A Witch's Confession

13

My eyes darted up to the purple sigil stamped to the ceiling tiles above us. I let out a frustrated growl, before yelling a vulgar, "Those fucking assholes!". I slammed my fists onto the carpeted floor. I felt every hair on my arm stand, and paid no attention to the now silent Kessem and my father.

I was so frustrated, and so exhausted. We had come all of this way, only to be met with trial after trial. I wanted to step foot into Salem so badly, it hurt. I was willing to do anything at this point to get to the museum.

"Z, I understand you are frustrated. Such language is never necessary." I rolled my eyes as I sat against the wall on the floor. My father sipped a cup of his coffee, before sitting next to my mother's idle body.

Kessem ran his hands though his hair. "Shouldn't you two be a bit more concerned for her?" He exclaimed as he gestured towards my mother. We both shrugged, knowing she was most likely not in any imminent danger. Sleeping spells were a practical joke Jacob and I would play on our elderly neighbor when she'd babysit us as children. The poor woman never slept well, so Jacob and I did her a favor. But to our dismay, our father wasn't pleased to hear her rave about how well she slept every time she came over to our house.

"She's only sleeping." My father replied nonchalantly. Kessem paced across the room, thinking up ideas of how we could exit the room. All of his ideas were shot down with a comment of, "We can't do that," from either my father or myself.

Finally, Kessem abandoned his brainstorming and sat next to me on the floor. He leaned back and shut his eyes. "For once, maybe I'll get a good nap in. But it seems like every time we try to rest, something bad happens." I laughed as he dozed off.

"So," he began after moments of silence. My father looked up from his spell book. "What's it like being witches, anyways? Do you have fun parties?"

My father mumbled as he flipped a page on the heavy book. "We prefer the term magic users, Kessem." He rebuked. Kessem softly chuckled to himself.

My dad faced the window and soaked in the view, though he ended up closing the curtains when the sun got in his eyes. I heaved out a breath when he ignored my objection.

"Perhaps they are watching us." He explained as he sat back down. "As for you, Kessem, we do in fact celebrate the Wheel of the Year. Zoe's mother throws one hell of a party."

Kessem nodded in response before looking at me and winking. "We have that in my clan, too."

My father smirked. "We're more alike than you may think." He explained.

I giggled. "We don't turn into terrifying wolves like you do, though." I joked as I nudged Kessem's side. My father looked at me sharply.

"Don't talk about them like that, even as a joke." We both cut our laughs short. "They are noble protectors. I will spend a lifetime trying to fix the pain my blood caused them." I cleared my throat in the awkward silence that had developed in the room. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment. I hoped I didn't offend my father too much.

"Well," Kessem sighed. "What is your favorite way to celebrate the Summer Solstice?" He asked my father, chewing on his lip.

My dad frowned and scratched at his beard before replying. "I would say that I enjoy the extravagant bonfires, and afterwards we race across the forest floor as the sun sets. Zoe and Jacob were quite competitive in that." A smile flashed across my face as Kessem eyed my expression.

"That would make sense. When we were in the forest, it seemed like Zoe appeared out of thin air." Kessem didn't explain the fact that we were actually in a large battle, that I'm sure my father had heard about by now. However, I wasn't going to be the one to bring it up and be forced to endure one of his lectures about how that's dangerous.