Chapter 2 THE CITY OF STARS (Natalia's POV)

A familiar voice echoed in my dreams, filled with a warmth I hadn't felt in years. "Ego sum Energia et Lux, Natalia," it whispered, the Latin words rolling effortlessly off her tongue. "You are the energy and the light."

With a startled gasp, I woke up, looking around me to bring myself to the present. My subconscious will always remember what I desperately needed to forget, even after 6 years. It was the same dream, the same words, most mornings since the accident. Mom's last words were a constant reminder of the life I'd lost and the magic and secrets she'd left behind.

With my eyes finally jolted open from the restless sleep I tried to endure, I took in the morning sun filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the luxurious California condo. God, there is something beautiful about the Californian sun; it's blinding and shining. And I hate it. With a zap of my fingers, I closed the curtains.

Sliding out of bed, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, the scent of freshly brewed coffee already wafting from the kitchen. Noelle, my headstrong younger sister, who had to grow up too fast, was probably already concocting some caffeine-fueled plan for the day.

We were in Los Angeles, California, the city of stars, along with Janelle; Noelle's best friend.

We were a million miles away from our familiar life in Mexico, all thanks to the reappearance of Kang Sun Hee, our secretive guardian, and friendly Korean Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox from the stories of urban Asian legends.

Honestly, I couldn't even laugh when I saw nine red tails pop out of her ass when she finally revealed her truth. Who am I to, I am a witch after all, with the ability to siphon energies amongst other devious things, which are all compliments from my mom, Cecilia Beltran.

It has been six years since our parents died, and with their bodies never being found, we can add vanished to the list. It has been six years since Sun Hee, or Sunny, as she prefers to be called, Mom's best friend, became our mentor in all things witchcraft. Then, two years ago, she vanished too, leaving only a cryptic note and a gaping hole in our lives.

Now, she was back, with more secrets than answers and with a lover who was wealthier and older, but then, age is just a social construct; after all, she is 250 years old. Jokes on the sleazy bastard whose money is going to be ripped.

She had shown up at our doorstep three weeks ago, looking as beautiful and deceptive as ever, like she had never left, and invited us to this masquerade ball in Los Angeles, California, organized by her lover, and the ball would be happening at his art gallery.

I had asked questions she still hasn't provided answers to, but she promises to do so from henceforth. Her words: "No more secrets, Buttercup; I left for a reason, and I am back for good." Good or bad, that much is yet to be determined, but I know for a fact that Lover Boy is just the money bag-a very heavy money bag-but for what?

Hunger gnawed at me as I walked into the kitchen. Noelle, ever the optimist, was humming along to a K-pop song as she poured coffee. Janelle sat across from her, her eyes glued to her phone.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Noelle greeted, her voice laced with her usual playful sarcasm.

I managed a smile. "Morning."

"Excited for the party tonight?" Janelle said, sounding as unenthusiastic as a sloth without looking up from her phone. Her mood perfectly matched mine, but I knew it was because I had not permitted them to come along to the ball, even though Sun Hee had insisted.

With only me on the playing field, I can control the strikes and level the field, but with these two firecrackers, it would be a hellish disaster.

"You don't have to voice your displeasure, Peaches. I can smell it a mile away. You are supposed to be on my side; you are the smart one," I said to her as I walked into the kitchen, taking a seat beside her to gingerly sip the hot coffee Noelle had prepared for me.

Janelle finally looked up from her phone, her gaze cutting through me. "Why are we here if we are not going to attend the damned party? We know you don't trust Sun Hee, and that's the more reason why we all need to stick together."

"Your logic of always taking the bull by the horns is not always the smartest. It's just the easiest you can think of at the moment." She reached for my coffee, her earlier nonchalance replaced by a hint of annoyance.

Okay, rude, but that's to be expected from semi-adults. "Of course Peaches, I hear you, but if you come to the ball tonight, who is going to protect you? I am a witch; Noelle is too, but you are not. So can you protect yourself if we all go?

"Plus, you are always emotionally vulnerable before the full moon, and it's in 3 days." My voice trailed off as I paused to look at her and then at Noelle, wanting the information, and the worry I was trying to hide sink into both of them.

Janelle always goes through severe pain every full moon night, and her mesmerizing aquamarine eyes and reddish-blonde hair change every night to dark violet and dark red, respectively, because of whatever secret her reclusive nomadic mother has refused to completely share with her.

Noelle and I made a charmed bracelet for her that concealed the change at night 3 years ago after we became comfortable with the use of our power and she has never taken it off after we made it. The problem here is that we have not been able to remedy the pain she goes through every full moon, the incredulous explanation her mother told her concerning this issue doesn't give us much to work with.

Now Janelle Arianna DeLuca is beautiful, in that otherworldly mysterious kind of way, with fair skin that doesn't tan even in the sun, slender like a delicate flower, a figure a man would want to nurture and have in his arms, and my sister, a delightful mix of hippy, tomboy, and feminity, is her number one protector against the ever-eager male attention she always attracts. The most attractive fact about Janelle is that she doesn't know it; she is genuinely oblivious to her beauty.

Janelle is not a witch, but she is definitely something, and her absentee mother has constantly refused to let the cat out of the bag. Somehow I feel Sun Hee knows, but asking her is like asking a tortoise to run faster. Janelle always becomes a shell of herself before the full moon, which is why asking her on this trip with us was a no-brainer; she knows all of our family secrets and is a second younger sister to me. I couldn't leave her behind, especially since her mom has been AWOL for 3 months now, which is not unusual.

"Let's not pretend like we don't know this party may be swimming with supernatural creatures. Hendrix is human, but the fact that Sun Hee is with him means he must be a key player in the field. And honest to God, what do we even know about supernatural creatures? We don't know well enough to risk anything?

"The only anchor we have to that part of ourselves is not forthcoming with the whole truth," I said to the two of them as I grabbed my cup of coffee back from Janelle, who turned to Noelle for support.

"I hear you, Talia. We understand you," Noelle said, her voice softening. "But Sun Hee said she'd tell us everything bit by bit. And honestly, I prefer that to the whole truth offloaded on us, like when mom died and we were suddenly given powers we never knew we had." She paused, lifting her cup in the air without raising a finger to prove her point, and her cerulean eyes turned gray because of her use of her powers.

"I am going to believe Sun Hee. She is the only one who has told us the truth, and if she says now is not the time, then I will go with that. She was there for us when our parents died, leaving us with nothing, and she taught us how to use our powers.

"Yes, she left without saying anything, but she is back now, and she said she would tell us why tonight. Maybe tonight will finally bring some closure." Noelle said as she took her levitating cup to the sink to wash and remove the waffles she was making from the waffle iron.

Maybe I was a little hard on Sun Hee, or maybe Noelle and Janelle were a little too trusting of her, because I cannot forget the gruesome methods she used in teaching us to use our powers. However, even I can acknowledge that her options were limited since she had two siphoners, a class of witches with the ability to siphon magic and manipulate all forms of energy.

Taking a deep breath, I paused to collect the waffles Noelle had brought out for me. "I don't trust her, and I do not want to hide how I feel about it because someone has to keep her on her toes. With Mom and Dad's death and the many things they could have said but chose to keep from us, I don't expect Sun Hee to do the exact same thing."

"But I am here, aren't I? We are all here. This means I want to give this a chance, I want to know the truth, and I love Sun Hee... I love her in the way you love an aunt you wish dead, but you do not want to cry from the pain of losing her," I said as I bit my waffles with a sarcastic smirk. They both shook their heads and rolled their eyes. Noelle tried to hide her smirk by sipping her coffee.

"I just want you both safe. Anything can happen tonight, and I will not be at ease with the three of us at a party where they are supernatural beings with Sunny as our guardian angel. She is a fox, not an angel." I stood up to get more waffles and ruffled Janelle's hair on my way.

"Pumpkin, these waffles are so good, you always know how to take care of my tummy," I said to my sister, smiling, and she smiled back, flipping her hair dramatically.

The doorbell's shrill ring sliced through the momentary ease and laughter we had as I was chugging down more waffles.