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Kaya’s POV.

“Good morning, sister!” The door barges open, and my ears pick up the sound of someone’s footsteps stomping into the room.

I can’t be more annoyed until the blankets fly away from my body. My hands are still rubbing my eyelids as I rise halfway up.

“Wake up!” screams William’s voice again, and my eyes snap open this time around.

“What is wrong with you?” I shout at him as my brows furrow together in annoyance at his deep-rooted voice. “It’s very early in the morning, and you’re annoying me already.”

Today is supposed to be a beautiful morning, until he decides to ruin it.

He crosses his arms and looks away, which makes me shake my head at him and finally get out of bed.

“Well, maybe if your father wasn’t destroying the whole room, I wouldn’t have come in here to disturb you. Don’t you have some witchery thing to say to him to make him stop?” He informs me, and I groan inwardly.

“Our father.”

“Didn’t you hear the other things I said?” His morning voice is the worst—croaky and gross.

I am now seated on my dresser, and my ocean blue eyes dart over to his reflection as my lips twitch in a curl.

“You know, I’m starting to think maybe you’re just jealous.” As I begin, the skin on his forehead wrinkles. “You know, you’re jealous over the fact that our father, even though he’s a human, has a lot of intelligence, and our beloved late mother was a witch who could do powerful things with just her mind, and well, here I am, too, born as a witch. But you’re there, having taken Father’s gene, yet you’ve got no brain cells for intelligence or innovation. It’s such a pity now that I think of it.”

I smile when I finish packing my long, dark hair into a ponytail. I know that he will be mad, and he is indeed.

He used to be the one who annoys me so much by insulting me about my inability to grasp my witch powers yet, and this is just my payback.

Even though I haven’t been able to reach those powers, however, I have read lots of spells in my mother’s book, and I’ve learned many ways to make herbs from the woods not far from this cottage.

Williams and I walk outside, and when I reach the dining room, I stop there to pick up a piece of bread and, with my fingers, slowly break it into crumbs that I chew lightly.

“See the ruins.” He tells me as he shifts to the left, away from my sight, so I can see father.

“Oh, goodness.” My eyes wander around to see what the living area has become. “Father.” My tone is one of questioning with a hint of curiosity about what he could be creating with his technology, as he likes to call them to have destroyed the furniture.

“Kaya, you’re here. You won’t believe it.” As he climbs down from a ladder, he comes to grab both my shoulders and glare into my eyes. My eyeballs pop in shock. “I had a dream overnight. I saw a new age. I’m going to make something that I shall name radio. It’s going to be the dawn of a new age.”

“I think you need to rest.” I shift my gaze to Williams, who’s behind father, and he shrugs his shoulders at me. It made me roll my eyes.

“Nonsense. I am fine. I woke up healthier than ever before. It’s going to be born out of transmission. It’s going to be lit with a mixture of lightning in the form of what I call electricity and another entity, a powerful material from nature that attracts both the north pole and south pole together. Something I name magnet.” His face is so lit up, I could tell he hasn’t been this happy in ages.

I take a deep breath and tsk at him. “I don’t know about this, but you’re destroying the house.”

Just as I finished talking, something gurgled in the machine, and father went straight to touch it right before a small explosion occurred.

“Father!” Both Williams and I ran over to him.

There’s a cut in his wrist, and it’s close to his veins.

“I’ll go and get some herbs for him. Keep him safe.” I tell Williams before I get out of the house.

The cottage rests on a valley, which gives it the most beautiful view, and again, today, I am mesmerized. I watch as the sun beams into the mountains in the far distance, giving them a wonderful scenery, and the greenery that the woods provide not only causes me to awe every time but to praise nature as well.

I dive into the woods, and once I see the herbs I need, my thoughts drift me into the past.

The world has always hated witches, and that was because of the werewolves. They change the mentality of their followers, making them think that we are nothing but evil. Just because they can’t understand how our powers work doesn’t mean that we want to hurt people, but it is futile to explain.

I was ten when my mother died in the cause of protecting us when we were rooted out by one of the villagers, and father brought us here to this outskirt, far away from where anyone could come looking for us.

For another ten years, we’ve been staying here and living fine.

I grew up to be a witch, and Williams is a human just like father. And even though father never let me learn what it means to be a witch, he didn’t stop me from gaining the knowledge. Williams, too, on the other hand, never felt cheated, which made him the best brother ever.

“Oh, I’ve been here for a while.” I smack my own forehead and turn to head back to the valley, but my feet halt.

That didn’t happen with my consent. I look down to the ground and see a root tearing out of the ground to hold onto my feet.

“Strange.” I think to myself and untangle the root before I continue walking.

A few seconds later, another root stops me in my tracks.

“Is the wood trying to tell me something by stopping me?” My voice is audible, and I am talking to myself yet again.

I release a hum, my lips tugging downward as I bat my eyes around, before I finally proceed to leave.

A smile creeps up my face at the thought of what happened earlier. Maybe, alas, I can communicate with nature.

Walking up the valley, a growl pierces my ears.

Werewolves.

Oh, no.

In a haste, I hide behind the rocks and watch as a guard drags father and my brother out of the cottage.

In my mind, a train of thoughts wheel past. My heart is thumping hard, and my eyes are brimming with tears. I have no idea what they could do to them, but if there’s one thing father has always prepared us to have in mind, it’s to always stay hidden when that day comes when he gets taken by these monstrous beasts.

Father grunts as they throw him into the mud while Williams is locked on his knees.

“Where is the witch? Where have you hidden her?” The guard asks, and my hands clutch my mouth.

Are they looking for me?

How did they know who I was when I’ve never practiced witchcraft before, except for the knowledge that I have?

“There’s none here.” Father says with a breezy voice.

One of the other guards behind the huge one comes to speak. “Sir, they are lying. Our source confirms that she lives here.”

“Where is she?” The huge guard asks again, this time low and dangerous.

His tone is menacing. I swear, my soul jumped out of me for a second.

“You will never find her, you beast.” Williams blurts out, flaring his eyes at the guard.

“So, she is alive then. Men, I’ve got a witch to find as it is. Kill these ones.” Says the huge guard, who seems to be their leader.

My mind wants me to release myself so they can live, but my body remains hooked. I don’t know what to do.

I lost it all within the blink of an eye when Williams heart got punged by a dagger out of the blue. His eyes pop out in shock at it, and his body loses its sense of control before it falls to the ground.

“No!” I couldn’t help but scream and run towards the guards. I have no idea what I can do, but I know I am angry and burning inside of me.

At the same time, father’s heart too met the same fate. They killed both of them.

My eyes bleed as I watch them fall to the ground.

“No.” My voice is little. “NO!” My voice grows, and I cast, “I command the wind to crush your lungs.”

But it didn’t work.

I am powerless.

I couldn’t save them.

My tears run free as the guards pick me by both arms before one of them hit me on the forehead, and I lost my consciousness.