The Witching Hour

Ch. 15

Connor, Town of Umbridge

Connor woke up slowly as the sun, already high in the air, shined in through his window. He looked around and forgot where he was for a moment, but only for a moment. He was now alone in the large empty room, Lydia was nowhere to be seen and Connor had no idea where she would have gone. After his discovery of her true nature, Connor became not only slightly scared of Lydia, but also was hurt emotionally. How could he ever trust her again? She was a monster... a vampire. She hid this secret from Connor and his sister for all these years and he had no idea what Lydia could have done to them or anyone else during this time. When he found out, he let his anger get the better of him. He said some hurtful and untrue things and drove Lydia away. The last thing he remembered of the night was Lydia's eyes full of tears as she grabbed her things and ran off into the darkness. Now he felt horrible, not just for his actions but also for driving away someone he loved. However, he still had a strong mixture of emotions. He did indeed love Lydia, either as a motherly figure or something different was not important. He loved her, but how could he love a monster? From what he read, vampires were horrible undead creatures who drank the blood and life force of their victims. They had several powers, such as strength and hypnotism, and weaknesses such as sunlight and a stake through the heart. Connor sighed as he felt like the one being stabbed in the heart. All this time, even after finding out Connor and Avalonna were magical, and she still did not reveal her secret. It was not like being a witch or warlock was far off from being a monster, but he and his sister did not need to eat people to survive. He also now realized that Lydia must have much older than she seemed, as the book said vampires lived forever as long as they are not killed. She was maybe decades if not centuries old, he had no way of knowing. He sighed once more as he rose from his bed, silently cursing himself for how he acted. He began packing up what few possessions he had to leave and travel north where his sister may be. He stopped when he got to his falcon statue and remembered Lydia's final advice to him about mastering how to use it. He sighed and slowly moved o sit down in the middle of the room, placing the statue in front of him. He touched his palm to the top of the bird's head and instantly the falcon began to be filled with colors and movement. The falcon grew in size till it was bigger than any other falcon and it glided gracefully around the room. It stopped when it landed on the floor and gave Connor a sideways look as it began to approach him. Connor tried to remain calm, though the falcon being such a fierce creature and potentially a wild animal caused this to be difficult. The falcon hesitated and then rubbed it's head on Connor's arm. It was nudging softly, almost as if to try and psych him up. Connor smiled and smoothed the falcon's feathers. He realized he was hungry and thought of the fruit in his bag across the room. Almost as soon as he had that thought, the falcon flew across the room and went into his bag.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Connor said, standing up.

However, the falcon returned within a moment with an apple and sliced it into several pieces with his talons. Connor was not sure how clean that was, but he figured this falcon could not get that dirty being a statue so long. Connor smiled and ate the apple as he thanked the falcon. The falcon seemed to respond pleasantly, as if it had an empathic connection with Connor.

"Let's see what you can do," Connor said with a smile.
"Fly!" He commanded, and the falcon obeyed and soared around the room.

Connor laughed softly but then ha to quickly run and close the window, he did not want a falcon this large getting out. The bird flew back down near his feet and waited for a new command. Connor sat down on his bed and felt a bump under him. He removed the blankets and found Lydia's book from the previous night. She must have left it behind, but he was not sure if it was on purpose or not.

He read through more of it's pages, though still angry at himself for how he reacted to Lydia. He stopped on the section for witches and warlocks and began to read. The kind of warlock he was, a nature warlock, was said to have control over animals and the elements when fully mastered. Connor had experienced some magic with animals, such as the bear and the falcon, but never with the elements.