The Coven's Sacred Oath

Chapter 2

I wake up in a daze, the firmness of the table underneath me lets me know I am still in my mother’s hut. “Ouch!” I say as I come too. I reach up and touch my shoulder and feel wetness from an opened wound. It’s a small scrape, I sit up and my head feels a bit heavy.

“Clara, be careful now. You aren’t up to your full strength yet.” I ignore my mom’s advice and jump down, I wobble for a minute and then steady myself. I look at her triumphally and smile, I take a step and trip over my own feet and face plant into the ground. “Ow!” I say as I move my arm to rub my now sore chin. My mom giggles at me and she comes over to help me up.

“You are always too stubborn. One day that might come in handy, but for now, listen to your ma’ma and sit down.” She sits me in her rocking chair as she goes back to grinding her herbs.

“What happened?” I ask, trying to remember anything about what had happened.

“You came into your power, my sweet girl. I guess you were right, you could do it without the sage and my humming.” She giggles again and I give her a side eye.

“I remember trying and failing at reaching it, you say I did it? How do you know?” I ask still confused as to why I can’t see past the blank space in my mind.

“Oh, Clara, here. Drink this, it will clear up any fog left over from the binding.” She hands me this green bubbly goo. I look at her and she places the wooden cup into my hands.

“I do not think I can drink this mom. It looks like it’s staring back at me..” I trail off as I continue staring at the bubbly goo, a bubble forms and pops as soon as I finish the sentence.

“Never mind that, Clara. Drink.” She says as she pushes the cup to my lips. I unwillingly open my mouth to drink the questionable gunk. As I was taking a big drink, I thought the bubbles would stop, but I was wrong. It’s thick and slimy as it slides down my throat. I feel the bubbles popping as it enters my stomach. “Another Drink Clara.” She says as she holds the distasteful goo to my lips again. I take a quick drink and push it away. It leaves an after taste in my mouth like rotten milk sat out on a hot summer day. I try to keep the liquid down, as I fear she might make another and force me to drink it.

“How do you feel?” She comes and bends down in front of me. She moves my long brown hair from my face and caresses my cheek. She always has the gentlest touch, which is ironic because she kills any plant she touches. She is not a greened thumb witch at all. But she is powerful. Being Head witch of our Coven comes with great detailed responsibilities. Her power is an active one like mine, but every witch’s power is different. Hers is she can move things with her mind, although her power has grown greatly. She no longer needs to move her eyes to what she wants to move, she can just flip her hand and it goes flying. I have seen her in battle before when we were attacked when I was a child. I knew I was safe because she was the strongest witch I knew; she defeated the evil and earned her spot as head witch.

“Do I even want to know what was in that?” I ask scraping my tongue on my teeth to get the taste off. She laughs and shakes her head.

The herbs kick in then, the fog in my head clears and I can finally think straight. I remember everything that happened.

“My power is healing!” I look at my mom and squeal. She gets up and pulls me with her.

“What an amazing gift indeed. Your power will help more people than mine ever could. Lilith will be pleased with you my darling, for I see greatness in your future!” She spins me around and hugs me tightly.

Lilith is our Goddess; she knows your inner thoughts and desires. She is the place where hidden passions and burning issues rise. A Goddess appeased by you for going past your self set boundaries, so you can express your anger, inner authority, or sensuality. It is said she walked among the many gods and goddess as one. She is witch to be reckoned with, one of our many feminine forces.

I smile widely at my mom, and she moves back assessing the damage from my fall earlier.

“Your chin is hurt and so is your shoulder from coming back from the other dimension. Let’s see if we can get you to tap into your power today and heal at least yourself, shall we?” She says as she holds her hand out. Excited that I might be able to use my active power today I eagerly agree.

It’s been 4 hours of nothing! I am getting so frustrated with myself that I just want to scream.

“Clara, this takes time honey. I should not have expected you to be able to use your power today. It took me weeks to figure out how to even move a pencil an inch.” This frustrates me more, what use is an active power if it takes weeks, or even months to conjure it!

“Ugh! It’s a healing power mom! Why on earth would it take weeks! Just heal you stupid thing, HEAL!” I shout as I look at my injured shoulder. HHMPPHH! I throw the mirror across the room and it shatters into tiny pieces. My mom walks over to me and sighs.

“Clara that is no way to be! Now you go pick that up now! I know you are upset, but this stuff takes time. When you are finished find me and I will put herbs on your chin and shoulder.” She walks out of the hut and the piece of cloth that covers the doorframe shakes from her fury. I sit there for a moment, wallowing in my self-doubt, when I felt that weird feeling again. The wind blows cold air over my skin, it gives me goosebumps. Something is going to happen today, I cannot tell if it is good nor bad, but something is coming.