Operation Witchcraft

Chapter 8: Three Goons and Some Knives

After leaving Demetri, Ella stormed off to the gardens outside the Sanctuary. She knew she was marked. There was no way she could leave the grounds without someone being alerted, but at least she could savor the silence of the outdoors.

The last thing Ella wanted was to have Demetri breathing down her neck every second of the day. Not since he had left her all those years ago. Did he think she would forget?

She had used the same charm as back in the library over a decade ago on a similar door when the Commander and the counsel were discussing her fate. The governing body of the Ignus believed themselves to be incredibly intelligent, despite the fact that a ten year old was routinely listening into their conversations for fun. That day, she had thought, would be no different, but oh she was very wrong.

She listened to the counsel deliberate what should happen to her. Her family dead, the research set back years, and the book they treasured so dearly burnt to a crisp. There were suggestions of sending her off to Europe, with her family five times removed, or keeping her close, with strangers or friends. They spoke so callously of her life, as if the ten years she lived and trained meant absolutely nothing to them. The Ignus speak of each mage being instrumental to their success, yet here they were, not caring for her.

That's when she heard Demetri come in. The counsel must have called him forth for information on her, which was standard practice for times like this. He wasn't the first they had called. Not that they ever thought to ask her what she wanted. They questioned him about her personality, her training. Trying to determine her best placement after such a tragedy. That's when the cursed question arrived.

"Do you think Ella should stay, Demetri?"

"No. She doesn't fit in and she has no friends. I'm only her friend because we get partnered in class all the time."

That's when she tore the charm to shreds, and ran. He had been her best friend. Not her only friend, but the best. He had lied through his teeth, to send her way. To make his competition less? She could only guess. If he wanted her gone, he would get it.

She had ran. To her room, to collect her most important belongings. Then she ran some more. Out onto the streets and into a magical district she knew would be safe. All kids were taught what was safe. She stayed there, for what must have been weeks, until some non-magical service workers made their rounds and decided she needed help.

It was all history from there.

Ella sat in the gardens, next to a fountain that quietly bubbled. The sound of water calmed her, just enough that she could capture her running thoughts. She was angry, sad, confused, and upset, all at once. She wanted to give Demetri a piece of her mind, to give the counsel a piece of her mind. She wanted to grab Ollie and run home and forget that any of this had happened in the first place. She wanted to turn back time and stop the ritual her parents had performed, save them from their own fate.

She sat there, on a bench by the fountain, for what felt like hours. The crunch of gravel behind her broke her from her thoughts.

"Bad day, huh?" Ollie said. Ella half smiled, happy to hear her friend's voice.

"Yea, you could say that."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Alright. Can we talk about my day?"

"Sure."

"I had a girl named Kennedy solicit me for schooling." Ollie sat beside Ella, nudging her knee. She picked up a rock and hucked it into the fountain, giggling at the little splink noise.

Ella turned to her, "schooling?"

Ollie nodded. "Yea, teaching me in the ways of mysterious magic. Maybe I have a gift like you do!" Ella chuckled in response. "Wendall also took me to the library. Showed me a funky room where you can do all sorts of research. We spent a couple hours looking up some information on a book called the 'tam qua', which is a funky name, I think."

"Wait, Ollie, did you say tam qua?"

"Yep! The very one!" Ollie kept chattering for a while about her day, while Ella half-listened. Ollie was the type who could talk for hours about anything and everything, and she only really did so when Ella was upset. Ella thought it was to distract her, but maybe Ollie had her reasoning.

If Wendall was researching the book then Demetri was probably too, and he was probably going to try to interrogate her about it.

She really needed to get back to her place.

"Hey, Ollie, I need to sneak out to my place for a little. I'll be back in about an hour, can you cover for me?"

"Oh you know I can," Ollie winked at her. Ella shot her friend a grateful smile and then scooted off the bench and out the garden. She didn't know how long she had, so she needed to be quick.

Ella sprinted off the Sanctuary property, hoping she looked like just another school kid who was late for her bus. The Sanctuary wasn't far from her house, if she ran she should be able to get there in about fifteen minutes. The streets passed in a blur, as her feet carried her as fast as they could.

A right, a left, an awkward kind of right that was really just going straight, the third building on the left, third floor, the second door on the right. Fumbled with the keys, then straight back to her bedroom. Ella grabbed her backpack - which was tamper resistant, she spent a small fortune on it - and stuffed it with her essentials. Her journal, the few photographs she had of her family, her laptop, the box of secrets from her closet.

Ella stepped out of her room, backpack on, and sprinted back out the door. She made it back out the front entrance of the building without any problems. The entrance of the door, however, posed a problem. Before her stood not one, not two, but three demons that were armed to the tooth. They were loosely stationed before the door, each distracted from noticing her by something different. Their nails, a sword, an architecturally horrific corner of the building. She could take the fire escape to get around them, but no doubt it was covered to.

Ella didn't have much in the way of weapons on her. She was more of a potions and traps kind of fighter, and she didn't have the time to set up some cleverly laid trap. Fingering the potion bombs she had bought off a coffee shop barista on his break, Ella tracked the fidgety movements of the demons.

She hucked the first bomb into the air. It hit a demon smack in the chest; the blue liquid started to fizzle. The second and third demons turned toward her. A second bomb went flying, hitting another demon in the head. The demon went down, screaming. The third demon was two steps from being on her.

The thing about this particular potion is that it burned and demolished any flesh it touched. Including her own.

The demon drew a small knife, slashing towards her. She smacked the demon's arm, parrying. The demon flipped the knife in its hand so it faced its elbow, and slashed back towards her. She dodged, dropping to the floor. Kicking her leg out, she swung out to get the demon off its feet. It jumped. She kicked towards its knees, it stumbled. Relentless, she kicked again, in its chest this time. It dropped the knife as it backtracked.

Great, a weapon.

Ella armed herself, hoping to god her knife skills her enough. The demon drew another knife - this one was a goregous blue color - and lunged at her again. The fight was almost a dance. Ella gained a few scratches from both her own knife and the demon's.

One misstep...

The demon shot out, aiming wide. Ella went in, stabbing towards the demon's chest. She hit home. The demon shrieked, collapsing. Ella withdrew the knife, and with a yell, slashed across its throat. She stood there for a few moments, breathing hard. Three corpses lay around her, slowly disintergrating.

"Damn Dani..." Ella flinched at the old nickname. Demetri was standing in the enterance to her apartment building, some gore staining his clothes.

"Do I have to fight you now too?"