Flickering Creatures | ONC 2024 Longlist | ✔︎

(4) Witch's Bane

Daphne wasn't home. Bella lurked about the bushes surrounding the quaint cottage where she knew the Alchemist-in-training was staying, until she saw Daphne's grandparents eating lunch without their granddaughter. It was as good as confirmation that the most suspicious person in Bryony's disappearance was not in town. Or maybe out seeing to a patient... Wights knew, Alchemists weren't known for having a touch with medicine, but the girl already maintained her own gender transition from the comfort of her home laboratory, so anything was possible.

Bella realized now that she didn't actually know what career Daphne aspired to pursue once she passed her standard Witching exam and earned her professional license to practice. Bella had seen her sprinkling potions on childrens' scraped knees and in the coops of ornery chickens already, but such casual practice was quite standard among aspiring Witches. It also meant little when their schooling still included all three streams of Witchcraft at Daphne's age. It was unfair, perhaps, to expect a seventeen-year-old to know what she wanted to be when she grew up. But at this point, anything was a clue.

Extracting herself from the foliage, Bella allowed herself a quick preen before taking off to circle the town. Like her search in Solanum yesterday, this yielded no sign of Daphne, so Bella pushed further, into the forest in case the girl was out collecting supplies or burying a body.

Well, burying a body might be a bit extreme. Students didn't have a reputation for being cold-blooded murderers. A bid to get Bryony out of Hyacinth wasn't out of the question, but Bella wasn't entirely sure what Daphne would stand to gain from such activities. She wasn't licensed yet; she couldn't take over Bryony's clients for at least another two years. Fear was a potential motivation, but also a common one. Daphne was terrified of Bryony for reasons Bella hadn't pinned down yet, and went out of her way to avoid her. But many people were intimidated when they first met Bella's keeper, and another Witch would recognize Bryony's skills even better than most.

Bella clicked her beak in annoyance at her lack of leads. She returned to the town. People milled about its streets like ants in a nest, going about their Wightnight preparations with easy strides and smiling faces. How many of them would be upset if Bryony disappeared? Bella's wings trembled as she reckoned with the answer. Hyacinth's native population referred to themselves as "Borns," in contrast to the newcomers of the last ten years. Bella could not count the times she'd eavesdropped on disgruntled conversations between Borns about Bryony's effect on the town. Could any of those people be angry enough to want her gone again? It was certainly plausible.

That, though, opened up another hundred or more suspects, and Daphne still stood out among them. She herself was one of the "Bryonies," born to outsiders but staying with her grandparents and commuting to the nearby city of Nerium for—

Bella slumped down, feeling incredibly stupid. For school. She'd seen students all over the road between the towns she'd checked this morning. Today was the last day of classes before Witching schools let out for Wightnight, the most-anticipated holiday between summer solstice and yuletide. Daphne was in the city right now. She must have left only hours after Bella caught her snooping around Bryony's house. That didn't leave much time for nefarious activity.

A burst of song brought Bella's attention back below her. Her tree swayed gently in a midafternoon breeze, its lower branches strung with paper lanterns decorated with spiked or spiral motifs meant to represent Wights. Their inaccuracy did nothing to offset their popularity. Bella had seen Wights up close, both as a chick and several times since then. They were incorporeal, as much made of energy as humans were of water. It was the reason all Witching magics were potions-based, while Wights exercised their magic in forms of light and sound and motion. Liquids were simply more compatible with solid creatures.