The Witch’s Lycan Mates

Isadora As I ran through the meadow as fast as I could while trying and mostly failing to dodge tree branches I cursed my capacity for getting in trouble seemingly without even trying, a quick midday walk had somehow turned into a day dream session and now I was late for my potions class for the umpteenth time. By the time I arrived at the apothecary class panting hard I knew I was extremely late and I began to run through excuses when I peeped through the open door and realized that even though the rest of the students were all seated I could not see the tiny figure of my teacher with her dark voluminous skirts standing in her usual position at the head of the room by the podium. I sighed in relief, grateful that thanks to some divine intervention I was not going to get in trouble with Ms Esme who was already sick of me and my errant ways. I began to creep in, tiptoeing quietly towards the front in order not to alert anyone of my presence, when i was almost home free and about to slide into a chair I was startled by my teacher’s voice. “Late once again I see Isadora.” She said in that uptight nasal voice that made me jump. I winced and turned around with an angelic smile to see my dour faced teacher standing by the window and watching my progress with distaste, i turned crimson when some of the other students sniggered and whispered amongst themselves while glancing at me. “Keep quiet!” Ms Esme ordered and the class went silent. I chewed the inside of my mouth nervously while Ms Esme walked towards me with displeasure written all over her face. “I promise there is a good reason..” “Quiet!” She harrumphed, her lips in a thin line. “I am tired of your disruptive attitude and since you don’t seem to want to spend time in my class how about you go and spend that time thinking about what you have done while cleaning the library.” Not the library! While I enjoyed the books there on the rare occasion when I was forced there, that place was massive and the work there never finished, no one wanted to be assigned to work there and all alone at that. “And this time I will come and make sure that you have cleaned every single shelf.” She peered at me and I shivered in revulsion, it was going to be a very long day. I opened my mouth once more to give her a convincing story but she raised a hand and stopped me before I could launch into my story. “I have no interest in hearing your excuses, go on now.” She shooed me out and I sighed and dragged my feet across the room. Repressed old biddy! Maybe if she was not so joyless I would want to be punctual for her classes, then i reminded myself that I was late for everyone’s classes anyway. This time i was going to be in even bigger trouble when Mama found out that not only was I late for classes again but I was sent out for it, there would be no end to her complaints about how I never took anything serious and how I should be more like Anaia who is so well behaved and every teacher’s pet. As I walked to the library I went past the stables and considered going in to take a quick ride on Henry but I remembered how my last “quick ride” had ended, it was probably best to go straight to the library and not further incurr Ms Esme’s wrath. When I got to the library I knocked on the door before going in and almost bumped into the librarian. “Isadora?” He asked with his eyebrow raised, the distaste on his face made me want to giggle, I loved messing with him. “Hello Brent, I wanted to see how life as an old crone would feel like so I came to visit you.” I said bashfully while looking down at my feet and when I glanced up he look unamused. “What have you done this time and why am I being punished with your presence?” He asked then raised his hands “you know what? I don’t even want to know, do whatever it is you have to do and stay out of my way.” Everyone knew that I was always in some kind of trouble or the other, if I was not late for something I was putting my foot in my mouth and saying something inappropriate or playing a harmless little prank that blew out of portion but I never meant to turn bad, people just had very little patience and no humor. With a sigh I got to work, picking up the dust cloth and feather duster and began to go row by row On my journey to clean the hundreds of thousands of books, I spent more time flipping through the pages of books than cleaning. “I’m going to have to leave you alone for a while, hopefully the library is still in one piece when I get back.” Brent’s head appeared from beside one of the bookshelves. “What? You’re already bored of my company?” I said cheekily and got an answering eye roll before he disappeared. With Brent gone I abandoned all pretense of doing any cleaning and wandered about. Somehow against my better intentions I found myself in the forbidden books section and instead of simply dusting and moving on to the next row I let my curiosity get the best of me and thumbed through the books one after the other. They had some odd titles, one of them was The Occultic Bible, another was Bewitched Love. Eww, why would anyone waste their time trying to make someone fall in love with them. Then I saw one heavily bound volume which had no title. I picked it up curiously and opened it and saw that it was blank, I looked through the pages and saw nothing written in it. “What are you looking at?” A voice suddenly spoke from behind me and I jumped and dropped the book I held. “Don’t startle me like that!” I shrieked and bent to pick up the book before turning to look at my cousin who stood before me looking pretty and demure with her neat hair pulled away from her face and emphasising her slanted green eyes, she looked like a reverse reflection of me with what I was sure was my messy hair and clothes. “Why you are fooling around and not doing your work, you have not even gone halfway.” Ms goodie two shoes scolded and I shrugged unrepentantly. “What is that you are holding?” She grabbed the book from my hands and opened it then looked up at me with her mouth agape and eyes wide in amazement. “Where did you find a Blood Grimoire?” “A what?” I stared at her in puzzlement. “A Blood Grimoire, the pages need blood to show what is written in it.” She said excitedly and I looked at her skeptically and she rolled her eyes impatiently at me. “Give me your hand.” She said and brought out a small dagger from the folds of her dress and I took a step back. “Anaia what is that for?” I said hesitantly eyeing the sharp blade she held. “Don’t you want to know what’s in the book?” She challenged with a sneer and I gulped. “I would bleed myself you already have all these scars and you’re always falling, what is one more tiny prick? but if it’s too much I guess you won’t find out what’s written in the book.” She said as she nonchalantly pushed the book back in my hands and began to walk away. “Wait.” I stopped her while inwardly cursing my need to know and she turned around with a triumphant grin. “Open the book and hold your hand over it.” She instructed and I did as I was told. She pricked my finger with the tip of her dagger and pressed, I winced as she squeezed the blood into the page. Two drops of blood dropped with a splat on the middle of the page and I watched doubtfully as nothing changed while I sucked on the finger that had been pricked. The blood disappeared and my eyes almost popped out of my eye sockets when words written in the color of dried blood began to appear line by line on the formerly blank page and I looked at Anaia who looked smug. Trust Miss know it all to actually be right about the book. I looked back at the writing and began to read the heading, “To Shift Time” “Isadora?” A woman’s voice called out. Darn it! Mama must have found out I had gotten in trouble already. I folded the page I held and quickly shoved the book back unto the shelf and tried to look as placid as possible. “Over here!” I called out and waited until mama came to a stop in front of me and stared at me with disappointment written all over her face. “Good afternoon mama.” I said, with my shoulders slumped and my head down. “Good afternoon auntie Reina.” Anaia said in a sniveling voice and I peeked at her from the side of my eye in annoyance. Somehow Anaia was always there when I got into some type of trouble, and she was readily used in comparison with me. “Anaia?” Mama sounded surprised. “I was told that Isadora was cleaning the library, why are you here?” “Oh yes, Ms Esme punished Isadora but since I was done with my classes I thought I would come and give her some help so she could be finished on time.” Anaia simpered and I looked up at her with my mouth agape. “That is so kind of you Anaia but Isadora must learn to serve her punishment all by herself or she won’t learn from her mistakes.” Mama said gently. She was looking softly at Anaia. Anyone who was a stranger to us would think that Anaia was mama’s daughter instead of her niece, they even looked so much alike. They were both very pretty with lithe bodies and fair unblemished skin, long straight dark hair and pretty Jade eyes while I looked more like my father with my untamed brown curls that looked like mud water, grey eyes and a cleft in my chin, I was also rather short and was tanned from being outdoors every chance I got. “When you are done here come immediately to see me.” Mama’s eyes hardened when they crossed over to me. I could just imagine what she was seeing, Her miscreant disappointment of a daughter. “Yes mama.” I answered dutifully and watched as she reached a hand to Anaia and they swept out leaving me all alone. I reluctantly went back to dusting the library, dragging my feet even more now that I knew that mama was waiting so she could give me a tongue lashing. I really wish that I could be demure and sweet and responsible as mama wanted me to be but it was just so hard staying still, I was afraid that I would just always be a disappointment to her. When I at last finished cleaning the entire library and Brent had still not come back I began to leave then hesitated. Almost as if I was drawn by forces above my control I went back to the Forbidden section and picked up the book I had stuffed back in a hurry and opened to the page I had folded. This time most of the whole page was filled with words and runes, I marveled at it as I read, amazed at the fact that I had somehow never noticed or been to this section before. I was surprised that i understood the spell, it seemed like an easy one even though some parts of the page had not yet appeared, probably because the blood was not enough. I looked around to find something to prick myself with when I heard the library door creak open and I shut the book closed before quickly returning it and walking towards the door. “Still here?” Brent said unpleasantly when he saw me. “I could not leave without seeing you.” I said breathlessly while fluttering my eyelashes exaggeratedly. “What? Please go away.” He said in annoyance and walked away from the door and I went out and shut it behind me. On my way home I stopped by the dining room and stared longingly towards the dark building and sighed when my stomach rumbled, Supper had already been served, It seemed that I would be going to bed without any.