The Gift: An Awakened Novella Read online

  “Twenty-one,” I answer. “What do you do? Are you still in school?”

  Her face lights up. “No, I graduated early. I teach the kids here at the Compound.”

  I lift a brow. “Compound?”

  She flushes. “It’s a safe haven for witches.”

  It’s all she says, but I believe her.

  “You mentioned Abby earlier. Is she a—‘’

  Ciera cuts me off. “Yes, Abby is a witch. But you didn’t hear that from me.”

  “Your secret is safe with me.” I smile.

  She blushes again. I like seeing her blush. It’s cute.

  “So, you like teaching?” I prod, wanting to keep her talking.

  I never usually care for the small talk, but this girl…she intrigues me. I actually want her to keep talking.

  “I love it. I teach ages three to eight. I love watching their excitement when they learn something new, or when they finally do something that they’ve been struggling with. I love their curiosity, and I love all their personalities. Tucker, my youngest, stuck a Lego in his nose yesterday, but he’s also the sweetest little boy. He shares everything. Maggie, one of my oldest girls, she’s the princess, but she has a rough life. Her parents work a lot to maintain their store down in the Quarter.” She stops and looks over at me. “I’m sorry. I’m rambling.”

  I laugh. “It’s okay. It’s nice that you care so much. I wish most teachers cared the way you do. I loved school, but some of the teachers just didn’t give a shit. Many of them passed students just to move them along. Maybe if they actually cared, some people would have turned out differently.”

  She smiles. “I agree. I want my students to take pride in not only their work, but themselves. I also tell them it’s not a race and everyone learns at their own pace.”

  Wow.

  This girl is remarkable, and I only just met her.

  “I like that.” I smile and watch as she shoves another forkful of food into her mouth. “I’ve always been a quick study. Once I learned something, I was ready to move onto something else. I was going to go to school to study criminal law. But when I was looking at courses, I thought about taking a different path.”

  Ciera lifts a brow. “Oh yeah? What path were you thinking about taking?”

  “Studying criminal behavior. Why criminals do what they do, so instead of putting them away, I would try to catch them instead. I don’t know, it was just something I thought about. I didn’t really tell anyone I was considering it because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it. That’s what college is about, right?”

  Ciera laughs. “Changing your mind, then changing it again?”

  “Ha, yeah, that about sums it up,” I chuckle.

  “So then what happened? Did you not go to school?” she asks.

  There’s a pain in my chest and suddenly I don’t feel hungry anymore.

  “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer. It’s none of my business.”

  My eyes flick back up to hers.

  “No, it’s not that. My parents were killed, and everything changed,” I admit, and glance back down at my food.

  I start to think back on that night until I feel a hand on mine. I look back up and Ciera is now sitting in a chair right next to my bed.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through.” She gives me a small smile. “If you ever want to talk, I’m a pretty good listener.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that,” I reply. Unlike my sister, I don’t mind talking about that night.

  “What do you remember from last night?” Ciera asks.

  “I remember running with my sister, meeting Hunter and Bennett in St. Louis Cemetery, and then I must have tripped and fallen,” I lie, though I’m not sure why, since I know she’s a witch. If she’s a witch, then surely, she knows about vampires.

  “I know.” Ciera admits.

  I lift a brow. “You know what?”

  “About vampires. You don’t have to lie,” Ciera says.

  “You totally just called me out on my shit,” I joke, suddenly feeling relieved that I don’t have to hide.

  “I am a teacher. I know when I’m being lied to.” Ciera points to my container. “Are you finished?”

  “Yeah, I’m good, thanks.” I hand it to her, and she throws it away.

  Then, to my surprise, she walks back over to sit next to me, and we sit and talk a while longer. I’m not sure how long it’s been when the door to the medical room opens and Ciera tells me Aria is here. I look over and see my sister walking in, her eyes glancing between Ciera and me.

  “Well, I’d better go. Classes are going to start soon, and I need pick up the kids. I’m glad you’re feeling better, Declan.” Ciera smiles at me before waving goodbye to my sister.

  I’m kicking myself for not getting her number before she left.

  Aria waits until the door shuts, then she turns and narrows her eyes at me.

  “She’s a nice girl, Declan. Please do not hurt her,” she scolds.

  I roll my eyes. “I have no plans to. I genuinely like her. She’s not like any of those other girls that I meet at bars. She’s smart, funny, caring, passionate. Not to mention she’s absolutely stunning.”

  I let out a sigh as I watch my sister’s eyes soften. She knows me too well. She knows that I would never get into a relationship with a girl knowing that I wasn’t going to stick around. But the issue is that I’m not sure if we are going to stick around.

  “What happened out there last night, Declan?” Aria finally asks after a few moments.

  I glance away for a moment before looking back up at her. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I saw Bennett getting thrown into you and Hunter. And before I knew it, the vamp had gotten the jump on me and then, lights out.”

  Aria reaches out and grabs my hand, giving it a squeeze.

  “It’s okay. You’re lucky you got knocked out. I, however, was not so lucky. The son of a bitch bit me,” she grumbles, pulling her hair to the side to expose the bite. It’s healed, so all I see are the scars.

  “I’m going to kill that motherfucker!” I shout, turning my face away from her.

  I hate it when she gets hurt. I made a promise to my dad a long time ago that I’d protect her, and I hate breaking it.

  “Well, that motherfucker is already dead. Hunter bit his head off,” she tells me.

  I whip my head back toward her. “Come again?”

  “Right. You were passed out when he shifted. Hunter and Bennett are wolf shifters,” Aria explains.

  My eyes widen. Ciera told me they weren’t witches, but I wasn’t expecting them to be shifters.

  “Oh, I’m not finished. Abby’s here.”

  “Your best friend, Abby Thibodaux? Don’t tell me she’s a wolf shifter too?” I ask, playing dumb.

  “She’s not, but she is a witch,” she says.

  “Well, shit. Remind me never to get on her bad side,” I joke.

  Aria smacks my arm.

  “What? I’m joking,” I say, rubbing my arm even though it didn’t hurt. Abby couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a human.

  “I mean, that’s not all. Hunter’s father is the Alpha, and I may or may not have told him off last night.” Aria cringes and looks anywhere but at me. I narrow my eyes at my short-tempered sister.

  “What did you do?”

  My tone makes Aria look me in the eyes.

  “Well, I-I mean, he said that he was going to erase our memories, and I just kind of…well, you know, flipped out.”

  I let out a sigh and run a hand over my face, letting my head fall back onto the pillow. Aria and I jump at the loud sound of the door opening. An older woman comes in, setting a bag down on the desk and starts to go through it. My sister and I exchange amused looks when we hear her curse under her breath. She finally notices that I’m awake and comes over to me. She looks a lot like Ciera and then I remember her telling me that her grandmother, Kora, is the coven’s healer. She runs a few tests before giving me a c
lean bill of health. Then she leaves and goes into her office, closing the door behind her.

  “Alright, bro, get up. Mrs. Thibodaux said she’d fill us in on everything once you were awake and got the all-clear from Kora,” Aria says, pulling the blankets off of me.

  I glare at her before getting up. When we leave the medical room, we hear a whistle that draws our attention.

  Bennett is waving at us to come over, and I look over at my sister and see her flush. I follow her eyes and notice that she and Hunter are having a moment. I don’t say anything as we make our way over to the table. We sit and have breakfast with them, even though I already ate. Hunter and I strike up a conversation about the Mustang my dad and I were going to work on and his Impala while my sister eats, and when everyone is finished, we get up from the table and make our way outside. Apparently, Luna wants to talk to everyone, and it has to do with me and my sister.

  “So, Dec, how are you feeling?” Bennett asks.

  “I’m great, man. Any idea what Mrs. Thibodaux wants to talk about?” I ask, side-stepping around my sister and Hunter, who have stopped walking and are seemingly deep in conversation.

  “Nope. All I know is we are meeting with the Alpha and some of the witches. They don’t tell me anything,” Bennett responds.

  “Gotcha. So, witches and wolf shifters live here?” I ask.

  “Yup. We protect the witches from vampires, and in turn, they keep the Compound safe. We’re like a cool-ass team,” he says.

  I know enough about witches to know that there are four types: air, fire, water and earth.

  “Ciera’s an air witch,” I mumble out loud.

  “Yeah, Ciera and her grandmother, Kora, are air witches. You’re about to meet Grace, who’s a water witch. Kat is an earth witch, and my boy Zayne likes to play with fire. Of course, you guys already know Abby. She’s also an air witch.” He stops in his tracks and looks at me for a moment, then smirks at me.

  “What?”

  “Oh, nothing. Let me give you some advice about the smartest witch. Don’t mess with Texas.” And with that, Bennett turns and keeps walking.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I ask, walking after him.

  He doesn’t answer because we reach a white house with black shutters. We walk inside and down a hallway and into a large room with floor to ceiling windows. There’s a guy about my age leaning up against the wall, and Bennett leaves to go stand next to him.

  “Please have a seat.” A man sitting behind a mahogany desk points to a sofa in the room.

  I sit down, and then he introduces himself and informs me that he is the Alpha of the New Orleans wolf pack.

  A few moments later, my sister walks in and takes a seat next to me. After a couple of minutes, more people arrive. My sister’s leg starts to bounce, which indicates to me that’s she’s nervous. I place my hand on her knee to try and calm her down.

  When Luna starts to talk, I realize that the feeling I had last night was right.

  Coming to New Orleans is changing our lives.

  “Okay, guys, it’s lunchtime!” I shout.

  All the kids squeal in delight. They rush to the sink to wash their hands, and then when they are finished, they go to their cubbies to grab their lunchboxes.

  “What do you got?” Thomas asks Tucker, each of them peeking into the other’s lunchbox.

  “Um, a peanut butter and bananner sandwich, some grapes, and fruit punch. You?” Thomas replies as Tucker looks in his.

  “I gots a whole bannaner, grape juice and peanut butter and jelly wifout the crust,” Tucker answers.

  Thomas scrunches his nose.

  “Tucker, would you like my apple slices?” Callie offers.

  “I would!” Thomas shouts, raising his hand.

  Callie hands Thomas her apple slices and he gives her the grapes. They always trade food if they don’t like something their parents pack them. I look at my students and realize that one of them is missing. Glancing around, I notice Maggie sitting in the corner, flipping through the pages of a princess book.

  I walk over and sit down next to her, making sure that I’m facing the other kids too. “Why aren’t you eating, Mags?”

  She shrugs and her face falls. “I don’t know.”

  Then she goes quiet for a moment.

  “I have some snacks if you’re hungry,” I tell her.

  I glance up to see all the kids turning and looking. A smile grows on my face when they all gather up their lunches and bring them over to us.

  “Here, Maggie, you can have half of my sam-witch,” Tucker offers, taking half out of his bag and handing it to her.

  Maggie’s face lights up as she takes it from him.

  “You can have some grapes!” Callie says, taking out a napkin, carefully placing it on the floor, and setting a few grapes down on it.

  Thomas gives her some apple slices.

  I see Tucker struggling with his banana when his big blue eyes look up at me. “Um, Ms. Campbell, can you please help me?”

  I chuckle. “Sure, Tuck.”

  I take the banana and peel the skin off, then hand it back to him. He breaks it in half, only one piece is bigger than the other. He glances from one piece to the next, ultimately setting the bigger half down on the napkin for Maggie.

  “Thank you.” Maggie smiles at her classmates and eats her food.

  When she looks at me, I can see tears forming in her eyes. I wrap my arm around her and give her a hug.

  “Did you know that dinosaurs are egg-stink?” Tucker says, swallowing a mouthful of food.

  “Do you mean extinct?” I ask, and he looks up at me taking another bite of his sandwich.

  He nods. “Yeah, egg-stink. A giant fireball came from space and smashed into the ground, killing all of the dinosaurs.”

  He raises his arm high into the air for effect. I have to hold in my laugh.

  “That’s not true!” Thomas says, taking a sip of his juice.

  “Yes, it is! My daddy said it was,” Tucker defends.

  “Ms. Campbell, is it true?” Thomas looks up at me.

  “Yes, it’s true,” I tell him.

  “See. Ms. Campbell knows because she is the teacher. She knows every-ting.” Tucker sets his sandwich down and takes a sip of his juice.

  Callie and Maggie exchange a look, and I glance over at Callie’s little sister, Peyton. She’s just in her own little world eating her food.

  Once the kids are finished eating, I tell them it’s time for quiet time and to grab their mats. One by one, they lay them out on the floor and grab their blankets. Some kids don’t take a nap, but they do let the others rest.

  I sit down at the desk, open the book I was reading, and begin to read about demigods. It’s all the things that I’ve already read, but I take my time with this chapter. Until I get to one paragraph that jumps out at me.

  My eyes grow wide as everything snaps into place. Declan and Aria being identical, the power that I sense in him, the amulet. I jump at the sound of a soft knock on the doorframe and look up at Luna and my grandma standing there.

  “Ciera, can you step outside for just a moment? There is something I need to discuss with both you and Kora. Abby will keep an eye on the children for a few minutes,” Luna whispers just as Abby steps through the door.

  I nod, getting up from the desk. Once I’m outside and the door is shut behind me, Luna tells me exactly what I had just figured out.

  Declan and Aria are demigods.

  Kora and Luna had asked me if I could sit in the medical room for a little bit, while they ran out into town for some more supplies. Abby offered to walk the children home, so I told my kids I would see them tomorrow.

  The room is quiet while I read more on the Greek gods, but the door bursts open, and Hunter is carrying Aria into the room. She’s pretty banged up from a sparring match, so I get her all patched up, then grab my books and head into the office.

  Given how protective Hunter is over Aria and the fact that they keep
glancing at each other, it looks like they would like a little time alone. Hunter seems to really like Aria, from what I can tell. I’ve seen him date a few girls, but he’s never been like this with any of them before.

  I’m not sure how much time has passed, but I hear some loud chatter going on out in the medical room, so I get up and walk out.

  “What the hell is going on out here?” I ask.

  “I’m two seconds away from punching a ginger in the face,” Aria says, narrowing her eyes at Bennett.

  Can’t say that I blame her. I’ve felt that way a few times myself. One time, I actually did hit him in the face, and I broke my hand while doing it. My eyes catch Declan’s and he comes over to stand next to me.

  Bennett tosses the pillow on the nearest bed and leans against the doorframe.

  “Bring it on, Blondie.” He smirks at her.

  Aria quirks a brow and returns his smirk with one of her own. “Don’t tempt me with a good time, Benny.”

  They start laughing as Hunter gets up from the chair and heads for the door. He nods at Declan and I as he passes by.

  “Later!” Bennett waves his fingers off his forehead and leaves the room.

  “See you later, Blondie,” Hunter says, and shuts the door just as Aria chucks another pillow.

  “My sister has a better arm than I do,” Declan whispers.

  I look over at him, lifting a curious brow.

  “I played football in high school. I was a running back.”

  “Oh, okay,” I reply, pretending to have an idea of what that means.

  “How was your day?” Declan asks, changing the subject, his face still red from training.

  “It was good.” I look up at him.

  He’s looking at me intently, and his eyes flash a dark green when I suck my bottom lip between my teeth.

  “So, you’re a demigod,” I say.

  He blinks. “It appears so. How did you know?”

  “Luna told me,” I reply, jumping up on the desk, and I suddenly feel a little guilty for lying.