Savages

Trackers

"The moon was shining over the whole forest, bright and full. Wolves lined up in packs, each facing each other as two bigger wolves stood in the middle, circling each other. ——

The moon was shining over the whole forest, bright and full. Except, it shown down on dozens of wolves— each with kill circles on them....they were dead.

Both of the bigger wolves were dead too, with one slightly smaller wolf leaning over the body of one of them. As I got closer to the wolf, it suddenly turned and snarled at me."

Sierra shot up in her bed with a yelp, a thin sheet of sweat coating her skin at the dream— or vision she just had. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. 7:26 am. Everyone was undoubtedly already awake and starting the day.

——
"That herb goes into the nursery, Tina. Yeah, that one."

Exiting the house, Sierra noticed Claudia not too far from her observing and instructing a few witches as they stocked up on healing herbs. When Claudia turned around, her eyes caught sight of a nervous looking Sierra and she smiled comfortingly.

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" Claudia asked once the other girl was within hearing range.

Sierra just sighed, knowing the older woman was actually asking if she's had any visions. She's only been a Seer for a few days and she's already being asked about her "visions". For once, Sierra would like to have a normal sleep, dreaming of rainbows and unicorns and whatnot.

The young girl sighed heavily and shrugged. "Same dream as the last one...and the last one."

"Nothing new? At all?" Claudia asked as the young Seer shook her head, making her sigh. The head witch looked around before looking back at Sierra. "Come on then, I want to show you something."

Sierra followed as Claudia led her into a house smaller than the rest that was positioned in the far left corner of the grounds. Claudia knocked one the door once...twice...three times before the dark mahogany door opened to reveal a red-headed woman— who looked to be in her mid-twenties. The woman wore a plain black tank top with ripped blue jeans. Sierra didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't this.

"Goodmorning, Claudia." The woman said, her voice more preppy than expected. She then looked behind the head witch to Sierra standing timidly behind her. She nodded to her. "Who's this?"

"Jo, this is Sierra." Claudia introduced them, as the woman now known as Jo stepped out of the house. "Sierra, this is Josephine. She's one of our tracking witches."

"Hi." Sierra said quickly, lifting her hand to send a small wave to the smiling woman.

"Nice to meet you, cutie." Jo chuckled at the other girl's shyness before turning her attention back to Claudia. "Pardon my forwardness, Claud, but is there anything I can help you with?"

"I was just wondering if we can come inside and observe. I know you guys are busy in there, but Sierra, here, just found out she's a witch."

"No way! Congrats!" Josephine sent a bright smile towards the younger girl who sent a small one back in return.

"I want her to get to know the other witches and get her more- uh...accustomed to what we do." Claudia finished, looking up at Jo with a pleading look.

Claudia may be the head witch, but she's not the type to really boss people around or threaten them into doing things she could easily do herself. She's cool. She asks for permission, she doesn't like to be called by any name that would call out her rank, and she treats everyone else as equals. So if Josephine says no, then, Claudia won't take that to heart.

"Sure!" Jo said, turning around and opening the door, allowing the other two to enter.

The inside smelled of ginger and something else Sierra couldn't quite make out. Jo led them down a small hallway and into what looked to be the living room, except, instead of chairs and a TV, there was just a table that was low enough to the floor that you don't need a chair. The table was littered with a few books, candles, and many small crystals.

"Excuse the mess, we weren't really expecting anybody."

"It's fine. At least I know you guys are working."

Sierra just looked around the whole room, taking in every detail as the older women's conversation became background noise.

The room— the whole house rather— was very quaint. No pictures on the wall, only those wall carpet thingies. It was kind of cool. Walking further into the room, the younger girl scanned her eyes some more, taking it all in as reality slowly but softly started to hit her. She's a witch. Not just any witch— the rarest of them all. As scary as it was, Sierra couldn't help but feel at home here. The gray-eyed girl smiled to herself.

"No fucking way!" Sierra heard suddenly, causing her to snap back into reality.

"Please, just don't push her or make it any more weird for her, okay?" Claudia held her hands up, attempting to calm the other woman down as her wide eyes stayed glued on Sierra.

"A Seer? In my home?" Josephine fanned herself, the playful action putting a smile on the young Seer's lips. "I knew I should've cleaned up, damn it!"

Before anyone else could talk, the back door of the little house swung open, a young boy and two girls walking through. The boys looked like twins, seeing as they both look almost exactly alike. The girl shared similar features to the both of them. They all looked to be about Sierra's age.

The girl walked in carrying a small hand basket, like the one from the grocery store, while the boys were both carrying shovels, unbeknownst to their company.

Jo cleared her throat, catching their attention as they all snapped their heads to her, only now realizing the other two bodies in the room.

"Guys, this is Sierra." Jo introduced them before pointing to the girl first and going down the line. "Sierra, these are the triplets.!Jonah." The girl waved with a polite smile. "Jonathan." A boy with messy red hair nodded his head once. Josephine finally pointed to the last boy who had a small birth mark above his left eye. "And lastly, Josiah. His birthmark is the only way you can tell him apart from Jonathan."

"Hi." Sierra waved shyly, looking over to Claudia who nodded approvingly.

Josephine turned to the head witch. "I sent the triplets out a while ago to collect a few key ingredients for the tracking spell. Would you guys like to watch?"

Claudia looked down to Sierra who was already staring at her and nodded. "We'd love to."

Josephine smiled brightly. "Great."