Witchy Wishes for Christmas

Chapter 3

Neither Jo nor I had any useful combat skills.

Burrowing my hands in the depths of my unruly hair I let out a sigh.

We weren't any less of a witch than the other students. But we couldn't shot jets of fire from our hands like a human flamethrower or levitate a building. Our talents ran more toward espionage than any conflict situations. Jo, for example, was worth her weight in gold when it came to reconnaissance. She could observe any place she wanted to, without moving, or even casting a spell, as long as her endurance allowed. Not only that, she could project those observations on any reflective surface, a mirror, glass or even water. She only needed to have a rough idea of the location she was spying on.

It would be useful for finding the snow bees, whatever that was, but if they were dangerous or we ran into another threat, it wouldn't be helpful at all.

My own talents weren't any better suited. Of course, my magic wasn't limited to consuming and replacing dreams, but I didn't really like the other aspects. They were very intrusive - even more so than Jo's, who could practically focus in a specific person, and follow their routine without lifting a finger, making her the unrivaled queen of stalkers.

I, on the other hand, was able to rifle through their deepest fears and desires, simply hitchhiking on their dreams. And once a person fell asleep in my presence I would be able to keep them that way, feeding them whatever dreams I desired - ones so beautiful they never wished to wake up, or ones so horrifying they would never recover from the psychological trauma. They would keep on sleeping under the influence of my magic, until their bodies collapsed from thirst or hunger. One top of that, if I'd chosen to train and hone that skill, I would also be able to convince the brain of the sleeping person that what they were currently dreaming about was actually real - going so far as to cause phantom pains as bad as an actual wound would feel.

As a child I liked my magic. After all, I could manipulate my own dreams as surely as anyone else's. Depending on my mood, at night I could be a princess or a fierce warrior, fly or breathe under water, star in any favorite movie or book, practically living in my own fantasy world.

But sooner or later I had to realized, that if other people had use for my magic, it would not be so they could experience what it was like to be the little mermaid. They would use me to spy or torture, or worse things I couldn't even think off.

Aiden was the only person aside from myself and my family I'd ever used my magic on. And to this day, I was sometimes afraid that I would mess up and bring him in danger.

But in a real fight, my ability was even more useless than my cousin's. If my opponents weren't already sleeping there was nothing much I could do to harm or stop them.

I rubbed my tired eyes and forced myself to read through the journal in front of me again. The pocket dimension Ms. Jenkins wanted us to go into was used as a training ground for senior students, but only with strict supervision from the teachers. Afterwards, the students were supposed to record their sightings and experiences inside the logbooks.

I don't know how, but Aiden had somehow gotten hold of one, and since then I was trying to find any useful information, or maybe even a description of the unknown snow bees. Jo was talking to some of the seniors, to get as good a layout of the pocket as possible. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to catch a glimpse of it with her magic.

Lots of snow. Wear warm clothes, one student had written. The entry underneath it didn't make me feel any better: There are no natural plants. Even the trees seem to be made from ice. The cold is fierce. We weren't allowed to enter the forest or the cave systems. Summoning heat was almost impossible.