Home > The Witch's Guardian(5)

The Witch's Guardian(5)
Author: Anna Edwards

The entire arcade falls silent, ready to watch the show.

“Hello, Juniper.” Taya takes a strand of her blonde hair and twists it around her finger.

Juniper looks up from her drink with annoyance crossing her face. “Hi, Taya. How can I help you?”

“You can take your food and drink and leave.” Taya smiles politely, her glittering white teeth shining through the slightly smudged red lipstick around her mouth. She looks like she’s just been thoroughly kissed.

“What?” Juniper looks across to her friend who shrugs her shoulders. “As far as I’m aware, there are no rules about who can and can’t come in here for entertainment. I checked the door before I walked in,” Juniper replies, sarcasm lacing her tone.

Taya tosses the strand of hair she’s been playing with over her shoulder and sighs heavily. “They aren’t written rules, but they are known rules by everyone with half a brain. So I suggest you get up and leave before we have to take matters into our own hands and throw you out.”

“Give it a rest, Taya,” Emmie interrupts. “We’re not going to interfere with you and your little gang of idiots. We’re here to have a drink and play on a few machines. Go back to them and do whatever it is you do best.”

“You stay out of this. You have permission to come here at the moment, but it can easily be revoked,” one of the other girls next to Taya snarls at Juniper’s only friend.

I reach across to the table beside me and retrieve my drink. Bringing it up to my lips, I take a mouthful of lemonade. It’s mixed with a little special touch of my own I added when out of view of the owner of this place. An elixir that gives a natural high. There’s no need for alcohol when you have magic at your fingertips.

“God, who died and made you lot in control of this place. Get lost,” Emmie continues and then returns to her drink.

“Not until you leave,” Taya snarls, her hands placed on her curvy hips.

“We will finish our drinks and then go,” Juniper responds.

She looks angry. I can see the rosy tint to her cheeks. Taya flicks her finger in the air, casting a magical spell of displacement, and Juniper’s drink falls over and spills into her lap. A smirk crosses my face. She should’ve left without arguing. Taya’s the queen of the school both in it and outside. She commands respect, which is the reason I set her on Juniper.

“What the hell?” Juniper is up on her feet and cursing Taya. “Why did you do that?”

“Because you disobeyed an order.” Taya’s reply is matter of fact and full of meaning. There’ll be more sanctions should Juniper not leave at once.

“I can’t believe I was ever friends with you,” Juniper retorts as she grabs paper towels from the table in front of her and proceeds to try and remove some of the moisture from her clothes.

Emmie pushes out of her seat, and barging into Taya and the two guards either side of her, she says, “Just leave us alone, Taya.”

“Not until you leave.” Taya remains determined. Another flick of her wrist and a bottle of ketchup magically squirts itself all over Juniper’s hoodie.

“Stop it,” my nemesis cries, tears fill her eyes, but I also see the anger behind them. She won’t go down without a fight.

Juniper flicks her wrist this time, and a squirt of ketchup makes its way onto the front of Taya’s t-shirt, covering some of the words so now she loves ‘Lyn’ apparently.

We’re not supposed to do magic out of school, and here in the arcade there are normal people, humans, not supernaturals like us. However, I know the crowd around the girls are all supernatural. Thankfully, the humans think we’re strange and avoid us.

“You’ll pay for that.” Taya lunges at Juniper. She grabs a handful of her grey hair, and tugging hard on it, she pulls out a large clump before forming a fist and smacking it hard into Juniper’s face. “Get out. You’re a no one, Juniper. You ruined any chance of being someone when you were here last time. You’re a joke now. No one will talk to you or help you without our approval. You’ll be an outcast forever. You might as well crawl back under whatever rock it was your father dragged you out from. Go back to slumming it with your mother.”

Juniper’s eyes go wide at the mention of the woman she adores above anyone else. She flies at Taya this time and rips a chunk of blonde hair from my girlfriend’s head. They both exchange a few blows before the owner of the arcade appears.

“Enough,” he says firmly, pulling the two warring girls apart with little effort.

I’m impressed. He’s lucky Taya didn’t turn him into one of his own delicious shakes for just daring to touch her. I’ve seen enough, though. The lesson has been taught, and it’s time for me to inflict the final blow and make sure Juniper doesn’t bother me again.

Pushing off from the pool table, I stride confidently over to where the owner is still trying desperately to keep the still spitting girls apart.

“I saw everything,” I say in my most innocent of voices. “It was all her.” I point at Juniper. “She attacked my girlfriend.”

“Liar,” Juniper screams and goes to take a swing at Taya again. “She started everything.”

I pull Taya out of the owner’s arms and into mine. Tucking her into me and kissing her on the top of her head as a gesture of comfort. “It’s okay, I’ve got you now. She can’t hurt you anymore. We all know what a good girl you are.” I revert my attention back to the owner. “Juniper is new to Caspian. Maybe you should call our headmistress and let her know the trouble she’s been causing. You’ve been so good to us, allowing us a place to come and get some downtime away from our studies. I wouldn’t want to lose the accord between us all. Please. Juniper has been causing trouble ever since she came here. It’s about time she got punished for it.”

The owner glances to where I’m cradling a now sobbing Taya.

“She’s so mean. Why did she have to pick on me? I wasn’t doing anything wrong, just sitting over there, having a drink with my friends,” my girlfriend cries, the perfect actress for my plan.

The friends who were flanking Taya when she attacked Juniper break down as well. “It was so shocking. We’ve never had anything like this happen in all the time we’ve been coming here. I think I’ll be too scared to come again knowing she could be here,” one of them sobs.

My eyes narrow at Juniper. She goes to protest again but realises it’s futile. Instead, she shakes her head at me with a look on her face promising revenge. I smirk it off as Emmie comes to her friend’s defence.

“No, enough!” The owner silences everyone with a bellow of frustration.

“I can’t have people coming in here and causing trouble. This is a friendly place, and it will always remain so.” He grabs Juniper by the arm and starts to pull her away. “I’m taking you straight to your headmistress. I won’t have troublemakers like you in here.”

Emmie follows along after the owner and her friend, still trying to protest Juniper's innocence, but my plan has worked. Our headmistress won’t stand for someone causing trouble outside the academy. It may not get her expelled, but it’ll get her grounded, which will keep her away from me for the foreseeable future. I won’t have to see her unless she’s in the same class, and she’s already been warned not to look my way if she is. I’m free of my nemesis and can continue with my plan to be the powerhouse of this year at Caspian.

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