by Jenica Saren
Confusion and fear wracked me, leaving me with few choices. Hansen was about to tackle the young witch, a small, gleaming dagger in hand. "Look out!" I shouted through Jadwin's mouth.
In the same instant that the girl narrowly avoided Hansen's attack, he turned to look at Jadwin with eyes full of surprise and betrayal.
With the youngest escaping harm's way, the older, more mature witches seemed to think it better to get the hell out of there and save their own, as they should have, without resorting to defensive magick right away. As one, they all turned and fled the clearing as quickly as we had entered.
Gavyn and Zeph turned to one another, communicating silently before nodding and taking off into the trees after the witches. It was futile, though. They were likely either long gone, or hiding away in the forest that gave them power. With that thought, relief flowed through me like warm syrup. It didn't last for long, though.
"What the fuck was that?" Hansen screamed at Jadwin. Oh shit.
"I don't fucking know, dammit!" Jadwin shouted back, closing his eyes and clutching his head.
I could feel Hansen's proximity through Jadwin and it made me want to shrink in on myself. "Who's side are you on, huh? Huh?" Hansen demanded, jabbing a finger into Jadwin's chest, causing his eyes to snap open.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Jadwin's lips were moving and sound was coming out, but I couldn't hear it. Through his open eyes, out of the corner, I caught a movement that he either ignored or couldn't see. A bright light lit up the area the movement had come from and a shock of fear ran straight through me.
Without thinking, I dove into Jadwin's mind, deeper and deeper until I found the place that would make him do what I wanted.
I'm sorry.
One second he was talking and in control, the next, my voice was pouring out of his lips and I was shoving Hansen out of the way of the massive ball of spirit energy that was coming straight for the arguing duo.
"Get down!" I screeched.
The three of us hit the ground hard as the energy soared right over our heads, crashing into a large, towering, centuries-old oak tree. The breath left me - Jadwin - in a huff. I turned to look at Hansen, whose mouth was open as he prepared to speak, but I wasn't done.
Focusing as hard as I could, I channelled my own magick into Jadwin's hands, something I didn't know I could do. I formed a star of light, the sign of the Syntyche coven, and blasted it in the direction that the energy had come from. I could have left it alone or I could have actually attacked, but I felt a sense of smug satisfaction as the star burned its shape into all of the trees around where our attacker had been hiding.
It wasn't a subtle warning, but a warning nonetheless. These four were under the protection of the Syntyche coven, if for no other reason than the sheer fact that I was living inside one of them. A fact that they didn't know or need to know.
Several long moments passed before anyone spoke, where none of the three of us dared to speak. Slowly, sheepishly, I released my grip on Jadwin's mind, retreating back to my metaphorical corner where all I could do was sit and watch.
Jadwin leaned back, nearly falling to the ground on his back.
"What. The fuck. Just. Happened?" Hansen asked through clenched teeth. He rose to his feet slowly, menacingly, never once taking his glaring eyes off of my host the entire time.
Just as slowly, but perhaps more cautiously, Jadwin also rose to his feet. "I..." he began. "I don't know." I could feel the way his brows furrowed in confusion and wished again that I had gotten to see his face so that I could better imagine his facial expressions.
"You did magick, Jad."
"We can all do magick," Jadwin pointed out.
Hansen rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Not like that," he snapped. "Tell me what the fuck that was all about, dammit!"
Jadwin moved right up into Hansen's face, just as the other two came out of the trees. "I told you that I don't fucking know!"
Gavyn rushed closer to us and inserted himself between the two angry giants that looked - well, one looked, since I couldn't see the other - like they were ready to tear each other's heads off. Not a good situation for me if that was the expected outcome.
"Whoa!" The calmer of the four exclaimed. "What's going on here?" His head snapped back and forth, from one guy to the other, looking perplexed.
"Why don't you ask mister 'I don't know' over here?" Hansen growled. "First, he saves a witch, then he did fucking magick."
Gavyn's eyes grew wide as he focused on Jadwin. "You did?" he asked in surprise.
My host shook his head. I wished the damn thing had like joyriding handles or something because this shit was getting real fucking old. "I don't know. I mean, I saw myself do it, it was me, but I don't know," he grumbled. "I seriously don't fucking know."
With his black hair and emerald eyes, he observed Jadwin for a few seconds before moving closer. I was glad it was him, the much cooler, calmer of the bunch, staring at Jadwin more analytically than with judgement. It was like he was examining him instead of glaring at him, even if the narrowing of his eyes gave off the wrong impression. Still, he didn't seem to be blaming my guy for what had happened, which was nice since it really wasn't his fault in any way.
"It seems," he started slowly. "That you may have picked up a hitchhiker."
I had front row seating to the moment that Jadwin's eyes widened, which also meant that I was practically cowering in my little corner. Oh shit.
"A hitchhiker?" Jadwin repeated incredulously. "Like a flea?"
A flea! How dare he!
"If it were, perhaps, the ghost of a flea and was living in your brain instead of in your hair, then yes. You have a flea." Gavyn replied dryly.
Irritated and not thinking clearly, I mentally kicked my host for calling me a flea. His eyes shut and he doubled over, clutching his head on either side.
When he opened his eyes again, Gavyn was staring at him with an expression full of wonder and amusement. "It appears it doesn't much appreciate being referred to as a flea."
Jadwin growled, a feral and terrifying sound. "I don't care what it likes, it needs to get the hell out!"
I'm trying, you nutcase! I screamed at him. It also seemed that he'd heard me because he straightened, but then he went back to rubbing his head. Huh. The words didn't come out of him and he didn't seem to hear them. Maybe it was different now that he knew I was there?
Gavyn moved closer to us and placed his hands on either side of Jadwin's head. "I'll just pull it out real quick, okay? I just need to lower your barriers for a moment."
"Yes, fine, what the fuck ever. Just get it out." He growled in response.
I was of half a mind to kick him again for calling me an it, but I was truthfully too excited to get the hell out of there and didn't want to compromise that chance at freedom.
A few moments passed where nothing happened, then I felt it. It was a gentle tugging feeling, the sense that his barriers were lowering. Prepping myself, I imagined myself in a launching position and prepared to jump harder and faster than I ever had in my life. This was all way too much for me, and I was an actual witch! The second I felt they were low enough, I took the jump, mentally shouting for joy as I did so.
That is, until I realised I'd jumped in the wrong direction. For someone who instinctively always knew where north was, I had really crappy directional sense.
As I jumped, there was a brief moment when I caught Gavyn's shocked expression. He'd seen me! Someone had seen me!
Oh shit. Someone just saw me.
And then, as was on par with my level of recent luck, I tumbled into his head instead. If this was fate, maybe I really was better off dead.
After The Witch Hunt I Didn’t Want to Be On
At least my head wasn't pounding this time. That was probably the only thing I had to be grateful for at the moment.
You know, because now I was in someone else's head. Another witch hunter, to be exact. At least it was the nicer one.
Y
ou've got to be shitting me right now! I thought, projecting the words loud enough for my new host to hear.
Gavyn groaned, but he also chuckled a little bit. I got the impression that it wasn't entirely a humorous sound. "Well, she's pretty damn clutzy for a ghost, I'll give her that," he joked. Well, he said it like a joke, but he really didn't know how right he really was. Even in death-not-death, my sense of balance was severely lacking.
"Wait, what?" Jadwin's deep, rumbly voice asked.
Gavyn looked up at the face of my previous host's face and I nearly fainted. Or would have if I could have.
Jadwin was gorgeous, there was no other way to put it. An angular jawline, blue-grey eyes that seemed to change shades in the light, spiky, dirty blonde hair, and one hell of a tan that my borderline albino ass would have paid a lot of money for. He was absolutely stunning. And from his point of view, it didn't do justice to his sheer mass and height. The guy was huge and could probably toss me like a football with minimal effort.
Holy goddess, save my soul!
Since he knew I was there, I didn't bother shielding my thoughts, and those thoughts made Gavyn actually laugh out loud. "I think our little ghost has a crush on you, Jad," he teased.
"How do you hear it? I didn't hear it. Is it gone?" Jadwin's head whipped around as though he were searching for me, not realising I was right in front of him.
"She accidentally jumped into my head. From what I can feel, she's not particularly pleased about it," he explained calmly as ever.
"And you're okay with her being in there?" Hansen asked, speaking for the first time in a hot minute.
Gavyn shook his head, but gently. I thanked him for that small gesture. "Of course not, but now, I can get a better feel for the situation before I eject her." Ever the analytical one. I kind of liked it.
"So, wait," Zeph interrupted, his voice surprising me a little. I'd almost forgotten he was there. "You have a girl in you?" I got the joke, but didn't find that one as funny as I maybe should have. I was, surprisingly, just happy to literally be part of a conversation. In every sense.
Gavyn shook his head. "Let's get home. I've got some questions for her before we move her on.
Well, this sounded fun.
When we arrived back at the loft apartment that the guys shared, they all made a beeline for the kitchen, as though they hadn't already eaten a short time ago. Not that I was complaining, but I had politely asked Gavyn if he could make a sandwich. He kindly obliged.
This, a girl could get used to.
By the time everyone had their food and had sat down around the breakfast table, I was starting to feel a little antsy. I was sort of cool with telling Gavyn, the much nicer one, my situation, but with the others there... They'd probably do a lot more than moving me on. They'd probably burn me and salt the ashes, as hunters had in the old days of the Witch Trials.
Not an idea I was particularly fond of.
Do we have to do this with the mean ones? I asked him.
"What do you mean? Hans and Jad?" He asked in a confused tone. "I thought you liked Jad." I swear I could see the smirk on his face. Perks of having seen it before getting stuck again.
Internally, I scoffed. Zeph is okay, he seems nice enough, but I don't really want to get... Burned and salted? I phrased the last bit like a question because I wasn't thinking when I said it.
"Oh."
Uh oh.
"Oh? What's 'oh'?" Hansen demanded, looking somewhat uneasy. It's like he was afraid I was the spirit of a dead lover or something, which I totally got. That would be so awkward.
Gavyn shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh, I think this ghost was a witch."
He turned to Jadwin, whose expression had gone dark and honestly horrifying. "I had a witch in me?" he demanded. "You have a witch in you right fucking now?"
That doesn't sound nearly as nice as just being called a girl. I thought to Gavyn. See what I mean? They're mean."
He sighed. "They're not mean, Ghost Girl," he said in a wary tone of voice. Oh, I didn't like that. Give me the warm voice back. "It's just a bit of a sticky situation, that's all."
A sticky situation that keeps me separated from my family forever, you mean.
I could almost feel his expression softening, which boded much better for me than the cold version.
"I'm sorry." That's all he said in response. If I'd had a stomach, it would have been twisting into tight, uncomfortable knots and trying to wriggle its way out of my body from the sheer level of discomfort I was experiencing.
"What's your name?" Zeph asked, looking at Gavyn. Well, looking at me, but he couldn't actually see me.
Kismet. I directed to Gavyn.
"Her name is Kismet," he relayed to the others. "What coven are you from, then?" That one was directed at me, and I didn't like it.
Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. Over my dead body.
"You're already dead," he pointed out.
Oh, how I wished I could bite my nails. It was a nervous habit that I had tried to kick so many times over the years. Even lemon juice never helped, and I despised lemons. Well, not exactly. I replied uneasily. Picturing nail-biting was helping, but it wasn't exactly rustling my jimmies. Maybe it would work as a technique once I got my body back though.
"Wait," he said slowly. I could feel his brow furrowing and I wanted to take that expression away. "What do you mean by 'not exactly'? You're a ghost, which means you're dead, Kismet."
This was where things were going to get very interesting.
Since the story was already relatively short, I decided to go ahead and spill the whole thing. When he tried to eject me, I'd just run like hell. Or float. Through the whole explanation, he was relaying my words to the others seated around the table. Despite their profession, they were all listening on with rapt fascination as I recounted the whole story of how I'd gotten from a normal day to being dead-not-dead.
When I finished, Gavyn was sitting back in his seat and the others looked highly concerned.
"Shit," Hansen cursed, running a hand through his brown and red hair.
"Shit is right," Zeph agreed, looking entirely unsettled.
"Kismet..." Jadwin said, leaning forward. His face was hard, but it had some soft lines to it that made me think he felt some sort of pity for me. "What happened to your body?"
The question itself was innocent enough, but his tone held something a lot like fear. What was he afraid of? Me? Yeah, I'd managed to do magick through him, but it wasn't the same amount of power I might have had in my own body. Honestly, I'd never thrown my magick quite like that before when I was still whole, so I had nothing to compare it to.
Like I would tell you! I thought with a very unladylike snort.
Gavyn groaned this time, running a hand over his face. "Kismet, this is important. You aren't dead, but your body doesn't have a soul, plus you're a witch. Do you even know what that means?" He was using his patient voice, but I could actually feel is nervousness and agitation.
It means my body isn't rotting away? I thought excitedly. If I could get back to my body, I had a chance of being whole again! Then I could ask for help reaching through the veil to look for my mother and grandmother. For the first time in two weeks, things finally felt like they were starting to look up.
"No, Ghost Girl," Zeph said quietly, shaking his head. "It means that your body is a banshee."
A... What?
Banshees are just stories that moms make up to make their little witchlings behave. They're not real, silly.
"Kismet, they're more than real, they're dangerous," Gavyn replied, having been the only one to hear my sentiment. "When I witch's body is left without a soul, they become banshees. They pluck the life right out of everything around them, they literally crush other people's souls. It's the magick that your body possesses going wild without a soul to contain it."
Oh my goddess.
When he explained it, it all made sense. Of course, it was highly probable that they were all trying to con me into revea
ling the location of my body, but what if they were telling the honest to goddess truth? What if my body was running around and crushing people's souls? Turning more witches into banshees?
The coven. I thought in horror. Like an idiot, I'd done the ritual by myself at home, which was on the Syntyche land. Surrounded by dozens and dozens of witches...
But it was a tough call to make. If I found a way to get these guys to my house, they would likely take the chance and murder all of my sisters. Granted, I'd probably let them take Marcia, just for the fun of it, but I really couldn't give them an opportunity to harm my coven. As much as my mother and grandmother were my family, so was everyone else, in a way. Panic settled into me and I felt as though I would hyperventilate if I was breathing.
Solutions. There were always solutions.
You're witch hunters. I accused them through Gavyn, who relayed the message.
"Of course we are. It's what our clan does," Hansen responded in a bored voice. "Ridding the world of the likes of you, all of you people who take lives without shame, who harm the innocent with no provocation! We're doing the world a favour. And once we kill your banshee, the world will be just that much happier a place."
Ouch. I thought. His words were harsh and, for the most part, untrue. Aside from the very, very few covens who practice harmful magick, witches stay to themselves. If you want to go after bad witches, I will gladly point you in all the right directions. But there's a reason our creed is "harm to none, my will be done".
Slowly and somewhat reluctantly, Gavyn repeated my words to the table. Three sets of eyes were on the two of us, three sets of eyes full of doubt and hostility. Really, it was astounding that there was still so much prejudice toward witches, especially when the majority of us had never done a wrong thing in our lives. We'd lived alongside mortal humans for hundreds and thousands of years, some calling us healers, others calling us saints, but we were always valued for the gifts that we were granted at our births.