It had been several hours now since we returned home, from our search of the grounds and woods outside the school. My Aunt had received some updates from the other faculty members about what was going on. School was continuing as normal but there were increased security measures. Anybody who boarded at the school was no longer allowed out after school had finished. A lot of the students had protested this, but the headmaster and other teachers had decided it was final, especially as three students had gone missing.
I didn’t know what to do with myself back at Arne’s mansion. I had spent a lot of time pacing, a stupid amount of time actually. I needed to find something to do, so I decided to go and do some studying in my Aunts lab. She was in there, with her music on and drinking a cup of tea as she scoured several old looking books; taking notes she found interesting on a pad.
‘Hey kiddo. Bit restless?’ She asked me as she looked up from her books. I nodded.
‘I don’t know what to do with myself.’ I told her. I genuinely didn’t, other than wear a groove in the flooring of the mansion, from my constant pacing.
‘Here c’mon, you can brush up on some spells with me.’ My Aunt pulled a stool out for me to sit down next to her. She wafted a hand over the island counter top she was sitting at and a big mug of tea popped in to existence. I sat down, and after concentrating for a few seconds; I managed to magick my own trusty notebook and pen in front of me.
‘You really are getting a lot better now Maddie.’ My Aunt smiled at me. ‘And I mean that, you’re picking everything up really quickly.’
‘Thanks. I try my best.’ I replied.
A few moments had passed between us. My Aunt for all her calmness and level headedness, was looking a little stressed.
‘Are you okay Auntie M?’ I asked her. It really wasn’t like her at all to physically show that something was wrong. She just rubbed the bridge of her nose then rubbed her forehead.
‘Ugh I dunno Maddie. It’s been a while since something like this has happened. Of this scale anyway.’
‘Can I ask what happened the last time?’ I quizzed, curious to know. Thankfully now, my Aunt didn’t really hold anything back from me.
She took in a huge breath before she started her story.
‘It was a little while ago. Remember just over a year ago when I was out on a dig in Greece?’
‘Yeah you brought me back a tonne of baklava and you were poorly after that for a little while.’
‘That’s the one. Well, it was just near a really small village way out in the countryside. Long story short, but one of our own had accidentally summoned a demon in to the body of her deceased husband.’
I blinked a few times, a little confused by what she just told me.
‘But necromancy isn’t allowed any more.’ I retorted. Remembering what I had read in the My First Coven handbook.
‘Well some of ours didn’t get that memo. I was called in because I was near the area and I had to go sort it out with a few of our um, Greek colleagues.’
‘So what happened then?’ I asked. I was getting more and more interested now in the story.
‘Basically this covenless witch decided to try and bring her husband back to life, she got the spell completely wrong and wasn’t powerful enough to contain or correct it. She accidentally summoned this mid level demon and it took her husbands body out for a joyride. Slaughtered the witch then went on to nearly slaughter half the village.’
‘That’s horrible.’ I felt a little ill at the thought. ‘So what did you have to do?’
‘We had to banish the demon. We even got some assistance from the local Greek Orthodox Church.’
‘Did it take much to banish it?’ I asked.
‘It took me, four other Greek witches, a priest, a nun and a blow up swimming pool full of holy water.’
I looked at my Aunt. I was genuinely expecting some kind of punchline to go with that statement, but she eyed me with a serious, deadpan stare.
‘You’re not joking?’
‘Nope. Best use of an inflatable swimming I’ve seen in a while.’ Auntie M said as she finished her tea, using her magic instantly to refill the mug. It was probably our most used spell.
‘Auntie M. Can I ask you about, Auntie Monica?’ I don’t know what possessed me to ask, but now was as good a time as any. I never remembered my Auntie Monica.
‘You would’ve loved her.’ Auntie M smiled. ‘Out of all us sisters she was always the more sensible and reasonable one. But she was super funny and nice too.’
‘Wasn’t she the strongest too?’ I asked. I had heard things about my Aunt Monica.
‘She was. She was just naturally gifted, plus she just got everything instantly. Monica had this vivacious energy that seemed to nudge every spell she did just that little bit more.’
‘But you’re the strongest in the family now?’
‘Only because Monica is no longer with us. I mean, I am pretty powerful, but she just had that edge that I didn’t have. I had to properly work for it.’
I wondered if I could ever be really strong and powerful, like my Auntie M is and what my Auntie Monica was. I watched Auntie M rummage around in one of the drawers in the island and pulled out a large, leather bound scrapbook. She shoved it on the the counter top and opened it.
‘My photo album.’ Auntie M grinned as she opened it up. She pushed it over to me so I could have a look through. There were loads of photos of my family when they were all younger; when they were babies, in primary school, when they were teenagers. There were pictures of my mother I had never seen before of her in the eighties, wearing some dubious clothing choices. There were even pictures of my grandmother, babysitting a bubbling cauldron over an open fire. I then laid eyes on a photo of my Aunt Monica, wearing a black cap and gown; holding a diploma in her hand. Written underneath the photo was “Monica: Graduated University of Manchester, Nursing (Adult) Bnurs. 2013.” She looked radiant in the picture, so much so it felt like I could feel her energy coming through the photo itself.
‘What are these ones?’ I asked as I pointed to another set of photographs.
‘That’s me and Monica with you, just after you were born.’
I had never seen any photos at all of myself when I was little, with any of my family. Another thing my mother had denied me. There was even a photo of me in a baby carrier with who I recognised, even at a young age; were my cousins Molly and Macy. I felt like I wanted to cry seeing all of these photos. Apparently it was only a few years after when my mum stopped talking to her sisters as much. Auntie Morrigan didn’t completely let my mum have her way though. But right now she noticed the upset look on my face.
‘Here, let me show you something fun.’ She said as she flicked through to the back pages of the photo album. ‘Arne and Duncan are gonna fucking kill me.’ She cackled.
