Morana

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There was a tense silence following Astria's question and Senalda looked at her with distaste while the Priestess' eyes narrowed. But Marianela seemed completely oblivious to the shift in atmosphere and kept on filling her plate merrily. It was as if she was immune to the heaviness in her surroundings. As if she was a part of the family, but also a spectator.

I could not tell them the truth about what had happened the day me and Alejo had met. We hadn't spoken much more about it except the first conversation. But considering his reaction to that I had survived being hit by a truck, this lot would latch onto it and never let me leave until they found out what magic had saved me.

"I was being careless one day and walked out in front of a truck," I started, embedding the lie in truth. "But unconsciously I teleported myself to safety. I've always, at times, done magic without actually knowing that was what I did. Anyway, Alejo was there and saw it."

"You did magic in front of humans?" the Priestess asked.

Sensing what her question implied, I immediately went on, "Yeah, Alejo did memory modification stuff and so on them though, so they don't remember what happened at all."

Astria burst out laughing. "Are you to tell me that oaf knows how to do memory modification spells? That has to be the joke of the year."

My eyes narrowed on her. "Yes, I am. And yes, he can."

"Do you remember date, time, and place?" the Priestess went on. "Senalda, can you look into it and fix anything that might be an issue?"

"Of course."

"But Alejo fixed it all!" I interrupted. My patience with them was running thin.

"It's not your fault, Morana," the Priestess said kindly to me. "You didn't know any better. We'll clean it all up. We don't blame you."

"But you blame Alejo?" There was something in the way she said "you" that made it clear she blamed someone, though it was all utterly ridiculous.

"He ought to have told us of the incident," Senalda explained. "He's too weak to fix a situation like that on his own."

"He's not weak! And he did fix it," I snapped back at her.

"Morana, please calm down. It's just the facts," the Priestess said. "I'm sad to say that I failed as a witch by producing a boy instead of a daughter. He might think he can do certain things, but the truth is, he'll never amount to anything. You've spent quite some time with him, have you not? You must have noticed how weak his magic is compared to yours. Even the simplest of spells are too much for him."

"That's not true!"

"It is." She gave me a sad smile, but the sadness seemed to be for herself. "He would often try when he was younger and always overexerted himself. He isn't fit to be called a witch and I'm ashamed of being his mother."

My body shook with anger, my heart beat hard and almost deafening my ears. But only almost. I sort of wished it had completely deafened me, because her words were unimaginable.

I stood up from my seat.

"Thank you for inviting me for dinner, but it's time for me to leave," I said and then turned towards a door that led further into the house, behind which I hoped the kitchen was and Alejo.

"I know the truth can be hard to hear sometimes, but it needs to be heard," the Priestess said as I walked to the door.

"You're the one that needs to listen to the truth," I answered and ripped the door open.

As I had assumed, it was the kitchen and in it Alejo was by the sink, washing dirty dishes. He turned around and first seemed to relax upon seeing me. But then he tensed again.

"What's wrong?" he asked and put down the plate he had been cleaning and dried his hands.

"We're leaving. I can't stand another second with them," I said and walked over to him, took hold of his hand.

"What happ..." he started, but the door flung open again to reveal Astria.

She put a hand on her hip and looked Alejo straight in the eyes, contempt filled hers. Alejo bent his head as he had done when she had been in the apartment, and now I understood why he did that.

"Whatever lies you're telling her, it's better if you stop with them already now. She'll figure them out sooner or later anyway," Astria said, and my anger continued to rise.

"He's never lied to me," I defended him immediately. "I've seen him do magic with my own eyes and it's nothing like how you lot describe it. I'm proud to have him as a friend."

She shook her head at me. "Morana, you're being naïve. He doesn't care for you as a friend. If anything, he's just looking for a powerful witch to serve. That's all he's good for anyway."

I turned back to Alejo. Her words were so ridiculous they didn't even deserve an answer.

"Let's go," I repeated to him and tightened my hold on his hand.

He looked up, seemed unsure of what to do. Then his eyes landed on Astria, who sighed.

"Run along. Your new mistress is ordering you to."

I was fuming mad and wanted to yell back at her. But as soon as Alejo had received permission from her, he began pulling me out from the kitchen.

As we entered the dining room, my eyes landed on Marianela. Once again, her reaction was completely different from the rest of them. They were outraged, but she looked rather amused while smirking.

Alejo kept his head down as we walked by. Then we hurried down the hallway and over the lawn. As soon as we exited the lawns perimeter, I felt the familiar pull of teleporting. Alejo hadn't even bothered to see if anyone was looking before performing the magic.

As soon as we landed in the living room, Alejo hugged me and I returned the hug while making a promise to him in my head. A promise to make sure to find a suitable punishment for his family for how they've treated him.