Stolen Halo. Mackenzie Grace
He stalked up to me. “Take the familiar off, she is causing trouble!”
“No!” I looked him in the eye even, though my face met his shoulder.
He pushed me back, and I hit the wall. “You don’t get to tell me no.” Keeper growled. He grabbed my arms and looked me in the eyes. “Now, you take that damn familiar off, or I will take it off you myself,” he threatened. “And I swear, if this is all over a toad, I’m going to smash it!”
“You can’t make me do anything!” I yelled at him, and I was proud that my voice didn’t crack or show any of the fear I was feeling.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked with voice so steady it was terrifying.
I looked away. “You can’t make me do anything,” I said again, blandly.
He swore under his breath. “I didn’t want to do this yet, but you have left me no choice, Bella, you are coming back to my home with me.”
“What! No!” I tried to back away from him, but he tightened his hold on my arms.
He looked at me deep in my eyes, and by the time I knew what he was doing, it was too late. I shook my head, but he whispered the words, “Sleep and wake only when I tell you to do so.” And then, there was nothing.
2
When I opened my eyes, I was not in the room I remember being in last. I turned my head from my position on the bed and sighed. This was not my bed, not my room, and not my house. Keeper has taken me out of the coven and brought me to his happy home, just like he said he would.
A throat cleared, and I turned my head, looking for the source of the sound, and found Keeper at the foot of the bed, watching me.
“What?” I sighed, tired of the drama and wishing for more than anything in this moment to be mortal.
“I forgot to wake you up yesterday, but you needed to be moved somewhere I could watch you,” he said.
“Okay…” I said, not seeing where he was going with this.
“You will stay with me until your seventeenth birthday, and then, I will tell you what I have been waiting for the past sixteen years.” He grinned, and I shuddered. Sixteen years—what was that supposed to mean?
“What do you mean, when the other witches turn seventeen and have their reveals, you don’t come. Why did you have to come to mine?” I asked him.
“Bella, I will give you no other answers other than you are very much not a witch,” he said and got up. He walked to the door. “And your upstairs daddy was not a happy camper for a long while.” He grinned at his words and left, locking the door behind him.
“What?” I whispered. How was I not a witch? Was what I believed I was for the past sixteen years of my life really a lie. If I have been lied to, I don’t even know what I am now. What was I supposed to believe or what I would do? Even more important, what would become of me and Trinity. Most girls look forward to their seventeenth, but not me, I dreaded it. I don’t know what is going to happen to me, and at this point, I didn’t even know who I was.
Sitting in a room with just a bed and a bathroom was one of the most boring prisons ever. At least, I was not being physically tortured, just mentally. All there was to do in this room was thinking, and I really didn’t want to do that right now, because then, I would have to think about how sucky my life is and how I have been lied to, I don’t even know how to react.
I got up off the bed and slowly made my trip to the bathroom. Maybe, I could accidentally trip over air and fall and get a concussion, at least then, something would happen. I had only been in this house a day, and I was already going nuts.
I cracked open and the bathroom door open and closed it behind me. I decided I would take a shower. Maybe, I could use up all the hot water in the process, haha! That’s it, then, everyone will have to use cold water. “Dio sono così zoppo,” I murmured and got in the shower. I stayed in the shower until the water turned cold and then stayed in another ten minutes. I got out of the shower slowly and put on a pair of sweatpants that were left for me, along with another pile of clothes. I looked at my back in the mirror before putting on my shirt. I saw the beautiful tattoo that was Trinity. Even on my skin, she still had her purple eyes, and I wished so bad I could let her off my skin, but I could not take the chance. Keeper could somehow see.
He hadn’t visited me since he told me about—no, I’m not going to think about it. I threw on the shirt that which thankfully covered all of my tattoos, except for some of her head on my neck, but as long as I had my hair down, he should not see her.
I plopped down onto the bed and watched the door for what felt like hours, until a woman came in to give me dinner. She smiled politely and set the food down at the base of the bed. I smiled at her and watched her leave and lock the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, I dove at the food like a wild animal. I shoved the hamburger in my mouth and stopped when I saw the cup that held the pill I was supposed to take in it, but nope, I was not going to take it anymore. If Keeper gave it to me, it was probably not good. I left the pill in the cup and ate the rest of the food on the plate. I put the tray of food near the door when I was done and put the pill in the night stand next to my bed; I had no trash can. I rolled my eyes. What did he think I would do with a trash can, what was so bad about it that I couldn’t even have one in the room with me. I snorted. He probably thought I would try to break out with it—me, Trinity, and trash can, the crime fighting duo. I smiled and fell asleep on the bed in a prison, where I would most likely die of boredom.
“Bella?” I heard my name being called. “Bella, can you hear me?” came the voice of a boy. “Bella?” he said again, and I looked for his voice. It was calm and sounded like music.
“Hello?” I said. “Who is there, where am I?” I asked. I stood in a void of whiteness—nothingness.
“Oh! Bella, sorry, just a second,” he said again, and the scenery changed to a forest, with tall green trees and vines and all sorts of flowers and animals, then the scene changed again, and I was at the ocean. I gasped. I had never been to the ocean. I rubbed my bare feet in the sand and smiled at the sun on my skin. “Is this one fine for you?” he asked.
“This? The beach?” I looked around.
“Hum,” came his voice again.
“Yeah, I have never been here or to any beach, really,” I said and smiled at the sounds of the birds cawing. “Is this real?”
He laughed sadly. “No, this is a dream, it’s the only way I can talk to you.” He sighed. “But don’t worry, I am coming to find you, to free you.”
“How do you know where I am?” I asked him, “Where are you?”
“Your parents sent me to find you, and I can’t be in the dream I’m too far away,” he said, and his voice floated to me.
“Your voice is pretty, it’s like music.” I was not sure why I said that, but it was true. “What is your name?”
“Aiden,” he said, “and I think you have a beautiful voice as well.”
I flushed. “Thanks,” I said, then it hit me. He said my parents sent him. “Who…who are my parents?” I asked him, looking for answers.
“What?” Aiden asked.
“Who are they, you said they sent you to find me,” I said.
“Oh, Bella,” he said sadly. “Their names are Michael and Gabrella,” Aiden told me.
I felt my eyes start to get watery. “What are they?”
“Archangels,” he said nothing for a few seconds then said. “Bella, the dream is stopping, hold on! I’m coming for you, just hold on!” Aiden said, and then, he was gone.
He was gone, and the beach was gone.