Chapter 19

I woke up on a concrete floor, in a concrete box, with a door that had no handle. There wasn’t even a light but I figured that my eyes had adjusted because I could see the walls, the outline of the door, and the fist -sized holes scattered around the small space.

I could feel the tiny stones and dust covering me and the floor as if I had been through some kind of explosion. It wasn’t until I reached out and touched one of the holes that I realized I had caused this destruction. I was a dangerous weapon.

Full of regret, I reached out to Alizya in my mind--or at least I tried to until she came to the door.

“Raven stop it, you’re going to expose yourself!” she called to me.

The light was too bright.

I had already stopped trying to mentally find her and scrambled into the last dark corner while covering my eyes. I was like a scared nocturnal animal and she was intruding on my dark cave even though I had wanted her there.

“I’ll close the curtains. Hold still for a moment.”

With the new semi-darkness provided by the curtains, I sighed and the animal faded to the back of my mind. I was reduced to tears, hands holding balls of flame that I couldn’t control.

“Please make it stop,” I begged Alizya when she appeared in the doorway.

“Hush child, you can control it by yourself. Close your eyes and breathe.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I pressed.

“Shh.. do as you’re told and no one will gethurt.”

I took a deep breath and swallowed my tears before following her instructions as she walked me through calming myself and maintaining that calm.

“Do you feel better now?”

I nodded carefully.

“Alright, come with me and we’ll get you something to eat before we get to work on this. I can’t have you exploding again without getting both of us in trouble.”
She led me into the kitchen where she had laid out a huge variety of food. Nearly anything I could have wanted was spread out over the table and across the counters.

“Who else is here?” I asked cautiously.

“It’s just you and me sweetheart. You’re safe.”

I sat at the table confused and still nervous.

“I wasn’t sure what you’d like to eat, so I made a bit of everything. Please, eat whatever you want and don’t worry about manners.”

I looked around at all the food and wasn’t sure what to do. I had thought blood was the only way for me to get more energy.

“I thought… I mean…”

“Just try it and we’ll see. I have a hunch we’re trying out right now.”

I looked at the food again, trying to decide what even looked good. There were weird dishes on the table that I’d never seen before with rice that had turned yellow under the influence of saffron and some kind of sauce on top. On the counter was a pizza leading a line of pies looking like soldiers all ready for orders. What was in them, I had no idea. Directly in front of me was a steak with a baked potato loaded and overflowing with butter, sour cream, cheese, chives, and little pieces of bacon. I thought about being rude and telling her that I couldn’t eat food like a human but I didn’t have the heart. So I sighed and picked up the fork and knife to begin dissecting the plate-sized slab of meat in front of me.

The knife went through the meat like it would soft butter, revealing raw pink flesh beneath black charr lines. Red-brown mingled with clear melted fat as it pooled onto the white ceramic plate making confusion well inside me. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted the steak or the blood seeping out of it. Was I a vampire or not? How did eating steak make sense? Or any of it really? What the hell was going on and how did I make it stop?

“I can feel your worry. Eat and I’ll explain starting with the fact that you are a very powerful witch, Raven. Probably the most powerful I have seen in my lifetime.”
I put a chunk of meat into my mouth and let it sit on my tongue for a moment before making my teeth set to work tearing it apart. Surprisingly, the flavor exploded in my mouth and I found myself wanting more.

Alizya continued to speak as I devoured the steak. I wasn’t paying her much attention because as soon as the steak was gone, I was pulling a chicken breast toward me and shoveling it into my mouth. Once that was gone I was on to the next and the next until the table was clear.

“Sweetheart, breathe. You’re acting like you haven’t eaten in months.”

“I haven’t.”

We spent a silent moment looking at each other before she smiled. “I suppose you’re right. Just slow down so you don’t hurt yourself.”

So I ate and she continued to talk. When I had cleaned up all the food, I sat back in the chair and realized just how tired I was somehow. Alizya saw it all over my face.

“How about I take you up to bed? You’re asleep in your chair.”

“It’s just all the food. Let me help with the dishes.”

“She smiled and snapped her fingers. “I have a trick for that.”

Suddenly there were dishes in the dishwasher and stacked up next to the sink neatly. There were so many that I felt guilty for eating so much.

“Come with me upstairs. There’s a quiet little room where you can get some rest. We’ll try some spellwork in the morning,” she said standing and offering me her hand.

I stood slowly, still unsure of her and all the magic things but following her up the stairs to the room and the bed.I didn’t even think about where I was before lying down and falling asleep almost instantly.