Petrichor

The first part of my rewrite now ready for you! It almost a thousand words more and changes the plot a little

Raven Eyes – Part 1

In some obscure book from my mother's collection, I had once read the phrase: “True happiness is found at the end of a leash.” Like most people I may have found it funny, but never really thought of it again. That was until one specific day. The day I was finally about to attend the Royal Academy of Witchcraft. My goal, as with so many other magically gifted young women, had been to learn proper control over my errant magic and, of course, to become a powerful and independent witch! Well, suffice to say life has a funny way about doing things sometimes. Even if I hadn’t known it back then, I certainly would come to find my future, just very much not in the way I had expected. For it was also on that day that I found my very own leash, at the hands of the person who would forever change my life and I hers in turn...

One Fateful Monday Morning...

Beep! Beep! Beep!

“Ugh, just five more minutes...” I mumbled from beneath my pile of blankets. Without opening my eyes I turned back around intend on simply ignoring the horrific device that so cruelly had decided to wake me. After all, it was way too early to get up in the first place; I was one hundred percent certain of it! And yet despite my most wise intentions, it seemed as if my clock had other ideas about my schedule.

BeepBeepBeep!

“Shut it...” I growled towards the infernal noise. “Stupid piece of scrap... My greatness needs her rest!” Not even bothering to look up I smashed my hand on the snooze button and fell back into the soft embrace of sleep.

BEEPBEEPBEEP!

“AAH!” Startled by the sudden intrusion on my nap-time I jerked up and instinctively raised my hands in defence, only for me to hear – barely a split second later – a loud crash. Still trying to shake of the sleepy haze, I blinked a few times against the bright light coming in from the window, before finally realizing just what had happened. Though when I did, my face blanched in horror, yet another broken alarm clock! Several splinters of plastic stuck out from the thick padded walls of my room, making it pretty clear what had just happened.

“Uhaah...” A long sigh escaped me upon seeing the latest victim of my Magic. “Mom is def going to kill me. Better make any evidence disappear!”

Stumbling out of my pile of blankets and pillows with as much of my - rather lacking - grace as I could muster, I gingerly stepped over to the impact site. Weary of any sharp fragments on the ground I inspected the remnants of my overly dutiful clock. And remnants truly were all that remained; looking closer I let out an appreciative whistle at the destruction my wrath had caused this time. While the last few alarm clocks hadn't lived much longer than number twenty-two, they had at least stayed in one piece. This one though I had straight up shredded. Most of the clock wasn't actually on the ground but stuck in the wall like shrapnel.

“Well...” I let out an appreciative whistle. “I should see it positive, I actually found a new Spell! Dismantling-Magic!” I mentally filed it based on its possible power right between “Crushing-Magic” and “Oh, Gods! Why is everything on fire!?-Magic”. The last one courtesy of my aunt at my fourteenth birthday; ever since then I had never seen open flames around me again. I always wondered why... Making the best out of a questionable situation I began carefully pulling out all of the shards and dropped them in my slightly banged up garbage bin.

A couple minutes later I was finally done but as I didn’t really have time to mend the rips I just hoped that my mother wasn’t going to follow me to the academy to rip of my head for this newest vandalism of mine. With a lightly distressed chuckle I made my way over towards my adjacent bathroom. Or at least I had planned so, but instead when I stepped forward I heard a crunch and a moment later felt a sharp pain shooting up my leg. Some amount of screaming, cursing, flailing around on one foot and more screaming later I actually managed to make it to my bath. The bloody foot prints on the ground I simply masterfully ignored. Instead I focussed on the important part of this morning namely making myself look presentable. Looking up from my hastily bandaged foot and into the – as with so many of my possessions – slightly cracked mirror I was confronted with a view that hadn’t really changed all that much in the last few years.

Before me in the reflection stood a somewhat tallish girl, with midnight black hair, equally dark eyes and a seemingly permanently grim expression. While my face could generously be defined as pretty, my skinny body and sickly pale skin had earned me the nickname of “Wraith” during high-school. Much to my chagrin, even several years now after puberty not all that much had changed. I was still very skinny – but at least now with greater muscle definition – and my meagre breasts were small enough to vanish under anything but the tightest of clothing. The only thing that had truly grown was my butt; for some arbitrary reason it, together with my hips, had decided to take up all the growth the rest of my body was so sadly lacking. If there was one thing going for it, then that I never needed a seat cushion, because I always carried mine around with me.

I shook my long black tresses with a low sigh and went back to freshening myself up. A bit of moisturiser and light make-up later all that was left was styling my hair. But as if the day hadn’t begun badly enough already, my mood went entirely down the drain when I noticed several large black feathers stuck in my curls. Of course – because how else could it be – my body had to decide on one of the most important days of my life that now was the time to moult.

Ah, yes moulting... people shouldn’t have to deal with that right? Well, sadly or fortunately, while I may have been a truly shitty witch, I had another talent going for me. I was a Shifter; a Witch born with the innate ability to assume the form of a spiritual animal guide. In my case it was a bird, a terrifyingly large raven with a wing span of over three meter. And while normally a Shifter only assumed the perceived shape of an animal and their forms were more incorporeal than real, I was what was called a True-born Shifter, when I transformed I did so flesh, blood and bone. Meaning I had to deal with all the down sides that came with being part carrion feasting bird. I was drawn to high places, hated the heat, liked my meat more raw than rare and of course in regular intervals my bird body moulted, getting rid of old feathers and replacing them with new ones. So very fun...

Now while that alone was annoying in and of itself, the actual problem with being a True-born Shifter was the fact that when transforming my clothing did not transform with me. This had left me with a rather open view towards public nudity. After all, when you regularly find yourself naked on top of some crowded building because you have the unfortunate habit of “Sleep-flying”, you really start to not give a shit anymore about who sees your naked bits. Thankfully I had actually managed to find a way to work around that particular problem. The solution being almost two months of trying to figure out spacial magic only for me to end up with an arcane-storage the total impressive volume of. . . a small watermelon.

This in turn had influenced my clothing habit rather drastically. Finding out that I could change to and fro without exposing my naked bubble butt to the entire world, had consequentially changed some of my views on what was acceptable clothing in public. Or too say it in other words my clothing in the last few years had become ever shorter and tighter. This was partially because I had the bad habit of trashing my storage space with snacks, but more likely was the fact that something in me was just drawn to such outfits. Tube-tops tight and see trough enough for my nipples to greet the world, I mean it was technically decent. Micro-skirts so short one would expect them more on some dumb bimbo than a respectable witch? At least I had the butt to pull ‘em of! And so my wardrobe had slowly changed from angsty teenage hoodies to something my Mother lovingly revered to as “absolutely slutty”. Now I was going to argue against that point but my recent adventures into latex and tight leather, had only underlined her point. Making me all the more unlikely to argue with my Mother in fear of her just throwing away all of my clothing.

“Well, at least she won’t be able to nag me about my choice of dress once I’m at the academy. Then again we are supposed to wear our uniforms there...” My brows furred in thought. “Hmm, I might have to clear the snacks out my storage after all, or I’ll just cut down the uniform to fit my requirements. Questions over questions and no answers in sight...”

Still wondering about what I should do, I absentmindedly removed the pillowcase I had used to bandage up my foot and threw it into the hamper. The wound had completely stopped bleeding by now and soon enough I would not even have a scar left. Something strange happened when I looked at the wound slowly knitting itself back together. A scene I couldn’t really recall flashed before my eyes, a birthday party with other kids around me and my own broken arm. A bone was sticking out of flesh and a couple of little girls were screaming. A single twist and my bone had snapped right back into position, meanwhile all the kids around me were running away in horror. And yet there was one girl... standing right in front of me unfazed by it all... laughing?

“That’s strange...” My frown deepened when I tried to recall just when this had happened. “I don’t think I ever had a birthday party like that? Like what the hells?”

Cleaning the rest of the blood off of my foot, I shook my head in confusion, this wasn’t the first time I had forgotten about stuff but you’d think I would remember something like this. I looked at my arm trying to find any sign of it ever having been broken but it wasn’t like there would be any scars anyway. My frown didn’t lessen even as I walked out of the bathroom. Just what was that strange memory? It’s not that was upset about forgetting the injury, when you had to deal with as much magic around you as I did on a regular basis wounds coming and going was the least of your problem, what did irk me was the fact that I was one hundred percent certain that I didn’t have any friends growing up; so who were those girls in my memory?  Especially that one blond girl who had laughed at me... Banishing the thoughts to the back of my mind I focused on something far more important: Food!

 “Mom!?” I yelled out as I rushed down the stairs. “What’s for breakfast? I’m like super hungry!”

Despite yelling at my loudest I didn’t get an answer; which was more than just a little strange! Normally my mother would have screamed right back at me. I was just about to yell a second time when I heard my mother’s voice coming from the shop area of our little house. Things became even more mysterious when I realized that she was talking to someone on the phone. My mother talking to other people, so early and on the phone, she was way too introverted for that! A little evil smile stole its way onto my face as I quickly changed my approach and crept closer.

“... just Alice. Don’t worry about it.”

“...”

“Yes, yes, I know. I signed the fucking contract!”

“...”

“Of course... And I promise you I’ll have it ready by the time you leave.”

“...”

“Yes, of course I’m worried but it should be enough for a few months. Sorry I need to hang up, until later.”

The peep of the phone was all the warning I got before my Mother whirled around to look at me.

“You really think you are stealthy enough to sneak up on me, Alice?”

“Uhm...” I froze on the spot unsure what to respond. “Like... yeah, I guess?”

“Ha!” My mother’s grin could only loosely be described as happy, like most of my family it rather came off as creepy. “I had far more terrifying things sneak up on me than my bird brained daughter! And none ever caught me off guard!”

“Hey!” I yelled right back. “I am not bird brained!”

“Really?” Her smile was downright mocking now. “Then tell me what time is it?”

“Like... 7:00 ish?” Why was she being so confusingly cryptic again?

“Mhmmm... I bet it is. By the way, I made you breakfast, eggs and bacon, undercooked and disgusting... just the way you like it.”

“Thanks?” I was still confused as to why she had wanted to know the time, but food was more important, so I quickly followed her into the kitchen to scarf down my well deserved breakfast. “So Mom, like uhm... who were you talking to? Sounded important?” I looked up at her as questioning as I could in-between shoving food in my mouth.

“Huh?” She looked at me critically for a few second before relaxing her expression again. “Oh you know, just some bank stuff, gotta go and meet them soon and you should get ready to get going yourself, young lady!”

“Huh... Probably should look up the time then.” Still somewhat tired I yawned and looked towards the kitchen clock. It was 7:30 am. Way too early, the train wasn’t leaving until 8:15am, so I still had enough time. Maybe I should just take another nap? Yet before my body could carry out its glorious plan, my mind did a double take. 7:30 am and the bus took almost half an hour to drive through the entire city. It would arrive around 8:05 at the train station. My eyes blinked open in sudden realisation of my predicament; I had less than ten minutes to reach the bus stop!

“Told you to look up the time, didn’t I?” My mother’s evil smirk was not helping!

Not even bothering to clean the dishes I stormed back up to my room. Both my too large shirt and lacy panties went flying of my body in record time. Spraying my body up and down with deodorant had to be enough to mask any smell of sweat. One quick glance in the mirror told me that my hair was already a mess again, but right now I couldn’t care less. Ripping open my closet I tried finding all the parts of my new uniform.

“Panties~ panties~ ... a thong will do! Dark black tights... ah, nope not here, okay fishnets then!” At least I had been smart enough to put out the skirt, blazer and over coat the night before. Throwing them on and racing down stairs I had to waste more precious time trying to find the black flats that were supposed to go with the uniform. Thankfully before I could truly panic I remembered that I packed them in my luggage, just simply very... deep... down. This left me with picking one of my pairs I hadn’t intended to take with me.

“High-heels... sneakers... Yeah none of these are decent and I have to run, sneakers it is!” Quickly popping my head into the kitchen I saw my mother rummaging through the drawers. “Imma go now, bye Mom!”

“Don’t break your neck, Idiot!” She barely turned around to yell after me. “Love you!”

“Yeah, yeah love you too!” I had already left again and ran back into the floor. “Bye!”

A few seconds and a pair or red sneakers later I had grabbed my small suitcase, smashed the front door close and was racing at breakneck speed down the sidewalk. But it was as if reality was playing a cruel joke on me today. I hadn't even passed around the first corner, when I almost collided with a small dark skinned man.

“Hells!” I had just enough time to yank my trolley out of the way before it impacted with its target.

“Oh, my! That was certainly close young lady!” The man before me pushed a pair of thick glasses back on the bridge of his nose and eyed me sternly.

“I'm sorry, Mister Fenoru. I'm in quite a hurry!” I was now looking towards the closest traffic lights in the hopes of having a good reason to leave the old man.

“Hm? Do we know each other?” He looked at me even more closely and finally it seemed to click. “Ah! The young Miss Dutrar! I almost hadn't recognized you, dressed up all nice and proper! I have to say you already look far more like an aspiring Witch should. Definitely better than the curious pieces of fabric you usually wear around town!” Finally as he nodded his head in what I guessed he saw as a wise manner the light turned from red to green.

“Sorry Mister Fenoru can't stay to chat! I gotta dash!”

Crossing the street and artfully dodging at least two more old people and a man with not one but three kids following him like a bunch of ducklings I had almost made it. Looking to my immediate left I could see one of the automated city-busses driving by me. If I wasn't entirely stupid that was the bus I had to take! I could still make it! Not even bothering to watch for oncoming cars I vaulted over the chain link fence separating the sidewalk from the street. I was almost half-way over the crossroads when a sudden bright light and honking to my right made me startle out of my run. Eyes wide in horror I stared in to the headlights of an oncoming black limousine, a limousine that was rushing straight towards me!