As
Andrea arrived at her new home she started feeling very weak. This had never happened to her before. Andrea had always been strong, with many
gifts, but suddenly she was exhausted.
Immediately
Demon started giving orders in his, oh so Demon voice, telling Andrea what she
would do. Andrea being the stubborn
independent person that she was did not like that at all.
She
would show them that she would do as she pleased. She closed her eyes, bowed her head, but nothing happened. She could no longer teleport.
"What
have you done to me?" Andrea
cried. All of her power was gone.
She
heard a voice.
"Andy,
Andy are you there?" It was
Stephen.
She
did not know if she could answer him.
"I
am here Dot."
“Oh
good Andy, I was worried about you. You
looked funny when you left.”
"I
am fine Dot. I am busy right now getting all settled in. I will talk to you later, okay?"
“Okay
Andy, I love you.”
“I
love you Dot".
She
could still talk to her brother but she could not do anything else.
*****
Demon had not wanted Andrea. He did not want a new Lady of the Manor. It had taken the other Masters 20 years, from the time of her birth, to persuade Demon that the prophecy had to be fulfilled. There had to be a new Lady of the Manor.
Demon
had finally agreed, on the condition that Celestial create something that would
inhibit her power. Demon could not
allow the new Lady of the Manor to wish herself to die like his Mandy. In his mind if she could not use her power
she would not die.
Celestial
created a bracelet. As long as the new
Lady wore the bracelet all her power would be inhibited. All accept the telepathy.
That was the bracelet Demon had put on Andrea. It was stealing all her power. More power than The Masters had expected.
CHAPTER
23
Beast
showed her to her room. As they climbed
the stairs Beast glanced at Andrea wondering what was going through her
mind. Andrea never uttered a sound.
"The
servants will be in to help you. There are clothes in the closet. I will send Demon up to heat the water for
your bath."
"I
can do that, I do not need him." Andrea replied stubbornly.
Beast
shrugged his shoulders and left her to the servants.
The
water was ice cold. Andrea knew that
she could pull fire from her hands so she was not worried about warming the
water. The flame would not come. She remembered they had taken the power from
her.
The
servants called for the Demon to come and heat the water for her bath. Andrea sat forlornly by the window. She did not look at Demon when he came in
the room and heated the water. But, he
watched her.
‘She
is not the Lady. She is not like my
Mandy.’ And he left.
With
the help of the servants, Andrea took her bath, washed her hair, and she
changed her clothes. Why did
everyone think she had to look good for The Masters? She wondered
They
had taken her powers away. Why? Andrea was having trouble concentrating, she
was tired and wanted to sleep. This was
not like Andrea.
She
went down to have dinner with The Masters. She was not hungry and just pushed
the food around on her plate. The
Masters watched her, each in his own thoughts.
Dinner
was very tense and very quiet.
Starchild tried to start a conversation but Andrea only responded with
one word answers. She did not want to
talk to them, she did not want to look at them, and she did not want to be
there.
After
dinner Andrea excused herself and went to her room.
“What
are we going to do?” Beast was the
first to raise the question. “How do we
deal with her?”
“She
doesn’t want to be here that is obvious.”
Celestial remarked.
“Well,
she is not wanted here.” Demon growled as he stalked around the room. “Why did we have to bring her here? We do not need her.”
“The
prophecy…” Starchild began.
“I
do not care about the prophecy” Demon stormed at them.
“Maybe
it will be better tomorrow.” Was all Starchild could say as he watched Demon
leave the room.
*****
"Andy,
Andy are you there." Dot was
looking for her.
"Yes
Dot I am here."
"What
are you doing?"
"I
am getting ready for bed."
"Oh
Andy, it's too early for bed."
"Dot,
I have had a very long day and I am tired.
I just need to get some rest."
"Are
you sure you're okay Andy?"
"Yes
Dot, I am fine"
"Okay,
I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay
Dot"
"I
love you Andy"
"I
love you Dot"
*****
Andrea
did not sleep well that night.
In
the morning she was weaker. She could
not get out of bed. Looking at her
wrist she remembered the bracelet.
Demon had put a bracelet on her and it was sucking all her energy
away.
She
had to get the bracelet off. She pulled
at it but it would not budge there was no clasp. She pulled and she twisted but the bracelet would not come off. What was she going to do? She was tired, she had no energy but she knew
if she did not take the bracelet off it would kill her.
She
spent the whole day in her room. The
Masters came and tried to coax her out of her room but she used the excuse of
being too tired and needing to rest.
She had to get the bracelet off, but how?
CHAPTER 24
"What have you done to my Andy?" Starchild was startled by the voice.
"Stephen, is that you?"
"What have you done to my Andy?"
Stephen sounded angry and Starchild was puzzled. "We haven't done anything Stephen, what is wrong?"
"Something is wrong with my Andy. She won't get me. She said she is too tired. My Andy is never tired. She always gets me when I need her. She always takes me to her, she can't do it now, what did you do to my Andy?"
Starchild felt a wave of panic wash over him. "Stephen, I will go check on her."
"You better. You better not hurt my Andy. You won't like me if I get mad.”
"I will go check on her"
*****
Starchild
called the other Masters and they went up to Andrea's room where they found her
sitting by the window, very pale, very tired.
She
had not changed clothes in three days, there was uneaten food sitting on the
table and blood on the floor.
Starchild
walked over and placed his hand on her cheek, "Andrea."
Andrea
looked at him with blank eyes not knowing who he was or where she was. She just kept muttering, "It must come
off. It must come off."
He
looked down at her hand and realized she was trying to get the bracelet off of
her wrist and in doing so was injuring herself. Blood was oozing from the gashes in her arm. He felt another panic wave come over
him.
"Andrea,
you have to stop that,”
"It
must come off. It must come off"
Demon
walked over picked her up and carried her to the bed. With a gentleness and concern in his voice that The Masters had
not heard in years he quietly murmured, “Andrea go to sleep”.
Andrea
closed her eyes, muttering, "It must come off. It must come off." Still fighting with the bracelet.
Demon
reached down and removed the bracelet from her wrist. The other Masters looked at him in question.
"I
have failed in my duty. I failed to
protect her."
Celestial
looked at him quizzically, "Demon, you have not failed."
Demon
looked down at the now sleeping Andrea, "Yes I have. I failed to protect her from herself."
Demon
sat down in the chair "I will stay with her."