can someone explain to me...how I went to bed one night with 179 reads...then two days later when I check in to write more content... suddenly there are 1k reads and 80 votes? because to be real with you, that was completely unexpected. AND IT'S AWESOME

HOW can I thank everyone for supporting this story? seriously, I'm just... I'm baffled. I am shook. and I'm probably gonna be feeling super confident in myself for a long while...

I'm just glad you guys seem to be enjoying it so much. it means a lot to me and this amount of support is probably what's motivating me to follow up on my future writing "career". who knows?

one chapter at a time is how we'll take this. thank you all, so much, as always.

happy reading, gorgeous people.

kisses x

~a couple of weeks of warding off monsters and Malivore planning later~

just cause.

"

I'll be completely honest with you, okay.

I thought this monster fighting stuff would be cool, but no.

It's annoying.

These past... three, maybe four and a half weeks, no one can go a full day without worrying about what monster goop is going to get all over their homework. Because, hello, some of us actually want to get out of this place and go to college and live a good life. But since Malivore wants the tri-hybrid duo dead, we can't catch a break. (I have no idea why I said tri-hybrid duo??)

Anyway.

Two days ago a tooth fairy thing tried to make me choke on, well... teeth. Which, to clarify, he's not actually a fairy. He's a magic troll. Obsessed with molars. He even ate a handful of wisdom teeth in front of me.

I'm going to have nightmares forever.

But seriously, we've gotten no closer to finding anything we need to turn Malivore back into his golem state. And we definitely haven't gotten the creation spell to reverse his creation. And it's so tiring having to save my own ass. But I'll never get tired of looking out for Hope.

Speaking of, I haven't had much time to learn more about her. It's been school, monster hunting, school, sleep, then repeat. Some days I can't even shower properly because it's been so hectic.

And to make my schedule even tighter, Davina really has set up an extra session for me outside of class to help me get better at magic. So far the magic part is still a bust, but I am learning a lot more about how to channel it better. It's the part where I actually have to do it that's the problem.

Today felt like it'd be the second quiet day in about a week. That alone was good for me to get a peaceful afternoon of exercise. Which is my sparring session with Hope. Which would've been starting now if she wasn't late. By half an hour. Usually, I have an hour and a half to train and shower before having to go to my session with Davina. I wondered where the hell she could be.

I waited a good ten minutes before I gave up on the thought of her coming and made my way back inside. Since there's no training I guess I could just shower and nap for a bit. That sounds a little better anyway considering how exhausted I already am.

I decided to make a pit stop to the kitchen because honestly, some hot cocoa sounded nice right about now. Even though it's, like, mid-autumn. But who cares? I don't. Hot cocoa is hot cocoa. End of discussion. And luckily for me the last person in there just left. Not only do I get hot cocoa, but I also get to get it peacefully.

I'm almost tempted to make a gallon of it just for me...

No, I'm definitely tempted.

After making my literal gallon of hot cocoa, I also stole someone's bag of marshmallows and went on my way back to my quarters. Part of me hoped the princess wasn't there, but I also hoped she was so I could tell her off for ditching me. It always pissed me off when someone bails without calling me or leaving a note or whatever. This was no different.

Once I reached the room, I held the pitcher in my arm to open the door easier. And when I did, I saw what had to be the third-worst thing I've ever seen in my life; Hope straddling the demon child on her bed, lip-locked and probably (would have been) readying to uh... yeah.

I nearly dropped my hot chocolate at the sight, but luckily caught myself before I did. But I can't say the same for the marshmallows which were highly displeasing because it was already opened and about half of them fell onto the floor.

Actually, it doesn't matter because I'm pretty sure I lost my appetite.

Hope and the demon child both jumped from their position, finding me standing here regretting life. Hope stood there guiltily, straightening her hair and clothes.

"Melori... what're you doing here?" she said after clearing her throat.

I shook my head and placed the hot cocoa I was supposed to be drinking on the nearest surface. Luckily for me, that was right next to the door I'm definitely going back out of.

"Not that this is also my room or anything, I was just leaving." I saluted them awkwardly before living up to my words by getting the hell out of there.

I was already about to go down the stairs when I heard racing footsteps behind me, and of course, it was Hope and the demon boy trying to talk to me. But honestly, I couldn't give a flying frack about whatever they wanted to say. I just want to find Davina so we can start my magic training.

"Mel, please slow down for a second, okay?"

"I'm late for my meeting with Davina."

"We both know that's not for another twenty minutes. Can you please just stop." I turned and stopped so abruptly that both of them nearly bumped foreheads with me. But they were able to catch themselves pretty well and were only a few inches away.

Landon looked like he was about to crap himself as he glanced between me and Hope while rubbing his hands on his jeans.

"Look, I know we were supposed to train, but-"

"A quickie sounded better?"

"It wasn't anything like that," Landon chuckled nervously.

"Didn't look that way from my perspective, demon child. I mean, if you ask me, I'd say I was ditched without noticed so you two could have sex. In a room we share, no less," I shrugged.

"I didn't mean to get carried away with-"

"It's fine. Go about your business, okay. I really have to go." I didn't give Hope a chance to say any more by walking off to Davina's classroom to start early.

---

"You're doing it wrong."

"Maybe your lurking is throwing me off," I sighed. "I can't focus."

"I know. That's part the reason you can't gain control. Whatever's bothering you, you either need to talk about it, or forget about it."

"I wish the second option was an actual option. There's no way I can get that imagine out of my head."

I took my twentieth deep breath of this one session and closed my eyes, again. It was almost annoying how much it took to do just one spell. Seriously, if I've got the magic then why doesn't the magic have me? It's really weird.

"You're still not concentrating, MB, look..." Davina grabbed me by the arm to lead me to sit at her desk. She hopped on the top of it while I sat in her seat. "You had to use magic to escape Malivore, right?"

"Correct."

"So what spell worked for you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it wasn't really a spell. Or maybe it was? I don't know, it just happened."

"Well, what happened? Was there a gust of wind? Flicker of fire? What?"

"A snowflake."

"That's good! No, that's perfect, actually." Davina got down from the desk and began pacing the room.

"How is that good?"

"Because... okay, hear me out. You know how I'm, or was, a harvest witch, right?" Even though I don't see how that's relevant to my situation right now, I nodded. "Each witch of the harvest represented one of four elements. Earth, air, fire, and water. Water being..."

"A factor in creating ice. Or in this scenario, a snowflake. But please tell me what any of this has to do with me."

"The coven of the French Quarter- they taught us how to channel our magic. Through concentration- like I was trying with you, through herbal mixtures to elevate our magic... and then there was summoning it through the use of adrenaline."

"So what, they put you in danger or something?"

"That exactly. I'm thinking that since you've got so much on your mind and don't wanna talk about it, I can make you forget about it."

I stood slowly from the chair, watching Davina's every move. "I don't like where you're going with this."

"I know. But the safe way didn't work, so now we have to try the alternative." The woman turned to face me again, smiling deviously as the plan I knew would cause trouble was forming on her mind. "I know what we're gonna do tomorrow."

"Do I get to know what it is?"

"Absolutely not. But listen, about what's bothering you..." I sighed heavily, expecting Davina to make me spill my guts. But it seemed she wasn't, judging by the fact that she's readying to leave. "Think about it this way; your emotions are connected to your magic. Hiding them or discarding them is like... building a dam. With a dam, there are two sides to it. One where the water- which is your magic in this scenario- is high, near the top. That's your magical potential. The water level for the other side, however, is at its lowest. Think of that side as the outside world.

You have a lot of trauma from your past and I think it's affecting you more than you realize. Bottling everything up?" Davina shrugged lightly as she looked up at me. She was searching for the right words and it showed.

"If left unattended, the dam will break. It will completely fall apart, and all the water will rush to the other side and likely cause a lot of damage."

"I get the analogy, but what are you saying exactly?"

"It means you seriously need to talk about it. And by it, I mean everything. If you won't talk to me, then I highly suggest finding someone you can be open with."

I scratched at my head, nervous. Because she is right. I guess now that it's been said it puts things into perspective now.

"I'll play ball," I shrugged. "But say I find someone... where do I even start?"

"The very beginning. Your brothers."