Nathan Poole is ready to become Sarah's Warden, but a long lost family heirloom changes his life and future.     Trial and Heiress Chapter 10 By Amethyst

Thanks as usual to Eof for a great universe to play in and to Eof, Maggie F and Donjo for their input. Thanks to my readers for reading what I put out here and being patient when new chapters are delayed like this time.

What the hell is she? I thought again as I looked over the Vampire collapsed atop Sarah. Kayla had claimed to be a Dud before she was turned, but she had just used some sort of healing spell that was beyond the abilities of any Witch I knew. That was a lot of magic and I feared that she may as well have just sent up a flare to alert the Winter Court to our location, and we were still uncomfortably close to the Valley. Was she working for them and the Vampire bit a ruse to get close to us? She had looked confused and more than a little shocked after starting her little light show. Was it an act or could I actually trust this girl?

I was interrupted from my train of thought by the arrival of Dandelion and Verbina and I quickly gave them both orders. “Dani, go catch up with Jason, he was heading to the cabin. I need you to tell him Sarah seems to be okay now but both she and Kayla are out cold and I’ll need his help. Vina, I need you to go alert my Mom. Tell her what’s going on here and that we won’t be able to take Sarah and Kayla to the clinic with what just happened and we need to get some sort of rescue here quick. This is probably a Coven matter now. We’ll need help to move them.”

Both Pixies were quick to comply and flew off in the direction of the cabin, and in Verbina’s case beyond it to my house. Jason and Dani came back about fifteen minutes later and I quickly explained to him what happened. He checked them both for any sign of injury, but quickly came to the same conclusion I had. “It’s kind of hard to tell with Kayla, but Sarah is definitely in a really deep sleep. I wonder if it’s some kind of coma? Otherwise they both look fine, other than the blood all over Sarah’s head; I hope she didn’t lose too much.”

I nodded silently as I was worried about the same thing. After a moment I spoke. “We’ll need to move them soon, I think we need a more experienced and stronger Witch than me to look them over. I think we’re also way too close to the Valley; I’m worried someone may have felt Kayla’s power. We can’t carry both of them all that way though.”

Jason looked the girls over again, taking off his jacket and putting it over Sarah, “Yeah, that’s going to be a problem. I’m worried about all this rain too. Kayla didn’t seem bothered by the cold, but Sarah is shivering, we need to move her fast of figure out a way to keep her warm and dry.”

Jason and I quickly took a small tarp out of his backpack and made a rough lean-to over the girls. Then we gathered some pine branches and I used my hot spell to get a fire going. We were hoping that the fire would keep us all warm until rescue could get here and that the smoke would be noticed even in the dim light of the late afternoon storm. If not the smoke then at least maybe the fire itself would help people find us.

The light was getting fairly dim by the time we heard the tell-tale sound of the clinic’s medivac helicopter growing closer. It seemed to home right in on the smoke and hovered above us. I wondered how they were going to get to us since there was no space to land and due to the trees they were a good fifty feet above us. A litter was slowly lowered and no sooner did we unclip it to move it closer to Sarah and Kayla than some crazy redhead came flying down the cable before dropping the last twenty feet to land beside us.

I didn’t stare, I was too worried about Sarah to give the woman more than a cursory once over. I had never seen this woman on the island before and believe me I would have remembered it if I had. She looked to be in her early twenties and was drop dead gorgeous. She was about my height or maybe an inch taller, with waist length wavy auburn hair, pale skin, a fantastic figure, and deep green eyes. She was wearing an emerald green sweater dress and dark brown ankle boots that showed off her legs. She was easily as hot as Kayla was and then it hit me, this must be the other Vampire.

She just nodded to Jason and me and gently moved Kayla aside before doing a quick check over Sarah, looking for any injuries. “She seems to be alright, just sleeping!” She turned to us, yelling to be heard over the helicopter. “I’m Genevieve, I’m going to take Kayla up to the helicopter and bring Gwen down to make sure it’s going to be okay to move her!” I nodded and watched as she picked up Kayla and slung her over her shoulder like she weighed nothing at all. Then she started scaling the cable up to the medivac. I just sat down and held Sarah’s hand tightly in my own as I mentally begged for her to be okay.

It wasn’t long before Genevieve was back on the ground with us, along with Gwen. She looked worried but after we explained what happened, she quickly checked Sarah’s head, neck, and ankle for any signs of injury and then did a quick scan magically. She nodded and mumbled to herself as she looked Sarah over and nodded to Geneveive who picked Sarah up and put her in the litter. Once that was done, the pair started securing the straps and making sure the litter was securely clipped onto the cable while Jason and I put out the fire and disassembled the lean-to.

It had been a short flight back in the helicopter once we were all aboard. We couldn’t take them to the clinic, especially Kayla, so Rick landed the medivac at Roseberry Manor. Gwen’s home had plenty of space for a proper landing and there were lots of guest rooms where Sarah could be made comfortable. Genevieve was quick to get both Sarah and Kayla in bed while Rick returned the medivac to the clinic. Genevieve had decided it was best that she stay with Kayla in case the younger Vampire woke up needing to feed and I volunteered to stay with Sarah in case she awoke while Gwen made phone calls to let all of our families know what was going on.

It was two hours before anything changed. I stayed with Sarah while Dani and later Verbina kept me company. None of us said much of anything as we were all worried about Sarah and I was so scared that she wasn’t going to wake up. What would I do if I lost her? She may not feel the same anymore since my change but I was still in love with her and the thought of losing her brought tears to my eyes. I cried for a time, until I heard voices coming from the next room where Kayla was sleeping. It sounded like she had woken up so I quickly dried my tears and hoped that Sarah would wake up soon as well.

It was almost an hour later that there was a light knocking at the door. I motioned for Dani and Verbina to make themselves scarce and looked up as the door opened to see Kayla enter the room. I smiled in relief as she didn’t seem to have seen the Pixies as she opened the door fully to let Sarah’s parents and Jason in behind her. “How is she? And how are you holding up?” the Vampire asked.

“She’s still asleep, but she’s a lot better than she was before,” I replied. “What did you do? I thought you were a Dud.” I pulled nervously at the right sleeve of my sweater to make sure the Glove was still hidden as I rose from the chair to let Sarah’s mom sit. She looked like she had been crying for a while; her eyes were red and blotchy. Dr. Dennis looked worried too, as did Jason as he put a tray of wrapped sandwiches on the bedside table.

Kayla sighed, looking genuinely confused as she shook her head, “I have absolutely no idea. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. Genevieve said that I used some sort of magic. If it helped Sarah I don’t really care what it was.” I nodded at that, I didn’t care much what it was so long as Sarah came out of it okay but I still wasn’t sure if she could be trusted. For a while there was an awkward silence in the room, with nobody knowing quite what to say.

The silence was broken by a soft sigh, movement on the bed and the whispered rustling of the sheets as Sarah started to wake. Everyone seemed to notice all at once and as Sarah’s parents stood up at her bedside Kayla, Jason and I rushed to the foot of the bed to make sure that we hadn’t imagined the sounds and that she was indeed waking up. Sarah looked around at all of us surrounding her looking a bit confused for a moment before finally speaking, her throat sounding parched. “What happened? Where am I?”

Sarah’s mom took her hand looking as though she were ready to cry again, and couldn’t seem to speak at the moment. Dr. Dennis noticed her trouble and explained instead. “You’re at Roseberry Manor, you had a bit of a fall. You were brought here because you and Kayla were both unconscious and they weren’t sure what to do about her.”

Sarah looked around and focused on us at the foot of the bed, “Are you okay Kayla? Did you fall too?”

Kayla waved off her concerns, “Hey, don’t worry about me, you were the one that was hurt. I’ve fed and now I’m just fine.” I frowned at the Vampire, and was about to tell Sarah exactly what happened but she cut me off. “Can we talk about this later Natalie? There’s some water there if you need a drink Sarah, there’s sandwiches too. We thought you might be hungry.”

Sarah sat up in bed and took a long drink of water and then began to devour the sandwiches as her parents told her how glad they were she was okay. They also informed her of everyone waiting downstairs for her to wake up. All of us had been very worried. Once Sarah was full her father, Dr. Dennis, gave her a quick examination to make sure that she really was okay. Her mother spoke as he checked her over, “Your Grandmother couldn’t be reached as she was elsewhere on the Island or she would be here too. We were all so worried about you.”

Dr. Dennis smiled in relief as she checked out okay. “You seem to be fine now honey, though you may be a bit tired for a while. We’re going to let you stay here tonight so you can get enough rest and talk to your friends. Kayla, how are you feeling?”

Kayla thumped her chest with a fist. “I’m feeling fine since I fed Sir, though I did have to drink a bit more than I usually do.”

Sarah’s father nodded, “I’ll take your word for it, I’m afraid I don’t have much experience treating Vampires.” He chuckled at that before giving Kayla a serious look, “From what I’ve been told you saved Sarah’s life.” He looked briefly to Sarah’s mom who nodded, “We are in your debt, if you ever need anything let us know.”

Mrs. Taylor nodded again in agreement, “Thank you Kayla. We’ll go down and tell the others that Sarah is awake and seems to be fine so you can all talk. Just try to make sure you get enough rest Sarah.”

Once they left and closed the door Sarah looked to each of us who were now sitting on the bed with her. “Okay does someone want to tell me what exactly happened?”

“You slipped and fell down and hit your head,” Kayla answered simply. “I tried to take care of the wound while Natalie tried to call for help and Jason ran to get help and medical supplies.”

I glared at her for understating the seriousness of it all. “What she isn’t telling you Sarah, is that you lost a lot of blood and she passed out after using some kind of healing magic to save your life. You had what looked like a broken ankle and a nasty gash on the back of your head and now there’s nothing but a small scar.”

“You used magic?” Sarah asked, echoing my own thoughts, “I thought you were a Dud.”

“I seem to be full of surprises, what’s the big deal anyway? It’s not like the two of you can’t use magic,” the Vampire snapped, looking a bit upset.

Jason quickly put his hands out, “Okay ladies time out, let’s calm down here. Kayla saved Sarah’s life and I’m very grateful for that.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself, “Kayla look, I can never thank you enough for what you did and I’m sure Sarah feels the same.” Sarah nodded her head quickly in agreement at this as I continued. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time here but whatever you used was well beyond the abilities of a Novice Witch, I certainly couldn’t have done it or I would have. But I think you need to be warned.” The thoughts of Ly Erg or another member of the Winter Court getting their hands on Kayla bothered me.

Kayla narrowed her eyes suspiciously, “Warned about what?”

“Several things,” I replied. “First, using that type of power attracts attention. There are other types of Unseen out there besides the ones in town and you might as well have set off fireworks to let them know where you are. This could put you in danger. Secondly, whatever you did looked like it was all power and no control so others could see you as a danger.” If she had as much power as it looked like and no way of controlling it she could be a danger to everyone around her and frankly my life and those of my friends had been in enough danger the past few months.

Jason nodded, his face grim. “I overheard some talk while you were both still asleep. The Coven is going to want to test you and have you trained by one of your family members if it turns out you’re a Witch. I know how you feel about your mother and odds are she’d be the one to train you.” It really didn’t surprise me that the Coven was responding that way. If she really was a Witch she’d need training, and I knew that as well as anyone.

The Goth Vampire cursed. “Damn, even when I’m dead my life sucks.” She just sat there quietly clenching her fists. I wondered what her mom could have possibly done to make this girl dislike her so much.

Sarah reached out and took one of Kayla’s hands after a long silence, “Kayla, are you okay?”

“Well let’s see, a few weeks ago I was a normal college guy who didn’t even know the Unseen existed. Since then I was turned into a Vampire, I found out I’ll be spending eternity shopping in the Junior Miss section, I’ve been attacked, I had someone close to me killed, I had to come back here, I had probably the worst welcome the town could roll out, I found out my parents have lied to me my whole life, you nearly died on us after I promised to keep you safe, and I apparently have some kind of magic that could possibly put me in danger from people and things I don’t even know. Does that sound like I’m okay?!” Kayla listed it all off, seeming to get more upset with every item. The last was practically growled, causing Sarah to pull back a bit. Seeing the look on Sarah’s face, she quickly apologized. “Damn, I’m sorry Sarah.”

Jason put a hand on Kayla’s shoulder as Sarah took one of her hands again. I quickly took the other hand as Jason looked into the Vampire’s eyes and said, “Well when it’s put like that your life really does suck, but you forgot one thing.”

She rolled her eyes, replying sarcastically, “What’s that? The happy magic bonding time I’ll be soon enjoying with my lying mother?”

Jason just grinned at her, “Nope, you made three awesome friends who are going to stick by you no matter what.”

Jason and Sarah seemed so willing to give Kayla a chance, and yet even after she saved Sarah’s life I still doubted her. I decided I would give her a chance since she had a lot in common with me and had saved Sarah’s life. We all talked for a while, about everything and anything, until Sarah started to look sleepy, then we all said our good-nights and went to our assigned rooms. I spent a long time thinking about Kayla, Sarah and the whole situation before sleep eventually claimed me.

The next morning I awoke early and gratefully accepted Gwen’s offer to use one of their showers to clean up before breakfast. Once I was clean I threw on some clothes mom had brought for me the day before, a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. She had brought me a clean hoodie too but I decided to hold off on that for now. After changing I quickly headed downstairs where Sarah and Jason were in the kitchen having breakfast with Gwen and her mother. Jason was dressed similarly to the day before while Sarah wore a white blouse, tan capris, and a big smile. “Feeling better today Sarah?” I asked.

“I feel great this morning Nat. The rest really helped.” Her smile seemed to get even bigger and my heart felt as though it would melt at the sight of it. Sarah was alive and smiling and at that moment nothing else was important. As we finished breakfast she sighed, “I guess we should get home soon for magic lessons. Let’s go wake Kayla up and say goodbye first though.” We all got up to go before Sarah shook her finger at Jason, “Nuh uh, Jason. You need to wait for us. Can’t have you coming and risk you seeing Kayla undressed.”

Jason seemed disappointed and was in all likelihood picturing Kayla in a state of undress as Sarah and I headed up to Kayla’s room with Dani and Verbina following. We slipped inside and sat on the end of her bed. “Okay Dani and Verbina stay above her and out of sight until I give the word,” I said in a whisper. Dani seemed to find this terribly funny and couldn’t help giggling. The giggling seemed to nudge Kayla into wakefulness as she sat up and looked for the source before her eyes focussed on Sarah and I. I wasn’t sure whether to be turned on or jealous that the Vampire still looked utterly gorgeous right after waking and it disturbed me slightly as I repositioned myself to keep the Glove out of sight.

Finally, Sarah smiled and said, “Good morning.”

Kayla, dressed in a simple black nightgown that hugged her curves, stretched and smiled back at us. “Good morning, how are you feeling this morning Sarah?”

Sarah just grinned even bigger as she responded. “All I needed was a good rest it seems, I feel great now. Thanks again for what you did.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and bit my lower lip a bit before taking a deep breath to calm myself down. Once calmed I said, “Kalya, I owe you an apology.”

She blinked sleepily at me, looking a bit confused as she asked, “What for Nat?”

I looked down at the bed while Sarah squeezed my left hand. “I… wasn’t sure if we could trust you at first. Don’t get me wrong, I like you and I think we can be great friends but I’ve been through a lot the last few months and I have trouble trusting new people. Last night I realized that you’ve been through as much as I have and in a lot less time. I feel bad that I couldn’t trust you with the whole story, even after you told us everything about what you’ve been through. After what you did for Sarah I think you deserve to know.”

Kayla gave me a beautiful smile as she admitted, “I probably wouldn’t trust me at first either if I just met me. I mean first I’m a Vampire and second, well you’ve seen how I dress.” At least she didn’t seem to be offended and I really didn’t see anything wrong with how she dresses, it suited her in my opinion. She seemed to be looking me over and I noticed her eyes moved to where my Gloved hand was hidden at my side. “What do you mean the whole story?” she asked.

“Well,” I began, “I only told you that I found a family heirloom and it changed me into who I am now. I left out a lot of details about how I found it and what exactly it is.” I slowly raised my right hand to display the Glove. She stared at the Glove for a long moment as if it was the last thing she had been expecting. “This is Titania’s Glove, it’s what changed me and I can’t take it off, it’s stuck to me until I die. It’s been in our family since we settled on the island and it had gone missing over sixty years ago. I had a little bit of help finding it.”

At this point Dani giggled again and Kayla looked above her to end up staring at the pair of Pixies in shock. After a moment she seemed to shake it off and asked nervously, “Are those what I think they are?”

I nodded and tried not to smile at her uncertainty, “Yup they’re pixies. Kayla meet Dandelion and Verbina, we call them Dani and Vina for short. They’re kind of my guardians and Dani was the one who first led me to the Glove.”

“Hi! I’m Dani!” Dandelion said in her typical chipper tone.

Verbina gave Kayla a friendly smile but was assessing Kayla as she introduced herself in a more subdued manner than Dani. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Kayla.”

“It’s nice to meet you both,” the Vampire replied, possibly still a bit shocked, before turning back to look at me dumbfounded. “These are your guardians?”

I nodded, “Yeah, you see when I warned you last night about sudden displays of uncontrolled magic attracting unwanted attention; well I know that from experience. Queen Titania decided that if I was going to live long enough to be useful I should have some protection.”

“Okay well now you have two pixies, another witch, a Were-moose and whatever the hell I am for protection.” Kayla replied as she looked at the Pixies, probably wondering what type of protection they could offer. She looked like she wanted to know more but was holding herself back from asking. “I’m curious though, why didn’t I see them before? I’d think they would attract attention.”

I looked down at the bed at that, feeling bad for not trusting her, although I still felt I was right getting to know her a bit first. “I asked them to keep their distance while we got to know you, you’ll probably see them hanging around now that we know you can be trusted. Most people can’t see them though, so don’t get in conversations with them in public places unless you want the Norms and even some of the other Unseen to think you have a screw loose.”

Sarah nodded in agreement, “And fair warning, Dani can be a bit… flighty. She may forget at times that we can’t talk so just try to gently remind her when you can get away with it.”

Dandelion looked confused at that but didn’t seem too bothered by the comment. “Of course I’m flighty that’s why I have wings.”

Kayla groaned at that, but seemed to take it in stride and we all talked for a bit longer before Sarah and I left to head home with Jason. We all promised to try to get together on the weekend if we could get some time off from magic lessons with our respective mothers. Once we were all in the truck Sarah spoke up, “I’m so glad you decided to let her in on the whole story Nat. Kayla seems like a nice girl and I think she needs good friends right now with all she’s going through.”

I nodded, “Yeah I think she’ll be cool to hang around with, and we do have a lot in common. I’ve noticed you both seem to really like her too.”

Jason blushed at that but remained quiet while Sarah grinned. “Yeah she’s cool, I think we’ll all get on great and she did save my life. I am a bit jealous though.”

“Okay I get it, Vampires are cool but seeing what Kayla is going through would you really want to be one yourself?” I asked with a groan.

She shook her head, “Oh no, it’s not that Nat. Vampires are cool but I have no desire to join her in that. I was talking about how gorgeous she is. I mean she just woke up and she still looked like some sort of teenaged Goth fashion model. And did you see how her curves filled out that nightgown?”

Jason blushed even more at that and I gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs from where I was riding shotgun. I was blushing a bit myself though, since Kayla really was hot. “She’s going to be beating off the guys at school with a stick. You better make your move quick if you want a chance at her Jason.”

Jason just shook his head, “I dunno Nat, I like her and all but I don’t think we have much in common. I doubt she’d be interested in me.”

Sarah gave him a light slap to the shoulder, “You’re a great guy Jason any girl would be lucky to have you. Besides, didn’t you see the way she was flirting with you yesterday? I think she’s interested but she’s not gonna push it unless she knows you are.”

Jason was quiet for a moment before answering. “She may act more girly than Nat but she’s still new to the being a girl thing. I don’t think she’d appreciate the attention from guys yet. You saw how she was with Eric the other day.”

I groaned, “News flash Jason. That was Eric, all girls are like that with Eric. Kayla really seemed to be enjoying teasing you yesterday. If you want to wait to be sure she’s interested and that you have stuff in common then do it. Just try not to wait until someone else goes after her instead. She doesn’t seem to really have a problem with being a girl other than looking like she’s jailbait.” Jason spent the rest of the ride home in thoughtful silence.

The rest of the week was spent mostly working on magic lessons with my mom, though Sarah would sometimes come over in the evenings and we would relax in my room. On Friday Morkio came over after dinner for a workout. I was getting used to practicing in full armor with the padding underneath, but Moriko was still a hell of a sparring partner and she kept me on my toes. She had that cat-like grace of hers but even without it she was damn good with that sword of hers and in unarmed combat as well. We were taking a break after a really good workout when Moriko took a slow sip of her water bottle. “I heard there is a new Unseen girl on the island.”

I nodded, “Yeah, Sarah Jason and I were hanging with her a bit earlier this week. Kayla’s cool. She’s a Vampire, but once you get past that and the whole Goth look she has going she seems like a nice girl.”

Moriko arched an eyebrow, “A Vampire? I’ve never seen one of those before. Is she tough?”

I chuckled at that, “Looking for another sparring partner? I haven’t seen her fight, but she doesn’t really carry herself like a fighter. But Gwen said they along with to other Vampires took out twenty Hunters. She said the Vampires are really strong and fast. I do know she doesn’t tire easily though.”

She nodded, looking thoughtful. “If she were properly trained she might make an interesting opponent.”

“Maybe you’ll get to meet her once school starts,” I offered. “Are you and your mom still looking for students for your dojo? It sucks that such a small island doesn’t give you many potential students.”

“We have a few girls and a guy who started coming for lessons since the incident with Eric. I even got Erin to start learning. Mama seems to like having others to teach. I think she misses the family dojo in Tokyo.” She shrugged, “I miss it too but I’m getting used to things here.”

I gave her a friendly slap on the back, “I’m glad you and your family are finally settling in. It’s good you’re getting students too, maybe I’ll try to convince Sarah to learn some self defense.”

She nodded, “It wouldn’t hurt her to learn. We’re starting classes again next week when school starts up. We have a beginner’s class Friday nights. Bring Sarah and this new girl by if you like and we can see what they’re made of.” After that Moriko helped me out of my armor and headed home while I went to take a much needed shower.

It was late Saturday morning and Sarah Jason and I were sitting on the couch at my place watching TV when my cell phone rang. I picked it up and hit the button to connect the call, noting that it was Kayla’s number. “Hello?”

“Hi Nat,” she replied, “Its Kayla. I was wondering what you, Sarah and Jason were up to today?”

I thought about it, we couldn’t really do much without transportation though. “Nothing much, we were about to call you and see if you wanted to come over and do something here since Jason couldn’t get the truck today.” I explained before asking, “Did you have something in mind?”

She paused before replying, “I was thinking I need to do some shopping to make my room more personal and maybe get a few other things too. You think you all might want to come? I can handle the transportation.”

“Just a sec, I’ll ask.” I turned to ask the others as I covered the receiver, “Do you guys want to go shopping with Kayla? She says she can handle the transportation.” They both nodded and Sarah grinned at the mention of shopping. “Sure we’re all game, Sarah is eager to do some shopping and Jason and I don’t mind tagging along while you both do your thing.”

“Awesome!” she responded. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be over.”

I disconnected the call and nodded to the others, “She says she’ll be here in ten.” We all went to the door and got our shoes and jackets on. It was just over five minutes later that we heard a car horn from outside. Jason was the first out the door and he suddenly stopped short in the doorway. Sarah and I pushed at him and complained until he walked out into the rain saying, “Is that a…”

Kayla was leaning against the driver side door of a red Mustang convertible. Her purple hair was mostly down but with ponytails on the sides held in place by black hair ties adorned with skulls. Her eyes were a dark violet to and she was all Gothed out, even wearing make-up; black lipstick and eye shadow to give her eyes a smoky look. She wore a purple and black corset, black leggings, what I was beginning to expect were her favorite black leather boots, and an open black leather jacket.

She grinned at Jason as she patted the car, “A 1965 Ford Mustang convertible with a 289C V8 engine, fully restored. Try not to get too much mud in it, will you?” Jason took a slow walk around the car, looking like he was in love. It was funny to look at; he was a big fan of classic cars. I was pretty impressed myself, it was a sweet ride. Sarah didn’t share our enthusiasm as she dragged me into the back seat with her. We were careful though to get the mud off our shoes. Jason climbed into the front passenger seat while Kayla got behind the wheel.

Once we were all inside the car Kayla turned up the heat to a comfortable level, put the Mustang in gear, and began the drive into town. Jason couldn’t keep quiet for long though. “Where in the world did you get one of these?” His fingers ran along the dash like he was caressing a lover.

“It’s mine,” the Vampire answered as she turned onto the road into town, “Dad and I spent a lot of time when I was growing up restoring this baby, and he gave it to me. Dad always had a thing for classic muscle cars and I grew up learning from him so I kinda caught the bug. Are you into the classics too?”

Jason nodded enthusiastically, “Hell yeah! I love classic cars; I didn’t picture you as the type to get all dirty and greasy working on them though.” Maybe this will be the thing in common Jason needed to make a move on her, I thought.

Kayla giggled in response. “I thought the same thing about you, but I did used to be a guy, remember?”

Sarah let out a giggle of her own. “It’s easy to forget that sometimes Kay, you’re so girly sometimes. Not like some guys-turned-girls we know.”

“Hey, if I’ve got to be a girl I’ll do it on my own terms,” I muttered, crossing my arms. “Nothing wrong with being a tomboy.”

Since we were entering town at that point Kayla asked, “Where to first Sarah? I want to make my room look like a teenage girl with a bit of history lives there, and maybe get some casual clothes we didn’t get at Oh My Goth.”

“Okay, let’s go to Denman’s first,” Sarah answered. Kayla nodded and took the next turn in that direction. Soon we pulled up in front of the huge old department store and climbed out of the car to run inside. Then Sarah and Kayla got into the whole shopping thing. I was glad Sarah got a friend in Kayla who seemed to enjoy it as much as she did. It might save me some suffering. We spent hours in Denman’s, and Kayla spent a lot on casual clothes and stuff for her room.

She bought several pairs of Jeans, most of them in black and some spaghetti strap tops, baby tee’s, sneakers, and some warm clothes for wet and rainy days. And of course she and Sarah had to try on everything. Jason and I left them to go look at hunting gear when they decided to look at lingerie. Neither of us needed to be seeing them try those on. Once we were sure it was safe to join them again we reunited to get some little things to decorate her room. It was mostly stuff any teenaged girl would have in her room, though we’d have to take some pictures to go into the frames we bought at some point.

Sarah thought to get her some stuffed animals as well, claiming that every girl needs at least one. Kayla seemed to prefer these stuffed animals made to look like animal skeletons and two of those, a cat and a penguin. Jason, in a surprising move bought her a stuffed moose, blushing fiercely as he gave it to her in the car. We shoved all the bags in the trunk of the Mustang and headed to Sally’s to eat.

Dandelion and Verbina joined us for lunch at the drive in restaurant and we began to talk about possibly going to the cabin later that afternoon to maybe spend the night and have some fun before school started on Monday. We were discussing plans and trying to figure out how to convince our parents when Kayla’s phone rang. After checking the phone’s display she answered, “Hi Gwennie-bee.”

I assumed it was Gwen on the other end and she had asked something as Kayla replied, “Sure Gwen, we’re at Sally’s right now so we can be there in about fifteen minutes.”

Kayla disconnected the call and put her phone back in her purse before asking, “Do you all mind if we go see Gwen at the bookstore before we head out? I’ll need to eat something before we go anywhere anyway and Gwen has some books that she thinks will help me with my ‘gift’.”

“Sure thing, it’s your car we’re in, I don’t mind if…” Jason began to answer.

“Oooohhhh! A gift?! Is it wrapped in pretty paper?” Dani interrupted, her attention now focused on the Vampire rather than sharing said Vampire’s milkshake with Verbina.

Kayla smacked her forehead, “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you all!”

“Tell us what?” I asked with my mouth full of cheeseburger.

“It turns out I’m not a Witch,” she said with a shrug. “I can’t use magic worth shit.”

“But…” Sarah began to say. I was a bit confused myself. How could she have done what she had with Sarah if she has no magical talent. I saw her use magic with my own eyes.

Kayla shook her head, “I’m something different, I can’t use magic. Aunt Helen and Gwen said I’m a Healer.” Suddenly she had all of our attention. I remembered what Titania had said about Healers and figured she would want to know about this if it were true. She continued on as I was thinking. “Umm yeah, apparently there’s not many of us but my family sometimes has girls who become Healers instead of Witches when we turn sixteen. Genevieve thinks my power may have been latent when I was Keith and getting turned triggered it and may have caused my age regression.” She looked very uncomfortable as we stared at her. “What?”

I let out a soft sigh as I spoke up. “Queen Titania is going to want to know about this. Vina can you go tell her and meet us at the cabin later? I think we found our excuse for going.” Vina nodded and took off like a shot out the open window.

Kayla turned in her seat and looked at us all, ignoring Dani, who was quietly going back to drinking the Goth girl’s milkshake. “Does someone want to clue me in?”

I gave her a long look as I tried to phrase my answer in my mind. “Queen Titania told me that I was led to the Glove because at some point soon it would be needed but she couldn’t guess as to when. It could be me or it could be one of my children that need to use it. The Sacred don’t really have the same sense of urgency about time that we do.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” she asked looking confused.

“She also mentioned Healers to me,” I answered. “She said they’re harbingers of a sort and she believes that they are born when they are most needed. She said if a Healer is born on the Island then there is a good chance something big is going to happen here in their lifetime and they will be needed.”

Sarah took my hand in hers and I smiled as she spoke up. “That means whatever Queen Titania is so worried about will likely happen in our lifetime, possibly soon.” Sarah’s touch felt so nice and I wished again that I could have more.

“So what’s that mean for us then?” Kayla asked, seeming a bit uncertain.

“It means we need to be ready.” I replied, squeezing Sarah’s hand tight. “So we all need to work our asses off to make sure we’re the best we can be at what we do and be prepared for anything. “

Jason nodded in agreement, “I think we’ll need to warn the Coven and the Council.”

“And tell them what?” I snapped bitterly. “That I have a bad feeling that something is going to the Island? We don’t exactly know what is going to happen or when.” We couldn’t go to them until we knew more, though we could keep them unofficially in the loop via our parents.

“The Coven already knows something is coming, probably the Council too,” Kayla said. “I heard Gwen, Genevieve and Aunt Helen talking. Aunt Helen said she finds it unnerving that both the Glove and a Healer re-appeared so close together and she was going to inform the Coven. And with both her and Genevieve on the Council now, it’s a good bet they’ll know soon too.” I nodded at that, not surprised that the Coven was concerned.

“Not much else we can do then until we know just what it is we need to prepare for except to work together, try to learn what we can and keep our eyes open,” Jason said with a shrug. Kyla nodded and put the car in gear to drive to The Book Mark.