Sinatus

✨Chapter Three✨

Lily pulled on her sturdiest pair of brown hiking boots and got to her feet. They were well-worn and almost a year old, and her feet felt right at home. Grabbing her rucksack, she headed down the stairs and into the kitchen, a strange feeling in her stomach.
"Are you ready?" Meghan asked. Again.
"I will be," Lily replied, putting her stuff down. "Once I've eaten breakfast."
"I'm working on it right now." Meghan assured her, and Lily could smell the scent of omelettes wafting through the air in confirmation of her words. "Ben's still sleeping, but your dad's eating with us. Sam's coming over in a few minutes to say goodbye."
"Okay," Lily smiled, excitement tingling in her veins. Meghan turned from the stove to her, waving around with the spatula in her hand a bit as she spoke.
"You can always change your mind, you know. You don't have to go."
"But I really, really want to." Lily said. "And that's why I have to go. Besides, if I'm not going to prove it's possible, who will?"
"Someone made it, around three hundred years ago." Meghan wasn't giving up. Yet, Lily thought. Lily knew that most kids started looking for something to do once they were twelve, and it wasn't uncommon for them to leave a little while. Meghan herself had moved here after spending a week or so in the village when she was twelve, and Ben had found a work spot at the blacksmiths where he helped out Friday evenings.
"Yeah, three hundred years ago." Lily scoffed. "I can really see the huge impact that had on others, can't you? Besides, I don't care if some ancient knucklehead did it, that doesn't mean he did it for me or anything. I'm still going."
"Alright," Meghan had turned back to the stove. "I'm just telling you you have a choice. You could wait until you're older, too. More experienced."
"No, I have to do this now." Lily disagreed stubbornly.
        "If you really think so, I'm not going to try and change your mind." Meghan said swiftly as she handed Lily a plate with an omelette on it. The door squeaked open.
         "Hello!" Sam stepped over the threshold, the door falling shut behind her. She had a small grocery bag in her hand.
          "Hi," Lily replied, putting the plate down on the table to hug her friend.
"Good morning," John yawned as he stepped into the kitchen. He took two plates from Meghan and set them on the table. "Omelettes. Yum."
Meghan put the last plate on the table and they sat down. Lily, looking around the table, realized this would be her last time eating here for a while, and she did not know what to say. Instead, she picked up her fork and started to eat. When she was done, she got up and said, "I'm going to go pour some syrup over Ben's doorknob. Then I'll come back down and say goodbye."
Lily smiled to herself as she dug the syrup out of a shelf in the kitchen and rushed upstairs. She squeezed silently into her brothers room, coating both his doorknobs with the sticky, sugary substance before going back down the stairs.
"Are you ready?" Meghan inquired, and Lily suddenly wished she'd kept count of how many times her mother had done so, so she could remind her of it now. But, unfortunately, she had not.
"Yup." Lily smiled, hugging both her parents. "I'll see you...soon." She had no idea how soon. Or if it would even be soon at all. She said her goodbye's, and after the final 'love you', she turned to Sam. "Bye."
"Bye," Sam gave her a tight hug, leaving Lily temporarily unable to breathe. "You'll write to me if you can, won't you?"
"You bet I will." Lily promised, smiling. She picked up her bag and stepped towards the door, waving. When she got three waves in return, one from each of the people standing by the table watching her, she went through the door and started to walk. After a couple of steps, she stopped. She turned and dashed back towards the door, poking her head inside. "Tell Ben I said bye," and again she was gone.
As she walked along the familiarly uneven cobblestones, the soft light of the sun warming her face, she waved at familiar faces with even more excitement than she usually did. Elisa, the girl she'd talked to in the bakery, waved vigorously in return, and the librarian, Ethel, gave her a smile over the teetering stack of books she was carrying. A pastry chef pressed a small, sugary roll in her hand, wishing her good luck. Lily was confused until she remembered he was close friends with Sams dad. He must have told him where she was going.
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Lily was walking slightly uphill now, the small amounts of sunlight that filtered through the trees patterning her back in lines. The sun would be going down soon and Lily, who'd been walking all day, was tired. She knew it was a two day walk to the next village. Sitting down near the trunk of a tree as she decided to stop for the day, she pulled open her rucksack to get out some food. Her hand hovered, surprised, in the opening when she saw some familiar bright yellow fluff. She smiled as she picked up Sam's stuffed chicken and squeezed it against her. Then Lily realized how much she was going to miss her friend; Sam's constant nearby presence had been like a comforting hand on her shoulder, and now that it was gone, the shoulder felt cold and lonely. Lily dug her sandwich out of the depths of the bag. Her mom would cook only for three for a while now, and she wouldn't tell Lily stories that made her eyelids droop over her smiling bright green eyes at night when she couldn't sleep. And her dad would walk through the woods himself on the weekends, and Ben alone would continue learning his impossible sleights of hand. Would she be back by the time school started? If she was allowed to become a witch, how often would she see her family? What hadn't she thought of this before?
Lily missed her family already, but when she redirected her thoughts to facing the challenges to become a witch, she could feel her heart race and her face stretching into a small smile of anticipation and excitement.
Somehow, though, she knew she might be feeling a little less exited by the time she knew exactly what challenges she would be facing.