Bitter Demons

23. Zara

A loud knock stirred me from my thoughts. I shoved the black feather under my pillow just as the door swung open.

I was expecting Courtney or Ella Mae, but the girl at the door was a stranger. Her stunning porcelain skin and white-blonde hair made her look like an angel. Or a ghost. Even her eyes looked slightly transparent, they were such a light color of misty blue. She was holding a long silver box in her hand.

She smiled and her eyes lit up. "May I come in?"

"Sure," I said. I stood and put my hands in my pockets. I was hardly dressed to meet new people with my fuzzy pajama pants and a plain black tank top. "I'm Harper."

"I know who you are, silly."

Um, okay. "And you are?"

The girl giggled and the sound was like tinkling glass. If I believed in them, I'd say she was some kind of fairy with her dainty features and soft voice. "I'm not used to having to introduce myself," she said. She held her small hand out to me. "My name is Zara Winter."

Her hand felt like cold marble. Strong and delicate at the same time. There was considerable power flowing through her veins. I felt it surge through me as our hands touched. It was that same sort of static electricity I'd felt before with some witches, only more pure.

How could someone so young be so powerful? She couldn't have been more than fourteen years old.

"I found this outside your door," she said. "A present from an admirer?"

I crinkled my nose. She handed the box to me and I shoved it under my bed. "An unwanted admirer," I said. Was Drake ever going to give up?

"I'm here as your guardian," she said. She crossed over to the window and looked out toward the fountain. "At least until they figure out what happened to Caroline."

I stared at her, not believing my luck. "I thought they would send some kind of mean troll or something," I said. "You know, some brute with a giant club."

Zara laughed, her shoulders bouncing happily. "Nothing so dramatic," she said. "Have you been cooped up in this room alone all day?"

I shrugged. "It's not so bad. I have my own bathroom, at least."

"No offense, but I couldn't stand to be locked away in a dreary room like this," she said. "There's hardly any good color in this room at all."

Her eyes studied the room from ceiling to floor, obviously not happy with the way things looked. She closed her eyes and pressed her palms together in front of her body. A shimmering aura radiated from her, like the way heat looks coming off blacktop-only beautiful. I let out a little yelp as my bedroom transformed in an instant to a room with bright white walls and touches of pastel blues, pinks, yellows and greens everywhere. My canopy bed was gone, replaced by a modern bed with a white headboard and a pink comforter. The hardwood floors were covered with a pristine white carpet.

I almost reached for my sunglasses, it was so darn bright.

"There," she said. "What do you think?"

Her smile showed that she loved the room now that it was completely different. To me, it looked more like a poodle threw up all over the place. Of course, I figured it would be a bad idea to offend the girl who was supposed to be watching over me for the next however many days.

"It's... bright," I said with a tense smile.Zara threw her head back and laughed. "You hate it," she said. "I can tell."

I laughed too, relieved that she wasn't angry. "It's just not my style, that's all."

"So what is your style?" she asked. "Black lace curtains and a velvet bedspread?"

I raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound half bad. Something the old me would have killed for. But now? Had I changed? Or was I just too much under the influence of my new friends and position?"

Maybe something in between," I said. "I like color. Just not this much white around it."

"Fair enough," she said. She closed her eyes briefly and the room instantly turned back to its normal state."Not to be rude, but who exactly are you?" I asked. "I mean, I know your name, but you don't go to school here right?"

"Gosh, no," she said. "My mother is a priestess on the High Council. We live in Washington D.C., so we're closest to Georgia out of anyone else on the main council."

"So, you're a future?"

"Yes, I am," she said. There was something about her that was so child-like, but sometimes the way she spoke also made her seem very mature for her age. She was definitely a curious kind of girl.

"I thought they were worried futures were possibly under atttack," I said, wondering why they would send a future to protect another future.

She laughed. "I'm a third," she said. "I'm trained as a guardian. I'm fully capable of protecting you."

"I don't know much about the council or how the Order really works," I said, feeling more than a little embarrassed. "I'm still really new at all of this, so I'm sorry if I should have recognized you."

She shook her head and put her hand on my arm. "It's all right," she said. "I don't mind. It's actually refreshing to have someone treat me like I'm a regular girl."

Zara sat down on the blue rug in the middle of the floor. I sat next to her.

"How many people are on the High Council?"

"Five, chosen from the first five demon gates ever opened all around the world." she said. "Plus the High Priestess. She's a descendant of the very first witch ever born of a shadow demon."

I should have guessed. Five candles in the pentagram on the floor in the ritual room. Five women in blue cloaks on the night of Brooke's ceremony.

"Are there other council members in the United States? Or is your mother the only one?"

Zara leaned her head to the side and laughed. "You're so much fun," she said. "So full of questions and curiosity."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"No, I love it," she said. "Most of the girls I know are so set on impressing me or making me like them, they never think to just be themselves around me. Of course, I don't want to sit around answering questions all day."

"What else can we do?" I gestured to the room around us. "My room isn't exactly fun."

She raised a single eyebrow at me and tilted her head to the side. "Who said we had to stay in this room?"

"Mrs. Shadowford-"

"You really think that old bat can tell me what to do?" she said with a sly smile. "You're under my care for the time being, and I say you need some fresh air, and perhaps a magic lesson or two."

My skin tingled. A magic lesson? From someone so powerful? The idea of it excited me to the core. But what right did I have to enjoy myself when Caroline was out there in danger

?"Zara?"

She turned to me, eyes open wide.

"Is there any way we can help search for Caroline?"

She offered a sad smile, then shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "That's the one thing we can't do." Her hand lightly stroked my arm. "Don't worry. My mother's helping in the search. She brought her very best trackers. They'll find her."

Frustration and hope both welled up inside of me. If her mother was one of the top women in the entire Order of Shadows, she had to be extremely powerful. With someone like that helping out, there really was a chance they might find Caroline.

I just hoped they were able to find her in time.