The library was full of nighttime studiers when she walked in. Sabrina gave all who looked her way polite smiles as she made her way through the rows of books. There were thousands of spell books lined up in the library. Ones that had been donated, of course. Witches sometimes filled up a spell book and decided that they didn’t need them anymore. These were donated to the library for future generation’s use. But a spell book wasn’t what Sabrina was after, not this time. What she wanted was at the back of the library, where there were hardly any people. This was where the books of the coven’s history were kept. Each book contained information on a different event in the coven’s history, which was surprisingly interesting. As a child, Sabrina spent a lot of time in this area reading about the witches that helped Alain build the place.
But now she was searching for something specific. A book she had stumbled upon as a child told of a single witch who had once had a vision similar to her own. It had been years, however, since Sabrina read the book and she’d forgotten many details. She needed that information, though. Something in that book had to help her. She scanned the titles in the shelves carefully. Finally she came across the familiar title, Julia Bottaro. She pulled the book off of the shelf and walked over to one of the tables scattered around the room.
Sabrina opened the book, pushing down the nervousness in her chest. She scanned the passages carefully, looking for anything that could help her figure out what exactly had happened to her. The story was the same as she’d remembered. Julia Bottaro had been a witch of the Ivy bloodline, and had been relatively normal. Her power was controlling plants around her, which for this coven was a pretty normal power. Plenty of other witches had the same ability. Julia had worked in the infirmary and held a pretty substantial job. Most of the familiars knew her, or knew of her. And she was well liked. But one day she was working and had a vision. Of course, she told the Elders about it. Any smart witch would.
However, Julia’s visions didn’t stop. When asked about them, all she could say was that they were filled with horrible acts. They were of murders, people being tortured, and other things Sabrina didn’t even want to think of. It all sounded eerily similar to what Sabrina herself had seen. Most witches thought she had just developed a new power. But they were wrong. One night Julia became completely mute. She wouldn’t speak to anyone, even her own parents. They poked and prodded at her, but nothing helped. Her eyes were glossy, and it was said that her expression was just like the one she had when having a vision.
Julia never woke out of this state. She didn’t have the chance to. She was murdered days after she stopped responding. Her body was found hanging from the banisters in the foyer with three stab wounds to the stomach. It went down in coven history as one of the most unusual, gruesome things to ever occur.
Sabrina read the book over once again, finding nothing that could help her. There was nothing in the book that could tell her that what she was going through was similar to what Julia had experienced. Would she even want that? Julia had been driven mad with the visions, and many in the coven at the time had believed her death had been an act of suicide. That because of the never-ending visions, Julia took her own life.
With a heavy sigh Sabrina leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. Her nerves were frazzled, and she wasn’t sure what to believe. Could she really be going through the same thing as Julia? And was she going to die just like the witch had? For a second she thought about going to the Elders for guidance, but would they even believe her? Alain wouldn’t. She’d think it was just a ploy to get them to feel sorry for her after removing her from her beloved position.
Was that it? Was her mind just stressed over what had happened? With the recent murders, her mind could just be jumbling things up and making her see things. Stress, that had to be it. She was just tired, and probably needed a nap. Her eyes fell onto the book before her. On the page was a small, hand-drawn picture of Julia Bottaro. Sabrina’s fingers came down to rest on the picture, tracing the outline of Julia’s face. She was beautiful, and so happy in the picture. Her eyes were bright and clear, so unlike the description of her in the book. This poor, innocent girl was driven to insanity by visions. And Sabrina could only hope that she wouldn't end up the same way.
