Abandoned Witch (Shadow Claw Book 6)

by Sarah J. Stone

  She soon found herself with Ivanna back in the plaza, roaming through shops full of clothes and other accessories. The girl felt awkward having to spend someone else’s earnings on herself but Ivanna insisted. The girl was still too embarrassed and so Ivanna kept a close watch on the things the girl’s eye fell on and held an interest in. And she would immediately have it booked and sent to the cash register once the girl passed by it. She had a limited taste, leaning mostly toward black and white clothing, away from dresses and skirts, and having preference for sneakers. The girl valued comfort and simplicity over everything else.

  Ivanna took her next to a hairdresser where the girl made no attempts to hold back and asked for all her hair to be chopped off. Ivanna was skeptical until the girl said she wanted to be comfortable, so she understood and allowed the hairdresser to go ahead with the request. The outcome was pretty…

  “You look kindabadass.” Ivanna smirked.

  “Is that bad?”

  “What? Oh, no, no, no.” She laughed, “You look good! Really good.”

  “I hope so.” She laughed nervously and ran a hand through her hair. The hairdresser had definitely cut it short, like a boy’s, and spiky. The hairdresser whispered something to Ivanna. Apparently, her hair needed more work as they had had little to no care and her nutrient intake was not enough to retain any health. And so the girl was subjected to an oil treatment where she massaged it into her scalp. There was something about having someone’s fingers in her hair that made her feel immensely calm and pleasant, and made her very, very sleepy.

  When she got back home, she looked like a whole new person, and Ivanna’s parents seemed appreciative of her look. The mother suggested they take pictures, but the girl seemed too shy to do so. They assembled for it nevertheless and she smiled for the camera. Her vision was momentarily lost in the flash of light. It was probably the brightest light she’d seen in a while, and she could see somehow that her future would be just like it.

  “I believe everyone is present,” a stern woman spoke from behind a podium on a raised platform, “Please stand up for the anthem.”

  Everyone in the aisles stood up, and the girl followed suit. Ivanna leaned over to whisper to her, “Whatever happens, just don’t laugh.”

  “Okay,” she whispered back, finding happiness in this moment as if she was sharing a secret with her. Ivanna grinned secretively before her face turned away and it dropped to feign seriousness. The girl copied her and looked straight.

  And old man from amongst the people seated on the platform placed his hand over his heart, and everyone else did the same. And then he opened his mouth. And croaked.

  The girl almost spat out her laughter, but her cheeks billowed as she tried to keep it in. She wasn’t the only one, though. Some kids snorted for a fraction of a second and a few adults coughed to cover themselves.

  “We hail from the womb of the laws of nature,” the old man screeched and the girl worked hard to contain herself. Light snickering was covered by the singing of the people present as they recited the anthem, a mix of different voices falling into a simple symphony that drowned out the old man very pleasantly.

  The girl was glad when it was over. But it wasn’t over until the old man stretched his note out that sounded like a broken and shaky bass. Some of the kids were still snickering and the girl had to bite on her fist to keep from laughing. It had been a long time since she’d found anything funny. Ivanna seemed to be doing her best to hide her smile, but she gave the girl a sideway glance and winked at her.

  For any normal or uninterested witch child, the Hall meetings were usually boring. But the girl soaked in everything that was being discussed. Community politics, new policies, community news, and other things she didn’t quite understand. About vampires and shifters.

  “What are they?” the girl whispered to Ivanna, who leaned over briefly.

  “People who can shift between being animals and humans,” she replied quietly, “You’ll meet some one day. We’re allied with a few kinds of them. I’ll take you sometimes since I’m the one who mainly deals with the negotiations.”

  “I see a member is missing?” one of the people at the platform said.

  “Ah, yes,” said the woman who’d started the Hall meeting, “Ivanna Schovsky?”

  “Come on now,” she beckoned to the girl as she stood up and scooted past the people in the aisle. They both walked down the narrow path to the podium. The girl felt everyone’s stares on her as she followed after Ivanna. Goosebumps jumped out onto her skin, but she brushed off their gazes and straightened her back, squaring her shoulders. She faked the confidence she could and managed not to trip on the way up to the platform.

  “So we have a new member!” the woman announced, “Hello, and welcome to Morrigan’s Community. Do you have a name?”

  “She’s supposedly an orphan,” Ivanna informed her softly, “and has no name.”

  “Well, that’s all right,” she replied, “We could give her one now. What do you think?” she asked the committee members.

  “She should choose,” one of them said. The girl already knew what she’d wanted. Ivanna and she had been talking about it the whole time when they were shopping. She looked up at Ivanna who nodded at her.

  “She wants to go by the name of Viria.”

  The woman smiled, “Ah, a fine name. The name of the one who was the first of our kind. She chose well.” She turned to the audience to announce the welcoming before Ivanna spoke again.

  “Oh, also, we’re adopting her.”

  The woman paused, looking over her shoulder with suspicion. She turned around slowly, “Are you sure you and your family will be able to look after her? She should at least get some background check before that.”

  “I know enough about her,” Ivanna retorted with a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’ll take her in.”

  “It would be rather unfair, don’t you think?” she asked slowly, “To all the other people brought in here. They went through the same tests and procedures.”

  “I don’t intend on abusing my power, Alia,” Ivanna said respectfully, “but her circumstances weren’t of the best kind, and she’ll need time to adjust and accommodate herself here willingly before proceeding with it. I’ll overlook the whole process myself.”

  Alia looked at Ivanna questioningly, but soon gave in and sighed. “She must be a special one, I suppose.”

  The girl didn’t like how she said it one bit. Ivanna put a comforting hand on her shoulder as Alia turned to announce the news.

  “Everyone, please welcome Viria Schovsky.”

  Chapter 8

  Viria was sent to school the very next day. She hated it. The word had spread that she was an abandoned, orphan witch, and that made her the target of some vicious students. And most of them were very mean.

  But as mean as they were, they were just as low in wit. They couldn’t formulate an insult hurtful enough to shake her. Or maybe it was because she’d heard worse before that had hardened her heart against these weak attacks.

  “You look like a rat!” a chubby, greasy boy called out to her as she passed by him. She stopped and turned slowly to meet his gaze, and raised her brow in amusement.

  “You look like a pig, but no one’s complaining so calm your trap,” she replied and walked off unaffected.

  “Well, you do look like a pig,” one of his friends murmured.

  “Shut up!”

  The students weren’t the only ones testing her patience. Some of the teachers were downright intrusive. “Is it true you lived in the forest amongst animals?” the history teacher inquired. “I can see your mannerisms mimicking them.”

  “This place isn’t lesser a zoo or a jungle, and you’re not too far from being a nosy little mouse so is it really a problem?”

  The class erupted in snorts and snickers and the teacher sent her to the Principal’s office right there.

  “Viria, at least give them a chance.�
� Ivanna sighed as she sat next to her in front of the principal.

  “They won’t give me one so—” She stopped short as her eyes darted between the two of them. “You guys are laughing at me.”

  The principal and Ivanna let go of their breaths and laughed out loud. Viria frowned and crossed her arms as she leaned back in her chair, waiting for them to calm down.

  “I don’t see what’s funny,” she mumbled.

  “Did you see Mrs. Prent’s face, though?” Ivanna cried out, still guffawing. The principal was no less a mess and he covered his face with his hand and tried breathing deeply.

  “She was so offended,” he said with a red face and his voice dropped to falsetto. “She dare insult the community!”

  “The community is an insult to itself for the most part anyway.” Ivanna chuckled. “It will be fun to see this place in an uproar, though.”

  “I’ll see to it that they don’t take it out hard on her,” the Principal promised. “Something tells me she’s going to turn out an amazing young lady in the future.”

  “I know, right?” Ivanna bounced in her seat and looked at Viria, “Be as savage as you want, kiddo.” She reached over and ruffled her head and Viria instinctively leaned into her hand. “Don’t hold back, okay?”

  “Okay,” Viria said and Ivanna messed up her head with both hands, engulfing her in a hug and looking at the principal. “She’s my favorite here by far.”

  “I can see why,” he smiled at them, “Well, Viria, you have dueling class in a while, so it should be exciting! Off you go to eat now.”

  “Oh, tell me everything when you get back home,” Ivanna pulled away to grin at her. Viria smiled at her and nodded her head. Ivanna left with one last hug, handing her a lunchbox before leaving.

  ****

  Viria had been studying a book of enchantments and spells while she was eating up in a tree, but she found them ridiculous. She could do more than half of these spells without having to say anything at all, and so she slammed it shut and headed to dueling class.

  If she had learned one thing news spread here fast. It wasn’t too large a community, anyway, so she could understand. Something about this place reminded her of another. She figured that whatever place it reminded her off wasn’t any better.

  Kids whispered to each other as she passed by.

  “You guys really aren’t making it any less obvious,” she said to no one in particular, but the kids understood. Some of them formed defensive stances while others went red. Almost ten years old and she was already intimidating most of her peers in her age group.

  “You seem really cocky for someone who’s probably never cast a spell before,” a dark-skinned boy said coming up beside her. He didn’t sound rude. Genuinely friendly, if a bit sarcastic.

  “Ha!” She smirked, “You just watch.”

  Everyone was having a field day in the dueling arena as they watched their own teacher flipped over and sent flying a few feet away by a ten-year-old whose lips weren’t even moving in the slightest to chat anything. She was simply moving, but even they were complicated and precise. From what the other instructors observed, she was forming broken down symbols of spells through movement. And she was extremely quick at it. It took a long, hard look to actually understand just what she was doing because she was that fast—faster than any other witch could mutter their spells to attack.

  “This is absolutely insane!” A kid tugged on his instructor’s sleeve. “How is she doing that?”

  “I don’t know, but Mrs. Grippin has an excuse to yell at us in the office now,” he groaned. Mrs. Grippin was a very strict woman, and one of the brightest teachers, and was possibly going to be elected to the Principal’s post next year. It was enough to make her think she had some form of authority over the rest of the teachers. Well, she did, a little bit. If her post happened then everyone needed to make sure they were in her good books. She was an old hag way past her retirement age but her pride held her to the school to make sure everyone knew who was boss.

  And this child had guaranteed a mess for herself next year, so he could only hope Grippin wouldn’t be elected for the post.

  Mrs. Grippin just about had it with Viria. It was not her skill that was intimidating, but rather…

  That darned smirk! She did not stand cocky imbeciles. At least she could not stand cocky imbeciles being better than her. It was absolutely infuriating, and she did not want to pull her next move but her pride and honor was at stake as one of the most powerful people in the school. Of course, she knew there were more powerful witches outside the school, but this was her domain and she would be next to rule it in the coming year.

  She grunted and chanted an elaborate spell under her breath as she approached Viria. But Viria was not fazed as her instructor threw a ball of green light at the ground that enclosed into a circle around Viria. Light erupted around her and it closed onto her from all sides. Viria recognized this as the torture barrier that when enclosed in, the witch could do anything from suffocating to electrocuting you. She wanted to laugh at the attempt and she flicked her wrists and moved her hands and fingers together into a precise formation, opening a hole in the closing barrier and moving forward to step through it easily. Everyone watched, awestruck. Viria looked at the barrier as it enclosed around nothing and disappeared into the ground.

  “Well, that was humiliating,” the boy whispered, intimidated by his equally pale instructor.

  “Yes, we’re doomed next year,” he groaned.

  Viria turned around to face the instructor and was immediately hit with a blast of heat, and that sent her rolling away a few feet before hitting the bleachers. She groaned and tried to stand up, stumbling onto her feet as she straightened herself.

  “Grippin! That wasn’t fair!” the other instructor called out to her, but Grippin was livid at the thought of defeat at the hands of such a young and inexperienced girl.

  I can’t lose face to this little scoundrel, she thought heatedly, and turned away to leave. She disappeared through the door and into the school, while two of the five instructors watching from afar rushed forward to tend to her. They sat her down and lifted the shirt off her back, revealing red marks that were starting to swell.

  “It will bruise,” one of the two female instructors said. “I’ll perform a healing ritual on her and file a report.”

  “You think Grippin will be left off easy?”

  “She shouldn’t be,” the instructor shrugged, “Can’t have someone egoistic who throws tantrums as our future Principal, aye?”

  “Just make sure she doesn’t hurt too much or Ivanna will have our asses for this.” Another sighed as she lifted Viria and helped her up, taking her away to the infirmary. Viria’s every step was a painful one. That was a very powerful blow, and it hurt her chest to breathe too deeply. Her joints had been rattled and muscles had gone sore. She was not physically fit enough to take that attack as of yet and she knew it was a rather advanced spell that was used to attack her. She thought it was unfair, but it satisfied her to think she was able to throw off someone everyone believed to be the most powerful so easy. Before she fought with Miss Grippin, she was paired with an amateur to be “taught”. She didn’t need any of it, so she was given a level one student. Then level two. Then level five. And then ten. After that, Miss Grippin intervened to test Viria out for herself. Viria had no regrets about it all, except maybe she could have been a little more alert at the end of it all. It wouldn’t be hurting so much now if she’d been careful about Mrs. Grippin’s anger.

  They entered a large room and the instructor, Mrs. Fae, set her down on one of the many beds there.

  “You’ll have to take off your shirt,” she said and Viria nodded and took it off without hesitation. Mrs. Fae moved immediately to pull the curtain around them.

  This child really has no shame, she asked her to turn aound and lie down. The bruises were already forming. She drew a symbol over her back with a finger that woul
d allow the bruises to show up in a form of illusion that is later used for proof for wounds that healed and disappeared over time. Once captured, she started to chant spells and spread them over her back as fast as she could before the bruises could get too painful. It was hard because she had to constantly ask Viria to calm down and lower her defenses. She could tell that Viria hadn’t lived the easiest of lives. It was obvious by the scar marks on her back. She could touch them and try accessing her memories associated with them, but she knew that would be rude and invasive. The community was harsh and the last thing she needed was to feel she couldn’t trust any of the instructors. She needed some of them. Three of them were pretty nice, one was all right, and the other two – which included Grippin – were hard on their students and could be cruel sometimes. Most times, actually.

  “I’m surprised you still managed to stand after that blow,” Mrs. Fae told Viria as she got rid of the last of bruises. “Most people would have passed out.”

  “I had a shield set up around me before she did that, just in case,” Viria admitted, “But I didn’t think her attack would pass through.”

  “I’ll admit it was an advanced technique of hers, and it was unfair to use it on you.”

  “Eh, it’s quite all right,” Viria admitted. “It won’t hurt as much the next time she does it.” Children were not supposed to talk like that so it startled Mrs. Fae to hear it from her.

  “Is that how it works for you?”

  “Pretty much,” Viria said as she relaxed under the charms and spell being put on her. The pain started to fade away. “Back in the woods, I used to duel with the larger animals a lot. If they hit me once and hit me in the same spot again, the pain wouldn’t bother me as much. It’s the same for memories, emotions and thoughts. Once you let yourself accept them, they bother you less each time even though it might hurt just as much.”