Chapter Ten
A Little Help

Econ wasn't a fun place to be, ever. Honestly Liana had no idea how she ended up in the class. She always thought one had to test into it and she knew more than anything that she was terrible at math and anything mildly related to that. She was thrilled to have Liam next to her at least. Not because he was good at it, but because he was a good distraction from the fact that she was going to fail. She was busy writing a story in her econ notebook, pointedly not listening to whatever Coach was explaining.

"Redfern!" Liana jumped, looking around the room in shock before her eyes settled on Coach.

"Um... what?"

"Do you own a pair of pants?"

"I... what?" Liana looked down at her skirt and back up at the Coach. "Somewhere? Yes?"

"Good, You'll need them. We are going on a weekend camping trip." The Coach announced.

"Camping?" Liana asked.

"Is it required?" Liam spoke up, looking nervous.

"For Lacrosse, yes, it's definitely required. It'll do you kids some good to get out in the fresh air and away from the video games. Greenberg isn't invited." He amended. "All the Lacrosse kids are required except for Greenberg." Liam gave Liana a look of horror. The rest of the class period, he looked down at the table, not even pretending to pay attention. Which meant Liana actually had to take notes, because Mason wasn't there to do it and usually Liam was the second line of defense. Liana was just bad at taking notes, she spent a lot of time doodling.

By the time the bell rang she had a page that was half notes, half really terrible doodles. Liam jumped up and rushed out of the room. Liana groaned, gathering her stuff in her arms and chased him down.

"Liam! Liam Dumbar I am wearing heels if I fall and die, that will be on your conscience." She called after him. He finally stopped and turned back to her so she could catch up.

"What?" He asked when she made it over. She shoved her notebooks into her bag and ran a hand through her hair.

"Liam, don't... freak out."

"Liana, do you know what is happening this weekend? Same time as the camping trip?" He asked, his voice low.

"The full moon." She answered. "I know that. But I can do something. I mean... my relaxation potion works on you. Maybe something like that, but juiced up." She was trying pretty desperately to come up with something, one of the potions she'd see in the book or... she didn't even know what at this point. Just that she needed to come up with a solution. Because Liam during the full moon was a scary thought. Malia too, but she wasn't on the team, so she wouldn't have to be there necessarily.

"You've already looked." Liam sighed.

"In one book. And I can ask Balthazar."

"No, don't ask him. I don't want him to know what I am."

"Why not?" Liana asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"I don't trust him as far as I can throw him."

"Well he's skinny and you're strong, so you might be surprised by how far you might throw him. Liam... Just don't give up hope. I'll come up with something, I promise. I will go through every book I have, I will search the internet, even though it's mostly bullshit." She sighed. "I swear it, Liam. Just give me some time."

"You have until the weekend." Liam still looked pale and freaked out.

"Then I'll start now." She nodded. She honestly couldn't care less about school if she tried, so it wasn't a problem for her to skip out on the rest of her day. She waited until the bell rang, hiding in the bathroom. As soon as she stepped out she got an idea. She muttered a spell, it wasn't invisibility, but it was a camouflage spell. If someone knew to look for her, they'd probably find her pretty easily, but as long as they weren't trying to find her, they would just kind of glance over her. She slipped through the halls pretty easily, getting to the front doors. She knew that if anyone was looking they'd see her walking out, as there was no way to disguise the door opening.

She slipped out of the doors and hurried down to the sidewalk in front of the street, walking away. She headed home, it wasn't that far of a walk. She usually took the bus to and from school, but obviously that wasn't an option today. She opened the front door at home and glanced around. She knew her mom was suppose to be working but there was no telling if she was actually doing that or not.

"Hello?" She called out, closing the door behind her. "Anyone home?" She relaxed when no one answered. She ran up the stairs to her room and closed the door behind her, locking it. She didn't need anyone barging in on her tonight. She opened the trunk and started pulling out all the boxes. She had bought a few new ones, these probably wouldn't be as good, but she was willing to take all the help she could get. She piled the books on her bed and climbed up, pulling the first one off the stack, pausing to pull her econ notebook from her bag, opening it up to the back page. She was going to have to take notes.

She had gotten halfway through one book, having written down one possibility for what they wanted by the time she heard the car door. She hoped up, assuming it was her mom. She hurried down the stairs and to the front door. Her mom mentioned bringing home dinner after work. She opened the front door and froze. It wasn't her mom.

"Peter Hale."

"Liana Redfern." Peter walked towards the porch, staring up at the girl.

"Surprised you remember my name."

"It's not often I run into teenagers about to have sex in a hallway." Liana managed to avoid turning red when he brought that up.

"What do you want?" She asked. "My mom says I'm not suppose to talk to you."

"And your mom would know better than anyone. She'd also know that telling a teenage girl to not talk to someone just means they'll definitely talk to them."

"Not necessarily. Unless you give me a good reason to disobey my mom, I'm going back in the house."

"I know someone that can help you with your powers." Liana had started to turn back to the door, sure he'd have nothing other than more stupid questions, but his answer made her pause. She looked back at him over her shoulder.

"Really?" She asked. Balthazar was great, but she wanted as much help as she could get. She could still feel it beating against the gates, the power wanting to spill over. Ever since she first used magic, she'd just felt it waiting to take over. And while she didn't know a lot about magic, she knew that it spilling over would lead to people getting hurt. Liana turned back around, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes really. An old friend of mine is a very powerful witch. She's interested in getting to know you and helping you with control. An out of control witch is a danger to everyone. You've heard of the Salem witch trials, yes? It would be very similar to that, people have not gotten more open minded towards the supernatural world. Not even a little bit."

"Who is she?" Peter didn't answer the girl's question, instead he walked around the car, opening the passenger side door.

"Get in and you'll find out." Liana stared at him, that sounded like a terrible idea but-

"Hang on." She turned and went back into the house, closing and locking the door behind her. She ran up to her room, slipping her feet into shoes, then grabbed her phone and her purse, walking back down. If this woman could help her with a spell for Liam then it would be worth it. She hurried back down the stairs and unlocked the door, walking back out, locking it behind her. "If this turns out to be a joke, or some twisted lie, I will blast your ass to Missouri." She threatened. And with the amount of power she felt swimming in her bones, she didn't doubt that she could do it.

"Duly noted." Peter smiled and gestured to the door he had left open. She ducked into the car and he closed the door behind her, getting in on the passenger side. "So, Liana, How is your mother?"

"Why do you care?" Liana asked, her eyes on the road, waiting for any sign that something might be off. The doors weren't locked, so she knew she could throw herself out of the car if she had to.

"Your mother and I really are old friends."

"You seem to have a lot of those."

"One accumulates quite a few old friends as they get older, you'll find that out, hopefully. Teenagers in Beacon Hills don't have the highest life expectancy, but you seem like the type to fight."

"Okay." Liana rolled her eyes. Peter smirked.

"She told you to stay away from me."

"Yes, I already told you that."

"So you did, that's funny."

"I fail to see the humor."

"A long time ago, your grandmother, Juliana told her the same thing. It ended in a very similar fashion to this." Well that was a relief, seeing as her mother hadn't been hacked into little pieces and scattered about the woods, this probably wouldn't end that way either.

"My grandmother was a very smart woman."

"She was." Peter agreed. "But teenage girls, aren't terribly bright." He parked the car and got out. Liana stared at him, then at the spot he had been sitting in after he moved. After a moment she opened the door and got out, half expecting them to be in an abandoned field, but no, they were in front of a house, one of many houses lining the street. It was a normal, suburban place. She followed Peter towards the door glancing around. There was a middle aged woman outside of one home, flipping through her mail, in front of another house was an older couple, bent over their flower bed. It was all so... normal and nonthreatening it made it a little more frightening.

Peter knocked on the door and they waited. Liana jumped when it opened, revealing a very pretty woman. She was probably in her late twenties, early thirties, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, She had flour on her arms and dusted over her black t-shirt.

"Is this her?" The woman asked.

"Liana, meet Tabitha Reyes. One of the most powerful witches I know. Tabitha, this is Liana. The girl I told you about, yes."

"Come in." Tabitha stepped back and let the into the house. Liana stared up at Peter, who gestured for her to go in first. She slowly walked up the porch stairs and into the house, hurrying past Peter. The house was nice, well lit, there were a few pictures on the walls, a few knick knacks sitting around. Liana followed Tabitha to the kitchen, where it smelled like cinnamon rolls and flour dusted the counter. "I was just finishing up some baking, don't mind the mess." Tabitha commented and turned back, smiling at them.

"You're nervous." she walked over to Liana, staring down at the shorter girl. "Trust me, Liana, if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Witches are a dying breed. As more of us mate with Human, the magic in our blood is getting more and more diluted. It's rare that I find one powerful enough to cause trouble for us."

"Trouble?" Liana asked.

"Trouble, if you accidentally blow out a wall at school-"

"How about some windows?"

"Or some windows." Tabitha nodded, staring at the girl. "If it gets out that witches are behind it, We'll be burned at the stake, again. Not to mention, having this much wild power in the area drives us all a little crazy. It throws off the balance of things. And trust me, there is enough magic in the Redfern bloodline to drive even the strongest of us to our breaking point if left unchecked. So don't think of it as me doing you a favor, think of it as me doing all of us in Beacon Hills a favor."

"Are there a lot of witches in Beacon Hills?" Liana asked.

"More than in most small towns. But for the most part, they're small time. Just enough magic to heat up water, like that girl that went missing... Talia-"

"Tamara." Peter interrupted. Tabitha smiled sweetly at him.

"Yes, her. She's a small time witch."

"What about Balthazar?" Liana asked, curiously.

"Who?" Tabitha quirked an eyebrow.

"He owns the occult shop..." Tabitha let out a burst of laughter.

"He's a joke. Trust me on that. You have more magic in your pinky than he has in his entire body." Tabitha sat down at the kitchen table. "Now, let's get started, I need to assess how much magic you have in you and I'm going to teach you how to keep it controlled so the rest of us stop feeling so damn itchy all the time."

"One more question." Liana glanced at Peter then back to Tabitha. "I need a potion or a spell to help a friend keep control during the full moon. He hasn't gained full control yet and we're going to be in the woods surrounded by other kids this full moon." Tabitha and Peter both stared at her. After a moment, Tabitha stood up and walked to the kitchen counter, she pulled out a recipe box and pulled out a card. She walked back over and held it out.

"Try that. I've used it to subdue werewolves in the past."

"This has wolfs bane in it." Liana read the card.

"A very small amount. Enough to negate the power of the wolf during the moon, but not to kill the person. Don't put too much in though, or it will kill your friend. Now sit down, we have a lot of work to do." Liana slipped the card into her purse and sat down at the table. She still didn't trust Peter, but if Tabitha could help her, she'd take all the help she could get.

a/n If you couldn't tell, I'm making this stuff up as I go. I know nothing about witchcraft or Wicca. Anyway, hopefully this weekend I will get lots and lots of stuff written. My goal is to post a chapter every day for the next three days and still have my chapters ready to post every other day for the rest of the week, wish me luck. And of course, check out my tumblr, leave feedback here and there and hopefully you'll be hearing from me again tomorrow. The next chapter is a big one and I'm pretty excited for it so hopefully it will just flow out.