"How's England?" I asked.

I was on the phone with Trey. I hadn't spoken to him since when we said good-bye. It had already been two weeks and I felt like I was going insane without him.

"It's great. My cousins are crazy," he replied.

As if to back this up, I heard a crash and a few yells and then a burst of laughter in the background.

"What's going on over there?" I asked.

"Ummm, the kids have these toy jeeps that they can drive in and they're using them as bumper cars at the moment," Trey replied. I laughed and he chuckled.

"How are you, Caley?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Just bored," I answered.

"Miss me yet?" he asked.

"Shut up," I mumbled and he laughed.

"Why are you so proud?" he asked.

"Because, I'm a Lucia," I replied.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Never mind," I muttered. "How old are your cousins?" I asked.

"I have five of them," he replied. I let out a low whistle. "I know, right?" he laughed. "The oldest one is a year younger than me. She's going to go to one of the magic schools in England this year. The next oldest is thirteen, then there's a ten year old, an eight year old, and the youngest is three," he told me.

"Big age group," I commented.

"Yeah," he said. "So what have you been doing?" he asked.

"Nothing really. Sometimes I'll go shopping. Sometimes I'll go watch a movie. Sometimes I'll just go out for a run to keep up my endurance," I replied.

"Sounds relaxing," he said.

"I'm bored as hell," I sighed. "I'll deny it if you ever bring this up, but I actually miss Abbey," I said.

Trey let out a bark of laughter. He continued to laugh for several moments.

"Done yet?" I asked. I could hear him trying to calm down on the other end.

"I'm sorry. It's just...you...admitting that you miss Abbey of all people," he said, choking the words out between laughs.

"She could always think of something to do. I feel like a complete loser with no friends or family," I said.

"You have your dad," Trey pointed out.

I felt my heart clench in remorse, but then it was quickly replaced by anger when I thought of the recent information that I received from Elijah.

"Right," I mumbled.

I knew Trey could sense something was wrong. He sobered up quickly and took on a serious tone.

"Is everything all right?" he asked.

"We went to Central Park the other day," I told him.

I decided to skip out on telling him about how it was because of my father that my mother had died. One, because that would hardly make for good conversation. And two, because I was forbidden by Elijah to speak about it with anyone.

"What happened?" Trey asked.

"Well, we used to go there when I was younger, before he skipped out on my mom and me, to geed the ducks. And so we decided to go, just for old timesake. And it was going just fine. We talked a bit about some things, but we were still really, really distant. And then we got to the pond and I saw this little girl that looked just like I did when I was younger and she was with her father. So I went up to them and I told the father to always be there for his daughter, no matter what, because a daughter needs a caring father in her life," I explained.

"Caley..." Trey mumbled.

"I know. I was the one who ruined it. It could have been a perfectly fine day in the park, but I don't know what came over me. Just seeing that little girl and her father and the love he had in his eyes for her...I got jealous I think. It wasn't fair that she had that and I didn't," I said.

"Your father loves you very much, Caley," Trey said.

"You don't know that," I hissed, anger rising up inside of me. It pissed me off whenever he took my father's side. Especially now; now that I knew what my father had really done.

"I do know that," Trey replied.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," I said.

"Ok, then. We won't," Trey said.

We were both silent for a few long moments.

"Caley?" Trey prodded.

"What?" I responded.

"I wish I could hold you in my arms right now," he said.

My heart swoll up and I felt a lump rise in my throat. I knew I wouldn't be able to control this sudden rise of emotion.

"I should go, Trey," I said, my voice cracking.

"Ok," he said. I knew he understood. I didn't want to cry over the phone to him. I was too proud for that. "I'll talk to you soon," he said.

"Good-bye, Trey," I whispered.

"Good-bye, Caley," he replied back.

And then the line went dead.

I fell back against my bed and took Mr. Tomkins in my arms. I buried my face in his aging fur and then cried, wishing away all of the emotions that were storming inside of me.

                                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why did Elijah tell me to wear sweats?" I asked Gerrard as we made our way up the pathway to the mansion a few days after my emotional breakdown.

"You'll find out, my love," Gerrard replied.

"You really need to stop calling me that," I mumbled beside him. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes and smirked. I couldn't help but smile back.

We walked inside and he took me to the drawing room, the same room I had met Elijah in for the first time. I noticed that Isaac and Gianna were in there, as usual, as well as Dominic, who gave me a smirk and a nod when I walked in. I ignored him. Creep.

"Hello, Caley," Elijah said. "I trust you've had adequate amount of time to think."

I nodded.

I did have time to think. A lot of it. And in that time, I had decided that I would join Elijah's side. I wanted to be able to practice magic without being afraid to. I didn't want to have to hide who I was. I had done that all throughout grade school, pretending to be a teenager who didn't have any problems in her life. I wasn't about to live through that again. I was a witch and I was going to practice magic how I wanted.

And moreover, I wanted this curse off of me. I didn't want my future children to have to live with the same curse that my ancestors lived with. Just because my family line was doomed to have cursed love lives, didn't mean that I would allow that to happen. No, I was going to find the countercurse. I was going to make sure my mother didn't die for no reason. I was going to take her place.

"Well, now that you've asked all of your burning questions, we can begin the fun part," he said.

"And what exactly is that?" I asked.

"Your training," Elijah replied.

"Training?" I asked. He nodded.

"Bring her to the dungeons," Elijah said to Gerrarad, walking past us. Gianna, Isaac, and Dom followed him out of the room, leaving Gerrard and me alone.

"The what?" I asked, feeling the breath knocked out of me.

"The dungeons," Gerrard replied, his signature devilish smirk on his lips. His icy eyes were bright in amusement.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going any place that has such a negative--" I started to say.

"Stop being so dramatic, Caley. Let's go," Gerrard said, taking me by the wrist and pulling me out of the room. I fought against him, trying to dig my heels into the stone of the ground, but it was no use; Gerrard was really strong.

He led me down a flight of stairs in what felt like complete darkness. The only light that was visible was the one emanating from where we were headed towards: the dungeons. I stopped.

"Caley!" Gerrard groaned, giving me an annoyed look.

"I am NOT going down there," I said, looking at him worriedly.

"Yes you are," he said, tugging at my arm. I grabbed a hold of an empty torch socket on the wall.

"NO!" I cried, my voice echoing around me.

"Caley! Stop being difficult," he hissed. I whimpered, but with another tug, we were back on our way down to where I assumed was my doom.

The dungeons looked exactly like they did in all the oldie horror movies: smooth stone floors, uneven stone walls, torches that were lit up by fires in sockets on the walls, and an eerie chill that dispersed throughout the room. The only thing different about it was that there were no holding cells or chains screwed into the walls. Oh, and the fact that there were black exercise mats on the ground as well as several forms of equipment and a track that went around the large room. What was this place?

"From now on, you will train in here," I heard Elijah say. He had been standing by the wall, flanked by his posse.

"So when you say train, do you mean like how we do at school?" I asked.

"In a way, yes. You will build up your physical endurance and strength and you will practice magic. The difference is that your training will be far more rigorous and difficult and the magic you will be learning will not be the baby spells my brother insists on teaching you. It will be proper magic used to fight," he explained.

"How rigorous is rigorous?" I asked, feeling nervous and uncertain all of a sudden.

Elijah smirked evilly at me.

"Beyond anything you have ever imagined," he replied.

I felt an involuntary shudder run down my spine and I glanced up at Gerrard, who was also smirking. I wondered half-heartedly if I would get out of this situation alive.

"So, to begin, I would like to see for myself what exactly I have to work with," Elijah said, making his way to the center of the room. He motioned for us to follow him. We walked up to a mat that was placed in the center of the room.

"I thought Gerrard already told you everything there is to know about me," I said, shooting an accusing glare at Gerrard, who was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"He did. But I was to see your skills in action. From there, I will develop your training plan," Elijah responded.

"Ok, then what do I have to do? Show you every spell I know?" I asked.

Elijah's eyes lit up brightly and he laughed.

"No, silly girl. You will fight Gerrard," he said.

I choked on air.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You will fight with Gerrard," he repeated, tucking his hands in the pockets of the dress pants he was wearing.

I felt fear rise up inside of me as I remembered the night Gerrard had first attacked me. He was a lot faster and stronger than me, not to mention he could easily read my mind and predict my moves.

"I don't that's such a good idea," I said, my voice coming out shaky and nervous.

"On the contrary, I think it is a most excellent idea," Elijah replied. Isaac and Gianna laughed. I glared at them. I hadn't said one word to them, and they to me, but I already greatly disliked them. Stupid goons.

I was ushered onto the mat and Gerrard took his position in front of me, a glint in his eye.

"Ok, so exactly what am I supposed to do?" I asked, feeling cowardice overcoming me.

The smirk that Gerrard was giving me told me that he wasn't going to go easy on me. I was in for a magic ass-kicking.

"Do whatever you like. Just show me what you would do if you were in battle," Elijah said.

I swallowed hard and readied myself. I could feel four pairs of eyes on me and was slowly starting to freak out.

"Begin," Elijah said.

OH SHIT! RUN!

But my legs wouldn't move.

In the blink of an eye, I felt like I was being bound by invisible ropes. Gerrard hadn't even muttered anything. My legs and arms became constrained and I couldn't move. I was completely inmobile.

"Angustus!" Gerrard shouted and I felt the invisible ropes get tighter, digging into my skin. I let out a shout of pain.

"AGH! Defendo!" I yelled and the ropes loosened and disappeared.

"Sphaera ignifera!" Gerrard cried.

He held his hands out by his sides and closed his eyes. The flames from the torches flickered and grew dimmer. Two swirling balls of fire formed in the palms of Gerrard's hands. I stared at them, completely in shock.

What was this?

He yelled something I couldn't understand and the balls of fire came straight toward me. I screamed and ducked just in time. The ball of fire exploded above my head and made a mark of ash on the wall behind me. I glanced at it, extremely frightened. I had no idea what spell to use. All the spells I knew were for basic, little things, like unlocking doors and turning out the lights.

Wait! Turning out the lights!

Taking note of Gerrard's precise location and clearing my mind of all thoughts, I shouted, "Lumina Non!". The torches and candles went out and the dungeon was immersed in darkness. Before he could figure out what I was doing, I ran quickly and quietly towards Gerrard and swiftly kicked him in the groin. He let out a yell and I heard a thud.

"Lumina," I heard Elijah mumble.

The flames from the torches were restored and the dungeon lit up again. Gerrard was groaning on the ground, holding his crotch and muttering obcenities at me. I was bent over, my hands on my knees, completely winded and exhausted. I had a dull pounding in the back of my head and I felt like I was going to pass out.

"Get her some water," Elijah demanded.

I looked up at him through blurry eyes and saw that his eyes were lit up in amusement.  Isaace handed me a small glass of water and I downed it in one gulp. The cool liquid had a strangely healing effect and I could see a little more clearly now. The pounding in the back of my head lessened.

"Well, I'm impressed," Elijah said, smirking at me. Gerrard sat up now, his hand still clutching his groin. I chuckled lightly and he glared at me, his nostrils flaring.

"You're definitely a clever witch, I can give you that. You know zero battle spells and yet you still managed to ground Gerrard," he praised. I smiled.

"She got lucky," Gerrard hissed, his voice hoarse.

"But with that said, you can't always rely on luck and being clever to help you win battles. While they are both useful, they aren't always effective. From here on out, you will begin to practice and learn defensive and offensive curses and spells," Elijah told me.

"I also noted that you are extremely weak. Your mother, although clever like you, was much, much stronger than you are. You are going to have to work hard to build up your magical strength, but you are still quite strong for a witch your age with little training," he continued.

"And lastly, you really need to work on closing your mind. Even though you are able to close your mind off at the last second as you make your decision, you need to learn how to keep your mind closed off at all times during a battle. I specifically told Gerrard not to read your mind so that I could see how well you can control your's. That is another thing we will work on," he said.

"All in all, though, was I good or what?" I asked, grinning widely. Elijah chuckled.

"You did well for the first time," he said.

"Don't expect that to happen again, though," Gerrard said. He looked like he had recovered and was now standing, glaring maliciously at me. Elijah raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"That's all for now. Caley, go run three miles and then you're free to go back," Elijah said.

He turned and walked out of the dungeons, his minions following him.

I glanced at Gerrard, who was still glaring at me.

"You think you'll still be able to make babies?" I asked him, a smirk on my face.

His eyes flashed and he lunged at me. I screamed, taking off as he chased after me.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted.

"I'm going to kick your ass!" he yelled back.

"Nooooo!" I cried.

He caught up to me, grabbing me by my waist. I squirmed in his grip, but he was too strong. He had me pushed up against the cold stone wall, his warm, heavy breath in my face.

"You can't kill me. Elijah needs me," I said, trying to hold my ground and not think about the close proximity of his face and the hardness of his abs.

"Who said anything about killing? I was just going to slowly torture you," he replied, smirking as my eyes lit up in fear.

"Let go!" I shouted, fighting against him. I tried pushing him off of me, but it was to no avail. He was just so darn strong.

"Give up?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

An idea came to me and I smirked.

I leaned my face closer to his, leaving about a centimeter of space between our lips. His eyes widened in surprise.

Sorry Trey!

"I give up," I whispered, my lips hovering above his. Instead of backing off like I wanted him to, he smirked back at me.

"If you're trying to be seductive..." he began, and then he moved his lips so that they were on my jaw and then trailing down my neck. I took a sharp intake of breath and then felt his warm, minty breath at my ear. "...then you'll have to try harder," he finished, whispering in my ear.

Then he was off of me and gone and I was still leaning against the wall, feeling extremely confused.

Well, that didn't work out as planned.

__________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Hahhaa. This was a fun chapter to write. It was a nice break from the seriousness of the chapters before it. I really liked writing the battle scene, too.

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