Behind These Refuge Walls

Saturday morning found me munching on candy, a thoughtful look on my face, while watching Janice mumble incoherently with her nose stuck in an old book - her spell book.

"If only I could reach out to the energy..."

Energy is within every creature or object. We strive on it, apparently, and through it connect with other people or objects. It's what keeps us alive and what can bring us crashing down. Depending on one's strength, be it spiritual or physical, that energy can increase or decrease. We react to the energy around us like mosquitoes to blood.

"Fade..." The tea cup in front of her did nothing; the porcelain shone as if to spite her. "Fade, damn it!"

The cup suddenly shook without either of us touching the table. I jumped with a horrified curse, making my chair tip to the side and for a moment, I was certain that I would fall on my back. I gathered myself in time.

Janice looked apologetic, but undefeatable in her war against the cup. To me, the simple fact that she could make a table shake by yelling at it was enough to have me staring in awe.

"Can't you...locate its energy? Or something," I added hastily, feeling like the rookie that I truly was.

The blue haired punk looked at me with a wide grin. "You've been reading the book from Vallin."

"A bit."

It had been my only occupation for the past days.

She nodded enthusiastically. "As witches, we base our entire magic on the energy aura surrounding everything and everyone. It's meant to seem oh so simple, but I swear my eyes have started to hurt by just staring at this damn cup."

"You're stressing out too much."

"I guess..." she mused. "It's a funny thing, reaching out to an external energy. I have to feel it first."

"You mean it could be missing an aura?"

Janice flipped another page and shook her head. "Everything has an aura. What variates is its... visibility, if you will." I played with the bag of Skittles I was holding and frowned. "Strong immortals, creatures who have gained enough power, can sense any type of aura without a problem. Some of them have the possibility to hide their own aura."

My head shot up from my staring at the porcelain cup. "So they can hide it?"

"Or flaunt it. There's this thing that comes with hierarchy..." She thought it over. "An immortal can control their auras to such extent that they can send waves of power to nearly suffocate their enemies...."

The idea struck like lightening. Janice didn't take notice of my scrutiny as she proceeded in holding her hands above the cup. She closed her eyes and her lips embraced Latin words, spoken too fast and low for me too understand.

The tips of her hair glowed brightly. Her voice grew deeper and in some weird moment of electricity that had my skin prickling, the cup shook. The porcelain fought vigorously, but in vain.

It disappeared. With a sound similar to that of a vacuum hole being closed, the cup vanished.

Janice's eyes opened with a pleased twinkle. I stared, frozen, at the witch beside me.

"There we go," she chuckled. "Charlie?" Janice snapped her fingers before me and I was finally able to go back to my previous thoughts.

"That was...good."

"Thank you! It's nothing compared to what my aunt can do, but hey! I'm getting there, right?"

"S-sure." I gave myself a mental slap. My hands hugged each other in my lap. "Jan?"

"Yup?"

I swallowed my cowardice and adjusted my seat. "You said that thing about some immortals who control their auras and...you know, harm others. Is...I don't know, I mean, I'm just saying..." Damn you, Charlotte! "Is that possible for Stone?"

Janice's smile faltered, but didn't leave her face. She nodded soberly. "You've felt it, haven't you?"

I wasn't sure what to answer. "No, I'm just asking, I mean..." She looked serious, and was the only person I could really ask, so I sat back. "It's like I'm suffocating. He's just...he's in front of me, but it's like he's everywhere. And when he tried to train me, it was that feeling like I couldn't stay around him because I would be squashed by some invisible fist. I don't know--"

"Woah, woah, woah! Training? You had training with Stone?"

Right.

"He kind of took charge of the situation without asking me and the next thing I knew I was in front of him, with my eyes tied up and him somewhere around me, waiting to strike."

She was silent. For a second, I wanted to poke her and make sure she was still alive, but then she burst into a grin - which seemed to be something quite typical of her.

"You do realize that that would have made for one extremely sexy scenario involving--"

"Oh my God, Janice!"

"I'm kidding!" And yet she couldn't stop giggling. I watched in horror. Her laughter died down. "Charlie. I don't think he wants to kill you." I scoffed and began to protest, but she silenced me. "He is a very powerful creature, Charlie. Not one to spite, because he is...he can be cruel. It's in his nature and I've seen that side of him. What I can't tell you is what he thinks, because Stone is not the type to...communicate. I think, the only persons you can talk about Stone are Ivan and Vallin. And maybe not even them."

"I had a talk with Ivan..."

She perked up. "He's a really cool guy, liked you since day one."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled. "He called me some weird Russian name..."

Janice laughed. "No one really understands Ivan's Russian words. You kinda need a dictionary when talking to him."

I nodded numbly. "Yeah...I...did you know that Stone was the one who got me out of that party at Ryan's...?"

My living room was eerily quiet. My heart did an annoying thumping and had me clenching my fists.

"Wow."

"I know," I whispered. "I just...don't get it."

She huffed. "Tell me about it! Stone is...never about others. What was he doing there?"

"He said he was looking for someone. And Ivan said I may have pissed him off."

"You did," she mused, "didn't you? I don't know what to say, CJ. It's just...so entirely unusual that Stone would do that. Look, Charlie, I really don't know him. Not even James does, and Stone is basically his private tutor. I don't know, haven't you found anything in that book Vallin gave you?"

"Yeah, well, the demon chapter is really short and I'm almost positive that there are pages missing."

She frowned. "That's weird. Hmm...You could try the school's library. If he asks, tell the librarian, Mr. Chandler, that my aunt, Sylvia Hawthorne sent you."

I shrugged, but felt oddly giddy. Books meant information. Information could have meant a deeper understanding of what I had gotten myself into.

Cain.

"Charlie! Your phone's ringing!"

My head snapped in the direction of the small gadget. On the screen, Ryan's name kept flashing. A persistent flash, just like the boy.

It hit me then that I had somehow stood him up the other night. And though my heart did feel the tug of regret, there was still a dark shadow lurking in the back of my mind, joined by the memory of two snake's eyes and a raw threat.

The phone rang for the second time.

Janice and I exchanged looks - hers skeptical, mine hesitant.

"Hello?"

"Hey, CJ." He sounded curious. I could imagine his blue eyes... "What happened last night?"

"Uhm, hey...Ryan, I...I wasn't feeling good..."

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

A long pause ensued. Janice's questioning look did not help with my socializing skills.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I was really looking forward to seeing you. You feeling better now?"

"Recovering," I said shortly.

"Good then. Well, then I'd like to make it up for a lost evening. How about I take you out to dinner?"

"Well, I can't this weekend, 'cause, you know, I'm not feeling that good."

"Absolutely. We'll do that next week, how does that sound?"

"Great. Cool."

I gave a weak chuckle and before I knew it, I was hanging up and holding my head between my palms.

"You do realize you just got asked out by one of the sexiest guys in school!" she squealed falsely, then rolled her eyes. I looked at the watch on the nearest wall and groaned. "What's wrong?"

"I have to get to Massey."

She frowned and when realization hit her, she gasped. "Oh no, don't tell me you have practice. Why do you need this? Especially since it's with..."

Ah, yes, poor Janice was clueless to everything that Vallin was really orchestrating behind his job as a school principal. I regarded her with a small smile. She didn't understand it. How could she?

"Do you need a ride anywhere?"