Chapter 6: Chapter. 6 She wasn't alone

Flash back.

Diana walked with her eyes lowered and her hands on her elbows. All around her her peers were giggling and casting a basic levitation spell. The Robinson sisters were showing off, as always, and both of them floated a foot in the air with big grins on their faces. Their beautiful long blonde hair seemed to catch the sunlight and glow, as did their lovely blue eyes. They all wore their private school uniform of grey long socks, grey pleated skirts, white shirt and grey vest. Salem girl’s school for excellence was stitched into the crest on the left of their chest. It was a cover, of course, for teaching the young women how to become witches. Their school building was in the middle of the woods and nature was their classroom.

Mrs Kelly was their teacher. She was proud to be the one to begin young witches in their coven on their journey. Her auburn hair was twisted into a neat bun and she always looked immaculate. From her makeup to her power suit. She wore practical boots when outdoors and morphed them back into sleek heels when inside. Mrs Kelly clapped her hands to applaud the twins.

“Excellent control ladies. Wonderful. Ah, and you’re doing so well Elaina. Duprees have always been gifted with wind magic.”

“Thank you Mrs Kelly.” Diana looked out of the corner ofher eyes at the group of 12 year olds practising to look at the one her teacher was praising. She had a mane of frizzy ginger hair and freckles across her cheeks. She had her hands cupped upward and pebbles were not only levitating, but circling and spinning around her hands. “I’ve been practising.”

“Good girl.” Mrs Kelly turned to look at Diana and caughther gaze. “Ah. Young miss Couper.”

Diana gulped and felt butterflies in her stomach as her teacher turned and made a slow beeline for her. She looked down her nose and high cheek bones at the girl and her smile was long gone. A quick scan told Diana that her peers had all stopped casting and were now watching to see how badly she screwed up this time. “I am waiting Miss Couper. Levitate…something.” The Robinson twins giggled loudly, and they weren’t the only ones. Elaina shuffled over and nodded to her with what she must have thought was encouragement.

If anything it felt like pity. “A blade of grass perhaps? I can’t think of anything lighter than that for you to use.”

“Yes Mrs Kelly.” Diana sighed and lowered to kneel. She plucked a blade of grass and placed it across her right palm. She licked her lips and stared at it with as much concentration as she could force through her mind’s anxious monitoring of her surroundings. She heard every whisper and chuckle at how inadequate the Couper heir was. They were months away from their ascension, and she hadn’t cast a single simple spell. Not one.

Please. Please spirits help me please lift the grass. Please. “Levitate.” She whispered on the exhale and waited.

“What a surprise!” Diana closed her eyes and hung her head over. “Even the grass knows she’s as magical as the dirt it was pulled from!”

“That’s quite enough Olivia.” Mrs Kelly told her off and dispersed the crowd of girls to go back to their practise. “And you as well Jessica. Move along now ladies.”

Diana turned her hand and let the blade of grass flutter naturally to the floor. She remained on her knees and really wished she could go home. At least there she was a welcome imposter. I’m not a witch. I don’t belong in this coven. Or any coven. I’m a magicless freak.

“You’re trying too hard.” Diana gasped, startled, and looked up with wide watery brown eyes at the redhead. “Hi. I’m Elaina. Elaina Dupree.”

“…D…Diana-”

“Couper. I know.” She chuckled and dropped to kneel beside her. “You’re famous. The future Coven Mother and leader of all the Salem witches.”

“…” No, I don’t think so. Diana flashed her a reluctant smile and then waited to find out what the redhead was up to.

“So…you’re trying to hard. Thinking too much. Just let your magic breathe through you.” Elaina smiled serenely with her eyes shut and wind kicked up around them both. It tousled their hair and sent a few stray blades of grass around them. She dropped the spell and smiled kindly at Diana. “Try again, without thinking about it. Feel it, don’t think it.”

“…yeah…it’s not that easy.” Not or me. Diana frowned. “I’ve tried be reactionary and going with my instincts. I’ve tried being spontaneous. I’ve tried being calculated. I’ve trying being super emotional. Nothing works. I just…can’t do it.”

“Of course you can. You’re a Couper. The heir to the-”

“Well that doesn’t seem to make a difference.” Diana snapped and got to her feet. “I know who I am, and what I’m meant to be, but I’m not. I’m just…” She looked up and saw the rest of her class pointing and pretending to cry mockingly at her. Olivia had a fistful of grass in her hands and pretended to cry over it. “…I’m not one of you.” Diana felt like she was going to suffocate. Like all the laughter and whispered gossip was making the air too thick to take in.

“But you have to be.” Elaina walked over and touched her shoulder. “If you’re not a witch, then what are you?” She asked innocently, but her question fired like a flaming arrow and hit it’s mark.

“I don’t know!” Diana sobbed and ran to the forest to be alone. That’s all that drove her as she threw one foot in front of the other.

“Diana wait!” the redhead called after her, but she was ignored. Diana’s dolly shoes became filthy as she ran through the dirt and foliage between the ancient trees. The laughter and shouting faded into silence as she ran and ran. It was like the greater the distance from her coven, and those girls, the lighter the air became and the easier it became to breathe. Strange, considering she was panting to keep up the exertion of running. Her legs started burning after a while and forced her to limp to a stop. She stood still and brought her right sleeve up to wipe the tears from her face. She winced at her aching legs and decided that she’d need to sit and gather herself before deciding what to do next.

It was then Diana noticed she’d run into some sort of ritual area. That’s strange. So far out into the forest? She gingerly walked further into the man-made clearing and saw the ground had large rocks embedded into the dirt ground. She followed the rocks, mostly covered in moss and the roots of surrounding trees, but nodded at what she saw. They have runes carved into them. This is definitely a ritual circle. Not a pentagram, but the seasons are all here.

She allowed herself to be distracted from her own predicament as she walked the circle. Diana wasn’t gifted with magic in anyway, but she had hit the books hard to compensate. She could read the old runes easily. Calling for protection and power. No, power for protection. Protection of the land. Oh sweet spirits! This is the site. She gasped like a child in a toy store. This is the place where the original coven protected the land from evil and created a haven for our coven. Mother said this place had been lost to the ages. But I’m here.

Diana smiled and giggled. I’ve found the original blessing circle. The original coven cast their wards and blood oaths here. This is where they formed their bonds with their spirit guardians. This is where they swore to uphold their way of life and protect all who lived in Salem. Even the humans. She felt honoured. She walked the whole circle and read the story in the runes. It wasn’t a typical story with a start and middle and an ending, but she could put a story together by the runes used in the spell. Not justi t’s purpose, but who cast it, and why. She lowered to her knees and gasped when she saw the Couper family crest. A raven drawn in something black with it’s beak raised to the left and wings spread to the right, with one clawed foot raised. “My ancestors were here.” She felt so privileged to be here. She crawled, about to move along to the next rock, when she heard something that made her heart skip a beat.

A moan.

She knelt there, her hands raised in surrender, her long black hair braided over her left shoulder and her grey pleated skirt scuffed in the dirt with her long socks. “…hello?” For a long minute she heard nothing and started to justify what she heard as the wind in the trees.

When she heard it again.

It was low and raspy at the edges. Rattling on the inhale. It certainly didn’t sound healthy. She frowned and tried to follow the sound as she turned her head to place it’s location. On the third moan she realised that the sound was coming from the middle of the ritual circle. “…huh…?” She got to her feet, dusted herself off, and stared at the centre stone. In the middle was an altar where sacrificial offerings were made. Blood of all the casters, likely. Blood of their enemies, possibly. Blood of a living offering, she dearly hoped not. Diana looked back towards the direction of the school. I shouldn’t…go towards the spooky groaning…I should go back.

“…help…me…” It was so quiet she barely heard it. But Diana heard a voice, and it asked for help like it was dying. She couldn’t ignore that.

“Hello? Where are you? I can’t see you.” She heard alouder groan and wondered if the guy was so close to death’s door, he couldn’t find the energy to talk again. “Okay, I can hear your groaning. I’m coming. Hold on, okay? I-I’m coming.” She stepped over the threshold of the warding stones and felt something spark up her spine. That’s a warning spell. Something to stop people from wanting to approach the altar. Diana hesitated and worried her braid with both hands. Warning spells are usually there for a reason.

“…p…ple…ase…” Her heart clenched at the pain she heard.

“I’m c-coming.” She took another step, and another jolt went up her spine. The same chilling sensation happened with every step she took towards the groaning. “Wh-where are you?” Diana stood before the white stone altar. Not even moss grew over it, despite it being there for hundreds of years. She could even still see blood stains in the pointed crescent shaped bowl. “Where are you? I can’t help you if I can’t find you. Where are you?” She walked around the altar in a panic to try and catch the sound of his rattling breathing again. As she came around to the front of the altar where a small wooden table stood with an athame still poised and stained on it, her foot connected with nothing. “AAAAAAAAAA!” What had looked like solid ground was a glamour and she stepped her whole weight through it. She tumbled down through the spell and into a dark pit. “AAAA-ah!” Diana didn’tfall for very long and landed with a painful jarring of her right hip. “A-a-a-a-oooooouch.” She whimpered and jerkily moved herself off her injured hip. “H-hello?” She spluttered at the stale earthy smell in the air and squinted through the darkness. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness, but when she did, she saw she wasn’t…alone. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”