Chapter 5
Chapter 5
T he words blur on the page, my tired eyes burning. I rub them with the palm of my hands to try and clear them. Looking back at the book, everything is worse. Great. Maybe it’s time for that nap. I close the book with a yawn. Glancing at the clock on the stove tells me it is nearly noon.
Good. That gives me a few hours before I need to be ready to leave. Enough time for a good nap and maybe some wake up coffee. I climb the stairs in what feels like slow motion. The trek up them feels so much longer with how tired I am.
Entering the bedroom, I make a beeline straight for the comfy sheets that are tossed everywhere on the bed. I slip beneath them without undressing. It feels off, but I don’t need another incident like this morning. That isn’t what I need right before the test of my life. I have to pass it this time. I just have to.
My eyes shut easily, and my body relaxes instantly. The tiredness taking the last of my strength and leeching it away. Sleep comes to me with no problems. Dreams be damned today. Breathing evens out and my heart rate follows.
It’s like an instant endless abyss of nothingness left behind in the absence of my subconscious. I’m aware that I’m asleep, but something still feels off about it. Like I can’t rest fully because something is holding onto me. Or someone.
My eyes struggle to open as I hear the alarm leak into my mind. Bringing me out of the weird stupor I’ve apparently been in for hours. Forcing them open finally, I freeze. Above my body is a blue spectral form of a woman.
She has a young face. Sharp nose, chiseled jawline. Her eyes peer through me as if it is connecting with my very soul. It scares me. She’s outlined in a blue ethereal glow that encompasses all of her, including the robe she is wearing.
The fabric is so thin I can see her breasts through the fabric. Her nipples peeking out with ease. She doesn’t move, doesn’t breathe. She just stares at me and waits. For what, I have no fucking clue.
This is the most fucked up thing… okay, the second most fucked up thing, that has ever happened to me. She must have been beautiful when she was alive. I can’t see her hair color, but if I had to guess, I would say a blonde. It just seems so light to be anything else with the blue glow to it.
The ghost lifts her hand and reaches toward my face. I remain absolutely still as her fingers brush across my cheek. The coldness makes me shiver, but I remain in place despite feeling the need to pull away.
Her palm presses into my cheek and I want to lean into her touch so badly, but then my mind takes over and I realize that isn’t a good thing. I don’t want to lead a ghost on and make her think we are something we aren’t. Especially when I’m trying to get rid of her.
So I slowly turn my head away from her. Pulling out of her hand. An instant twenty degrees drops in the room. I turn back to her just in time to see her eyes glow and her body shake. Her face is one of pure rage.
She screams, a bone shattering piercing sound in my face before disappearing.
“What the fuck?”
The uttered words are something of a mantra now. I’ve said them far too much over the last week for it to be normal. I reach over and shut my alarm off. I’ve got about twenty minutes before the test. I need coffee and maybe some psycho meds, because I’m losing my shit this week.
I have to be for this to make any sense.
I grip the card in my hand, waiting for the clock to change. I have less than a minute and the card will whisk me away to some proctor for the exam. Hopefully, it’s someone new this time. I cross my fingers as I feel the familiar tug behind my belly button.
My body wants to naturally fight it, but I give in. Letting the magic take me where it needs to. Landing on my feet with solid ground beneath them causes me to sway slightly. A small hand reaches out to steady me.
“Thank you,” I show my gratitude.
Meeting the woman’s gaze with a smile.
“I hate card travel. It’s such an unbalanced way to move about.”
“I agree. My name is Lila Evans, and I am here for a three o’clock exam.”
“Yes, Lila. Right on time. Perfect. My name is Wendy and I will proctor your exam today. We will start with potions since you are most adept at it according to your last exams. Then we will move on to charms, hexes and spells, and then last, we will do some transfiguration.”
“I appreciate your time.”
“Of course. Ready to get started?”
I nod and wipe my sweaty hands on my dress. My nerves are getting the better of me. I can’t believe I’m doing this again. Wendy leads me over to the table where potion ingredients and a cauldron are set up. Potions is my best subject so I don’t worry too much about this one.
Each time someone takes a test, it changes. The subjects and the material in which is tested are always different. It keeps witches from being able to cheat their way through something.
“Okay. You have twenty minutes to brew a calming potion using the ingredients in front of you. When you are done, let me know. You may begin.”
I grab ingredient after ingredient from the shelves in front of me and place them on the workbench. I use the athame to chop some things and others I drop into the cauldron whole. I stir, add some more things, stir some more, and sniff the potion. This is a potion I make regularly for a few clients back in the city.
It helps with anxiety and such. It’s missing something. I tap my finger on my chin as I study the ingredients before me. Ah, shit. The cinnamon. I grab the jar from the shelf and twist the lid off. I gather a pinch and toss it into the pot. The potion turns a bright yellow. Calming potion is finished.
I stopper the bottle and hand it to Wendy. She holds it up to the light and then hums her approval. Removing the lid, she dips her pinky inside and touches her tongue. She closes her mouth and smacks her lips together. She doesn’t comment, just hands me the bottle and writes something on her little notepad.
“Now on to charms. You did well in this before, but missed some things. So be sure to take your time and really think about it before you do something.”
She leads me toward a room in which there are several work benches. Each one has tools on them with materials I can use. Charms means some type of magical item that does a specific task.
“I want you to make a charm that will attract money. You have twenty minutes. You may begin.”
The woman takes a seat in the single chair in the workroom. Watching me as I move about and study what each bench offers. A charm for money. I need something green for wealth abundance. Add in some cinnamon for positive vibes and wealth. Plus engrave the sigil for wealth on the front of the talisman.
I gather everything I need and get to work on creating the charm of wealth. Working as fast as I can, I use my knowledge I’ve gathered for potions and turn it into a charm that will do exactly what I intend it to do.
When I finish, I hand the charm to Wendy and she holds up the clear resin filled with green specks and cinnamon sprinkled inside. A sigil engraved on the front in gold overlay stands out when she turns it around to study the back of the charm.
She offers the charm back to me and then motions for me to follow her. Down another hallway and into another room. This one is empty of everything except a small mouse in a cage.
“Here, we will see how your hexes and spells are attuned to your unique signature. I want you to hex the mouse with anything you want and then cure it with a spell. Take your time, but you have ten minutes to complete this task. You may begin.”
I step forward toward the cage and sit on the ground beside it. It’s a cute little thing. A simple white mouse. I guess I can hex it to be silent. The simple squeaks are loud in the empty room.
I draw a sigil in the air above the mouse for silence. Focusing my intentions toward the mouse in the simple hex. I wait with my breath held and my body rigid. Will it utter a squeak or will it be silence that comes from its tiny throat?
When the mouse finally chooses to open its mouth, silence greets me and I release the breath I’d been holding. That fucking worked. Oh, thank the goddess.
Now to reverse it. I need a simple reversal spell. Hmm. I’ve got it.
“Hex amove ab hoc mure.”
The words are uttered with a breath of anticipation. Please let the simpleness of this do the job. Being a witch doesn’t mean we have to be bright and flashy all the time. Sometimes the simple things work just as well. Sometimes they work even better.
I wait and wait for what seems like forever. Knowing my time is closing in rapidly, I panic slightly. This is it. I’m going to fail. I should have never tried to take this test again. This is so stupid. I should be able to do this. I’m a witch, damnit.
“Squeak!”
The simple sound is music to my ears. My heart skips several beats, and I thank the mouse silently as I rise and return to Wendy. I did it. I really did it.
“Now onto the transfiguration. Follow me.”
She leads me down to another room and we enter a workshop with different benches set up around the room. They’re covered in plants of all kinds that are set out to dry.
“Now then. The last test is to turn this chair into an animal. Any animal will do. You have ten minutes. You may begin.”
Ah, shit. Okay. I’ve got this. Any animal. A chair into a hare? That is such a tacky rhyme. But simple, it is.
“Hanc sellam in leporem verte.”
I concentrate on envisioning the chair as it transforms into a rabbit. Simple and yet effective. The chair shakes and then shrinks into a rounded body. Whiskers sprout outward and a small tail appears. Two long ears perk upwards as the rabbit shifts its body. I did it. I fucking did it.
“Excellent. The test is now over. You may go and we will be in touch with your results soon. Have a wonderful evening, dear.”
Just as I went to reply, my body pulls me in a new direction and I’m whisked back to my home. Standing in the kitchen and staring at my familiar while he glares at me. Probably woke him from his nap or something.
I can’t believe I did it. I think I actually passed the test and I may finally get my Witch’s License.