“I have to go. I must. I have to save her, she would do it for me,” Benji said.

He was seething with anger and jealousy. He wished that Rachel had remembered him. If she had, none of this would be happening. He couldn’t let her get back together with Rob. Especially after all they’d been through together. He had to find a way for her to remember him. He had to win her back and get her out of the amnesia spell. He didn’t know how he was going to do it but his heart was pulling him towards her. He had to get to her and stop Rob. He couldn’t let anything happen to her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t go with you to find the Waverly Mirror. I have to go be with Rachel!” Benji said.

“What do you mean you’re not going to come with us? We had a whole plan. Now what are we going to do?” Hunter said.

“You’re going to have to go on without me. I’m sorry,” Benji answered.

“Please tell me you are kidding,” Matilda said. “You are going to sacrifice our whole coven and the whole world for a girl who doesn’t even remember you? For someone who could care less about you or our Vladdicus Coven?”

“Stop saying that, Matilda! She WILL remember me. She will. I just have to prove to her who I am and our history together. She will come to, I know she will,” Benji said hopefully.

“I can’t believe you are throwing us to the wolves like this,” Hunter said. “This is disappointing of you.”

“Hunter, put yourself in my shoes. If this were you and Penelope would you try to save her? Would you try to save your love or would you let some other guy steal her away from you while you sit and watch idly by?” Benji said. “I don’t think you would. You have to understand where I’m coming from.”

Benji watched as Hunter looked over at Penelope and smiled. “I love you,” Hunter said to Penelope. “I love you more!” she whispered back.

“I understand, Benji,” Hunter said. “You go and do what you have to do. We will go alone. But once you get to Rachel please bring her and come help us find the mirror. We need all the help we can get.”

“Great idea, Hunter! Bring Rachel. We could use her. She’s a smart girl,” Matilda said.

“OK, you three go and I, well…we will catch up with you as soon as we can.”

“Hurry! There’s no time to waste. You have a big search ahead of you,” Benji said.

The four of them came together in the middle of the room and held out their hands to do their secret coven handshake. It’d been a while since he’d done the handshake, but felt it was an appropriate time as they were all setting out on their missions.

“1-2-3-Vladdicus!” Benji said. “We can do it guys. Stay strong!”

“Good luck, Benji,” Penelope, Hunter and Matilda said. “Hurry back to us. We can’t do this without you.”

“Please go! You will make good headway until I return,” Benji said.

With that Benji walked out onto the marble balcony, stood there for a moment and then took off into the night sky. He had to get to Rachel and fast. He knew he didn’t have much time before Rob would get there and he had to stop them from falling in love. He couldn’t let it happen. The mere thought devastated him and made his body feel weak inside. A tear rolled down his cheek just thinking of her not wanting to be with him anymore.

CHAPTER 7

Rachel ran faster than she’d ever thought her legs could carry her. She ran down the corridor of the old stone castle, running from someone or something, she couldn’t make out what or who it was, but it was scary. The scariest thing she’d ever seen in her life. She was panicked and almost in tears.

Her legs were going faster and faster as she tried to get away from this monster.

Then, all of sudden, it was gone.

She lost the monster and found herself in a field. A large open field surrounded by tall oak trees that were so tall the tops of them were in the clouds.

Then, she spotted it. A large elk with giant antlers. She ran over it to and pounced, knocking it to the ground, its hoofs kicking up in the air. Out of her fingers emerged long, sharp claws, almost like talons that would come out of an eagle or a giant fowl, and then she started attacking it, slicing its body with her sharp claws and watching the blood ooze out of the large gaping wounds. Her long, white fangs descended from her gums as she sank her teeth down into the neck of this animal. The taste of this elk was the best thing she’d tasted in a long time and she knew she wanted more. She looked around to see if there was another elk in sight, but there wasn’t. She lapped up all the blood from its lacerations and then she sat down next to it, leaning against its lifeless body. She cried. Large tears streamed down her face as she saw the blood all over her body and on the ground. She couldn’t believe what she’d done to this helpless animal.

“Why? Oh Why God? What has come over me?” Rachel asked.

She then felt her body fall down to the ground and when she looked back the elk’s body was gone. She looked around here; it was nowhere to be found.

Her body shook and she started to cough, and then she sat straight up, sweating, breathing heavy in her bed. It felt so real to her. Did that really just happen? She looked down at her hands, searching for her talons, but they had disappeared. She tried to taste the blood still in her mouth but all she could taste was the left over toothpaste that remained on her lips from the night before. It was the most real dream she’d ever dreamt.

She looked over at the clock and it read 4:45am. It was still early: Too early to get up for school. She lay there, wide-awake, staring at the ceiling, as the minutes ticked by slowly thinking about her dream. Thinking about what it all meant. I felt so real to her. It felt natural. She didn’t know what the meaning of it was, but she knew that it was more than just a dream. It was almost as if a past life was creeping into her brain. She couldn’t get it out of her head. As much as she tried to change her focus she couldn’t. Her mind kept racing back to her fangs, her talons, and the scary monster that was chasing her. It was all such a nightmare, yet all felt so real.

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

The sound of her alarm clock rang in her ear. She quickly reached over to her nightstand and pushed the snooze button. She wasn’t ready to get up. She wasn’t feeling quite like herself this morning. Maybe because she’d been up for hours already or maybe it was her dream. Somehow she felt the urge to feed. What was she even thinking? What did that all mean? It was all too confusing to her and she knew she had to get up and get ready for school.

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

The alarm went off again, this time she rose out of bed and hit the alarm off button. She knew she had to let the bad dream out of her head before she got to school. She couldn’t let it cloud her Monday morning. She had a fun week ahead of her with her friends and her afterschool activities and she didn’t want anything to spoil it.

Rachel felt excited to go to school in the morning. She’d felt like it had been a while since she was at school, even thought it had only been three days since school let out on Friday. She couldn’t wait to see her friends to talk about what had happened over the weekend. She knew they’d have some insight on what went on Saturday night that left her in a field with a strange guy.

She went downstairs to have breakfast and saw Mark and her dad already sitting there. Her dad was reading the local paper and Mark was texting on his cell phone. It was hard to talk to Mark these days since he was always on his cell. He barely lifted his eyes up from the screen.

“Morning!” Rachel said with a smile.

“Good Morning, Rachel,” her dad said.

“Good Morning, Mark!” Rachel reiterated.

“Oh..yo,” Mark said.

“Hurry up and eat, we’re going to be late,” her dad said looking at the clock on the microwave.

Rachel scarfed down a bowl of cereal and headed out to their station wagon, which sat in the driveway.

“Shot gun!” Mark yelled as he made his way to the front seat.

“Ugh! I get it next time,” Rachel said.

“At least we don’t have to fight Sarah for it!” Mark said.

“Ha. True!” Rachel agreed.

As the three of them drove to school, she couldn’t help but think about this past weekend and how strange it all felt. She kept playing back her time in the field with Benji but for some reason the pieces didn’t fit together. She couldn’t make sense of it all.

BUZZ BUZZ

Her cell phone went off and she opened it and saw a text from Dana.

Dana: Hey! You on your way?

Rachel: Yup! Coming now!

Dana: We are all here! WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU!

Rachel: Ditto!

Rachel didn’t know what the whole fanfare was all about or why Dana would be texting her so early. Especially since she knew she’d see her in a few minutes at school. It seemed odd to her, but she didn’t question it.

As the car pulled into the semi circular driveway of her high school, she felt at ease. She couldn’t wait to catch up with her friends and she couldn’t wait to see what she got on her math test from last week. It was going to be an exciting day.

“Rachel, I want you to go visit your mother this afternoon,” her dad said.

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“I think it’s time you two got together,” her dad answered.

“But…” Rachel said.

“There are no buts. You will go today after school,” her dad demanded.

“Fine!” Rachel said.

“I will pick you up at three and we will drive there together. Mark you will come, too,” her dad said.

“I can’t go today, Dad. I have practice. Don’t you remember?” Mark said.

“Ok, fine. You will go later in the week then.”

Rachel got out of the back seat of the car, slammed the door shut and walked towards the front entrance of the school. She was immediately taken back by all the stares and whispers from upper and lower classmen. Even kids she didn’t recognize were turning their heads and staring at her as if she were some alien from outer space. She touched her face and her hair to make sure she didn’t have a booger coming out of her nose or her hair wasn’t standing straight up. She looked down at her clothes, too, but there was nothing out of place. The stares and whispers grew louder as she walked in through the front doors.