Daughter of a Heretic

In Flight

I've never been on an airplane this long, and its irritating me. The constant silence, the hum of the plane under your feet, and constantly questioning if your pilot is a terrorist. Actually, anyone one on this plane has the potential to become a terrorist.

Am I a terrorist?

I hate being trapped inside my own head, it always takes weird turns.

After about 3 hours into the flight, some kid behind me starts kicking my seat. My anxiety kept me quiet, but it was when I was trying to sleep that it became unbearable.

I took off my seat belt and turn around.

"Hey um, can you please st-"

"Who are you talking to?"

I turn my attention to the child's mother who was now glaring at me. A small woman, narrow face, blond hair and blue eyes, freckles, and a stern looking nose.

"Your son keeps kicking the back of my seat and I was just asking if-"

"My SON can do as he pleases. Thank you."

I squint at the women then to her son. I turned back around, fastened my seat belt, and the kicking started again. I really was getting fed up with this. Again, I unbuckled my belt and turned around.

"Listen mosquito, stop kicking my chair right now and go to SLEEP!"

And in an instant, the boy was snoring away. His mother looked at me in awe.

"What the hell did you do to my son"

She grabbed his shoulders and shook, but the kid wouldn't wake.

"HELP! SOM-"

"You should take a nap."

Then she too was asleep. I don't know what I'm doing or how I'm doing it, but I hope it sticks around.

                                       ***

An hour later: The people behind me are still asleep, and the flight attendants are handing out food.

One attendant, a man, looked oddly familiar. He shot quick glances at me as he handed out chips and soda to other passengers. Eventually he came to my row.

"Hello ma'am, food and refreshments?"

His green eyes beamed down one, pulling me in like the ocean before it drowns you. The two people next to me were asleep as well, now that I did not do.

"One sprite please, and uhhhhhh ill take a popcorn"

"Oh no" he smirked "were out of those. How about you follow me to the back of the plane and I can get you some."

"No its fine, ill-"

"I insist" he said with a sinister smile.

In that instant, I felt a sensation wash over me, and my limbs began to move. I felt light, almost weightless. I got up and began following the man to the back of the plane. I begin to scream as loud as I can, but no one moved. I scream at every person I see, pleading for help. After a while I realized that I'm only screaming in my head, my mouth isn't moving. I cant scream. Something wont let me. At the back of the plane, there is a room sectioned off by a curtain.

"After you" he says as he holds the curtain open for me.

I walk into the room, the weird sensation still running through my body. I walk in and see a chair with a pair of handcuffs on them. I sit on the chair and handcuff myself to it. Then, the sensation is gone, and all the weight comes back.

"What the hell just happened to me.", I thought to myself.

"Mind control is what just happened to you" said the man, a thick German accent dominates his words.

"Es tut mir leid (i'm sorry), normally I introduce myself before I invade someones mind but I could see that you aren't as willing as other people to come with me. I'm on a, as you Americans say, 'tight schedule'".

I'm stared at him blankly.

"Did you just say invade my mind."

He laughed. "Yes, telepathy is the most common form of magic found among us German witches. There's a reason why were called "Keeper des Geistes", Keepers of the Mind."

"......witches." I laughed, if this was some prank set up by my mother its definitely hilarious.

"SILENCE!"

The sensation washed over me again and my mouth snapped shut.

Ok..maybe this isn't a joke.

"My name is Günther Mirgelfik, ambassador for Halter der Wege, the Holders of the Ways. We believe that magic is something that people should be allowed to use freely and is something that should not be feared. People see us as a threat to world peace, but in reality we just want to improve the lives of witches everywhere."

"So why did you come for me? To give me your business card?"

"I've come to recruit you, to show you the ways of the ancestors, how witches were meant to live. I've come to show you that your abilities are something to be embraced not turned away. If you go to the Keeper des Geistes they will try to suppress your talents instead of allowing them to flourish. Join me, and-"

He stopped talking, and pulled a knife.

"Woahhhhh please don't hurt me, I-"

"Hush girl."

He closed his eyes, as if focusing one something, or someone. He took a large sniff of the air and his eyes shot open with a smirk. He turned around and threw the knife at the other end of the confined room, and a groan was let out.

A man appeared, flourished out of thin air. He was tall and muscular. A red head with brown eyes, and his face was covered in freckles.

He pulled the knife out of his abdomen where it had landed, and the wound sealed almost instantly. He threw the knife back at Günther, but it just levitated and fell to the floor.

"You should know that i'm use to your party tricks by now brother. What is this, the 187th time you've tried to kill me?"

"You've mistaken", he too has a thick accent, "i'm just a distraction."

In that instant a woman in black appears behind me. She grabs my hand.

"Brace yourself darling."

I see Günther running towards me.

"NOOOOOOO" he yells as he lunges towards me, but he's too late.

The world around me becomes distorted and warped, and in a split second i'm in the back of an alley throwing up in a trash bin. My stomach still churning from the feeling of being pushed through time and space. The woman in black squats down next to me.

"We must go child."

I wipe my mouth and look up.

"Who are you? Where are we?"

"My name is Aria, and welcome to Berlin."