The Coven's Sacred Oath

Chapter 4

(Dream of Clara)

“Clara darling, it’s time to come inside, say goodbye to your friends.” I beg to play outside a little while longer, but my mom insists, I come in now. I say goodbye to my friends and run inside.

“Go clean up and put your jammies on. I’ll be in to tell you a story here soon.” I run upstairs and change my clothes and brush my teeth. I hear my mom walking up the stairs and I go hide under my blankets.

“Hmm, I wonder where she is.” I hear her walk around the bed and then she jumps on me, and I scream out laughing.

“Ok, ok. I have a story to tell you. It’s one on the scary side.” She waves her fingers at me, and I jump up excitedly. I love scary stories. She tucks me in, and I get settled waiting for the story.

“Once upon a time there was this new witch, her name was Harper. Harper never seemed to fit in well with her coven, she always felt like the outcast of her peers because she wanted to learn more about dark magic. Her coven warned her that asking about such things will bring nothing but bad juju. Her whole life she seemed to fixate on all the wrong things. One day Harper was out on a stroll in the woods, and she found a small child, helpless and lost. She told this child that she would take her back to her coven and help her find her way. Harper had other plans instead. She took the girl to her home and locked her in the basement. She was practicing dark magic all the while her coven told her not too. It calls to her, feeds on her knowledge and her willingness to give it what it wants. She craves power. She always thought her head-witch was weak and not worthy of such a title. She searched through the dark book and found the spell she was looking for. A spell for stealing the powers and soul of the dead. She read what she had to do and grabbed the dagger she forged herself in class. She takes it to the basement and ends the child’s life and says the dark words, ‘Come here, come all. To the dagger you shall fall. In this place and in this hour, I take the soul and the power.’ She chants as she steals the child’s soul and the power she had. The power flows through the dagger and into her. Craving its next victim. Through out the years she secretly kills witches she finds alone in the woods, stealing their power and their soul. Why does she keep their souls you ask? Well, that is the only way she can use their power. Their souls must be close to her for her to use them. She harbored power after power until she felt strong enough to take out her head-witch. She was only 19 when she sold herself to the dark side. When she challenged her head-witch, she defeated her and hung her up for all to see and fear. Fear is how she controls them. It’s said to this day she still searches the forest after dark to take the souls of all who dare walk the night.” This story repeats over and over in my nightmare. When I gasp and sit up, sweat pours from my forehead.

“Oh! Clara, you scared me half to death!” my mom jolts out. I look around and see that I am in my room in bed.

“What?” I ask confused she comes to me with a wet cloth and presses it to my forehead.

“Lie back down. You exerted yourself today, you need to rest.” She takes her other hand with another cloth and wipes off my neck and chest.

“Mom, that story you told me when I was younger.” She looks at me confused.

“I told you many stories, Clara. You’ll have to be more specific.” She moves the fan so it’s aiming at my head now.

“The story of Harper.” Her eyes go wide but only for a second, I almost thought I imagined the whole thing.

“What about it.” she asks suspiciously.

“Is the story real?” she laughs nervously.

“Oh, don’t be silly, Clara. It was just a bedtime story we told you all so you wouldn’t sneak out at night.” She pats my arm and gets up.

“Mom.”

“No, Clara. You need your rest. Lay back down and get some sleep. I’ll bring up food in a little bit.” She walks out of the room without another word.

I know what I heard in the woods, and the story, the wound on that girl. It looked like a dagger wound. If it’s not her then who else could it be about. I feel my body become heavy, I did overexert myself today and I need to rest. I will look more into this later.

I toss and turn all night until I finally decide to get up. I peak in my moms’ room and see her sound asleep. I go to the kitchen with my rumbling stomach and open the fridge. A plate labeled ‘Clara’ sits on the top shelf. I take it out and unwrap it. My favorite! A turkey sandwich awaits my watering mouth. I take the plate and sit it on the counter. Before I dig in I run to the small bookshelf, looking for a book about dark magic and all the witches who fell from grace. I finally find it and take it to the table.

I bit into the sandwich and to my delightful surprise I tasted bacon. My mom must be hiding something, she hates frying bacon, she only does it if she feels guilty about something. I open the book and flip through the pages, when suddenly the book flips the pages itself. Startled I choked on my sandwich and ran to grab a glass of water. I chug it down while trying to catch my breath. I look over at the book a little worried, but decide I need to see what page it landed on.

I cautiously walk over to the table and can the page. The first sentence reads, ‘Dark magic consumes all who practice it.’ I panic and shut the book. I look around and then the book opens itself back to the same page. I stand there baffled at what is happening. Magic doesn’t scare me, but I have never seen magic do this. Who is doing this and why. I sit down and calm myself before picking it up and reading it.

I find all sorts of information, but one particularly stands out to me. The dark witch who kills for power. A slave to the dark magic, consumed in all things evil. If this was a story made up by covens why is it in the book. I feel uneasy reading the rest, it goes into details of witches consumed by darkness and the lengths they go to keep it. I shiver and stand up. I look at the clock and am surprised that hours have passed.

“Clara? Is that you?” I hear my mother come down the stairs.

“Yes, I couldn’t sleep.”

“Did you like your sandwich?” she asks.

“Yes, delicious thank you. I noticed the bacon on there.” I eye her from the bookshelf. She looks at me with guilt in her eyes.

“I just felt bad about shutting you out earlier.” She says as she comes up beside me.

I don’t respond so she fills in the silence. “The truth is that I don’t want you digging into this. You are young and just received your active power. This is no business of yours. I just want you to focus on getting your power under control. If you can master it, then I will answer all your questions, but for now can you please just do that for me?” she hugs me from behind and I sigh.

“Fine, but promise me, once I can control it you will tell me.”

She kisses my cheek, “Promise.”

All day I practice trying to conjure my power, it comes and goes but it’s like a stubborn child. It never comes when I ask it too, and I swear it has an attitude of it’s own. I mean of course it does, it’s a figment of me and I am full of attitude. I roll my eyes at myself and try again. I see the green orb floating about freely, I try to call it and it just doesn’t budge. When I reach for it, it backs away. UGH! I throw my hands up frustrated. It’s been 8 hours of practicing and I am no closer to controlling it! I storm out of the ritual building.

“Hey watch it!” I hear someone sneer at me, my eyes glowing I turn to her and she backs away.

“Sorry.” She holds her hands up and I storm out of the gate. I walk through the cloak and find myself on a rage walk. I am cursing myself left and right not understanding why this is so hard for me. It’s just healing! I should be able to use it whenever I call it! Just heal! HEAL, HEAL, HEAL! My power is so useful to our people as I will be the first healer since my great, great grandmother. I walk for almost an hour when I find myself on a path I do not recognize. I slow my pace and look around. I turn to head back when I hear movement from the right. I whip my head around and grab my charm that hangs around my neck. It’s a protection charm, it’s supposed to ward off evil spirits and evil doers.

“Who’s there?” I yell scanning the area. I hear nothing, no movement, only sounds of the forest. I take a breath and tell myself I’m just being paranoid. I continue the way I came from, and I hear a hard thump like something fell from the trees. I stopped then, searching for the source of the noise.

“Invisibilia” I whisper and snap my fingers. I am cloaked, invisible to the naked eye. I tread lightly on the path when I hear a man groan. I stop worrying I might be the next victim. I hear it again and my head whips to the right. I see him then, a dirt covered man groaning in pain. He is holding his side, I smell blood. I walk closer and he waves his hand, and I am uncloaked. I gasp and jump back. Sure, it was only a level 1 cloaking spell but he should not have been able to uncloak me so easily.

“Help.” He says before he passes out.