In the Beginning

Chapter 9

"First," Ira said. "I know that in books and myths, warlocks are men, witches are female. But in the real world, they're two totally different...creatures." She seemed uneasy calling herself that. "The first witches were created by the Grimms, and the first warlocks were too. But since then, we've all gone our separate ways. This is the way it is for a lot of creatures. Most of us don't want to hurt humans, like the Grimms intended for us to do. We just try to blend in."

"In the fifteenth century, a hundred years after witches were created, we tried to rebel against Grimm rule. The Grimms fought back, and revealed us to the medieval people. This lead to witch hunting, burning, and torturing. By the 1600's, there were so few of us left that we were forced to flee from Europe. The Grimms let us go, assuming that we would die out and our species would become extinct. That wasn't the case, obviously."

Ira paused, gaze flickering over the Legends to see if they would stop her talking. Ro nodded for her to continue.

"Let me see..." Ira said, looking up. "There are lots of differences between warlocks and witches - "

"Like ze eyes," interrupted Akim. He pointed to his own. "Warlocks naturally have white eyes. They use magic to upkeep a normal appearance, but sometimes it slips. Witches have normal eyes, though sometimes ze iris can be strange colors like purple."

"Warlocks do magic with their bare hands, and hands only," Ira continued. "It comes naturally to them. They're a lot like Grimms that way. Magic is very complex, and different for every species who does it. For witches, we channel our magic through wands. That's much easier for us than using our hands. It's very draining for witches to use their hands when channeling magic, though it is possible. It's kind of like running - you have to train, build up stamina, before you can run long races. Most witches don't bother, and just use their wand."

"Wands can be bought from different shops - like Ollivanders," said Akim with a wink. "Though mine was bought from Gregorovitch."

Elsin smiled.

"Warlocks are basically the Grimms' lap dogs, and will do whatever they say in trade for wealth and stronger magic. They never settle down in families, and prefer to work alone or in small groups. Witches just try to blend in with humans. Or, like me and Akim, we serve as protectors." She paused again, staring straight at Ro. "You can trust us."

Ro couldn't turn away from Ira's pleading gaze.

"Ok," she finally said. "Alright, fine. We can look for the Centre together."

Ira smiled, relief washing over her face.

"Thank you," said Elsin.

"Now can we please get a room or two and something to eat?" whined Kell.

-

"I can't move," Kell groaned.

"That might have something to do with the fact that you ate 5 burgers and 3 boxes of french fries in the last half hour," Remy told him, throwing his backpack at him. It hit him in the chest and he rolled off the bed. Cade burst out laughing.

"You need'a...shut up," Kell mumbled, before crawling back on the bed and burying his face in the cheap plaid duvet. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" yelled Cade.

"Krissa says she wants to stay in the boy's room with her big brother," Ro said, trying to hide her grin. Kell jerked up with wide eyes, shaking his head furiously.

"Oh - um - why wouldn't you wanna stay with all the girls, Krissie? Like Zoe? And Emma? You like Emma, right?"

"I wanna stay with you!" Krissa protested, running into the room and wrapping her arms around Cade's leg. He patted her awkwardly on the head, and then mouthed please, please, no at Ro. Ro just laughed and ran away.