by L. C. Mawson
I wasn’t ready.
Not now.
“It’s okay,” Willow said, her voice soft as she pulled me back to the present. “I wasn’t saying that you should tell them now, I was just wondering how things were between you and them.”
I shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine once everything calms down. Anyway, we should stop focusing on me so much. How was your day? You were working on a rune-making project, right?”
Willow hesitated for a moment, and I worried briefly that she wouldn’t let me change the subject so easily.
But then she smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I was.”
Chapter Ten
“Shit,” I muttered as I found myself in Maria Brown’s tower once again.
Maria turned to me as I spoke and looked me over. “You’re coming here when you’re asleep, aren’t you?”
I glared at her, refusing to believe that it was real.
She shrugged. “I’m rather nocturnal myself, so it took me a moment to put it together. But it seems that you’re the only one who can initiate the connection, and you’re not doing it consciously.”
“Find a way to break it,” I said, folding my arms.
“I’m trying. I think the curse is acting as an anchor.” She nodded to my scars. “The connection was probably solidified when we tried to lift the curse on my coven, but your scars are part of my magic still living within you.”
“Then get rid of it.”
“I told you last time that I was already trying. I’m trying to heal the scars, but I’ve always been better at casting curses than lifting them. And I have never managed to crack healing magic.”
She turned to the potion bubbling away in her cauldron.
I examined it as I walked over, though I kept my distance from Maria.
“So,” Maria eventually said after several moments of silence, “do you think I’m ‘evil’ now too? Mad and corrupted so far beyond help that the only option is to lock me away for centuries?”
I folded my arms, looking at the potion, rather than her. “‘Evil’ is kind of a strong word. I think you’re powerful and reckless and that’s a dangerous combination.”
I looked up to see her examining me, an eyebrow raised.
“Ah,” she finally said, smiling. “You’ve been speaking to Esme. Which I suppose makes sense. I’d heard that the Amazons were sent to investigate my spell. Have they given you much trouble?”
“They’re forcing me to go through their trials to prove that I can control my magic.”
“Well, that’s not so bad. You’re a competent Witch, after all, and if you’ve been talking to Esme, she’s probably looking after you. She has a bit of a soft heart.”
I frowned. “You know her?”
She shrugged. “Ember Academy wasn’t the first place I went after waking up. Initially, I went to all my old hideouts and found that most of them were being kept under lock and key by various covens. This tower was maybe the one place that no one had touched.
“I needed to figure out what was going on in this century, but I could never stand other covens. Especially those following Roman traditions, which all across England now seem to. I went to Scotland and found a small handful of Witches who were interested in their roots, but everything was so forgotten...”
She shook her head with a sigh. “Anyway, I met Esme, and she had a place away from Themiscyra, so she offered me her spare room while I got my bearings.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“Not at first. I said that I was only a couple of centuries out of it. Those kinds of sleeping curses aren’t common, but they’re not unheard of.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly good at pretending to be from a time period that I hadn’t lived through. Especially when she had. She caught me out after a while.”
I frowned. “If she knew who you were, why didn’t she tell anyone?”
Maria shrugged. “I’m not sure. I didn’t know that she knew at first, and as soon as I figured it out, I left. That’s when I sensed another Angelborn about to break through and went to find you. Then I saw that Gail was trying to hire your aunt, so I took a position at Ember as well.”
“You sensed me?”
“I was looking.” She sighed. “I looked for other Angelborn the second I was free, knowing that they were the only ones who could help. You can imagine my frustration when I discovered that I was the only one left.”
I regarded her carefully for a moment.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. Just... Esme knew you for a while, right?”
“I lived with her for several months.”
“And that was her takeaway... That you’re just reckless?”
Maria sighed. “If you don’t agree with that assessment, why did you say that you did?”
“I’m still figuring out what I think. I guess I just wanted to see your reaction.”
Maria gave me a small smile. “Well, I’m glad that there’s still one person who doesn’t hate me in this time.”
“So, you and Esme got on?”
“Yes. Why is that a surprise?”
“I don’t know, she just seemed... Nice.”
“I’m nice.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, fine. I’ve got a few rough edges. But Esme and I actually agree on most things aside from the rough edges. She thinks being nice is the best way to succeed, and I think that rough edges are imperative to survival.
“She thinks that talking and going through the ‘proper channels’ will work, when in my experience that never gets anything done because the ‘proper channels’ are designed from the ground up to halt change.”
I frowned. “Wait, what change? What was it that you two actually agreed on? Freeing your sisters? What do you actually want in this time aside from that?”
“I never told her about my sisters, and I’m still not sure what I want here, aside from to survive. Which is much harder when everyone thinks you’re a monster.” She sighed, going to stir the cauldron once more. “When I was younger, I just wanted to stop the Roman expansion so that I could keep my own ways of witchcraft, but it’s too late for that now. I woke up to find that the lines in the sand had changed and there’s no one who remembers what I used to fight for.”
She sighed once more, moving away from the cauldron to lean against one of the tables. “Now everything I once fought against is institutionalised and no one remembers anything different. And the idea of being close to Humans is treated as an impossibility, instead of just how we used to live.”
She folded her arms and regarded me carefully. “Have you heard from your mother yet?”
I looked away.
“Things don’t have to be this way. Yes, we always eventually grew distant from Humans because of our lifespans, but we shouldn’t hasten that change. We need young Witches to look at us the way you looked at me when I told you that we forget them. To remind us that we shouldn’t.
“We used to know that we lived alongside Humans, rather than trying to run away from them to live on secluded islands in the middle of nowhere. Now we just ignore them, including ignoring the atrocities they commit, as if none of it affects us. As if we don’t live on Earth as well.
“That’s what Esme and I agreed on. That things cannot continue on like this. That change needs to happen.”
I nodded, finding that I didn’t disagree with what she was saying.
Maybe she really wasn’t a monster...
“You still tried to kill Mr Stiles so that you could lift the spell on your sisters,” I said aloud, reminding myself that there was more to this than pretty words.
Maria shrugged. “One life to save twenty. That’s just basic arithmetic.”
I stared at her, unable to understand how she could say it like that.
As if she didn’t care that she’d almost killed someone.
“You never achieve anything without sacrifice, Amelia. It’s one of the basic tenets of ma
gic. Balance is required.”
The world around me faded before I could even begin to formulate a response.
I AWOKE WITH A START, the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom.
I let out a sigh of relief, not wanting Natalie to ask me if I was okay again.
Because the answer would unquestioningly be ‘no’.
As much as I wanted to pretend that these dreams really were just dreams, and that I wasn’t in any way connected to Maria Brown...
I couldn’t ignore the possibility anymore.
If there was any chance that this connection was real, I had to find a way to break it.
I reached over to grab my phone and check the time, but I frowned as I saw that I had a text.
A text from my mum.
My heart stopped as I tapped the notification and read the message.
Hi Amy. Things have been hectic here, but I’m okay. Hope you’re okay at school. xxx
Well...
That was something, at least.
I’m good xxx
That was far from true, but I wasn’t going to bother her with the truth about anything.
Not when she didn’t even want me to be at the school in the first place.
What would she think once she knew about the Amazons’ training?
And what might happen if I failed it...
Is there any chance you could come home at the weekend? xxx
I frowned, sure that there wasn’t.
But... Well, I didn’t know until I asked, right?
I’ll ask xxx
I DRESSED QUICKLY WHILE Natalie was still in the shower before making my way to my auntie’s house.
“Amy,” Auntie Jess said as she opened her front door. “This is a surprise. Do you need anything?”
“I... I just wanted to talk.”
“Okay, well, come in.”
She led me through to the kitchen.
“I was about to make myself some toast. Do you want some?”
I nodded, and she put some bread in the toaster.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” she asked.
“Mum messaged.”
“Ah,” Auntie Jess said before folding her arms and turning to face me. “What did she say?”
“She asked if I could go and see her on the weekend.”
Auntie Jess sighed. “I wish that you could, and if this were any other time, I would figure out the needed protections, but Amy... The Amazons have made it clear that you’re not allowed to leave campus as long as they’re training you.”
“And what happens if I can’t finish the trials?”
Auntie Jess gave me a firm look. “Amy, no matter what happens, I will not let the Amazons take you if it comes to that. I promise.”
“What if you can’t? I mean, they’re the strongest Witches, right? What if you can’t protect me?”
“Then the last resort is that you declare yourself a Dark Witch and your sister takes you in.”
I frowned. “But won’t that pit the Underworld and the Amazons against each other?”
Auntie Jess sighed. “Yes, but I don’t care. Your safety comes first, Amy, not magical politics, and I know Freya would agree.”
“But Freya funds the school, right? What would happen to it if the Amazons started fighting Freya?”
Auntie Jess sighed. “Whatever would happen, it’s not your job to worry about it, Amy.”
I nodded, though I couldn’t bring myself to think like that.
I’d seen how the Amazons treated Witches like Willow, Natalie and Lena. Would other covens be any better?
This school was the only place they had.
I couldn’t take it away from them for my own safety.
“For now,” Auntie Jess said, “I can go and talk to your mum. Try to answer any questions she might have about all of this.”
“I don’t want her to worry about me.”
Auntie Jess gave me a reassuring smile. “Trust me, Amy, I’ve known your mother for years. I know what she needs to hear.”
I nodded, figuring that I didn’t have much of a choice, and this was better than nothing.
Chapter Eleven
I hurried to training, having to scramble to catch up with everyone else changing into their armour.
Thankfully, I caught up and left the changing room with the others, bracing myself for however Dana decided to test us today.
“Good morning, girls,” she said as we stood in front of her. “Today, we’re going to ask you to keep a volatile spell stable. This will test your emotional regulation, making sure that you’re capable of keeping your feelings, and therefore your powers, in check. You should train as appropriate.”
I turned to Natalie and Charlotte. “Wasn’t that what the test yesterday was for?”
Charlotte frowned. “Kind of. Letting your powers surge yesterday would have made the task harder, but not impossible.”
I nodded. I’d still managed to avoid damaging the construct, despite my powers surging, but they had surged.
“I take it this test won’t be so lenient.”
“No, it won’t. Keeping a volatile spell stable... It takes laser focus, and I don’t doubt that they’ll want us to hold it for more than a few moments.”
I groaned. I could reach levels of laser focus, but maintaining it, that was another story.
“You should be fine,” Charlotte said. “Using your magic like that is less about actual focus than emotional clarity. So, you know, as long as nothing’s bothering you, you’ll be fine.”
The blood drained from my face as I remembered my strange dreams and my conversation that morning with my auntie about everything going on with my parents.
Yeah, there were definitely more than a few things bothering me...
“Are you okay?” Charlotte asked. “You look pale.”
I shook my head. “I... I think my breakfast isn’t sitting well. I’m just gonna pop to the loo.”
Thankfully, neither she nor Natalie attempted to follow me as I hurried through the narrow corridor leading to the loos and locked myself in one of the stalls, forcing myself to take deep breaths.
Had the Amazons chosen this task deliberately today? After all, I’d come close to failing yesterday.
Had they chosen this challenge because they knew that I would struggle with it?
I took several moments before heading out of the loo, finally feeling ready to face the others again.
Maybe if I just pretended everything was okay, I would start to believe it enough that it wouldn’t affect my magic...
But no, I could already feel the hum of Energy beneath my skin, itching to be released now that I’d worked myself up.
I stopped dead in the narrow corridor, as I saw Esme standing there.
Waiting for me.
“Everything okay?” she asked. “You ran off in a hurry.”
I shrugged, looking away.
Sarah had said that I could trust Esme, but Maria Brown had claimed that the two of them had been close.
But maybe if Esme knew about Maria Brown, she would have the answers I needed.
“Charlotte said that I might fail this task if there’s something bothering me.”
“She is correct. You will need emotional clarity to complete this spell. Or as close to it as you can get. But with everything going on, I understand why you might not feel as if that’s an easy thing for you to achieve. Tell me, is there anything in particular troubling you? Something I could help with?”
I nodded. “The curse of Maria Brown’s that hurt me... Between that and me helping her to lift the curse on her coven – even if we didn’t succeed – it seems we’re now connected in some way.”
“Connected?”
“I dream of her.”
Esme frowned. “And you’re sure there’s a connection there? That they aren’t just dreams?”
“She said that you knew her. That she stayed with you when she first woke up.”
Esme gave me a measur
ed look. “So, you really have been in contact with her.”
I nodded. “But I don’t want this connection. I need to find some way to break it, but I don’t know where to start, and I’m worried that worrying about it will lead to me failing today’s task. Esme, is there any way you know of to break a connection like this?”
Esme took a moment to think over what I said before finally asking, “What is it about the connection that frightens you so much?”
I stared at her, wondering how the hell she didn’t get it. “She’s Maria Brown. She almost killed Mr Stiles.”
“If we could find her and capture her, what would you have us do with her?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. Whatever you usually do with magical criminals. Put them in a magic prison?”
“An Angel tried that, remember? It neither held nor changed her.”
“But she was unconscious that entire time. Isn’t there an actual prison for strong magical beings?”
“Most don’t know this, but Queen Freya did build one in secret, but I wouldn’t send anyone there.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Queen Freya built it after Lord Uther tried to kill her and kidnap her daughter. It is... not a place of reform. It is somewhere that she could send her enemies so that she knew that she would be safe from them. The fact that it has ever been used for other criminals...”
I folded my arms. “Freya’s really okay with that?”
“You know, I don’t think that she knows just how bad it is. She sets up these projects, but it spreads her thin. She may try to wield the power of her crown in a just manner, but power like that... It’s an evil unto itself.” She sighed. “Not that I mean to sour your image of your sister. She’s working hard to change things, but there is only so much one can do without overhauling the system.”
“So why doesn’t she do that?”
“Prophecies,” she said with a sigh, as if they were the bane of her existence.
“Charlotte told me that it’s foolish to chase prophecies.”
“In many cases, it is, but Charlotte is a Seer and my understanding from her school records is that she struggles with her visions. Those prophecies are dangerous. But Seers are just the proto-state of Fate’s Angels. The Oracles. The prophecies they give are far more accurate, and the ones Queen Freya follows were given to her by a trusted friend.
