3 Chapter 3: Changes and Noticed

(Esther POV)

It was the middle of the night, and I had just finished brewing a potion I had been working on for the past few days to help cure the sickness of the village chief's wife. First, I went through the house to Elijah and Finn's room, where I found both sleeping like logs and Elijah on the edge of the bed, looking like he would fall off it at any minute. I smiled, closed the door again, and went to the other room where Ace slept.

I got to Ace's room and opened the door only to find an empty bed and opened the window. Worry started coming over me as I thought someone had snuck in and kidnapped my son until I saw two little hands grip the window ledge, followed by a small body that leaped into the room. Once the body came into view, I recognized the person as my missing son.

Seeing him back and in one piece, my worry subsided significantly, but then anger replaced it as I stood there with my hands folded, waiting for him to recognize my presence.

(Ace POV)

I returned home from the forest to the side of the house where my room was. I saw the open window to my room that I left open so I could sneak back in without going through the front doorway. Quietly creeping up under the window, I grab onto the ledge, and with one jump, I lunge my body over the window easily as the changes in my body bring a great deal of fitness.

Back inside my room, I was about to breathe a sigh of relief and head back to bed just to be met with the scary eyes of my mother as I turned around, and gods, did she look angry.

"Where the hell were you that I am catching you sneaking back into your room in the middle of the night like a thief!?" she asks in a hush but harsh tone as I swore I could see smoke coming from her ears from the anger.

"I-I just wanted to see the stars, Mother, and went to look at them behind the house," I said, looking down, trying not to let her catch me in my lies, which did not work as she just squinted her eyes at me and pinched one of my ears. "Do not lie to me, child; I know when you are telling the truth or not, now answer me where-"

"Ow ow, Mother, let go, it hurts," I say, trying to break free as my ear felt like it was about to be torn off.

"How is this possible?" was all I heard her say as I looked up to see the surprise on her face as she looked at me. "How is what possible?" I asked back, wondering what could have happened.

"your magic, it shouldn't be this potent at this age, and it surely was not like this a few hours ago; tell me what happened when you snuck out this instant, or I will make sure you never leave your room for a week!" she says as she looks at me dead in the eyes waiting for the answers to her questions.

"I don't know. I just felt something pulling me towards the woods, so I snuck out, and when I got there, once the moon hit its peak, I suddenly felt an energy erupt from my stomach and spread throughout my body, bringing excruciating pain. When it was over, I found a ball of energy right below my navel within my body, which I assume to be the magic that you are talking about, Mother." I tell her hoping she misses the lies in my explanation.

She looked at me in a way that I could only think was her trying to see if I was lying, but in the end, I think she believed some of it as she released my ear, which was now as red as a strawberry.

"You are correct that the energy below your navel is the representation of your magic as it is a bloodline ability of my side of the family, which is a line of powerful witches and warlocks." she says as she takes a seat on my bed and continues to look at me and say "I expected you to be a genius in magic as I saw that yours was already more potent than it should have been for a baby when you were born, but I never thought that this would happen."

"Is something wrong with me?" I ask her playing my role as the oblivious child to the end.

"On the contrary, my child, this is good; it means that you, my precious son, are destined to be a great warlock in the future, and it also means that I will have to start your teaching in the ways of magic a lot earlier than I planned so that you can learn to control it. We will start in the morning, so get a good rest, and do not think you are getting away with your little sneaking out stunt; you will be doing the laundry for everyone for the next week," she says, getting up from my bed and making her way out of my room giving me one more squinted with the last sentence but just before she closed the door she left one more statement, "Not a word of this to your father or brothers." and with that, she closed the door and left.

I looked at the now closed door and just let out a big sigh as I knew my future free time was about to disappear. 'Well not much I can do about it now and it's not like this isn't a bad thing anyways so we will just go with the flow.' I thought while climbing into my bed and laying on my back as exhaustion took over me from everything that happened tonight. 'it is what it is.' was the last thought I had when I closed my eyes and passed out.