𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗵𝗼𝘀𝘁, ahs.

xviii | hawthornes

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"illustrious members, i want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to share with you what we've discovered. we've recently took in a boy here at the school, at first we thought he was simply one of us; a warlock who needed our help in training-"

"but?" zoe asked, annoyed.

the warlocks heads turned to the brunette witch, then back to the serious matter.

"the things he did were extraordinary, and after conducting the requisite test of his powers, we came to the conclusion that his abilities are so impressive that they rise to the level of supreme."

"did you say this was a boy, as in, male?" myrtle asked.

"ariel, you actually believe this?" cordelia chuckled.

"we wouldn't have summoned the council otherwise." he replied.

"in all recorded history, no man has ever approached the level of supreme. men are simply not equal to women when it comes to magical ability." cordelia explained.

"not to mention everything else." myrtle said.

"testosterone is a known inhibitor. it impedes access to the ethereal realm," delia continued, "frankly, i question your judgement by calling us here for this."

"you're not even hearing us out." one of the warlocks said.

"there's nothing to hear," myrtle snapped, "there will never be a male supreme, it will simply never happen."

"listen to yourselves! you say that something hasn't happened, therefore it can never happen!" ariel snapped.

"what exactly is it you want from us?" cordelia asked.

"we want you to administer the test of the seven wonders."

zoe rolled her eyes.

"that is out of the question." cordelia dismissed his request.

"why?" a warlock asked, slightly raising his voice.

"because i'd be condemning this boy to his death. i lost one of my most promising witches, misty day, and my only child, billie foxx, by sanctioning a test before their time. i will not make that mistake again. i take care of my own."

zoe bit her bottom lip, holding back tears, at the mention of billie. it had been years since she left, but she still missed her more than anything.

"atleast the ones you care about." ariel said.

"what do you mean by that?" delia asked.

"queenie." he replied.

"of course it's the black girl you leave behind. i see you, miss supreme."

"you don't know what you're talking about. queenie was missing, she traveled to los angeles and never came back. i knew something awful had happened to her, her life force just vanished," she explained, "and when i found out she was trapped in hotel cortez, i went immediately to get her back from that monstrous place. the cortez is a place of evil, a hell mouth."

it was true. no matter how hard cordelia tried, queenie was stuck in that damn hotel.

"i could hear the souls screaming in the walls, desperate for a way out. i realized then that the hotel wasn't merely haunted, but an entry way to all things dark and satanic. where the devil reigns. we went through every door, and every window, but we couldn't escape the hotel. all my spells and incantations were useless in that dark realm. i was there for days, the ghost of march got bored and left us alone."

"- i tried. and i do care about all of our people. so i won't throw this boy's life away on some useless endeavor. there will be no test, that is the council's decision."

"why do you get to decide that?!" ariel cried.

"because i'm the fucking supreme!" she snapped.

"no, you're just a scared bigot." he shot back.

"scared of what?" she asked.

"the alpha."

"this decision is final." cordelia said, "there's nothing more to be said."