The Lost Witch

chapter nine

"Why did you walk away?" Dr. Noelle's voice was a woeful sound. Despite her perky exterior, Paige couldn't find comfort in this human's presence.

Twice a week she had to meet with this shrink. Court ordered, no way out. She was trapped in these lessons until she turned eighteen. Shane encouraged it, and the Courts agreed. They all thought these sessions would benefit her. Paige thought it was a total waste of time.

"From what I've gathered, Paige, you're quite a runner. Why not join the team?"

Paige leaned back into the chair and fiddled with the buckle on the leggings of her pants. "I don't know . . ." That was an obvious lie, and from the expression on Noelle's face, she knew it. She was an empath after all, she could probably sense lies. "It just . . . didn't feel safe."

A frown marked her face as she leaned closer. "What do you mean? You feel unsafe at school?"

"At school? No." Paige shook her head, her dark strands partially blocking the view of her therapist.

"Then what made you feel unsafe?"

Paige's eyes blurred as she imagined Aaron. He did. He made her feel unsafe. Not just because he completely screwed with her emotions. He was dangerous. Even if no one else saw it. "There's a boy on the team. He . . ." She couldn't finish, mostly because she didn't know how to finish that sentence.

A completely different expression crossed Noelle's face. Even if she kept her promise and didn't manipulate her emotions, she could probably sense how Paige felt. And the tears she held back wouldn't have helped.

"A boy? You have a lot of conflicted emotions for him. Curiosity. Fear. Excitement. Desire. Dread. It's actually quite interesting that one person can cause such a wave of emotions in you."

"Tell me about it."

"Has he . . . done something to you? Hurt you? Threatened you? Taken advantage of you?"

Paige bit her lip and wildly shook her head. She knew where this was going. Under normal circumstances, whatever she said to Noelle would be completely confidential, but if she suspected abuse, she wouldn't hesitate to report it.

"No. Nothing like that. Not at all. It's just . . . I don't feel right around him. He makes me uncomfortable."

"Why?"

"Not really sure. Look, I don't really want to talk about this."

"Of course." She jotted down something in her notebook before looking back up. "Let's talk about school, then. How was Magical Heritage? I hope you showed some restraint this time with your magic."

Dr. Noelle went from one unpleasant topic to another. Typical. It was no surprise that she had heard about yesterday's event. As her shrink, she was probably legally obligated to know about these kinds of things. Just another reason to hate her.

"School was . . ." A nightmare. Not totally unexpected. She almost flooded a classroom, after all. It was all over school. Everyone was talking about it. Talking about her. The freaky, unstable witch. What would she do next?

Kendall was back to being distant with her. And Ivy didn't waste any time in taunting her when she passed in the hall. Apparently, Ivy was a little bitter about being shown up. Ivy didn't like the competition.

There was one highlight, however.

"Ms. Schade didn't make me participate."

"Your Magical Heritage teacher?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah. Said I could take it easy today."

"Do you think you need to take it easy? Do you still feel the effects of yesterday's magic?"