Melanie had a strange dream that night. She dreamt that she was in an old, silent, black and white movie. A worn and slightly warped music record of one of Chopin's Nocturne pieces on the piano was playing in the background as a group of young witches dressed like early puritans came out onto the set outside a wooden barn. A large disc of light hung in the black sky to represent a full moon. Words were shown on the screen to explain what was supposed to be happening: "Guided by ancient tradition witches survive only if united under a strong, singular authority." Melanie entered the barn with the rest of the girls. She was aware of them, but they didn't seem to be aware of her. To them she was a ghost, an invisible spectator. " 'Every generation needs its leader The Supreme. No simple test could ever determine the sovereign among us. We rely upon seven.' The Seven Wonders." Melanie watched while the chosen candidate, a young witch who wasn't much older than her, stared at a sickle hanging from the barn wall and raised her hand. "The 'Seven Wonders'. Seven acts of magic so advanced, each pushes the boundaries of craft into art." The candidate, whose name Melanie sensed was Abigail, furrowed her brow in concentration and the sickle flew into her waiting hand. "Telekinesis." The girl smiled smugly at her accomplishment, but she seemed a little out of breath.
The scene shifted to show a waning moon, and the girls bowed in greeting as another witch entered the barn. "Control of the mind, also known as... Concilium." The other girls laughed while Abigail made the older witch waddle around and flap her arms like a chicken.
Next, a quarter moon was shown, and another witch arrived at the barn. "Transmutation." She found the candidate sitting on a hay bale. The candidate turned to look at her, then promptly disappeared in a hokey puff of smoke and reappeared behind the other witch to tap her on the shoulder, making her gasp and clutch her chest as she turned around to face her.
"Divination." One witch stood holding a stuffed bird behind her back, while another held a tablet of slate for Abigail to draw on with a piece of chalk. When Abigail was done, she took the slate and turned it around to show the witch holding the bird. The witch then smiled and held the bird out in front of her to show that her answer had been correct. "Vitalum Vitalis. '... The balancing of scales between one life force and another...'" Abigail leaned over the corpse of another witch and breathed life back into her. The resurrected witch opened her eyes, and the signs of decay quickly faded from her face until she glowed with a healthy complexion. Abigail smiled, but then suddenly looked down at her own hands to find that they were now showing signs of illness and turning dark. Although she had managed to bring the other witch back, she hadn't balanced the exchange of life force correctly.
The scene shifted to show Abigail sitting on the floor with her eyes closed and chanting a spell. "Descensum. '... A perilous descent into the nether world of the afterlife...'" A faint copy of Abigail's image, representing her soul, rose up from her body to float briefly by the crescent moon, and then descended back down to show her soul's return. Abigail opened her eyes again and collapsed.
"Pyrokinesis." Abigail stood outside under the new moon with the rest of the witches sitting and kneeling around her. One of them handed her a knife, and she used it to cut her hand. Melanie wasn't sure why. She had never needed to cut herself to use her powers before. Melanie watched Abigail hand the knife back to the other witch and turned to face one who was holding a lit candle. She let her blood drip into the flame, but instead of extinguishing it, her entire body suddenly burst into flames. The other witches fell back and shielded their eyes from the horrible scene while Abigail's mouth stretched open wide in a silent scream.
Melanie opened her eyes when she felt a hand on her shoulder and realized a fully dressed Zoe was shaking her awake. It was morning already. "Hey. It's time to wake up. You don't want to oversleep, do you?" Zoe asked.
YOU ARE READING
Season of the Witch
FanfictionIt all started with the flames. That was when her life truly began, when the nightmare ended. Melanie Snow thought that she had finally found a safe place where she could belong. Until the reigning Supreme returned and invited Death into the coven...
