See no evil - The awakening

Cas, the witch

A heavy wooden door creaking open. The sight of a suit of armor standing in the corner. The feeling of a cold breeze blowing through the drafty hallway leading to that door. The smell of incense and burning sage. A cackling sound as a group of women laughed.

5 women sitting down at leather couches stood up as soon as they saw us. They looked at Luc with disgust.

—Yep...nice to meet you too ladies. –He said sarcastically.

—Have a great day, good luck. –He said to me and turned to leave.

—Wait! Luc! –I said to the door he'd just closed in my face.

I turned around slowly and faked a big smile at the ladies. I put my hand up in the air. –Hi... I'm...Cas and I'm... a witch. –-I sounded so stupid.

—Hi Cas! –They are said in unison, mocking me as if we were in some kind of group. They all started laughing. At me. Not with me.

—Be nice to the Faceless Pet. –One of them told the others.

Nice. I was understanding why humans used "witch" as an insult. I stood there, waiting patiently for them to have their fun.

—She smells like "hunter"

—She looks like he's found her on the side of the road.

—I'm not wasting time teaching a baby.

—Oh she feels so safe, protected by a monster.

The younger one, she looked around 30 or 40 walked towards me and asked directly to my face —Are you scared?

—No, not really. And you? –I said seriously.

The 5 of them laughed again. —She's got nerve! –The young one said, looking at the rest of the witches. They all stopped laughing at the same time and the young one looked at me and started twirling her finger in the air.

The air around me started turning as if a mini tornado was forming around me. My hair flew in the air and I started to have a hard time breathing. It was just for a couple of seconds and the eldest one in the back asked her to stop. —You'll hurt her, Laura. Stop it.

They all laughed again. —Sorry for the ladies. Please, come. –Said the eldest one to me.

I started walking towards them and a blonde witch moved her hand. The rug below me flew away and I fell with my back against the wall. —Ups. –She said.

I was laying on the floor looking up and listening to the 5 of them laughing. There was a huge chandelier on top of me on the high ceilings which started moving sideways. I looked at the witches and the blond one was moving her finger at the same rhythm the chandelier was balancing. —Do you think the faceless will be angry if we hurt her? –She said mockingly.

I heard the final crack on the ceiling and saw the chandelier falling towards my face.

My instincts kicked in and I put my hand up in the air. The chandelier froze some centimeters from my hand. I kept my hand in the air as I stood up and looked at the witches. Their eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion and none of them spoke a word. The sunlight that was coming from the windows started fading and clouds started covering the skies. I could hear the thunder and saw the electricity running through the new formed clouds. The trees balanced from side to side trying to stay attached to the earth. Yes. I was angry at these 5 witches. And yes. They looked scared.

—Are you scared now. –I asked.

—I'm sorry. –The blonde said.

—We, we are sorry. –-The young one added.

I closed my eyes and heard the noise of the chandelier crashing against the floor. Once I opened my eyes, the weather had come back to normal, blue skies and perfect sunlight coming through the windows.

The elderly woman walked my way. —Can we start over? Hello Cas, I'm Sophie.

...

The weeks that followed I repeated the same routine over and over again. Waking up, having breakfast with Luc before he walked me to that same room with those same 5 women. After a while I started enjoying the routine.

I learned about my powers and what it meant to be a witch. I started understanding the purpose behind it. How nature allowed us to manipulate elements in order to keep the balance. This was something I was listening to a lot those days. Keep the balance.

At night, Luc always passed by my room briefly and brought me dinner. There was always a new excuse why he needed more time before I could be introduced to everyone else. I was there but my presence was still somewhat of a secret to most of the occupants.

When the witches asked about Luc, I had to deviate from the subject, I couldn't tell them about my past. He had just brought me there because he had to. And I had to get stronger. There was something about that place, everyone had a story, a past, and they were all running from something, so no one asked more questions than needed.

Sometimes Luc appeared in the middle of the day to check on me and he was greeted by nothing more than disgust from the witches. Sometime I found him staring at me from the garden through the window. I started longing for our time together, those 15 minutes each morning, that 3 minutes at night when he brought dinner to my room.

Each time my mind started thinking of Luc in a different way than a killer, my mind reminded me too of what he had made me leave behind. Idris. I was thinking of him once while Sophie was explaining something to me.

—What about vampires? –I spit out without context.

Sophie laughed. —What about them?

—Are they all bad? –I asked.

—Vampires are the only ones amongst us that prey on humans. They are parasites.

—But following your logic, they exist for a reason right? They serve a purpose.

—Humans needed a predator...

—Are there vampires here? –Maybe they could tell me something about Idris.

—There are three rules here. No killing. No asking questions. And absolutely no vampires.

—I see. –I smiled.

I realized the passing of time the day I started seeing the first snowflakes on the window.