Marielle.

New Friends and New Life.

The second night in Iris's home, Marielle wakes up around midnight, realising she's thirsty, she heads down to the kitchen. While walking down the stairs she can hear a faint noise, it's coming from the basement. This freaks her out a little, she doesn't investigate, she gets her water and goes back to her room. Marielle falls back to sleep, she was dreaming of Iris's house, seeing hooded people around her bed chanting. Waking up, realising it's just a nightmare, she goes back to sleep.

The next morning, Marielle tells Iris of her nightmare, Iris says, "child that's not a nightmare, it a memory of when you were here as a young child." Marielle tells her that she can't remember ever being here before. Iris says, "that's because we made it that way. " Marielle is wondering what she means and says, "what do you mean?" Iris says, "I guess it's time for you to learn your lineage." Marielle always knew her mother was American but she didn't know much about her history. Iris explains, have you ever heard of the Salem witch trials? Marielle says of course I have, I've just learned about it at school, why?" Iris says, "well back then, they hunted and killed people they suspected of being witches, truth be told, the people they killed were not witches, the real witches fled, they knew the hunts were coming and they scattered across the world. Those evil bastards killed innocent people." Marielle says, "what does that have to do with my nightmare?" Iris asks her, "what did you see?" Marielle explains she saw people in hooded robes chanting by her bed and last night before the nightmare, I came down for water and heard sounds in the basement." Iris says, "your mom didn't get a chance to tell you, my poor niece died before she could divulge the family secrets. Your mom, her mom, whom was my sister and our mother were all witches." Marielle dismisses it as superstition. Iris says, "follow me." Iris leads her niece to the basement, in the basement there was candles lit, there was a huge pentagram on the floor with sigils in between each point of the star. Ahead of her was an altar and on it was crystals, more sigils, herbs and a mortar and pestle. Marielle isn't frightened, suddenly as soon as she stands near the altar she feels warm, she feels like she can do anything. Then Iris asks her how she feels? Marielle explains that she feels warm and not afraid of anything. Iris explains to her the nightmare was a memory of her time here, she explains she lied about the circumstances, the truth was they had called a spirit to help them with a spell and it possessed Marielle. Iris goes on to explain that the spirit possessing her was bad, it was her mother and their coven stood around her bed getting rid of it. Iris explains that her sister Agnes had become deeply subdued with dark magick and that because of it, the spirt latched on to the most innocent person in the house that time. Marielle asked why was her mother here? Iris says, "our coven met every sabbat, your mother brought you for the first time, since your father was away working, there was no one in England to look after you, so she brought you with her. I told her it was a bad idea, since we were trying to cleanse Agnes." Marielle then asks, "so, what did I hear from the basement last night?" Iris explains that she had a few coven members over doing a ritual to keep you safe. "We don't know if that thing will latch onto you again?" This all becomes to overwhelming for Marielle, she says, "I'd like to lie down, I can't take all these revelations." Iris tells her she must soak up her new found feelings, then learn to embrace who she really is. There was no talk about witchcraft or witches for a while, it was soon Monday and Marielle's first day at school. Marielle slipped into school life without a hitch. Iris was right about the Jocks and cheerleaders, so she asks if she can join? The girls are reluctant at first, but one of the guys that dated the cheerleader she asked, was a sucker for an accent and told his girlfriend to give her a chance. The leader named Alisa reluctantly agrees, she tells herself it's a way to keep an eye on her. Alisa is pretentious, she asks Marielle where she lives, she tells her, Alisa is soon treating her differently, like she's a princess. This surprises Marielle, it makes her wonder does her aunt Iris have sway in the community or a reputation for being a witch?

Alisa and Marielle become close, then it becomes clear why? Her mother is a close friend of Iris. Iris apparently healed her when she was ill, the family feel indebted to Iris. They too have their secrets. The cheerleading squad and the Jocks eat at the diner every weekend, Marielle feels embarrassed serving them, but they make her feel at ease by asking her to join them on her breaks. They all become inseparable. Marielle settles in quite well, her aunt Iris tells her that a Sabbat is approaching and the coven believes it's time to get involved with coven duties. Marielle resists at first, then remembered the conversation she had with Alisa, so she tells her aunt Iris that she'll not shirk her responsibilities as long as she has a life outside the coven, Iris says, "darling, you need to have a life outside the coven or you'll end up like aunt Agnes, we can't have another episode like that."

The night of the Sabbat is upon them, Marielle is given a robe, she is taught an incantation but she must learn to choose a herb for the offerings. Marielle has been studying herbs for each Sabbat, today's Sabbat is Mabon, Marielle offers Sage and Yarrow, she offers a sweetgrass incense as well. Marielle is learning herblore fast, this tells Iris she's embracing her lineage. This Sabbat happens to fall near the anniversary of her mother's death, as a gift to Marielle, they call upon her mother. Marielle is excited to see her, she asks, "will she appear sick, like she was at death, the coven tell her no, she appears in health like she was before she was sick, so don't worry." Iris leads the incantation, she calls upon the gods and goddesses to bring forth Marielle's mother Marianne. A gust of wind blows through the basement, in the centre of the pentagram, Marianne is stood, holding her arms out for her daughter. Marianne appears not as mist or see through but truly corporeal, she could hug her mother, her mother tells her she's happy that her daughter is with the family, but steer clear of Agnes. The coven nod in agreement, she isn't to be left with Agnes under any circumstances. Marielle enjoys her first Sabbat. Iris tells her she's not to tell anyone at school, the people know she's a witch but her niece will be treated differently. Marielle doesn't tell anyone, but Alisa already knew. Was her mother a witch too? Marielle tells her aunt Iris that Alisa knew about last night, Iris tells her that Alisa is a witch herself, she won't however embrace it. This made sense in how she changed her attitude towards her, it also made sense when it was Alisa's mother that sent for Iris when she was poorly. Iris says, "one more thing, don't tell your father of any of this, he blames us for your moms death, even though we done all we could as witches to help her, he just contacted us far too late. He believed in science over what we can do." Marielle promises she won't tell him.