Alejo

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I just kept staring at her as she took in what was inside the framed poster. So many emotions were at war inside of me.

I couldn't help but to be surprised that it had actually opened for her. How many people had tried? I didn't know. But no one had ever managed the first time they had tried. It had taken five years of me knowing Rick before the poster had. So what did it even mean? What made Morana special?

But then I also had an array of not so pleasant emotions created by the knots in my stomach. I had been stupid to ask her to touch it. The first witch I had ever met that didn't treat me like dirt and I had immediately questioned her motives and instead of having an actual conversation about it, I had tricked her.

Great. Just great.

"That's so cool," she whispered and turned.

Her expression was sweet. Such a pure and innocent awe. But almost as soon as she turned, I saw it disappear.

"What?" she asked, and I could hear the slight worry in her voice.

"I didn't think... But it let you..." I mumbled. I didn't know how to explain all the things that went on inside my head. Instead, I shook it to dislodge the thoughts and then forced a smile onto my face.

"What are you on about?" she asked. The worry in her voice had started to transform into something harder, harsher.

"Nothing. Really nothing. It's cool, right?" I said, desperately wanting to move the conversation away from the path it was taking.

"Cut the crap. Just tell me what got you scared."

She placed a hand on her hip and the word cute flew into my mind, but it was mixed with that I could see in her firm gaze that she would not let it go.

"I'm not scared," I said anyway, to try to make her give up. But I conceded and sighed. "I guess I'm surprised mainly. I... I wasn't sure it would open for you."

"Meaning?"

I could see tension in her whole body and it made me look away, unable to watch her emotions as I admitted it had been a test.

"There's a spell on it. To keep the wrong people from opening it. Firstly, you have to be magical to open it. But then... I guess the second part is about trustworthiness."

"So if you trust a person or not?"

"No. I can be fooled. That safe, or whatever you want to call it, kind of has its own consciousness. But linked to me, sort of."

"So what? Asking me to touch it was a test? To see if your magic locker deems me worthy?" she laughed. "And what precisely made you think I might not be?"

Her laugh made me somewhat hopeful she wouldn't be too mad. Enough to make me able to look at her again.

"Well, I can sense your magic. You'll be able to sense other's magic too with a bit of practice," I started to explain. I was sure it was the best path to approach it. Keeping it to straight up factual things. Rather that at least, then admit straight away that I had been worried she wasn't actually a person but conjured by my sisters as a prank. "And I just wasn't sure, now having gotten a better feeling of the magic around you. You are a witch, there's no doubt about that. But there's something off about it. Something... unsettling."

I could see I had definitely gone about it the wrong way. Everything about her seemed to tighten and tense. As if she was either readying herself to punch, scream, or simply hold herself together. Maybe all three of them.

"Fine," she said, or rather spat. "Fine. I get it. No need to explain."

She started walking back to the hall, and I quickly got up to follow.

"Hey, wait! I didn't mean..."

"You didn't mean what?" she cut me off and turned back. There was a blazing fire in her eyes.

"I didn't mean to upset you," I mumbled while cursing myself for my stupidity. I had clearly managed to hit a nerve and by her reaction, a nerve that affected her deep into her whole being.

She snorted. "Whatever. I'm used to it. I won't force my unsettling company on you any longer."

She turned again, but I quickly grabbed hold of her. That last comment had my mind spinning and a bit of understanding reached me.

"Just wait a litt..."

"Fucking let go of me!" she hissed and tugged her arm out of my grasp. "Honestly, thank you for this enlightenment. Makes my decision to leave town much easier."

"I'm sorry. Morana, please!" I begged her, but that was all I could do as she slammed the door shut.

"Fucking damnit!" I yelled towards the door. At that moment I didn't know what made me feel worse. That I had upset her or that she was planning to leave town. Because though she wasn't my mate, there was something about her and I knew I wanted to have her in my life.

I needed to apologize, explain better, and that it had more to do with my own damn insecurities than with her. And after I had, if need be, forced her to listen and earned her forgiveness, I had to, by all means, keep her from moving away.

I went back to the poster that had started the fiasco. When she had walked away from it, it had sealed itself again. I touched it to reveal its inside and took a crystal that hung from a leather string out of it. Then I went over to where she had sat on the couch while sending a small pray to the Goddess.

I let out a sigh as I saw one of her black hairs on one of the cushions. Swiftly I looped it around the crystal before gathering a map of the city and laying it flat on the table. Then I held the crystal over the map and started swing it around. In just a second, it fell onto the map very close to my apartment. I let a minute go by and then did the same thing. It landed a bit further from the apartment.

I knew there was no point in going after her while she still moved, so I spent about half an hour cleaning the apartment. When the crystal fell that time, it was on the other side of the city.

I let a minute pass and then did it again. It landed on the same place. It had to be her home.

For a moment, I argued with myself about how I should get there. I wanted to teleport, but I knew it was a stupid idea. Not because it would scare her or anything, as she had taken all other magical things in stride, she likely would rather be curious about it than scared. But because I had already used my magic more than usual that day and I had about two hours until I was expected at the coven's headquarters. I needed to reserve as much of my strength for that as possible.

I hated it, but I finally got on my motorcycle and drove to her apartment. The entire way, I tried to decide on what to say to her, without really coming up with anything good.

I started to formulate an apology when I knocked on her door. But the moment she opened, all thoughts disappeared. I could only focus on her tears and that I had caused them.