Night Witch (Book 1) ✔️

5 - Liar's Consequence

With Mex gone I round on my sister, smirking now that she's done with her sandwich. She pales under my gaze.

"Alright you, sit your butt down and start talking." I point at the grey couch and move to stand in front of it. She hesitates, but in the end, slinks over and sits, curling her hands under her legs while refusing to meet my eyes.

I wait in silence for a moment before I finally clear my throat. "You can begin whenever."

She chances a glance and swallows when she sees my hardened expression. "Where should I start?"

"Why not start with what happened at the aptitude test," I prompt, folding my arms across my chest and looking down at her.

"Um, okay. Well, it was last month," She winces. "You'd just made such a big deal out of it and I wanted to prove I could do it myself, that I didn't need you," she glances at me again but I keep my face emotionless.

"They called all the Freshmen into the auditorium and one by one had us walk across the stage to the screening device. Those who identified as demon-bloods went first, then the vampires, and other lower realm half breeds. The mostly humans were last and I was near the end myself so no one should have been paying that much attention..." She trails off.

I raise an eyebrow to prompt her on. Not thinking anyone was watching isn't an excuse.

She gulps. "Well, most humans put their hand on the screen and flared their magic and the dial swung a little. Enough to cast basic spells and probably inherit a few but nothing impressive, mostly purples and blues. A couple students made it up to the halfway mark and Alfraya Graeme even had a yellow full halo manifest."

I cut Kit off before she can recite what had happened to every student except her. "Get to the point."

She nods. "When it was my turn I got up and placed my hand on the panel and flared. You haven't let me practice since you taught me how so I just kind of, pushed, I guess? I wanted to see what I could do. I flared a white halo and the dial went so far to the right it broke as it pushed against the edge," She winces.

"No one said anything and the testing was called off. They finished the last few students the next day in a private test but no one would look at me or touch me."

I remembered the day when she'd come home agitated and locked herself in her room. That must have been it.

"What happened next," I press, not commenting until the full story was had.

She shrugs. "Nothing. It took a few days and maybe I still got a few odd looks but people pretty much ignored me like usual. I just assumed it was fine. Then last week Maud, a half-Succubi, came up to me and pushed me to the ground saying that if I was too scared to use my power she might as well put me out of my misery."

"That was the first fight?"

She nods before continuing. "I didn't fight back. You haven't taught me how."

I can hear the censure in her voice but there's a reason I haven't taught her.

"So I just kind of flung my arms up and hoped I could stop her and I must have made some sort of shield since her power couldn't come near me. She got mad and pulled out a knife, though how she got that onto school grounds I don't know, and charged me. I managed to get out of the way and shoved her and that's when the teachers got to us."

Her first fight had been in self-defense and the administration was willing to let it go if she promised not to do it again. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time, since most kids here got into a fight at one point or another. Three days later, the next fight had happened and I'd started to worry.

"The next time, two witches came at me - Alfraya and her friend Lillian. They put some sort of binding on me with a chant when I wasn't looking and I got frozen in the middle of the hallway. People just laughed at me and I didn't know what to do. Mahir couldn't do anything since his dad won't teach him magic either." Another glare my direction but I ignore it.

Udial and I were together on this issue though probably for different reasons.

"I just imagined pushing out with my magic and it felt like strings were holding me tight. I just pushed until they broke and the girls started screaming. They fell to the ground and I guess they hurt themselves."

When she'd broken the spells the girls likely hadn't expected it and so the backlash had hurt. They probably hadn't ever had anyone explain to them what happened if a spell backfired or broke before release.

I'd been called in to talk to the principle. He'd said that students had harassed her but that it had been taken care of, though Kit's reaction had been unreasonable. Luckily, that had been Friday and she'd had the weekend off to hang out with Mahir while I worked. I just assumed it was over. Clearly I'd been wrong.

"They called us to assembly this morning and told us unsanctioned magic on school grounds wasn't allowed and that we shouldn't use it unless we're in our magic classes." She grimaced up at me. "It was pretty clear they were telling people not to mess with me and I guess that's what set them off. I was approached by three older students after the assembly, probably seniors since I didn't know them."

An assembly was what they thought would cure the problem? Clearly these idiots had never dealt with high school kids before. I nodded to her to continue.

She took a deep breath. "They'd clearly practiced. I was caught in the same sort of vine thing like Alfreya had done but this time it hurt every time I moved. They were taunting me," She refused to look at me so I didn't press her on what they'd said.

"I guess I just freaked out and flared. It seemed so easy to do after I'd done it at the aptitude test. But I think my emotions amplified it so the power sort of just exploded out. The girls were sent flying and had to be sent to the healers office. Even Mahir wouldn't come close to me." Tears filled her eyes. "They had three teachers escort me to the office and they all had active spells pointed at me." The tears burst free.

"The principle said I was a danger to people unless I controlled myself and that he knew I'd started the problems. He told me he knew that it wasn't easy being 'low on the social totem pole' but hurting people wasn't the way to make people like me." She let's out a little sob. "I didn't know what to say so I just let them escort me out to wait for you. Even the teachers pretty much ran away from me."

She sniffs and I finally relent. Walking over, I sit next to her on the couch and pull her head into my shoulder. "It's okay, Kit. Just let it all out."

I rub her back as she cries and we sit there until the tears stop flowing. When she sits up, I turn to face her and take a deep breath.

"Alright, kid, you just learned some unpleasant truths about the world. Now, let me tell you how this is going to go."

***

Wow, high school students can be so mean. If you had some rough times in high school, hit that vote or share button to let Kit know she's not alone!

~M