Daughter of the Wicked

Prologue

"You're losing it, Eva."

"I'm not!" The girl insisted as the squirrel fidgeted and squirmed, nuts in hand. Calliope, the woman behind her, narrowed her eyes as the squirrel began twitching more aggressively.

"Eva," Calliope's voice came out as a low, stern hum. It flickered across Eva's vision, the connection, and she leaned forward to chase it. She had noticed that the closer she was to her subject, the easier it became to push that subject into a mental corner.

The elf let out another warning, one Eva didn't bother to hear. Any words of wisdom would be wasted. She didn't need to be held back when she was so close to complete control. With a violent shudder, the squirrel placed the walnut in its paws to the right side of the stump.

Calliope remained quiet now. The Elf took her time examining both subjects, purple eyes flickering to and fro. The squirrel's eyes kept oscillating rapidly, shrinking and expanding at rates that could not have been healthy. She suspected that another minute would spell its doom. Mind bending, when performed by an unpracticed hand, could have devastating results, and Eva had been known to push past boundaries before.

Her violet gaze casted onto the girl as her eyes began to bleed from over exertion. She reached for a circle she did not have access to, allowed too much magic to run wild in her blood, and Calliope would let the consequences teach her that lesson. But as the child's hand began to shake, drawing silent sigils into her leg to take away the pain, Calliope changed her mind.

"Stop while you're ahead," she commanded. Hand coming down onto the girl's shoulder. The child shrugged it off quickly. Young and stubborn were not combinations one wanted in an apprentice, but that was the combination most prevalent in Eva. So was the elf's luck.

"No, I can do it this time."

"Or you will fail once again, and the little critter will need to be replaced once more," She grumbled. Calliope was no beast tamer, nor was she cruel. Watching the heads of squirrels, chipmunks, and robins were not considered to be prime entertainment to her. "Stop now and we will have dinner."

"I won't kill it," Eva insisted, and at the words the strand of darkness connecting the two grew thicker. Calliope narrowed her eyes at the development but repeated her suspicions.

"You will."

"I won't," Another fold allowed the connection to grow thicker and ever stronger. Eva's eyes emitted an eerie glow as she felt the panic in the squirrel's mind, but she backed it into that corner once again. Not this time. It wouldn't get the better of her this time. This time she could do it, she could push it down, maintain control.

The squirrel placed a peanut on the left side.

"Eva," Calliope's voice felt distant as she gripped the connection with an iron-clad grip. She could do it. She could control this. It won't escape her.

The squirrel twitched and spasmed, walnut shaking in its little paws. Calliope pressed both hands onto her shoulders, her colored nails nipping the flesh to create crescent moons. The connection doubled again, now as thick as the child's palm.

Eva's eye twitched as more blood ran down her cheek. She ignored the stinging in her eyes and the tears threatening to spill in the corners. Pain became irrelevant when on the cusp of control. She could feel it grazing the tips of her fingers, its silky skin enticing her to lay with it. The connection doubled again, the squirrel dropping the walnut to the right of the stump.

Two more nuts to go. Two more and she would have done it.

The squirrel's wide eyes met Eva's green ones, and she could see the fear in its eyes. The fear of watching as your body moved, but not being the one to make it move. She shoved her guilt to the side, and the squirrel placed the peanut on the left side.