Cookbook for A Witch; The beginning

The horse whisperer

‘Sis, get up!’ Serena’s body was bouncing in the bed while Alec was jumping up and down. There were better ways to wake up. Serena groaned, turning around while opening her eyes a little.

‘Already?’ She asked, still tired.

‘It’s already late, come on sis, you promised.’ He was already sounding disappointed. Serena yawned, pushing herself up on her elbows before looking over to her little brother.

‘I need a shower and breakfast first.’ ‘I will make you breakfast!’ He reacted, crawling of the bed before running downstairs to the kitchen. Serena laid back down, gazing to the ceiling while thinking back to last night. Her thoughts wandered back to the boy with the black mare, to what he had said to Karis. She stretched her arm, reaching for her phone as she opened her browser. Serena sat up when she searched for her own last name, Nova. Most of the search results were nothing more than companies and people carrying that name. It scared her that there were so many Nova’s to begin with. She scrolled through the search engine, finding a link to an old mythical page about witches. Her tongue presses against the back of her teeth, shaking her head as she laughed, laying aside her phone and for that dismissing that little bit of history translating that the Nova line was an ancient line of powerful witches. She jumped into the shower, made herself ready and walked down.

‘Hey honey.’ Her mother greeted her. Serena smiled and took place at the table, her father give her a warm smile from behind his paper. Alec served her a glass of juice and a bowl of cereals. Her mother gave her a promising smile.

‘Where is your cape?’ Serena asked him, stuffing her mouth with breakfast knowing Alec wasn’t all that patience. He jumped from his chair and ran out of the kitchen.

‘Are there any performances today?’ Serena’s mother asked.

‘Yes, there is an archery competition, both on the ground as from on a horse.’ Serena answered. They all three turned their heads to Alec who ran back in wearing a black cape, holding a shield and sword. Serena instantly smiled.

‘My knight in shining armour.’ She winked.

‘Can I maybe sit on a horse? And then take a picture?’ He asked hopefully while studying his own outfit. Serena turned around and looked to her parents who were still smiling. Her mother had always be very protective about her little boy. Serena always had to check twice before promesing her brothers something.

‘I can see what I can do.’ Serena suggested after a short nod from her mother. Alec jumped around, practicing his sword skills until Serena was ready with her breakfast. Serena made herself ready while her mother gave Alec a lecture.

‘Listen to your sister,’ their mother warned the little boy. Alec nodded politely before waiting at the front door. ‘I pick him up around noon.’ She followed, giving her daughter a kiss to. Serena put her hand up before following Alec outside.

‘Bye mom and daddy!’ Alec yelled.

It was rather quite at the Medieval town, the teenagers were probably all nursing their hangover from the opening party. Now there were a lot of parents with kids. Serena enjoyed the walk through the village by daylight, she didn’t got the chance to look around before. When they passed a little bakery stall there were a lot of kids moving in line.

‘Hey Serena.’ ‘Oh, Liset, didn’t know you had a stall here.’ Serena greeted the baker of town.

‘I let the kids make their own bread.’ She announced proudly. Serena immediately felt somebody pull her shirt. She looked down to Alec who had his puppy eyes on again. ‘It’s only for a little hour, I keep an eye on them.’ Liset went on. Serena nodded, laying her hands on Alec his shoulders before giving him a stern look.

‘You will listen.’ She warned him. He nodded, following the kids inside the tent. Serena stayed for a bit, looking how her brother stood with another little girl behind a table, ready to knead dough. Serena decided to walk the rest of the village by herself. When she walked by the pastures she couldn’t resist to hold her walk. Her eyes drifted to the mare who stood nearby the fence, looking … at Serena. Serena turned her eyes, looking around, biting her lip before walking over to the pasture. The mare neighed softly, almost like a greeting.

‘Hey beautiful.’ She greeted the animal. The mare stretched her nose, touching Serena against the arm. It maybe sounded weird but the aura hanging around this animal was so much different then the rest of them. Serena stroke her fingers over that elegant black head, looking her right in the eyes. The mare looked right back, like she was trying to tell her own story. Serena held her hand still, focusing her attention to how the mare was feeling, how she could influence it. But instead of bumping into a cold wall like she always did when controlling animals, there wasn’t one here. It was warm, almost inviting. Her intelligent dark brown eyes looked back at Serena, measuring the things Serena was doing. Serena pulled her hand back, looking at the other three horses, they were all looking back.