Selene

The bag over my shoulder weighs heavy with the three books I've checked out. 

The librarian had looked at me as if in disgust when I placed them in front of her. The Witches Covens, Witches Around The World, and Tales of the Witch. I had told her it's for a school project. There's no reason to give another person something to gossip about. 

In reality though? I'm hoping the books will give some insight into where Eve went. Am I hopeful? Nope. But it's the only thing I can think of that might help. And who knows, maybe the books will reveal a secret meeting the witches have every few years that Matias doesn't know about.

It's a stretch. 

Hefting the bag up my shoulder, I turn my attention outward. It's a nice day out, no clouds, a bright sun, and it's not too hot and not too cold. The town should be awake today, but something about it is sleepy. Not a lot of people wander the streets. I furrow my brow. That is a little weird.

Flapping sounds behind me. Ignoring it, I continue down the path to home. Mama wants me to be back before sunset, and the sun just barely touches the horizon.

"Selene!"

Spinning around, my hair whips behind me. I scan the road behind me, but there's no one there.

"Selene!" A big black blob zooms into my face.

"Ack!" I yelp.

The thing moves back, allowing me a chance to recognize it as Calchas. He tilts his head to the side. "What are you doing?"

Again, I heft the bag up. "I'm heading home. Did something happen?"

He shakes his head, at least I think he does. It's hard to tell with him bobbing up and down as he tries to stay in the air. "Matias would like you to ask questions."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow. 

"Yes."

I look over my shoulder at the sun. It hasn't moved. Mama won't start worrying until I'm not back by the set time, right? I turn back to the crow. "Alright. But we will have to make this quick."

Calchas caws before flying up in the air. He does a little loop and heads in the direction of the witch's cottage.

Researching through the books will have to wait.

When we get to the cottage, Matias is sitting on the porch. His tail flicks behind him as he licks at the back of his paw. "So you did fetch her," he says, without even glancing at Calchas.

The crow lands beside Matias. "I do as cat says."

Matias assesses Calchas from the corner of his eyes. After a moment his gaze flicks to me. "Have you found anything?"

Finally, I drop the bag and let it land at my feet. "I was about to before you called for me."

He stretches his neck and seems to peer into the bag. "Books?" he asks, as he sits back. "How will that help us find Eve?"

My neck grows warm. "I was hoping the books would tell me something about witches that would help."

He scoffs. "I know a lot about witches, and if there was anything, I would let you know."

"It doesn't hurt to look." I cross my arms. "At least I'm trying to do something."

He flashes his fangs at me with a soft hiss. "As a matter of fact, I have found something."

"Really?" I lift a disbelieving eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

He stands. "I think it's the last spell Eve was working on." He turns and heads into the cottage through his cat door.

I blink once, twice, before hurrying to grab my bag and follow him into the house. Once inside I kick my shoes off. "So it was a spell that made her disappear?"

"It's possible." His voice floats down the hall.

I catch a glimpse of his tail before it disappears into a room near the end of the hall. Dropping my bag by my shoes I run down the hall and into the room I saw him go into. "What was it?" My eyes widen as I take in the space. A caldron sits in the middle of the room with a book stand in front of it, a table sits beside both of those, and the walls are adorned with bookshelves.

"This is the spell here." Matias sits atop the book stand, his tail hangs off and swings back and forth like a pendulum.

"What room is this?" I ask.

"It's Eve's spell room, obviously." The cat rolls his eyes.

I huff before going over and joining him at the book stand. The book itself is maybe open to a page just over halfway. "Is this an actually spell book?" I reach out and lightly brush my fingers over it.

"Yes," Matias huffs, as if annoyed.

I look at the title of the page, and read it aloud. "Fly like A Bird."

"Why would anyone want to fly like a bird?" Matias ask, he glances over at Calchas who pecks at something on the floor.

"Not just anyone," I say, "But Eve." Matias swishes his tail but says nothing. I turn back to the spell. "Use this spell if you or someone else would like to fly through the sky. That's pretty cool."

"I still don't get why she would want to fly," Matias mutters.

I hum. "I don't know. Maybe just for the experience?" It's weird though. Out of any spell I'd expect a witch to cast, it wouldn't be this one. Mama always said that witches cast curses, or binding spells that end up feeling like a curse. 

"Eve flew away!" Calchas caws.

Matias's gaze snaps to the bird. "You knew this?"

The crow turns his neck so one eye is on the black cat. "The spell."

"The spell does seem to confirm it," I say, trying to play peacemaker between them. "Maybe Eve wanted to fly, so she did, but then the spell wore off and now she's stuck walking back?"

"First off," Matias starts, "Eve would have a faster way to get back. She wouldn't walk. Secondly, does the spell say if it wears off?"

Turning back to the book, I scan the page. "No. It just has a release word."

Matias sits up straighter. "See? Eve would have flown home before ending the spell."

"So maybe something went wrong with it then?"

The cat looks behind him before jumping to the table. As he walks across it his tail weaves through the air like a snake. "As much as I don't want to doubt Eve's knowledge, what ingredients does the spell call for?" He stops right before the circle of random items that sit in the middle of the table. I hadn't noticed those before.

"Um... it calls for powdered Mugwort, a flower that's associated with flying, and flour."

"She has all the ingredients then." When I look at him, Matias is staring down at the contents before him. 

"Maybe she mixed them wrong?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think so. Maybe it was her intent."

"Her intent?"

His gaze turns to me. "Yes. An important part of magic is intent, if her intent was unclear, or didn't align with her beliefs, then the spell wouldn't work properly."

I blink. "Huh."

"Huh?"

My face warms. "I just mean... that's interesting. I didn't know that the spell had to line up with the witches belief."

The cat tilts his head. "It's common knowledge."

"Not if you don't know anything about witches," I mutter.

"Dark out," Calchas crows.

I snap my gaze to him as my eyes widen. Then I look at the window. "Oh no." The sky is mostly a dark blue with a little bit of orange just barely above the ground. Dread settles in my stomach. "Mama's going to be so mad."

Matias follows my gaze and hops onto the window sill. "Why's that?"

"I was supposed to be home by now." I race out of the room, scooping up my bag of books from where I dropped it. When I reach the entry I grab my shoes, and hop as I struggle to put them on as fast as I can.

"You're leaving just like that?" Matias asks, as he walks out of the spell room.

I pause. "I'm sorry. But I really have to go, or else Mama probably won't let me leave her gaze. So really, I'm leaving so I can continue to help." I pat my bag. "And I'll look at these books to see if they can give any information."

The cat rolls his eyes. "Fine."

"I am sorry," I say, as I finally get my foot into my shoe. I open the door. "I promise I'm still helping you find Eve." Then I step through and close the door, not even stopping before racing off for home.

***

I'm gasping for breath by the time I'm walking into the house. As I'm taking my shoes off, Mama rounds the corner. Her apron is covered in mango guts, along with the spoon in her hand. The other one rests on her hip. "Where have you been?" she asks.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I lost track of time."

"What if something bad happened to you?"

I place my shoes on the mat beside hers. "But nothing bad happened."

"What if it did though? I can't lose you too." Her tone is soft, and her eyes shine with pain.

That stings. I stand and look at her. "I am sorry, Mama. But I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to me."

She shakes her head, a frown on her face. "You can't promise something like that. And how can I not worry? The witch - who has so much power - is missing, so how could my baby be safe?"

I freeze. She knows that Eve is missing? I thought that only a few people knew. "The witch is missing?" I ask, trying to keep my voice even.

She turns and heads back into the kitchen. Her curls bouncing in her ponytail. "Yes. There was a town meeting today about it."

How did I not know about this? "Oh? And what happened there?" I ask, following her.

"Grab a spoon, would you?"

I nod and grab a spoon from the drawer.

"Would you mix that bowl there?" She flicks her own spoon towards a bowl sitting on the counter. I nod again. "At the meeting they announced she hadn't been seen for a few days."

"Are they sending out a search party like they did for Pa?"

There's a moment of silence, and when I look over she's got a sad, almost far away look on her face. When she catches me watching she steels herself. "Don't stop stirring. And no, they won't be sending out a search party for her."

My jaw drops. "What? But Mama! She's just a girl! Imagine how scared she is if-"

"She's not a scared little girl! Not like you. Sweetie, she has magic. She's a witch. That girl is perfectly fine on her own." She spits the words witch, and girl, like they're bad words. "If anything, her being missing is better for the whole town."

My grip on the spoon tightens. "You can't possibly mean that."

"I do." She looks over at me, and her face softens. "I'm thinking of you. This town is not safe with a witch here."

I want to keep fighting, but what's the point? This is the woman who told me witches were scary, who told me to stay away from them. And even if I can push my fear to the side, even if I can see the witch as a girl, I don't think she can. 

"Is the batch mixed?" she asks.

I nod, too numb to put my heart into making our mango goodies. But that's how we spend the rest of the night. We bake, and we avoid the topic of Eve.

Of the girl who's lost somewhere and probably scared out of her mind. 

Chapter word count: 1,932

Total word count: 8,965