This it the first draft of my second book. It can be read on its own, but for more background I recommend that you read the first book first.
As always, feel free to give me feedback as I am always looking to improve.
I hope you enjoy it.
*****
I was lying on the grass looking up at the sky and willing the clouds to move away, imagining how it would feel like to finally have magic when I got interrupted.
“Sky, please bring the washing inside, it looks like it’s going to rain,“ my mother shouted from inside the house.
“I’m busy, why can’t Dawn do it,” I shouted back.
“She’s studying.”
It was typical, really. Dawn had always been my parent’s favorite child, the girl that could do nothing wrong, and ever since Dawn started studying under Hecate and the high priestess to be part of the inner circle, my parents could not be prouder and treated her like royalty, meaning that she was excused from all the chores around the house, and I had to pick up her slack.
I was the forgotten one. Between Dawn and Night, my younger brother, my parents had little time for me. I didn’t mind too much, at least not when they didn’t bother me. It was times like this though, when I had to do every single chore, that I quietly despised my parents. I was tired of being the servant in my own house.
“Fine,” I shouted back as I glanced up at the sky one more time before I got up from my spot in the grass and went inside to get a bag for the clothes.
Me and Dawn had been close once, but everything changed when she turned sixteen and her magic properly manifested itself. She found out that she had an affinity for three of the four elements. That was the primary reason she studied under the high priestess.
Part of me was proud of her, but there was an even bigger part of me that was jealous. Why did she have to be the special one?
Tomorrow things would be different, I would be sixteen. I had spent countless hours daydreaming about how it would feel like to finally be able to use my magic properly. I hoped I would have an affinity for three elements too. It would shut my parents up, but more importantly it would mean that I would not have to worry about being chosen to sacrifice my magic for the greater good of the village.
We all know the story. Over 200 years ago, an evil demon came to our village and manipulated the high priestess in training to fall in love with him. She died during childbirth and the demon blamed the village. When the witches finally fended him off, he promised to come back and destroy the village. Because of this, the high priestess and the elders called on the goddess Hecate for protection.
In exchange for keeping our village hidden, we are to sacrifice our magic. Apparently it is necessary as Hecate transforms the magic she receives from the sacrifices to the magic that is used to keep the village hidden. Without the sacrifices, the village can no longer stay hidden and the evil demon would come back to destroy us all.
I think it’s utter bollocks. If Hecate was as powerful as everyone believed she was, why could she not just get rid of the demon that was out to destroy us? That way we wouldn’t have to sacrifice our magic so that our village could stay hidden somewhere in between. If it was truly a demon, surely he would not care about love. It just doesn’t add up. I think the high priestess is hiding something, but what do I know? Besides, anyone that was here when it happened passed away a long time ago.
The part that bothered me the most was that you didn’t have a choice. If they drew your name during the Samhain ceremony, that was it. Your magic got sacrificed to keep the village safe. To me, it’s a fate worse than death.
I folded the clothes that I had taken down from the clotheshorse and placed them in a bag. The dark clouds were closer now, and it was likely to rain soon. I walked into the house and dropped the bag of clothes right in front of my mother.
“Here’s the clothes you asked for.”
She looked at me with raised eyebrows. “And what do you want me to do with them?”
“I don’t know, you asked for them.”
My mother gave me a stern look.
“Fine, I guess I’ll put the clothes away.” I said as I picked up the bag and dramatically swung it over my shoulder.
“Thank you,” my mother said calmly, unaffected by my dramatic scene.
“When you’re done, would you mind setting the table?”
I walked away mumbling to myself.
I knew I was being difficult. But it wasn’t my job to do all the chores. Dawn should have to do her part too. Even Night should be able to do some chores, but it excluded him because he was male.
After I put the clothes away, I went downstairs to set the table.
“Anything else you want me to do?” I said with an antagonising voice. I’m sure she had picked up on my mood, but chosen to ignore it.
“Yes, would you mind letting everyone know that dinner is ready,” my mother asked cheerfully.
I didn’t understand how she always seemed so happy and content with just being at home. Before she had us, she used to be a great healer, or so I heard, but she never spoke about it. I couldn’t understand why she had just quit her job, as I was sure that she could have continued to work as a healer, had she wanted to.
I walked out to the stables to let my father and brother know dinner was ready. My father was a farrier, and my brother, though he was only 12 years old at the moment, spent most of his free time following our father around, trying to learn how to become a farrier. Everyone expected him to carry on in the family business.
When I got back into the house, I shouted to Dawn that dinner was ready from the stairway. In the corner of my eyes, my mother rolled her eyes at me. I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. A few minutes later Dawn came downstairs and joined us.
My mother dished up the food and placed the plates on the table as my father and brother walked into the room.
“Sorry that we are late.” My father walked up and gave my mother a kiss on the cheek before he joined us at the table.
Most of the dinner was quiet, as everyone seemed to be busy eating. Mother had been in the kitchen for most of the day, making her delicious meatballs.
After a while, my father cleared his throat. ”Dawn, how is the studying going?”
“It’s going very well, it’s very interesting. We are learning about how the ceremonies are conducted,” Dawn said excitingly.
“Sky, what about you? How did the test go?” my dad said.
“Yeah, it went fine,” I answered, knowing that I had done really well.
“I hope you studied hard like Dawn here.”
I discreetly rolled my eyes. All I did was studying, hoping it would make my parents proud. Sometimes I questioned why I even bothered, as I never seemed to be good enough for them. I zoned out for the rest of the dinner conversation, daydreaming about the affinity ceremony tomorrow and what elements I would be able to control.
After dinner, my mother had asked me to help her with the dishes. As usual, I reluctantly agreed. While I was drying some plates, my mother turned around to face me.
“What would you like to do for your birthday, it’s the big 16,” she said excitedly.
It was common to have big parties and magical reveals when turning sixteen, but I didn’t really have any friends. I had spent too much time studying to even attempt to make any friends, not to mention that I was a bit socially awkward around people. I had the odd acquaintances that I would spend time with during breaks, but no one I had spent any time with outside of school.
“I don’t know, maybe just a quiet meal at home,” I said thoughtfully.
My mother caught my gaze. “We should at least go to your favorite restaurant. It’s a time to celebrate.”
“I’ll think about it,” I said as I put the last plate away.
I was considering whether my mother had confused me with Dawn, as I had always preferred a quiet meal at home than going out to a restaurant. The amount of people and noises in restaurants always made me feel uncomfortable. I much preferred the comfort of my own home.
I went upstairs to my room. I used to share a room with Dawn, but after she started studying in the temple, my parents quickly finished the extension of the house so we wouldn’t have to share rooms anymore. It was probably so that Dawn could have her own, but either way it had benefited me.
My room was a mess. There were several books scattered all over the floor, which also contained pieces of clothing. There was a desk in one corner, which was actually tidy, and a single bed along the other wall. It wasn’t a big room, but it was mine.
I picked up a book that was scattered on the floor and laid down on my bed. I started reading. It was my way of escaping reality, for a little while I could forget about my life and instead become someone else.
I struggled to fall asleep, too excited about what tomorrow would bring. Eventually I must have drifted off as I woke up as my mother knocked on my door.“Sky, time to get up. We need to be at the temple in an hour.”I got out of bed and went to have a shower. I thought about dressing up for the occasion, but they give you a robe to wear, so where wasn’t any point..The affinity ceremony was open to the public, but most of the time it’s only the family and friends that attend. In my case it’s only me, my brother and my mother. My father had to work and Dawn had her studies. She said she would attempt to stop by, as she would already be at the temple. I didn’t have high hopes, but it didn’t really bother me. I had already come to terms that my family wouldn’t make the t
Me and my family were making our way into the village centre to the temple. Dawn wasn’t with us, as she had arrived at the temple in the morning for her studies. We didn’t always attend all the ceremonies, especially not the Esbats, as my mother believed them to be a waste of time. She was very strict about the sabbats, though.Because of the big celebrations and the fact that we were technically not part of the ceremony, we didn’t need to cleanse ourselves before we went inside. It was a good thing, because the weather had not been the nicest lately, and having to cleanse ourselves in freezing water would not be very enjoyable and there would even be a risk of catching pneumonia. Many people that attended the ceremony, cleaned their hands in the waterfall pool for symbolism.When we entered the temple, we had to navigate around several groups
I woke up in the morning, knowing what I needed to do. The dreams had turned up after I had asked the fates for guidance, so maybe they were showing me a sign.I sneaked out before anyone had woken up. I thought about bringing Lightning, but not knowing what I would walk into, I decided against it. She was better off staying in the stable, besides my family needed her.I started walking away from our house. Following the path shown in my dream the best as I could. After I had walked for hours, I felt defeated and sat down. Thinking I had made a mistake. Maybe I should just go back home. While I was sitting in the grass, contemplating what to do, a big grey cat came up to me. I gave him a cuddle before he walked off.I followed him with my gaze. Before he disappeared from my vision, he stopped and looked back a
I sat down on the bed and collected my thoughts. Was this really my new home? Leaf had said that I was free to leave if I wanted to. Maybe I should just go back home? I had been crazy to follow a dream, however I could not shake Leaf’s words that echoed in my head. ‘The fates led you here for a reason.’ Maybe I should stick around and find out what that reason was.I got up from the bed and walked out of the room to search for Leaf. I found her stirring the pot in the kitchen. When she saw me, she put down the wooden spoon and turned around to face me with a smile on her face.“Let me show you the rest of the house.”I followed her as she walked to the other side of the kitchen and opened a door leading to another room. When we entered the room, two girls looked up and gave us a smile,
After a few days, I had settled into their routine. I sat with Leaf and listened to the stories of her life. It was crazy to think about everything she had to go through just because she was different. The stories that we had all heard about growing up were about her parents, and the demon was her father. The goddess in her dreams had told her that her father was still alive and hinted that he never would have abandoned her, had he known she existed. Which begged the question, why did he abandon her?One morning, while I was up at the library, Leaf stopped by. We talked about the lack of magic and what it had been doing to everyone here. She told me to follow her, and she led me into a small room at the end of the library. There was a chair and a desk in one corner, but what shocked me more was the wall to the side of the desk. It was covered with research about spells.
One day some strangers walked into our house and Leaf made us all disappear like she did every time someone stumbles upon us. Maybe it was some new recruits? I when back to the book I was reading. A moment later Leaf called me.“Sky, come over here dear. This is my father and daughter.”I was in shock as I continued walking towards them. Her father was the demon everyone at the village feared, the one that Hecate was supposed to keep us safe from. She had obviously failed.After hearing Leaf’s stories, I did not fear this demon as it was clear to me that he wasn’t out to kill us all. He would have already done so if he wanted to, especially because he was already here. He looked really young, so it was hard to picture him as Leaf’s father. She looked to be in her fifties, wh
To my gratification, they decided we were going to walk over there instead of teleporting.We walked through a forest. It took us at least 10 minutes before I could see something that could be a cabin. As we got closer, there were several wolves and humans around, though I was pretty sure that they were wolves too.A guy that had a sturdy build and ginger hair walked up to Jax.“I heard everything Abigail said to you. I may not like you, but you have my alliance and the pack. We need to come up with a plan to get Leah and Seth out of the house. Abigail is watching them like hawks now. Leah’s in no state of doing anything, so I couldn’t get her out and Seth didn’t want to leave her alone in the house, considering everything.”At first I
Jax shouted from downstairs, his voice laced with panic. Cassie answered back, but Jax must have not heard, as the panic in his voice became more evident with every shout. We quickly made our way downstairs. The moment Jax laid his eyes on Cassie, his body relaxed. He walked over to us and gave Cassie a hug.“Leah’s missing. I need to talk to Freya. I’ll get you to Mark and the wolves. He can fill you in on what’s happened.”I followed Cassie’s lead and took Jax’s hand. Preparing myself for the weird sensation that accompanied the teleportation. The thought of seeing Mark again got me excited, even though the circumstances could have been better.When we arrived in the woods outside the cabin, I walked inside, leaving Cassie alone with Jax to say goodbye. I felt silly for no