by Cara E Holt
He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a black velvet box. “For my fiancé.”
I look up at him surprised and nervously take the box from him. I lift the lid and there is a simple but beautiful amethyst stone set in a silver tear drop clasp on a delicate silver chain.
“It’s beautiful.” I exclaim looking back up at him. “It matches my dress, as does your tie.”
Drayce nods and gestures over at Norah. “Someone tipped me off on the colour of your dress.”
He takes the box from me and lifts the chain out and gestures for me to turn towards the mirror. I turn and lift my hair up as he places around my neck and fastens the clasp. I touch the pendant and admire how perfectly it compliments my dress.
“Ready to go?” He asks, placing his hand at the bottom of my back.
“Wait!” Norah exclaims. “I need to get a photo so you can show it to your grandkids one day.” Norah grabs her phone and ushers us to stand by the door. “Okay, look at each other.” She commands.
Drayce places his arm around my waist and looks down at me, as I look up at him. He looked so handsome. My stomach was awash with butterflies. He surprises me then by leaning down and kissing me, ever so softly.
“Urgh.” Norah groans. “You both look sickeningly perfect together.”
We both laugh and pull our gazes away from each other.
“Your date is late Norah.” Drayce comments, glancing at the clock over by the window.
Norah sighs. “He’s always late for everything.”
As if he has heard us, there is a knock at the door and Xan stands there oozing sex appeal in his navy blue suit. His jacket is thrown over his shoulder and the sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to the elbows, showing off his many tattoos.
He whistles as he takes Norah in. “Girl you look mighty fine.”
Norah blushes under his praise, and Drayce arches a brow at me and we both smile.
“You scrub up good Xan.” She tells him. “Didn’t think you owned a suit.”
Xan adjusts his tie and grins. “I don’t. I borrowed this from my brother.” Xan’s eyes fall on me and he whistles again. “Damn, Latimer you look like you stepped off a catwalk.”
I grin and feel Drayce’s arm tighten around my waist. “Thanks Xan.”
“Let’s go.” Drayce says, not bothering to acknowledge Xan. He really didn’t like the guy, but if tonight goes as I hope it does with him and Norah, then he would have to get used to him if he started dating my new best friend.
The school hall looks amazing. I guess being able to use magic to decorate the place helped. The ceiling looked like open blue sky with beautiful puffy white clouds. Below the ceiling were garlands filled with leaves and berries, and all the colours of autumn, that form an arch all the way across the room. Butterflies in pink and blue fluttered around the room and a rainbow shimmering in every colour stretched across the sky. The cold paved floor of the hall had been replaced with green grass. The tables looked like something akin to Alice in Wonderland, white table cloths and fine china tea cups and cake stands full of every flavour and colour of cake you could think of. If humans saw how witches celebrated Halloween they would likely be shocked, because in the human world it was all about scary costumes and creepy movies. For witches though, Samhain was about celebrating the lives of those who have passed over. It was also a time to celebrate the start of the winter. Samhain for my kind was a chance to honour our dead, a time for reflection and remembrance. In preparation for Samhain, we had all had to write letters that includes all the news from our families and all the things we had learned and experienced over the last year. After the meal we will all be expected to enter the sacred circle and burn our letters, which then transposed to the spirit world for our loved ones to read.
We are all seated in our houses and of course, Drayce as Principes of his house sits at the head of the table alongside Coach Gray, and I as Drayce’s fiancé, take the seat to his left. I was still adjusting to everyone in the academy knowing who I was. The other day, I had noticed a fellow junior wearing black ripped jeans and boots that looked exactly like mine and Norah had laughingly informed me that there was a Wiccagram account dedicated to ‘Draylara.’ I kid you not.
The feast was beyond anything I had ever seen, I mean sure we celebrated Samhain at home, but the celebration was nothing compared to this. Mistress Isolde claps her hands together to gather everyone’s attention and we all stand.
“Welcome students and teachers. Let our Samhain celebrations begin.” Mistress Isolde offers her hands out to the professors stood either side of her and everyone else follows suit until the whole academy is joined hand in hand.
“Tonight is the first of three nights, on which we celebrate Samhain. It is the end of the harvest, the last days of summer, and the cold nights wait on the other side for us. The bounty of our labour, the abundance of the harvest, the success of the hunt, all lies before us. We thank the earth for all it has given us this season, and yet we look forward to winter, a time of sacred darkness.”
Mistress Isolde and each principes from each house takes hold of their cups and leads the academy out into the school grounds. I stand beside Drayce as he pours a small amount of the cups content on the ground.
“Summer is gone, winter is coming. We have planted and we have watched the garden grow. We have weeded, and we have gathered the harvest. Now it is at its end.”
Drayce then passes the cup to me and I pour a small amount on the floor, repeating his words before then passing it on to coach grey. The ritual continues until the last person in each house has poured from the cup. We then all silently follow Mistress Isolde back into the great hall where she places the straw man on the table and plates food up in front of him. She holds out her hands and smiles out to everyone in the hall.
“Let’s begin.”
As was tradition, we eat in complete silence. Drayce passes me the dark bread and I break off a piece and place it on my plate before I pass it on. There was something so magical about Samhain, that feeling of a new spiritual year, the chance to make new plans and mine was to catch the bastard that was draining witches of their powers and then settle into normal everyday Wiccan academy life, pass my exams and get in the guards. In my letter to my ancestors, I had pledged that I would learn to accept who I truly was and embrace it.
The feast ends and we all head outside to enjoy the dancing and festivities. There was no DJ at these celebrations but a live band that played traditional Wiccan songs. Drayce takes my hand and leads me over to where the fire pit sits in the sacred circle and we both kneel and drop our letters into the flames.
Drayce tugs on my hand and gets to his feet, helping me up. “Ready to party Latimer?”
I grin, as I discard my shoes. “Black, I was born to party.”
Laughing, he leads us over to the bonfire, where we join hands with our fellow students and start to dance to the spirit dance. The full moon was out and magic fills the air. I close my eyes and dance to the beat of the drums, my dress spinning out as I twirl and spin. I look over at Drayce and he smiles at me, laughing. I don’t think I had ever seen him look as free and happy as he did right in this moment. We dance until our feet hurt and Drayce gestures over to where the drinks are being served. On days of Wiccan celebration, academy students were allowed to drink alcohol and we had the choice of cider and wine. I wasn’t really a fan of either, but I was not passing up the opportunity to drink on one of the few nights I was allowed.
“Hey, hey, hey hot witches!” I turn around to find Norah coming over to us.
“Hey Norah.” I hand her a glass of cider. “How’s it going with Xan?”
Norah glares at me. “Drop it Elara. Xan and I are not the next Sprousehart, okay!” She downs the rest of her drink and firmly places her cup down. “Oh my god! It’s all souls night!! I love this song, we have to dance.” She tells me as she starts dragging me by the arm towards where everyone is dancing around the fire.
I look ove
r my shoulder helplessly at Drayce who laughs. “I’m going to go and find Thorin. I’ll come find you later.”
Norah pulls me into the circle and we start to twirl each other round and dance. Xan smiles at me as he comes up behind Norah and grabs her and whizzes her round in circles. Laughing, I catch the eye of Lorelai who is stood over by to the side, drink in hand watching me intently. I raise a hand and smile and wave at her. The girl was a bit strange, but I noticed she was on her own a lot and didn’t seem to have many friends. Lorelai offers me a tight smile before she abruptly turns and walks off.
“Xan put me down!” Norah wails. “I’m going to hurl all down your back.”
Xan quickly puts her down and sets her a good gap away from him. “You puke on me De Meath and I’ll hex you.”
Norah rubs her belly and groans. “Damn, I think I ate too much food. I’m going to go have a sit down guys.”
“You okay?” I ask concerned. “Want me to come with you?”
Norah waves her hand. “No, no, I’ll be fine honest.”
Reluctantly, I let her walk away before Xan whizzes me around and dips me low. “Looks like it’s you and me, Elara.” He grins mischievously before he lifts me back up to my feet and then twirls me until my back is against his chest. “Where’s the guard dog?”
I laugh to myself. “You mean Drayce? He’s around here somewhere.”
“Well in that case, I’d better make the most of this dance while I have the chance.” He spins me out to arms length and then pulls me back in to him. “We could sneak away now Elara, no one would see.”
I glare at him as he spins us around. “Xan. Stop it now. You are a bad boy.”
His mouth curves into a smile as he takes my hands and pulls me closer. “Come on Elara, I know you are a sucker for a bad boy. Live a little.”
I waggle the finger that my engagement rings is on and give him a pointed look. Rolling his eyes he bows dramatically to me as the song ends. “Can’t blame a guy for trying. When Norah comes back tell her I’ve gone for a smoke.”
Nodding, I shoo him away and decide I should really probably go and check up on my best friend. I’m so busy looking around for Norah that I don’t look where I am going and I bump right into Lorelai. I steady her with my hand as she wobbles.
“I’m sorry Lorelai, I wasn’t looking where I was going. You haven’t seen Norah have you by any chance?” It’s then that I notice she is holding her arm. “Are you hurt?” I reach out to look at her arm and she snatches it up against her chest.
“I’m fine. Just a little burn, and no I haven’t seen her.” With that she puts her head down and scurries off towards the main entrance of the academy. I spend the next ten minutes looking for Norah but to no avail. I find Drayce stood chatting with Thorin and Auden.
“Hey guys, have any of you seen Norah?”
They all shake their heads. “Maybe she’s called it a night?” Drayce suggests.
“Maybe, she wasn’t feeling great before.” I chew on my lip, as I continue to look around. “She would have come and told me though. I think I’m going to have a walk further into the grounds.”
Drayce frowns and grabs me by the hand, stopping me from walking away. “Not on your own you’re not Latimer. I’ll help you look.”
“If we see her, we’ll keep her here with us.” Thorin offers with a friendly smile.
“Thanks that would be great.” I reply, before I drag Drayce off in the direction of the herb gardens. “She could be getting some herbs from the gardens to help with her tummy.”
We look in the herb garden and she isn’t there, so we look around the walled garden and then over by the benches were the smokers normally congregate, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“I think we should check her room.” I suggest, as I chew anxiously on my finger tips. “I have a bad feeling Drayce.”
Drayce smiles as if he thinks I’m being daft. “I’m sure she is fine. She’s probably passed out in her dorm, but come on we’ll go take a look and put your mind at rest, then we can enjoy the rest of the night.”
We head up to the fire dorms and luckily my thumb print still unlocks the door so it opens instantly for me. The room was empty. Drayce walks over and checks the bathroom and shakes his head.
“Drayce, what if something has happened to her? What if she’s been attacked like those other students?”
Drayce pulls me into his embrace and wraps his arms around me. “I’m sure she is fine. Come on let’s go back down and I’ll get the guys to help us look for her, okay?”
I allow him to guide me out of the room and back downstairs to the celebrations. We find Thorin and Auden and they agree to help us look. I find Xan over by the fountain with some girl on his lap, whispering in her ear.
“Some date you are!” I scowl fiercely at him.
Xan gives me his signature laid-back smile. “What’s up gorgeous?” He doesn’t acknowledge Drayce beside me.
“Have you by any chance seen your date? You know the girl you came here with?”
Xan sighs and shakes his head. “I last saw her was when she said she needed a sit down, and Norah and I came here as friends, nothing more.”
I glare at him. “You are so blind Xan.” How could he not see what I could see? “I can’t find her anywhere; she’s not gone back to her room. No one has seen her.”
Xan shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know Elara. Maybe she fell asleep in a bush somewhere, it’s not like she hasn’t done it before.”
The witch on his knee giggles and I glare at her frostily. “Well thanks for your help Xan, if she turns up in a trance state, drained of her magic, I’ll remind you of your complete lack of care and concern.” I turn around and stomp off before I hex him, and Drayce jogs to catch up with me.
“Hey, hey, slow down.” He brings me to a stop and takes both of my hands in his. “We’ll find her raven, I promise you.”
I wanted to believe he was right, but deep down in my gut, I knew something wasn’t right, that Norah wasn’t okay.
An hour later Drayce alerts Mistress Isolde to the fact that we can’t find Norah. She looks concerned but tries to suggest all the places we have already looked.
“I see. Well I’ll speak to Remus and get security on site to keep their eyes out.” Isolde pats my hand. “Is there anywhere on the grounds she likes to go that you haven’t thought of?”
The maze! What if she had pulled some hot male witch and sneaked off for some nooky? Although if she had I would seriously kill her for the worry she has put me through. “I have thought of somewhere actually. We’ll go and take a look.”
I hurriedly pull Drayce away and towards the direction of the maze.
“Want to tell me where we are going?”
“The maze, it’s one of her haunts for a hook-up.”
As we enter the maze the temperature drops sharply and I shudder as we enter it. We move through the winding paths until we get to the centre and my heart drops when we find no one there. We are about to head back out when I spot something on the floor and walk over for a closer look.
“What is it?” Drayce asks leaning over me.
My heart drops into my stomach as I pick up the piece of purple fabric. “It’s from her dress Drayce. Norah was here.” I stand and look around us and notice that the hedges over to the east side are scorched. “Look at that.” I walk over and touch the area where the hedges are black and burned, it is still warm. “She was here, not long ago, and for some reason she used her fire magic.”
Drayce frowns, starting to look more concerned. “Okay, maybe we do need to be worried.” Drayce pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Thorin can you grab Mistress Isolde and bring her to the maze?” He pauses as he listens to Thorin’s reply. “Thanks man.”
I start to pace up and down and wring my hands together, fraught with worry. Where the hell was she? Drayce comes over to me and he takes my hands and holds them in his. “We’ll find her Latimer.”
“What if we don�
�t though? What if that monster has taken her?” I ask him wide-eyed and sick with anxiety. “Something bad has happened here Drayce?”
Seconds later Mistress Isolde arrives along with Thorin, Meara, and Remus. I show her the fabric and then point to the scorch marks on the hedges. Mistress Isolde takes the torn piece of Norah’s dress and examines it in her palm.
“We can try to do a tracking spell using this.” She closes her eyes and holds the material tightly in her closed fist.
“Keeper of what disappears, hear me now – open your ears. Find for me the one I seek, by moon, sun, earth, air, fire and sea.”
Mistress Isolde open her eyes and in a trance like state she walks towards the exit of the maze. Hot on her heels, we all follow. She winds her way back through the maze and along the path that leads towards the pond. We continue to silently follow her for another five minutes until she stops at the walls of the academy grounds, where a weathered and old garden mirror sits on the wall. She reaches out and touches the mirror.
“She has gone. She passed through the mirror.”
“What do you mean she has gone? Gone where?” I ask frantically moving around to her side so I can look her in the face.
Mistress Isolde shakes her head and the worry is clear on her face. “I’m sorry Elara, but the trail ends here. The mirror has been used as a gateway to transport her elsewhere.” She touches the mirror. “Dark magic has passed through here, I can feel it.”
“Can we track where it leads to?” I ask desperately.
“I’m afraid not. Once the person has passed through, the magic seals off the path. There is no way to trace where she has gone.”
“But there has to be.” I shout. I lean my palm on the mirror and will it to open the gateway.
I feel two hands on my shoulders and look behind me to find Drayce there. “Raven, she’s telling the truth. Wherever that gateway took her, we can’t trace it.” He squeezes my shoulders. “We need to head back so that Mistress Isolde can report this in.”
Feeling desolate, I allow him to tug me away from the mirror and silently walk with everyone back to the academy. My best friend had been taken and we had no idea where.