She smiled to the conversance of his words, ignoring the added wit. With her eyes still shut she whispered back to his ear.
“It is so good to see you again witch.”
Maydith broke off the touchy reunion with a purposeful cough.
“I think Chris can take it from here, we will be around incase you need our help.” Maydith told them.
Both Zoe and Chris nodded in agreement and watched silently as the threesome walked out.
When they were left alone Zoe hugged him again, slightly this time. They broke off immediately and sunk down on chairs nearest to them. She stared at him and couldn’t decide where to begin asking.
“It is so so good to see you.” Zoe begun.
“Same hear, I couldn’t believe it when they told us the Channeler was you. I was literally ecstatic. How have you been?”
“I was told about that.” she chuckled remembering Gigi’s comment.
“Oh, Gigi right?” he asked
Zoe nodded still giggling.
“Well it was good to know that I can be able to be myself with someone who is not a stranger and wont judge.”
“Yeah, I hear you. You can imagine the hell I’ve been going through these past few days, it has been too damn hard, keeping this from Mom and Liz…My God” she breathed out a groan.
“Don’t worry there will be a time you will be able to.”
A few seconds were covered with calmness. Zoe’s eyes had been fixed on the ground silently considering the relevancy of what he’d told her. She was still not ready to tell Carol or Liz then she shot up to glare at him.
“I still can’t believe it you know! It’s like too good to be true. How long did you know? How did you face this? Were you a witch in high school?” Zoe shot questions at him with so much eagerness.
“Before you continue throwing a million questions, why don’t I give you le Grande tour of this huge castle, then we will do those catching up interrogations.”
“Come on, don’t do this to me, I love suspense but not when I can help it, you will eventually tell me you know. I don’t see the point” Zoe tried seducing him with a meek act.
“Eventually you will.” Chris said ignoring the seductive efforts.
“Damn, hasn’t witch-hood changed you?” she asked irritated.
“Stick around and you will find out.” he said heading for the door.
“I hate you.” Zoe called out to his back.
Chris half grinned and the corner of his lips tilted.
“I can imagine you are ready to do anything to have me as a friend right now.”
“Arrggg… you are so full of yourself.” Zoe groaned standing.
“Shall we?”
“As if my opinion matters.” Zoe rolled her eyes at him and elbowed him on his ribs as she passed through the doorway.
“Ouch” he hissed and closed the door smiling to himself.
He walked her through a number of interesting rooms. The top floor was mostly occupied by offices and bedrooms. While walking through the rooms, he stopped in front of the Ritual room. It was the one they performed incantations and important sermons like finding the Channeler.
It was the largest room on that floor. She peeped inside it and memories of that night begun flooding back into her mind.
“How did they do that?” it was barely a whisper.
Chris understood what she meant. How were they transported there in their dreams.
“Teleportation bounded with a powerful spell.”
They got downstairs silently and Chris ushered her to the front vestibule with lots of framed pictures on the wall.
“Who are all these people?” she asked pointing at one of the portraits. In it was a black and white waist length picture of a serious thin man. Below the picture it read Franklin Colam.
“Where did I hear that name before?”
“Colam?”
“Unhuh.”
“It has to be the Colam brothers, Moosemond and Fred.”
“Oh Yeees, we were introduced to them in the.” she elaborated pointing upstairs to the ritual room.
“Exactly. They are high coven members; their family has produced very talented witches over the years.”
They trailed on walking leisurely from one picture to another and Chris continued informing her.
“All these are the chairpersons of the association ever since 1827. In counting there are a total of 19 portraits, each one of them has led the association for a period of ten years then later passed on to the next.”
“Wow, that’s impressive—” she stopped commenting when her eyes came across a portrait of a beautiful woman, below her portrait was the name Hannah Wimbley. She glared at her eyes and felt that cliché feeling that the woman was looking right back at her.
“She was one of the best fortune teller of all time, wife to Thomas Wimbley one of the most powerful potion and spell masters of all time, a dope couple.” Chris said, beaming from behind her.
“She was really pretty.” Zoe muttered scrutinizing over the delicacy of her features.
“According to magic history she was the one who foretold your coming.”
Zoe’s eyes twitched then glared deeper into Hannah’s dead eyes and shuddered when she suddenly felt Chris’s arm grip her own.
“Let me take you to meet people and see other important rooms in the building.”
As they walked across the hall to the first room on the right, Zoe’s mind was still with Hannah Wimbley. She wanted to know a little more about her, but her wits were interrupted by the Portion room. In it was an old man, he looked like he was in his mid 70’s or early 80’s. He went under the name Mr. Turtlehead. He was short, with wrinkled sagging skin and wore old-school spectacles that went past his brows.
According to Chris, after his retirement in the ungifted world, he nearly spent all his time in that room. Evidently there was a bed on the corner of the room. He was relatively very dedicated and talented in that particular field. Turtlehead invented portions that could rid of someone’s gift for a short time say 5hours. When Chris and Zoe invaded his territory he was in between a disorganized pile of potions. Other potions were getting cooked in a magic stove, while he buried his face on a large book that Zoe later figured was a witch herb-pedia.
He looked up from his book and jerked upright after noticing Zoe’s presence. Almost breaking his spectacles, he grabbed them in time.
“Chris, Hello. I see you have brought me the Channeler!” there was a hint of excitement in his low throaty tone.
“Helow Sir.” Zoe greeted.
“Hellow my dear, you can call me Mr. Turtlehead. Welcome to my not so humble aboard, it’s dusty and hot and a little messy but as you can see we have very important magic in the making right now, do you want to try something, like ah the very new hair lengthener.” he urged ushering her to the second last shelf on the row.
“Thank you, but no thank you.” Zoe declined.
“It works in two minutes, your hair will be very long, but it can only last for a day” he insisted while looking rather disappointed for the latter.
“Am very sorry but am okay with this, thank you” Zoe said, brushing her fingers through her hair.
“Do you need me to show you around?” disappointed Turtlehead tried his luck once more.
“No its okay, that’s why am here.” Chris stepped in, crushing him some more.
Turtlehead’s face dropped “Oh, it is good to meet you.” his tone was a sad whisper.
“Likewise.” Zoe agreed while feeling bad for turning him down.
They skimmed through his shelves and saw impressive bottles like, love portions, anti telepathy, anti teleportation, confession portion the colors of the prescription liquids were even creepier. The colors in the bottles were like dark blue, silver, blood red, earth brown.
“Anti-teleportation?” Zoe asked Chris showing him the bottle with green fluid over her shoulder.
“Yes, when you drink a drop of it, if you have teleportation skills they
vanish for an hour or two, depending on how long you want the effect to last.”
“That’s deep shit”
“You could say that, its very preferable to people with partners gifted with telepathic skills”
“I can imagine.”
When they were back in the hallway, Zoe turned her head to Chris.
“The poor guy, he sleeps in there?” it was more of a sad declaration than the answer it turned to be.
“Yes, he is a very lonely man.” Zoe threw a glance back at him after hearing the difference in his tone; his voice was all of a sudden grim.
“We have same fates when family is concerned but that I will also tell you when this tour is over. Don’t want to spoil it for you.” he faked a tight smile that left her with apprehensive thoughts.
His expression left no room for further discussion or persuasion. There was a heavy emotional depth in it, she fought against her curiosity and accepted to wait until he was ready to share.
Next, they got into the Discipline and counsel room. There was no one but office furniture and a small shelve of books.
Chris sighed and said “So this is the disciplinary room, Today it kinda looks weird because it is nearly always populated when witches meet here monthly.”
He was struggling to bring his voice back to normal, though she could still feel the tension.
“You guys meet monthly?” she asked trying to crosscheck if she misheard.
“Yes we meet once a month, do some catching up, Show offs.-”
Zoe frowned when she read between the lines about meeting monthly. All this time, it’s been two years and he has been going back to Doomsberg monthly! Despite lack of communication she thought they had ended things in a matured way, without holding grudges.
“Wait a minute,” she interrupted “so all this time you’ve been coming to Doomsberg without passing by to say hi?” it was shocking and so unlike Chris.
“No,” he shook his head with an innocent face that looked offended “I have been in LA, just came back for this calling”
“Oh.” She felt a tiny bit embarrassment then gloved it with another question “So, what else do you guys do in these meetings?”
“You really think I could do that?” he was deeply hurt.
Zoe winced not meeting his offended glare “I wasn’t thinking, I just blurted a conclusion from your explanation”
“I could never do that to you, I am not that thoughtless.”
As a matter of fact and memory he was a very emotional guy, something she ought to remember from then on.
“I know, am sorry.” she said remorsefully.
He arched a brow and shrugged one shoulder, like he always did when trying to settle for a not so good opinion.
“Okay.” He said under his breath, but it definitely wasn’t a convincing okay “Well about the meetings we introduce new members, give each other updates, enjoy our gifts and mingle” he outlined carelessly.
She forced her mind out of the elephant in the room and concentrated on what would ease both their minds.
She looked around the room, not really understanding what a discipline room was for in a witch community.
“Exactly what is this room for?” she asked peering through an old book on the shelf.
“A lot of crazy stuff happens when we meet. Given it’s the only place one gets to be who they are as a witch. People play around with their magic irresponsibly. Some steal stuff from one another, Sometimes Darkeel’s witches are able to trespass, then it gets a little bit out of hand and that’s when this room takes charge.”
“How do they control Darkeel’s witches against trespassing?”
“They cast a strong spell against the believers of dark magic, if it works they are held back by the invisible wall, but if not then they walk right in.”
“What happens when they are caught?”
“It is sacred to them that we not know their true identities, so we abuse that by making sure everyone in our society know, who they are.”
“Damn, I can’t wait see that, so you witches have a shrink or something.”
“You could say that. Most of the time they pick someone with telepathic skills and is always an elderly. Other than that I heard there is a secret compartment in here somewhere. It’s supposedly some horrific little cellar for the wrong doers of our coven. I don’t know where it is and I am not sure I want to know.”
“What happens inside it?”
“It always remains a secret; most people who get in there are rid off their powers and memories for good, the taken back to their home through teleportation. No one really talks about it.”
After that, they got to the Spell room. In it was a young black woman, dusting books and arranging them in the small spell books library. She was ecstatic when she saw Zoe.
“Oh my God, this is so amazing. I can’t believe, I get to see you before the ball. My name is Clarissa, and you’re really young and pretty.” Zoe’s brows were pulled up high at this with a blush. “My grandma will be so proud of me, can you please sign an autograph for me?” she bubbled on while reaching for her purse and taking out a note and pen. “Or else she won’t believe me if I just said I met Zoe Brown personally.” she smiled largely handing the pad to Zoe. Clarissa looked like she just saw her most favorite Hollywood superstar.
“No problem.” Zoe smiled, overwhelmed by the admiration.
She took the pad and strolled over at the table and scribbled a quick signature and name.
“Oh my God, this is really unbelievable.” Clarissa jumped around looking down at Zoe as she signed.
The burden she felt the first time she was told about the Channeler was trailing back into her nerves. All these people admired her, looked up to her and believed in her. She thought to herself that she had to start getting the same dosage for her nerves.
“Here you go.” she smiled at her and Clarissa surprised her with a hug.
“Thank you.” Clarissa said.
Zoe didn’t know the girl but she felt the sincerity in her voice. She vowed then to do all that was in her power, to help keep everyone safe and proud.
Chris was quietly beaming the whole time, getting out of the way of this emotional scene. He watched them detach from the hug and Zoe ambled to the shelves that were already wiped and arranged.
Most books were witch prank spells, Protective spells against dark magic, healing spells, love spells, Enchantment spells and the like.
She waved a goodbye to Clarissa, who waved but with as much zeal as before, and they were out.
“Okay that went well superstar.” Chris gagged.
“Shut up.”
“You will get used to it.”
Zoe didn’t want to reply to his very true remark. They advanced to the very last room which opened up to the Herbs room. On the left side of the room, there was an open door that led out to a small garden. Which according to Chris was a herbal garden.
“Hey Melooo.” Chris called out happily.
Zoe noticed he looked more comfortable in this room than he did in others. Then she remembered in his specialty plants were included. He must be familiar to the people responsible for that room.
Around her there were shelves with dried herbs. Others were in small pots and some were arranged in order of spells and hex’s they can cure. Her eyes trailed through alien herb names like angelica root, basil, burdock, ginger, rosemary-
“My my, who do we have here?” came a calm voice of a mid aged redhead. She looked pleasant as she got rid of her farm gloves and advanced to greet Zoe.
“The most esteemed Channeler, beautiful Zoe Brown in flesh and blood, at her finest…ooouch!!” Zoe punched Chris on the ribs again to stop him from continuing with his unwanted performance.
“Hellow Zoe, My name is Melody Tunnel, and this is my nest. You’re welcome to learn about herbs and once in a while get a treat in case you get jinxed or feel unwell.”
“Thank you, I hope not to be sick or get jinxed. But I can take
you on the learning offer.”
“That you will have to work on some other time, because we are not done yet.” Chris charged in.
“It’s my call Chris not yours, so stay off it.”
“And I’m the mentor, so for your own sake, you should listen to me.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking when I picked you, you are so inconvenient.”
“Oh we both know exactly what you were thinking.”
They looked at each other with an awkwardness they were both not ready to address.
“Very impressive you two, hope it’s only mentoring that’s going strong and Chris, please bring me the sage and blackberry leaves, I have gone short, and I need them badly.” Melody said her eyes on Chris.
“No problem Melo, see yah.” Chris smiled at her, walking to the door.
Zoe gave her a silent wave and was out of her space.
They walked silently past the large double doors headed for the back yard of the mansion.
When they got there, not very far from the white mansion she saw another house. It looked gray and mossed with age. It was another medieval house, but this one was dirty and abandoned. A complete inverse to what she has just been to.
There were benches visible on the lawn. They sat on one bench facing the house. Zoe looked at Chris beside her, his eyes were intensely glued to the old structure. His face was very serious, almost scary. She had never seen him like that. Was it because of the story behind that house? She couldn’t help but wonder.
“Tell me about your side of the story.” she poked, her voice calm but deep.
His eyes didn’t waver from the house, and his voice went back three years when they were in high school.
“You remember in high school when I could always have a way with finding stolen stuff or misplaced properties?” he asked, his eyes still fixated on the house.
“Yeah” she nodded going back to those not very good memories that brought them together.
“I was very scared, I just always knew where to find stuff, a lost book, a stolen wallet, a misplaced backpack!” his eyes seared with pain.
“People assumed I was doing sick pranks, at first it was fun until it got out of hand. Kids accused me of petty theft, some of them called me names like a weirdo and a witch, of which by then I found offensive.” He puffed a sad grin, and dragged his hand through his hair.
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