Elara

"Wow... I mean, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking."

Elara blushed "Not it's okay, I wasn't looking either."

"I'm Nathan by the way. You must be new here."

Clara rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. Nathan was known for his magical powers as well as physical strength but he also was the ultimate playboy. Elara should not even think about letting him in.

"I'm Elara. Just arrived last night."

"Oh, so you just met the Queen. How was it?"

"Nathan, I'm sure you have a busy schedule, and so do we. So we'll see you around?"

"Clara hi, sorry I didn't see you there."

"Of course, you haven't." Clara grabbed Elara by the arm and smile "See ya!"

Clara dragged her recruit away from Nathan's smirking figure and guided her to the children's playground. All the kids were at school so it was safe to sit there and talk without being interrupted by anyone.

"Why didn't you let me talk to him?" Elara sat down crossing her arms over her chest. Nolan came into her thoughts and she felt bad for wanting to talk to Nathan.

"I didn't know you wanted to talk to him."

"Aren't you the one who told me I wasn't going to see my friends again? Well, here I am, trying to make new ones!"

Clara smiled sensing Elara's discomfort. Sure, she wanted Elara to make new friends, but good ones. Ones that will matter and will help her through her journey to become a very powerful witch. She didn't want her spending time with some asshole that was just going to use her and throw her away like a used tissue.

Clara let out a heavy sigh and looked at Elara before speaking softly, "Look, I know you're hurting. I know you don't want to be here, and this is certainly not the way you wanted to spend your life." She let out a nervous chuckle "I mean who would want to live in a training camp? I sure don't want to. But I was brought here when my mother passed away. That is when the rules changed... The Tiassili witches had every right to choose if they wanted to live here or outside the walls. They could be part of the coven and still live wherever they wanted as long as they came in when needed. It all changed when my mother was killed... The Queen decided all Tiassili witches had to live on our territory and couldn't leave. Those who didn't come back were banned from the coven."

"I'm so sorry Clara... I had no idea your mo..."

"I'm telling you this, to let you know that I don't want to be here either. But I have no choice. I either stay here or die. Yes, I want you making friends, I want you to start living your life here as you would outside these walls, coz you're not crossing them alive."

"I'm sensing a but."

Clara smiled and nodded "Yes, but you have to choose wisely. Not every Tiassili witch or warlock is a good person. In fact, the persons you can trust here are very few."

"And Nathan isn't one of them?"

"Well for one, he's the Queen's nephew. And two, he's a playboy. You don't need that kind of energy in your life, especially right now with your training coming up. Once you pass your first week of training, you'll probably have to work with him on your physical strength. Now we don't want any drama right?"

"Huh, you convinced me at Queen's nephew. Such a shame though, he's such a hottie."

They both laughed and Clara shook her head "You'll see, we have a lot of hot shots here."

They sat in silence for a little while as Elara got lost in her own mind trying to reach Laura or Sophie but it didn't work. She looked at Clara from the corner of her eyes and saw her smirking. She was caught red-handed. Elara blushed and hid her face in her palms in embarrassment.

"I don't know who you were trying to reach, but usually only telepaths can do that. Which you're not. So give it up El. It will only tire you down."

"How did you know though?"

"I don't know, I guess I learned how to read you already."

"Hey, Clara, I want to tell you I'm sorry. You're not the bitch I thought you were when you kidnapped me. You were just doing your job and I respect you for it."

"A job I hate very much. I regret showing them what I am capable of you know. Growing up, I thought if they knew how powerful I was they would give me more freedom. But it only made them want me to stay even more."

Elara raised an eyebrow "If they see a witch isn't worth it, would they let her go?"

"Maybe. But it's dangerous. They'd ban her from the coven and they might strip her of her powers. So don't be ridiculous."

"And here I thought I had the greatest idea of all times!" She exclaimed dramatically before smiling at Clara. "So, show them I'm worth it but hide how powerful I am?"

"Yup, that's the plan. You look like a genuine person, and I don't see you hurting people so I don't think you and dark magic would get along."

"Have you ever done dark magic?"

Clara stayed silent for a few minutes, tears forming in her eyes. She took a deep breath not ready to speak it out loud so she decided to show her. She reached for Elara's hand and closed her eyes.

Elara found herself in the woods, standing behind a tree. She could see a figure standing not so far from her, it was a woman wearing a red cloak holding a golden urn. Elara looked around and noticed the candles and a circle drawn around the woman. She was alone, chanting something in a language Elara couldn't understand.

Fire came out of the urn and the woman put it on the ground taking a step back. She raised her arms toward the black sky and her chanting grew louder and louder. A shadow came out of the urn floating in the air facing the woman.

Elara could make out human limbs, and a distorted face. She was terrified not knowing what the shadow was and what the woman was doing.

"In the name of our queen, you shall not rest even through death! I cast upon you a curse to walk the earth as a ghost, a lost soul, living the worst day of your life repeatedly, murdering your wife and children every day for eternity."

"Noooo!" The shadow shrieked as it went up higher in the sky, and flew down in an attempt to attack the woman, but she was quick and hit him with a ball of energy that sent him flying far away from her. In doing so, the hood on her head fell down and a tearful Clara appeared. Her face was full of remorse.

Elara was pulled out of the memory so fast that she felt dizzy for a second. She held onto the bench and looked at Clara with shock. The man killed his wife and kids but she had no right to doom his soul for eternity. Elara felt sick just looking at her.

"Elara, they'll make you do worse if they know what you're capable of. You're an elemental witch, you can control the elements, meaning you can draw more power from nature and cast more powerful spells than regular witches. If they get even a whiff of it, they'll exploit your powers. You really need to be careful."

"How could you do that to the man?"

"In a way, I knew he deserved a horrible punishment for his horrible acts, but I would have never chosen this specific way to punish him. They were the Queen's orders, and I couldn't say no."

"His wife... was she someone close to the Queen?'

"Her sister. Nathan's mom and siblings. We still don't know what happened, he just went crazy one night and butchered them in their sleep. Nathan was on a mission, that's how he survived."

"That's awful. And Dark Magic is..."

"Dangerous."

Elara looked at her connecting the dots. She remembered the meeting with the Queen and how Clara kept telling her what to say. In a way, she revealed nothing of importance about who she really was. It all made sense to her now.

"Is that why you told me to give my mother's maiden name?"

Clara smiled and nodded "If she knows who your mother is... she knows what you can do."

"Wait, you know my mother?"

"Everyone knows your mother. She was the most powerful in the coven. Some envied her, others loved her but most of them feared her. The Queen loved her dearly but used her powers for her own benefits."

"Like she used yours?"

"Sometimes worst. I can't do what your mom could do, I don't think anyone but you can do the things she could."

They stayed at the park talking about the coven, the rules, and everything Elara needed to know to fit in. they only left when Elara's belly started gurgling so loud that Clara took pity on her and led her to the food hall. Elara gasped at the number of people holding trays of food and looking for a table to sit at. She knew it was a big camp but was still surprised to see how full the cafeteria was.

She spotted a few girls her own age with backpacks on their backs and looked at Clara with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

"Those girls, they are still in high school. Do they get out of the camp to go to school?"

"No, we have a school here. With teachers and everything. I told you that already."

"Yes, but I thought it was just for little kids. So what do they do when they graduate?"

"They go to college. The Tiassili witches have a private college. There are humans in it of course, but all teachers and administration members are from our coven."

"Oh, I see. Did you go to college?"

Clara shook her head with a wave of sadness washing over her face. She grabbed a tray and started stacking food on her plate. She obviously didn't want to talk about it and Elara respected her enough to back off, so she took a tray and mimicked her mentor's movements.

Clara went outside where there was still an empty table and sat down before anyone could snatch it. Elara followed her shortly enough and they both ate in comfortable silence. Elara hadn't given up and was still trying to reach Laura.

Laura... Can you hear me? Laura, it's me Elara, please say you can hear me!

She kept repeating those words for the rest of the day no matter what she was doing, but of course, it didn't work. She was growing desperate and was about to lose hope when she remembered she could create worlds, she could probably open portals, she just had to find a way.

Elara, I miss you. I wish you could hear me, I've been trying to reach you all day.

Elara froze upon hearing Nolan's voice in her mind. She stopped the rocking chair forgetting she was sitting with Clara on the porch. How was she so stupid not to think about that? He was her soulmate after all, and werewolves were known to be able to communicate like that.

Nolan? Can you hear me?

Clara looked at Elara suspiciously "Are you okay Elara?"

She nodded trying not to cry, Nolan didn't say anything. Maybe she could only hear him but he couldn't hear her.

Nolan, I miss you too...

"Are you communicating with someone?" Clara stood up and walked up to her glaring at her "Elara?"

Holy shit! Elara where the hell are you?