Do You Believe?- Chapter ONE

'Autumn,' playful voices whispered, 'come find us, Autumn. Autumn...'

"Autumn!" a stern voice cut through.

"What--? Where am I?" Autumn cried out.

"You were yelling in your sleep," her mother said, smoothing her tone.

"Where's my dream diary? I have to write that one down for Pixie. What a weird dream."

"Here you go, dear," her mother said, handing her a small silver book. She watched in silence as her daughter wrote vigorously. Autumn finished quickly and smiled at her mother. She was a tall woman, with honey colored hair. Her grey eyes sparkled when she laughed and smiled, which was almost constantly. Autumn looked nothing like her mother. She didn't think that she possessed that natural beauty her mother had. She was short, with deep red hair and green eyes, but she did inherit her mother's sparkle. "So, what are you up to today?"

"Pixie and I have a lesson with Miakoda today."

"A private?"

"Yeah."

"I thought only the top three students recieved privates, to ready them for the advanced ranking Test."

"They do, but Miakoda thinks that we have potential, that can be brought out better in private lessons. She wants to train us. The Council Heads both agreed."

"That's wonderful, Autumn! Well good luck, have fun. I have to run a few errands, but I'll be home by two. Why don't you invite Pixie over. She can meet Sarea."

"Mom, Sarea doesn't know about me, no one does. I don't know if it's a good idea to mix those two worlds."

"Try it. Just don't talk talk about it. Talk about other things, Like boys. That's normal for 15-year-old girls to talk about. Just avoid school and you'll be fine."

"OK. I'll try it."

"I'll call Sarea's mother when I get home. Goodbye, darling. I'll see you when you get home."

"Yeah, I should be home by 4. We're learing about gardens, andplants today. We can't do that in the dark."

"Sounds like fun. I'll leave you to get ready and leave you something for breakfast on the counter."

"Thanks, Mom. You're the best."

Autumn smiled as her mother left the room. She then proceeded to change into into and old faded pair of jeans, with rips at the knees and various places along the leg. She pulled on pulled a purple cami over her head, slipped he feet into a pair of black converse and grabbed a black sweat jacket. She then took a silver necklace from a small black box on her bureau. It was a locket, with a small pentacle etched into the back and a picture of her father, who had disappeared 10 years earlier. She put it around her neck and ran down the stairs. On the kitchen counter sat a bagle and a travel mug of mint tea. She grabbed it and walked from the house.

It was a beautiful spring day, Autumn thought as she walked through the town's quiet streets. Well, technically, it was still winter, as the equinox wasn't for another week, but it sure felt like it. As she reached the square, she noticed a familiar figure at the fountain. A tall girl, with short, blonde, spikey hair, sat before the water, playing with her dog, a labrador puppy. When the puppy saw Autumn walking towards them, he loped towards her, barking madly.

"Hey there, Ash. How's the most beautiful puppy in the whole world?" she asked, scratching his belly. "Hey, Pixie."

"Hey Autumn!" Pixie said, grabbing the dog as he jumped at her face. "Ready to head over to Miakoda's?"

"Yeah! Let's go."

The two walked through the square, breaking the silence with laughter. Within 15 minutes they had reached a ranch style house, modest in design. The yard was sprawling, with numerous gardens, an orchard and woods in the very back. On the front porch stood a petite figure. Her long black hair was pulled back into a single french braid. She was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and an orange tank top that accentuated her deep tan. A smile welcomed them.

"Good mornings, ladies. Welcome to my home. I see you're both dressed to wrok outside, lovely. First, I have to introduce you to the others who will be joining us. Come along," Miakoda said, leading the way into her home.

"I thought we were the only ones," Pixie whispered. Autumn shrugged and walked into the house. She was stunned by the abundence of positive energy that met her. She was not used to it, and began to feel giddy. She and Pixie giggled as they followed their teacher through the house. Miakoda laughed, placed her hand one their heads, and whispered a spell. Instantly the girls felt better and sighed with relief. The trio walked into the library. Seated upon two plush green chairs were two boys the girls didn't recognize. One was average in height, about 5 inches taller than Autumn, 2 inches taller than Pixie. He had long reddish-brown hair and clear blue eyes. His friend was tall and gangly, with short brown hair and brown eyes. Both wore jeans and T-shirts, the first with an Ozzfest shirt, the other an Earth Day shirt. A third appeared from a side door. He was average, with red hair and green eyes, like Autumn. He wore jeans and a simple white teacher.

"Autumn, Pixie, this is Ranger, Tivon and Aidan. They will be taking lessons with us."

"Pleasure," Pixie said, smiling at the tall one. Autumn knew that those two would hit it off right away, both were nature lovers.

"Yeah, same here," he said.

"Now, on to the lesson. We will be learning about about herbs first, that garden is this way." Miakoda led them from the house into a small, succulent smelling garden. "Herb gardens are very important to any witch, or witch in training. Now, it is possible to just go to the supermarket and buy the herbs you need, but they don't have the personal touch of a homegrown garden. If you don't have enough room for one outside, buy a few flowerpots and grow one indoors. Now," she said, pointing to an herb, "who can tell me what this is?" The tall boy raised his hand. "Tivon?"

"Rosemary."

"Very good. What is it used for?" The shorter kid raised his hand. "Ranger?"

"Mostly memory. It has other uses as well."

"Exactly. Now, I am going to give you a sheet and a partner. You will find each herb pictured and work together to figure out its name and what it is used for. Use your senses, listen to the plants, they will give you clues. Now, Autumn, you will wok with Ranger, Pixie with Tivon and Aidan..."

"I can work by myself."

"OK. Don't worry, you'll have a partner next lesson. She just doesn't know it yet. Now, go on, and please, don't pick any of them. Thank you."

Autumn watched the other three start their trip around the garden and turned to face Ranger. He smiled at her, then walked through the garden.

"Hey! Wait up!" Autumn called, running up to him. "So, do you know anything about herbs?"

"Not really. I'm at loss when it comes to gardening. You?"

"Nope. I have a brown thumb. Oops," she cried, tripping over an over grown root. Ranger grabbed her around the waist to keep her from falling.

"Careful, Babe."

"Haha, thanks. I'm a bit of a clutz. Wait.. what'd you call me?"

"Nothing...I can tell. Come on, the others are actually working. We're behind."

Ranger rushed away, Autumn followed, confused. The quickly caught up to the other groups, finishing before them, but not very confident in all their answers. Miakoda looked over the paper and shook her head.

"Where in the world did you get these answers? You shouldn't even know the names of most of these herbs at your level," she said, amazed. They had gotten every answer right. "That was the whole purpose of the exercise, to introduce you to the plants by sight, if not by name. You've surprised me, you two. Take a seat while we wait for the others."

The pair sat down, glancing at each other in surprise, and laughing as they watched Pixie and Tivon bickering with each other over a plant. Aidan simply stared down at his paper in frustration. Autumn looked at her watch, and was surprised to see that it was already 3.

"Got an important date tonight?" Ranger asked.

"No. I told my mother I would be home by 4. She worries if I'm late."

"Oh. I see. Well, I would be happy to walk you home if it goes any later than that. I wouldn't want your mother to have to worry about your safety."

"Why thank you, Ranger. That's very kind of you. I'd really appreciate that."

The rest of the lesson went by quickly as one by one the others finished, or gave up. Miakoda explained to them that it was very rare for anyone at there level to be very skilled in many of the herbs she had in her garden. She then proceeded to go through each herb and its various uses. By the time they had finished, it was 4:15.

"I will see you all on Wednesday, after classes. Come prepared to work outside, during the night. Do you ladies have a way home."

"We were just going to walk," Pixie said.

"I don't like the idea of you walking alone so close to night..."

"Tivon and I can escort them," Ranger said. "We live down that way anyway."

"Thank you, boys. See you in class Monday. Don't forget to study those herb lists I gave you."

The five left the house, Aidan going north, the others going south. Tivon and Pixe walked farthur in the front, leaving Ranger and Autumn behind. She glanced at him breifly, catching his eye, and turning away. They walked awkwardly together in silence, broken only by Pixie and Tivon coming back.

"Hey, what a lesson, huh? I never knew there were so many herbs."

"Yeah I know. Oh, Pixie, wanna hang out tonight? My mom's making dinner and I have another friend coming over that I want you to meet."

"Sure. I've got nothing else to do. We have A LOT to talk about too."

"Yeah. We do."

They soon reached Autumn's house. Pixie said good bye to Ranger, then Tivon, who began to walk in the other direction when she left, leaving Ranger and Autumn standing there.

"Well, thanks for the escort. It was quite kind of you."

"My pleasure."

"So, I guess I'll see you Wednesday?"

"If I don't have a meet, yeah."

"Meet?"

"I wrestle. Miakoda knows all about that, though. Plus, we're nearing the end of the season. I'll almost definately be there."

"Good. Bye."

"Bye."

Autumn smiled at him, and made her way into the house behind Pixie. She sighed as she closed the door.

"I knew it," Pixie said, laughing out loud from the stairs.

"Knew what?"

"We'll talk later. Where's this other chick?"

"Autumn is that you? Sarea's in the kitchen with me. Why don't you girls come in here and relieve of her of having to pretend to listen to my awful stories."

"They aren't awful! And I wasn't pretending."

"Oh, go. Have fun with people your age."

Sarea laughed and came out of the kitchen. She smiled at the other two girls shyly.

"Hey Sar. This is Pixie, a friend of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Come on, lets go upstairs. There's a lot more privacy in my room."

Autumn's mother watched her daughter and company run up the stairs, smiling a mysterious, knowing smile.