A Slither of Death

A proposal

"There you got your names, now leave me out of it." Lilia Calderu said, handing the piece of paper to Agatha and the random teen in her shop.

"You're on here..." Agatha smirked at the woman.

"What?"

"Can't say no to you." The Teen gave Lilia a card with the place where they would meet.

"Agatha's address. Be there at 5, Plenty of street parking." Agatha and Teen left after, Teen with a skip in his step, eager to learn more about witchcraft.

"That was amazing!" Teen gushed about what just happened "And we got a team roster

out of the deal, too. So who's next?" Agatha was about to answer but the insistent sound of a crow distracted her. She felt her breath becoming more shallow as the crow stayed there, seemingly looking down at her, to which it was.

"Agatha?" Teen tried again.

"What?"

"Who's next on the list?"

"Uh..." Agatha glanced at the list, the next under Lilia was... an Eliana Robinson.

"Huh." Agatha commented, her eyebrows furrowed.

"What? What is it?"

"Know an Eliana Robinson?" Teen's eyes lit up.

"Oh yeah, totally! Everyone knows who she was. She disappeared when she was, like, 13 or something and no one has been able to find her."

"Welp," Agatha started getting into the car, Teen quickly following after her, "Looks like she's about to be found."

***

Living with Rio was... an experience to say the least. They lived deep in the woods together, in a little Victorian estate. The place was brimming with ancient magical spells soaked into its walls. The house was disgusting, dusty furniture, broken appliances, rotted flooring, and rodents that lived in there as well.

And Ellie loved it.

She loved it when animals would come up to her and simply stay with her to offer her company. Loved making her hands dirty trying to fix the appliances, taking delight in jumping on the couch to rid it of decades of dust. Loved stomping on the floor for it to shatter beneath her feet and sometimes, she would find hidden jewelry. All of which she hoarded in her own little section of the house. Rio had her greenhouse, Ellie had a solar room. Where the Sun would beam down at her during the day and the moonlight would dance on her skin during the night. It didn't take long for Ellie to get used to living with Rio, a lot shorter than the normal human, then again she wasn't a normal human.

The woman didn't eat, she didn't sleep, and she had the most interesting teaching styles Ellie has ever seen. And yet, Ellie loved living with Rio. Ellie could cook well enough for herself so that wasn't a problem (that often) and she didn't need to sleep either. They would train at the most random times of the day and Ellie never had so much fun in her entire short life.

They would mix random things together in a pot and see what happens, sometimes it would go well, sometimes they would be covered in goo. But they always had a mad cackle afterwards and with a wave of her hands, the mess would be cleaned up before they would start again.