Death Pariah

“Eight hundred years ago, we coexisted with the witches past the mound. There was a great war with a human named Dashiel, he wanted to control the power of the witches for himself, along with every other creature. The dragons, griffins, basilisk; all of the creatures. He lost his battle to the witches, the witch leading the forefront Amira, and her lover Ekon used a spell to turn Dashiel into stone but our ancestors, the humans were not happy being so close to this power. Our ancestors made a pact with the witches to create the mound to keep us safe from magic. Their creatures cannot enter the mound that connects us the four cities, Pieste, Agarthar, Juniper, and our home Karfeshka. Her best friend Gabriela, used ley lines to help Amira and Ekon to magically enchant Dashiel’s statue to create the dome that protects us” Leila said

“Is this a real story or just something to scare us into not leaving the mound?” a small redheaded teenager sarcastically spoke

“Haha, well you can always make a home outside of the mound, Abali but you probably would not last that long living here” Leila said

Everyone looked back at the small redheaded teen, and silently laughed. She looked nervous

“I’m sure a lot of us have seen the statue of Dashiel but it doesn’t seem like something that used to be alive. I’m just saying there has to be more than the four cities” the small teen spoke

“What’s your name?” Leila said

“Maya” she said

“Well, Maya you can always be ignorant, go past the mound and see where that gets you, or be put on the list by the council, to leave” Leila said

“You mean go to war” Maya said

Everyone turned to Maya in shock and confusion, the tour guide gave a slight smile “Yes you are correct, we show gratitude to the witches for allowing us to live magic free and fight beside them” Leila said

“Now if you all will follow me, I can show you the Dragon Crown” everyone except for Maya followed, she grabbed her friend lightly by the arm as she was walking away “Can you ask your sisters friend if we can leave, I understand your sister wanting you to come here but why do you make me go?”

“I have to at least finish the tour” she said

“Serenity! Come on, you come here for sport you and I both know after the dragon crown we get to leave. Please?” Maya said

“Ok, I will go ask her” Serenity as she walked away, she walked up to a woman taller than her, brown skin, short curly bob and on the phone. Serenity stood and waited as she got off the phone. She turned to Serenity “Hey! Are you ready to go?” she asked

“Yes, well really Maya is ready to go but I want to stay a little longer, but if you are ready to go too then we can go” Serenity said

She dropped her eyes “I may agree with your friend on this one, your sister would kill me if we stayed longer and I didn’t get you two home we have been here for three hours; three hours too long.”

“Okay, Daisy. I’ll go get Maya and we can go” Serenity said as she laughed

Serenity walked over to Maya “She said we can go”

“YES!” she said with her fist up in the air close to her chest. They all walked out of the museum and to Daisy’s car; each of them got into the car and buckled up. Daisy pulled off “You two enjoyed the museum, I know you do Serenity especially by all the books and trinkets you buy while there”

Maya rolled her eyes “She loves that place, what is the abali anyway?

“The abali means night, it’s where we all lived before Dashiel and the war” Serenity said

“You … you really do believe that stuff, you probably wish you were a witch” Maya said

“No, it’s interesting its history, Hey Dais, you and Jaylani would go to the Nebula Museum, right?” Serenity said

“Yes, since we first met that’s where she wanted to go” Daisy said

“You mean to tell me, since your young life the two of you have been going to that museum?” Maya said

“Well, yes we met when we were nine and my parents just moved here, The Tiwari’s were really nice to our family.” Daisy said

Daisy pulled up to a house, that was a small brown brick home with bushes on each end of the door.

“Thank You for dropping me off, see you at school Serene” Maya said as she exited the car, Daisy and Serenity waited as she unlocked her door waved and entered the house. Daisy drove off, Maya fell asleep in the back seat. “Hey Serenity, we made to the house.” Daisy said as she tapped her on the shoulder, Serenity popped up and stretched her arms out. “How long have I been sleep” she said

Daisy raised her eyebrows “Not long, we made it to your house” Serenity rose up and got out of the car.

“Are you coming inside?” Serenity asked

“No, tell the Tiwari’s Hi for me, please I have to get home” Daisy said

“Are you guys coming to the family gathering next week?” Serenity asked

“Yes, we cleared schedules and all” Daisy replied

“Is she bringing Aakesh?” Serenity asked repulsed

Daisy laughed “Yes she is, they have been together for six years now you still don’t like him?”

Serenity shook her head no, turned around and headed for the door she took her shoes off and entered. Daisy got into the car and drove home, when she arrived in the parking lot of her apartment building, she sat in her car and waited. Daisy took a deep breath opened the door walked to the elevator and went up. When she got to her floor, she walked out the elevator to her door and unlocked it. When she entered the apartment, it was dark, she walked to her room and plopped down on the bed.

The next morning it was rumbling going on in the living room, Daisy got up and walked out of her room.

“Oh, hey!” Jaylani said

“What are you doing?” Daisy questioned

“Looking for my earrings” Jaylani replied she walked over to the table and looked under “Ah ha there it is!” holding up the earring she walked over to the kitchen and washed her earring off.

“Thank You for taking Daisy and Maya to the Nebula Museum” Jaylani said

“I know you were busy, I'm okay with it, Maya did not seem too happy about going to the museum” Daisy said

Jaylani laughed “When is she ever happy”

“Hmm I think I might agree with her on this one, the museum and the story is strange” Daisy said

Jaylani laughed harder “Non-believers, wow”

Daisy tilted her head to the side “Really? A trio of witches and their family witches could not over power one human trying to rule the world with the same magic they have been using for oh I don’t know centuries and he is in the statue, plus they live for a long time? The witch is allegedly over a thousand years old along with her witch lover and a psychic witch best friend. When do they die? Why can’t we see them? We can't we leave the mound. I will admit, remember in school people dare each other to reach the end of the mound and see if they can go out. People would just pass out! It’s weird” Daisy said Jaylani sat on the floor and laughed. “Okay, Okay I get it”

“Your sister wants to be one of those witches from what her friend says” Daisy said

“Ah, yes she creates the comic books of tales of what other people who have went to war with them say, you should read it, the drawings are beautiful” Jaylani said with a smile

“You are encouraging this?”

Jaylani laughed “Well if all else fails I know she can make it as an artist”

Daisy rolled her eyes “Serenity asked if we going to the family gathering, if you were bringing Aakesh”

Jaylani fell to the floor with annoyance and lifted back up “Well she has to get used to him, Soooo, are you bringing Kyle?”

Daisy leaned back into the couch “I don’t think so I’m not really interested, Thank You and Aakesh for setting me up but it’s a hard no”

“Okay, if you don’t want to ever date then fine, have you talked to your parents?” Jaylani said

Daisy dropped her head down “Uhm, No”

“You probably should talk to them sometime” Jaylani said

“I mean I will, look since they told me I was adopted it’s just been weird; they act like I will break, we’re twenty-three and they cannot tell me what they don’t know. I wish they could tell me more” Daisy said

“Talk to them when you are ready, I'm heading out to work see you later” Jaylani said she got up and walked to her room. Moments later Jaylani came out of her room and headed for the door. “Bye” Daisy waved back to her as she left their apartment, Daisy got up and sat her room and picked up a book. A few weeks later, Daisy was walking down the street heading home she needed to clear her head.

“Good Morning, Daisy!” Mrs. Mitchell said

“Hello Mrs. Mitchell! How are you?” Daisy said

“Oh, I’m fine, just waiting on Mr. Mitchell to bring back my basket of pies! Did you hear what happened in Pieste? Mrs. Mitchell replied

“You and your pies! Yes, I did it’s unfortunate, being protected by the witches outside of the mound and this happens” Daisy said

“Hmmm, fallen down and sick they said, I heard the witches came to cure the town but no one knows how it started, poor people it hit the children first” Mrs. Mitchell said

“That’s real sad! Luckily, they were helped, I have to leave before Jaylani has my head!” Daisy said

“Well go on dear! You have a wonderful day!” Mrs. Mitchell said

Daisy left Mrs. Mitchell to attending to her fruit stand, as she walked away from her stand heading to her home, a loud BOOM to the left of her, pieces of the building fell into the street. Daisy hit the ground as people were screaming Mrs. Mitchell ran to Daisy, moments later when she regained consciousness; she heard the ambulance sound a few feet away from her. Daisy opened and closed her eyes; she could see Mrs. Mitchell saying something to her but couldn’t make out the words. A paramedic sat down next to Mrs. Mitchell “Hello, my name is Jacob, you hit your head, you don’t appear to have any injuries but I would like to get you to the hospital” Jacob said

“HELP! HELP! WE NEED YOUR HELP OVER HERE!” A man was coughing coming towards the paramedics

“Hold on, we will be with in a moment, more paramedics will be coming hold tight for me, it's only six of us and two ambulances. We will be right with you” Jacob said calmy to the man. Ambulance trucks passed the people to park, they got out and rushed to the people. Jacob flashed a light in Daisy’s eyes

“Can you hear me?” Jacob said

“Daisy?” Mrs. Mitchell asked

Daisy groaned, she slowly picked herself up and nodded. Mrs. Mitchell and Jacob helped steady herself up. “You don’t seem to be concussed, no physical injuries, I do however would rather see if you have any internal injuries” Jacob said

Diana opened her eyes fully and seen the buildings down, she saw Mrs. Mitchell’s worried face “No” Diana turned around and ran down the street, she could hear them both yelling back at her. She dashed down the street and whipped right until she got to her building, she ran to the elevator and pushed the button, she waited impatiently. Daisy got irritated and pushed the door to the left of her open and ran up the stairs until she got to her floor. She stopped in front of her door and reached in her pocket, she fidgeted with her keys before she could put her keys in the door it swung open.

“Hey! Are you okay?” Daisy questioned

Jaylani’s face dropped and her eyebrows went up in disbelief “AM I OKAY!? LOOK AT YOU! ARE YOU HURT? DID YOU RUN HERE? YOU ARE OUT OF BREATH!” Jaylani said

“Yes! I had to make sure you were okay a bunch of buildings are down it seemed like an explosion” Daisy said

“Well, I’m fine, you are the one that needs to be looked at!” Jaylani said

“NO! No, I’m alright, I just need sleep” Daisy moved past Jaylani and sat on their couch, Jaylani shut the door, she walked over and sat down next to Daisy

“I know you have never had a sick or injured day in your life but take it from someone who has been there you need to go to the hospital” Jaylani said

“A paramedic seen me already he said he didn’t see any physical injuries” Daisy said

Jaylani looked shocked, Daisy got up and headed for her room, Jaylani followed behind her. Jaylani went into Daisy’s bathroom, she wet a wash cloth and walked over to Daisy and began to wipe her face.

“Thank You” Daisy said

Jaylani smiled walked away and turned the light switch off in Daisy’s room. Daisy let her face fall into her pillow and fell asleep.

The next morning Daisy woke up to voices coming from the living room, she walked into the room to see Jaylani closing the door, Jaylani turned around and jumped to the sight of Daisy.

“Oh! You are always so light on your feet” Jaylani said

“Who was that?” Daisy questioned

“It was Russell, he is going door to door letting everyone know Mayor Johnson is calling a town meeting”

“Oh, yeah I’m not going to that” Daisy said

“Oh, but you are! All who are not in the hospital injured must go and since you skipped out on being checked out since I have to find out from Aakesh that Mrs. Mitchell asked if you were okay since you were real close to the blast” Jaylani said with a condescending tone

Diasy dropped her gaze “I would have told you, I wanted to really check on you”

“I should have process eliminated but since you ran here, I assumed you were close but not right up on the blast” Jaylani said

“Yeah, I apologize that you found out that way” Daisy said

“We should get ready my parents called and are very concerned, maybe even curious as to what might transpire tonight” Jaylani said

The two went into their room, got dressed, met each other in the living and headed for the door. When they got out of their apartment, they began to see other people walking toward town hall. When they got to the building, they walked inside; they stood there waiting as people began to sit down.

“Daisy!”

“Mrs. Mitchell, Hello I’m sorry that I left I wanted to check on Jaylani” Daisy said

“I know you two love each other; you need to make sure you are okay as well not just Jaylani, you could have checked on her after you were seen dear” Mrs. Mitchell said

“Mrs. Mitchell, she has NEVER been injured or hurt or even sick, so the adrenaline must have fried her brain” Jaylani said

Mrs. Mitchell let out a short laugh “Nahir Mitchell that is enough! I will see you later girls” she walked over to her husband taking some of the desserts off his plate and giving them to some of the little kids.

“Jaylani!” Binita said

“Mom!” Jaylani said as they walked up to the Tiwari’s

“Hello Daisy” Onkar said

“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Tiwari” Daisy said

“Hey Dais and Lani” Serenity said

“Hey Maya” Jaylani said with a flat tone “Where is your aunt?”

Maya pointed to her aunt, who was standing at the dessert table, arguing with Thiago about being in line first when she wasn’t.

“Oh, sounds about right, do you guys have any idea what this about? Mom you are on the city council.”

“No clue she went above our heads is the only thing that I know about this meeting” Binita said

Mayor Johnson walked up to the podium “If everyone can please sit so we can begin”

Everyone headed for chairs, the Tiwari's, sat with Daisy and Jaylani while Maya and Serenity sat behind them.

“Thank You, I know the attack in Pieste and the attack in our town has everyone concerned, we are supposed to be protected by the witches and we have never had a problem” Mayor Johnson said

A bunch scoffed, you could hear disgruntled mumbling throughout the room, Mayor Johnson rolled her eyes and lifted her hand in the air “I know a lot of people don’t agree about the witches, whether they are real, if they are really protecting us. They do help, I called the high administration”

Binita eyes got really big as she moved forward in her seat, each of them looked at her confused. Mayor Johnson continued talking “They are discussing handling this and that none of us have nothing to worry about, they already healed and helped Pieste, no one else has died since they intervened”

“THIS IS A LOAD OF CRAP!” Sekani said

“I know this frustrating” Mayor Johnson said

“Frustrating! You can't begin to know what I’m Mayor! You are allowing them to come to our town! Pieste is one place but our home! Those so-called witches probably aren’t real! I won't stand for this!” Sekani said

“Now I know -” Mayor Johnson started, the door burst open, two cheetahs sashayed into the room behind them was a short woman with long curly hair, brown skin and dark brown eyes, a really tall man was to the right of her he had short black hair and light brown skin, the left of her was a woman that looked four inches taller than her she had long straight black hair brown eyes and her skin was a warm beige. Everyone watched the three of them walk down the aisle and to the stage. Binita Tiwari had this scared look on her face, they turned their attention back to the stage. Mayor Johnson gave them a look and nodded “Everyone I thank you for coming, these are the Ike Nebula, the Powerful Night, they are here to help us”

“To hell with this! These are the witches?!” Sekani scoffed “I'm out of here” he started heading for the door. The woman with the long curly hair looked at him, the two cheetahs got in attack mode and growled. “Transfer” Sekani disappeared and ended back in his seat

“What the heck--” Sekani begin to say

“Mute” she said, Sekani mouth was moving but there were no words coming out

“I would suggest we all stay calm and help Ike Nebula as much as we can” Mayor Johnson started off “This is Amira” she pointed at the curly haired woman, “This is Gabriela” she said at the long-haired woman “And lastly this is Ekon” she said as she pointed at the tall man. “I urge all of us to welcome them into our homes with will be staying at the Omisha House until they are done and willing to leave” Mayor Johnson finished

“You mean the house near the mound that no one stays at? The house no one enters? We all assumed that place was cursed” Gladys said

“Miss Gladys Hebert, we are all susceptible to our beliefs misguided or not, our imagination gets wild when we are bored, I am dismissing this meeting. Have a wonderful night” Mayor Johnson said

Everyone muttered as they got up and walked out of the room, Daisy, the Tiwari's, and Maya sat until almost everyone left. Binita looked down at her hands worriedly, Jaylani tapped her mother on the shoulder “Mom? Are you okay?” Serenity asked

She looked up at her daughter and smiled “Yes I am fine, Lets go” she grabbed her purse, the group headed for the door.

“Mom I know the look; I know the face what is going on?” Jaylani asked

Binita looked at Onkar “You may have to tell them, my love” Everyone looked confused

“Tell us what?” Serenity said

“All of you will have to keep this between us” Binita said

“We will” Daisy said as everyone agreed

Binita took a deep breath and guided the group down the street, they stood a few feet away from the town hall. “Each of us know the story of how the four cities began under the mound, the story of Dashiel and us as in the four cities sending people to work with witches in battle. We have always worked really close with the witches; we know them. Personally” Binita said

“What? That can't be true” Jaylani said

“Do you remember when you were younger the lady with the one dark brown eye and one blue eye came to dinner?” Onkar asked

“Yes?” Serenity and Jaylani said

“She was a witch” Onkar said

“They come and eat with each town council of all the four cities, they have for almost eight hundred years. The Ike Nebula they never age, witches in general do not age the same way that we do. Our parents know them both Grandma and Grandpapa, and our great grandparents before them. There are some humans that still live there with them that still want to be close to the magic, but if they brought Amira, Gabriela and Ekon in this is serious. The administration would have them here if it wasn’t serious, I just wish Eliza would have told us” Binita said

“Mrs. Tiwari it would be serious, if our cities never encountered any problems since we entered the mound” Daisy said

“I hope you are right Dais” Binita said

“Mom we will see you tomorrow, at the gathering” Jaylani said

“No, it will be too dangerous right now, your father and I may need to be with the council, since it's all hands in deck, is it okay of your sister and Maya stay with you guys for the week? Maya is supposed to stay with us” Binita said

Jaylani looked at Daisy, who nodded at Jaylani back “Yes that’s fine” she said to her mother “Come on, you can borrow my clothes until we go pick up your clothes”

“We can drop their clothes over tomorrow morning when we head over to the council in the morning, your mother can pack your bag and we will just grab Maya’s stuff” Onkar said

The four walked in the direction of Jaylani and Daisy’s apartment while the Tiwari’s walked home. When they made it to the apartment, Maya headed straight for the kitchen “Goodness I’m hungry and thirsty the snacks were good but not food” she searched their refrigerator, she gasped “You guys have dal and flatbread. I love when Mrs. Tiwari makes this!” Serenity ran to the kitchen “Yeah but Lani made this one still will be good” she said as she laughed. The girls walked around the kitchen heating up food, as Jaylani and Daisy sat on couch

“Can you believe this? She made Sekani disappear” Jaylani said

“Please you are slowly happy about this” Daisy said

Jaylani laughed “I am!”

They all turned to a knock at the door, Daisy got up and answered the door when she opened the door to find Aakesh and Kyle at the door.

“Oh, Hey guys! Come in” Daisy said

“Hey!” they both said

“Aakesh! Where were you guys?” Jaylani said

“UHHH! This guy, got us wasted the night before and we over slept and couldn’t make it” Aakesh

“Yeah, it’s all my fault, how was it?” Kyle said with a big grin

“The witches came with their pet cheetahs and made grumpy Sekani disappear and reappear in his seat” Maya said

“Are you all high?’ Aakesh said

They all laughed “No, she is right! That’s what happened they came, Mayor Johnson told us to work with them” Jaylani said

“Egh, witches that’s crazy I hope we can see them ourselves sicks we missed that minor event” Aakesh said Jaylani smacked in the shoulder really hard

“Yeah, it does suck, would have been nice to see them and what they are capable of” Kyle said while staring at Daisy

“I’m guessing they are because your parents have to work closely with the council?” Aakesh asked

“Yes, they are, better here than home alone.” Jaylani said

“Well, we came to check on you two, we will be heading out! Glad you two are okay” Kyle said

“Thank You guys for coming over, we will see you later” Daisy said

The guys got Aakesh gave Jaylani a kiss, Kyle stared at Daisy as he left out “Bye Dais, Serenity and Maya”

As he walked out behind Kyle, Daisy shut the door “Thank Goodness”

“Hey!” Jaylani said

“Look I like Aakesh but Kyle creeps me out”

“Agreed” Maya and Serenity said in unison “Except Aakesh is the ANNOYING BROTHER WANTED FOR ME” Serenity chimed in

“Kyle may just like you” Jaylani said

“Is that what you call staring?” Daisy said

Jaylani eyes got wide and she gave a flat smile “I’m bringing you girls some blankets and pillows; do you remember how to pull out the couch?”

Serenity nodded, as Jaylani went inside of the linen closet to grab some blankets and extra pillows. Daisy got up and walked to her room to lay down. Jaylani could be heard going to her room and shutting the door as Serenity and Maya could be heard watching tv. Later on, into the night, Daisy woke up she got up and opened her room door and looked out it was dark with the exception of the stove light being on, it was quiet. She went grabbed water out the refrigerator and crept back to her room, she shut her door. Daisy sat on her bed, she heard noise from outside her window; she walked over to the window and peered down at the street. She seen a horse with wings trotting next to the witch Grabriela, behind her on the opposite end of the street was the witch Ekon, Amira was levitating above them both with her hands glowing. Daisy’s hand slipped off her dresser, her books fell off to the ground, the three of them looked up at the window they smirked at her. She dropped to the floor to pick her books up, she cowered on the floor to go to the door, she looked outside of her room and surprised to realize everyone was still asleep. Daisy shut her door, and pressed her back to the door as she sat down, she sighed with relief. When she opened her eyes, she walked over to the window and looked out the window they were gone, she sat back on the bed and went back to sleep. The next morning Daisy heard them in the kitchen eating breakfast, she came out of her room.

“Good Morning!” Daisy said

“Good Morning! We made breakfast” Serenity and Maya said in unison

“I see it looks good” Daisy said as she started fixing her plate

“You made breakfast?” Jaylani said

“YES!” Serenity said “Sit and eat, I will make you a plate”

They each sat down, with their plates in front of them and ate.

“I got a call from Aakesh the Ike Nebula will make a festival, a lot of places are shut down until they get to the bottom of the attacks on the two cities, after breakfast we have an hour to get ready and make it there” Jaylani said

They ate their breakfast, while Serenity and Maya laughed and chatted away.

“Can we take showers in each of your bathrooms?” Serenity questioned

“That’s fine, wait your parents came with your stuff already?” Daisy asked

“Yeah, early this morning which is why we made breakfast and why your refrigerator is fuller than it was before we first got here” Serenity said as she pointed at their bags next to the couch. They put their plates in the sink, they grabbed stuff from their bags and headed to each womans bathroom for a shower.

“Look I just want you to be happy I know you don’t like Kyle much but I feel like you are judging him to harshly and not giving him a chance” Jaylani said

“I gave him a chance on the date, and I don’t like him” Daisy said

“Okay, I hope you find someone” Jaylani said as she touched Daisy’s hand

Daisy gave a shy smile and ate the rest of her food in silence. The girls came out of the bathrooms, dressed “Looking good!” Maya said to Serenity they smiled. Daisy and Jaylani got up and headed for their rooms to take a shower, moments later they got out and joined the girls in the living room.

“Alright let's head on out” Jaylani said

They each headed out the door, they got to the bottom floor, headed to the street and walked in the direction of the city garden park. When they got there, it was full with food and games.

“Wow! This looks really cool!” Maya said

Everyone turned around shocked that Maya said something so enthusiastic

“WHAT?! It is! Serenity! Let's ride the merry go round” Maya said

Serenity nodded, as they ran to the merry go round. Jaylani started walking around, Daisy watched her as she walked in the opposite end of Jaylani. Jaylani looked confused at Daisy but she seen Aakesh, she walked over to Aakesh “Where is Kyle?” she said

“He isn’t here, his mother called said she was sick and needed him to come home, so he driving to Agarthar” Aakesh said he pointed at Daisy “What's she doing never really known you two to be apart?”

Jaylani shrugged her shoulders “I don’t know she walked off”

Daisy walked around the park watching everyone playing and eating, she was happy to see everyone else happy.

“Hello” a voice said in flat tone behind her she whipped around and it was Amira

“Hi” she said back to her a sheepish voice

Amira tilted her head to her side, Daisy looked her up and down she had on all black flowing dress she had a dragon holding a moon on her right leg.

“You seem to not be with your companion” Gabriela said as she walked up on them

“Huh?” Daisy said

“Psychic, she means Jaylani” Amira said

“Oh, uh she is with her boyfriend” Daisy said back

“You don’t date, you like to work, you want to live alone with a pet. Interesting” Gabriela muttered with her head tilted to the side her eyes turned ice blue

“Gabriela” Ekon said as he walked over to them

Gabriela snapped back and her eyes turned back to brown “Habit” she said

“You haven't mentioned to anyone that you saw us last night” Ekon said

“I didn’t think it was supposed to be public knowledge” Daisy said

They each turned to each other and smirked “It was nice meeting you, Daisy” Amira said

They began to turn around, Daisy felt heat coming from Amira’s back “Why is your back emanating so much heat?”

Amira slowly turned her head to Daisy; she lifted her head up and walked over to Daisy “It usually happens when someone will stab us in the back” Amira said

“Us?” Daisy said

Amira smirked and walked away, at the entrance to the garden the cheetahs and the horse with wings were at the front waiting. Everyone turned they were amazed by the creatures a little girl walked over to them and pointed at the horse “Wow! Your horse has wings, it’s beautiful!”

“Aww, Thank You! He is beautiful, he is a pegasus, his name is Supernova, what’s your name?” Gabriela said

“My name is Emely; Can I pet him?” the little girl said

“If Supernova is okay with it then you can pet him, okay?” Gabriela said

Emely nodded, Gabriela turned to the pegasus and they stared in each other’s eyes. Supernova nodded and lifted his head down. Emely touched his head and smiled in admiration “Whoa Thank you!”

“You’re welcome” Gabriela said as she smiled and watched Emely run to her parents. They turned around Gabriela hopped on top of Supernova as they trotted down the street and lifted up into the air. Amira started levitating with her hands glowing, Ekon walked with the two cheetahs down the street. Daisy started walking back around, as everyone else started back enjoying the festivities muttering about the pegasus, cheetahs and the witches. Serenity and Maya ran up to Daisy

“Jaylani said that she will be staying for a little while with Aakesh, are you ready to go?” Maya said

“Yes, I am” Daisy said, they began to leave the park, they walked in the direction of Daisy’s apartment

“You were talking to the witches?” Serenity questioned

“Yes, I was it’s not a big deal” Daisy said

“Are you kidding? You know I love witches, what were they like?” Serenity asked

“Terse, the psychic seemed knowing, very knowing” Daisy said

The rest of the walk was silent, they reached the apartment. Daisy went inside of her room, and headed for the shower. When she got out, she could hear the girls, in the living room watching television, she curled up under the covers and fell asleep.

The next morning Daisy woke up to voices in the living room, she hopped out of bed and opened the door. When she walked into the living room Aakesh and Kyle were in there sitting with everyone.

“Hey! You’ve been sleep for a long time; we were going to take you all to breakfast but you hadn’t woken up so we will be going to lunch if you are hungry and want to join” Aakesh said

“Yes, let me get dressed” Daisy said as she walked back to her room to get dressed. When she walked back into the living room, everyone was heading out the door. As they walked down the street to the local bistro, Heartbreak Chateau, they waited outside for a table to be ready.

“Table for 6 for Scott?” the hostess said

Kyle raised his hand and stood up “That’s me”

“Perfect right this way” she said smiling as she guided them in the direction of their table

“Thank You!” Kyle said

“Well, if you need anything at all let us know” she said looking at Kyle as she turned around and walked away. They each sat down at the table, and picked up their menus, they looked over their menus deciding what to get. A different waitress came over and asked them if they wanted anything to drink, they ordered their drinks and she walked away.

“I hear the witches are gone” Kyle said

“When did they leave?” Maya questioned

“Thomas told me they left” Kyle said

They each looked at each other confused “They were just here yesterday” Jaylani said

“They were talking to Dais” Serenity said

“Really” Kyle said pointedly looking at Daisy

“Yeah, they let the Sanchez’s little niece pet their donkey with wings” Maya said

“Pegasus” Daisy said

“Same difference” Maya said

Jaylani made a face “No it isn’t”

The waitress came back and took their orders, she left, they began talking as the Ike Nebula walked in. The room got silent, as they watched the witches walk to the counter, people started mumbling as the witches grabbed their food and paid for it.

“Witches make money, I thought their life out there was different in here” Jaylani said

Amira turned and looked at them

“Did she hear me?” Jaylani questioned they began walking over to the table, the witches got right on the table in front of Daisy “You again?” Amira said

“Hi, you guys are able to spend actual money?” Daisy said

They laughed “We made your form of currency; the ancestors of this land were … specific in what they wanted for the four cities we just made it possible” Ekon said

“You weren’t at the town meeting or the park” Gabriela said “What’s your name?” she said

“Kyle” he said

“Interesting, you don’t seem to be thinking about anything but the ocean” Gabriela said

He let out a small laugh “Am I supposed to be thinking about anything else?”

“No, everyone thinks differently, some people try to be very good at hiding things, they see images or words in their head” Gabriela said

“Someone said you guys had left” Maya said

“We were the ones who said we left, sometimes you have to weed out a rat by setting a few traps” Amira said

“That’s a little ridiculous” Maya said

“Your mother told you your stuffed animal ran away, with the dog to a dog park and you believed her until a few months ago when you found out your dog died and your mom threw away your stuff animal because it made too much noise but what we’re doing is ridiculous” Gabriela said

Maya looked shocked in slumped back in her seat “I’m sorry” she said

“You’re okay, a lot of people who don’t trust us usually negate everything about us, even if you do think my pegasus is a donkey with wings” Gabriela said with a smile

“Daisy, we will be living hopefully soon” Amira said

“It doesn’t make sense why you all stayed so long, you haven’t done much” Jaylani said Aakesh elbowed her in the said “What?”

“No, it's okay usually when you don’t see someone doing something you don’t believe it's getting done, the term seeing with your own eyes goes harder than people think” Gabriela said

“I was just saying, You have been here less than a week” Jaylani said

“Keeping a town safe and finding a threat will take time and codependency and jealousy isn’t healthy, you should find alternative ways other than making pointed comments or holding your friend back and telling yourself it’s the other way around” Amira said

Jaylani took a sip of water and looked straight ahead

“You should join us sometime; you probably would enjoy yourself.... For once” Ekon said

“See you around Daisy” Amira said

They walked away from the table with their food, and left. The table was quiet, everyone ate their food and paid then left. The group went back to Jaylani and Daisy’s apartment, they sat on the couch and the teens sat on the floor as they turned on the tv.

“Those witches are kind of weird” Kyle said

“Yeah agreed” Jaylani

“Hey I thought you loved witches babe you go to the Nebula Museum like all the time” Aakesh

“Yeah I do, they aren’t bad they just-” Jaylani started

“Told you about yourself” Serenity said

“Excuse you!” Jaylani said

“What?! They did to both of you, Let’s be real, Maya you are touch but you negate everything and that’s all Gabriela said you can be tough and still BE KIND OR LOVE! Jaylani! You did not like Daisy at first until everyone else did at school, so you push her in a corner use her so you don’t have to be alone and when you got a boyfriend you tried force her to date because you were tired of her!” Serenity said very pointedly

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Jaylanis shouted back at her

“DON’T YELL AT HER! Besides she is right” Maya said

“Okay I’m going to go, See you back at home?” Kyle said

“Yeah man! I will see you later” Aakesh said

Kyle got up and walked out of the door, Serenity stood in front of Jaylani with her arms crossed

“You should not speak to me like that” Jaylani said

“Or what Jaylani!? It’s true and you know it!” Serenity said

“She is my friend and I love her I just want the best for her!” Jaylani said

“UGH! Keep telling yourself that” Serenity said as she walked away

“Serenity!” Maya yelled as followed Serenity out of the front door

“Wait!” Jaylani said

“No! Stop I will go after Aakesh can you calm her down?” Daisy said as Aakesh nodded

“Why are you going?” Jaylani said

“Lani I have to if you go you will make it worse” Daisy said

Jaylani dropped her shoulders and nodded. Daisy ran out of the door and reached the first floor, she looked out into the street when she finally seen Serenity and Maya talking, she walked over to them.

“Hey, I know you are upset everyone’s a little riled up with the witches here, whether if they are right, maybe we should have left the mirror facing to the witches” Daisy said

She let out a deep sigh “It’s just crazy Maya is younger than Lani and she took that better than her”

“I know, but sometimes people don’t want to hear things as they are especially from blood” Daisy said

She smiled, a giant ball of fire hit a car next to them, they each fell to the grown. They groaned in pain when Daisy lifted up, she went for Serenity and picked her up, she turned to Maya and helped her up as well. “What was that?” Maya said

“I don’t know” Daisy said

“Well ladies maybe you shouldn’t be out at night” they turned around to see Kyle behind them

“Kyle?” Serenity said “What are you doing you were heading home?”

He smirked “I was but I had a visitor”

“Oh, brother don’t tell me she, is it?!” she said condescendingly

“Now Lyrica don’t be so rude, we need her” another woman popped up and came down from the sky

“Need who?!” Maya questioned

“You” Lyrica said as she grabbed Daisy, Serenity and Maya screamed. Kyle put his hands on their foreheads as they passed out.

When Daisy woke up, she was tied to a chair in a stunning living room, she heard footsteps coming down the hall, each of them entered the room.

“Well, look who is awake” Lyrica said with her head tilted to the said with a cocky smile on her face

“Don’t tease her it will give her wrinkles” the other woman said

Kyle walked into the room “Are you guys messing with the captive?”

Daisy looked disgusted “Why are you doing this?”

“We want your sister” the other woman said

“I don’t have a sister” Daisy said they each looked at each other and laughed

“Actually, you do, you were adopted and just found out you were adopted your real name is Yakini Adebe the same last name as Amira the witch, we have been looking for you, for a long time. Everyone knew Amira had a sister, to protect her after she was kidnapped as a baby by another witch named Oma Yahna, she was found with you muttering that the spirits wanted her to give the baby to the water, so they stopped your aging and your mother and father who was alive until a few weeks ago until Teagan here went and killed them. We are half witch; our mother was witch like your sister we are over eight hundred years old” Kyle said

“Wait that isn’t possible, I have no powers, I’m not a witch. What problem would you have with Amira?” Daisy said

“Our Mother, Bisa was married to Dashiel, he did want to control all magic and our mother was willing to help which is how he was able to get some magic on his side of the fence. Then your sister and her best friend, went and turned him into that diamond statue on top of ley lines that protected and created the mound that has kept you all safe. Lyrica went and found ways to weaken the mound so we could get the people of Pieste sick and were going to bomb a lot of places Karfeshka but you stopped it” Kyle said

“Me?! I HAVE NO POWERS IT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” Daisy cried out

“Well, you did when you fell to the ground it a wave happened throughout the town which knocked the rest of us out call it a psychic blast if you will, your sister she supposedly has a lot of abilities. They call her the Death Pariah whatever she sees when she dreams most of the time people die. She can fly teleport, powerful witch.” Lyrica said

“You never wondered why you have never gotten sick, you hit the ground ran home and was fine. Why Amira was okay with talking to you?” Teagan questioned pointedly

Daisy dropped her head, “No it can't be” she said in disbelief

“It definitely can be and we will kill your sister, take her magic and finish where our father started” Teagan said

“The three of you are triplets?” Daisy asked

They laughed and in unison said “Clearly”

A short slender dark brown woman walked in the room, “This is her” they nodded she lifted her hand and restricted Daisy breathing “I cannot wait to kill you and your sister and the rest of those witches that killed my husband” she said as she dropped her hand and let Daisy go

Coughing as she grasped for air “I have nothing to do with your husband’s death but whatever makes you happy lady” Daisy said

“Hmm” she said as she walked out of the room

“You just have to love her” Teagan said as she walked behind her mother

Lyrica sat there at the opposite end of Daisy, staring at her, a knock happened at the door. They heard a body drop to the ground; Amira entered the room she lifted her two fingers before Lyrica could cast a spell, Lyrica eyes closed as she fell to the floor. Amira walked over to Daisy and set her free, they ran to the door. Gabriela was on her pegasus while another pegasus was carrying a carriage made of silver, Ekon and the cheetahs were in there. Daisy and Amira got into the carriage; the horses lifted into the sky “How did you find me? How did you know I was missing?” Daisy asked

Amira looked at Daisy “Serenity called Binita they have amulets that allow them to communicate with us, told us you were taken by Kyle and two other women”

“They said they were Dashiel’s children” Daisy said

Ekon glanced at Amira “We suspected they were alive, there were rumors that he had a wife and kids. We didn’t know if they were true, this is far from over.”

“Apparently, they are true. He said you were my sister and that Teagan killed our parents a few weeks ago ” Daisy said

Amira raised an eyebrow “I am, our parents are dead they did die a few weeks ago but it was made to look as accident, we were also trying to find their murderer”

Daisy sat back, the rest of the ride was silent, Daisy fell asleep.

Daisy woke up to being in her bed, when she rose, she went into the living room, Serenity and Maya ran up to her and gave her hug “I thought you died!” Maya said.

“I’m fine” Daisy said back to them she looked around to see Binita, Onkar, Aakesh, Jaylani, and the Ike Nebula sitting in the living room with the cheetahs.

“Their names are Yirashumay and Yakira been with me for a long time they won’t hurt anyone” Amira said

“I’m glad they found you safely” Binita said

“I’m sorry you had to find out the way did” Onkar said

“Find out what?” Jaylani questioned

Daisy dropped her face

“Amira is Daisy’s sister or Yakini she came to her parents when she was a baby all four cities know but they don’t know the identity of the family we just knew the child was with a family, only people that were allowed to know were the people involved, it was agreed that we would she was adopted as preteen” Binita said

“What? You can’t be serious” Jaylani said

“I am” Binita said

“If you want we can fully awaken your powers, but it is your choice or we can suppress them again” Gabriela said

Daisy thought for a second and sat on the couch “You can’t give her that option! She doesn’t want to be a witch!” Jaylani said

“Oh stop! This is not your choice” Binita said

“I do, I want to do this, you were right I don’t enjoy myself here, I like this it is home but I don’t feel complete” Daisy said

Gabriela and Amira nodded to each other. Ekon and Gabriela stood behind Amira as they hummed a deep tone, they had their fist in the palm of their hand with two fingers pointing up, they started chanting lowly “Power begins with the blood, awakens the free soul.” Amira stood in front of Daisy

“From Yakini to Daisy to Yakini again, your soul will know its home, and awaken its hold” she closed her eyes and kissed Daisy’s forehead. Daisy’s life flashed before her eyes, she seen everything even when she was baby, how the dragons would fly above her head, how the griffins would bring her sustenance and the monkeys would play with her waving objects they took from the cougars and mermaids. She lifted her head back, “Whoa that was a head rush” Daisy’s arms felt like fire and ice were running through her veins, the feeling got all the way to her hands. Daisy’s body began to shake as her head lifted back and a mist came out of her right hand, and fire came out of her left hand. Daisy moved forward; the feeling was gone.

“What was that?” Daisy questioned

“Your power coming back, the explosion awakened your innate psychic abilities other than Gabriela and some of her family member and maybe six other witches, you were predicted to be the last remaining psychic. The gift is rare but cherished” Amira said

“We don’t have much time to teach you right now however we will” Gabriela said

“Right now we need to neutralize the threat” Ekon said

“You mean Dashiel? You can take me” Daisy said

“No too dangerous” Amira said

“No you can they can’t use magic around me, they are half witch their Mother but they would not use magic around me, If I’m there you can have a chance at defeating them easier and fighting their mother, she wants our heads” Daisy said

Amira took a deep breath “Ok we will take you but leave when we say leave”

Daisy agreed, each of them left the house, with the cheetahs behind them. When they got to the first floor, Gabriela got on her pegasus and flew off, Amira, Ekon, Daisy, Yakira, and Yirashumay got in the carriage. The carriage took off towards the mound, “Wait we are going to the mound! Isn’t that dangerous?!” Daisy closed her eyes they flew outside of the mound, when she opened her eyes. There were beautiful trees, dragons flying, lions and cheetahs playing, and lemurs going from tree to tree with the coquerel’s sifakas. “Whoa” Daisy looked amazed Amira was happy seeing her face

“Wait why are we going outside the mound if they attack inside the mound?” Daisy questioned

“We did some research, they have homes in the mound but they never grew up in the mound, there isn’t a record of any of them until high school, since Bisa is the witch in the scenario they were probably raised outside the mound” Amira said

“The abali isn’t the only place outside the mound, there are other areas, other witches, other humans, we do communicate and make decisions together” Ekon said

They landed in field, got off the pegasus and out of the carriage. They walked into the forest, they entered a village a small woman walked up to them

“What are you doing here Amira?” she said

“Bisa, she used to be a part of your covenant” Amira said

“She did and she married Dashiel and tried to takeover magic, she is no longer with us” she said

“Which is why you tried to hide her existence, your covenant is different you can summon a witch by force” Ekon stated plainly

“Tanya we just want to know how” Gabriela said

She walked away, when she came back she gave Amira a paper, “Here she will know I gave you this, so whatever you are doing make sure it is final”

“Thank You’ each of them said they walked back to the pegasi, got in the carriage and lifted off; they flew for hours. They landed in another field; Amira walked away and started collecting things, there was a gold bowl sitting near the field that she grabbed started throwing things in the cauldron. She started reciting an incantation.

“What is she doing?” Daisy asked

“It’s the abali field, everything that can be used in a spell, grows here we came here for all things, the land blesses itself” Gabriela said

When she was done with the incantation, light emersed in from the cauldron to the sky. Bisa, and her children appeared in the field in front of Amira.

“I figured you would make house call eventually” Bisa said

“And I have been waiting” Kyle lifted his hands but nothing came out “What the?”

“Look!” Lyrica said they each turned to see Daisy

“When I threw that fire ball at the car, I had to do it from the sky. She has to be calm for us to use magic around her, I’m sure she doesn’t have her powers yet! So, she must be scared for us to not be able to use our powers” Teagan said

“Well that was wrong” Ekon said

Bisa Lifted her hands and threw wind towards Daisy and Gabriela, Gabriela stopped the wind in its tracks and sent it right back to Bisa. They lifted in the air and fell down, Bisa got up and threw fire balls at Ekon. Amira summoned water, to dissipate the fire balls before it reached Ekon. Gabriela levitated to the sky, she caused the wind to pull forcefully near Bisa and her children. Amira crossed her arms across her body and made lightning strike from the sky. Daisy ran next to Amira and grabbed her hand, a circle formed around the four people, Gabriela came down and grabbed Amira’s hand “Preserve” Bisa turned to a beautiful golden statue.

“NO!” Lyrica said

“Transport” they said

A portal opened behind Lyrica and she was forcefully pulled back entered a box, in different dimension.

A metal box appeared behind Teagan, they telekinetically pushed her body in the coffin, and sealed it shut “Paralysis” her eyes shut and her body was still. They opened a portal and pushed her metal coffin into the ocean, the mermaids grabbed it and took it to an underwater cave entering a cove.

“You can’t do this to us!!” Kyle said

“Hamster” Kyle’s body could be heard with his bones breaking, he turned into a hamster. Ekon walked over and grabbed Kyle the hamster and put him in a box. They decided to use Bisa’s statue and strengthen the mound next to her husband, they each spelled her stature when they were done, they teleported it next to Dashiel’s statue. They got back into the carriage, while Gabriela got on supernova and took Daisy back to Karfeshka. When they got back to Karfeshka, the pegasi landed in front of daisy’s apartment.

“Thank You I enjoyed being with you all even if it was to save the four cities” Daisy said as they smiled at her she began to walk away

“Hey Daisy, if you want you can stay at the Omisha house closer to the mound, so you can come and go as you please and we can teach you how to use your powers” Amira said

“It’s a lot we can show you, with us both being psychic it’s a lot you could know” Gabriela said

Daisy smiled “I would love that! Thank You”

“Good, we can let your town council know” Ekon said

She turned to walk away, she turned back to them “Hey, by the way call me Yakini” she smiled

They got back in the carriage, Gabriela mounted her pegasus and they flew away.

Yakini watched them as they flew off into the sky, she smiled and walked into the apartment.