The Goddess's Chosen

Fire and Lightening

     “What the hell?!?” Gabriel asked again, pacing back and forth. After waking up I told the others what Hecate had said, then we destroyed his necklace. After that we set up an altar for his ascension, though it is a little late. As soon as he approached it and recited the prayer, I wrote down for him, almost instantly a tiny tornado broke out in the middle of the table, I could feel the electricity from it, though I was standing a good 5 feet away. After that he had begun his pacing, looking at his hands and every now and then muttering ‘what the hell.’ “I spent my whole life hating witches for what they did to my mother...for what my father told me they did, when this is all his fault.” I could hear his voice cracking like he wanted to cry. I reached my hand out and rubbed his shoulder, feeling some static from his magic. “Gabriel, this is not your fault, and I cannot imagine how hard this must be for you, living your life one way then having it completely change overnight, but you have us.” I motion to Clara, Ava, and Rachelle, all of which nodded in agreement. “We won’t let this go, and we will help you as best as we can.” I said. I could feel the static in the air die down as I comforted him. “You can call me Gabe, my father was the only one who really called me Gabriel.” he said, before plopping down on the couch and running a hand through his hair. “I need to find my father and make him answer for what he has done.” Gabe’s voice is growing stronger with determination. I nodded. I wanted to find his father too, he needed to answer for what had happened, and I would make sure that Gabe got his answers, and I wanted to get a few of my own. “Can the hunters make witches sick?” Clara’s voice came out barely a whisper. I knew what she was asking and why, because of her mother. They would have also made my father sick if they did it. They died from the same illness, and witches hardly ever came across a sickness that they could not heal, let alone twice in the same coven. Gabe nodded his head. “They have some black magic witches that make these potions that cause sickness that cannot be healed by white magic. My father had an agreement with them, that they brew us the potions and he let them live. How could I be so blind to how evil he is?” Gabe leaned forward and put his head in his hands. My heart broke, that means his father is the reason my father is dead, and Clara’s mother. Clara got up and stormed towards our room. “I don’t blame you Gabe, but your father will pay for what he has done, even if I have to do it myself.” Clara turned around and spoke to Gabe, before opening the door and disappearing into the dark room. This was a lot of information to digest in such a short amount of time. My mother is gone, I am now an incredibly special high priestess, which I am not ready for. Our new friend was a witch hunter, now a witch, that had a special talisman necklace that blocked his powers given to him by his father who is the cause of my fathers and Claras mothers' deaths, and his wife, and Goddess knows how many others. I am supposed to unite the witches against the hunters and regain our status back as a united coven. Just thinking about all of this is exhausting, which shows when I yawn. It is only quarter to six in the evening, I am exhausted and haven’t even made supper yet. Just one more thing to worry about, but I decided that I would take a quick nap, so I curled up in a ball on the couch and fell asleep. 

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“Cassandra” I could hear Hecate before I saw her. “Yes, Goddess?” I say as I open my eyes. We are in a beautiful meadow filled with lavender and lilac with the moon shining brightly, reflecting off a lake beside the meadow. Next to the lake was a bench, and I could see Hecate sitting there, motioning for me to come to her. “Sit, my child, we need to discuss something.” I nod and move to her side and sit down with her. Even sitting down, she is taller than me and she smells of nighttime, if that makes any sense. A familiar calming feeling washing over me, I recognize it because it happens every time I am near her. She looks out across the lake, deep in thought. “I know you feel overwhelmed. A lot of responsibility has dropped onto your shoulders, and you are so young, but I would not have given you these gifts if I did not think you could handle it.” I didn’t say anything, I just nodded and let her finish. “I am worried that you will go after the witch hunters under prepared.” She said, now turning to face me. “I am going to help you as much as I can, but please know that I am limited in what I can do. I can only speak to you in your sleep, but I can hear your prayers.” She reached over and put her hands on my shoulders. I could see in her eyes that something was bothering her. “Goddess...what is troubling you?” I asked her. A sad smile creeps onto her face. “My daughter, you are very observant.” she takes a deep breath before beginning again, “I am being held by hunters. I don’t know where. They have a necklace, much like the one Gabriel had. It was forged by the giant, Clytius. He imbued some of his own blood into the talisman, blocking any, and all, magic. It was given to the hunters to trap me with it many moons ago.” She had a forlorn look on her face. Taking another deep breath she closed her eyes, as if focusing on something. “I need you to succeed, my child.” she said, opening her eyes. “Our entire species relies on it. And not just the witches, but other supernatural creatures are being hunted as well. Humans are looking to eradicate us off the face of the earth, and the hunters have tricked the worst of us into believing they will allow them to live if they help them.” As she finished speaking, she stood up. “Cassandra, my daughter, you and your companions are our last hope. Take this.” She handed me a necklace with a circular shaped pendant with smaller shapes in it, a pentagram for witches, a moon for the werewolves, a crystal for the elves, and a set of glowing wings for the faeries. “You will need help from all four of them.” she explains. “You already have your powers as high priestess of the witches, the wolves will need to lend you their strength, the elves their speed, and the faeries will need to lend you their light. Faeries are complicated, and never trust one, but they are true to their word, you help them, and they will give you what you seek. But ask them to lend their light to the cause. Nothing more.” She warns me. I had heard of faeries being tricky individuals, twisting around words and causing mayhem. “I will be careful.” I promise. Hecate replies with a smile. “You will need to be strong and to be smart, but this talisman will help you convince them that you are my child. They know the prophecy; they have all heard it. It is time, my daughter. Wake up and pack, start with the wolves. Your mother chose this location because it is closest to the wolf king's pack. Head north, to Prince Edward Island, you will find them there. Good luck my daughter, to you and your friends. I will speak with you again once you have gained the wolves’ trust.” and with a smile, she disappeared, and I woke up to someone screaming. 

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“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” I yelled, but as I opened my eyes, I could see that no one was in the room with me. What the hell? I think to myself. “Clara?” I say as I push open the bedroom door. The room was empty. This is freaky. I think to myself again and pull out my phone. ‘Hey, where are you guys?’ I sent a group text to Clara, Ava and Rachelle. I put on my shoes and walked out into the hall. Everything is eerily quiet. I start to panic as I walk around the halls, not finding anyone. I went back to the room and checked my phone, but no response. I decided I needed some air and walked to the balcony, and I looked down to see everyone practicing their magic. Rachelle over by some plants that she had grown, Clara was practicing with some vines, making them grown and contort into different shapes and Ava was helping Gabriel focus his energy on a tree stump, trying to throw electricity at it. A brief feeling of relief washed over me and then panicked. What are they doing?!? I thought to myself, mundanes could see them whipping magic everywhere. I rushed downstairs and out to the back courtyard where everyone was. “What are you guys doing? People can see you!!!” I half squealed running towards the group. A bunch of very confused faces turned towards what must have seemed like a crazy person running towards them. “Cas, calm down, no one can see us.” Ava said, walking towards me. I made a face, “we are out in the open, I can see houses right there, how can you say no one can see us?” I asked her in one breath, motioning with my arms at the wide-open space around us. Rolling her eyes, Ava grabbed my hand and dragged me to a fence at the far end of the courtyard and led me through a small opening. “Look” she motioned back towards the building. I turned and looked back the way we came, and sure enough, I could not see anything. “What the...” I said, bewildered. “I found another book in the library, had a bunch of useful spells in it, one of which helped conceal the back yard so no one could see us practicing. Which is good because Thor over here should not be practicing inside.” She pointed towards Gabe as we made our way back through the opening and towards our friends. “Well, why didn’t you wake me?” I asked, a little hurt that I was not included. “You were sleeping so soundly, and you have a lot going on, so Gabe said that we should let you rest. I think he likes you.” Ava said, whispering the last part. I felt my cheeks burn as my face got beet red. Ava chuckled at my non-vocal reaction. s**t, now she is going to know I like him, oh well. I thought, shoving my hands into my pockets. I felt a cold metal object. “What the hell?” I say quietly as I pull the object out. It was Hecate’s talisman necklace. “What is that?” Ava asked, nodding at the object in my hand. “It’s Hecate’s necklace. I will tell you all about it after supper.” I say, running my fingers over each of the four symbols. “I’ll cook something.” Rachelle offered, and Ava looked horrified. “I am a good cook. I swear, you burn pasta one time and suddenly you’re an awful cook.” Rachelle rolled her eyes and walked towards the building. “It was 10 years ago, I was only 14, let it go, Ava!” she yelled over her shoulder, causing the rest of us to break out into a fit of laughter. “I’d better go make sure she doesn’t burn the place down.” Ava said and took off after her sister. Still laughing I turned to Gabe. “So do you think you are getting the hang of it?” I asked. Gabe replied with a nod, “I think so, check this out.” he said and closed his eyes in concentration and put his hand up, palm out, towards the log and a bright streak of lightening appeared and split the log into millions of tiny pieces. I nodded, extremely impressed. “Damn.” I said, clapping my hands. “Check this out.” Closing my eyes, I imagined a piece of the earth coming up and forming a golem of sorts, unmoving, but large. Opening my eyes, I could see my handiwork, thinking to myself that I am going to have to learn how to do this with my eyes open. With that in mind, I tried imagining my purple flames engulfing the lifeless golem. As soon as I imagined it, the flames sprung to life, starting at its feet and working its way up towards its head. “Can you hold it like that?” Gabe asked and I nodded. “I think so, why?” I asked, but instead of responding, Gabe summoned his lightening again. It was beautiful, my purple flames and his blue lightening began intertwining and dancing together. It was spectacular, even Clara looked up from what she was doing to admire it. It lit up the entire courtyard as it gained intensity, feeding on one another to burn brighter. It began spiraling towards the sky, our intertwined powers, and it grew so tall so quickly and I was losing control. “Gabe!” I call to him, “We need to let go at the same time.” I said. He nodded, I can see the exhaustion on his face, this was draining both of us so quickly, but it kept growing and feeding like it had a mind of its own. “On the count of three, ok” I said, “1...2...3” I counted down and on three we both let go and, in an instant, it was gone. “I have never seen powers interact that way before.” Clara said, running over to us. “It was like they had become one, or something.” She continued. I had never seen anything like that before either, it was kind of scary, but it felt so right, and I started laughing like a maniac. Gabe joined in and Clara was left looking at us like we had both lost our minds. “Did I miss something?” Clara said, looking at the two of us confused. Once I had regained my composure, I took a deep breath. “That was amazing!” I squealed. “I didn’t even put more into it, it just grew on its own.” Gabe said. Out of pure stupidity or adrenaline, I leaned over to Gabe, stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him. It was amazing, like a million tiny sparks rushing all over my body. I had had boyfriends before, but no kiss had ever made me feel like this. It kind of scared me, so I jumped back. “I am so sorry.” I said, looking at a very confused Gabe, who just stood there continuously blinking and opening and closing his mouth like he wanted to say something, if I wasn’t so embarrassed by my actions, I would have laughed at the fact that he looked like a malfunctioning Billy the Bass. “Well....I am gonna go check on supper.” Clara said after clearing her throat and walking towards the building. “What was...” Gabe began, but I cut him off. “I am so sorry, Gabe. That was uncalled for, and I don’t even know why, I mean I barely know....” This time Gabe cut me off, but with another kiss. This kiss was better than the last, it tasted like rain and felt tiny shocks of lightening. I could feel the wind picking up around us and I could smell an incoming storm. The air became static, and I could feel my hair lifting around me as if I had touched one of those science static balls. When we broke the kiss, I felt all flustered and I could tell that my cheeks were bright red, but all I could do was laugh, because his hair was also standing straight up from the static. He started laughing too, and I assumed it was because of my hair. “What was that?” I asked, still giggling a bit about his hair and taking a step back. “I like you, and I don’t know why I do, I was always taught to hate your kind, well, our kind, I guess. But when that necklace came off, I felt different. I felt my power, but I also felt you. Like I like you. If that makes sense.” He mumbled, raking his fingers through his hair to fix it once it had finally relaxed from the static. I did the same. “I felt an instant protectiveness over you when we first brought you here.” I admitted. “I like you too, but I don’t think now is the time to seek out a relationship, there is a lot we have to do before that could even be a possibility.” I said, feeling my heart break a little as the words came out. Gabe nodded. I know he understood, I could tell that he agreed with me, even if he didn’t say the words. “Come on, I need to talk to everyone, Hecate came to me in my sleep, and I know what we have to do next.” I said and led the way back inside to the others to tell them what our Goddess had told me.