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Jiao inhaled the fresh scent of jasmine. The burning ember of her scented candle illuminated in the darkness of her bedroom as she sat by the windowsill, watching the sun rise on the horizon. She curled into herself, letting the sun's morning rays bring life into the empty space. The light reflected off of her dark eyes as she looked out at the array of manicured flowers that littered the backyard. She was silent, save the rhythmic beating of her heart and the soft whisper of her breathing. It wasn't like she had a choice even if she wanted to speak. The pain was always too much to bare, feeling like millions of knives ripping at her throat...it even hurt to laugh.

Jiao inwardly sighed, breathing in the scented candle's aroma as she bit the end of her pencil and looked down at the journal in her lap. She began drawing lines, aimlessly blending and shading before she decided what she wanted to draw. The sun was casting a warm orange glow into the room by the time her sketch was complete. Jiao closed her journal, placing it at the foot of her bed before stretching and beginning her day. Upon bathing and getting dressed, Jiao thought about her curse and the loathing she had festering inside of her very being. It was depressing. To never be able to say "I love you" to Felix or truly connect with him. She mentally sighed, and perched herself back on the windowsill, looking out at the golden light as it caressed the fragrant flowers. She reached for her hair brush, idly running the bristles through her onyx locks. The sunlight made her skin look radiant, the light making her dark eyes seem more amber in color. She looked beautiful, but despite her innocent and angelic appearance, Jiao was feeling far from beautiful.

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Morgan and his sister climbed out of the taxi. They had only been here a week and this was the third time he'd had to run out to the city and drag his sister back. She slammed the door and glared at her brother before all but storming off into their little cottage. Morgan sighed, running a hand through his hair. The witch had offered him a place of refuge for himself and his sister, but right now it seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. Michaline wanted no part in any of it, and only seemed to want to run away from help. He paid the cabbie and then followed his sister inside. He turned the coffee pot on and started brewing. Mic was sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV.

"You can't keep running out like that, Mic. There's nothing left for you in--"

"There's nothing for us here, Morgan! At least in the city we knew people and could make something work. Out here in the middle of nowhere we aren't doing anything!" She chucked the remote at him and stomped off to her bedroom, locking the door. She stared up at the huge sprawling mansion on the hill above them. Really, she could only see a few turrets and chimneys, but she knew what most of the outside looked like.

Morgan was also staring up at the house, but unlike his sister thinking about how to get out of here, Morgan was thinking about someone. Katrina, to be exact. It had been a few days since he'd seen her. Maybe he would go say hi later. But then, that would mean trusting his sister to be left to her own devices, which he couldn't. He sighed. And then he managed to burn his tounge on the coffee he poured for himself.

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Daylight crept in through the blinds, obstructing Mark's soundless slumber as the oppressive rays assaulted his heavily lidded eyes. He was lying on his stomach on his leather sofa, having passed out from hours of nonstop game play. It wasn't the first time he hadn't made it to his bedroom after staying up on the computer all night, nor would it be the last. It didn't surprise him to wake up with his glasses sitting askew on his face, having collapsed without covering himself up. Said abandoned blanket sat balled up at his feet, left there from all of the previous late night couch slumbers for his convenience. He buried his face in the pillow to shield himself from the brightness leaking in, blindly reaching for his phone on the end table. It took a couple of tries, a few pats on the end table's mahogany surface until it was in his hands. Lifting his gaze, he brought it out of its own nap, checking the time. It was nearly nine in the morning. Mark groaned, knowing he'd went to bed only three hours ago and he'd promised to meet Alena for breakfast today. He rested his head on the arm of the couch, huffing in frustration. It was more childish sleep depravity than anything else. With one last loud whine of protest, Mark flailed around on the cushions, remaining on his stomach in an ostentatious attempt to wake himself up enough to actually get off the couch.

He managed, dragging himself out of his living room to take a quick shower. Within half an hour he was dressed, alert, and ready to go. He meandered his way outside, shoving his phone into the pocket of jeans are his eyes squinted against the sunlight. He decided against driving, not wanting the good weather to go to waste. Mark may have hated the summer heat, but early in the morning when the sky was clear and the air was crisp, he couldn't think of anything better. It was then Mark saw his neighbor sitting outside, looking at the ground as if he hadn't moved in hours.

"Hey Liam!" Mark called, having stopped mid stride on the sidewalk. His neighbor had always been a quiet kind of guy, never saying much outside of a little small talk whenever they'd cross each other's paths upon entering or leaving their own home. To Mark the poor guy seemed miserable, just sad all of the time, and he hated seeing people like that. It didn't take long for Liam to look up; Mark emitted a warm chuckle as the lonely blonde snapped out of his reverie. "What're you doing, man?"

"Nothing," he replied, his soft voice almost inaudible, "Just enjoying the weather, I guess." He looked up from his place in front of his house, a ghost of a smile on his face, "I heard you screaming all last night."


Mark gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck, "Sorry about that, I hope I didn't keep you up. I was just trying out a new horror game I downloaded."

Liam shook his head, his smile finally blossoming out onto the surface, "I wasn't getting much sleep anyway." There was a short pause between them, one Mark thought he'd have to jump in and alleviate but Liam got there first, "What were you playing?"

"Why don't you walk with me and I'll tell you all about it. I'm heading down to the big manor thingy."

The other man looked puzzled for a moment, "King's Manor?"

"Yeah, that." Much to Mark's surprise, Liam took him up on his offer. Hauling himself off the bench, the down trodden blonde joined him on the sidewalk. Almost immediately, Mark became self-consciously aware of the height difference between them. "You are so much taller than me." The other man simply chuckled, setting a pace to which Mark quickly fell into step.

They walked along the winding pavement to the manor just several blocks away, talking about that video game that'd kept Mark up all night long. He'd even managed to make the stoic man laugh once or twice, which made him grin from ear to ear. They made it to the manor and meandered through the garden to get to the kitchen door. Mark glanced up, catching sight of movement from above. He was momentarily brought aback by the feminine figure in the window. Her pale skin glowed, the sun caught in her raven hair as she idly ran a brush through it. Mark starred longer than he should've, blushing slightly when she caught sight of him. He gave a soft smile and waved, receiving a wave in return. Quickly averting his eyes, he caught the teasing smirk playing at Liam's lips and nudged him with his elbow. Liam took his leave then, remaining in the garden instead of following Mark into the kitchen. Once inside, he sent a text to Alena, letting her know he was waiting for her.

Awakening to the sound of silence: Felix wasn't sure if that was exactly the life he depicted when he moved to New York, but at least it wasn't back home. His eyes slowly opened to the white ceiling, with a few blinks to remove the sleep from his eyes. Glancing around his room he noticed that everything was exactly the way he had left it yesterday, which meant that no burglers, animals or people had been in it.

Giving a sigh of relief with his first morning uneasiness gone, Felix rose from his bed, threw off the covers and headed for the showers. While there, he pondered a few things about what he really was doing in New York; after all, he was only covering up the truth by saying he was auditioning for Broadway (which wasn't lying, sort of). Felix was only there because some witch person said that if he helped out these people - which one of them was his girlfriend - he would be able to get a wish, and Felix really needed that wish. After all, there was something wrong with him that he wanted to wish away for good: his fear. It was hard to become an actor when the process to get to the stage nearly made him throw up. Sure, being on stage he was amazing, but the apprehension beforehand? Nauseating.

Regardless, the topic switched to Jiao, and he felt a massive pang of regret. Not wanting to dwell on the fact, he instantly threw himself out of the shower and dried himself off before making his way to his little kitchenette. Okay it really wasn't a kitcenette at all. The room was comprised of the things in life that Felix liked to keep handy and secret: his massive wine rack - which is highly stereotypical of him, but he doesn't care since he finds the stuff delicious - a microwave, a mini fridge, a sink and his coffee maker. Now, Felix knew he could just walk his way to the Manor and make his coffee there, but quite a few of them didn't appreciate the blend that he had grown up with: apparently, according the the Americans, French brew was bitter and much too strong. So be got himself a small cup, got himself dressed in a simple outfit before heading out the door.

Now, if you saw a kid like Felix walking, you would have swore that he was either on the run, or high on something. His eyes kept darting nervously from side to side, hopefully avoiding all things that could pose a threat to him or other humans that might recognize his likeness to his parents. His hands kept fidgeting, even in his pockets, as his pace was brisk and timid. He knew that the Manor wasn't far from where he was situated, but that didn't stop him from getting nervous at leaving the house. Sure, some people have mistaken this attitude for one of those gamers that never leaves his house, but Felix doesn't like the outdoors due to fear, not because his internet connection is weak.

Nevertheless, Felix made it to King's Manor with no dangerous crossings with bugs, spiders, reptiles or rapid raccoons - even though one dog was barking at him which made him almost start jogging. When he reached the house, however, he looked up to see the beautiful creature known as Jiao just finish brushing her hair, to which he instantly blushed and averted his eyes quickly. Regardless of their status as a couple, Felix was horrible with people and eye contact: it felt wrong and rudely embaressing to make eye contact with anyone - especially women. Yet, there was something else that flickered through his eyes as well as they stared at the flowers: guilt. There was a small pang of guilt that resonated through his very soul, one that refused to leave which Felix knew would eat him to the core soon enough.

So he gave a sheepish, timid wave before noticing Liam and giving him the same timid wave before bounding into the house quietly. Finally in a place of safety, Felix gave a sigh of relief before scanning the kitchen to see who was there. By the coffee was Katrina, and with the guy Mark (who lived a few blocks from Felix, actually) was Alena. Once again, he blushed at the sight of somebody he knew before mustering up the courage to give a little greeting before sitting down.

"Um..." He said at a talking voice before it dropped down as his courage did. "Bonjour à tous." He mumbled out before shuffling over to a seat in the corner to finally enjoy his bitter, black coffee - true he had brewed it earlier this morning, but how could he enjoy it with his life in danger? Non, he couldn't do that. So he sat down and took of his still-piping hot coffee, and gave a goofy smile in happiness that it was still as strong as yesterday's cup. Once everybody else was done with their meals he would go over to and fix himself a small snack - didn't want to be rude and take all of their resources.

Out of his little messenger bag he pulled out a small, black, leather-bound book. In it were journal entries that he had been diligently writing for the past 9 years, ever since he came to America. All of the entries were in French, since he wanted to be able to reread his entries - and English wasn't a very good language for him. It started off the same as any other since he came to this new life in New York.

Cher Félix,
Je vivais dans une émission de télé réalité, et c'est horrible.

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Mark smiled the moment Alena walked into the room, pocketing his phone as he walked further into the kitchen to lean against the island. He gave a polite nod to Katrina, whom he admittedly just noticed was there, feeling bad seeing as that she too lived in the Manor with Alena. He didn't dwell too heavily on it as his girlfriend's voice pulled him from his reverie, "Morning Mark. Late night?"

He chuckled in response, not surprised that she knew him so well. You can act as wide awake as you want, he figured, but there's no hiding those bags under your eyes. "You know me," he told her, "A new game came out on Steam yesterday that I just had to play." He laughed it off, though he didn't receive a response. Alena's attention was elsewhere, preoccupied with a note residing on the island. Mark shrugged it off, his attention catching when she asked him what the plans were. He watched her prepare her tea absentmindedly, "Doesn't much matter to me, Lena. Whatever you want's fine with me. I wouldn't mind going out. We'd have to take your car because I walked here, but as recompense, I'll pay."

"Um..." Mark looked back over his shoulder to see Felix in the doorway, "Bonjour à tous." Seeing that Mark didn't speak French, he responded with a curt nod and a half-assed wave. While he got comfy, Mark spawned a, what he considered, cool idea.

"Actually," he spoke up, looking to both Kat and Felix, "If it's okay with Lena, you guys can come too. It'd be fun to get out of the house for a bit. What do you think?" He looked to everyone for confirmation, or for them to completely dismiss the idea. He thought of Liam too, in the back of his mind, and wondered if he'd like to go as well. Surely, it wouldn't be impolite to ask, even if he didn't want to. His gaze fell on Alena as she finished making her tea, taking in the way her beguiling blonde tresses fell over her shoulder. A soft smile played at his lips, his posture nonchalant as he kept leaning against the counter.

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On the floor of a large room sat a large circle drawn in wax, within in the circle was a pentagram with a different colored candle at each point, within that pentagram sat a young woman, Chloe, she had soft tawny brown skin, a bushel of long brown curly hair. She sat silently, her breathing even and steady. Her hands closed, her fingers interlaced save for her two index fingers. "I call to You, Fire. Lend me your passion." She breathed and the red candle at her southeast lit and the temperature rose in the room in reply. "I call to you Earth, Lend me your strength." The green candle at her southwest lit, the ground beneath her rumbled sightly in reply. "I call to you, Wind, lend me your steadiness."The yellow candle at her northwest lit and wind tussled her hair lightly in reply. "I call to you, Water, lend me your fluidity." She said and the blue candle at her northeast lit and a light fog fell over the room, dotting her skin with moisture in reply. "I call to you, Spirit, Lend me your wisdom." She said and in reply, the clear candle at her north lit and a pulse came over her body. Her eyes shot open as all the candle's flames rose. "I ask you all, help me break this curse that has plagued my family. Spirit, give me the wisdom to understand what I must do, Water, give me the fluidity to adapt to whatever it is that will break this curse, Wind, give me the steadiness to stand tall against whatever odds my come my way, Earth, Give me the strength to continue stay strong, and Fire, give me your passion so that I may see my journey to the end." All the candles wavered in reply. "Tell me what am I supposed to do?" She begged and the flames smokes rose into the air, coming together into one cloud. Inside the cloud, an image formed. Chloe watched the image but she couldn't make it out. It looked almost like a person but she couldn't tell. The elements were showing her something but it was unclear. "The image is unclear... I can't make it out, what is it?" She asked, and felt frustration rising. She knew she needed to calm down or the elements would leave but she felt she was so close. She watched the image and it got no clearer. She narrowed her eyes to make warp the image in her favor but there was nothing

After a moment, Chloe's frustration came to a boil. "Please, Tell me!" she begged and the image wavered before all the candles went out at once. " Dammit all to hell!" Chloe cried before dropping on her back in frustration. She was so close. She knew it. There was someone in that image. Maybe it was the witch she needed to break the curse, or something. If the image was just clearer, she would have been able to go ahead with this. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed.

She didn't even know why she bothered half of the time, this has been going on for generations, what makes her any different from her ancestors? So she choose Wicca over Voodoo like most of her ancestors had. It meant nothing without a high priestess, to which she never found one that was actually connect to magic like she was. Most of the so called Priestesses were women who rebelled against their parents or just wanted something else to believe in. Basically they were a waste of time and energy, none of them had real magic, despite their beliefs.

After a moment or two of despairing, Chloe pulled herself up and took a nice long shower, after that she got dressed in a simple army green tank top, a leather jacket and some beat up old jeans. She went barefoot as she exited her wing and made her way down to where everyone seemed to be congregated but not before grabbing a book, the latest was Clockwork Angel.

She was a sucker for Young Adult Fantasy...deal with it.

"Yo." She waved to everyone. She smiled at Rhodey. She adored the gamer nerd, he was amusing, she loved to hear what came out of his mouth next. Then their was Felix, he was alot of fun. They were genuine. Alena as well, though typically she wasn't the type of person, Chloe would hang out with, she was cool enough. Then there was Evangeline. Chloe didn't even want to go there right now, as pretty as she was...She made Chloe twitch, she waved regardless however short and impersonal as it was. She then grabbed an apple and took a seat before cracking open her book, idly listening to the ongoing conversation.