He smiled. “Are you being honest?” he asked, and he studied my reaction. “Because I know when people lie, and that, Bella, was a lie.” He smirked. “Now, tell me, what was it, really?”
“No, I-I’m not going to tell you.” I shook my head. I could not believe I was doing this. Keeper gave me an order, and I did not obey.
“Not going to tell me?” He raised his brow.
I shook my head again.
“Why?” He threw his arms in the air, and heat flared in his eyes. “Why not?”
“She is mine! I’m protecting her from you and all of them! Just like I promised.” I sighed, satisfied with myself.
“Protecting her from us? We have given you no problem to protect her from.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“You’re a problem.” I shrugged and shocked myself by my boldness. “I don’t feel safe around you, and that means something,” I continued, not sure where I was going with this. He has never actually harmed me, but he is evil, and sometimes, when I focus really hard, I can see his aura, and all I see is coal-blacks and blood-reds, and that’s what I told him. “You’re pure evil, I can see it in your aura!” I saw his eyes widen.
“You see auras?” he said. “What else have you not told us?” he asked, and I could feel the anger pouring off him, and I saw in his eyes; they were turning from their normal blood-red to black.
“Nothing, I can’t do anything! I have no powers, and now, I have a freaking familiar, and you can’t touch her! None of you can!” I yelled. “Iasciaci soli!” I yelled again.
“Why are you being like this?” said Serena, one of the witches. “We have given you no problem to worry about,” she said calmly.
The truth was I had no idea why I was acting out like this. I was pissed, and I felt very protective right now, and then, it hit me. Trinity was scared, and I was feeling her emotions. I was on my guard because she couldn’t be.
I looked at Serena. “She is scared. Terrified, honestly, and you are the cause of it, all of you are, and I might not know why, but I trust her.” I looked at them all. “You ask what I am hiding from you?” I dragged in a ragged breath. “But what are you guys hiding from me?”
“No!” says Keeper. “I ask the questions!” He yelled, “You are mine, no familiar can come here and change that!” He stalked up to me. “Take the familiar off, she is causing trouble!”
“No!” I looked him in the eye even, though my face met his shoulder.
He pushed me back, and I hit the wall. “You don’t get to tell me no.” Keeper growled. He grabbed my arms and looked me in the eyes. “Now, you take that damn familiar off, or I will take it off you myself,” he threatened. “And I swear, if this is all over a toad, I’m going to smash it!”
“You can’t make me do anything!” I yelled at him, and I was proud that my voice didn’t crack or show any of the fear I was feeling.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked with voice so steady it was terrifying.
I looked away. “You can’t make me do anything,” I said again, blandly.
He swore under his breath. “I didn’t want to do this yet, but you have left me no choice, Bella, you are coming back to my home with me.”
“What! No!” I tried to back away from him, but he tightened his hold on my arms.
He looked at me deep in my eyes, and by the time I knew what he was doing, it was too late. I shook my head, but he whispered the words, “Sleep and wake only when I tell you to do so.” And then, there was nothing.
2
When I opened my eyes, I was not in the room I remember being in last. I turned my head from my position on the bed and sighed. This was not my bed, not my room, and not my house. Keeper has taken me out of the coven and brought me to his happy home, just like he said he would.
A throat cleared, and I turned my head, looking for the source of the sound, and found Keeper at the foot of the bed, watching me.
“What?” I sighed, tired of the drama and wishing for more than anything in this moment to be mortal.
“I forgot to wake you up yesterday, but you needed to be moved somewhere I could watch you,” he said.
“Okay…” I said, not seeing where he was going with this.
“You will stay with me until your seventeenth birthday, and then, I will tell you what I have been waiting for the past sixteen years.” He grinned, and I shuddered. Sixteen years—what was that supposed to mean?
“What do you mean, when the other witches turn seventeen and have their reveals, you don’t come. Why did you have to come to mine?” I asked him.
“Bella, I will give you no other answers other than you are very much not a witch,” he said and got up. He walked to the door. “And your upstairs daddy was not a happy camper for a long while.” He grinned at his words and left, locking the door behind him.
“What?” I whispered. How was I not a witch? Was what I believed I was for the past sixteen years of my life really a lie. If I have been lied to, I don’t even know what I am now. What was I supposed to believe or what I would do? Even more important, what would become of me and Trinity. Most girls look forward to their seventeenth, but not me, I dreaded it. I don’t know what is going to happen to me, and at this point, I didn’t even know who I was.
Sitting in a room with just a bed and a bathroom was one of the most boring prisons ever. At least, I was not being physically tortured, just mentally. All there was to do in this room was thinking, and I really didn’t want to do that right now, because then, I would have to think about how sucky my life is and how I have been lied to, I don’t even know how to react.
I got up off the bed and slowly made my trip to the bathroom. Maybe, I could accidentally trip over air and fall and get a concussion, at least then, something would happen. I had only been in this house a day, and I was already going nuts.
I cracked open and the bathroom door open and closed it behind me. I decided I would take a shower. Maybe, I could use up all the hot water in the process, haha! That’s it, then, everyone will have to use cold water. “Dio sono così zoppo,” I murmured and got in the shower. I stayed in the shower until the water turned cold and then stayed in another ten minutes. I got out of the shower slowly and put on a pair of sweatpants that were left for me, along with another pile of clothes. I looked at my back in the mirror before putting on my shirt. I saw the beautiful tattoo that was Trinity. Even on my skin, she still had her purple eyes, and I wished so bad I could let her off my skin, but I could not take the chance. Keeper could somehow see.
He hadn’t visited me since he told me about—no, I’m not going to think about it. I threw on the shirt that which thankfully covered all of my tattoos, except for some of her head on my neck, but as long as I had my hair down, he should not see her.
I plopped down onto the bed and watched the door for what felt like hours, until a woman came in to give me dinner. She smiled politely and set the food down at the
