I didn’t get another chance to talk to Cassie that day. When school finished, I went house hunting. After several hours of flying around looking for houses, I saw one that looked promising. The large amount of untouched land that surrounded it, pulled me in.
The house would be perfect, the forest providing the privacy I needed to come and go as a crow. I scanned the forest, and sensed that it belonged to a pack of shapeshifters. Having the wolves nearby wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as I stayed out of their territory.
I turned back to my human form and approached the house. I passed a sales sign, and a car parked on the driveway. The house looked a bit run down, with a few cracked roof panels, flaking paint by the window sills and it could do with a new door. However, it wouldn’t be hard for me to fix. I rang the doorbell, hoping the owner would be able to sell it to me quickly.
A middle-aged woman opened the door. “Hello, can I help you?”
I gave her a wide smile. “I’m interested in buying the house. Would you mind if I have a look around?”
The woman took in my appearance, wrinkles formed on her forehead. “It isn’t going to auction until next week.” She grabbed hold of the door, ready to close it when a voice sounded from the inside. “Let the young man have a look.”
The woman in front of me rolled her eyes and let out a sigh before opening the door further to let me inside.
I walked through a hallway and into the living room where an elderly woman sat on an armchair, going through a box of what appeared to be letters and photos.
She gave me a smile. “What a handsome chap. You look just like my William did when I first met him. He never could tame that hair of his.” She held up her hand. “Hold on a moment.”
I watched as she went through the box again. After a while she handed me a black and white photo of a man. “This is my beautiful William. He was taken far too soon,”
“Mum, I’m sure he has better things to do than listen to you, besides we need to get back to the care home soon,” the other woman said, annoyed.
“I don’t mind,” I said, giving the elderly lady a smile.
“How about you go and have a look at the house, while we get ourselves sorted,” the middle-aged woman said.
I gave her a nod. The living room connected to a dining room with an open kitchen. I walked back into the hallway to the stairs that led upstairs. On my way up I overheard them talking.
“I know you’re worried about the wolves, but this is nonsense,” the middle-aged woman said.
“There’s something about him. Besides, anything is better than the auction. If you didn’t need the money I’d leave this house abandoned,” the old lady replied.
Maybe I could use what I had overhead to my advantage. The elderly woman obviously knew about the wolves somehow. I surveyed the upstairs, which contained three rooms and a bathroom. I didn’t need all this space but the location of the house drew me in.
When I returned to the living room, the two women were staring at each other, but when they saw me they broke eye contact and looked over at me. Curiosity got the better of me and I sent my energies out. They were human, so how did they know about the wolves?
“What did you think about the house?” The elderly woman asked.
“It’s perfect,” I said with a smile.
The elderly woman chuckled. “I don’t know about that, but it’s definitely a home. Why is a young man like yourself interested in a house like this, wouldn’t you rather be closer to town?”
“I grew up in a house surrounded by forests and this place reminds me of that. There’s something calming about being around nature and wildlife.”
“Oh yes, the wildlife. There are plenty of large predators around these parts. I hope that won’t be a problem.” She raised her eyebrow.
“No problem at all. I don’t mind the wolves, besides they usually keep to themselves,” I said with a wink.
A wide smile appeared on the elderly woman's face. “Margret, get the estate agent on the phone. I have made up my mind. I’d rather the young man have the house.”
Margret gave her a stare before pulling her phone from the bag. She looked over at me. “We want three hundred and sixty thousand for the house. Sure you can afford it?”
I nodded. “I can transfer the money to you right now if you want.”
She let out a sigh and walked outside with the phone to her ear. A moment later she walked back in. “You’re in luck. All the paperwork has already been done while we were getting things ready for the auction. You just need to sign it. The estate agent is emailing over the deed for both of you to sign and the account number the money needs to be transferred to, but you need to get down to the estate agent to sort everything else out.”
After the contract was signed and the money transferred, Margret picked up the box on the table and headed outside.
The elderly woman approached me with a friendly smile. She placed something in my palm and put her hands around mine. “Here is the key, I don’t mind you staying here until it is officially yours. We were going to donate the furniture to charity but feel free to keep it if you want. We only came back to collect some memories. You were lucky to catch us. It was obviously God’s will to preserve this house.”
She followed her daughter outside. I watched from the front door as they drove away before heading over to the estate agent to sort out the rest of the paperwork. The house would not officially be mine for a couple of weeks, but the elderly lady had given me her blessing to stay in the house until then.
After I had moved in, I sat down on the floor, tapping into my powers within, and started to visualise a dome of energy that had certain abilities. I continued to imagine it covering the area that needed protection. When I had a clear picture in my mind, I pushed the energy outwards until it left my body and created the wall of protection I had pictured in my mind. I repeated this process several times to make sure I'd cover all my needs.
The different layers provided different protections, some were to keep enemies out, some were to retain the energy within. A spell was only as strong as the person wielding it, but luckily for me, I’d had a lot of practice over the years.
When I had finished with all the layers of protection, I went outside and transformed myself into a crow and took to the sky. It was time to figure out where Cassie lived, so I could place a protective barrier on her house too. I didn’t want anyone to come knocking on her door after sensing her energy from abilities she had not learned to control. It was easy to kidnap and shape someone that had only just discovered what they were.
The house was easy to spot, not by appearance as it looked like a typical suburban detached brick house, with a small garden surrounding it. The reason I knew that it was the right house was because of Cassie’s personal energy.
Remembering her energy from earlier and realising that it was similar to Nick’s, made hers easy to find. Because I was bound to Nick, I knew his energy signature very well and could easily seek it out.
Thinking back, that may have been the reason Nick hadn’t bothered telling me a lot about Cassie. He knew I would be able to sense her.
I woke up to the morning sun shining through my window. The clock on the bedside table showed that I had a couple of hours to spare. Too excited to continue sleeping, I got up and took a shower, humming to myself as I got ready for the day. Hopefully I would be able to talk more to Cassie today. I struggled to contain my excitement and even though there was still plenty of time before school started, I stepped outside. The warm breeze danced on my skin and a wide grin emerged on my face. I turned into a crow and flew around the neighbourhood before slowly making my way to school. I landed at the far end of the car park and transformed back to my human form behind the shelter of some trees. I made my way over to the building and walked over to my first class. A few students had already arrived, but none of them were Cassie. I scanned the classroom before sliding down in a chair with an empty seat next to i
I teleported to the forest where Freya lived. The shield around the area made it impossible to teleport directly to Freya’s cottage. For this reason, I had to make the journey the old fashion way, which involved several hours of flying. I enjoyed flying, so it didn’t bother me. During my childhood I had explored this area extensively, so I knew the ins and outs of the place and which parts allowed teleportation. The bright and colourful landscape gave the forest a magical glow, every shade of colour clearly visible. The seasons didn’t affect this place like they did in the human world. Even though the leaves on the trees changed colour, a warm breeze was always present. When in the mood, I would fly through the trees, enjoying the nature and wildlife. Sometimes I would even check in on the other magical beings th
The days went on and I tried my best to give Cassie space. I watched her from a distance, paying attention to anything suspicious. Nick hadn’t specified what may come after her. Maybe he didn’t know? Either way, I was on high alert, ready to step in and protect her if anything happened. She still hadn’t texted me, and when I saw her in school, she made no attempt to talk to me. Most of the time she sat on the other side of the classroom. Why was she avoiding me? I kept away from Mark as much as I could. The bullying got on my nerves. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone? Every time I saw him, he would slag me off or slam me into the lockers. It pissed me off. What did he have against me? When my anger boiled over, I clenched my fists and took a few deep breaths, reminding myself why I couldn’t stoop to his level and retaliate.
An uncomfortable silence arose as I drove Cassie back to the house. My fingers tapped on the steering wheel as I tried to come up with something to say. I glanced over at Cassie. She looked out the window, absentmindedly fidgeting with the necklace. Maybe I should just let her digest everything I told her earlier. It confused me how she had handled everything in a calm manner. Why had she not freaked out? Did she already know about the supernatural world? Turning into Cassie’s driveway. I turned off the engine and got out of the car. Taking a deep breath, I made my way around the car to open the door for Cassie. She glanced up at me, parting her lips as if to say something. When I met her gaze, she looked away and climbed out. I gave her a smile and closed the door behind her, letting my hand rest on the car as I watched her walk up to the porch. “Cassie,” I
After I got back from seeing Cassie, I walked around the house with a wide grin on my face.She seemed comfortable around me today. Maybe this was the first few steps of becoming friends. A strange feeling entered my body when I thought of Cassie. Nothing bad, just a feeling that I used to know her, but I couldn’t figure out why. Cassie had only just turned seventeen, so I would have remembered if I had met her before. I shook my head. It didn’t make sense. I thought about telling Nick how the week had gone. But he had told me to be careful and only get in contact if anything important happened, and he already knew Cassie was getting her powers so I didn’t think that qualified. Besides, he would probably have my head if he realised that I had feelings towards his daughter. Feeling restless, I turned into a crow. N
When Leah’s car disappeared in the distance, I transformed into a crow. Sensing her magic made me uneasy. Why could I feel Leah’s magic this time when I hadn’t been able to notice it before? I followed them. The clear sky improved my visibility, and the black mini was easy to spot from above, so I kept my distance, even though I knew they wouldn’t be able to recognise me. The trees gave way to buildings and eventually I was gliding over the rooftops. I landed in the tree next to the driveway as Leah parked up. Leah’s magical energy was easy to detect until they walked inside. Despite the protective barrier I had put up, I should still be able to detect it. But I couldn’t sense it anymore, only their personal energies. It worried me. In all my years, I had never encountered anything like this. Why did it happen? I
Turning back to my human form, I checked the time. I'd been gone almost all day. Time worked differently in some realms, so it didn’t come as a shock. Cassie had texted me, but class would finish in less than ten minutes, so I didn't bother texting her back. I scanned the car park to make sure it was deserted before conjuring up my car. I leaned against it as I waited for Cassie. A while later she walked out the school entrance next to Leah. She fidgeted with her necklace as she looked around. When I caught her gaze, her shoulders relaxed, and a smile appeared on her face as she gave me a wave. I waved back, mirroring her smile. She left Leah behind and walked towards me. Butterflies fluttered through my stomach as I pushed myself off the car to go and greet her. I wrapped my arms around her, taking in her scent of spring flowers. A bolt of electricity shot t
I spent all evening and most of the night sitting in the tree outside Cassie’s house. Nick’s words about keeping her safe echoed in my mind. When the morning arrived, I followed Leah’s car from a distance, as she and Cassie left for school. After everything I had learned, I didn't want to let Cassie out of my sight. When they reached the school grounds, I reluctantly left them to change back to my human form so I could attend class. I headed towards my first class, but before I reached the classroom, Cassie walked up behind me and pulled me to the side. My arm tingled from the shock of her touch and a warm feeling engulfed me as something tried to push itself to the surface of my mind. I looked over to meet Cassie’s gaze, but she scanned the hallway. “You okay?” I as