"That can't be right... I think you've got it all wrong. I'm not a witch," I said feebly.

Despite what everyone told me and the amount of evidence to prove it, I just couldn't except that I was supernatural. It was too far-fetched.

"You're just in denial. Use your common sense, Alexis. Why else would the Malin attack you at the lake house?"

"Call me Lexi," I corrected him. Only my mother called me by my full name. "And I have no idea who those people were, or what they want from me. They just keep showing up wherever I go."

"Those people looking for you were Malin soldiers," he explained. "They keep showing up because they can sense your magic, and they want it for themselves. You should have been safe with the Taylors, but we only recently learned that they are double agents working for the Malin," he said, his words laced with malice.

I felt a jolt of shock run through me. How long had Jerry and Kate been working for this other group? Was this something new, or had they been with them all along, only pretending to be Christopher and Abigail's friends?

"Who exactly are the 'Malin'?" I asked. "Jerry mentioned them too."

"The Malin," Micah began. "Are a group of people with magical abilities who use them for darkness. Their main goal is to eradicate the world of good witches.

"They do this by using a spell that transfers the good witch's magic to them. This allows them to have more power, and disables the witch enough so that they can kill them, or worse, take them to King Casimir."

"If these people are as bad as they sound, how do we know for a fact that Jerry and Kate are working with them?" I asked, still unconvinced.

"You heard the Malin soldier say they'd called them," Micah said.

He had me there. I had heard of their betrayal by my own ears, and Jerry and Kate didn't even try to dispute it.

"Besides, the Taylor house was protected by very powerful magic that was meant to keep you concealed in case you ever needed to stay there. The only two ways this magic would've been broken is if the owner of the house died, or if they manually removed the defenses," he said.

"The last I checked, the Taylor's were alive and kicking. So that leaves one option- they removed the enchantments. No doubt they'll be punished for letting you get away before the Malin arrived. Serves them right too," he snarled.

"You would have been fine, if not for their treachery. The Malin aren't as common in this world, so you're not likely to run across them on a normal day. Unless you use you use your magic, they can't sense you. The rest of the time, the Malin stay in Kapanathy."

"Kapanathy," Lexi muttered, my eyebrows furrowed. "I've never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised. Abigail and Christopher seem to have told you as little as possible. It isn't exactly something you would have learned about in your mortal geography courses," he said.

"Kapanathy is the name of our land, a country with various sectors where everyone has magical abilities in some form or fashion, and is able to use them without fear of retribution.

"Kapanathy used to be a place of freedom and opportunity. But then an evil witch took control. Now most of the country is ruled by a man who calls himself 'King Casimir'.

"He believes that witches were given their powers for personal advancement, and to dominate mankind as a superior race. As preposterous as this theory sounds, he has a way of convincing others that this is the way things were meant to be.

"People are joining his ranks every day, some from manipulation, some from fear, and others because they are brainwashed into thinking that his cause is worth fighting for.

"Those of us who oppose his way of thinking have been trying to fight back, but it's hard to know who to trust. He has the upper hand right now. So most of the time we have to sit back as he continues to decimate our country."

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked. The words came out a little more brusque than I intended them to, but my head was still throbbing. The vast amount of information Micah was throwing at me didn't help matters.

"There is an old prophecy from one of the greatest visionaries in Wiccan history that predicts these dark times. Her name was Dareene, and she was a very powerful seer who practiced and honed her skills to the point that she could have visions well into the future.

"Many centuries ago, she had a powerful vision, one that drained her of all of her energy, and eventually led to her death. On her deathbed, she told others that she saw a future where witches would fear for their lives and reject their magic.

"She warned that a tyrant would rise to power, and would lead the land to its demise with his greed for power, unless stopped. It is said that there is only one witch with the capability of stopping him. This person, nicknamed 'The Redeemer', would be the product of two very powerful dark witches. But this person would overcome her heritage to become a beckon of light for Kapanathy. They alone would have the ability to overpower the King."

Micah eyed me shrewdly. I hesitated as the meaning of his words sank in.

"Surely you don't think that person is me?" I asked, stunned.

"For decades the protectors have been working together with various covens to try and find more about the message. But, no matter what we try, no one can decipher all of it.

"The Council, who are the oldest and wisest of the protectors, have come to the conclusion that you are the person who is going to free Kapanathy of the King's grasp. Obviously they'll reconsider once they see your level of incompetency," he said under his breath, but I ignored his snide remark.

"So, you're telling me that those people who invaded my home and abducted Jerry and Kate, want me for some alleged supernatural powers I might have, and because I may be able to battle a king I've never heard of, in a land I'm not entirely sure is real?"

"Exactly," he said, ignoring my skepticism. "If they had captured you, they would have taken you straight to the King. If you're lucky, he would have killed you. But most people aren't that fortunate."

I shook my head in confusion. This was just too much to comprehend. I had enough stress in my life as it was, and now I had to worry about being some prophesized liberator who others wanted to imprison, possibly even kill?

"You're just going to have to trust me, Alexis," Micah said in response to my overwhelmed look.

"Lexi..." I reiterated. "And trust you? I don't even know you."

"Well, you said that Abigail left you a letter about this too. If you can't believe me, can you at least believe her?" He said.

"Why should I trust anything my 'mother' told me? Based on what everyone is saying, she's been lying to me my whole life!

"Christopher and Abigail convinced me that they were my parents, and that I was completely ordinary when, in reality, I'm some freak of nature. I don't even know who I am anymore..." I mumbled, picking at a rock on the cave floor.

Micah eyed me incredulously.

"Are you really feeling sorry for yourself right now?" He asked. "Whining about not knowing where you belong in the world, when people are being murdered in Kapanathy as we speak? Excuse me if I don't sympathize for you right now," he snapped at me.

I jarred backward by the malevolence in his voice.

"Can you just cut me a break, Micah? It's a lot to take in," I muttered, rubbing my forehead.

Micah was throwing bombshell after bombshell of information at me about hostile tyrants and supernatural destinies without giving me a moment to digest it.

"No, I can't, Alexis, because the fate of everyone in Kapanathy lies on your shoulders, like it or not," he said through clenched teeth. "You need to stop pitying yourself, and start acting like the conqueror that our country needs."

Micah was so upset, he was nearly quivering.

"So you're telling me that I'm just supposed to believe that all of this is true, and throw my life away, just because you say it's my destiny?" I asked, appalled. I was only seventeen, for Gods sake.

"You just have to believe me," he said, as I scoffed. "Okay, fine, don't trust me. But I am your protector, which means that we are a team, whether you want to be or not," he said, his voice as agitated as I felt.

It was obvious that he didn't like that they were paired together any more than I did.

"I don't understand why you have to be so difficult, Alexis! After everything that has happened to you, how can you seriously doubt what I'm saying is true? You heard what happened to Christopher and Abigail, saw the way the Malin killed the Taylors neighbor without question. I mean, why would I have even been in these forsaken forests if I wasn't looking for you?"

I thought this over for a minute. Everything that Micah said was true. I had seen the fireball that took Christopher's life, saw the pen move in the Taylors basement at my command. As ludicrous as it seemed, everything else he'd said was true thus far.

"Fine, I believe you- to a degree," I said. "I believe that there are corrupt people after me, and that your intentions are to help. And, honestly, the more help I have against these Malin people, the better, I suppose.

"Speaking of which, I don't understand how they keep finding me. You said Jerry and Kate lowered their 'concealment charm' to let the Malin in, but how did a soldier find me at my parent's house? I know that they would never expose me to danger like that," I said.

Or would they... I wasn't sure about anything anymore.

"Concealment charms are often shattered when the object of concealment- in this instance, that would be you- alters something.

"When your magic returned on your seventeenth birthday, the safeguards around your house disappeared. The Malin tracker was ready and waiting, so even though the signs were still weak, he was able to locate you by sensing the magic as it was reverted back to you. When your parents let him through the threshold and into your house, the last of the enchantment came crashing down, and that was when all hell broke loose.

"The Taylor's house was a different story, because that was no accident. Those cowards set you up. They tricked you into using your magic, and then released their concealment charm so the Malin soldiers could find you," he said, venom in his voice.

"Hang on, how did you know about that?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. I had never mentioned that Kate had manipulated me into using my alleged magic.

"I've been following you for weeks now," he said.

I felt immediately self conscious. Weeks?! This handsome stranger had been watching me for that long and I hadn't even noticed? Who knows what humiliating things I could have done during that time. I felt a blush creep into my cheeks, and hoped that he didn't notice.

"After you left your home, I tracked you to the Taylor's house," he said casually, as though the answer should be obvious. "I had been hiding in the bushes near the lake since you arrived, keeping a close eye on the situation. When I saw Jeremiah and Katherine's odd behavior, I knew that something was wrong. I looked into the house through the basement window, and saw everything. That's when I knew we were in trouble," he admitted.

"Hold on," I said, placing my index finger in the air. "If you were hanging around, then why didn't you help me when the Malin attacked? Since you're supposedly my 'protector', shouldn't you have done something?" I asked, more irritated than I should have been.

"There were way too many of them. It would have been suicide," he said. "Of course, I would have exposed myself if they'd found you. It's part of my duty to give my life for yours, I need be. But lucky for us both they didn't."

"Yeah... lucky," I muttered, unable to keep the bitter tone from my voice.

I'd had near death experiences three times in the last several days. I've been alone, scared, and nearly killed. I have climbed down trees and fallen into bushes. And, all the while, Micah was just standing around, watching.

But he intervened when you needed him the most, I reminded myself, feeling my irritation immediately ebbed.

"How does this 'tracking' thing work" I asked.

"Similar to the Malin, we can sense your magic, even if you're not using it," he explained. Just another ability King Casimir mimicked from our people and implanted into his little warriors," he said indignantly. "It's like I'm connected to you, fastened by an unbreakable rope. Wherever you are, I can find you and keep you from danger."

I found the entire tracking thing a huge violation of privacy. What if I didn't want to be found? Maybe I didn't want a stranger in my head that way. Then a thought crossed my mind, and my breathing hitched in my throat.

"Hold on... You can't read my mind, can you?" I choked out, panicked.

Micah shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. Protectors are trained to only use this type of magic in life-threatening situations."

"But, you could get in my head, if you really wanted to?" I asked in alarm.

"Technically, yes."

I felt my face heat. Had he heard anything I'd thought about him during the last few hours?

"But I would never do that," he said. "Nor would any other protector. It's against our rules. Tracking is a power that's instilled in all protectors from the time we're young, but it's only meant to find you in case you were in trouble, like if you were captured. Otherwise, we have the ability turned off."

I felt a little better knowing he could only get in my head if I was in trouble.

"I was first able to sense you when the attack on your house took place and the enchantment was broken," he explained. "But the connection was very weak and I had trouble recognizing it with you being so new to the craft.

"I was finally able to catch up with you when you were at the lake house, but I hesitated before revealing myself to you. I wanted to allow time for the Taylor's to explain everything, to help you understand what was happening before overwhelming you by introducing myself.

"I knew that revealing myself at the Taylors' house would be helpful because they could assure you that the protectors were real, and that I was someone you could trust.

"But before we could meet, I noticed the Malin approaching. I fell back to the lake for protection; there were too many of them to take on by myself.

"I figured Jeremiah and Katherine could help you escape, but had I known they were the reason the Malin were there in the first place, I never would have stayed hidden," he said, irritated.

"How exactly am I supposed to get away from these 'Malin' when they can sense me? It seems like they keep finding me without even trying," I asked, annoyed. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder.

"The main thing is to be inconspicuous so they can't find you. We'll have to stick to the woods, keeping quiet while we travel, and finding places to hide at night.

"And we can't make foolish decisions, especially not ones as stupid as the ones you made today," he said hostilely.

My eyes widened in bewilderment. I shook my head from side to side, trying to absorb his abrupt insult.

"What happened today was not my fault," I finally said, my temper flailing.

Too many times I had watched friends who were victims of assault being shamed and made to feel as though they provoked their attacker. I wasn't going to let Micah do the same to me.

"You should have been paying attention to where you were going," he snapped.

"Yes, you're right," I agreed. "But, I shouldn't have to! Common human decency should entitle me to be able to come across a stranger without fear of being attacked!"

"You're naïve if you really think that, Alexis," Micah said, rolling his eyes.

I felt my blood pressure rising at his words. An unfortunate reaction to anger, I tried to blink back the tears, but not before a few escaped my eyes in my fatigued state.

This bothered me more than anything else, because I knew that Micah would see this as a sign of weakness; an indication that I was more incompetent than he originally thought.

"Humph," he muttered as he watches the appalling liquid roll down my cheek. "I'm just saying, you need to be more careful. The next time you try to pick a fight, I might not be there to save your ass."

There was no sympathy in the way he ominously glared at me, or any compassion in his harsh words. If anything, he was disgusted with me for my display of emotions.

"You're forgetting that no one asked you for your help," I said heatedly.

Micah snorted. "If I hadn't saved you, you'd probably be dead. You're weak, Alexis, and there's no place for weakness in our world. Either toughen up, or the day will come when I won't be able to save you."

The flames from the fire seemed to grow higher and hotter as my temper flares, but I was too upset with Micah to notice.

"Don't act as though you're 'helping' me for any reason other than that it's your job," I said through gritted teeth. "What would have happened if I did die, Micah? I'm sure your 'protector' friends wouldn't have been very happy with you, would they?" I countered, as Micah glared at me in aversion. I had clearly struck a nerve.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," I said when he didn't respond. "Well, Micah, it has been a pleasure," I said sarcastically.

I got to my feet and places my backpack gently on my bruised shoulders. I would rather wander around aimlessly in the dark and rain, than stay in the cave with this obnoxious man for another minute.

"I'm not going to stay here and allow you to continue to insult me," I said. "I've thanked you for your help, and that's all I owe you. So goodbye, and good riddance."

"Sit down, Alexis," Micah said, but I ignored him.

Although my insides quivered at the authority in his voice, I walked defiantly toward the opening of the cave.

Before I could take another step, he was already standing in front of me, blocking the exit.

"What the...?" I asked, startled.

"I'm much faster than you," he said with the hint of a smirk. "I also know twenty different ways of restraining you. I'm asking you nicely to sit down so that I don't have to use any of them," he said with determination.

I glanced around, trying to think of alternate route, but he could see right through me.

"I'm also a lot stronger than you, Alexis, even when you're not injured. Don't even think about it," he said, as though reading my mind.

Knowing that he was right, I begrudgingly huffed over to the fire, stomping the entire way like a toddler throwing a tantrum. I plopped down, turning my back on him as I pretended to go to sleep.

But I was too angry to rest. How dare Micah blame me for being assaulted! Did he really think that I wanted to be in that situation, to have to play the damsel in distress so he could come to the rescue? If I could have stopped it from happening, of course I would have.

I didn't know Micah well, but my first impressions of him were not pleasant. So far he had been insufferable, choosing to demean me, and had made me feel ignorant for my lack of magical knowledge. He struck me as a bully, and I had always had little patience for bullying.

I stared into the flames, as the fire crackled and spit ash into the air. I didn't appreciate being kept prisoner like this. I never asked to be teamed up with this exasperating man, and he clearly didn't want to be partnered up with me either. He should just do everyone a favor and let me go. But I knew that wasn't likely to happen.

Exhaustion from the day wore on me, but sleep didn't come easily. My mind was still reeling from the conversation with Micah.

He had been so angry. Why did he allow himself to get so worked up about things that had no effect on him?

Because he cares what happens to you, a voice in my head said.

Well, if that was true, he sure had a strange way of showing it. Still, the idea that this could be the cause of his aggression eased my discomfort, and my eyelids began to close.

Suddenly, an image of my dream-man played out before me. He had soft, loving eyes, and a genuine smile that showed off all of his pearly white teeth.

Seeing this man made me feel safe and whole, like my life was complete in his presence. I felt powerful and strong, as though I could take on the world with him by my side.

My heart fluttered rapidly in my chest, filled with contentment and love. I had never cared for someone the way I cared for him, and I could see the same emotions reflected in his affectionate gaze. This man would risk everything he was and ever would be for me.

He was my lover, my best friend, my protector.

Protector... The word triggered something in my memory, and my eyelids fly open with a start.

Micah!

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© Dawn Norwell