Strange Magic(Book one of the Magizens series by Wisdom Omoghene)

Chapter Four- Everyone Looks Cool In A Leather Jacket

Emma

Walking the hallway with Thayer was nice, even as nice as it was I couldn't help but think about Ave. Was she alright? These past days she had been ignoring me, coming back to our room late. I knew I should have admitted I knew Judith, but I'm far to scared to let her in on our secret. On my secret.
Secrecy.
That was the prominent condition to joining a coven. The coven stays secret or we all loose our magic. I wasn't sure she was ready to grasp the truth. She could hardly deal with the trauma that befell her when she was six, even though ten years had passed since then and the part where her greatest fear was actually real; another coven coming after our kind was even more frightening.
I have to see the coven about this, so we can decide to take her in. I say internally. Deep down I wonder what the others will say about this, especially Becky. Well Thayer was coven leader of the Leather Jackets, our coven.
And Thayer is my boyfriend. This shouldn't be too hard.
*****

"Absolutely not!" Becky snapped, her arms crossed over her chest, and her stern intimidating eyes trained at me. Becky had been in this coven longer than I was. It was her and Thayer who began it at first, then I came along. My dad had insisted I come here to finish my last three years of highschool, at first I had had my doubts about this shit hole of a school, without knowledge of the supernatural history. Somewhere behind all of this shit is a secret library where children with extraordinary gifts come together to determine their nature of magic and how to harness their power properly. And the ones whose abilities couldn't be controlled were handled by a group of Holy women called the sisters. Their gift was potion making and medicine, since I've been here, which is three years now, there wasn't a single aliment they couldn't whip up a remedy for. Except for Ave's sickness of course. Her abilities perplexed our kind, the sisters, and even some of our esteemed mentors who were secretly Magizens.
Magizens. That's what we are. An old race of people blessed with certain unique abilities, we've been called many things from hundreds of years ago. Witches. Abominations. Unnaturals. Freaks.
Most of us have been hunted down, the few of us have been in hiding ever since. Bidding our time. Only for a dark coven to expose our kind so rationally.
We all stood at the old St. Anthony church that had mysteriously burned to the ground sixteen years ago. Of course we magic folks know the true story behind all that cover story. The abandoned building was now our coven's hangout place, we used for meetings and training. Right now we all laid back on the peeled out walls, the open roof blazing sunlight upon us and casting long shadows behind us. The place still smelt faintly of smoke, dried up wood from the rotten pews, and quaintly of disappointment.
There are six of us; Thayer: head of our coven he is nineteen, a flamer.( a Magizen who manipulates the element of fire. Which was the complete opposite of his personality, Becky. Around eighteen I think with the gift of wind and a lot of hot air in her head and occasionally threw herself at my boyfriend when I wasn't around. Andy the scrawny kid with a huge sense of humor, apparently he always had a way of making even the most dire of situations look funny, and he was gifted with the ability of listening. He could stretch his hearing ability for as far as miles.
There was Miles, a tall southern kid from Ave's home town at Virginia. Miles was a telekine. He could move stuff with his mind. Jasmine was Miles's girlfriend, a very timid girl who is the strongest of us all. She was a nature whisperer. She had dominion over every element of nature. In my opinion I'd say she got the better part of the deal.
Then finally me. An eighteen years old with the ability of- I got pulled out of my reverie when Andy spoke. "What is her ability?"
"Mistress of nightmares!" Replied Becky reprovingly. Everyone had their faces down. Even Thayer was deep in thoughts, probably considering Becky's perspective. It was times like this that made me wish I was a Thinker, with the ability to read minds and manipulate thoughts, just as Judith was before she...left our coven.
"Emma does have a point guys." I was astounded to hear Jasmine talk, usually she communicated with gestures.
"We aren't complete. We need one more person to make us whole again." She continues. "A seer would be nice." Miles adds facing the distance nothingness of the open sky. "We'll be able to know what that hat-wearing coven want with our kind."
"I think its obvious already." Andy says. We all turned on him.
"Maybe they just want to throw a rave and they need guests." He says. See what I mean?
We all sighed disappointedly. As expected. "From what professor Luthor says they are after some kind of ancient relic." I add.
"Can't be the same one we're after right?" I ask. If they got their hands on that item before we did it would really mean the end of our kind as we know it. That dark coven sacrifice little children with gifts and use their organs in some devil ritual. We still don't know what they really want. But they are powerful. Only older and more experienced Magizens had encountered them and lived to tell the tale.
"But we're safe right guys?" Jasmine retorts, with a small smile. No response. "Guys?"
"Its why our parents sent us to this shitty place in the first place." Thayer finally said. "Think of it. They could have sent us to prestigious Magizen schools, but they took us here" he finished gesturing his hands to the church.
"Where they would least expect us to be." I whisper to myself, it was all starting to make sense now.
"Well." Miles got up from the pew he sat on with Jasmine. "We can't just sit around and cower in fear, waiting for those psychos to snatch us up can we?" He declares. I nod firmly, feeling something stiring in my stomach. "Well I'm not." I say.
"A coven is stronger when its complete. Ever since Judith left its left us more vulnerable than ever." Jasmine blurts out, we all faced the ground as we rewinded back to the unfortunate accident that had befallen us.
"Seven is the number of a complete coven. If making Avery our new member will-"
"No way!" Becky snaps, scrunching up her face in disgust. I sighed. "What beef do you have against the best thing in my life Becky?!" I snapped back, now feeling the irritation envelope me.
"There's something about her That's not right, we don't even know what her powers are." She replies.
"Neither did you until we made the coven. Even you can remember that Becky." Thayer says with an intense clarity, I could feel heat radiating off of him. He was getting angry. We all were.
"-still, its -" Becky was saying
"That's enough Becky!" Thayer bellows, his right arm burst into a brilliant red and yellow flame, circling around him like a fiery whirlwind, but his clothes were still intact, we all moved back, except I. His eyes turning from their normal grey to amber.
I ambled closer to him, concentrating on my elemental magic I touched his hand, passing and ignoring the burning sensation, I let a part of myself reach into his blazing hazard, calming him, relieving him of all his rage. His flames slowly, but definitely simmered down, then his eyes returned. He sighed. there is silence for a while.
"I'm sorry it came out that way." He apologized.
"You have nothing to apologize for Thayer. Becky can be a major bitch at times." Andy interjected. Becky left her mouth hanging in shock.
"All the time." Miles seconded.
"Hey! I'm standing here you know!" Becky yells.
We all sighed and chorused. "We know!"

*********
The bells jingles students shamble out of their classes, its late January already. Our coven would only take Avery for one reason: If she shows potential. That was Thayer's condition. And I knew, felt my Ave had great potential. I grabbed my leather jacket and tried catching up with my bestie. She moved so fast, as if she was somehow trying her best to get away from me.
I grab her shoulder.
"Ave, baby." She turns around, today she wore a white sweatshirt, and black denim jeans. Her blond hair was pulled behind her, under coily tresses, and as usual she wore light or no make up.
"Can we talk?" I say, she folds her arms across her breasts. "Aren't we talking right now?" She answers smugly. A sharp pain makes its way to my chest.
"Ave..."
"You thought I was crazy. Like there was something wrong with me." She starts with a sharp edge to her voice. I felt equally responsible for the attitude she was giving me now. I had failed to be the friend she wanted me to be. Some bestie I was. Drugging her all this while. But how did she know? I was almost tempted to ask.
"How did you know Ave, about everything?" I finally let the question slip off my tongue, and I regretted it at once. She gives me a look of disbelief. "You know I used to think you were the best thing that happened to me. Since my mum dumped me in this shit hole!" She cussed. And my heart beat rapidly. I never imagined she thought of me that way, just the way Judith saw me before...
"But turns out, even good people don't last forever. Well guess what?" She said tugging a hand into her bag, rummaging frantically for something: a thick three inch leather bound book, wrapped with a blue ribbon. I squint my eyes trying to make out the symbol over the cover, which is a circle and a cross in the middle- The symbol of the Magizens. My eyes opened in awe. The book looked pretty beaten up, and old...the cover was already fallen apart.
"Ave, where did you get that?" I retort raspily. Ave only rolls her eyes and tugs it away. And takes out a leather jacket. Hers was pink. With a familiar embroidery of flowers over the collar and base of the jacket. That was...No it couldn't be.
"You're not the only one with cool friends Emma." She says while putting on the jacket.
"I have friends who really won't hide anything from me Emma. Judy told me everything, and Terrence too."
"Wait what, who the fuck is Terrence?" I asked now perplexed.
"So you do know who Judy is right?" She asked. I bite my tongue, trying not to remember what went down with Judy and the coven. I could see her eyes sparkle in pre-tears.
I couldn't lie to her any longer. "Yes I do."
"Who is she? She refuses to reveal her true identity to me, she says I should ask you." I swallowed. Damn you Judith! Ave is a sweet innocent girl don't corrupt her with your darkness! I thought.
"I-" I was going to say something but, she turns around swiftly as if someone had called for her, but I seriously could see nothing but other kids walking the halls and basically going on with their daily activities. Ave smiles at a direction, I checked again. But there is no one.
"I gotta go, Judy is here." She sneers, Thayer walks towards me putting an arm over my shoulders.
"What did you just say Avery?" Thayer retorts, unsure with what she just said.
"I said I gotta go, Judy is waiting over there for me" she points towards the large push and pull doors at the end of the hall. Thayer looks over but also can't see anything.
He looks intently at the jacket. Before Avery caught his fixed glare. "What?" She asks.
Thayer caught himself, and recomposed. "Oh, nothing. Nice Jacket."
Ave smiles, straightening the pink jacket over her slim body vividly.
"Thanks." She concedes, then looking at me she says; "Everyone looks cool in a leather jacket" and she walks off, through the doors and vanishes in the crowd.
"How did she get that jacket?" Thayer aks.
I look into his grey eyes that read fear, but did an excellent job at hiding it.
"Yeah, she says Judy gave it to her." I reply, and he had a sickened look to his eyes.
"But- Judy's..."
I place a finger on his lips, before he could stutter any further.
"I know babe." I say with a sigh. "We all know."