Karras

The Good Son

Cordelia, the supreme witch of the coven sat at her desk. She looked through various school applications, as well as newspaper clippings of "suspicious" or "strange" occurrences. Suspicious or strange almost always meant magical. The blonde witch could not help but think about the many things that happened in the years since she became the supreme. She thought about Derek, a nonmagical man she married who she loved with all her heart and how their son, Max never knew his father. Her love mysteriously disappeared when Max was only months old. Even with all her power, she could not find out what happened, where he was or if he was still alive. After many months of detectives looking for Derek Karras, the case was abandoned, with no clues or information to work off of. It seemed he disappeared out of thin air and without a trace.

The supreme was also the headmistress of Miss Robichaux's Academy, still paying attention to her coven. She spent her days teaching witches about their history, how to control their powers and how to protect themselves and their sister witches. Cordelia understood that she had duties, as the leader of the coven and a mother to her now 19-year-old son, she couldn't neglect her responsibilities because she was sad and confused about her husband.

She let out a yawn as someone knocked on the door of her office. "Come in", Cordelia said, yawning again. Max entered the office. "Need any help?" "No, I'm just finishing up". Max sat down in front of her desk; he looked at his mother with concern. "Please get some sleep." "I know, I know", she tells him. Cordelia gathered the papers off of her desk, she rose from her chair. Max stayed where he was, "Got to sleep mom. Are you having nightmares?" "Just a lot in my head. The school, all these applications...well you know." Max nodded. "Well I'm here if and when you need me." Cordelia politely smiled at him, touched his shoulder.

"Max! I need to show you something!" Max and Cordelia's heads turned in the direction of the door. "Gwen might be seeing or hearing something again." Cordelia nodded then followed Max out the door.

Max and Cordelia greeted Gwen in the hallway warmly. Cordelia always loved the relationship between those two. The way he was with little Gwen Goodman showed that he was a kind and caring soul. "What did you want to show me?" Gwen grabbed his hand leading him down the staircase into the living room filled with painted portraits of past supreme witches. Cordelia looked at Gwen a bit confused. "Here! This one!" Gwen pointed at a portrait of a blonde, fierce looking woman. It happened to be Fiona Goode. Cordelia's mother, Max's grandmother. "What about it?" "I hear her talk sometimes. Like, it's a vessel?" Gwen said. Cordelia was intrigued, "What does she say Gwen?" Gwen bit her lip, thinking for a moment. "I only catch pieces. But mostly I hear that she wants out." "Out?" "Yeah", Gwen confirmed. "Sweetheart, why don't you get your book for your class? It starts soon." "Okay!" And off Gwen went upstairs.

Max and Cordelia look at each other. Max broke the silence, "Of course she wants out. She's in hell. Wait, does this mean that she's in the portrait now?" "I don't think so". Cordelia took a couple steps closer to the portrait, looked at it. "Just something she's attached to. Her spirit that is." "Why does only Gwen hear her?" "Probably trying to convince a gifted little girl to get her out." "Sounds like grandma." Cordelia nods. "I'm going to go run those errands while you're in your class." Max begins walking away but Cordelia stops him, "Don't you have that uh...history class?" "No, professor canceled." "Well alright, just be careful. I have the ingredient list near the cabinet in the kitchen." "Alright, I'm off ma."

--

Max entered a dimly lit shop with glass jars on the shelves. The jars held some interesting and disgusting items like pig's feet, mandrake root you name it. Max took a close look at the jar of pig's feet "This is still gross" he muttered to himself. Meera, the shop owner approached Max, greeted him warmly, "Hey, Max." He turned away from the pig's feet and faced Meera, "Meera, always good to see you" he said, smiling. "You usually come at the end of the month. Should I be worried about some threat?" Max shook his head, "No, we just have more students. Which means more ingredients." Meera nodded as Max began collecting the jars he needed. Both of their heads turned in the direction of a girl who suddenly rushed into the shop and hid in a corner. Max looked at her concerned. "Are you okay?" A loud THUD came from above, making the whole shop shake. The three all looked up at the roof in the very brief moment of silence. THUD! This time, sharp blades punctured holes in the ceiling.

The unseen creature continued to bash into the roof. Meera, Max and the girl got on their knees and rushed underneath a display table. "What is that thing?" "Stymphalian bird." "What kind of bird does this?" "Like I said, Stymphalian." Max shook his head, looked at Meera, "Meera, is there a back door?" Meera nodded. The three scurried to the backroom as the bird screeched. Max covered his ears as the bird screeched again and again, louder and louder.

--

All three made their way outside the shop, they looked up, a massive bird with sharp bronze feathers looked right back at them. "We need a spell or something. That's not of this world that's for sure!" Meera agreed, "I'll see what I can grab for a potion." "I'll call my mother, be careful Meera!" Meera ran off into the store as Max got out his phone the girl watched him confused. "Potion? Spell? You're into wicca?" "No, I'm not my mother is." He put his phone to his ear. "Mom, we have a bird creature situation." SCREECH! "Well, as you can hear, not a normal bird. Big bird. Stymphalian." The girl nodded as she looked at the bird with wide eyes. The bird made eye contact with the girl and flew toward her. Max pushed her to the ground, both young adults hit the ground, the bird just missing them.

Meera rushed out of the room holding many filled viles. "These might work." The birdflew toward Meera, Meera threw a few viles, creating a small explosion each time the vile made contact. Cordelia magically appeared in front of Max, she turned around and put up a hand to the bird monster, she uttered a Latin spell that Max didn't understand. The bird disappeared. "New one? Worked like a charm." "What was that thing?", the supreme asked.