Kacie
Nyx leaned over and grabbed Jade’s hand. Jade nibbled her lip and sat back in her seat. The topic of enemies was dropped and Jamie leaned forward.
“I get why you would want to help Kacie now, but we only needed Clara to come. Why did all three of you come?” Jamie asked.
“Kacie is going to need all three of us. We are gifted in different ways and our abilities will prove useful to her,” Clara said. Clara met Jake’s eyes, “Just as you don’t trust me, I don’t fully trust you. Not everyone will welcome us here, I need them here to have my back.”
“That’s understandable,” Jamie said.
“There are more of you than there are of us,” Clara said.
“That doesn’t give us the comfort I think you think it does,” Jamie started, “we all saw you guys out there during the battle. You were able to handle your own and get out basically unscathed.”
“That is true. I guess you’ll have to trust us like we have to trust you,” Clara said.
“Can you explain what your gifts are?” Jamie asked. A small smile tugged at the edge of Clara’s lips.
“You wouldn’t ask Kacie to show you her gifts, would you?” Clara asked. Jamie blushed and Nyx shifted uncomfortably. “It’s like if I were to ask you to shift for me. It’s weird. You’ll be able to see my sister’s gifts in training. Other than the gift of sight, I have control over darkness.”
“How does it work?” Jake asked. He chose now to enter the conversation again. Viktor was seated in his seat. I listened intently, I wasn’t expecting to find them so soon but this was great. Not only was she here but she was willing to work with us.
“Most witches gain their gifts after years of studying and training. Gifted witches will get it at a young age but that doesn’t happen often. It’s uncommon for a witch to have two gifts. In my case, the darkness chose me. I was lucky.”
“It chose you? What do you mean?” Jake asked. I was as confused as he was.
The idea that my fire could choose me would mean it had a mind of its own. I didn’t like that possibility and I hoped it wasn’t the case for me. I racked my brain for all the times I had used my flames. Every time I used it, I may not have had complete control over it but it did what I wanted, even if I didn’t know. Thankfully, I don’t think my fire chose me. If it did, I shook my head, I’d have a whole different problem.
Instead of answering, Clara smiled and the windows went dark. Everyone but the witches jumped. The room was covered in darkness.
“Yes,” Clara said, her eyes twinkling as she held Jake’s attention. “The darkness chose me. It’s a reactive type of power, meaning it reacts to what I wish. The darkness doesn’t have to obey me but it chooses to listen to me. If I don’t want something, it won’t react. If I want something, it does it, it won’t do anything I don’t want. For example, when I’m sleeping, it won’t do anything. There have been times when I’ll have a nightmare and it’ll do what I want. It’s attached to my mind.”
The darkness disappeared and the colors of the setting sun shined through the window. We could see again. I could tell from the looks on Jake and Jamie’s face that their unease had only intensified.
“What’s stopping you from turning on us?” Jake asked.
“Kacie helped me,” Clara said. “If it weren’t for her, I would have killed Ken as soon as he told me my little sister was dead. Had she not stopped me, I never would have found my sister’s body. I’m just getting even and paying my debt.”
I shook my head. “There’s no debt to pay, you helped me.”
“I only got revenge for my sister,” Clara said. “I had no reason to continue helping him as soon as I knew the truth.”
That was partly true, she’d tried to help me escape before she knew but I wouldn’t say that. Jade and Nyx wiped tears from their eyes as they stared at me. Clara turned to Jake.
“What happens when you don’t want to help? Couldn’t you just change your mind?” Jake asked.
“This one’s annoying,” Jade grumbled. Nyx gave her a look and Jade looked away. Nyx seemed to be the older of the two. She gave off some serious mama bear vibes and it was fun to watch. She still gave me the creeps but I was curious to know how long they’ve been together.
“Other than your Luna helping me find the body of my little sister, I’m here because I want to be here. I won’t turn my back on Kacie and I don’t need to prove that to you,” Clara said.
Jake’s lip twitched and I knew he was irritated. I wanted to laugh but I stifled it by biting the inside of my cheek. I reached over and squeezed his hand. He stared at my hand before looking at me. I smiled at him and he relaxed a little. Viktor cleared his throat.
“You can stay here while training Kacie. She needs to gain control over her gift as soon as possible. She’s been worried about hurting someone so, I’m glad she’ll have the three of you to help her. I’ll do what I can to make sure the pack respects your space and stays out of your way.”
“Thank you,” Nyx said before elbowing Jade.
“Thanks,” Jake murmured.
“Thank you,” Clara said to Viktor.
“Beta Jamie will take you to your rooms. We have a few available in the packhouse,” Viktor said.
The three witches stood to their feet. All but Clara nodded to Viktor and me. Jamie got to her feet and walked to the door, I watched as they followed him out.