Bewitched

1. The Dream

"Safiya. Safiya!"

Nana plucked me so violently out of my dream that my body shot upright from the bed in a second. My heart was beating out of my chest as my eyes roamed through the small hut, looking for trouble. I could see none, just a familiar fireplace on the right side of the bed and Nana's gloomy eyes on the left, staring curiously at me.

"You saw it again," she said. I nodded and pushed my duvet away, sitting on the edge of the bed with my feet dangling above the cold floor. Droplets of sweat glistened on my forehead and I wiped them away.

"Why did you wake me?"

"You were asleep but seemed restless, so I thought I'd put more sage on your nightdesk. You seemed fine at first but once I got the thing burning you started squirming around like you were in pain," she told. "Don't you remember?" I shook my head as a no and turned my focus back down on my trembling hands.

I felt fine, apart from the shakiness, but judging by Nana's worrisome expression things were everything but fine. "We need to find a way to stop this. These dreams are getting out of hand"

"I know! I know..." I said, pressing my hands down against my thighs. I didn't know what was wrong with me. My hands never trembled like this before. It was only after I started having these dreams. What was odd was that the dreams weren't even nightmares, just dreams of me walking in a forest on a mountainside. Nothing note-worthy ever happened, I just walked. But it seemed I knew where I was going, like I was looking for something.

When these dreams started three weeks ago, we thought it was nothing but a reoccurring dream. Nana made me calming tea and put sage burning on the nightstand and we thought it would be dealt with. And for a few days it was. But then it started again. I was irritated but thought it was something harmless, something I'd just have to get used to. That was until a few days ago when I started squirming around and mumbling in my dreams and when I wake up, I'd be shaking like I was having a panic attack.

"This is curious. Truly curious," Nana mumbled, playing with her stone pendulum like she always did when she was deep in her thoughts. The stone, a purple amethyst, was supposed to offers wisdom, healing, and protection from harm. She started using it when I first told her about my dreams.

"What do you think is causing this?" I asked.

"Hard to say..." I watched her get up from the seat and walk to the fireplace. She took a stick and ruffled the fire a bit, before crunching down to put more firewood in. A gulp formed in my throat as I watched her. As much as I appreciated the extra warmth, I couldn't help but feel like she was distracting herself from what she knew I was going to ask.

"Do you think this could have something to do with magic?"

She pulled in a harsh breath and stared down at the flames. "Let's not jump into conclusions, Safiya. These could just be unusually vivid dreams"

She didn't sound that convincing. "You would tell me if you though this had something to do with magic... Wouldn't you?"

"Of course, child," she said but never looked me in the eye. "I'm trying to think this through, I even went through some of Quentin's old books but couldn't find any mention of these sorts of dreams. A lot about herbs and spices, but nothing about stopping dreams. But then again what we are dealing with here might be something quite rare. You're the only witch I know that has suppressed their powers for a long as you have.  These dreams could be a side effect of that"

I shivered.

The decision to suppress my magic wasn't one I made willingly, but it was one that had to be made at that time. My twin sister Saffron had just died and as a consequence I'd inherited all her powers in me, something that always happens when one of two twin witches die. Grieving and trying to handle my powers at the same time made me one very sad yet a powerful witch.