* * *
“I think we need more than a book,” I insisted. Opening my hand, I held out a small silver box. “What if they were each given a chest like this?”
“What good is a box?” Bay said, picking it up and examining it. “It looks pretty boring to me.”
Snatching it back from her, I said, “It would hold something in it. Something that the girls here would like.”
“They like boys,” Bay teased, taking the small chest back and opening it. As she looked inside, she said, “We definitely cannot fit a boy into this small box.”
“I meant like jewelry. The girls here seem to wear lots of it.” I said, not hiding my frustration with her. “Why do you have to be so ridiculous?”
Taking the box from Bay, Daisy carefully opened it. As she stared inside the box, her eyes gently glowed. The empty box soon had a soft lavender material inside.
“A piece of jewelry should go in the box...a ring,” Daisy said confidently.
With a pointed finger she began to swoop and draw lines in the air. The delicate strokes soon turned into threads of silver. As her movement became more frantic, the silver slowly began to shape a ring. When she finished, she held a band of braided silver that had a strong nest like appearance.
“The ones we choose will each be given a ring. A symbol of their vow to protect the magic,” Daisy said softly.
Taking the ring into my hand, I stared at it. “Each ring should be unique and special like a small bird egg waiting for its mother to hatch it.” With those words, I created a stone the color of sunset with streaks of red and pink. Placing the stone on the band, I inspected it closer. “Yes, this will do.”
With the book finished and a symbol of commitment in mind, we were now faced with the difficult task of finding the protectors. As we discussed ideas on where to look, a loud thump filled the room.
The Girls
At opposite end of the table, a tall red head had tossed a stack of books onto the table so hard that the solid table shook. With a dramatic sigh, she plopped down in a chair and began glaring with disgust at the pile in front of her.
A dark haired girl with soft brown eyes appeared quickly. “Camille, you could be louder,” she scolded. “We don’t want Miss Clasby to move us again.”
A blonde girl with nervous blue eyes sat down next to me and whispered to her friends, “She will tell my mother if we get in trouble. If that happens, I will be going nowhere but my mother’s shop after school.”
“She won’t move us again,” Camille said confidently. “I will be as quiet as a church mouse. Right, Michelle?”
Camille had focused her eyes on a fourth girl who standing outside the alcove. “What?” the girl said, looking confused. “What am I agreeing to now?”
“Never mind, come sit down,” Camille said, not hiding her frustration. “Let’s get this over with. I told Brandon Drygen that I would make an appearance at his baseball game.”
Michelle sat down next to her and began to pull books out of her bag. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders and she absently began to twist it. “You hate baseball. Why would you promise that?”
“The game is boring but he is really cute,” Camille said, with a devious smile.
Realizing that they were not alone at the table, Camille focused her hazel eyes on Blaze. “You are new to Starten,” she said, her words sounding more like an accusation than a question.
Blaze nodded, “We are. I take it that you are not?” With her usual confidence, she mused, “Are you the welcome committee?”
Laughing, Camille said, “Something like that.”
“Ignore her,” the dark haired girl said apologetically to us, “Her bark is worse than her bite. My name is Genevieve Silver but my friends call me Viv.”
“The loud one is Camille Black,” Viv said, pointing to the red head who rolled her eyes.
“The confused one is Michelle Elliott,” Camille said sarcastically. Then pointing to the blonde, she said, “And our quiet library mouse is Lucy Andrews.”
After the introductions had been made, the eight of us softly chatted. Blaze created a story of our families move to Starten from Great Winds. She even took the time to describe how difficult the move was on all of us and how much we were going to miss our old friends. Blaze painted such an amazing picture of the life that we had left that I almost felt sorry for myself.
With a sincere look of empathy, Viv said, “Well, you have new friends now and we are having a sleepover tonight at my house. Why don’t you join us? We can get to know each other and we can tell you about the town.”
Lucy and Michelle both brightened at the idea and nodded in agreement. Camille’s eyes narrowed as she looked harshly at Viv. After an awkward minute of silence, she finally relented.
With a dark look on her face, Camille said, “It might be nice to have some new faces around.”
“How nice of you to invite us,” Daisy said to the girls. “We would love to come”
As we were given the details of when and where we would meet, Camille began to pack up her things, “I promised Branden and he won’t forgive me if I don’t show up for his game.
“Camille is right. I need to get to the shop or my mother won’t let me come tonight,” Lucy said. Following suit, the rest of the girls began to and said goodbye.
As we watched them walk away, I said softly, “They are going be the ones.”
“I think so too,” Blaze said, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. “I really think we have found the girls.”