It's Familiar

Knock! Knock! Knock! There was an urgent banging on the door that startled Zephyr whilst she was peacefully writing away in her personal journal. It’s a task that she had been performing since her own thirteenth birthday when her mother gave her a set of journals. These she would one day entrust to her own babe, the one that was rapidly growing inside her. They were entrusted to the female babes on their thirteenth birthdays. These tomes also imparted the wisdom of those that came before them and explained to the young lass everything she would need to know regarding “the change”. From the changes to her body, to the harnessing of her newly enabled powers, all was laid bare in those pages. So too were spells for the young witch. “What is it now?” she snapped. “You know I do not wish to be disturbed during my writing time!”, exclaimed Zephyr. A somewhat frantic voice responded from the other side of the door. “Milady, I understand and do apologize, but there’s something going on in the square and I do believe that you and the mister need to be prepared. Don’t you hear the bells?”. It was Humphrey, her husband Sebastian, the Governor’s footman. Zephyr paused to listen and gasped, “That was five bell tolls. Oh my! I really believed, well hoped, that things were changing for the better around here.” Zephyr shook her head and asked Humphrey if she knew where the Sebastian was. Humphrey replied, “I’m afraid madam, that the Governor has locked himself away in his office.”

The central part of town, known as “The Square”, is where everything important in the Town of Mystic happens. On this day, the townsfolk were scrambling about because it had been such a long time since the bells tolled that number of times. Five tolls meant that a witch had been sentenced to die for doing something horrible. The witch in question was named Vivian, and she practiced herbal magic. Unfortunately for Vivian, one of her common spells inexplicably failed and caused a senator’s daughter to slip into a deep, irreversible coma. Every other witch in town had tried to reverse the spell to no avail. Wrought with grief, Vivian could not remember which herbs or spells she used on the girl. It would be her undoing. The child’s father called out for justice and the laws were clear. Usually when a witch is sentenced to death, the authorities would simply burn her at the stake, decapitate her, stone her, or drown her. As Vivian was only trying to help the girl escape an affliction, the judge showed her as much mercy as he could. And so, a public hanging was arranged. Everyone was frantic.

Moronica, the town’s wicked witch, sat in her delipidated cottage on the outskirts of town plotting her next move during Vivian’s execution. Rotten to her very core, she distained living like a pauper and believed that she deserved a better life. Moronica reserved herself to do everything in her power to move up in the world, and she had a plan to do it. It was no coincidence that tragedy befell poor Vivian. “Well, now that Vivian is out of the way, I can move on to the next part of my plan. This is working out better than I thought.”, Moronica said to herself. “This town isn’t going to know what hit them.”, she mumbled chuckling. Moronica was never on the town’s favorites list. She regularly practices black magic for self-gain. Most people feared the very sight of her and with good reason. A once respected woman, Moronica had it all. Good looks, a loving husband, wealth, and a beautiful boy of her own to parade through town. And then one day it all came crashing down. It came in the form of sickness that afflicted her husband and son. Within days it ravaged their bodies and filled their lungs with fluids. Death was swift but without mercy. Moronica did everything in her power to save her family, even employing the power of the high healers in town. Nothing could stop the march of death, not even her own magic. She blamed the healers for not doing enough to save them. She blamed God for taking them. Slowly she retreated from society as both her attitude changed, and her stored wealth dried up. She lost all empathy for her fellow townspeople and began to take great pleasure in causing them pain.

Several weeks had passed since Vivian’s hanging and life in town was beginning to get back to normal. Zephyr started to feel sharp pains in her lower belly and knew that the babe was coming today. She got up and made her way to the kitchen and placed a kettle on the stove to heat up some water for tea. She made a tea of red leaf and okra to make the babe’s passage into this world easier. She waited so long for this moment and all though she was feeling slight discomfort in the beginning stages of her labor, she was giddy with the anticipation of meeting her babe. With tea in hand, Zephyr walked to the birthing chamber. Hours earlier her sisters had prepared and blessed the room to shield it from the negative energy in town brought about by Vivian’s execution. When Zephyr walked into the room, her familiar Gideon; a barn owl was there waiting for her. Gideon’s crown was a golden brown with flecks of blue that shimmered in the light, while the rest of the feathers on his body were a bright white. His feathers were so thick and velvety soft that when she touched him, her hand would disappear in the softness. Gideon walked over to Zephyr and began to coo as he pressed against her leg. “I know Gideon. I appreciate you and I don’t know what I would do without you.”, Zephyr said to Gideon. As the words left her lips, the door opened, and her sisters began to enter the room. That’s what Gideon was telling her, that he had notified her sisters that the babe was coming. After the last sister had entered the room, Zephyr’s husband waltzed in to kiss his wife gently on her brow and kneel beside her. “I love you Zephyr and know that you are in good hands. We will be holding the product of our love before days end.”, Sebastian said to her as he stood and kissed Zephyr on her lips before walking out. As he left, Zephyr had a contraction that was out of this world. She gasped and clutched her belly, “I thought the tea was supposed to make this easier. For generations, this is what our family has used, and they did not appear to have this much pain!” One of the sisters replied to Zephyr, “Oh sister, that may be true, but you have to breathe and relax as well. This is your first babe, and your emotions are very high. Look at the light in this room. That is your energy. As you relax, the tea will do what it is meant to do.” Another sister chimed in, “although, that does not mean that it will be painless. Only more bearable.”

News reached the town that the Governor’s wife was in labor, and everyone began to celebrate. Moronica heard the commotion and could feel the joy radiating from town. The time had come, and she retrieved a jar containing maggots, black pepper and 3 small hooks. She lit a black and red candle and sat down with the jar in her hands and began to chant as she shook the jar:

Black pepper and maggots shaken together

Hooks of metal to catch and tether

Black pepper and maggots shaken together

No bliss or joy and only confusion

Life and womb be separated forever

Moronica continued to chant until the contents of the jar began to glow and placed the jar in front of the red and black candle.

Zephyr could not believe the amount of pain that she was experiencing. “No normal human being can survive this.”, she thought to herself. She decided not to say anything to her sisters because they would only repeat what they said about her emotions running high. But by the goddess, was it hot in there. Zephyr let out this piercing scream and felt a liquid heat spreading between her legs. The sisters began to whisper and Zephyr in a voice filled with panic and pain asked, “What’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong. Don’t whisper. I know this is not normal. What’s wrong?” The sisters began to work feverishly. Honestly, they knew what was coming and they were afraid. They knew that things would never be the same. They had never seen so much blood. The eldest remained calm and said to Zephyr, “Sister, we need to get the baby out.” Zephyr replied in kind, “Please save her. Whatever you do, just save her.” In a matter of minutes, but what felt like hours to Zephyr, they had helped her to deliver the baby, but could not stop the bleeding. They quickly covered Zephyr’s legs and cleaned and blessed the baby girl.

They handed the new babe to her mother and Zephyr asked for Sebastian. As she held her baby, Zephyr whispered with tears in her eyes, “You are all that a mother could ask for. I will call you Neve on this day and will always watch over you. You will never be alone, for you will always feel me with you.” “Gideon, from this day forward, you are to watch over Neve, guard her, and protect her. I am releasing you from my charge and into hers.”, Zephyr said as she rubbed Gideon’s thick feathers for the last time. Gideon gave a low and deep coo and flew over to perch on the windowsill. Sebastian barged into the room like a man who had lost his senses. “Zephyr? No, no, no, no. You cannot leave me.”, begged the Governor. Zephyr handed him the baby and said, “Her name is Neve, and she will need you. Be there for her. Know that I love you with all that I am and will see you when you come home.” With that, Zephyr took her last breath and closed her eyes. Sebastian fell into the chair weeping and holding his newborn daughter and Gideon let out this piercing screech, while a darkness spread over a town that immediately became deathly silent. The town knew they had just experienced a great loss and life as they knew it was about to change.

Approximately one year after Zephyr’s death, the Governor Sebastian married another so that Neve could have a mother figure in her life. What Sebastian didn't know was that the woman he married was as evil as she was beautiful and had a heart the color of night. A grieving heart blurred Sebastian’s vision, blinding him so that he didn't take notice of who Moronica really was as he spent all his time with Neve while Moronica governed and tormented the town. Moronica relished in tormenting the people by having them whipped in the Square, abusing them, embarrassing them, and using their deepest secrets against them.

Moronica practiced her magic in what had become her private room which was the room that Zephyr died in. Because the sisters had been too consumed with grief, that room had never been blessed or cleansed after the Zephyr’s death and only heightened Moronica’ s powers. Every morning before going to sit on her chair in the Square, she’d cast cowrie shells on a scrying mirror to get information on whoever was coming before her with an issue. This is how she found out everyone's secrets and weaknesses to make her torment more personal. Although Moronica was evil and relished in the fear of the people, she was also very vain. If someone came before her with a problem or issue that needed to be resolved and she felt threatened by their beauty, she would have that persons’ face marred. Her tactics were to have the woman’s face cut, then brutally and jaggedly sewn, burned with boiling water or oil, or have them tied in the salt house with food on their face so the rats could eat it off. The results always left Moronica feeling better about herself, no longer feeling threatened by that woman; young or old. Moronica did not discriminate on who she tormented and that included Neve.

Sebastian had been looking for Moronica in her chambers because there were changes made to Neve’s learning schedule that he had not approved. He knew she would be in her private room, and he had not been there since his beloved Zephyr died. Sebastian got to the door and his body began to tremble as he remembered the last vision imprinted in his mind of his wife. He took a deep breath as he steadied himself to knock on the door. He knocked several times and with no response. “Moronica? We need to talk about Neve’s learning schedule.”, he stated as he opened the door. The person standing in the middle of the room was not Moronica. “What are you d-d-d-d-doing here?”, asked Sebastian. Standing in his house was the evil witch from town. “What have you done with my wife Moronica?”, he asked. “I am your wife Moronica. I just don’t let you see me without my makeup.”, Moronica replied while laughing. “I did tell you never to come in here.”, growled Moronica as she revealed her true self to Sebastian. The Governor was found dead in his bed with a look of complete horror on his face as if something scared him to death. Unfortunately, Neve was the one who found him this way.

One day, Neve was walking the hall in front of her father's room when she ran into the Moronica. Moronica looked at Neve and finally noticed how beautiful the girl had become. Moronica rushed to her rooms to scry on her mirror. With her thoughts and energy focused on finding out if someone was prettier or more beautiful, she cast the cowrie shells and Neve’s face appeared in the mirror. Moronica let out a piercing scream, but when she opened her mouth, a very thick, long, and black forked tongue came out of her mouth. Her eyes turned to slits blinking vertically, and her face turned scaly. She regained her composure enough to stop the rest of her body from transforming into its original form of a two-legged serpent and began to break and throw things, including the scrying mirror. In her tantrum, she decided to get rid of Neve, but she had to think this through, so she was not blamed. Moronica sent for the town Executioner. He was the person in town who did the beheading, hanging, burning, or drowning when someone was sentenced to die. He was the only one who knew who she really was and would do her bidding without question. When the Executioner came forth, Moronica gave him his orders, "You are to take Neve to the dark side of town and into the woods and kill her. Bring me back her organs. I wish to feast." Moronica was going to have Neve's organs stewed.

While the Executioner waited for Neve, Moronica sent one of the footmen to fetch her from her locked rooms. On her bed, Neve found a bag containing books with a note that read, “Tomorrow, you will be a young lady of thirteen. In this bag, you will find journals that your mother had written for you preparing you for your thirteenth birthday. They will not open before tomorrow. Do not be afraid.” Surprisingly, Neve felt at peace after reading the note. The footman returned to Moronica with Neve as she was telling the Executioner, “Take her for a trip into town.”

The Executioner took Neve by her elbow and led her out of the house. This is the first time since her father's death that Neve has been allowed outside of the house and beyond the gates. She walked up to the horse tethered to the post and rubbed her hands against his flank while the Executioner watched her. He helped her onto the horse and got on behind her. On the journey to the other side of town, both Neve and the Executioner were quiet, but for different reasons. Neve enjoyed the scenery because she'd never been through this side of town, and the Executioner was having second thoughts about killing an innocent as they rode towards the woods. After a while, the Executioner felt that he had reached far enough into the woods and dismounted to help Neve off the horse and told her to run for her life. Neve was laughing and giddy with joy. She replied, "I don't need to run for my life. Look at the beauty in the trees, the flowers, and the animals.” The Executioner replied, "Listen, I was ordered by Moronica to kill you. I must return with proof you are dead. But I can't do it." She faced the Executioner and said, "I will go, but I will make Moronica pay for all that she's done" and ran into the woods.

The Executioner killed a wild boar and returned to Moronica the organs and beating heart. Moronica was happier than ever thinking that she had eaten Neve's organs and that she was the most beautiful in all the land. Meanwhile in the woods, Neve had stumbled upon a cottage. She knocked several times, but there was no answer, and decided to let herself in. Neve looked around and realized that the cottage was not abandoned because the room was still warm from the fireplace. She was sure that the inhabitants would not mind a young girl making herself at home in such a desperate time. She found herself some bread and ale to fill her belly, and a bed to rest. She laid down and fell into a deep sleep.

Several hours later, the residents of the house returned to find that they had an uninvited houseguest. The four men sat around the bed and waited for Neve to wake up. When Neve finally did, she cast her eyes down and pulled up the blankets to try to hide, behaving in a bashful manner. The men asked her in unison, "You look like the Governor’s young daughter Neve. Are you her?" Neve held the blanket up to her face and nodded in response. “I am sorry for coming into your home without your permission, but I was tired, hungry, and I needed a safe place to hide from Moronica.”, she quickly said before they could say anything. The men looked at each other and introduced themselves as: Shaman, Cooks, Jester, and Handel. Shaman replied that she could stay under the condition that she helped around the cottage by cooking and cleaning. Neve nodded her head and sighed with relief.

Back at the Governor’s house, Moronica was bored and decided to go and consult the mirror until she remembered that she broke it in her rage about Neve’s beauty. "I really need to get my anger under control.”, mumbled Moronica to herself. “Now, I have to look into my crystal ball. Who uses a crystal ball today? Well, Moronica, you because you refuse to take Anger Management classes.”, Moronica quietly discussed with herself. Moronica couldn’t remember where she had placed her old crystal ball, so she decided to improvise instead. She took out her bowl of obsidian glass and filled it with cold water. She placed a clear quartz crystal in the bowl to charge the water as she placed her hands on the sides of the bowl as she focused on her intentions, to gain new information to torment someone in the square. Moronica began to chant:

Water and crystal, clear and pure

Reveal to me and be sure

Water and crystal, clear and pure

Reveal to me the information I seek

All that would make the humans weak.

What Moronica saw in the water made her blood boil in her veins, causing her skin to blister. She saw Neve in the middle of the woods, skipping around with a basket in her hands and she appeared to be talking to an owl. The one she always walked around with. She was alive!!!! It could not be. She went to look through the contents of her shelves to create something to kill Neve. Moronica knew she had to do the deed herself. That would be the only way she could be sure that Neve was dead. She thought of what would do the trick. She thought if she used a corset, the miners would come back, untie it and Neve would be fine. If she used a comb, they could remove it from her hair and again she would be fine. The only thing that would be definite is to plague the town. None would be the wiser and all her problems would finally be over.

Moronica conjured a spell to blanket the town where there were parasites in the air. If you were infected, you would lose your sense of smell and taste, your body and head would ache, you would have difficulty breathing, and could ultimately die. You would not be able to tell who was infected and you could not touch another human. You would have to seclude yourself to stay safe. The only way to protect yourself would be to cover your nose and mouth with a cloth to keep from inhaling the parasites in the air. With this face covering, she would be able to cover her face and Neve would not recognize her. She would disguise herself as a peddler and go into the woods.

Neve had spent all her days reading the journals that her mother had left for her after her birthday. She learned that her mother was a witch and at thirteen, the same would be of her. There was so much information in the journals and all her questions were answered about what was happening to her body. She now had power that she was learning to control. Another amazing thing happened on her birthday; Gideon, her stuffed owl came to life. Gideon told her how he had been watching her all this time and he was now her familiar. Neve was so happy that she wasn’t alone anymore. She had the miners, but Gideon was different. Gideon was her mother’s.

As soon as the miners left, there was a knock on the door. Neve went to the door and said, "I am not allowed to open the door." The peddler said, "I am only giving out face coverings. Have you seen what is in the air? Surely you want to protect yourself and your friends?" Princess Neve replied, "I don't have any money if that is what you want." The old peddler continued, "You don't have to buy it dear. I am giving them away, and I have five left. You can have them." Neve had seen what was in the air and wanted to protect herself and the miners, so she opened the door. Neve anxiously took the face coverings from the peddler and asked, “how do I put it on so I can show the miners when they come back?” The peddler said, “you see how I am wearing mine? It must cover your face and nose. You can tuck the string behind your ears to keep it in place.” Neve did as she was instructed and inhaled. She instantly fell to the ground. Moronica had poisoned the face covering that would put Neve to sleep and slowly kill her. The peddler laughed wickedly as she turned back into Moronica. Satisfied that Neve was as good as dead, she lifted the spell over the town and vanished back to the Governor’s house before the miners came back to find a dead Neve. She knew the miners would remove the face covering, but when they did, the poison would already be in her lungs and too late to save her.

The miners came back to find Neve lying on the floor and Shaman leaned in to see if she was breathing and she wasn’t. He confirmed that Neve was dead and Moronica had to be behind it since that is who Neve was hiding from. They laid her on her bed and brought the bed outside to surround it with nature because Neve loved being outside. Bringing Neve outside helped her tremendously. Gideon saw everything that happened and went to Neve’s bedside. He gently perched on her chest and spread out his wings and began to slowly move them back and forth creating a gentle wind. Gideon began to coo and after a while he could feel the rise and fall of Neve’s chest beneath his feet letting him know that she was breathing again.

The miners came back to Neve’s bed in the woods to find her with eyes open and whispering to an owl. “Neve! You are alive.”, Shaman shouted with glee. “I don’t know what happened. It’s still fuzzy. Gideon was telling me what happened.”, she informed them. “Gideon? You mean the owl? He was talking to you?”, they asked in unison as they looked at each other like what happened to her caused her to lose her senses. “I know what you must be thinking, but I can understand him, and I am a witch. My mother was the good witch Zephyr and Gideon was her familiar.”, she explained.

Neve looked back at Gideon who was cooing while she was talking. She leaned forward and touched her forehead to his peak and saw the evil witch’s face that had been living in town. It was Moronica, only she had done something to make herself prettier. Of course, Neve thought, “Glamour! She spelled herself to look different.” Neve knew her father would never have married the evil witch no matter how he was feeling. She got up and went into the cottage to get her journals because she remembered seeing a glamour spell and that would help disguise her from Moronica. She did the glamour spell from the journal and said to the miners, “Take me to the Square. I have to finish this with Moronica." The miners all looked surprised that she really could do magic but did not question her. The miners helped Neve mount the horse they had, and they got into a cart tethered to the horse to go to the Square. Once at the Square, Neve sent word to the Executioner to go to the evil witch’s cottage and told him exactly what to look for.

Moronica heard the bells tolling in the Square and she had not ordered anyone’s death today. “What’s going on?”, she asked herself as she made her way to the Square. She could hear clapping and shouting but did not know why. As Moronica got closer, she could hear a woman’s voice that she did not recognize. She knew she had heard it before but could not remember where or who the voice belonged to. Standing there in the middle of the Square was a woman who could pass for Neve, but she knew that she had killed the girl. As the woman continued to talk and she got closer, she could feel the power and wind swirling around her. Moronica began to shake with anger when she saw the Executioner approach the woman in the Square. He had a glass jar in his hands. “It can’t be.”, she thought nervously to herself. “How did he find it? How could they know?”, she continued to ask herself as she recognized that the voice she was listening to was Zephyr’s. Zephyr herself wasn’t standing there, but flesh of her flesh was, and it was Neve. She now knew that she failed in killing Neve and the owl she saw with Neve in the woods was Zephyr’s familiar. Zephyr turned to look at Moronica, “Hello Moronica. I can see by the look on your face that you remember this jar”, she said calmly as she held it up for everyone to see. “This is your wicked work and what took me from my Neve. I am sure that this town has waited long enough to witness your punishment.”, said Zephyr as she turned to the people in the Square who began to clap and shout. “Burn the witch!!!!”

Zephyr asked the guards to grab hold of Moronica’s arms and bring her to the center of the Square. “Moronica, it is time to repay you for all that you have done, and you are hereby sentenced to death.”, Zephyr said to Moronica. She looked at the Executioner and nodded. The Executioner turned to Moronica and loudly spoke for all in the square to hear, “Moronica, for all of your crimes which includes trying to kill Neve and putting the people of the Town of Mystic in harm’s way with your plague, we the people have decided to burn you. Not simply by tying you to the pit, but by first pouring candle oil over you.” Zephyr turned with her arms open to the people of the Town of Mystic as they cheered for the method of punishment about to be delivered to Moronica.

Neve opened her eyes to find herself at home in the Governor’s house and in her bed with Gideon next to her. “What happened?”, Neve asked. Gideon cooed, “I’ll tell you about it over breakfast. Get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”, as he burrowed closer to Neve and fell asleep to the sound of her breathing as she too fell asleep.