Salem Falls

As Alexa walked through the forest, on her way to meet Harry, all she could think about was what Maggie had told her. She couldn’t believe her best friend was infatuated with a secretive boy as deep as the ocean, and if that wasn’t hard enough to believe, the boy that Maggie couldn’t stop thinking about was Zayn Malik.

When Maggie had said Zayn’s name, Alexa nearly fell straight to the floor. Zayn was a mage, and a powerful one at that. He was a descendant of the most powerful mages of their time. He was the leader of the Sixth Circle. He was Harry’s best friend, and someone she was told never to speak to.
Did Maggie know all the secrets about Zayn? Surely, she didn’t. She would have been terrified if she had.

Along with wondering everything about Maggie, Alexa wondered if Harry knew about his best friend’s mysterious friendship with a human. It had always been against the rules of the Sixth Circle to befriend human, and what little Alexa did know about the coven told her that that hadn’t changed. The Sixth Circle would always be a bunch of human hating hypocrites, and Alexa knew there would be hell to pay if they discovered Zayn was becoming close to anyone.

More than anything, Alexa feared for her friend. What would happen to Maggie if the Sixth Circle found out? They couldn’t hurt, could they? There would be far too much suspicion around the death of the sheriff’s daughter, so there would be no way they could get away with it.

They could always use a curse, though. What little Alexa did know about magic told her that a powerful enough mage could curse someone and make it look like a sickness, and the Sixth Circle had plenty of powerful mages.

“There you are.”

Alexa whipped her head around to find Harry leaning casually against a tree, a large smirk on his face. He nibbled at the end of a honeysuckle flower, before spitting it onto the floor.

“I’m not late, am I?” Alexa joked, knowing very well that she wasn’t. She hadn’t been late since they started their training. She was far too eager about learning to do that.

“Of course, you aren’t.” Harry took a few slow steps towards her, leaves crunching beneath his feet as he did. “Let’s get started then.”

“Um, actually,” Alexa paused, as she attempted to clear her voice. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

She didn’t necessarily want to talk to Harry about Zayn and Maggie, but she felt as though she needed to. She needed to know what was going on with Zayn and what exactly he had planned with her best friend. She didn’t want Maggie to get hurt, and if she could do anything to prevent that, she was going to.

“What is it?” Harry asked, his voice dropping the usual sarcastic tone it carried.

Alexa took a deep breath, before looking up at him.

“Zayn is your best friend, right?” she asked, and Harry nodded. “He tells you a lot, doesn’t he?”

Harry shrugged. “Most things, I guess.”

“Does he talk to you about girls?”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed, as he looked Alexa up and down. What was she going on about? They had never really talked about their personal lives before, so her interrogation came as a shock to him.

“Sometimes,” he said, as his lips pursed. “Why? Do you like him or something? I didn’t even know the two of you spoke.”

Alexa’s eyes widened and she immediately shook her head, tossing her hands in the air.
“No, no. Not at all. I don’t even know him.”

“Then why do you ask?”

Alexa paused, as she bit her lip. She didn’t know if Maggie was going to get angry with her for prying, or if she was about to stir up some unnecessary drama, but she had to know more about Zayn and what exactly was going on.

“I have a friend who likes him.”

“A friend? Like a human friend?”

Alexa simply nodded, while Harry but his lip in confusion. It wasn’t unusual for girls to develop crushes on Zayn, even when he didn’t speak to them, because he was a handsome fellow, but the way Alexa talked made it seem like it was more than that.

“And what did you want to know?”

Alexa shrugged. “I guess I just wasn’t sure if you knew anything. Like whether or not he liked her back.”

“What’s her name?”

“Maggie.”

It wasn’t the first time Harry had heard the name, and it only took a couple of seconds for him to put all the pieces together. Maggie was Sheriff Snow’s daughter, and Zayn had spent a bit of time getting closer to the Snow’s, like his father had, to get information. That much Harry did know, but this was the first he’d heard about any crush, and he knew he had to question Zayn about it.

Harry wasn’t a stranger to secrets, as Alexa was his secret as well, so he wasn’t shocked that Zayn would keep this from him. Still though, he had to talk to his best friend so he could find out more.

Just as quickly as he’d said hello to Alexa, he was saying goodbye, and she knew exactly why. Ordinarily, she’d be angry with him for cutting their lesson, but she was dying to know what was going on just as much as Harry, and the sooner he found out the sooner he could tell her.

Harry made his way out of the forest as quickly as he could, heading to Zayn’s house instead of his own. He hoped that Zayn would be there, but he couldn’t be sure.

Like he always did, he walked right into the Malik’s home and was met with Patricia’s smiling face. She greeted him with a warm hug before letting him know that Zayn could be found in his bedroom.
Taking a deep breath, Harry tapped lightly against the closed door, before Zayn’s voice called to him to enter.

Zayn was sitting on his bed, his laptop placed comfortably against his stomach, and he shut it as Harry walked in.

“Hey, mate,” Zayn said, setting the laptop aside. “What brings you here?”

Harry tried to push all the tenseness he was feeling away, and took a few slow deep breaths. He clearly didn’t do a good enough job, as Zayn noticed immediately.

“Is something going on?”

Harry sighed, as he shook his head. He took his usual seat on the foot of Zayn’s bed, with his back pressed up against the wall.

“It’s nothing bad.”

“What is it then?”

I just –” Harry ruffled his hair, unsure of what to say next. He had to just come out with it, but it was harder than he thought. They’d been taught all their lives to hate humans, and even though Harry never really had despised them like the others, talking about one seemed strange. “Is there something that you’re not telling me?”

Zayn’s eyebrows furrowed, as he looked back at his friend in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“A girl.”

Zayn shifted beside Harry, and he thought he’d never seen his friend look so uncomfortable in his life. It was obvious from his body language that Zayn knew exactly what Harry was talking about, and the dark haired boy looked up at him with soft eyes.

“Harry, you can’t tell anyone,” Zayn said, speaking so quickly Harry almost couldn’t understand. “They’ll hurt her if you do. No one can know.”

Harry didn’t know what to say. Of course, he wasn’t going to tell. He wouldn’t do anything to put someone else in harm’s way, and that would surely put both Zayn and Maggie in harm’s way.

Harry stared wide-eyed at his friend, completely confused by what was going on. He thought Zayn despised humans more than anyone else, so the realization came as a shock to him.

“So it’s true then?” Harry asked, and Zayn simply nodded, as he bit his lip. “How did it happen?”

Zayn sighed, shaking his head in defeat. “I didn’t mean for it to. I was at dinner with her parents after my dad passed and they were all so kind. I never expected humans to be so kind.” Zayn chuckled. “And she hugged me. It was like magic, I swear. Just her touching me made all of my problems disappear. I tried my best to stay away from her, but I just couldn’t.”

The room fell silent, as the weight of Zayn’s words washed over them. What he was doing was dangerous. It was more dangerous than performing dark magic, because it put both him and Maggie in danger. If the Sixth Circle found out their leader was fraternizing with a human, Harry wasn’t sure that there would be anything anyone could do to protect them.

“What are you going to do?” Harry asked, after the wait became too long. “What about Lucie?”

“I don’t want Lucie, Haz. I can’t stand the thought of marrying her. I look down at this stupid mark on my hand and I just cringe. Every time I’m with Maggie it hurts like it’s trying to remind me that I’m forced to be with someone else. I just want it gone, Haz. I just want a chance to be with Maggie. I want to be with her, but I’m so afraid that something will happen.”

Harry bit his lip, as he looked over at his friend. All his life, he had known Zayn to be the strong, powerful one, but now he just looked so vulnerable. Harry could tell how frightened Zayn truly was, but his feelings for the girl overcame that fear.

Even though he knew it was dangerous, Harry understood why Zayn would want to risk everything to be with the girl who made him feel like another kind of magic existed.

With his voice soft and comforting, Harry spoke.

“You can’t tell anyone.”