mouth and a piece of skin rip off. The nurse screamed and tried to pull her hand out of Gabriela’s mouth, two of the hooded men that were holding Gabriela’s legs tried to help the nurse get her hand out of her mouth. During that moment where her legs were free, she shifted position and kicked the doctor right on his chest. The doctor fell on two of the hooded men, one of them was holding her left arm. Taking advantage of her free arm, she blasted a giant hole at the wall missing her mother just by a hair. “Grab her arm!” Bethany shouted as Gabriela grabbed some strength and began blasting everything in the room, she succeeded to hit one of the hooded men. The man fell on the floor, only to die seconds later. “Security! Security!” Cried the nurse as she ran out of the room holding her bleeding hand. The piece of skin that Gabriela Minuets later, the nurse arrived with two security guards that forced Gabriela to clam down, one of then used force and hit her on the arm she was blasting things with. She screamed for the pain of her arm. “Your daughter is a witch and a strong one!” The doctor gasped in terror. Gabriela squirmed to let her go as the security guards and the remaining three hooded men held her down. “I can‘t meddle with her, I can‘t cope with your kind.” “Listen, you either do this or not. You know exactly what your reward will be if you do this abortion.” Bethany tried one last time to convince the doctor. Dr. Bolivar sighed and took a glance at the dead hooded man that laid on the floor with his hood still covering his face. He also turned to his wounded nurse and saw that a giant piece of her skin had been pulled off and was dangling like a free flag. At last, he glanced at Gabriela, she twisted and turned to get free, he could see the pain in her eyes. “Is she held on to tightly?” Dr. Bolivar asked one of the guards. The guards and the hooded men applied more pressure on her limbs. “Let me go! You‘re hurting me!” Gabriela gasped in pain. “Yes Doctor, you can go ahead and do the procedure.”

The room was spinning as soon as Gabriela opened her eyes, she had just woken up a couple of days later. As she felt the sensation of the spinning room come to a halt, she realized that she was not alone, someone was sitting on a chair looking at her. She saw it was a young police officer, he looked about his early twenties, with a soft face and sad looking hazel eyes. Gabriela blinked to make sure that she wasn’t hallucinating.

“Hi.” He smiled. Gabriela showed no emotion, her pale face looked glowing at the moment, along with her wolf like eyes. “How are you feeling?”

Silence.

“My name is Andrew, I‘ve been guarding you ever since you came to the hospital.” He said, he stood up and got closer to her.

“How long have I been here.” She managed to wheeze, she watched him closely.

“A couple of days, I think about a week at least. When you got here you were dying, they told me to be careful because you were ‘special’.” Andrew explained. “I know what they meant by special, because I‘m a sorcerer myself.”

“We lost you once, you lost a lot of blood but you‘re a really strong girl and came back.” He continued, he flashed a sentimental smile at her.

“They should have left me to die.” She said and then looked away.

“That‘s inhuman, and you shouldn‘t think that way.” He stated.

“Why not, you know what‘s going to happened to me next do you? An easier way to get rid of people like me.” Gabriela coldly said.

“It‘s a shame that such a lovely girl like you has to be jailed, and so young too.” He sighed. “How old are you, nineteen?”

“What do you care? It‘s not like if you could help me out.” Gabriela barked but then asked silently. “Do you know when I‘m going to be incarcerated?”

“I do, they ordered me to tell them when you woke up. They said as soon as you woke up you were going to be taken into custody.” He said. “Why are they going to send you to prison? All I know is that you‘re an enchantress and that you did something very seriously wrong.”

“You want to know why? Because I fell in love, that‘s why!” Gabriela barked lifting herself a little from the bed but then settling back down.

“Because you fell in love, that doesn‘t make any sense. They’re treating you like if you wanted to, or even killed one of the Council members. ” Andrew said as he crossed his arms in bewilderment.

“I‘m a traitor to our people, I fell in love with a werewolf and kept a hidden relationship with him. Since when is it a crime to fall in love? Since when did I become a monster because I found happiness with someone else that wasn‘t part of our kind? Why have I been looked down on, when there are much more horrible people out there and they won‘t even turn to look at them!” Gabriela asked, she was enraged.

“You went against our society like that? I thought it would be because you killed someone Nora? ” He asked as he sat next to her on a chair.

“Nora?” Gabriela felt confused. “My name‘s not Nora.”

“That‘s very odd, your medical information says that your name is Nora Hamilton.” Andrew seamed confused and grabbed a clip board that hanged at the edge of her bed.

“Well the information there is wrong, that’s not my name. My name is Gabriela.” Gabriela felt anger fill her chest as she leaned forward to grab the clip board.

“Gabriela? Maybe they confused you name with another patient or something. Anyway Gabriela, such a nice name; it‘s like poor Bethany and Zackary Lombardo‘s daughter‘s name.” He sighed and looked at the floor. “Poor girl, she passed away a week ago.”

“What?” Gabriela gasped in horror.

“You probably don‘t know who I’m talking about.” He tried to shrug the subject way.

“I actually do know who they are, but tell me what happened to their daughter.” Gabriela quickly said.

“ Really? So you know that Bethany is the regional commissioner of the Social Security and Zackary is our Secretary of State? Their only daughter named Gabriela fell out of their pent house and she died instantly. They had a small ceremony for their child, she was only sixteen I believe.” Andrew informed. Gabriela was left speechless.

“The girl had a ceremony performed for her at Bronx Academy building 200, apparently she had been a very powerful sorcerer and was scheduled to become part of the Council as soon as she turned eighteen.” He continued. “Poor girl, some rumor that she committed suicide.”

Gabriela couldn’t believe it that the witch of her mother had faked her death. It now explained the change of her name. She couldn’t believe that her reputation had gone unharmed while her daughter was going to rot in jail. Her anger towards her mother became permanent at that moment, she vowed that she would never forgive her for leaving her while she was dying. She would show no mercy if should to hear of her again.

“That‘s extremely tragic, my deep consolations for them.” Gabriela managed to spit out. She kept her anger and shock well hidden from the police officer.

“Well enough tragedies and back to reality, you‘re going to the Council for your trial in Virginia. I guess I must inform them that you‘re awake.” He sighed changing the subject completely.

“No, please, not yet.” Gabriela suddenly blurted. “Please help me at least to rest a while more.”

“I‘m very sorry, I have specific orders I must follow. They want to trail you while you’re weak.” He said.

“Why, are they afraid of me?” Gabriela pondered. “Are they afraid I will do something to them, or that they won‘t be able to control me?” Andrew looked at Gabriela and tenderly touched her face.

“I wish I could help you, you don‘t disserve everything that you‘re going through.” Andrew whispered and held her hand. Gabriela felt that the young cop had an attraction towards her, she had to use it against him to escape from the hell she was about to experience.

“Please, help me. Why can‘t you help me?” She asked sweetly acting like the kindest and sweetest dove there ever existed. The young cop was falling for the siren. He leaned closer to her, she kept her eyes glued to his. He got so close to her face that she could feel his sweet breath, she became a little nervous but hid it.

“I wish I could help you, but your room is surrounded and heavily guarded.” He then tried to kiss her but she turned away, Andrew sighed and got up to walk away and out of the room.

DAMN…she thought.



“Gabriela Lombardo, I would never have expected you to be in this room due to this situation.” The main council member sighed, he was Michael Goetz.

Gabriela was in her trial that same day, she sat on a lonesome wooden chair in the middle of the dark and depressing room facing the twelve council members. Michael Goetz sat in the tallest podium and in the bottom there were other podiums, Riva Judge sat bellow Michael. To the left were five other council member and to the right were five more. There were hooded men at the corner of each desk, and there were two at the door entrance, and two holding Gabriela as she sat. The hooded people were the law enforcement of the Council of Augury. The room was gloomy and the only light that filled the room was of a chandelier embedded with burning candles instead of flashbulbs.

“Lombardo? Wasn‘t she suppose to join the council in a few years?” One of the council men pondered the head council member.

“Sadly, she was. She was suppose to replace Riva once she passed on.” Another council woman answered for him.

“Explain to me Gabriela, how can a girl so smart and powerful end up in a situation like this?” Michael asked as he leaned forward to listen to Gabriela’s explanation. Gabriela remained quiet, she looked frightful, pale with dark circles under her eyes from too much sleep. She still wore the hospital robe that she had been forced to wear for several days now, it really didn’t help her at all to look presentable in front of the council.

“The council member is speaking to you dear.” Riva said politely, she gave a stern smile that gave her permission to speak.

Gabriela said nothing, she remained quiet. She didn’t want to speak, she didn’t want to say anything, she had ,in her perspective, nothing to say.

“Talk, make noise! You have the opportunity to tell you story!” Another council member shouted, he had a white long beard and small beady green eyes. “Defend yourself!”

“Joseph, don‘t force her to talk if she doesn‘t want to, she will do so when she is ready.” Michael said patiently. “Gabriela, you do know that this is the time to speak and tell us why you decided to betray our people.”

Gabriela looked away as the word “betray” escaped from the main council member’s mouth.

“Are you aware that your silence is showing us that what you are being trialed for is absolutely true?” Another council member asked her, he was probably the youngest of them all. His long black hair was tied away from his eyes, and his thin body looked as if it were to break if he were to be touched by a breath of air. Gabriela shook her head as is saying “no”.

“Do you know that you may be scheduled to the death penalty and just like every traitor, by torture.” Another council men shared, his bald head shinned even under the dim light.

“If you were going to end up killing me, why didn‘t I just die in the abortion clinic?” Gabriela finally spoke and stared a Reva with her wolf like eyes. “The officer at the hospital told me that I died and that the doctors brought me back, they should have just let me bleed to death.”

The council were the ones to say nothing in return.

“I am not a traitor, I believe that I don‘t disserve to be killed because I held a relationship with a werewolf. Since when does love have boarders? Since when am I told who to fall in love with?” Gabriela slowly pondered, she looked at every council member as she made her speech. “Why am I looked down upon my society when I decided to find happiness?”

“Our people cannot talk to those kinds of people Gabriela, you have to understand. I know that to you it all sounds as if what you did was not crucial, but it is. You have unsettled a balance that was created for a reason, if the other societies find out about this they will cause problems. The Pack Leaders will want you and the wolf dead, in our eyes you are a traitor; even if it may not look like it but you are.” Micheal explained the situation.

“Where is Adeni! What have you done to him?” Gabriela suddenly questioned Reva with a soft voice, she had remembered Adeni for the first time since she woke. Gabriela couldn’t believe that she had suddenly remembered about her lover, so many things went through her head about him. Reva, the only one that actually looked as if she had pity on Gabriela, looked away.

“The wolf has been killed. The Pack Leaders murdered him a couple of days ago.” The bald council man answered her question in his deep frightening voice.

“Shut up, that’s not true! You‘re lying! STOP LYING TO ME!” Gabriela cried in complete agony. She became hysterical and tried to get up from her chair but the hooded men held her down to her seat. “How could you allow this, you monsters! Let me go!”

As she cried and screamed denying the fact that her lover was dead, she unintentionally casted a strange incantation which resulted in the two hooded men who held her flying off away a short distance from her. The remaining hooded men that surrounded the room casted hexes, but as powerful as the were they had no effect on Gabriela. Gabriela’s energy was so strong that it caused the walls of the Council Room to crack as one of the hooded men that had been near the Council accomplished to retain her by her arms. Using too much energy, she suddenly tired herself out.

The Council stared in shock watching her performance, yet they didn’t take any action. The mess she had made was not extremely damaging, but the walls and ceilings of the room became imprinted with large and deep cracks. The fact that her lover was dead suddenly became so unbearable that she broke down crying on the dirt floor with the hooded man still clutching at her arms.

“I thought you said she was weak.” The council man asked one of the hooded men.

“She is sir, she just woke up from the coma.” said the hooded man that was returning Gabriela back to her seat. The hooded man strapped the still crying and delusional teenager down to her chair by using an iron brace.

“She is a danger to our society sir, she should be killed.” Another council woman gasped.

“You can‘t do this, She’s only a child!” Riva suddenly yelled. “She shouldn‘t be trialed as an adult.”

“Riva has some wisdom in her, sir. Gabriela is but a child and we can‘t execute her.” Another Council man explained. Gabriela stayed quiet and still had the thought that Adeni had perished. In all of this, she inspected at them all with eyes flooded in hatred.

“But she‘s as powerful as any of us, she can hurt our society in many ways. She‘s too powerful to keep alive.” Another fought.

“Nonsense, Gabriela would never use her abilities in advantage, we can‘t end her.” Riva fought in return, “She‘s a good girl.”

“She is a good girl, and may I remind you Augustus, that Gabriela Lombardo is but a child? She might not have been aware of what she committed, but she does think like a true sorcerer, she didn‘t mean any harm.”

“She knows exactly what she was doing! You know what the consequence will be out of this if the other councils find out, they will ask questions and those questions will be the start of the third World War.” The young council man shouted.

“She‘s only sixteen, we can‘t take a life that has just began.” Another council member defended.

“I personally believe that we should trial her as an adult, get her executed for unbalancing our ways because of an infatuation.” The council man Augusts replied coldly.

“She‘s already been punished by nature, the abortion of the child she carried am I correct?” Another council woman pondered out at Gabriela.

“Yes.” She softly replied as she reminiscence the memories of the day. She remembered the sharp pains in not only her body but in also her heart. Gabriela felt sad when she found out that her child had been ripped out, her lover had been executed and that her family had destroyed her; Gabriela Lombardo was no more.

“An abortion is not good enough of a punishment for a traitor.”

“With all due respect Councilman Justin, how do you know it‘s not enough? We‘ve never had a traitor before in our society, well at least not this young.” Councilmember Sergio Romero barked.

“She aborted in a most dangerous state Justin, she almost died because of it.” Council Woman Andrea Oldenburg fought.

“If she was going to die from the beginning, then Gabriela was right; the doctor should have let her die and we would all be saving our salvia at the moment.” Another council member stated.

“That would be inhuman!”

“Silence, all of you, that’s quite enough!” Michael boomed. The room suddenly fell in dreadful silence. “Gabriela, you have betrayed our people because of infatuation young sorceress.”

“It wasn‘t infatuation!”

“Quiet traitor, listen to what our council has to say!” Hissed Joseph at Gabriela. Gabriela gave the older gentle man a dirty look.

“If you insist, then you did it because of love. Let’s get this straight, you were requested by the Council of Augury a couple of months ago am I right?” The main Council man asked as he over looked some paper work, Gabriela nodded her head forcefully. “Also, you were to become the apprentice of Riva Judge and when the time would come you were to take her place as a Council Member.”

“You chose that mutt and destroyed the opportunity that many sorcerers have wished for, you destroyed your opportunity to become what every sorcerer out there wants to become: a member of the Council of Augury.” Shouted Augustus and banged his fist on his desk so harshly it echoed.

“Silence Councilman, hold your tongue!” Shouted the main Council Member at Augustus and stood from his chair. Augustus’ face was full of fury and had turned a magenta color, yet remembering his place in the Council he sighed and put his head down in shame.

“We shall vote on this, we shall vote on the fate of Gabriela Lombardo who had been charged with treachery and crime against our people.” Continued the council man. “Who here votes that the punishment of Gabriela is to be the penalty of death?”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

“Nay.”

And so it went, five councilmen voted against and five voted for the punishment. Riva, out of protection of the young woman, voted against the penalty; then it was the Main Council member’s decision, he could ether tie the proposal or go against it. The room became silent as Michael thought out his decision, it was a tough case. In one way he saw Gabriela as a teenager ,who like everyone else had made foolish mistakes. Then, he saw her as a traitor, a reason that if this even got out could begin another world war. The Council Members looked at the Leader in silence and some back at Gabriela who waited with no expression on her face.

“Since it‘s my final decision, I have I have decided to say that I vote against it, Nay. Gabriela you are so young it would be inhuman to execute you at such a young age.” He answered softly and gave a small hidden smile at her.

“Council Man, she is a traitor!” Boomed the young council member, his name was Jonathan. “You can‘t let her off with such easiness!”

“Of coarse I won‘t let her leave with such easiness, Gabriela is a traitor, after all.” The main Council Member explained. “Even though she will not be executed, I have decided to imprison her for the rest of her life in one of our maximum security prisons.”

“If you were going to lock me away, why didn‘t you just kill me then, it‘s practically the same thing.” Gabriela snapped.

“I agree with the traitor, we should end her now.” A Council Woman said. “It would be better for everyone.”

“No such thing shall be done, I have decided and what I have decided will be done. Gabriela Lombardo, the Council of Augury sentences you to life imprisonment and isolation in Melancholy Penitentiary.”

The night was cold and the neighborhood was dead and quiet as Gabriela rushed out of her house and into her car to go and find her daughter.

“Gabriela, stop! Don‘t get involved!” Shouted Christoph as he grabbed the car door. Gabriela forcefully tried to closed it. She let the door bounce open out of anger and got off the car.

“How could I not get involved, that is my daughter out there! You should be doing the same!” She snarled and shock with anger.

“This is not your fight, if you go after Eden-”

“If I go after her what, you‘ll do what! Will you ruin my life again, or tell the council again? Because of you, I spent eight years of my life alone in a isolated prison and I lost my baby. Wasn‘t ruining my life enough for you that you had to go and ruin your own daughter‘s?” Gabriela screamed and walked off into her gray car, she slammed the door as she got in. She was really good at transportation spells and casted one that caused her whole car to disappear out of New York and to Nevada.

Christoph saw her leave and he accepted the fact that she was right, he had ruined her life and he remembered the day every single day of his life.


Christoph hesitated, he held on his hand his house phone but pondered if it was the right thing to do. He was alone in his room, sitting on his maroon covered bed and looking at a piece of paper that had Gabriela’s house number on it. Christoph knew that she probably wasn’t home which made it the perfect opportunity to tell her parents.

“He‘s a wolf, she shouldn’t talk to him anyway.” He told himself and tenderly touched the numbers on the phone’s key pad. He constantly wondered why had she chosen him, why had she chosen Adeni from all the guys in Bronx building 200? Had she not noticed that he always liked her, the gentile nudges that he would do to her? The gifts for her birthday, and the time he sang to her for Valentine’s day? Why had she chosen him: Adeni Sforza?

“But what if something happens to her, what if they kill her for treason?” He asked out loud. The sixteen year old sighed and shooed the horrible pictures that he created in his mind about the love of his life being executed. He didn’t want this to happen to her, he was so confused! Christoph also thought that it wouldn’t be fair if she told on her, but also it wouldn’t be fair to him who had always loved her! She had never looked his way and that made his blood boil, she ignored his feelings that were out there. Everyone if Bronx building 200 saw them but the person that he wanted them to see was blind and in love with a wolf, that wasn’t fair to him.

“Her parents need to know Christoph, she‘s having a baby and she can‘t hide that forever!” He sighed as he lay on his bed. He was right, Gabriela was expecting a baby and that was the icing to the cake of lies she hid from her parents. He sighed and made up his mind.

“Good afternoon, this is Christoph DeVandre.” Christoph sighed as someone picked up the phone to Gabriela’s house. He bit his lip and felt a cold fresh of air hit his back as he sat up straight on his bed.

“Hello Christoph, Gabriela isn‘t here at the moment, I‘ll tell her that you called.” Mrs. Lombardo told him. She sounded as sophisticated though the phone as in person.

“Actually, I didn‘t want to speak to Gabriela, I wanted to speak to you for a serious moment…”


Christoph sighed and pulled himself together, he walked into the house suddenly realizing that Aden was still in her room crying. As he passed her room and ignored her crying, he headed straight for Gabriela and his’ double door closet. He grabbed all the ties that he owned and began to tie them together, he then created a long stripped, poke dotted, and plane colored rope. Christoph pulled on it to make sure it was strong enough and tightly knotted, he knew what he was doing and had made his option.

“Mom, dad?” Aden sniffed as she looked around the living room for her parents. Christoph heard his daughter’s voice and neatly rolled up the colored rope; he walked out of the room to see Aden from the second floor. Aden turned and saw her dad looking at her, her face was marked with dried tears and her eyes were red and sad.

“Mother left, but she‘ll be back Aden.” Christoph assured his daughter and flashed a small and sad smile. “Father will be busy Adeni, I‘ll be in the restroom.”

Christoph then walked away ignoring Aden confused face, he had called her Adeni. Her father had called her by another name that wasn’t hers. Aden wiped her tears away and sat down on the living room couch still confused, just to be alone in the quiet house. Christoph arrived at his destination and silently closed the door behind him.

The Las Vegas lights shunned brightly under the fading sunlight in the sky. Gabriela drove around blindly through the streets, not knowing where Eden and the boy would be at. She had never been to Las Vegas and all the commotion and random people walking on the streets confused her, suddenly she got a hint of hope as she remembered that Aden had said that they had ran off to get married.

“Excuse me, excuse me do you know where a wedding chapel is at?” She asked people on the street, no one knew where there was one at and it caused her to grow exhausted.

She asked any person she met up with, or who was a short distance from her car, but she got no answers, Gabriela had to find Eden before the Council of Augury found her first. As she continued to drive her car desperation filling her head, she suddenly saw a woman dressed in a wedding gown accompanied by a man in a tux. The woman was smiling, laughing and holding hands with her husband like a teenager would.

“May I have a word with you?” Gabriela shouted at them from the traffic, she felt as if the hadn’t heard her so she got off the car and approached them. The couple became confused why she was standing in front of them until she repeated her question. They nodded in response.

“Do you happen to know where a wedding chapel is at?” Gabriela asked.

“Of course, we just came from one. Keep going three more blocks up and then you‘ll see it.” the bride pointed out to more shining buildings.

“Thank you so much, By the way, did you happen to see a girl, she’s seventeen , has gray eyes, blonde hair and her bangs were dyed a certain color, but I seamed to have forgotten.” Gabriela lied, she didn’t know what color Eden had Chromoed her hair and not knowing if the couple were Sorcerers or not she didn’t want to risk it.

“Was she with two other teenagers?” The groom asked.

“A couple of minuets earlier we saw a group of three teenagers and there was a girl with them.”

“And if it was she, then I think we did see her. She was warring a strapless wedding dress and her bangs were white.” The bride smiled remembering the female teenager.

“Oh thank god! I‘ve been looking for her all over, just to let you know I‘m her mother.” Gabriela sighed in relief, she held her chest. “How long did you ago did you see her?”

“A couple of minutes ago, she was about to get married. Your daughter asked us for five bucks.” The groom said.

“Thanks so much, if anyone asks you for her please deny that you have seen her.” Gabriela asked for the favor, the couple nodded in agreement sort of confused and then were on their way.


Eden sighed and held Alex’s hand for support, she couldn’t believe that this was happening and it caused her to become light headed. Eden, at age seventeen, was getting married. She softy touched her dress; it was in reality her mother’s dress. The dress was strapless and peal colored, it was so simple that the only decoration was at the waist. In the waist were three rows of diamonds that made a belt, real shinning diamonds, which sparkled brightly. She Chromed her bangs white to fit the occasion.

She looked back at the chapel they were in covered in soft warm colors of pearls and whites with white folding chairs in rows and columns. She cocked her eyebrow as she saw her cheering section which consisted of a teenage wolf who seamed at the verge of crying his eyes out. He was the other only person in the room other than Eden, Alex and the religious leader.

“…and do you Eden DeVandre take Aleixandre to be your lawful wedded husband, to cherish and love until death do you part?” The religious leader asked.

“I do.” She sighed and smiled at Alex, Alex returned her smile with a gentile squeeze of her hand. Eden felt a spark of happiness fill her body, she was so happy.

“Now, the presentation of the rings, Alex.” Alex then took out of his jeans a diamond ring and placed it on Eden’s wedding finger, she did the same. From behind in the cheering section a sharp sniffle was heard.

“I‘m so sorry, please go on.” Amerigo cleared his throat as he tried to cover the fact that he was crying.

“Congratulation, I hereby pronounce you by the state of Nevada husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.” The religious leader announced and as he ordered, Alex kissed her gently.

“Eden! Eden we have to go!” Shouted Gabriela as she barged into the room, she almost tripped into some benches as she ran inside.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” She asked in bewilderment and broke the tender kiss Alex and she were having.

“That doesn‘t matter, we have to go now!” Gabriela ran towards her daughter and began pulling Eden and Alex from their wrists to the nearest exit. The religious leader was completely confused as were the teenagers. Amerigo stayed in his place and looked at Alex who seemed confused.

“I‘m not leaving anywhere!” Eden cried and pulled her arm from her mother’s clutches. Alex did the same, he couldn’t believe that he was meeting his mother in law.

“Eden, we really have to go, the Council of Augury knows what you did and they‘re headed this way. They’re looking for you.” Gabriela briefly explained as she magically locked the main door with a spell to save some time.

“The Council?”

“Yes, the Council, we have to get out of here right now.” Gabriela sighed.

“How do I know that you‘re not lying and that you‘re going to take me home to punish me?” Eden suddenly asked and crossed her arms.

Outside of the main doors to the small wedding chapel voices echoed, and the double doors began to rattle. Someone was trying to get inside. Everyone in the room was struck with fear, even the elderly religious leader that had absolutely no idea what was happening.

“Does that happen to be them?” Amerigo gasped as he backed away from the entrance and looked at Gabriela. Gabriela felt a cold chill down her spine.

“Outside now!” Gabriela ordered and grabbed Eden. Alex, Eden, Amerigo and Gabriela ran out through the nearest exit which was a couple of feet away. They rushed out the back exit into a dark and abandoned ally until they burst onto the wedding chapel’s parking lot. Eden’s dress was dragging on the floor and it slowed her down so she ended up ripping it to increase her speed. When they got to Gabriela’s car, she quickly and harshly opened the doors, started the engine and drove off with the tires screeching behind them.

The car was full of silence, an awkward silence that haunted all the passengers at the moment. No one spoke anything, no one opened his or her mouths, and it was completely awkward.

“Why aren‘t you yelling at me?” Eden carefully asked breaking the terrible silence as she grabbed some air from the running. Eden had dared to ask her mother as she drove their get away car out into the street of Las Vegas. Gabriela glanced at her daughter and gave a small tired smile to go with it. Eden looked at her mother and then at the boy that sat behind her, Alex was as confused as Eden was.

“Do you want me to yell at you?” Gabriela asked her daughter seriously. Eden thought about it, it was the first time that her mother wasn’t blowing her head over something that Eden had done, and the fact that she wasn’t yelling confused her.

“Not really, but why aren‘t you? I ran away across the country and with a werewolf.” Eden said. “I would expect you to at least scowl at me.”

“I‘m not going to scowl at you Eden, and neither will I scowl at your new…husband.” Gabriela sighed and glanced at Alex through the head mirror. Alex looked at her and felt uncomfortable; it was the first time that he was meeting his mother-in-law and her wolf-like dark eyes frightened him. “Hey kid, what‘s your name anyway?”

“Aleixandre madam.” He answered quickly fearing to upset her.

“Aleixandre, that‘s a nice name.” She admitted and gave him a smile threw the head mirror. Eden couldn’t understand what was happening, her mother was being kind to her new-according to Nevada law-husband. Her mother was acting as if she hadn’t abandoned her family and city, she was acting as if it really didn’t happen. “What about you?”

“Amerigo, my name is Amerigo.” Amerigo answered as he kept his sight outside of the car.

“Nora I still don‘t understand.” Eden continued she did not want to let the subject go.

“Understand what, why I’m not screaming my head off? I‘m not yelling at you because I rather have a good idea of what both of you are going through. Lets just say that when I was your age I went through a similar thing.” She sighed and returned her sight at driving; Eden remained quiet.

She told her daughter her sad love story, every detail, every second that she had spent with her lover. It was a little tough for her at first, she hadn’t said anything about her lover in a long time, but the three teenagers listened attentively at every word that spilled from her mouth. She kept his forbidden name to herself. She didn’t want to say it, it was taboo to her.

“That was your story, mom you were the traitor witch!” Eden gasped as she couldn’t believe her mother’s tale. Her mother was the girl in the legend of the witch and the werewolf. The story had happened recently and it had happened to her mother.

“I prefer sorceress, but yes that was my story.” Gabriela smiled and kept her eyes on the road.

“So your name isn‘t Nora? That woman Gabriela Lombardo was you all along.” Eden sighed.

“Yes, I‘m sorry I didn‘t tell you earlier. I should have told you when you asked.” Gabriela sighed “but I couldn‘t.”

“Why?” Eden asked.

Gabriela simply sighed. “Where are we headed to?”

“Los Angeles madam, my uncle and aunt live there.” Alex suddenly breathed, he couldn’t believe that he was meeting the traitor witch in the stories that he had heard as a young wolf.

“Wait; there is something I don’t understand. The sorceress in the story died, yet you‘re still alive.” Eden pointed out.

“That‘s what everyone thinks, that‘s why I didn‘t tell you about my real name and ever since I married your father everyone knows me as Nora DeVandre.” Gabriela said.

“I can‘t believe that my grandparents did this to you, and you were pregnant? I can‘t believe this!” Eden was still shocked. “Aden and I would have had an older brother.”

“Yes and no, but know that you know this, I have to tell you something.” Gabriela carefully continued, not sure if to tell her daughter.

“Mom, you were also imprisoned, you have a criminal recode.” Eden continued to awe not hearing her mother speak.

“Yes, yes I know but I have to tell you something Eden. The only reason I got out of prison was because of your dad…


Eight Years Later…

Isolation, darkness, and dirt were what Gabriela had seen for eight years in her prison cell at Melancholy Penitentiary. Her hair was long, she was dressed in a prison gown and she was tied in chains so she wouldn’t use her “special abilities” . Her once pretty little face was covered with a muzzle to sustain her from also trying to do any magic, she was an animal in that prison, an animal that had done nothing wrong but was treated as if she had done the most horrible act in the world.

She saw no day light, Gabriela was force to remain in her cell every day at every hour because she was considered “harm to prison society”. It was difficult for her to stay sane but she did it, she did it not because she had hope that she was going to get out, but because she didn’t want to give her mother the joy of hearing that her “daughter” had died insane in prison.

Gabriela sat on the dirty prison floor, like always, facing the small window that provided the only light that informed her if it was day or night, at the time, it was day. The rats scurried past her, but it didn’t bother her anymore, she had gotten used to the creatures that accompanied her every day and that would for the rest of her life. Suddenly, she heard a tough clank on her cell bars.

“Lombardo, you have company.”

The voice of another human was strange to her, she didn’t know what to say, she had never heard those words being said to her in prison before. Who would want to visit her? Everyone thought that she was dead, so who would want to visit a dead woman?

“Come in.” She heard herself say, her voice sounded strange in her own ears, it was low because of the muzzle and had a hint of maturity in it.

The cell doors opened and a shape of a woman entered the cell. She wore her red hair down and straight, and she looked successful and strangely familiar. Her green eyes peered through her body.

“Gabriela, is that you?” The woman asked. Gabriela stood up to face this strange woman, she felt small compared to her.

“Yes.” She replied softly.

“I can‘t believe that you‘re alive!” The woman ran and hugged Gabriela. Gabriela felt strange, she didn’t know who this woman was. The woman began bawling as she hugged her and said many things that Gabriela couldn’t understand. The woman’s sent had the most extremely pleasant smell, she had came across in a long time.

“I‘m so sorry, it‘s been years that I haven‘t see you and I‘m very excited. Do you remember who I am?” The woman asked as she tried to hold in her tears. Gabriela stayed quiet, not knowing how to answer.

“I don‘t blame you if you don‘t, we haven‘t seen each other in years. You don‘t look like yourself either, what did they do to you?” The woman gasped as she tenderly touched Gabriela’s mouth muzzle, Gabriela turned away not knowing the stranger. “Gabriela, it‘s me Suzan, Suzan Whitman.”

Gabriela’s gaze returned back at the woman, Suzan looked at her with sad eyes. Her best friend had found her after all these years, in a prison cell hundreds of miles away from New York. She didn’t know how to react, or what to say…it was her best friend.

“You don‘t wear your sweaters anymore.” Gabriela finally said behind her muzzle. Suzan smiled and hugged her best friend.

“Gabriela, its so good to see you! I knew that you weren‘t dead, I just knew it!” Suzan smiled and took a good look at Gabriela’s wolf eyes. “Listen, I wish I could stay a little more but, I have to leave.”

“Leave, what do you mean by leave? We haven‘t seen each other for years and now you want to leave?” Gabriela was confused. Suzan let Gabriela go and stepped away.

“I came for a purpose, because I was asked to come and because I wanted to come.” Suzan began and bit her lip. Gabriela was confused at what her friend was telling her. “I was told to come and talk to you.”

“Talk to me?” Gabriela dumbly repeated.

“The Council of Augury, they told me to come and speak to you. They have a proposition that might interest you.” Suzan awkwardly sighed. “They could get you out of here.”

“Out of jail? Why, what‘s it about?” Gabriela asked a little interested.

“Remember, what happened with the whole thing, about you and your boy-friend, what was(She scratched her head)…. his name?”

“Adeni.” She coolly remembered. Gabriela thought of Adeni every second of everyday of her prison life, she played back every memory in her head that they shared together. The sweet memories of a forbidden love.

“Sorry, sorry it’s been a long time.” Suzan felt a little weird. “Well the council didn’t want the same story repeating again with another of our kind, so they made a new rule. We have to be engaged by June and have to be marry as soon as we turn eighteen. The law was enforced a couple of years ago, like seven years ago to be precise. I‘m married and I can‘t stay long in Virginia, I have to go and attend my husband. I came here because someone wants to get you out of here, he wants to give you back your life.”

“Married! Suzan?” Gabriela stormed in disbelief. Suzan kept her sight away from Gabriela’s brown eyes.

“I know, it wasn‘t the happiest day of my life but it had to be done. My parents forced me and well it’s not as bad as you think, I’ve become accustomed to Anthony’s presence.” Suzan sadly admitted.

“ Anthony? Who’s Anthony? Do you love him?”

Silence. Gabriela looked away from her friend in disappointment.

“You can’t judge me Gabriela, life‘s different now. Years have passed and I‘m not blaming this on you but if you and that wolf wouldn’t have had that relationship things would be different. Things would have been more different for you and you know it. ” Suzan then answered.

“So, in a way you are blaming me?” Gabriela asked behind her muzzle.

“It‘s not that I‘m blaming you, it’s just that you’re lucky that people are unaware of the name of the sorceress.” Suzan let her know and then whispered “ Those who knew that it was you don‘t speak about you anymore. You‘re dead outside these wall but like I said, someone wants to give you a new life.”

“What do you mean? How will he give it back?” Gabriela asked, knowing the answer to the question but afraid to think it would be true. She was still processing the new law the Council had created and couldn’t believe it; to be married as a teenager?

“He wants to marry you. He‘s been trying to convince the Council into setting you free ever since the law was enforced. He says that he could change you.” Suzan carefully said not looking at her.

“My god, I‘m not an animal to be changing at someone‘s will! Why would they think that I would marry a complete stranger!” Gabriela roared in disbelief. Her muzzle had caused her angered scream to be retained.

“He‘s not a stranger, you know him very well. He‘s Christoph, remember Christoph DeVandre? He said that he has worked it out with the Council and that they would give you every second that you lost back. He really loves you.” Suzan sighed and turned her gaze at the floor. Christoph? Had Suzan mixed her information? Gabriela thought in her head. Her high school friend Christoph was asking her hand in marriage, and not exactly from her parents but from the Council of Augury.

“Are you serious? Christoph, blond hair, skinny and nerdy?” Gabriela asked still in shock not believing her friend.

“Yes, that Christoph, who else do you know that‘s name Christoph? He’s has been trying for years to get you out of here, he’s one of the few people that know that you’re alive. ” Suzan explained.

“ I’m not saying that I’m not flattered, but I don‘t love him. I have no feelings other than friendship towards him.” Gabriela admitted.

“Gabriela, you have the opportunity to go back to the real world, to get out of this hell hole. You have to accept it!” Suzan exclaimed. Gabriela pondered a few seconds of what her dear friend had said, she was right. Gabriela would redeem her old life back, but it wouldn’t be the same because she still loved Adeni too much.


“Years later, in our honeymoon, your father did the mistake of telling me that, he was the one that had told my mother about my relationship.” Gabriela sighed. “I‘m sorry but you have to know that I completely hate your father after what he did to me.”

“You don‘t love him, you‘ve never had.” Eden whispered in disbelief. Her mother’s relationship had been a complete lie, there was no love in it and there had never been. Eden suddenly remembered what Alex had said to her, and he was right. Another thought rapidly filled her head but she was afraid to ask the question, had Aden and herself been a mistake, or had they been a consequence?

The sun finally arose after the fright that Gabriela had witnessed the night before. It all seamed as if it was a horrible dream, her daughter repeating her life story and making the mistake to run way with her now husband of a wolf. Gabriela sighed in relief as she glanced at her side and saw Eden fast asleep in the passenger’s seat, it looked as if she was looking out to the window. Her daughter looked glowing as she slept, in her very own wedding dress she had been forced to wear the day she was to become Nora DeVandre.

Gabriela turned her attention yet again at the road and saw that they were entering Los Angeles, a town she hadn’t been at for years. She saw the giant sky buildings appear out of nowhere, beginning to shine as a light as the sun hit it’s glass in front of the light blue and cloudless sky. The City of Los Angeles was a wonderful memory that had haunted her for years, she couldn’t believe that she returned to the place which she first fell in love.

“Mrs. DeVandre, have we been driving all night?” A voice suddenly asked from behind her, Alex had just woken up. Gabriela glanced thought her head mirror and saw the shinning orange-yellow sunshine fill Alex’s almost groggy face.

“Good morning Alex.” Gabriela responded. “I can‘t afford to stop driving. At the moment I believe that you and my daughter are being persecuted, so to answer your question, yes I‘ve been driving all night.”

“Aren‘t you tired? If you like I could drive the rest of the way.” Alex offered as he stretched and leaned toward Gabriela to talk to her. He then turned to see Eden fast asleep and smiled at her.

“I‘m not that old Alex, I don‘t need my beauty sleep.” Gabriela said as she kept her eyes to the road. “Don‘t worry, The navigation system says that we’re getting closer to the address that you gave me.”

Alex sighed and then sat back down properly back at his seat. He looked out the window and couldn’t believe that all of this was happening, he couldn’t believe that he had married a witch, betrayed his custom rules and was moving back with his uncle and aunt.

“I can‘t believe that I actually did this.” He told himself out loud and kept his sight on the now appearing shops and houses.

“Believe it kiddo, I have to admit you have a lot of guts. I would have never done what you and my daughter did. I feel very proud or you guys, you have began a sort of revolution against our leaders. I know that you feel as if you and Eden are the only ones that have gone through something so tough as to decide between your tradition and love. What I think is that no matter how old traditions are, some will never make you truly happy and that‘s what every human being wants to be at the end; happy. You chose happiness and that’s what matters. I can’t critic you and say that it’s infatuation what you and Eden have, but I can say that it’s pretty close to what I believe is love. If it would have been only but infatuation, I know that you wouldn’t have risked everything you are risking now for a girl.”

Alex smiled at every word that floated out of her mouth, had it been love or infatuation? At the end, it turned out to be love.

“With the…wolf you held your relationship; did you think it was love or infatuation?” Alex suddenly asked with a clam yet interested tone. Gabriela sighed and looked at him from her head mirror again. Alex looked at her straight in her wolf-like brown eyes.

“I…it was such a long time ago. Even as the time has passed and the leaves have fallen from the same tree over and over again, I will always know in my heart that it was love.” Gabriela seriously answered and sighed. She felt her heart rise and then sink at the same time.

“Oh-my-god, where are we?” Eden suddenly jumped up as she awakened and looked around the car. Alex leaned toward Eden and held her hand to tell her that he was there and that everything was going to be ok.

Countless hours flew by as they continued their sojourn to Alex’s uncle’s house in Los Angeles, the four fugitives were hungry, sleepy (that mostly applied to Gabriela) and just wanted to get home but no, they couldn’t afford to get caught. Gabriela glanced once in a while at her phone that just stared at her with it’s dark black eye, and wondered why hadn’t Aden hadn’t called her. It was a little strange and she wanted to call home but she couldn’t afford it. Eden and Alex’s life depended on it.

An hour later, Gabriela parked outside in the darken street in front of what was said to be Alex’s uncle and aunt’s house. The house looked as if no soul was occupying it, the lights were off as the sun settled in the sky. It was a two story beautiful house with a large front yard and a brick path that took you to the front hard wooden glass door. The house also held a small balcony where it seamed as if there was a telescope pointing at the sky.

“It looks as if no one is home.” Eden pointed out as she stared through her mother’s side window at the beautiful pearl colored house. Everyone was looking at it.

“Probably they aren’t home yet.” Alex shrugged and made a grab for the car door.

“Do they know that we‘re coming over?” Gabriela quickly asked before Alex opened the door.

“No, but I know that they‘ll be fine with company coming over. They’re very friendly with everyone.” Alex responded as he opened the door and got off, Eden followed her husband and got off the car. Gabriela sighed.

Gabriela, Eden and Alex and Amerigo got off the car silently and followed Alex to the front door and opened the mailbox where he got a hold of a key.

“My uncle always leave an extra key in the mailbox, he‘s not that good at remembering things.” Alex shared as he opened the door.

The house was dark but it suddenly became full of light when Alex fiddle with some switches. The switches turned on the lights that were embedded on the roof and exposed a beautiful living room. There were two dark night couches that stood beside each other with a glass coffee table in the middle. There was a bar that held different types of liquor and wines elegantly lined up behind the glass doors to the wine cabinet. The floor was a wooden dark color that seamed to shine under the light. At the far left of the room was the spiral staircase that leads to the bedrooms.

“Wow, your house is beautiful.” Eden wowed as she looked around.

“I come here every summer with my aunt and uncle. I live with them because my parents died when I was very young so they took me in. My uncle thinks that Bronx is a really good school so he sent me there to study until I finish my high school education. ” Alex explained as he lead them inside the house. Gabriela and her daughter felt a sense of shyness fill their bodies and silently headed towards the couches. Alex sat down and sighed deeply.

“You lived by yourself in New York ?” Gabriela asked as she still looked around.

“My uncle rented me my own apartment and I‘ve been living there every school year since I became a freshman.” Alex shared.

“I‘ve been meaning to ask you, why did you come along with us?” Eden suddenly turned to Amerigo who was scratching his shoulder.

“Was it a private wedding or what?” He joked and then shrugged. “I just came for the fuck of it.”

“I don‘t believe you.” Eden said.

“Really, I did.”

“So you‘re telling me that you left your house just for the hell of it?” Eden repeated.

“Yeah.”

“Lier” Eden said with slit eyes

“I’m being honest here.” Amerigo shrugged

“Wow, I got to admit, that‘s really awesome.” Eden then smiled.

“It sort of sounds like what you did, Eden.” Gabriela suddenly said.

“I had a good reason mom.” Eden took out her tongue playfully at her mother.

“Well do you realize Amerigo that the Council of Augury will now be after you too?” Gabriela said to him. Amerigo shrugged once again.

“I don‘t care, I don‘t even know who they are anyway and I‘m not interested in finding out.”

“Did you know that I’m a sorceress or did a certain wolf tell you?” Eden asked Amerigo, she glanced sharply at Alex.

“Of course I did, Greg and I smelled you a mile away. To tell you the truth we all knew once we saw you. You were almost successful in incognito yet you weren‘t correctly informed that we have really good smelling sense.” Amerigo shrugged. “You magic people have a different smell and can only be smelled if you really pay attention.”

Gabriela shook her head in disapproval while Eden and Alex looked meekly and nonchalantly away.

“Alex, may I know where your restroom is?” Gabriela suddenly asked wanting to get away from the conversation. Alex gave her the directions and she headed upstairs.

The second floor was a hallway that held four rooms. Gabriela grabbed the first door and walked inside. She had accidentally walked into an office. The office was furnished by a large dark oak wooden desk, a black swivel chair, an elegant silver colored floor lamp and ac couple of wall books shelves that ran across the room and behind the desk was a number of certificates. Gabriela looked around and grabbed the nearest book on the wall bookshelves, it was about medicine. While in the room, she could here Alex and Eden talking about something but it sounded muffled.

She was very impressed that Alex’s uncle or aunt were involved in the medical field, or was at least interested in it. Realizing that the wall held certificates she walked closer to read, when she read the certificates she felt her skin went cold.

She swallowed hard and began to breathe heavily. She couldn’t believe it, she must not be reading it right, she told herself.

“Adeni Sforza-Harvard University Honor graduate.”

“Adeni Sforza-USC Medical certified heart surgeon.”

“Adeni Sforza- Doctorate for Cardiovascular studies.”

Gabriela slowly backed away holding her own heart, she was in the house of her old love, but how could this be? Her heart began racing as she felt someone walk into the office and stand behind her, she stopped breathing to here the person’s own slow breath.

“Who are you and what are you doing in here?” A matured man’s voice asked her. Her heart dropped and she closed her eyes not wanting to answer the question. Gabriela then battled herself to turn around, she knew that who had asked the question wasn’t Alex.

So many things raced through her mind at that moment. She thought of how much she had missed him, she thought of those endless and sleepless nights she spend in jail pondering about how his death had been. She felt confused at the moment, Adeni was alive. Had everyone lied to her about his existence? She felt a sort of anger fill her body, they all knew that he was alive but they had told her a lie so she could forget him. The lie never worked, she always thought of her high school sweetheart.

“Who are you?” The man repeated a little louder. Gabriela sighed and gathered the will power to turn and see him. She saw before her a man. The man had short black hair with chocolate brown eyes that malted through her. He wore a dressy plain light blue shirt with some black dressy pants. Gabriela wondered if he would recognize her, she felt very awkward.

“Um-hi.” Gabriela managed to say softly and stutter as she looked at his chocolate eyes threw her glasses. The man seemed confused at why there was a random woman in his study room, he was hearing his nephew voice ascend from downstairs so he apparently was home. “I’m a guest of your nephew Aleixandre’s and was going to freshen up and I got lost.”

“My nephew? He‘s here?” The man asked and cocked an eyebrow. Gabriela nodded and kept her sight on his face not believing what she was seeing. “ Well, if that’s the case then good evening, nice to meet you my name is Adeni.”

Gabriela looked at his hand as if it was a rabid dog, she didn’t know if to take it of not. He didn’t recognize her at all, she thought. She didn’t know what to say, or to do; should she say her name and tell him who she was?

“Nora, like wise.” Gabriela managed to sigh and took his hand. She couldn’t say anything; she couldn’t tell him who she was. She was married, had a family and she couldn’t let him know that like him she was alive. They had their lives made and she couldn’t destroy that he was married and so was she, she thought

Gabriela and Adeni descended from the second floor and saw that Alex and Eden were sitting together in the couch talking. Gabriela bit her lip, she felt an empty feeling fill her heart.

“Hey Adeni.” Amerigo gave a stiff ‘hello’

“Uncle? What are you doing home?” Alex asked.

“I should be asking that question to you Alex.” Adeni cocked his eyebrow.

“Where‘s my aunt?” Alex asked.

“I thought that was she in my study, but instead I found your guest. She must be getting home in a couple of minutes.” Adeni said as he looked at Gabriela. “ What are you both doing in Los Angeles?” ”
.
“Uncle, I came because I ran away from New York.” Alex admitted and held Eden’s hand. Amerigo stayed silent and pursed his lips.

“Ran away? Why would you run away from New York?” He pondered, he was very confused.

“Your nephew is being persecuted by the Council of Augury along with my daughter. My daughter is a sorceress and I know this will sound childish but they fell in love.” Gabriela told Adeni. Adeni seemed surprised and eyed the teenager girl, she had a long streak of white hair as bangs and a wedding dress on. She seemed pretty yet a little familiar.

“Really-from the Council of Augury.” Adeni said and Eden nodded. It had been a long time since he had heard those words; Gabriela bit her lip and lowered her sight. “How did you get in this mess Amerigo? Do your parents know of what you have done?”

“Nah, I just said I was going out and coming back in a couple of days. They told me to take a nutrition bar and sent me on my way.” Amerigo said as he presented Adeni with an empty rapper. “I came on my own though, thought it would be fun to crash a wedding.”

“Shut up you didn‘t crash anything, you started crying right at the ceremony!” Laughed Eden as she crossed her arms.

“That‘s not true!”

“Yes it is.” Eden continued laughing and then suddenly became serious as she made eye contact with Adeni. She sheeply uncrossed her arms and held her hands at her center.

“ You must be the bride.” Adeni cocked an eyebrow and looked sternly at her.

“My name‘s Eden, and well this is my mom Ga-”

“Honey he knows my name.” Gabriela quickly said.

“Well, what are we going to do Alex?” Adeni sighed as he sat down on the couch. He held his head in exhaustion.

“I was planning to stay here and change our names.” Alex proposed and looked at Eden.


“What if you guys fake your deaths? It works all the time.” Amerigo also proposed.

“That could be a good alternative. Oh dear god what will I do with you Aleixandre?” Adeni sighed. Gabriela felt that Adeni had changed. The Adeni she knew would have been up and about trying to help both teenagers not caring if they had thought anything at all.

“If we do fake our deaths, we could take on my mother‘s last name.” Eden said and smiled at her mother hoping to please her with her decision. Gabriela felt her eyes go wide hoping her daughter wouldn‘t say a word.

“Is Eden and Alex Sforza not good enough?” Adeni asked and crossed his arms, he then looked at Gabriel who looked away when their eyes met.

“Since My name is already Aleixandre Sforza the council will recognize who I am, I agree with Eden, Uncle.” Alex sided with his wife.

“We would be Eden and Alex Lombardo.” Eden shared.

“Lombardo?” Adeni pondered and sighed at the same time. Gabriela felt her heart drop even more. Adeni looked at Gabriela and felt as if there was something familiar in her, he felt as if he had seen her before. His eyes when wide as he realized who was before him.

“Adeni-” Gabriela managed to sigh, her eyes began to water as she looked into his. Adeni looked at her waiting for her to continue as everyone in the room was. She didn‘t know what she was about to do, she had mixed feelings but she knew that he would figure it out sooner or later.

Eden gasped and understood at that second, she covered her mouth in shock. Adeni’s confused face then changed into one that understood. He got closer to her and slowly took her glasses off to reveal her wolf like brown eyes that he hadn’t seen in years. He looked deeply in them and smiled.

“Gabriela?” He asked and softly ran his finger on her face. “Gabriela is that you?”

“Adeni, you‘re alive!” She suddenly bawled and hugged him with all her might.

“What is going on here?” A woman asked from behind Alex and Amerigo. She had long red hair and wore a dark blue business suit. Gabriela suddenly let go of Adeni and covered her face in embarrassment, she then wiped her tears away. “Who are these people?”

“Hey, long time no see!” Amerigo expressed turning to face her. Gabriela regained her self and then saw that she was a beautiful woman, she was in her late twenties and had a face of an angel. Her face was pale with a dash of light pink lip-gloss on that made her black hair seam shinier.

“Amerigo? Alex? What are you doing here?” The aunt asked as she flicked Alex and Amerigo on the head playfully. Alex rubbed the place his aunt had hit him on and groaned. “What I know is that school‘s not over in New York yet.”

“Oh trust me school‘s over for us alright.” Amerigo nodded.

“Aunt, I have something to tell you, I have to warn you that it‘s a little shocking at first.” Alex informed her uncomfortably. His aunt kept her eyes on his nephew and then on the women that stood in the room.

“How shocking is it? Does it have to do with our guests here?” His aunt pondered as she sat on her couch and crossed her legs.

“It doesn‘t have to do with me though.” Amerigo pointed out and nodded his head.

“Oh, it‘s shocking alright.” Adeni also nodded. His aunt looked back at her nephew and waited for him to speak.

“Aunt, this is my wife Eden, and this is her mother-”

“Gabriela, her name is Gabriela.” Adeni answered and gave a tender smiled to her. Gabriela felt uncomfortable being so close to Adeni at that moment in front of Alex’s aunt. What would she say? Gabriela thought in her head. The Aunt cocked an eyebrow as if not fully understanding what had just been said to her, she then scratched her head in awe.

“Wife?”

“Yes.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“Nope this is a 100% real marriage.” Amerigo blurted out has he huddled Eden and Alex together.

“What the hell did you get yourself into Aleixandre Sforza!” His Aunt suddenly exploited and stood up. “Married, at such a young age?”

“I‘m still here.” Eden waved her hand slightly letting his aunt know of her existence, Catalina ignored it.

“Catalina, there are a certain topics that we must discuss. I need for you to calm down and listen to what Alex has to say.” Adeni carefully explained and carefully sat her down, she couldn’t believe that he was so calm about this sensitive topic.

“Adeni, how could you allow this? Alex is just a teenager, he can‘t be married at such a young age!” Catalina exploded even more. “ Vyron and Cynthia left Alex in our care, and that‘s what we‘re suppose to do, take care of him and make sure he doesn‘t do anything stupid!”

“I have a perfectly good reason of marrying Eden apart that I love her, she‘s a witch an-”

“A witch? How could you marry a witch!” Catalina groaned and held her head in frustration. “Did you know of this Adeni?”

“Hey, don’t look at me I barely found out a couple of minutes ago.”

“Oh no, oh no, oh no! What have you done!? Our ancestors will be turning in their graves! Your parents Aleixandre, they will haunt you for this shameful choice. You have brought a witch in our home Aleixandre, how could you! What if the Pack Leaders become enlightened of this monstrosity?” Catalina hissed as she paced around the room.

Adeni grabbed Catalina and tried to sit her down on a chair. “Adeni don‘t touch me. How could you be so calm?”

“If I would react like you did it right now, it would make matters much worse.” Adeni rubbed her shoulders.

“Cat you need to chill down a little.” Amerigo then said.

“I will not chill down!” She pushed Adeni’s hands off her and hastily stood up. “Am I the only one who has realized Alex’s mistake? Do you, yourself Alex, realize what you have done? You are repeating the same story of-of-” Catalina struggled to finish her sentence and glanced at Adeni.

“Say it, I want you to say it.” Adeni ordered looking directly at her. Catalina remained quiet and lowered her head, not daring to say a thing.

“I‘m sorry brother, I didn‘t want to bring you awful memories again.” Catalina sighed and looked up, she let her shoulders fall as she sighed.

“Brother?” Gabriela asked. “I understood that you were married.”

“Married? Us? That would be incest.” Catalina replied and shuttered a little.

“This is my sister Catalina, Gabriela I don‘t remember if I told you about her years ago.” Adeni said. The aunt was his sister, Gabriela thought, she felt a little silly at the moment.

“Gabriela? The Gabriela?” Catalina suddenly gasped. “Adeni though that you were dead!”

“Well she‘s not and thank God because of that.” Adeni held her hand and smiled in relief. Gabriela felt uncomfortable at the presence of her past lover and her daughter in the same room. She let go of his hand as her daughter looked at her in the eyes. Adeni saw this connection.

“This is your daughter.” Adeni suddenly spoke and approached Eden. Eden didn’t like the fact that her space was being invaded but she stayed in her place, Adeni looked at her with tender eyes that suddenly turned sad.

“She is too young to be mine.” He sighed with a hint of a melancholy singe. “You married didn‘t you?”

Gabriela kept her silence and looked away as Adeni turned to see her, he then turned back to Eden.

“Are you in love?” He asked Gabriela. She also remained her silence as she couldn’t find words to answer her lover’s question. He nodded as if understanding.

“Eden, right, is your mother happy at home?” He then asked the teenager, Eden felt as if it was a trick question and looked at her mother for answers but Gabriela’s sight was on the wooden floor.

“I don‘t know-I think? Why wouldn‘t she, she has me and Aden and dad.” Eden answered dumbly avoiding his dark chocolate eyes.

“You have another child?”

“I have a twin sister.” Eden responded for her mother.

“A twin sister, how fortunate.” Adeni then half smiled at Eden. Catalina began to feel the awkwardness overshadow the room and the asked Eden, Alex and Amerigo to help set up for their night stay. The three teenagers accepted with silent nods. Eden felt a weight lift off her shoulders as Adeni turned to her mother. The man’s question then caused her to ponder a question that she already knew the answer to, was her mother in total actually happy?


“Gabriela, may I speak to you in private?” Adeni suddenly and quietly asked.

Gabriela also nodded. Adeni and Gabriela walked out of the house to the back yard leaving Catalina, Eden, Alex and Amerigo to their business. They headed for a small bench that laid in the darkness of the night and sat right besides each other. It brought wonderful memories to both. The wind began to blow a little causing Gabriela’s lose brown hair to wave softly on the wind. The night held a sweet smell of wet dirt and of freshness that ripened from the plants that surrounded them.

“When I found out that you were dead, I blamed myself for it everyday and night.” Adeni began and stared out into the empty sky. Gabriela remained quiet looking out into the emptiness of the night sky. “I felt as if I lost the most important person in my life.”

“My parents planned it out, I was incarcerated in prison for eight years.” Gabriela responded and looked at him. “I was trialed by the Council of Augury and they found me guilty of treason against my society.”


“Treason?”

She nodded in agreement.

“They told me that you have died, that your pack had killed you.” Gabriela awkwardly shared looking away. She didn’t know how to react, it hurt her. Gabriela’s emotions flowed in her body at the same time, she didn’t know what to feel.

Both adults stayed quiet, not knowing what to say to each other.

“Stay here, please.”

“What?”

“Stay with me, here in Los Angeles.” Adeni begged as he held her hand.

“I wish I could but I can‘t.” Gabriela responded and looked away, taking her hand with her in a slow movement. She sighed and looked at the almost full moon.

“Why not? Your daughter is here and you can‘t return back to New York because you‘re being persecuted.” Adeni reminded her.

“I have a husband-.”

“But you don‘t love him! You still love me!” Adeni shouted in agony.

“Don‘t you think that I‘m aware of that! I know and it‘s true! What I want most in the world is to stay with you but I have another daughter and I have Christoph.” Gabriela sighed in return and adjusted her glasses.

“Christoph? You married him, how could you?!”

“I had no other choice, he was the one that helped me escape that horrid prison. ” Gabriela explained.

“But why him?!” Adeni was perplexed.

“Because he was the only person that remembered of my existence and helped me out of there.” Gabriela softly sighed.

“Do you feel any other affection towards Christoph that you felt for me? Are you in love with him? Is that why you won’t stay?” Adeni suddenly questioned while trying to contain his emotions of jealousy hidden under his tender voice.

“Adeni your interrogations are insulting to me. I want you to understand that even if Christoph did help me, I never loved him and I don‘t now.” Gabriela cleared.

“Well then if that’s not the case, you don‘t need his assistance any longer. Leave him and bring your other daughter to stay with me.” He pleaded.

“Adeni, It’s not as simple as it sounds. Even if it isn’t as how I thought it was going to be, I have a life and a family. I have to return back to my family.” Gabriela decided and turned away.

“You don‘t want to go back, I know you. You want to stay here with me and I want you to stay too. Please I know that this sounds terrible to tell you to leave everything behind you, but I love you. I‘ve always have after all these years. We haven‘t seen each other in such a long time and I still don‘t care if you‘re from another society, I love you for who you are. Stay with me and be truly happy for one moment in your life.” Adeni continued to beg.

“I can‘t.”

“Yes you can, and you do want to. You‘re the only one that determines your happiness based on your actions. Don‘t stop yourself from being happy Gabriela.” Adeni stood up and made a deep eye contact with his lover as he spoke. His eyes were full of sorrow and yearning.

Gabriela looked inside the house and saw Eden and Alex hugging each other and speaking to Catalina. Their face expressions looked full of light and of happiness, something that she hadn’t felt in some time. Gabriela had tried to force herself to love Christoph but it never worked, and now that she was with the true love of her life she wondered about her happiness.

She turned to see Adeni’s face and saw the young teenager before her in sprit. She felt a flow of love fill her body which caused her to smile and then make her tear up, she wanted to stay with him. She wanted to be happy again.

“Adeni-” She felt a strong vibration coming from her left pocket and she stopped. Adeni looked around to see where was the vibration coming from. Gabriela grabbed her touch screen phone from her pocket and saw who was calling her, it was Aden. She felt a little of her love fall as she reminded herself again of her other daughter and held the vibrating phone in her hand.

“Who is it?” Adeni asked softly as he saw her reaction

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