My Witch From The Past

First Touch

I woke up with the taste of ashes in my mouth.

The dream had been even more vivid this time. I was in a dark forest, wearing a long linen dress. A man’s hands touched my face tenderly, and a familiar voice whispered my name—not Maya, but Morrigan.

“My shadow queen, my light in the dark…”

I touched my lips, still feeling the ghost of a kiss that happened three hundred years ago.

“Dude, you talk in your sleep,” Jess mumbled from her bed. “Who the hell is Kael?”

My blood ran cold. “I… I talked in my sleep?”

“All night. ‘Kael, meet me,’ ‘Kael, don’t leave me.’ It was… intense.” She sat up, giving me a curious look. “Is this some guy you’ve been seeing and didn’t tell me about?”

“It’s nothing,” I lied quickly. “Just… a character from a book I’m reading.”

“Must be one hell of a book,” she laughed. “You were moaning his name.”

My face went up in flames. I grabbed my shower stuff and basically ran to the bathroom—avoiding the mirror completely.

But during the shower, I couldn’t stop thinking about the way that dream felt. The way those hands touched me, like they knew me deeply. Like they had every right to.

After getting dressed—carefully avoiding my reflection—I checked my phone.

“Coffee? I have something important to show you. – Ethan”

Part of me wanted to ignore it. After what Kael had told me about the Blackthorn family, every moment with Ethan felt loaded with hidden danger.

But I needed answers. And Ethan might have some.

“Campus Starbucks, 30 min?” I texted back.

When I got there, Ethan was already at a corner table, surrounded by a stack of old books. He smiled when he saw me, but there was tension behind his eyes that hadn’t been there before.

“Thanks for coming,” he said, standing to greet me. “I… didn’t sleep much.”

“Nightmares?” I asked, sitting down.

“Something like that.” He pushed a coffee toward me. “Maya, I need to tell you something. And you’re gonna think I’m insane.”

You have no idea, I thought.

“Go on.”

Ethan took a deep breath. “After we left the library yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about the name Kael. So I started digging through my family’s archives.”

My heart sped up. “Your family has archives?”

“The Blackthorns were one of Salem’s founding families. We have records going all the way back to 1692.” He opened one of the books—its pages yellowed and handwritten. “And I found this.”

He turned the book toward me. A charcoal sketch of a young man stared back—dark hair, intense eyes, aristocratic features.

It was Kael.

Exactly as he looked in the mirror.

“Caelan Nightshade,” Ethan read aloud. “Executed for witchcraft on October 15th, 1692. Accused of seducing a rival witch and conspiring against the established covens.”

My mouth went dry. “Who… who was the witch?”

He flipped the page. Another sketch—this time of a woman. Long, wavy hair. Big eyes. A wild beauty that felt way too familiar…

It was me.

Or rather, it was Morrigan. But the features were unmistakably mine.

“Morrigan Ashwood,” Ethan continued, his voice tightening. “Executed two weeks before Nightshade. It’s said they were…” He paused, glancing at me strangely.

“Were what?”

“Lovers. Soulmates. Records say they belonged to rival covens—the Ashwoods and the Nightshades had been enemies for generations. But they met in secret for years.”

Tears welled up in my eyes. “And were killed for it.”

“Because of my family,” Ethan said softly. “The Blackthorns were the ones who turned them in. My ancestor, Jeremiah Blackthorn, was obsessed with Morrigan. When he found out about her relationship with Nightshade…” He shut the book sharply. “He orchestrated their executions.”

The air left my lungs. “Out of jealousy.”

“Yeah,” Ethan nodded. “And Maya… I know this sounds crazy, but since yesterday, I can’t stop thinking—you look exactly like her.”

I looked back at the sketch. It wasn’t just a resemblance. It was identical.

“This is impossible,” I whispered.

“That’s what I told myself all night,” Ethan said. “But then around 3 a.m., something even weirder happened.”

“What?”

He hesitated, like he wasn’t sure how far to go. “I dreamed about you. But not as Maya. As Morrigan. And in the dream…” He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “I was someone else. Someone obsessed with you. Someone willing to do anything to have you.”

My blood turned cold. “Jeremiah.”

“How do you know that name?” Ethan asked quickly.

Shit. “You… you just said it.”

“No. I didn’t.” His eyes narrowed. “Maya, what’s going on?”

Before I could answer, I felt it—a familiar presence. Like a cold wind brushing the back of my neck.

“Don’t trust him,” Kael’s voice whispered in my mind. “Blackthorn blood still runs through him.”

I looked toward the window instinctively. And there, in the reflection, Kael stared back with a fierce warning in his eyes.

“He’s lying. Can you feel it?”

And I could. There was something Ethan wasn’t telling me. A tension in his shoulders, a flicker in his eyes.

“Maya?” Ethan followed my gaze. “Are you seeing something?”

“No,” I lied. “It’s just… a lot to process.”

“I know.” He reached out, placing his hand over mine on the table. “But Maya, I think we’re caught in something way bigger than coincidence.”

The moment his skin touched mine, I saw it.

A bonfire. Screams. A blond man watching the flames with twisted satisfaction. “If I can’t have her, no one will.”

I yanked my hand back, gasping.

“What is it?” Ethan asked, alarmed.

“Nothing, I… I need to go.”

“Maya, wait.” He stood as I did. “I know this is insane, but we can figure it out. Together.”

“Don’t listen,” Kael whispered in my mind. “Come to me tonight. Let me show you the truth.”

“Maybe,” I told Ethan, grabbing my bag. “But I need time to think.”

I practically ran out of the café, but not before hearing Ethan mutter behind me:

“Morrigan… why can’t I stop thinking about that name?”

The rest of the day blurred past in a haze. I went to class, but didn’t hear a word. My thoughts were torn between Ethan’s revelations and Kael’s constant whispers.

“He wants to seduce you, just like his ancestor did,” Kael warned. “He’s using his family’s records to earn your trust.”

“But what if he’s telling the truth?” I countered silently.

“The Blackthorns are never honest, my love. Learn from the past.”

That night, I stood in front of my bedroom mirror for a long time before calling out to him.

“Kael?”

He appeared instantly, like he’d been waiting.

“My beautiful Morrigan,” he said, his voice like dark honey. “You look troubled.”

“Ethan showed me drawings of us. Of Morrigan and Caelan.”

His eyes lit up. “And what else did he show you?”

“That it was the Blackthorns who turned us in. Out of jealousy.”

“Yes.” Kael’s expression hardened. “Jeremiah Blackthorn was obsessed with you. When he learned about us, he’d rather see us burn than let us be together.”

“And Ethan is his descendant.”

“Blood doesn’t lie, Morrigan. He may seem kind, but that same obsession, that same possessiveness—it’s in him too.”

Something about the way Kael said it made me pause. “How do you know for sure?”

“Because I see through his eyes sometimes,” Kael admitted. “In dreams. I feel what he feels for you.”

“That’s… possible?”

“When two souls are tied by spilled blood, many things become possible.” He stepped closer to the mirror. “But enough about him. We have more important matters.”

“Like what?”

“Like this.”

Kael pressed his palm to the glass—and then something impossible happened.

His hand passed through the mirror.

Not completely—just his fingers, translucent like mist. But solid enough that I could feel them as they touched my face.

I froze. “How…?”

“The more you remember, the stronger our connection grows,” he whispered. “And the stronger the connection…”

His ghostly fingers traced my cheek, sliding down my neck. The touch was cold, but it sent heat flooding through me.

“…the more real I become.”

I closed my eyes, letting myself feel it. Every cell in my body remembered that touch, like it had happened a thousand times before.

“Kael…”

“Say my name again,” he murmured, voice rough. “The way you used to.”

“Caelan,” I whispered, and the name felt like a prayer.

His hand solidified. I could feel the full weight of his palm against my skin, warm and real.

“My queen,” he breathed. “My beautiful shadow queen.”

I opened my eyes and met his gaze—so close, I could drown in that intense blue.

“I missed you,” I confessed, surprised by the honesty of it.

“And I missed you. Literally.” His fingers brushed my hair. “Every night for three hundred years, I’ve whispered your name. Every night, I begged you to return.”

“And now I’m here.”

“Now you’re here,” he echoed, leaning in. “And this time, nothing will separate us.”

For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me through the mirror. His lips were so close…

But then the door opened.

“Maya, you’ve got a visitor,” Jess said, walking in.

Kael’s hand vanished instantly, and he stepped back into the glass.

“Who is it?” I asked, still dizzy from the almost-kiss.

“Ethan Blackthorn. He says it’s urgent.”

I looked back at the mirror. Kael was gone—but I could feel his presence. And his anger.

“Don’t go,” his voice whispered in my mind. “He’ll try to seduce you. Try to take you from me.”

But I was already standing. “Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.”

Once Jess left, I turned to the mirror one last time.

“Kael?”

Silence.

Then, words appeared in the condensation, written in old script:

“He wants you like Jeremiah wanted me. Don’t let history repeat itself.”

I left the room with my heart pounding, still feeling Kael’s touch burning on my skin—and the urgency in Ethan’s voice pulling me in the opposite direction.

Downstairs, Ethan waited in the lobby, visibly shaken.

“Maya, thank God,” he said when he saw me. “We need to talk. Now.”

“Ethan, it’s late, and I—”

“I found more,” he cut in. “About Morrigan and Caelan. And Maya…”

His eyes locked onto mine.

“I don’t think they died the way we thought.”

The world stopped. “What do you mean?”

“I think one of them survived.

And he’s trying to finish what he started… three hundred years ago.”