chilling adventures of sabrina - CELESTIAL - part one

chapter fourteen

"I HAVE DIED EVERYDAY WAITING FOR YOU..."

I went into the parlor to spot Ms. Wardwell, Hilda and Zelda sitting on the sofa watching me walk in. My eyebrows etched together. "How was the academy, love?" Hilda asked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in displeasure. Sabrina told me that Ms. Wardwell was a witch and was supposedly watching over us because Edward asked her to. I believe she's lying through her teeth. Ms. Wardwell looked at me with an apologetic expression.

"Mary, please don't be cross with me. After me and Sabrina's encounter in the mines, and having recognized the demon Apophis on that stone, I became concerned that you and Sabrina were putting yourselves in danger." She said.

"Do my aunties know what you are?" I asked with a stern expression. "I've told them everything." Wardwell said.

"I wish I could say I was surprised, but this is just like Edward, isn't Hilda?" She asked her sister. Hilda hums. "It's insulting, of course, that he didn't think we'd be up to the task of protecting Sabrina ourselves." Zelda said.

"Well maybe you aren't." Wardwell comments. "I beg your pardon?" Zelda says, looking at the teacher.

"Sabrina and Mary have been finding themselves in increasingly difficult predicaments since fleeing their baptisms." Wardwell spoke. "That is a good point." Hilda said.

"Quiet, Hilda." Zelda snaps. I rolled my eyes. "Aunties, Ms. Wardwell. Jesse Putnam is going to die if we don't do anything! And Sabrina's friends will next. And if I can't get help from the Church of Night, I'll get it from the Catholic Church down the road." I spoke, causing all of them to gasp in unison.

"Have you lost your mind? Turning to the False Church for help? Has your Aunt Hilda's excommunication taught you nothing?" Zelda shouts. "I don't see what choice I have. Father Blackwood said that there is no exorcism rite for witches to perform." I said.

"Actually, it so happens Edward wrote a rite expressly for that purpose." Wardwell said before opening her purse. "And how, Ms. Wardwell, is that information at all helpful?" Zelda asks.

"It so happens, I have a copy of the rite with me. If Sabrina and Mary insist on following this madness through, they should be armed with the proper tools at least." Wardwell said with a grin. "I'm sorry but are you actually suggesting that my nieces perform an exorcism?" Zelda said.

"I stopped by Susie's on the way home from the academy. She and her dad aren't there, so if we act fast—." I spoke before being cut off.

"You claim that your entire raison d'être is to protect Sabrina, along with Mary since she is an adopted family member?" Zelda spoke. Wardwell nods. "It is. And I shall be with them, of course. And the first sign of danger, I shall spirit them away." She said. Zelda stands to her feet.

"No, absolutely not. I won't allow it. I forbid it." She said. I rolled my eyes. "Aunt Zelda, I'm not asking you for permission. Me and Sabrina are doing it. And if Ms. Wardwell wants to chaperone us, fine. But I won't be leaving that room until Jesse Putnam is free." I spoke.

"I'll go as well." Hilda says with an excited smile. "Hilda! Need I remind you the Church of Night expressly forbids performing exorcisms." Zelda said.

"Yes, but I'm excommunicated, aren't I? So, what do I've got to lose." Hilda said. Zelda's eyes bulged out of her head. "Has the entire world gone mad? None of you are ordained." She said.

"Unlike the Catholic exorcism, which draws its potency not on the priest performing it, but from the False God, Edward's rite relies on the power of the individual witch challenging the demon, and on the continuum of... witches that predate us all." Wardwell says. I suddenly heard someone come into the room and our heads turned to see Sabrina.