"What do you mean you are not worried?" Melina shouted at Tristan.
After texting Roy, his best advice to her was gathering everyone after school at the diner and telling them what she saw. Melina had waited anxiously through out the rest of the day. In between her classes, she texted Tristan, Titania, Felix, and Rhonda. Roy and his brothers would already be at the diner by the time everyone gathered.
An hour later was when everyone arrived. They dragged chairs from the other tables and formed a circle. Melina was the only one was standing. She stood in the center, looking at all of them, her nerves stretched almost to the breaking point. She then told them about seeing Aradia ditching school to go off with a guy on a motorcycle. At first, the group reaction was denial and then worry. Tristan, however, had interrupted and confused everyone by stating that he was not worried about this turn of events. Needless to say, Melina was shocked and confused. Tristan then sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"I am not worried," he explained, "because this is Aradia we are talking about here. She is the most good natured, well intentioned, and selfless person I know. She took the rap for me when I was about to be arrested during her freshman year. She throws free parties to promote tolerance among the hidden races for Christ's sake. How much can she possibly change?"
Melina sighed heavily. "I think you are forgetting that she has recently had her heart broken, she has stopped throwing the parties, she was raped, and has repeated her junior year in high school."
"What's your point?" Tristan asked callously.
Melina took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke, "my point she has been through a lot lately. She's very vulnerable at this moment."
"Vulnerable?" Tristan snorted, "she's the last witch! She can do all kinds of things..."
"I meant emotionally vulnerable you idiot," Melina snapped, "just because she can control things like fire does not mean she can control her own emotions."
Tristan sighed heavily at this point and glanced away.
A thick pause passed before someone spoke. It was Rhonda who broke the silence by asking, "what should we do?"
At first, Melina was enthusiastic about finally being taking seriously. Her enthusiastic expression however melted at Rhonda's question.
Tristan noticed Melina's hesitation and said, "look the fact of it is we know Aradia is acting weird but there is really nothing we can do about it. We don't know where she is or who she is with. Furthermore, she's being avoiding us for the last two months so why the hell would she listen to us?!"
"Just what are you saying exactly?" Melina demanded while crossing her arms.
"What I am saying is this," Tristan as he finally stood up and faced down Melina. "Aradia maybe going nuts but there is jack shit we can do about it." He then reached for his coat to sling over his shoulder. Titania followed at his heels.
He did stop, however, to look over his shoulder and add, "besides this is Salem how much trouble can she get into here?"
Aradia racked her brain, trying to think of an excuse for skipping school. At least an excuse that could convince her parents not to punish her.
"You know what I find hilarious?" Saul asked.
Aradia shook her head. "What?"
"The fact that you have so many unfounded fears."
Aradia looked up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Saul groaned loudly. "Unfounded fears are fears that have absolutely no basis in fact whatsoever."
"I know what unfounded fears mean," Aradia snaps, "what I mean is...well what do you mean I have unfounded fears?"
Saul sighed. "What part of having incredible powers over all the elements don't you seem to understand?"
"huh?"
"Oh for Christ's sake Aradia," Saul cried, "you can do anything whenever you want to do it. You can have anything as well. You shouldn't have to answer to a couple of humans."
Aradia's eyes narrowed. "Those 'humans' happen to be my parents."
"Yeah I know," Saul said, "but that doesn't meant you have to answer to them."
"What?"
"Think about it," Saul explained, "you are the most powerful hidden on the planet. All the vampires, werewolves, faes, and other hidden races fear you. Why the hell should you be afraid of your father punishing you? What can he really do to you? Hit you? Beat you? You're ten times stronger than him. You could break him in five different ways without any problem."
"He could ground me..." Aradia started but Saul interrupted, "so? How is he going to enforce that? You could just control the metal elements in the house to make all the locks unable to lock. How is he going to force you to stay home? How can he force you to even go to school? The truth is he can't. He's neither physically nor emotionally strong to make you."
Aradia had been listening to Saul explanation with fascination. She hung her head low, staring at the ground with her mouth and eyes wide open.
She tried to find an argument to Saul's reasoning. "But what if my father kicks me out?"
Aradia had heard and seen that happen to other kids. Whether it was a good household or not, if the kid didn't agree with their parents they were thrown out like trash. Sometimes it taught them a lesson, but in every occasion it left a terrible aftermath.
Saul, however, didn't seem to think so because he just shrugged and said, "so what if he does?"
"Hello?" Aradia snapped, "where would I go?"
Saul tried to make it seem as casual as possible when he suggested, "you could come live with me."
Aradia rolled her eyes in sarcasm.
"how would I support myself hmm? Get a job?" Aradia inquired further, "it's almost impossible to get one without a high school diploma."
"Who says you need a job?" said Saul.
"Oh the same people who says I need food and a bed," Aradia snapped.
"What I mean is with your powers you don't need a job. You can just take whatever you want."
Aradia's eyes grew even wider. "You mean stealing?"
"Yeah," Saul stated bluntly.
Before Aradia could voice her furious protests, Saul rushed on with his explanation. "Think about it Aradia. Your powers can make security cameras explode, you can melt bullets before they even touch you, and so much more. You would never have to worry about money. You would never have to worry about anything. The best part is with your powers, you would probably never get caught, and even if you did there is no way in hell they could ever prosecute you. They would have no proof at least no proof that anyone would ever believe."
Aradia tried to argue with Saul, but her attempts only ended in small gasps. Suddenly, her phone went off. Aradia then dove into her pocket and pulled it out. It was a text message that read 'young lady come home now!' in caps. Aradia didn't need to see the number to know who it was from. The yelling she had gotten from her father the last time was still echoing in her ears. She was in no hurry to rush back home and get another.
Saul noticed her barely concealed anguish and put two fingers to her chin and lifted it up. "Look, if you do change your mind," he paused to fish a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Here is my number."
There was a thick almost romantic pause that passed between Saul and Aradia. Until finally, Saul clapped and rubbed his hands together. "C'mon let's get you home," he said, enthusiastically.
Aradia, however, was less than eager or enthusiastic.