panic room ! 「 𝐬𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐧 」

𝖎. ❝ spellman . ❞

❝ IS THAT HER? ❞ Mira questioned as she practically appeared behind Talia in the main room. Not far away was the Sabrina Spellman gazing upon the statue of the Dark Lord.

Talia hummed in response, leaning upon the doorframe. "That would be her," she mused, resting her head upon the doorframe as well. Her arms were crossed lazily across her chest as she stood, the embodiment of 'without a care in the world.'

They watched as Sabrina walked off, probably in the direction of Blackwood's office. "She's not what I was expecting," Mira said.

"What were you expecting?" Mira just shrugged. Talia shook her head playfully. "Don't you have a class to be getting to?"

"Invocation, actually," Mira informed her. She waved farewell to her friend as Talia approached the statue of the Dark Lord. Her eyes drifted up to met His stony gaze. She narrowed her own for a moment before shaking her head. She began the trek to her own class, Necromancy.

As she was on her way through the interlocking hexagons, she was pulled out of her thoughts. "I'm super sorry, but do you know where the choir is?" Talia whirled around to meet none other than Sabrina Spellman herself.

"Spellman," Talia said rather bluntly. Sabrina was caught off-guard, in all honesty, and Talia realized she needed to correct herself quickly. "Right this way." She spun back around, heading down the correct path. She glanced over her shoulder to see if Sabrina was following. "You coming?"

Sabrina, who was caught off guard momentarily, nodded and rushed after Talia. "Okay so, you know my name. Apparently, and I don't know yours," she remarked, walking beside Talia now.

"Talia. Lockwell."

"Oh well-" Before Sabrina could get another word out, Talia stopped, nodding towards a door.

"Here you are," she said. With that, she strutted off down the hall back towards her own class once more leaving the Spellman witch bewildered.

Now, Talia wasn't rude but she did find being friendly a frivolous affair. Realistically, it was a wonder she had managed to befriend Mirabella who was a rather 'good witch'. It was a wonder Talia managed not to make everyone hate her, in all honesty.

For the most part, the rest of the school day was unceremoniously uneventful. Well, as uneventful as life at the Academy of Unseen Arts ever was.

Talia was back in the witches' dorm, sat on her bed talking to Mira. "You know they have to be planning something," Mira said, shifting to pull her legs up onto the mattress. Talia passed a glance over to see the Weird Sisters conversing as Sabrina was readying for bed.

"No." Mira quirked an eyebrow. "They've already got something planned, for sure. Just hard to determine what it might be," Talia hummed. She shrugged, looking back over at her friend. "But that's something for Spellman to deal with. Now, you. How's your besting of Scratch going?"

Mira's face instantly fell. "Aside from him getting praise in Divination today, it's going perfect." Talia grimaced upon hearing her words and the bitter tone behind them. Divination was Mira's subject. She was their top star, so to speak, so to have Nicholas Scratch outshine her there was truly horrendous.

"You're brilliant, Mira, you know that. Him getting praise once doesn't do anything to your own achievements," she reassured her, a soft smile on her face. "Plus, I can mess with him so easily. I could curse him a little, temporary boils and all or a simple tongue tied spell would do the trick."

Mira's eyes widened, though she couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Tals!" Talia shrugged in response. "I want to beat him on my own terms. Though...an occasional tongue tied spell wouldn't be too awful..." Mira shook her head, scrambling off of Talia's bed as she went to lay in her own.

Eventually, all the chatter began to die down as everyone nestled into their beds. Talia laid back, feeling like she was forgetting something before she shook it off and let herself drift off to sleep.

"Mom?" Talia, aged about fourteen or so, called out into her darkened house. She crept down the stairs, unsure where her mother was as she wasn't in her bedroom. The young witch had crept into her mother's room, having fallen prey to a nightmare. She hoped her mother would have something to soothe her but she wasn't there. "Mom?"

Her socked feet pressed against the cold wood of the floor as Talia flipped the light switch on for the living room. After a moment's search of the living room and the kitchen, the young witch was absolutely sure her mother was nowhere to be found. She'd almost begun to panic and try to work up a navigation spell when the front door burst open and her mother tumbled in looking ragged.

"Mom?" Her mother ignored her, rushing past her and up the stairs. "Mom! Where have you been? I-I had this dream a-and," Talia began to ramble as she followed her. She went to continue when she realized her mother was packing up her clothes. "...are you going somewhere?" Talia could see her mother was overwrought with shaking hands and red eyes. "Mom! Answer me!"

Her mother didn't offer a response, continuing to haphazardly throw her belongings into a suitcase as Talia watched, completely and utterly lost. Finally, she shut the suitcase. Lifting it up, she rushed back down the stairs as Talia chased after her. "Mom! Stop!" Talia yelled as her mother pulled the front door open.

Her mother paused. She glanced back at Talia, her face seeming more sure and Talia began to relax. "Stay here." With that, her mother left the house. The words made it seem like her mother would return shortly for her but Talia's stomach began to twist. After what felt like an hour passed, she rushed to perform a navigation spell but it wasn't working. The spell was being blocked. Talia returned to stand in front of the front door, beginning to breathe erratically. Her tears were forming as she felt all the air leave her body.

She collapsed onto the wood flooring of her house, sobbing so hard she was screaming. But Talia and her mother lived far away, who would hear the screams of a deserted fourteen year old? Her chest hurt, her eyes were burning. Her head was throbbing and she seemed to be sobbing for hours. "MOM!"

Talia shot up, her breath hitched in her throat as she struggled to breathe. She was drenched in sweat and she was still trembling. Her eyes glanced around, seeing all of the other witches were still sound asleep. She squeezed her eyes shut, brushing away a stray tear as she realized—

Sabrina was gone.