Free I Wish... by Wren Emerson Page B

I'm supposed to be a witch too." I didn't even know it was coming, but suddenly I was sobbing. Saying it aloud like that made it seem so real. Somebody had lost their grip on reality and that someone might very well be me. I was scared and it seemed like my life was spinning out of control.

    He pulled me close to him in a tight hug. I resisted for a second, worried about my tears on his naked tanned skin, but then I gave up completely and just let myself break down for a while.

    I'm not sure how long we stood like that before his murmured reassurances finally calmed me. I wasn't used to crying in front of people. Tears never solved anything and I was embarrassed that Ben had seen me in a state of such raw vulnerability. He didn't say anything as he led me by the hand over to the tree. He handed me his discarded shirt. "I'm sorry I don't have anything else to clean up with."

    I dabbed my watery eyes, but stopped short of cleaning the snot from my face. It was a sweet gesture on his part, but yuck.

    He rummaged in a back pack I hadn't noticed and pulled out a hoodie that he slipped on. He braced his back against the tree and tugged me until I was cuddled next to him. It was an intimate gesture, but I didn't attempt to pull away. The reassurance of leaning against his solid chest made me feel grounded and safe and back in control of myself.

    We had been sitting quietly for a few minutes when Ben finally spoke up. "So you really had no idea you were a witch?"

    I jerked out of his arms so that I could study his face for any sign of deception. "Are you messing with me, right now? Because I'll be honest, I'm not really in a good place to laugh at this."

    "I'll take that as a no. Thistle, I have no idea how they managed to hide your powers from you for however many years, but it's true. If you are the granddaughter of Ramona Madison, then you are a witch. Every single woman in this town has some sort of power and every single man carries the genetic code for magic, but they lack whatever it is that makes it possible to actually perform a Talent."

    "This is insane. Surely you understand that."

    "It's reassuring that we're so well hidden from the world." His smile was inexplicably bitter. "Now that I know that you didn't realize you were a witch it explains a lot. I was confused by how persistent you were about being seen talking to me publicly."

    I wrapped my arms around my knees. "Ok, so say that I buy that you're a witch and I'm a witch and the entire town is nothing but a bunch of witches. That's asking a lot, but say that I do. Why would that have anything to do with whether we talked in public or not?"

    He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Didn't they tell you anything about the way things work here?"

    "Umm... something about a Coven and Matriarchs, I guess."

    "Then you must have picked up on the fact that some Families are stronger than others, right?"

    "Yeah, thirteen Families have a representative in the Coven so they are the strongest."

    He nodded. "Well, I'm not from one of those Families. Evan Spencer who squires you around school is from a Coven Family. So are James Middleton and the rest of the kids you sit with at lunch. I'm not even from Desire."

    "Then how did you end up here?"

    Ben looked away from me and examined the tree line across the field. "There is a Family, the Hunters, with the ability to seek out magic. The women in that Family spend their lives traveling the world looking for men to lure back to Desire. They can sense potential untapped magic in people. They don't bother with women because we've got plenty of our own here, but the men can be married off to some of the weaker women. Sometimes when the Hunters are out, they find orphaned or abandoned children with strong magical potential and they bring them back to be fostered by some kind soul."

    I reached for his warm hand and gripped it hard. "I assume you're too young to be one of the men they brought back. You were one of the