The girl shrugged. "I am sorry I can't be of any help." She left her to join the duty, and Bianca watched her. Her face blanched.

The beautiful start of the morning crumbled like the waves around the cliffs for Bianca.

For the next week, Bianca became edgy, restless and snapped at every other person she came in contact with. There was nothing, no one in the world who could give her solace. The man she had felt connected to left her one fine day. He decided that she was too young for him. Then why did he even come in her life?

Brantley.

The name, which made butterfly wings flap in her stomach, convert into hornets' wings. Excitement and love morphed into anxiety and hatred. He had ignited a sweet fire in her, which changed into a low dull ache beneath her skin. The man stoked her want for him to a fever pitch and then left her. For the next few months, Bianca closed herself from the outer world. She couldn't, wouldn't discuss it with the parents, she would never talk about it to her friends. She distanced herself from Lydia and Eddie and shut everyone who came near her. Her only solace was the melody, the music she played over and over again for him, to remember him, to feel him… If only he had stayed long enough for her to know him better. At one point of time she believed that the man wanted her to suffer. Why the hell did she feel so intensely about him? She spent countless sleepless nights, hoping to see him just once.

The rage she had cultivated in her heart for him manifested in magic often. Within the next six months, she was able to make flowers grow again as they pinched and stole her life every time she touched them. Roses were her new enemies. Even though she had preserved every rose of the bouquet he had given her, she didn't like roses. Her Uncle Cole had visited them and his latest girlfriend had brought a bouquet of yellow roses with her. Bianca was now sitting with a stem of a yellow rose from that bouquet on the floor of her room. She pricked a thorn into the tip of her finger only to feel the pain. A drop of blood dripped on the floor and she felt a twinge of pain, a tug through her palm. It was subtle, as if he had whispered in her ears. The rose on the floor beside her suddenly started to writhe and burst out like a serpent into a huge vine. The flower grew almost a foot in size, and the stem snaked around the floor. The thorns on it were the size of a dagger. Shocked as hell, Bianca jumped to her bed and shrieked.

The door swung open and Daryn entered the room. His eyes were wide with fear. He waved his hand and the rose writhed all over again as if in pain before turning to ash. He rushed to a very stunned Bianca, whose face was pale as a ghost.

"What just happened Daddy?" she asked, her voice a mere whisper.

Daryn embraced her in his warm bear hug and said, "It's nothing baby, calm down."

"B— but—"

He stroked her hair. He knew that the child's power wouldn't stop for very long even though she had the medallion on her. "You are a sorcerer's daughter. What did you expect?" He changed the topic.

She smiled against his chest and her dimple appeared. "Really?"

"Really."

Bianca decided not to touch roses after that incident. However, the incident only left her with more questions… about Brantley.

For the next two years, she gave up all the hopes of seeing him. There was no relief from his remembrances. Even in her hatred for him, she couldn't quash her unyielding need and urge for him. All other men repelled him, because they weren't him, they didn't measure up to him. She despised him and she knew that if and when she saw him next, she would punish him. She was frustrated by her pathetic condition.

Bianca took up herbology as one of the subjects in high school. She loved to be with nature, and loved to read about various plants. It was as if nature summoned her… life called her… Because plants gave her much needed tranquility, Dawn had given her a large section of garden to grow whatever plants she liked.

Bianca

Eighteenth Birthday

Bianca shot up in bed, body drenched with sweat. It was still night and the moon outside was hanging low in the west sky.

"Brantley…" she murmured with a choking cough. She had seen a vivid dream of him kissing her on her sixteenth birthday. She looked down at her clothes and closed her eyes. The dream was so rich and intense that she cursed herself for thinking about something that happened two years back. Removing her blanket, she got out of the bed to pour a glass of water for herself on the bedside table. She drank it all in one go. Then she walked to her closet and changed into fresh pajamas and a shirt. Bianca walked up to the window to watch the river flowing. She opened the window to let the cool breeze come in. "It is my eighteenth birthday, and I am going to get a boyfriend for myself today!" She said with grit and confidence. She went back to bed with her new resolve.

"Hola!" Darius shouted when she climbed down the stairs. "So what are you going to give me for my birthday?" Darius had shifted into his wolf a few days after his sixteenth birthday. And he was a beautiful black wolf. For the last two years, he had been trying to control his emotions and shifting because every new emotion would make him shift. In fact there was a time when he didn't shift back to his human form for a week because the new wolf form was exciting as hell. He had spent the whole week with his new pack of friends in the forests.

As for Bianca, she still hadn't shifted. The clan members were worried, but both her parents weren't.

"How about a ride in my Bentley?" she said and Darius immediately freaked out. The girl was crazy when it came to driving.

"Nope! Thanks. I love me!" he said, rolling his eyes.

Daryn and Dawn came down and hugged their kids. "Happy birthday to you!"

"Thanks Mom, dad!" said Darius with a smile.

"Where's my gift?" Bianca whined. "It is my eighteenth birthday!"

Daryn looked at Dawn and she nodded. "Bia, your gift is waiting for you in the east gardens," he said with a smile.

"Did you order the seeds from Africa for my experiment?" she asked, feeling thrilled.

He chuckled. "You have to find out for yourself."

Bianca ran out of the house towards her garden. She had been after her dad to somehow get the seeds of Protea cynaroides. And there right under the pergola where she had grown blue bells over the lattice, which now fluttered gently in the breeze, was Brantley.

Bianca halted.

Dressed in white pants and a blue shirt, with his hands in his pocket and his golden hair fluttering on the nape of his neck and forehead, he looked lethally attractive.

Bianca's mind and body froze. She forgot to breathe.