Chapter 6

“What was that about?” Cameron asked as we walked away.

“Family history coming back to bite me,” I muttered.

Cameron walked me to my first class of the day, and I didn’t see him again until lunch. I decided to forget what happened this morning because pursuing it would most likely cause more problems that weren’t worth the effort. Walking into the cafeteria my only thought was getting food.

“Wynter!” I heard someone call out.

Turning, I saw Cameron waving me over from an empty table. Weird, I would have thought from this morning he had a ton of friends to sit with at lunch. Nonetheless, I walked over to his table, and the closer I got, I noticed that there were two sets of lunches there.

“I went ahead and grabbed you lunch.” He smiled.

“Oh? Thanks,” I responded, sitting down at the table slowly.

I could feel eyes on me as I sat there, and I knew that Cameron noticed too. Though neither of us said anything about it. Instead, Cameron tried making conversation, but I just couldn’t help but be cautious.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you doing this?” I interrupted.

He looked at me for a moment before responding. “Doing what?”

“This. Being all nice and friendly. Now that you know, do you think that you can use my magic to your advantage or something?” I rambled in a hushed voice so no one nearby could hear me.

“No,” he answered.

“Then why?”

“Because I don’t see Wynter Morgan the witch. I see Wynter Morgan the girl. The girl who has a life and family, and emotions just like me and everyone else here.”

I was too stunned to formulate a response.

“The fact that you’re a witch is cool, yeah. But it’s just a part of you, it doesn’t define you. At least not to me. You’re just you.” As he finished talking, he pushed the tray of food towards me.

“So please let me make sure my friend eats after she was cornered by a gaggle of girls just this morning,” he said with a hopeful smile.

“So, we’re friends?” I asked, reaching for the tray like it was a peace offering I was about to accept.

“Yes, we’re friends.” Finally, he sat back, and we ate together in comfortable silence. That is until somebody decided to cause trouble.

I had tuned out everyone else in the cafeteria, so I didn’t notice someone walking up to our table until the feeling of freezing cold water washed over me. I was so shocked that all I could do was gasp for air as my body froze. Cameron stood up and stared at the person behind me.

“What the hell!?” he exclaimed.

A familiar voice came from behind me. “She has you under a spell! Why else would she approach you?” one of the girls from this morning screeched.

Cameron came around and placed the flannel he was wearing over my shoulders. “I’ll take care of this,” he said quietly before standing and facing the girl. I was trying so hard to stay in control and not lash out. If I let my control slip for even a second, I didn’t know what would happen, especially because I didn’t know how compromised my veil was.

“What do you think you’re doing dumping water on my friend?” he asked, keeping a hand on my shoulder.

“Oh, please! Everyone knows she’s a witch. She’s a Morgan for Christ’s sake! Why else would she approach you, if not to cast a spell on you?” the girl scoffed.

Observing her I recognized her not just from this morning, but if I was not mistaken, she was also our waitress at the diner.

“She’s a ‘Morgan,’ so what? Does that mean you have the right to bully her? For what? Her last name? Being my friend? I don’t think so.” I could feel the anger coming from Cameron, and he made no effort in hiding his displeasure.

“But she—”

“She didn’t cast any spell on me! I approached her!” he interrupted. “Is it really so unbelievable that I would approach a new student to be her friend?”

He was met with silence as most of the students finally looked away and ducked their eyes. “Exactly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of Wynter.”

He helped me stand up and guided me out of the cafeteria, ignoring the girl who stayed planted in her spot almost in shock. I was pulling the flannel tighter trying not to shiver and keep warm. I just let Cameron guide me to where we were going, I just wanted to get away from everyone in that cafeteria. When we finally stopped, we were at his locker. Only then did he let go of me to put in his combination.

“I have some extra clothes in here you can wear,” he explained. “Don’t worry, they’re clean I swear.” Shortly, he pulled out a plain white shirt and some black jogger sweats. “I have a jacket too if you’re still cold after.”

Handing me the clothes, he showed me to the girls’ bathroom for me to change. “I’ll stand guard so take your time.”

Thanking him, I went in and locked the door. First things first, I took off my shoes which were, thankfully, still dry and wearable. Peeling my jeans off was not easy as they had started to stick to me like a second skin. The same could be said for my shirt. All in all, the experience was awkward and unpleasant. Needless to say, the clothes were a bit too big, but nothing too bad. I used the strings of the waist band to tighten it as much as I could and tucked the shirt in loosely before putting my shoes back on. My hair was still wet and probably getting more knots by the minute.

I made sure to be careful taking out bobby pins that attached my veil to my head. I couldn’t deal with the discomfort of a wet bandanna on my head, so I placed it with the rest of my clothes. I glanced around to see what I could dry my hair with, I noticed that the school had fan hand dryers. So, I crouched underneath one and hoped for the best. Not the easiest solution but better than nothing. I used my fingers to comb through my hair and make it look presentable. Gathering up my clothes with a sigh I exited the bathroom.

I opened the door to Cameron still there like he said he’d be, standing guard. The bell hadn’t rung yet, so the hallways were empty, and I assumed everyone was still eating in the cafeteria.

“You good? Nice and dry?” he asked, turning to face me.

“Yeah, thanks again for the clothes. I just need to drop these off at my locker.” I motioned to the clothes in my hands.

Cameron nodded and swept his hand out motioning for me to lead the way. Quietly we walked, neither of us trying to make conversation. When we finally got to my locker the bell finally rang and the hallways filled with people in seconds.

“You know what? Wait here I’ll be right back,” Cameron said before disappearing in the sea of students making their way to their next class. I didn’t think much of it and packed my ruined clothes away in my backpack.

“Okay, grab your backpack.”

“What?” I exclaimed, jumping a bit, surprised. Cameron was back and he had his bag hanging off his shoulder half-haphazardly.

“Grab your bag, we’re taking that town history tour early.” He explained handing me my bag and shutting my locker. He took my hand and led me through the halls and out the door.

“We can’t just ditch the rest of the day!”

“Don’t think of it as ditching, think of it as taking a research trip.”

I could turn back if I wanted to, but if I was being honest, going back to the school was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted a day to just be. To just have fun.

“So where are we going first on this research trip?” I ask, speeding up to match his pace.

He turned to smile at me, “First stop, refreshments.”

We ended up stopping by a gas station and getting some snacks and drinks. Since my veil was unusable, Cameron had me wait outside while he got everything. I promised him I’d pay him back, but he told me not to worry about it. Before long I heard the overhead bell and felt a gush of cold air as the door opened. Cameron walked out carrying a single plastic bag and I couldn’t help but notice that he was hiding something behind his back.

“Since you can’t wear your veil, I got you this.”

He tried hiding a shy blush as he handed me a typical black bandanna. “I don’t know if it will actually do anything besides keep your hair out of your face, but—”

I interrupted him, taking the cloth from his hands. “Thank you.” I smiled. “This means a lot.”

After tying the bandanna around my head, we started walking, sharing snacks along the way. Before I knew it, we arrived at a museum, I guess he wasn’t kidding when he said it was a research trip.

“Welcome to the Wichitan History Museum.” Cameron announced with a dramatic flourish of his hand. “Lucky for us, they don’t check ID. And it’s free.”

I stifled a laugh as I watched his excitement and followed him inside. To my surprise it was beautiful, unlike most museums I had been in, this one was brightly light and open spaced. There were no flickering fluorescent lights and each artifact and exhibit had plenty of space. One question crossed my mind as we walked past the front desk.

“All of the town’s history is kept in this single building?” I asked, keeping my voice hushed so as to not disturb anyone nearby.

“Well, we aren’t a very big town now are we.” He cleared his throat before continuing, “Now believe it or not this is the first and only museum Wichitan has ever had.”

“Why are you talking like that?” I laughed.

“If I talked normally, you’d get bored.” He stated. “Now despite what people here would have you believe, Wichitan has more history than the role we played in the witch trials.”

Cameron didn’t really get a chance to continue because he was interrupted by people shouting nearby. We both looked around confused, trying to figure out what the commotion was about. Suddenly we were knocked down by people rushing to the front door.

“FIRE!” multiple people shouted as they tried to push their way through the crowd.

I crawled away from the crowd so that I wasn’t crushed. I could smell the smoke, but I couldn’t tell where it was. I tried finding Cameron, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Cameron!?” I called out. The panic and fear surrounding me was dizzying. It was getting harder to breathe, but I didn’t know if that was due to smoke or my own panic. “Cameron!? Where are you?”

I could feel the world around me start closing in. My eyes started to water as I tried not to cry in my overwhelmed state of mind. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. I covered my nose and mouth trying to stifle the cough that was itching to escape my throat. But I felt his hand before anything else.

“Wynter,” he said breathlessly. Turning I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Cameron squatting next to me, safe, or as safe as we could be in a burning museum. The second he found me, all the noise from everyone around me faded away and it was only me inside my head again. It was as if I was wearing a veil, but I wasn’t.

“Let’s get you out of here, someone already called the fire department,” Cameron said, helping me stand and trying to lead me through the crowd of remaining people. It wasn’t until I got outside that I realized Cameron wasn’t with me anymore. I frantically searched the crowd for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Wynter?”

“Dad!” I turned to see my dad running towards me. “I can’t find Cameron, we got separated,” I managed to stammer out.

“Okay, just breathe for me.”

Nodding I took as deep of a breath as I could. “I think he’s still inside.”

“Okay, I’ll go get him. Don’t worry everything will be okay,” he said rushing off towards the building that was being consumed by the fire more and more. Time felt as though it stood still as I waited for someone, anyone, to emerge from the flames. The other firefighters worked in unison despite the chaos, and before long they were dowsing the museum along with the buildings nearby to prevent the fire from spreading. I gently held the jewel around my neck as I waited.

“Hey, someone’s coming out!” I heard the firefighters shout to each other as a figure stumbled out covered in ash and soot. It wasn’t until they stood straight that I could tell who it was. Without thinking I ran to catch him before he fell as he stumbled.

“Cameron!” I exhaled.

“Wynter, thank—” He was interrupted by a fit of chest wracking coughs.

“Cameron, where’s my dad? He went in to get you. Where is he?” I asked frantically.

“I don’t know. He practically threw me out the door,” he explained as paramedics came to check him out. I turned my attention back to the museum, waiting for my dad to walk back out. Suddenly I felt my heart stop as I watched the roof cave in, blocking anything and everything inside. Including my dad.