The Cat, The Crow and The Witch ||ONC 2024||

11

Matias

Selene takes a deep breath before standing up. She picks up her mug, cupping it with both hands, before leaving the kitchen and making her way to the spell room. I follow silently behind her. I know she needs to be alone with her thoughts right now. Even though she's agreed to do the spell, something within her changes at the agreement.

It's the first time I'll witness someone doing magic for the first time, and it's not even someone who's born with the ability burning their fingertips. Eve had already done little spells by the time she found me. I remember her little fingers reach for me in the shadows. She picked me up and cried "kitty!"  The next thing I knew, I was connected to her. Not just through love, but through magic. It was that moment I began the path to who I am today.

Maybe, just maybe I can help this village girl become who she needs to be. But for now, I'll help her with her first ever spell.

The spell room is dark when we enter, but I'm able to make my way over to the table. The girl has already placed the mug on it and is now walking around lighting the candles. As they burn they cast dancing orange light on the bookshelves. 

"Will it be in this spell book?" she asks once she's lit all the candles. 

I shake my head. "There should be a book somewhere called Helpful Spells."

She raises a brow. "That's it? It just has that simple title?"

I roll my eyes. "Not everything witch related has to be complicated."

She hums and starts looking at the books. I sit where I am and bring my paw up to look at. 

"Are you going to help?" she asks. I look up to find her staring at me.

"Well... The thing is..." I really don't want to tell her. Her one brow raises. I sigh. "I can't read," I mumble.

"Sorry, what was that?" The way she's looking at me tells me she knew what exactly I said.

"I said, that I can't read." It comes out as a growl.

"Who would've thought?" she says with a smirk. She turns back to the shelves before I can even hiss at her. 

"Whatever. I haven't needed it before and I don't need it now."

"Really?" I can hear the eyebrow raise in her voice. "What about when Eve went missing, wouldn't it have been helpful to read the spell yourself?"

"I had you."

"And what if you didn't?" she asks with a quick glance over her shoulder.

I let my tail thump against the table as my response. 

The room falls almost completely quiet. Only the noises of the night critters outside, just barely audible, reach us. I turn to look out the window, up at the moon. Is Eve really up there? Has she really been trapped on, or possibly in, the moon? That would have taken some powerful magic. As much as I believe in Eve, I know she isn't that powerful. 

"I think I found it."

I jump as a bang echoes throughout the room. I spin around to find a cloud of dust lifting up around the book. She must have dropped it. Rubbing her hands together, she looks at me. "Does this look familiar?"

I inch forward and sniff it. "It certainly smells like Eve's tears."

"Eve's tears?"

I nod and sit at the top of the book. "Eve spent a lot of time crying over this book."

The girl is silent as she stares at it. 

"Well? Are you going to look at the spell?"

She shakes her head. "Right. Of course. Do you know the spells name?"