Silver Moon (Colors of the Moon #3)

Chapter 11

I was sitting on a familiar wooden chair with my elbows resting on an old kitchen table, wondering if I have made the biggest mistake of my life. Five years ago, I had promised never to set foot back inside the hidden village of the witches. Yet here I was, back inside my childhood home.

Then again, no matter how many times I tried to think of another way, I was never able to come up with a different way things could have turned out. The moment I had channeled Kasey's magic to free myself from the freezing spell my fate had been sealed.

Despite the broken promise, what actually bothered me was the fact that my childhood home still looked the same. Exactly like it had five years ago. This made me feel more creeped out than feeling like I was back home.

Because it had always been only my mother and me living here, there was only one small kitchen table and only four painted blue chairs. The cupboards, that were supposed to be coated with a layer of dust, were spotlessly crumbling under the weight of herbs and species in my mother's collection. Not to mention the colorful arrangement of plates, bowls, and cups that didn't have anything in common, except for the fact that they were positioned on the same shelf.

I turned back to the table just as Kasey swaggered into the room. She plotted her butt on the chair across the table and then propped her legs up on the said table. As usual, she was dressed in nothing but black. This time, however, she was wearing black pants instead of a dress.

Without paying me the least bit of attention, she rested her hands on her stomach. She leaned her head backward and allowed her eyes to flutter shut.

"You know you don't need to follow my every step?" I eyed her from across the table.

"You keep telling yourself that." She scoffed without bothering to open her eyes. "We both know I'd get my magic stripped if you even set one foot out of the house without me right by your side."

And she was telling the truth. Our fellow witches and wizards had decided her punishment the moment her part in the attack on the werewolf castle had been revealed. However, to become my personal guard was a punishment neither of us had expected.

Then again, because everyone still considered me a flight risk, it was no wonder they put someone in charge of keeping me here. Especially someone who had been threatened to be stripped of her magic if she failed at her job.

Not that I had any intention of leaving, though. While a part of me yearned to be anywhere but here, the bigger part understood it was over. It had been that way since the moment I set foot inside Allium.

A loud commotion coming from outside the window pulled me back and reminded me just what I was waiting here for. My acceptance ceremony. Today was the day I would accept my position as the High Priestess. A day, which only yesterday, I thought would never come.

"You nervous?" 

I glanced back from the window to find one of Kasey's eyes open. One would think that since I was just about to become her High Priestess, she would treat me with a little more respect. Kasey didn't seem to think that way, though. Since the moment we had stepped through the portal, she had treated me like I was just another witch.

"A little." I tilted my head back, so I was facing the ceiling. "Mostly I'm just anxious to get this over with."

I continued to stare at the ceiling for a moment while wondering if this was the right time. I have, after all, had the question stuck in my mind ever since the moment Kasey broke the masking spell in the werewolf castle. "How come the two of us never met before?"

"You're older," she mumbled, making me guess that she was chewing on her nails. She seemed to do that rather often. "And to be honest, I never stood out. I mean, I was always skilled with battle magic, but I never tried enough to stand out. It seemed like such a waste to compete against my fellow witches and wizards."