by Jamie Ott
~~~
Lin took a sip of her coffee and turned the television to Channel 10 local Blackthorn news. The station covered only magical news from magical communities around the world. Only those who lived in magical communities could tune into it.
Ever since the Blackthorn Bank explosion, the news had become especially ridiculous. The journalists fed the town’s fear by reporting on locals’ activities. Just the other day, anchor lady Mallory York said two teenage boys, who watched a pretty girl twirl in a dress through the window of Youthful Apparel – a dress shop for girls, were staking out the place for a potential bombing. After, the weather man, Chaney Wrinkle, reported that the past weekend’s stormy weather was due to a group of sorcerers planning to help the Wackens put an end to Blackthorn through natural disaster. He predicted weeks of dreary rain and floods; that Blackthorns’ should have bunkers installed in their homes. Naturally, the sun came out again, and they enjoyed a week’s worth of sunny-snowy weather.
Lin didn’t know why she kept watching the news. She guessed it was a good way of measuring the town’s atmosphere. Right now, her measurements told her the town was scatter brained, scared and silly.
She sipped her coffee while listening out for any information briefing the incident from the prior evening, when, suddenly, there was a shot of Lin standing a few feet away from the hoods.
“Oh my gosh,” she said, and sat up straight.
“… Few really know who this newcomer to Blackthorn is. According to an anonymous source, she’s a professor-curator at the Blackthorn Historical Society and at the academy.”
There was a sudden close up of Lin’s face, shrouded by her hood.
“Peculiar, is this stranger. You can see the hoods go out of their way to torture this couple...”
There was another pan shot to the couple who tried to help Mr. Jim. “...and you can see that, somehow, his wand explodes into bits. Now, if you fast forward, you’ll notice a rain of spells, but this witch survives with not a hair out of place.”
Then the news lady forwarded to the part where Lin stood in the middle of the street as the hoods flew backward and scattered.
“Grateful, though the community of Blackthorn is, some good questions are, ‘who’s protecting her? Where does her power come from? Is she friend or foe? Wacken or someone with a secret agenda?’”
Lin’s skin suddenly felt hot.
How could they ask if she was a Wacken? They were trying to destroy Blackthorn, and she was obviously trying to protect innocent people! Wackens were the ones in the robes; it was they who terrorized the town last night. And it was all because the people wouldn’t give in to their leader, Golshem. He and his men wanted to create a magical kingdom, separating them from the earth, forever. Naturally, the town refused to join them, thinking them mad. Golshem promised that they would join him, even if by force.
. Golshem kept his promise, too. But to complicate things, no one really knew who Golshem was or how to find him or his followers. For that reason, the town’s people were always suspect of anything or anyone who seemed a bit out of place.
One night, Mara told her that Billing - the bar keep who worked at the Tavern and who’d secretly been in love with Sally, the owner, for years - had to throw Mr. Lichen out. He was an old man who was known for being extremely superstitious, so people rarely took him seriously. Mr. Lichen claimed to talk to ghosts, and that Blackthorn was built in a shadow – a place between places. That night, Mr. Lichen told them he’d seen the Wackens doing a ritual up on the mountain. He claimed Golshem’s men commanded the mists, and that when they stepped into the fog, it swallowed them up inside.
Naturally, no one listened to Mr. Lichen because he was always ranting about something. His stories were infamously fabricated.
“There was real fear in his eyes,” said Mara.
All Wackens aside, in the future, Lin told herself she’d have to be more careful. Not even the magical peoples of Blackthorn would accept her, if they knew the truth. Throughout history, certain beings endured unjust persecution despite the countless contributions they’d made. Common witches and wizards were afraid of these beings whose power over spirits and the elements was ultimate. These beings had power that came from within; they needed no spells. Similar to the ways humans hunted witches during witch trials, witches and wizards pursued sorcerers. Humans didn’t like witches who had power to dominate them, and likewise, witches and wizards didn’t like sorcerers who had power enough to rule them all.
The history of sorcerers often ended in bloody stories of betrayal. Nicolas Blackthorn was one such sorcerer, though he gave all he had to the town. He turned his home into a school for the kids who wished to study there. Nicolas was credited with saving the lives of dozens who fled from persecution, from both Europe and the New World, for using magic. Later, he was betrayed by his witch coven, and by a warlock named Will Trust. Not that Will cared about Nicolas being a sorcerer; he only wanted to steal his gold, or so the story told. Nicolas had brought special artifacts from Europe; artifacts that were said to have been gifts from other worlds. Will knew that all he had to do was prove Nicolas a sorcerer, and the people would burn him while tied to a stake, and that was what they did.
She drained the remains of her cup, grabbed her red cloak and flew to school. This was another trick of being a sorceress. She could will herself to and from places, whereas most common witches and wizards would, certainly, need a spell or a familiar to transport their molecules through the air. Fortunately, this kind of travel, and how it was accomplished, was not obvious to others, so no one suspected her.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Lin lectured in the mornings at the academy. Teaching was the largest part of her responsibilities as an agent of the Historical Society. To them, there was nothing more important than being proper and well presented, which was why she worried. She was still on probation, and today there was to be a final performance evaluation. She just hoped they didn’t hold her actions against her. Hopefully, they saw that she was only trying to help.
Softly, she landed on the muddy road in front of the cold, black gate that opened and closed, automatically, behind her.
Cold fog enveloped her as she made her way along the soggy path. Her cloak billowed around her. Up the dozen stone steps to the castle doors, she went. Muddy footprints disappeared nearly the second she printed them in a trail through the entrance hall.
The castle was of the same construction as any other castle of that time period. On the left was a staircase wide enough to accommodate two elephants standing side by side. Above was a large skylight that allowed gray atmosphere to illuminate down all twelve floors that wound around in a square. To her right was a long walkway, down which were the great hall, ball rooms, music halls, and other types of rooms.
As usual, Lin went to the great hall where breakfast was served every morning. A dozen or so still adolescent boys observed her walking to her place at the dais, where she sat alongside the professors, the dean and his assistant.
Lin loved the castle because, despite its cold and foreboding look, it made her feel like she was living in another century. The stone walls and chunky chandeliers that held real candles were ancient; not to mention the thick whittled wooden furniture and faded rustic armory all about the castle. If it wasn’t for her secret, she would have lived there.
“Good morning, Professors,” she said.
“Morning,” echoed Professors Milton and Ms. Crackwell. They were the history and advanced magic teachers.
Since they were a small university, many subjects were simplified. Milton was well versed in, both, magical and non magical world history. Ms. Crackwell taught a variety of day-to-day spells, all the way up to self defense. Then there was Doctor Mandel who was responsible for a mix of subjects, from biology to medical magic. That left Miles who taught mostly ethics and humanities, Riley who offered more practical subjects like English, accounting and art, and lastly,
Lin who educated students on how to use magical artifacts in order to improve their own skill.
Lin sat down between them.
Halloween decorations made the room look gloomier than usual. There were enormous black candles every foot or so along all the tables. Gray cobwebs covered most of the walls.
She looked to her left and right and saw that none of the professors paid her any mind. Feeling relieved, she helped herself to more coffee and some eggs, and decided to put the news report from her mind.
Rumors