Secrets and Lies: Prologue

Secrets and Lies seems to be what most of my life revolves around; for the past thousand years or so (I'm not big on ancient history) my mother's side of the family seems to have an interesting pattern: every other generation has a gift from our ancestor. Now I'm not talking about a family pendant or crest or some kind of objectl; no I'm talking about magical powers, you see my family is descended from Merlin himself and every other female inherits his powers. These powers aren't magic tricks or illusions but instead full on destructive, beautiful, crazy powers that can do pretty much everything, and so my mother lucked out and got the path of normality while I get stuck with a force powerful enough to destroy cities and the knowledge on how to use it without revealing it to anyone. So what are these powers you may wonder, well the list seems to go on and on: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Flight, Elemental control, talking to animals, changing the weather and a few others. The problem is I can never use them around others (except my mum), Magic has been secret for hundreds of years and for all I know I'm the only person on the planet with these powers; though I use them as much as I can and apart from the pressure of hiding them and keeping my magic under control I enjoy using them immensely. Though it seems even the power of Merlin himself can't stop my mum jetting off with her much younger boyfriend Phil to travel the states. No instead I volunteered to go and live in Forks with my dad Charlie. It's not ideal and trust me if there is a more boring place in Washington or the world then I would love to hear it but it's better than me being the third wheel in what could be a fresh start for my mum. So that leaves me here chatting to my closest friend Ghara, don't worry it's not his real name but when we first met (I was three) I couldn't say his ridiculously long name (still can't!). Well I might as well drop the bombshell now Ghara is a dragon, now not the huge fire breathing monster (well if he wants to be) but most of the time he is a small loveable creature who lives in my room; though he is not as happy about going to Forks as he could be

"So we're really doing this?" he asks as I lie down on the bed trying to relax

"Neither me or you have much choice in the matter Ghara" I pointed out knowing he had been moaning all week

"We could go travelling?" he suggests desperately

"How, you're not allowed on planes and last time we went on holiday using you as flying transport we were chased across three states by the air force" I reminded him, what a hell of a holiday that had been

"Are you still holding that against me, we got there" he retorts
"Correction I was holding on for dear life as we were chased by heat seeking missiles no Forks it is" I decided, Ghara as a dragon bonded to me when we met when I was three, he was something of a brother and mentor to me and had taught me a lot more magic than my Grandma ever knew over the years. Though being bonded meant he was coming with me regardless of whether or not he liked it

"I'm ten thousand years old and I can't win an argument with a sixteen year old what is the world coming to?" he exclaimed collapsing on my desk, I laughed at this. He was always rambling about his life and admittedly he had a lot of great adventures over the year; though me being able to beat him at anything always got under his skin, well scales.

"Ahh well at least you can fly in Forks, not many people around and no air force bases" I told him trying to lighten his mood,

"I suppose so" he sighed, he was a small thing. Grey and black scales coated his body from his deep red eyes to his twisting spiky tail, he had a selection of short white spikes running down both sides and I can tell you at full size he is terrifying. Bored as I was I starting hovering a ruler with my mind, when using Magic my eyes glow a shade of red depending on the power of the spell however it makes using magic quite noticeable, thought playing catch with Magic was a lot more fun than me trying any sport,

"So how are we getting there?" Ghara asked accepting his fate

"I'm going by plane, you can fly" I instructed

"Why can't I fly you?" he demanded irritably

"Because my dad might notice when I arrive on a house sized dragon at over a thousand miles an hour" I replied shaking my head slightly, I was leaving today and was trying to savour the last few moment in the place I had always called home and the whining of a dragon was not something I needed.

"Fine, what are you going to tell you dad? last time I was an exotic bird and he spent so much time showing me off it was unreal" he wondered suspiciously

"You're going to be the exact same bird and besides your getting lazy, it would do you some good to fly around in open space plus my dad loves you" I answered

"He tried to feed me bird treats is that how you show love to an ancient Dragon?" Ghara growled letting out a small jet of fire

"Don't spit" I commanded, he grumbled something in response, My mum shouted something from downstairs . Knowing it was almost time to go I took a look at the piles of clothes and books dotting the room

"I better pack" I decided springing into action, with a flick of the hand and my eyes glowing a deep red all my belongings zoomed around the room rushing to neatly pack themselves into my awaiting suitcase

"Hey" Ghara cried as he was caught in the flow of books gliding into the case, I giggled slightly seeing my dragon friend scramble along trying not to get hit by my stuff, eventually I was all packed and I heard my mum trot up the stairs

"Bella" she called thinking I might be asleep, it didn't take her long to see an exhausted dragon and the last pen sneaking into the case

"I hope the blinds were shut!" she warned. She was always worried about me doing magic which probably had something to do with not having it herself

"They are, I know not to leave them open when I'm doing magic" I replied soothingly

"You need to be more careful, your magic is important and I know, you know but your father does not know and he won't know for hopefully a long while" she scolded.

"He won't" I assured her quickly, she took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief
"What am I going to do without you" she asked with a drooping face

"Enjoy your time with Phil" I stated, she smiled slightly

"I'll still miss you" was her response before wrapping me in a hug

"I'll miss you too but I haven't seen Charlie in ages and you need some time to yourself" I told her. Ghara made a brief purring like noise at seeing the mother and daughter sharing a moment. When she released me from her crushing embrace she went over and stroked his scales

"You better take good care of her!" she informed the dragon,

"Of course I will" Ghara chuckled in response,

"Good and no eating pets, you don't need the calories also some people tend to like their cats and dogs" My mum continued causing him to groan in frustration,

"Fine" he conceded hitting his tail against my desk,

"Come on then we have a plane to catch" I interjected gesturing to my suitcase, it was heavy but with quick incantation it became lighter than air

"Sometimes I love magic" I whispered to myself guiding the clumpy thing down the stairs (tripping over it a few times in the process).

Later

I'm not a fan of planes to be honest and halfway into the flight I was already wishing I had gone with Ghara, the dragon flew fast enough to make it quick but steady enough to make it a pleasant journey (without the interjection of a fighter jet). Luckily I managed to persuade the hostess that I deserved an upgrade to first class, though it's nicer (with the complimentary drinks) there is still the problem of other people and in particular the person who sits next to you, it's like playing guess who. You could end up with the annoying elderly lady who never shuts up or the teenage brat who looks down your top at every opportunity, though I got lucky. I was sat next to a short pixie like girl who was very thin and had short black hair cropped in every direction

"Hi I'm Alice" was her introduction flashing me a dazzling smile

"Bella" I replied smiling back

"So why are two young things like us sat in first class" Alice wondered aloud

"The airhostess took a liking to me" I shrugged "You?"

"Same, well he was male and you know how it goes, give a man a smile and he will do anything to get lucky" she joked, I burst into laughter

"Though I assume he won't" I checked, Alice laughed. A movement that seemed to light up her pixie like face

"Defiantly not" Alice announced slightly disgusted. We chatted and gossiped for the rest of the journey and although she was more into dresses and shopping than I was (which for me is nonexistent) we got alone famously. She was funny, witty and seemed to have no boundaries, though something was behind the glamour. It was a look on her face or the occasional flash of what could be hunger from her eyes, though it was nothing compared to my look when the hostess walked forward. She was middle-aged and obviously had surgery in some vain effort to cling to her figure, her face was flat and looked stretched while her body was unnaturally thin with padding around her chest and a dark nail gloss decorating her hands .
"Attention Ladies and Gentlemen, would you please put on your seatbelts, we are approaching a storm and it could get a little bumpy" the moment the words left her lips I was practically clinging to my armrest, there was not a hope in hell I was flying through a storm, though the seatbelt sign was off and I couldn't rush to the toilet to cast a spell. I looked at Alice, strangely her eyes were open but she seemed to be vacant like her mind had gone on holiday or something, though it was risky I just can't stomach a storm, so I leaned down

"tempestas nubis derelinquat me nunc dissolvere volare ire" I chanted, I covered my eyes with my hands as they glowed a gleaming red at the powerful spell. Almost instantly the clouds began to separate and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened to the storm?" Alice wondered aloud coming out from whatever trance she was in

"No idea" I lied with ease praying she hadn't seen the flash of red emitted from my eyes. Luckily she accepted what I said and within as few moments we were back to chatting and giggling, though halfway through the conversation it occurred to me that I might not be the only person with secrets on this plane, not something about this girl screamed different but I had no clue what it was. I didn't have much time to probe into it though as it wasn't long after the pilot announced we were about to land. Regrettably I left the plane with no more knowledge about the interesting girl and after she bid me goodbye I didn't have any choice but to go and meet my new life head on.