The Witch and the Half-Angel Prince

Chapter 1

    Claire was a normal twenty year old arts student who worked two jobs most summers, and if she wasn’t doing that, she spent her free time helping her grandmother at her hobbyist shop c*m apothecary in one of Brightons less trodden alleys. Her grandmother was a queer old lady with a head full of hair which on occasion resembled a mop, and it was dark as ebony. 

        Claire was very much close to her grandmother who lived with them even before her parents died in a boating accident. It was a dark stormy night when they had decided to sail out into the North Sea. The police found it odd that they went out right before a storm hit. They left Claires grandmother, Agatha only a note, which read:

            Will be home soon. Take care. 

    It was a strange note as they never usually leave notes. The police didn’t find any foul play or anything strange about the situation although Claire’s father noticeably increased both his and his wife’s insurance some years ago, but that was only coincidentally as they were attempting to sail the world. Claire was only nine at the time. Her grandmother insisted that there could’ve been some sort of foul play as they didn’t usually leave messages, or notes. The police only thought that her insistence came from a good place. They however didn’t end up finding anything except for bits and pieces of what they think came from the boat.

    Claire’s father, Edward used to run a pub up in Edinburgh, which her grandmother sold off - to the dismay of Edwards brothers, Grisham and Nicholas Redd who by the way worked with a construction company, when she became Claire’s sole guardian. Claire’s mother, Elena was a psychiatric hospital nurse for many years. At twenty, Claire could barely remember them, save for a few memories that would come in waves when she she saw something that vaguely reminded her of them. 

    Claire’s grandmother had insisted on taking her in - which she will eternally be grateful for considering she might have more in common with her than with her fathers greedy brothers up north. Besides, the sun in Brighton has done so much good for Claire, surely. Her grandmother used to say that there’s nothing a good dose of sunshine couldn’t cure - and she was quite right. 

    Claires grandmother was a queer old lady with the brightest green eyes an old person could have - Claire reckoned. Her sight was near perfect, and she did behave in a curious manner that Claire would’ve thought inhuman, had she not turned out to be exactly the same herself. You see, Claire’s mother and grandmother were witches - the healing sort, and not the ones who would fly on a broom terrorising children in the night as Claire always told herself, jokingly. 

    Growing up, she told everyone at school that her grandmother was a homeopathic practitioner. She supposed that it's all and all the same and everybody believed her since her grandmother looked extremely young. She was sixty when she took Claire in but didn’t look a day over forty, and at eighty, age seemed to have no effect on her at all - which in turn made her apothecary quite popular amongst the ladies, especially. Her success in the skincare industry was completely unexpected, or so she says and insists that her business remain small for quality control. All the ladies in town wanted a piece of her concoction, anti-ageing face creams, skin tighteners, collagen boosters and everything else, and well, business was good! 

    Claire was thirteen when she found out she too was a witch. It was while she was working on a particularly difficult art project, when she accidentally brought a miniature clay unicorn to life. Apparently it happened because while mixing the clay, she hummed a song, and now we know that wasn’t a song but a charm, that her grandmother had taught her when she was little. Agatha was only too overjoyed and had started training her to brew all sorts of concoctions, but mainly for medicinal purposes, spells with very little incantations. Claire’s grandmother had insisted that they were healers, and there was nothing demonic about it. Having bought up reading novels by Anne Rice, and R.L Stine, Claire only knew about witches through fiction and how evil they were, but no, Claire and her grandmother weren’t the same as the other witches, which she was always glad about. 

On one fine summers morning, Claire had received mail. Now, it’s not everyday that anyone in this age and era actually receives mails in the mailbox. It had read,

 Dear Miss Redd,

You have been invited to a ball on the fourth of July 2017 at Netherfield Park. Please R.S.V.P your kind attendance before the 20th of June 2017.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Edmund Vonfeldt

Witching Director

Saturns Predicament Inc.

p.s: It’s a ball in the all sense of the word, so please dress appropriately. The address is at the back of this card. Be prompt and punctual.

p.p.s: This is not a joke. Consult Grandmaster Price.

p.p.p.s: No dates or plus ones, please!

    Growing up, Claire had only thought that both her and her grandmother were the only two witches in the world. Silly, but more so innocent. It had also never crossed her mind that there could be others like her. Why didn’t her grandmother introduce her to anyone? This Edmund Vonfeldt seems like quite the character. He had also seemed to know about Claire and her grandmother. Was there a whole other world that her grandmother had been hiding from her? If so, why? 

    “Grandmother?” Claire asked in a quiet, placid tone. “Have you ever heard of ‘Saturns Predicament Inc’”? Also, is it American? Why would Saturn have a predicament? And more so, a ball!”

    A few of the cutleries her grandmother was putting away slip through her hands fell onto the floor. She wasn’t expecting anything from Saturns Predicament Inc., more over, she hasn’t heard or thought of them in years!

    “I received a letter in the mailbox today, grandmother, and its author mentions you!”, Claire continued as she passed the letter to her grandmother.

    “Is it that time already? Oh, how does time fly, Claire. I suppose it makes sense that they have finally decided to contact you, since it’s time anyway. You’re of the age where your powers are beginning to grow, and naturally there would be plenty of other witches who would be drawn to you..or to it, rather”, Claires grandmother replied as a matter of factly as she put down the letter on the kitchen counter. It was the hint of worry in her tone that concerned Claire the most. Why would she be worried and how were there others? Claire had plenty of questions, though her grandmother didn’t seem too interested to answer any.

    “You didn’t actually think that we were the only ones in the world, did you, Claire?,” she continued. 

    “But.. grandmother, I don’t mean to sound rude, but you have never once mentioned that there were others. We have always lived our lives never running into anyone like us, so naturally, I thought we were the only ones. Are there other people like us? Also, are there other different sort of beings that I don’t know about?” Claire asked curiously. 

    She could tell her grandmother wasn’t too happy about her asking these questions. At this point, she knew that her grandmother went through great lengths to keep her away from this whole other world that has come to light. 

    “I’m sorry Claire.. your parents didn’t want any part of it, and I did promise your mother that I would keep you away from the sight and knowledge of Edmund and the likes of him. He’s not exactly the nicest person you’ll ever meet from our world, he’s as shrewd as they come, and I guess you can no longer be exempted from our world. I’ve tried keeping you as far away from it as possible, brewing age defying potions isn’t exactly witchcraft - more of chemistry, but what was I thinking? Claire, as a witch in this modern day and age, you would need to sign a contract with Saturns Predicament. It’s the agency that keeps us in line, by binding us with modern day contract, as well as the magic in our blood. This coming of age ball demands all its attendees to sign it, in order to keep peace and the secrecy, of course. It’s lead by a group of ten witches and warlocks from the different founding families, which I used to be part of, but resigned as soon as I had sole custody of you… I’ve never mentioned you to anybody, and completely left the circle, but who was I kidding, I’m Agatha Price, and they knew Elena, your mother and what she was capable of and the extent of her powers”, she continued.

    "What sort of a witch was my mother?" Claire asked softly, as though not to offend the beautiful memories she had of her mother.

    Her grandmother looked deep into her eyes and told her that her mother was the best and the most powerful healer she had ever seen. She could even cured human ailments - cancers, mental issues, dementia, and plenty of other magical ailments. The whirlwind of information had begun to make Claire dizzy. It had been awhile since they spoke of her mother. Claire begun to miss her, the warmth of her mothers arms, and how she made everything warm - even the frosty winters of Edinburgh melted in the warmth of her smile. Elena Price had been quite the beauty. She was never vain, and she was tall, with kind bright green eyes just like her mothers, her fiery red locks from her half Scottish father, Emerick Fraser-Price who was a proud scotsmen until he died of a heart attack at the age of forty-five on a hiking trip with his friends up north in the Inverness. Elena never got over her fathers death. He was the reason she became one of the greatest healers of her time, but alas, fate had other plans for her.