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The last few days felt like a whirlwind, I couldn't concentrate for more than a couple minutes before my mind went wandering back to Kassian. Shamelessly. I hated it, I wanted it to stop but our conversation still circulates in my head like a broken record.

I had barely seen him which was a bonus for me, I wasn't entirely sure what I would say to him. Everything felt up in the air and tense at the moment and I had no clue how to act.

He'd probably go back to hating me within a second, letting his anger get the best of him. Which is why I told Nella it would be the perfect opportunity to get away from the house and all this madness by going to retrieve the Guidant's locket.

Diamond gave us the information to a witch not too far from here, she would help us create the important piece of jewellery and then Nella had the job of casting her magic upon it.

Nella grabs her keys from the side and we promptly exit the kitchen, heading for the front door. "Where are you guys off to?" Alfie questions as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

I turn to face Alfie and shrug, Nella on the other hand had her eyes wide and her body rigid. The worst liar to ever grace this Earth, so I meet her half way.

"We're going to practice magic," I say eventually.

Alfie nods towards us. "Without everyone else?"

I hum instantly. "Diamond taught us some tricks and Nella wants to practice them on me, without the pressure of everyone else." My voice explains confidently. "Right Nella?"

My elbow extends to jab her ribs as she turns to me and then Alfie. "Urmm yes, magic. Yes."

Internally I roll my eyes before taking a step back towards the door. "We gotta go," I huff out before latching onto her arm and yanking her body. "Don't want to be out when it's dark."

Alfie flicks his eyes between us carefully before smiling. "Fair enough," he salutes us with two fingers. "Have a good day."

"You-you too Alfie," Nella stutters before exiting out the door and shutting it firmly behind us.

Once we approach her car, I stand by the passenger side. "What the fuck was that?" I say bluntly.

Nella huffs out a sigh and rubs her eyes with her fingers. "I am not good at lying, okay?"

"Wow, thank you for pointing out the obvious." I say sarcastically before pulling at the handle and sliding into the car.

"We best go before someone else stops us," she rushes as she slips in beside me, putting the keys into the ignition and starting the engine instantly.

Without another word she reverses out of the drive and onto the road. "So what's been going on with you?" Nella smiles as she rests a hand down onto the steering wheel. "You've been MIA these last couple days."

"Not a lot," I say as I look out the window.

"Pffft," she says sharply. "And I'm meant to be a bad liar?"

My head turns to her and I raise an eyebrow. "And what exactly would I be lying about?"

Nella shrugs. "I dunno but you seem rather distracted in your mind," she says chirpily. "Like you've got something or someone to think about."

I roll my eyes at her and sigh. "No I don't," my voice mutters.

"Boy, you'd be such an awful actress. I have to tell you."

"That's a shame, my biggest dream was to win an Oscar." I gush dramatically.

Nella tuts at me and smiles. "You are such a pain in my ass. Why can't you just tell me? Surely it would be good to get off your chest. And besides I'm great at keeping secrets, haven't even told Mace about the locket thing."

"But you're a terrible liar," I trail off slowly.

"Not with people's secrets. I act like I'm none the wiser."

"Well good cause you promised me you wouldn't tell anyone," I say as my voice raises.

"And I haven't," she says in response. "So tell me what's going on."

I groan and look out the window again as we hit a country lane, the bright green trees cast a shadow over the road. "We've got an hour-long journey," Nella tries again. "So you better get talking otherwise it's going to be a long ride and I'll start singing the whole way."

My lips purse as I look towards the endless views of nature, the sun was shining and the air was warm. "Oh come on, it can't even be that ba--"

"Kassian and I had sex, alright? Is that what you wanted to hear?" My voice stings harshly.

The car turns silent, instantly. I finally settle back into my seat and fold my arms across my chest. I'm almost shocked by how quiet Nella is that I have to turn to look at her, attempting to gauge her thoughts.

But she smiles at the road ahead and slowly nods as she notices my stare on her. "I mean I'm not surprised," she says eventually.

"What?"

Nella shrugs. "You guys had an unbelievable amount of sexual tension that even I could feel it," she says before laughing. "Like so much chemistry, it was just bound to happen."

"I mean... if you say so." I trail off quietly.

"Oh come off it Cleo, you know you guys wanted to fuck each other from the get go," she comments. "You're very alike, strong headed, it was like fire seeing you two. You'd create carnage."

"Yeah, that's why I said it has to stop."

Nella turns to me suddenly. "It's been a couple times?"

I nod my head and huff out a breath. "But we both have mates and once my mother is gone and my curse is lifted, I want to find my mate. Seeing you and Mace and Alfie and Hope, it makes me jealous."

"You will find him Cleo, I promise you." She says confidently as she leans over to grip onto my hand, her heat radiating through my cold skin quickly.

"I hope so," I sigh out. "That's why I can't get too involved with Kassian, this might not end well if things go further."

"You think you might like him?" Nella raises a suspicious eyebrow at me.

"No," I say instantly. "Like I said, we clash, we would never work. I like the sex, he likes the sex. That is all it'll ever be."

Nella hums and nods. "I guess. Well each to their own, I'd never judge you for what you do. It's your life, do as you please."

The rest of the journey goes by quickly, Nella rambles on about Mace and Arlo. I try my hardest to understand the stories she attempts to tell but she speaks unbelievably quick and it makes my head whirl in circles.

"I think this is it..." Nella ducks her head to look up at the large stone built house in front of us.

"Yeah," I agree quietly. "I bloody hope so, I can't deal with anymore stories."

I unbuckle my seatbelt and stand from the car, stretching my legs out and my arms above my head. "What did Diamond say her name was?" Nella asks as she grabs her bag and slams the car door shut.

"Daphne I believe," I nod as we approach the large grey doors.

Nella nods back at me and brushes her knuckles against the door, loud enough for it to echo. For a moment we stand back and look between each other, unsure of what to expect. But this needed to be done and I was desperate to wear the necklace before someone else killed my mother and I'd be buried with her.

The door unlocks, squeaking against the metal before it's pulled back. The woman with pale blue eyes stares back at us, her hair matted into dreadlocks, wrinkles evident on her face as she wore a metallic lipstick.

"Can I help you?" Her voice croaks out.

I clear my throat and nod. "Yes, we're here for Daphne."

"Who is asking?"

"Diamond, Diamond Stone she's my auntie. She told me to visit you because you know about how to create a Guidant's Locket." I say slowly, enough to articulate my words for her to understand without slamming the door in our face.

"You're her niece?" She questions as she lowers her hand from the door.

"Yes, I'm Cleo."

"Well I'm Daphne," she smiles eventually. "I haven't seen Diamond in years, how is she doing?"

"She's well," Nella pitches in for me. "Hi, I'm Nella." She says as she holds out her hand.

Daphne takes it slowly and shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you," she says with a smile. "Do come in."

She moves out the way of the door and allows us to come through into the house, it smelt like burning sage and lavender. The hallway felt cold, every inch of the house was stone and the air was extremely chilled.

"So how do we go about this?" Nella questions, her voice echoing off the walls.

Daphne takes us to the back of her house, a small dark room with a tiny furnace. "I can help you make the locket, but the magic needs to be powerful enough to lock into the pendant. I hope you both know what you're doing with this, Guidant's lockets are nothing to play with."

My eyes turn to Nella as we stop around a concrete table. "We know how to do the spell, we just need the locket," I say. "And we know what we're doing with it. I'm cursed and we need it desperately."

She nods back at us. "Don't do the magic here," she tells us carefully. "It needs to be in a secluded location, where you will not be distracted. Once the spell starts, it cannot be broken. Otherwise the locket will have to be made again, it's a one luck wonder kind of thing."

Nella's eyes remain trained on Daphne, holding onto her every last word. Her throat clenches and she nods, noticing how her hands tighten to stabilise her shakiness. "Okay," she says eventually.

Daphne moves to the furnace and grabs a few blocks of gold, placing them into a container and sitting it on the fire. Then she reaches for a mould and places it directly on the table between us.

"Give me your hand dear," Daphne holds out her hand as she reaches for a small pocket knife in the draw beside her.

I place my hand in hers, palm facing towards the ceiling. Without another word Daphne slices the knife across the centre of my palm, deep into the flesh. Internally I wince but stay silent, my blood leaking out of my skin. Dripping down the sides of my hands and into the mould.

Nella heaves out a breath from beside me, covering her mouth with her hand. Daphne squeezes the last of the blood that fell from my hand and eventually lets go. I retrieve my arm and watch as she picks up the mould and spreads my blood through the little gaps.

She then takes out two hand mitts and slides them onto her arms, Nella moves beside me to see my hand but I shake my head. Daphne takes out the melted gold and pours it into the necklace along with my blood, steam wafting into the air. Heat rising against my face as it fits perfectly against the mould.

Nella grabs my hand and wraps up my dripping palm with a piece of fabric that she had found, tying it as tight as possible. Not bothering to protest otherwise I'd never hear the end of it.

"So could I have made this myself?" I question as I fold my arms across my chest.

Daphne's pale eyes turn to look at me. "Unfortunately not dear, the locket has to be a specific shape, size and the gold, it cannot be ordinary gold."

"Then what kind of gold is it?" Nella asks.

"It's blood gold." Daphne explains as she rests her hands down onto the edge of the table, peering over into the mould and watching it set.

"Blood gold?" Nella repeats.

"It is blood of thousands of witches, turned into gold." Her eyes move from mine to Nella.

"Wow," she breathes out, her mouth open in shock.

"The strength of the blood should make it easier for the spell to be cast but it can still be tricky," she nods her head towards us. "I suggest you practice as much as possible."

"I will," Nella says instantly. "My magic has become a lot more powerful than it was before."

"Keep practicing," Daphne claps her hands together. "Without that strength the locket will not settle and it will be a waste of time."

"Fuck," Nella mumbles under her breath as she pushes a hand to her forehead, I knew the pressure would get to her but we needed this. Desperately. "I have a question."

"Go on my dear," Daphne smiles towards her.

"Our friend Hope, she's got a lash of magic venom around her leg. If we kill the person who did this to her, will Hope die too if she doesn't have a locket on her?" She questions slowly.

Daphne ponders for a second and then she shakes her head. "Black magic is different to a curse, a curse is bound by the heart. The spell will simply lift when the perpetrator passes."

Nella breathes out a sigh of relief. "Well thank God for that."

"When will it be ready?" I ask as I lean over the table.

"Any moment, just letting the gold settle and it'll be ready to put on a chain. But it will not work unless you place magic upon it, don't forget that." Daphne shakes her head as she grabs the mould to give an inspection.

"We won't," Nella states boldly. "Thank you for this Daphne, how can we repay you?"

She slowly drags her eyes up to Nella's face and huffs out a smile. "Diamond has done a thousand and one things for me, I think we can let this one slide."

"Thank you," Nella grins back at her. "You have no idea how much this will help us."

"Glad I can do something for you guys," she tells us before looking at the mould. "Looks like it's just about done, don't lose it, don't break it. This is special."

"We know," I say quietly as she pops the gold from the tray, the shiny round metal in her hand with a small hole to slide onto a necklace. "I really appreciate it."

Daphne places it into my hands and gives it a squeeze. "Stay safe, whatever you're planning on doing."

"I'll try."

. . .

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