“Alright, I’m only giving you this back, because Seraphina says you can handle it.” Donovan dangled the amulet that held all her power over Penelope’s head. She didn’t reach out for it too eagerly, but she missed it terribly.

The amulet was ancient. Probably at least twelve hundred years old. It had been created by one of his werebear ancestors, together with the assistance of a wizard. The werebear had created the amulet to protect the women of a village, where a witch was kidnapping them, to take their beauty, so she could stay young. Penelope had learned about the history of the magic-draining amulet, from Donovan, because he had used it to render her powerless, for a very long time. She didn’t understand why he was giving her the power back, almost a week early, but she was very happy that he was.

They were sitting in her friend, Seraphina’s, kitchen while her mother was out at some type of fairy conference. Penelope wasn’t the most-liked citizen of Blue Falls, so she tried to avoid as many of the residents as she could.

“I didn’t finish the goals, you set for me, though,” she said, confused. Over the past year, she’d lost track of how many sessions she’d had with Donovan, Seraphina, and the council of the paranormal. They had been the ones to keep her out of jail when she’d tried to kill the human, Lily, and her ex-boyfriend Jeremy.

“You did most of them. I know it was my idea to have you apologize for trying to kill Jeremy and Lily, but they just aren’t ready for it.”

Penelope cringed. Thinking about the dark place she’d been in, when she’d gone after them still made her sweat. Her heart and mind had changed so much in the past year. It was really hard to believe she’d been that person, before. Once, Jeremy had been her lover and, somehow, she’d let fact that the relationship hadn’t worked out fuel her ambition to become a supervillain. There was a point in her life, when she thought she needed to be like her mother, but now that she was almost twenty-five, she decided she didn’t want people to hate her.

Donovan, the werebear and protector of the Alorian alpha, had held her power from her, in the amulet. He was smitten with a fae, called Seraphina, who’d witnessed her king do some terrible things under the influence of a witch. As if it was just to show just how small world that they lived in was, between Cedar Falls and Blue Falls, that witch happened to be Penelope’s mother, Bianca

Seraphina had gone to speak to Penelope, after Penelope had helped the acting fairy king, Rytas, take over the minds of his people. When she had first found out, Seraphina had actually punched Penelope in the face. This was why Penelope had been so surprised that Seraphina wanted to help her. She’d come to her, while she awaited punishment and said she’d spoken to the alphas and the fae king, and that they’d agreed to let Seraphina try to help Penelope.

“I saw how your mother’s grudges caused her to do some evil things. That ultimately destroyed her. If we can, I’d like for us to save you,” Seraphina had said. “I’m not sorry I punched you, though.”

In truth, Penelope really hadn’t known what the king bought the influence spell for or what he was going to do with it. At that point, she has been full of anger and pining for Jeremy. She had just taken the money and done the deed. There were probably a lot of people to whom she should apologize.

That had been over a year ago. In the intervening period, the fae had tried to cause the two werebear clans to fight. They had pitted the Alornians and the Slamorians against each other, but now, those who had tried to do this had been removed from power. Seraphina had rescued her former king, Tae, from himself and he had become the ruler of the fae, again.

After those incidents, where the fae and others in the community had tried to provoke all-out war, a council was formed. It consisted of one individual from each community: the nymphs, the witches, the humans, the werebears, the fae, and the shifters. Penelope had been placed on the council with the others, as the witches’ representative. There were only other three families with magical abilities, in Blue Falls, and none of them cared about anything to do with the council.

Lily, the aforementioned victim of Penelope’s wrath, represented the humans. She hated Penelope and refused to speak to her directly. Penelope couldn’t really blame Lily. She’d tried to kill Lily and Jeremy, so  it was understandable that Lily didn’t like or trust her. Penelope just wished she could show Lily that she didn’t live in an angry place anymore. She no longer wanted to be a supervillain.

Seraphina and Donovan had taken a lot of heat for trying to rehabilitate the evil witch, but the Slamorian alpha, Stefan, had always been civil. He was nice to her, even though her spell on Jeremy had ended his brother’s life. If he could forgive her she thought everyone should, as well. Now, Stefan had asked Penelope to stay, after the last council meeting, to talk with him about it.

“Penelope I’ve asked you to stay because I think we need to have a long overdue conversation about what happened to my brother.”

“I’m very sorry about that, the fact that your brother is dead because of something I did. I’m surprised you’re even talking to me.”

“And yet I am. That’s why what I’m going to say next is probably going to be difficult for you to hear.”

Penelope had braced herself. She knew whatever he was going to say wouldn’t be anything good.

“My right-hand, Han, is going to be your shadow, when Donovan gives you your power back. You won’t be able to do anything, without his knowing about it and, therefore, my knowing about it.”

“Have you discussed this with the council?” Penelope didn’t like the sound of having a werebear to guard her. It seemed a bit like she was a petulant child.

“No, I’m the alpha, so I decide your fate. You attacked a werebrother in our community and went after one of our allies. Lily is someone I care for very much and she does not trust you, yet. Therefore, I do not trust you.”

“I guess there’s no getting out of this.” Penelope sighed, and Stefan went out of the room to fetch her babysitter.

He returned with a large man with dark shaggy hair. He had bright green eyes and darkly-tanned skin. Penelope checked to make sure her mouth wasn’t hanging open, and then she sat up straighter.

“This is to be my babysitter?”

“Yes, this is Han. He will watch you and keep guard, witch. I told you, I don’t trust your kind.”

Penelope looked at Han again. He had a lopsided grin and, although he was massive, there was something about him that told her he was young.

“How old is he, twelve?”

“I’m twenty-three,” Han spoke for the first time. He had a deep baritone that strummed nerves inside her she’d thought Jeremy had killed.

“He’s competent so don’t try anything funny.” Stefan warned, “Now, go enjoy your freedom while you’re still powerless. You could, of course, just not take your power back and then you wouldn’t need a bodyguard.

“That’s like telling a hummingbird to give up its wings. My magic is a part of me.” Penelope said and with that, the decision was made.

Now, she was about to get her power back: Han sat in the room with her, Seraphina, and Donovan. He was waiting to watch her.

“Alright here we go,” Donovan said. He held the amulet up and opened the little glass on the front. Slowly a bright light seeped from the jewel and moved towards Penelope. The light started to flow into her outstretched arms and she could feel the power returning. It was the first time she’d felt like herself in a long time. She lifted a hand to light a candle on Seraphina’s table. It came to life. She saw the awe on Han’s handsome face and wondered if he’d ever seen magic before. Once the light had flown into her and the amulet was empty, Donovan closed it and put it in a drawer that he locked afterwards.

“Don’t make me regret this Penelope,” he said and put his arm around Seraphina. He smiled though, and Penelope felt like they were proud of her.

“Even if I wanted to do something, I couldn’t with this guy following me around.”

“Maybe it’s not forever,” Seraphina said. “Maybe it’s just until they think you’ve proven yourself.

“Thank you. You two believed in me, even after I did some terrible things to you. I’m going to show you this was the right plan. Come on Han, let’s go home.”

Penelope’s mother had left her some money, after she was killed. It was a vague story, told by other witches at get-togethers and events for witches, which were few and far between. It was about something her mother did to another creature that got her killed, but it was just as well. The things Bianca had made the fairy king do to his wife were worse than any horror film. Tao still hadn’t recovered.

Penelope led the way out of the little fae cottage towards the car Han had rented and they headed for the house she’d bought in Blue Falls. Sure, she thought it would be nice to go to her new home alone, but if she could have her power back, then all of this was worth it.

As they were driving away from the fae’s house and heading towards Blue Falls, Penelope noticed the trees looked a little sickly. The leaves were hanging off of them limply, instead of standing erect like they should been in the middle of summer. The bark on the trees had a gray tint to it. It was something she’d never seen before and she wondered if the forest was diseased in these parts.

“Do you see the trees, Han?” she asked pointing to a large one as they passed.

“Yes, they look sick. It’s not just here, it’s everywhere.” Han replied.

“Maybe I should make that the first nice thing I do. Come up with a way to help the sick trees with magic. If this is a widespread problem it will be a good way to fix my reputation.”

“It helps that you never actually killed anyone. Sure, you’re responsible for the deaths of three people, maybe more, but you didn’t have the knife in your hand.”

Penelope was taken aback. Han hadn’t spoken to her much and the fact that he was saying something like this was a lot to absorb.

“I was only responsible for one death. My mother killed the others.”

“Oh, just one, I see,” Han said in a sarcastic way.

“Look, I feel bad for the things I’ve done in the past. The only reason I have my magic back is that I’ve atoned for the way I’ve behaved. I can’t take back anything I’ve done, but I can try to make the world a better place.” She wondered if he believed her. It was hard for her to gauge how anyone perceived her, now that she’d reformed herself.

Han didn’t respond and Penelope felt like that was for the best. She certainly didn’t ask to have a babysitter and she didn’t feel like she needed him to like her. The rest of the trip to her house was silent.