Dastardly

Saving Grace

"Grace! Ignore him. Trust me. You know, do you want me to go introduce you and help you learn the material you missed?" She put emphasis in her words.

Grace frowned, and the electricity fizzle out of her fingertips. She obviously didn't get the gist, but maybe, Ellie thought, she could distract her.

"I missed lessons?" She asked.

"Loads of them, all the lessons for the entire month! The quicker you catch up, the less strict the Master will be for the rest of the year," Ellie assured her, hoping she wouldn't question anything.

Grace reluctantly turned away from the boy, who cheered victoriously. She glared murderous threats into his eyes, and he stopped.

"Okay, okay. But I did have a governess to teach me," she argued.

Ellie shook her head, widening her eyes, trying to get the message across.

"Believe me, if I don't show you now, it'll be a whole lot more difficult for you to get into the next grade. In Griorden, it's more intensive. We learned geography, Latin, and English already." Ellie prayed that she would get the point and just walk away already.

"Okay, I'm coming," she huffed.

Leading Grace past the boys, Ellie took her to the side of the school house, the only place where no one hung around. Ivy creeped up the decrepit  building that was falling at the seams. Ellie knew that Grace had to control her powers or else she would face the consequences.

"Grace, I was just pretending about the work to get you away from Matthew. I saw you almost use magic. Don't try to deny it. But if you used those powers, you would be burned for witch craft. I know you're new to Griorden, but around here, people treat witches very...poorly. You'll die if they even suspect you of being a witch. So you need to lay low," She warned her.

Grace stared at Ellie, and a small ball of electricity appeared in her hand. She closed her palm, and it disappeared, like it had never existed.

"You mean, not everyone has a power here?"

Ellie shook her head, and wished that she lived where Grace had come from. Powers and no one to kill you? That just about sounded like paradise. A magic land, a country that would be all fun, no fiery deaths on top of a log pile. A place where even she could have been happy with her mother, father and brother, forever.

"Sorry, but it's kind of Satan's pastime here, you know? Don't tell me you use pentagrams where you lived," Ellie said, backing away from her.

Grace laughed.

"Of course not, but with our magic, we have a protective barrier around our kingdom that barres all Satanic Rituals from entering the borders. I wish I could go back there, although that Matthew was pretty cute," Grace said wistfully.

Ellie wasn't sure if Graces taste in boys was a little insane, but she seemed to be pretty kind. Maybe they could be friends, and Grace could teach her magic!

"Alright, fine. We need to go back to our dwellings, or the Magistrate will suspect you of something. He doesn't care what. He's...great and important," she said, looking around, just in case someone was listening.

"Well, I'm sure such an important man wouldn't be bothered to accuse a newcomer," Grace smiled.

She was so naive, and she didn't know what had occurred in the last Griorden, twenty five years ago. A girl named Eliza had destroyed the town with Wiccan Powers. The survivors named Peter, a normal man with an intense hatred of magic, the Magistrate. He moved the town and isolated us in the middle of a woods.