Witch Happens

by A. M. King

  “Oh, you won’t be needing anything in your backpack,” Professor Techer said as Febe walked into the foyer.

  Their shoes clunked on the shiny, pine-scented hardwood floor. She noticed the fine, outdated velvet drapes at the window. The inside had an antique, Victorian feel to it.

  Madam Techer wore a long black dress, buttoned up to her neck. Her hair was done in an upsweep.

  “I won’t?”

  “Oh, no. You have the best note taking software and tools up here,” she said, pointing to Febe’s mind. “Your mind is the greatest computer ever created and can store up to three trillion facts, autocorrect errors that you see, visualize and create things. It can store countless memories and change your reality just by thinking. Your brain is thirty times more powerful than the best super computer out there. We only use ten percent of our brains. Some...less than that.”

  Febe grinned.

  “Thoughts are potent, my dear. Some things are better left stored in the mind. You don’t want to leave traces of our lesson on paper for others to see.” She arched a brow.

  “Right. Of course,” Febe said, feeling sheepish.

  “Not to worry.” Madam Techer took Febe’s bag and placed it on the counter. “I can feel your energy right now, dear. You have a lot of emotional baggage on your brain. It’s weighing you down without you even realizing it. You need to master your mind. Your thoughts.”

  “Now that’s a challenge.”

  “The greatest battle we fight is in our own minds. It’s not what happens to us, but our thoughts about it that causes us distress. Think about it. Most babies don’t worry or fret about things. They haven’t developed thought processes yet.”

  Febe grinned. “Now that’s true.”

  Febe thought it was odd that there was no sign on the outside or inside that would indicate it was a school of any kind. Or that she held classes there.

  Madam Techer then turned around and called out to someone. “Gerard.”

  An older gentleman, hair greased back and dressed in a black butler’s tuxedo, white shirt and bow tie, approached. Febe noticed his shoes were shiny and spotless. “Gerard, will you please fetch us some tea with biscuits and take Febe’s bag to the coat room.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Oh, I’m good, thanks. I just had breakfast.” She took Ebony’s advice and fixed a healthy breakfast with cereal and milk, fruits and nuts and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Unlike her usual city donut and coffee she used to inhale on her way to the subway.

  Life in the small town was a nice change of pace. Instead of honking and traffic sounds, she was greeted to the sound of the birds chirping in the distance, the tree leaves rustling in the wind and the sound of the water lapping against the shoreline.

  Nature. Calm. Beautiful.

  “Um, Madam Techer. There was a woman upstairs in the attic. She was staring out of the window.”

  “Oh, my sister.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Oh, um. You keep your sister in the attic?” Febe tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

  This woman was recommended by the Council of Witches. She must be legit.

  “Oh, no. She chooses to stay up there. She doesn’t like to mingle with folks.”

  “I see.”

  Madam Techer led Febe into a massive study with rows of wooden bookshelves lining the walls. There was a large stone fireplace in the center with a fire burning. Above the fireplace was a scenic painting of a palm tree, beach and white house. On the painting was the inscription: St. Augustine. Was that St. Augustine, Florida?

  Febe immediately thought of poor Darla Gosnik. She might have been a gossip and a tabloid menace, but no one deserved to be murdered, especially not like that with their body tossed on the side of the road in the middle of the night. Febe took her attention away from the painting. Probably just a coincidence.

  “I see something is troubling your mind, dear.” She sipped tea from an antique teacup with intricate designs.

  “Oh, yes. I guess you could say that.”

  “Tell me what it is, dear. You need to clear your mind before you begin your first lesson.”

  “Well, let me see. I found my ex-fiancé cheating on me with my boss. I got fired by said boss. Could no longer afford my apartment in the city and oh, yeah, my family called me to come back here and informed me that I’m really a witch.”

  Madam Techer placed her cup down and grinned. “You’ve had a dreadful week, dear.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably thinking I’m a real loser, right?”

  “Oh, no. Quite the contrary. I think you’re a winner.”

  “A winner?”

  “You’re still standing, aren’t you? Someone once said that tough times never last, but tough people do, Febe. We all go through hard knocks. That’s nothing new. It’s those who can still move forward and don’t let it sink them who are true winners in the game of life.”

  “The game of life?”

  “Well, there’s more to it than just that, of course.”

  Madam Techer lit a candle in the middle of the room. She drew in a deep breath and appeared visibly uncomfortable.

  “Is everything all right, Madam Techer?” Febe said leaning forward.

  “I...I always get this way around candles. Fires.”

  “You do?”

  “You sound surprised, Febe. We all have fears, my dear.”

  “But I thought you said fear is not good?”

  “Being courageous and having fear are two different things, Febe. Anyone can have fear, but making a move despite your fear makes you a conqueror.”

  “That’s true, I guess,” Febe said, nodding her head.

  Madam Techer drew in another deep breath and lit the candle in the middle of the coffee table. She then stretched out her right hand to the bookshelf to her left. “Commanderio es Shamon.”

  A book wiggled on its spine, then moved itself slowly off the dusty book shelf and floated in midair over to where Madam Techer and Febe were sitting to lay itself on the coffee table.

  Febe’s jaw fell open in wonder.

  She was seeing this, but it was difficult to believe it.

  The book then opened itself on the table and the pages started to flip as if an invisible person was turning them until it got to the center of the book. Then it rested there.

  Madam Techer had a nonchalant expression, while Febe was still in awe. Complete fascination of what was going on around her. This was her world now, wasn’t it? Magic.

  She had to get used to it. When was she ever going to get used to it?

  “Now, you will be doing a seven-part intensive examination to obtain your witching license. So please pay attention. I’ll be giving you a crash course so that you have all the necessary knowledge and practice to master your exam. After that, it will be up to you to continue to learn. Learning never stops once you receive your papers, just like when you graduating high school or university. The learning begins in the real world when you apply all that you’ve learned.”

  “Right. Got it.” Febe tried to focus so that she wouldn’t miss anything. The last thing she wanted to do was to goof up on her witching license. Even her Aunt Trixie got her license. Never mind that: Aunt Vanity who was always preoccupied with a mirror had her witching license, too. Which meant, if they could get one, so could she.

  “You look worried, dear.”

  “I am. I just don’t want to screw up. My family would never forgive me.”

  “Nor would you forgive yourself.”

  “I know. I usually record my lectures at school.”

  “Like I said before, dear, your mind is the greatest computer and records everything in your subconscious whether you’re aware of it or not.”

  “I guess you could say that.”

  “Now if there’s one thing you need to remember, it is this. Energy.”

  “Energy?”

  “Yes, energy, dear. The world is energy. Ou
r thoughts and feeling, our emotions. That’s why whenever you’re around negative people, they can drain your energy. Your soul.”

  “You’re telling me. My boss, Amanda, was a real...”

  Madam Techer frowned.

  “Never mind.”

  “Good. Now, there are things in this world we can’t see, but we can feel them, their effects are everywhere. Once you understand energy, you can use it to your benefit and avoid unnecessary pain.”

  “How?”

  “Firstly, there are two types of energy you need to be aware of. Stored energy and working energy.”

  “Hey, wait a minute. I dealt with this before in Physics 101.”

  Madam Techer shook her head. “No no, dear. This is quite different. The stored energy and working energy is more than just potential energy and kinetic energy,” she said, obviously a physics master herself. “This is about magical energy. Most people have regular energy to work and go about their daily activities. What sets witches apart is the fact that we have an unusual amount of energy that can turn the mundane into magic. And move objects and make things happen.”

  “Interesting.”

  “You will learn this in time, dear.” Madam Techer took another sip of her tea and placed her cup down, while the magical book flipped through to another page.

  “In the dictionary, energy is defined as the strength and vitality required to sustain physical and mental activity. Changes in your levels of vitamins can affect your energy and well-being so you must be careful.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “No. Don’t try. Do.”

  “Do?”

  “Yes. Just do it. Magic is the art and practice of moving energies to effect needed or wanted change. Remember that.”

  Febe tried to soak it all in. “Does that include...um...levitation.”

  Okay, Febe always read about that. She thought it would be so cool to just levitate. Imagine getting through rush hour traffic by just floating above it and swiftly moving to where you had to go. She figured that was probably why witches were on broomsticks. Though it was probably more a metaphor than an actual thing. She’d never seen anyone on a broomstick moving through the skies before.

  She grinned. “Yes, we’ll get to the power of levitation but that is quite advanced. The key to magic is the ability to raise, manipulate and direct energy.”

  Febe though about the glass on the table and how she was able to freeze it in midair. Sweet. So she had a bit in her already.

  “I see you’ve done this before by protecting your cat.”

  “Yes, how did you...?”

  She grinned and took another sip of her tea. “Before we can properly cast a spell to make things happen at will, not by chance, we must first learn how to raise our bioelectricity.”

  “Our bioelectricity?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “There’s a lot to learn.”

  “There is?”

  “There are many different types of energy, but emotional energy is the most powerful.”

  “Emotional energy?”

  “Yes, like the one you used by chance when your ex-fiancé turned on you.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “And the one you used by chance because you had to save your beloved cat from an unfortunate accident.”

  Febe’s eyes opened wider.

  “Yes, love is the most powerful emotion and can work amazing magic. One can raise their emotional energy by meditating and practicing the art of focus. Allowing yourself to focus on what is good and useful to you, not on negative mindless things that can drain whatever reserve you have for no gain. You’ll need that for spell casting.”

  “Spell casting?”

  “Yes, spell casting. We’ll also go over pushing energy.”

  “Pushing energy?” Febe tried to keep track of things in her mind.

  “Yes. The ability to move energy using your body with practice. And visualization. I see your power of visualization is already good.”

  Febe grinned. “I work in advertising, designing ad campaigns.”

  “Yes, I know. You still have a lot to learn about directing your mind’s focus and using your palm to mentally push out force to make things move and happen. But you will need to learn how to replenish your energies.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What happened after you slammed the door on your cheating fiancé?”

  “Come to think of it, I felt drained like a...”

  “Precisely. I’m not surprised, dear. You expelled energy without replenishing your stock. Recharging. You need to recharge. You experience a warm, tingling sensation in your hand like pins and needles when you first expel this energy, then...you feel drained like all the power has drained from you.”

  “Hey, that’s exactly how I felt.”

  “I’m not surprised, dear. One day you will learn to command these energies and call upon them quickly and efficiently to heal and mold before directing it to an intended target or goal. That is the difference in being an established witch, being able to call the powers to use. That is essential for a properly trained witch. One day, you’ll become stronger if you don’t let yourself down. You’ll be able to move energies from your primary hand and both hands. You will learn more control.”

  “This is just like the night I was supposed to move, when my sister cleaned up my whole apartment in seconds.”

  Wow, all this time she thought of her sister as just...annoying, into herself Janvier, but the way she commanded her apartment to be cleaned up in seconds like a whirlwind of magic around her was...wow, amazing! She had to give it to her sis: she had renewed respect for her now.

  “I’m not surprised.”

  Febe almost regretted saying that now, hoping that Janvier would not be in any trouble, but then again, she needed to get out of there fast.

  “I’m going to give you the opportunity to use the command word commanderio for a simple action.”

  “Commanderio?”

  “Yes. Commanderio. I whispered it to call to my spell instruction book to come off the bookshelf. It allows the energy forces to cooperate with your energy. Now call to your backpack.”

  Febe swallowed hard. “How am I...supposed...?” She didn’t want to mess up her first lesson, but this was hardly a lesson now was it? She was diving into the deep end to see if she could sink or swim. Anxiety got the best of her. Her stomach knotted into twists. She could feel her head spinning.

  “Um...commander...”

  “No, dear. Commanderio. Now say it like you mean it. Feel the energy of your backpack. Command it to come to you. Stand up now.”

  Both Madam Techer and Febe stood up in the study and glanced at the open French doors.

  Febe cleared her throat. “Commanderio enter beside me.” Febe felt moisture pool on her forehead.

  Then suddenly, her backpack slowly shifted itself into the room.

  Her eyes widened in shock. Her heart exploded into rapid heartbeats. Did she do that? Was she commanding her backpack to come to her? Or was Madam Techer helping her out?

  Then...

  The bag stayed put.

  “Commanderio enter beside me. Now.”

  Nothing.

  Madam Techer had her arms folded across her chest, her chin tilted upward as she glanced at Febe with a slight grin on her lips.

  “Commanderio.”

  “Think, dear. Use your emotions. Your good emotions.”

  How on earth did she get that door to slam between her and Jonathan the other day? Suddenly, the emotions of upset over his betrayal came flooding back but she tried to shift it out of her mind to focus on her lesson.

  “Commanderi...”

  Just then the backpack leaped off the floor in full force and came flying at full speed directly toward Febe.

  She tried to duck, but it was too late. It slammed her right square in the face.

  “Ouch!” she said as she flew backward, touching her nose with her hand. “That hurt!”

 
“Yes, the truth can hurt, dear. You must conquer your fears, Febe. You were focusing on the wrong energies just now. The world treats you how you treat it. Everything has energy, believe it or not.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yes, dear. And fear and constant worrying is not the witching way and can drain your energies too. So just be aware of that.”

  “Commanderio back!” Madam Techer clapped her hand and spoke quickly. The backpack lifted off the floor and went back out through the room and disappeared toward where the butler had placed it. Febe could no longer see it.

  She got up off the floor, still grabbing her nose. Well, she knew that it would be a pain to go back to school again, she just didn’t think it would be literally.

  “You need to clear your mind from worry, doubt, and fear if you want to succeed as a witch, dear.”

  Well that really sucked. She was always worrying about something. Paying her bills on time, making a good impression at work, fitting in. No wonder she wasn’t all she could be.

  “Some people, like emotional vampires and demonic souls, take energies from others to remain powerful. Good people like witches who heal and help others, take it from the sun, their own internal stores, and the energy of the earth without doing any harm to the source. But we’ll also discuss something else that’s on your mind, dear. The murder of a woman that crossed your path on your way back to town.”

  “What?” Febe swallowed. “You heard about that?”

  “Everyone has, dear. It’s all over town now. News like that is not kept secret. Mind you, her death was not natural.”

  “You’re telling me. She was strangled.”

  “Oh, no dear. I meant it’s not a natural person. Strangulation or asphyxiation might be the police procedural term or the medical term, but we know better. She was killed by a demonic force. One that could easily wipe any one of us out.”

  Febe’s hairs stood up on her neck again. “What do you mean...how did you...?”

  “I feel fear around you and feel a negative energy trying to get to you, but you’re strong, Febe. You need to keep yourself together. You’re a lot stronger than you realize.”

  “I am?”

  “Yes. You have magic blood. Why does that surprise you, dear? Be more confident in yourself.”

  Febe felt silly for a moment. Was it that obvious that she was self-conscious? She should be like her sister Janvier, self-confident, or maybe like her Aunt Vanity, just full of herself. But oh, no. She had to be the bashful Summer sister.