Sisters of the Coven

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

COURTNEY LOOKED UP at me, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Ava, what happened?” she whimpered. “Where’s our house?”

I clasped my sisters’ hands in mine. “It seems mother had used her magic to create the house...and everything.”

Bella covered her mouth on a gasp and Courtney said, “Well, what do we do now?”

“I’m not sure.”

One thing I did know for sure was that my mother’s magic no longer held me. She couldn’t command me to obey her and I didn’t have to struggle to meet her ridiculously high expectations.

And she couldn’t stop me from fulfilling the only wish I’d ever had for myself—finding my father. Through him, I hoped to finally understand who I was.

“Do we really have nothing left, Ava?” Courtney asked, her face red from crying so long. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, then wiped the stray snot on her skirt.

I frowned but I couldn’t blame her. There was nothing for her to wipe her hands on, save for the grass beneath our feet.

Bella stood silent. What was there to say when you found out your mother had conjured every detail of your home, even down to the precious books you loved so much? The oils and paints you made yourself? What did you say when you realized your mother had been lying to you your whole life?

I glanced down at our clothes.

“I suppose we should be thankful to still be wearing something,” I said. “Lucky.”

I wasn’t sure if this was to encourage myself or if I was genuinely giving my sisters advice. I took the scratchy material of my skirts between my fingers. I couldn’t imagine if all three of us were n***d, devastated in an empty field.

Imagine that. n***d. Alone. In a field. Together.

A strange laugh made its way up my throat. It was a totally inappropriate response to stress, so I swallowed hard against the feeling and tried to stay serious. The last thing I needed my sisters to think was that I thought this tragedy amusing. I could not forget that we all had lost our mother along with everything else.

Bella rolled her eyes.

“Luck had nothing to do with it, Ava,” she said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. She flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. “Your magic protected us, and with it, the clothes we wore. If you hadn’t, apart from being dead, we’d probably be n***d as well.”

Courtney and I looked at each other. Without warning, I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. I so desperately wanted to remain stoic in honor of the moment, to show my sisters strength, but the thought that we could have wound up n***d was ridiculous.

“I’m surprised Mother didn’t order us to strip down,” Courtney said. “If she knew we would be left with nothing, perhaps we should have.”

“Mother wouldn’t do that to us,” Bella said, dropping my hand finally. “She might have left us with nothing, but she would not be so cruel as to leave us with no clothes on our bodies.”

“Mother didn’t tell Ava to use a spell to protect us,” Courtney pointed out. “You don’t know what she wanted.”

“And you do?” Bella asked.

“Sisters, sisters,” I said, trying to stop them from fighting before they began in earnest. “We still need to figure out what to do.”

A gust of wind blew across the field in which we stood. Petals fell off the wildflowers that grew nearby, leaves danced to the ground.

Courtney c****d her head, as though listening to the wind. “I’m sure that was Mother telling us to shut our mouths.”

“After purposefully pitting us against each other, as she often did,” I agreed, and burst out into laughter once again.

The situation was so insane, so intense, so... surreal, there was only one way to break the tension. And the image of all three of us n***d in a meadow, was enough to make me laugh until I couldn’t stand, until I rolled to the ground and shook with the release of pain.

Tears rolled down my face and I cried and laughed until I forgot what I was feeling. Until there was nothing left. Courtney did the same while Bella rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

Finally, I stopped laughing. I was sitting in the dirt, my heart broken and my sisters around me, waiting for me to do something. Part of me resented that I now had to step into the role of leading my sisters rather than being on equal footing with them.

I never liked the expectation that the oldest child had to set an example for the younger ones. But right now, my sisters needed me. I could let my resentment fester and turn me into a bitter hag. Or I could step into this role with grace. I didn’t know if I possessed grace at all, but at the very least, I could try.

So, I got up. They were looking at me for guidance in this insane new world in which we found ourselves. I couldn’t let them down.

I swayed on my feet. Bella handed me a handkerchief from her pocket as she too stood up. She tugged Courtney up as well. I wiped at my face and took some slow, deep breaths.

There was a way forward. I just had to find the path.

“Okay,” I said, clapping my hands together. My fingers still tingled from the magic I had used to protect us. “Well, first things first. Mother said that we should build a house nearby. Somewhere to keep us safe.”

And that was the priority, keeping my sisters out of harm’s way.

“Us?” Courtney repeated, her characteristic frown coming down over her blue eyes. Our mother’s eyes. We all had them—bright blue eyes with sparkles of violet.

Though mine were more sky blue, Bella’s had a touch of green, and Courtney’s were a darker, ocean blue. But we all looked very much like our mother’s daughters.

“Yes. You,” I repeated. “Me. Bella. All of us.”

I began to head to the land my mother had indicated before she’d disappeared. I wasn’t sure where we should actually start building a house. Hell, I didn’t know how to build a house in the first place. All I knew was that I had to start somewhere. And I had to take it one step at a time.

Courtney crossed her arms over her ample chest. “Where are you going?”

“We can’t stay here forever,” I said. “Well, I suppose we can, but I don’t want to. And I know you guys don’t want to, either. We need a safe place where we can live and practice our magic in peace. A place that’s not going to disappear from beneath us. But let’s not kid ourselves. We’ve all wanted to do other things. Things Mother told us we weren’t allowed to do. We’ve always wanted to go to the Magic Realm, meet our family. You know it’s true.”

To be honest, that had been mostly my dream, but the others had never liked our mother’s rules either. Surely, they wanted to explore the world as much as I did?

Courtney narrowed her eyes even further. “You mean our father,” she said.

Her voice was inscrutable. I couldn’t tell if she was suspicious of my motives or if she needed some time to try and decipher what I was trying to say. It wasn’t as though I was trying to make it difficult. I wouldn’t lie to them, though I couldn’t promise that they would understand everything I chose to do.

Courtney continued. “You want to meet him, don’t you? Even though Mother’s dying words were to forbid us to go to him.”

I stepped closer to her, annoyed that she was criticizing my decisions already.

“Since when do you do anything Mother says?” I asked. “You’ve always thought that we should have broken free and found him years ago!”

Courtney narrowed her eyes at me, her mouth setting into a stubborn line. “She said the assassins would come for us.”

“She did.” I nodded once. “And who the hell are the assassins? Who is anyone? Do you seriously want to stay here, in the middle of this freaking field and just live out our days here? The three of us here forever, crafting cute little spells and not meeting anyone, not going anywhere, not seeing the world. Is that what you want out of your life, Courtney?”

It sounded like a death sentence to me. To never know love, nor marriage, nor children. Not to mention the fact that I would never expand my knowledge base, or my magical power without a teacher as powerful as my mother to guide me.

“It won’t be that bad.” Courtney pouted. “Mother is gone, Ava. She got sick and we couldn’t save her. She couldn’t even save herself. Why is it wrong that I want us to stay safe and together?”

I hated that my heart cracked at Courtney’s pleading. I understood her desire to stay somewhere we could all be together, where there was no threat to us. I looked to the sky, silently cursing my mother for leaving us so soon.

Bella sighed, shaking her head. I turned toward her as she waved her hand, creating three brown leather couches out of nowhere.

“Sit,” she said in a gentle voice, gesturing toward the furniture.

Courtney hurried over to one and sat, feet tucked underneath her, eyes on the trees surrounding us. It was as though she didn’t want us to see her crying even though we were quite familiar with her tears.

I flopped onto the couch closest to me and watched as Bella pulled a leather-bound book from one of her secret skirt pockets and sat down with her beloved story. At least she’d saved something from our family home.

I envied her in that moment. I wished I could lose myself in a book and wait for someone else to make the decisions. I didn’t want the responsibility of figuring out what the best course of action was for us.

I focused back on Courtney since Bella had checked out.

Courtney brushed the dirt from her jeans and tucked her curly red hair behind her ears. Just like it was any other day and we were having a normal conversation. As though her eyes weren’t red from crying, her face wasn’t splotchy from loss. She always had been good at locking herself in her own world, forgetting about everyone and everything else.

Classic youngest child.

“Court, we can’t stay here,” I said again.

This time, I made an effort to keep my voice steady, to keep it free from judgment. I didn’t want her to think I was telling her what to do. I didn’t want either of them to think I was taking over Mother’s role so soon after she was gone because that was not my intention at all.

“You know that, right? It was hard enough the last ten years with just Mother and us. We were confined to a home, and sure, we had servants who were like our family and we never wanted for anything, but it was all a lie.”

Courtney didn’t look up, just picked at the threads on her sweater. Her lips curled into a stubborn frown.

I sighed. She knew I was right. I just needed her to admit it out loud and then we could move forward and actually do something about our current situation.

Bella sniffed and looked up from her book. “I found our home... peaceful.”

I glared. I thought she had lost herself in her own little world. That was not how I expected her to come back to the conversation.

If anything, I thought she would be on my side. Wouldn’t she want to visit all of the places she’d read about? Didn’t she want to experience life the way her characters did?

I threw myself back against the couch cushions. “Of course, you did,” I snapped. “As long as you have unlimited books and a quiet place to read, you’re happy. It’s not like you guys were pushed to use your magic like I was or—”

“Yes, we get it.” Bella set her book in her lap, sticking her finger in between the pages to save her place. “You’ve experienced more pressure and expectations than Courtney or me. I’m sure that you know more than we do as well. But just because you feel these things doesn’t mean what we feel is wrong. You have a different experience than I do, but that doesn’t nullify my experience, or Courtney’s. Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you’re in charge.”

I swallowed hard and blinked back the hot tears that filled my eyes. Again, Bella made sense. Both of my sisters did.

“Well,” I said, my voice shaky, “I’m sorry to say—I’m not happy. I want to be a part of the magical world. I want to find our father and meet more people like us. That’s what I want.”

A heavy silence hung between the three of us. Nobody could meet anyone else’s eyes. In fact, there was something stale in the crisp air, in the rustling of the trees. Something was changing.

Courtney crossed her arms and looked away. “Then what do we do?”

I smiled, a thrill shooting through my core. Her words weren’t exactly a perfect agreement, but the fact that she was open to hearing what I had to say was a good sign.

“We do what Mother recommended,” I said quickly, gesturing with my hands. “We build you a house. Somewhere safe. You have your magic and enough power to supply you with food, water, supplies for months. Years, even.”

“You want to leave us?” Courtney’s voice quivered but she still refused to look at me.

“Then come with me,” I said. “Please! You could learn—”

“I don’t want to. I want to stay here. I want to mourn. I want to build roots. I want...I want...” She took a breath and finally shifted her eyes so they locked with mine. “I don’t want to go to the Magic Realm. At least, not yet.”

“I don’t, either,” Bella said in a low voice. “But... if you don’t want to stay, we can’t force you.”

My voice caught in my throat as I began to imagine the possibilities. If my sisters were safe, then I could begin my life how I’d always wanted to.

I wished they would come with me, though. I wanted them to learn everything about who they were. But Bella was right. We couldn’t force each other to do things we didn’t want to. Not anymore.

I looked around the field where we sat. How could we do this?

I wasn’t sure how long we could feed on our magic before running out. Was that why Mother had become sick and died so much earlier than she should have? Because her magic ran out? If that were the case, why wouldn’t she have told me?

“Do you think that’s why Mother died?” I asked aloud, deciding to voice my concern because the last thing I wanted was for us to keep anything to ourselves. I feared that if that were the case, it would be too late by the time we realized what was going on. “Because she used all of her magic to feed us, clothe us, house us?”

Bella looked up from her book, grimacing. “It’s possible,” she admitted. “I’ve read about witches who created their own worlds before, and the results were always.... disastrous in the end. But I never dove too deeply into the subject because I didn’t realize how applicable it was to our life.” She stared across the empty field. “I didn’t realize magic was our life, quite literally.”

I nodded. “Then we can’t do this for too long,” I said. “I will help you create a small home here to keep you safe, then I will journey to town and find someone who might know about the Magic Realm and how to cross over.”

“Mother claimed the only person we could trust was Aunt Alison,” Courtney said. Her voice was softer than I expected, given she had the nature of a wrecking ball.

I looked over at my youngest sister, only to find her eyes distant and her skin pale, probably from crying so hard.

I sat up, moving my hands through the air and conjuring up a table, three glasses of water and some fruit. I was inspired. My heart beat with incessant excitement. Before, I had been exhausted, having used more magic than I’d expected. My tongue was dry and sore. My head pounded with unresolved emotions. But now energy ran through my body and my lips curved up in a hopeful smile.

I thought about what Courtney had said. Aunt Alison... “That’s true. But I don’t remember much about her.”

I gestured to the table. My sisters each picked up a glass and drank the water until there was no more.

I waved my hand over them and they were full once again. After the use of too much magic and the trauma of everything disappearing, I wanted to ensure we weren’t dehydrated. I even forced myself to drink the first glass and then the second, just to make sure my body stayed strong. The last thing I needed, especially right now, was to be depleted over a simple protection spell.

How had my mother done this for so long? And how long had she done it for? Years? Had someone helped her maintain our existence? Or were our entire lives a creation inside her mind? If they were, was she really that powerful?

Bella crunched on a grape. “She’s Mother’s sister, is she not? Maybe she could help. Maybe she could at least teach us things we need to know.”

I hadn’t seen Aunt Alison for years. As for her being our biological aunt... no, I didn’t think so.

I frowned. “No, she isn’t our actual aunt... more a close family friend. I barely remember her,” I admitted. “The aunt thing was more a term of affection. I think she and Mother knew each other before Father, before we came into the picture, and instead of having to explain, she simplified it.”

Bella nodded. “Even if she’s not, at the very least, it’s a good place to start.”

I nodded. “True. We don’t have any other clues to go on, do we? No grandparents, no friends. No one besides Father, and we have no idea where he is.”

“Or if he would help us at all,” Courtney put in.

I bit my lip. She was right, of course. But there was something inside of me, something that insisted I try. I didn’t want to dwell on my sad existence. I wanted to change it. And with Mother gone, I had the opportunity to do just that.

Courtney inhaled sharply, excitement threading through the air. “Imagine if you found our grandparents!” she said, her voice quivering.

Bella sighed and took another sip of her water. Her book rested in her lap, but instead of using her finger, she created a bookmark to save her page.

“Mother said our grandparents were dead,” she pointed out.

“Mother could have lied about that,” I said, just as my stomach rumbled. I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my tone if I tried. “She lied about way more. What’s one little lie about them?”

I waved my hand and a bowl of red and green apples appeared. Without hesitation, I grabbed one and sank my teeth into it, the juice flowing between my lips and making me groan. I’d forgotten how different the taste of my apples was from the ones we had in the kitchen. I made them sweeter, less tart.

I’d always believed the apples my mother put on the table came from the tree in our orchard, but as I glanced around the empty field where our farm had once been, I realized that they were my mother’s. Had she made them sour on purpose?

Courtney cleared her throat. “I’m hungry.”

I blinked at her. We had a bowl of apples before us, but that obviously wasn’t meeting her expectations at the moment.

“What do you want?” I asked.

I didn’t want to sound annoyed with her, but that was something I couldn’t help. Courtney—and, at times, Bella—brought that annoyance out in me. Even when I was trying to be the mature, big sister, I was reduced to an annoyed witch who wanted nothing more than to use my magic and get my sister to shut her mouth.

“Cake.”

I laughed. I probably shouldn’t have, but I did. Of course. Courtney had a sweet tooth like none other. I should have said no. Mother would have said no. But I wasn’t Mother, and Mother wasn’t here. Who was I to tell her no?

“Sure,” I said.

I lifted my hands and moved my fingers through the air, visualizing the food that I wanted. That my baby sister wanted.

The wooden table expanded and grew longer to accommodate the new food that was about to appear. And then, as Courtney requested, there was strudel, chocolate cake, and lemon slice. Beautiful.

Just like Mother taught me.