High Witch Box Set

by Mona Hanna

  Hallie nearly couldn’t breathe. She put her hand over her mouth, feeling tears well in her eyes. She choked out a sob. “Ariel, what am I? What’s wrong with me?”

  Before she knew it, the taller woman had her in a hug, holding her closely while Hallie wept against her shoulder. She felt like a fool, like an idiot, crying in the arms of a stranger, but she couldn’t help it. The relief, the fact that she nearly had answers—it was like a dam had burst, with all her years of holding back and hiding who she was coming to a head. Maybe she’d finally learn the truth. Maybe she could finally stop being afraid.

  ***

  They all assembled in the front room of Hallie’s home, Ariel and her husband Brayden on the settee while Hallie and Sean sat in the armchairs on either side. Everyone had introduced themselves but were now sitting in silence. Hallie noticed Ariel was pregnant, something which made her dream even more alarming.

  Ariel finally spoke. “About six months ago, I learned something about myself that I never knew. I’m a witch—I’ve always known that—but my powers were always… unusual. I didn’t just have one core power like other witches—controlling fire and water, being able to call things to myself, being psychic or whatever. I was able to do a bit of everything. But the strangest thing about my power was that I couldn’t control it.

  “Whenever I tried to cast a spell, it would always be bigger than I intended, be dangerous, something I couldn’t manage. And my powers didn’t just come out when I tried to use them. Every time I was upset, I would accidentally perform magic, as if it was just pouring out of me. Eventually I learned to just not use my powers, but my magic still came out sometimes. I didn’t know what was wrong with me—why I was so different—but then I met Brayden and he explained everything. He told me I was a High Witch.” Ariel looked at Hallie closely, as if waiting for her words to sink in.

  Hallie felt nervous, astounded that so much of what Ariel was talking about made sense. She swallowed loudly. “What’s a High Witch? I’ve never heard of that.”

  Ariel smiled a little. “I hadn’t heard of it either. But Brayden is distantly related to a High Witch, so he knew what I was and was able to explain it to me. A High Witch is a rare kind of witch. There are only ever three of us in the world at once. A High Witch can perform any kind of magic other people can do, and a great deal more. And our power is also much stronger, much more powerful, and needs to be carefully managed. We can tap into nature, control the weather, cast spells of fire and light. We can do practically anything. I keep saying ‘we,’ Hallie, because I think… I had a vision where I saw you cast a huge spell. I don’t know much about you, and I didn’t even know your name until yesterday. But I think you’re a High Witch too. Does any of this make any sense?”

  Hallie stared at her hands for a long while, overcome with all of the information. She looked up at Sean sitting across from her, and he was looking at her in wonder. She put her hand on her heart, knowing he was so happy Ariel was there, telling her who she was. She felt a sense of relief but was still very sad. She looked at Ariel. “Can a High Witch… can she….” Hallie paused, not wanting to talk about this but needing to know. “When I was much younger, I cast a spell. I didn’t mean it—I didn’t want to. But a lot of people got hurt, and I’ve tried to not use my magic ever since. Some people had me cornered, and I made a green wave of light pour out of me. It knocked them all back, then somehow there was lightning and thunder, and… people got hurt. I don’t know how I did it, but it was horrifying, and if that’s what a High Witch can do, I don’t want to be one! I just want to be normal! How do I make it stop? How do I get rid of this?”

  Ariel looked at her sadly, then sat forward, reached out, and took Hallie’s hand. Her eyes were filled with pain, and Hallie just wanted to hide and not hear all of this. Ariel squeezed her hand gently. “Hallie, it wasn’t your fault. I’m willing to bet no one has trained you to use your magic, and if you were only a child, you can’t have been able to control it. It’d be like handing a child a sword in a battle and then getting mad at them for not being able to wield it properly. I don’t know why our powers are so strong from such a young age, but it’s just the way it is. That’s part of the reason I wanted to find you. I wanted to find the other High Witches, tell them who they are, and teach them to use their magic. How I found you is a very long story, but I’m here now and I’ll do anything I can to help you. To protect you.”

  Ariel released her hand and sat back, then looked at Brayden. Hallie wondered what she meant by protect. Did Ariel know about Nicholas? How? And wouldn’t Ariel be more worried about herself in that case? She was about to ask when Sean spoke up.

  “What do you know about the danger Hallie is in?” he asked. “You said you saw something in a vision, something that hasn’t happened yet? You need to tell us everything—you can’t hold anything back.”

  Ariel was silent for a moment. “I intend to tell you everything, but it’s a lot to take in,” she said. “Hallie is a High Witch. There’s the truth about those who’d want to hurt you. A High Witch is very powerful, and there are those who want to harness that power, to control you, to force you to obey them. I need to warn you about this, but please don’t panic. I did see you in a vision—a young man had captured you and Sean—but this was something that has already happened. Did you just escape from someone? Did someone try to hurt you?”

  Hallie nodded. “His name is Nicholas, but he said he wasn’t going to hurt me. He said he wanted to hurt you. He said he was after you because he blamed you for someone’s death, and he’d captured me and Sean to force you to come to him. He said you were looking for me—he knew about that. We managed to escape him, but we think he’ll be back at any time. What are you talking about, Ariel? What do you mean, someone wants to harness my power?”

  Ariel frowned at her, looking very confused.

  Brayden sat forward. “Wait… this Nicholas. He didn’t say he was going to put you through something called the test? He wants to hurt Ariel?”

  Hallie felt sad she’d told them so bluntly. “Yes,” she said. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  Brayden put his arm around Ariel’s shoulders, and she put her hand on her stomach, looking distressed. “He must be Julius’ son,” she whispered. “He wants to hurt me because I killed him. When will this end? When will that devil’s terror stop?”

  Hallie cringed, realizing she’d made a mess of things. She’d just blurted out Nicholas was after Ariel, not even breaking it to her gently. Hallie didn’t know who Julius was, or what Brayden meant by the test. She waited for Ariel to recover, hoping she hadn’t hurt her too badly.

  “This isn’t what we expected,” Ariel finally said, her voice a little shaky and her gaze down. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m here to help you, here to teach you about your magic, and to keep you safe. But it looks like it’s not just you who’s in danger. It doesn’t matter. It won’t deter me.”

  Ariel looked at Brayden, and he sat forward. “First things first,” he said. “We need to tell you a story. It’s about a man named Julius and a woman named Nadia.”

  Chapter 16

  Hallie paced backwards and forwards before the others, scared out of her mind and just about ready to scream. The test! She’d never heard of anything so horrific! To think this Julius person put Ariel through it, all so he could bind her to him. Yes, Ariel and Brayden had survived, but it was still horrifying! And Julius had just killed his wife, stabbed her even though she’d been with him all those years. The man sounded like a lunatic, and Hallie was glad he was dead.

  And Ariel thought Nicholas was his son.

  Hallie clenched her fists, barely able to breathe. She looked at Sean, and he rushed to her side, put his arms around her, and held her. She sighed against him, mortified, not wanting to know any of this. What a huge mess. To think, Nicholas wanted Ariel dead and he was still less evil than his father. Hallie remembered what Nicholas had said, saying she should be thankful he
only wanted revenge. So he knew all about the test. And he was angry with Ariel for killing his father.

  But, wait…

  That wasn’t what he said.

  “Wait, wait, I’m confused about something,” Hallie said, stepping back from Sean’s embrace and looking at the others. “Nicholas said someone was dead because of Ariel and he wanted to avenge their death. But when I asked him who you hurt, he said he wasn’t after you because of who you hurt. I didn’t understand what that meant, and he just started ranting and none of it made any sense to me. What do you think this means?”

  Ariel looked at her for a while. “When I had my vision of you, your captor looked a great deal like Julius, only younger. I thought he must be related to Julius because of that, or maybe even be his son. I thought the danger was him wanting to turn you, that Julius had filled his mind with talk of High Witches and capturing them. Then when you said Nicholas was after me, my natural conclusion was that he is Julius’ son and wants revenge for his death. But if that’s not the case, then I don’t know what’s going on.”

  Brayden suddenly groaned beside her. “Ariel, don’t you see? If Julius is his father, who do you think his mother is? Who do you think he wants revenge for, if not Julius?”

  “Nadia?” Ariel said.

  “Yes!” Brayden exclaimed. “It makes sense. If he has a soul, he would have hated seeing what Julius did to his mother, and then Julius just kills her after all those years of her being his slave? Nicholas must be so angry, and with Julius gone, the only one he has left to blame is you! And how messed up he must be… I can’t imagine Nadia was any kind of mother to him, given that after she was turned, her heart would have gone cold. A mother who wants nothing to do with him and a father who’s one step away from the devil—it’s any wonder Nicholas has any sanity at all. But a man who’s lost everything has nothing to lose. This is bad. This is more than bad.”

  Hallie became very nervous. “So what do we do? How do we stop him?”

  Ariel stood and paced. “How did you get away from Nicholas? I had a glimpse of the spell in my vision, but I don’t really know anything.”

  “He… he grabbed me when I was trying to free Sean and somehow I burned him. I don’t know what I did, but heat came out of me and his skin caught fire. I didn’t see what happened—I just got us out of there. That was a month ago, and we haven’t heard from him since. I don’t know how badly burned he is, but I just have this feeling he’s going to come back.”

  Brayden sat forward on the settee and rubbed his chin. “Do you think he might not have survived? Do you think he might be dead?”

  Hallie looked at Sean, and he put his hand on her back. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I don’t think the wounds would have killed him. Besides, the feeling I have is so strong… there’s no way I believe he won’t come back. I know this isn’t over. There is one way I can find out for sure, though…”

  “What?” Brayden and Ariel asked.

  Hallie hesitated. “I know where he lives. I can still see his house in my mind. I know I can transport there, because that’s how Nicholas brought me there. I haven’t gone back because I felt like that would be walking into a huge trap and I didn’t want to take the risk. Sean and I have been trying to find out all we can about him, but we’ve only come up with dead ends. I don’t know what to do.”

  Ariel stood still for a while, appearing deep in thought. She walked up and down the room, not speaking for a long time. Finally she stopped and faced Hallie. “I think my original plan should remain. I came here to train you to use your powers, and that’s what I want to do. I don’t know if Nicholas is going to return, but I think we should focus on training you, getting you as strong and in control of your magic as possible. Then, when you’re ready, I think we should go to his house, prepared to confront him. I think it’s the best thing we can do. We need to face him and finish this.”

  Hallie took a deep breath, filled with nerves. “Are you sure you can train me? I’m useless at using my magic. I don’t have any control of it at all.”

  Ariel smiled at her words. “Don’t you worry about that. You have two amazing teachers. You’ll love your power once you have a hold on it—it will feel amazing. You don’t need to be afraid anymore, Hallie. There’s nothing wrong with who you are, nothing at all. Trust me. You’ll be fine.”

  Ariel smiled at her again, and Hallie looked away, embarrassed. She was so frightened, so worried, so anxious. But, deep down, she felt an excitement, a happiness that she was finally getting some help. Maybe this would work out.

  For the very first time in her life, she felt like she belonged.

  ***

  Nicholas walked into the big house behind his Papa, scared because he hadn’t been there in so long. He saw his Papa close the heavy door, and he looked around nervously. He searched for her—where was she?—then he saw her sitting at the table.

  “Mama! Mama!” he cried, running over to her. He missed her so much. He grabbed hold of her skirt and looked at up at her. She frowned at him, took hold of his hands, and pried them off of her clothes. Nicholas whimpered—she was hurting him—and she pushed him back.

  “What’s he doing here? I said I didn’t want to see him.”

  “Nadia, be kind. He starts school for the first time tomorrow, and I promised him he could see you as a reward. You can talk to him for a few moments.”

  Mama frowned again, turning her head away from him.

  Nicholas didn’t understand. He walked around to the other side of the table, but she only turned away again. He touched her arm. “Mama? Talk to me Mama.”

  “I’m not your Mama!” she yelled. “Get away from me!”

  Nicholas started to cry, not understanding what was happening. He hadn’t seen her in so long—why was she mad at him? His Papa put a hand on his shoulder and steered him away, and they walked out of the house. Nicholas stood there shaking, and his Papa knelt before him.

  “Stop crying. Boys don’t cry.”

  “Why doesn’t Mama love me?” Nicholas asked.

  His Papa shook his head. “You don’t need love. That kind of love doesn’t matter. You’ll see, Nicholas. One day I’ll tell you what real love is. Be a good boy and stop crying, and I’ll visit you soon. Let’s go home now.”

  “I don’t want to live with Nanny. I want to live with you and Mama.”

  “No, son, you can’t. I’ll visit you soon. You’re six now, starting school. No more crying. Come on.”

  Papa stood up and put his hand on his shoulder, leading him towards the carriage. Nicholas broke away, hurried back to the door, and hit it with his fists, yelling for his mother. Papa picked him up, yelling at him, put him in the carriage, and told the driver to leave. Nicholas cried all the way home, not understanding why she didn’t want him. What did he do? What had he done? He loved her.

  He’d do anything for her.

  ***

  Hallie stood at one end of the large front room of her house, the space before her cleared of most of the furniture. A few apples sat on the low table across the room. Ariel stood beside her while Brayden and Sean stood in the hallway. Hallie gulped. She didn’t think she could do this.

  “Concentrate on bringing one of the apples to you,” Ariel said gently. “If something goes wrong, we’ll deal with it. It’ll be alright. Go ahead.”

  Hallie grimaced, then reached out her arm. She held out her hand towards the apples and tried to focus on making one of them float up and reach her. She narrowed her eyes, wiggling her fingers. She was desperately trying to hold back her powers, so much so that nothing was happening. She sighed, deciding to release her magic a little. A little would be alright, wouldn’t it?

  She focused on the apples and sent a wave of power towards them. But it wasn’t small, it wasn’t controlled. Before she knew it, a huge gushing wind was hurtling towards the table, and it was lifted up and smashed against the wall. Hallie yelled, “Well, that was effective!”

  Ariel put a hand on he
r shoulder. “Oh, Hallie. That was astonishing. I forgot how hard it is to control in the beginning. I wanted to see what you could do, how strong your magic is. Sorry, I should have prepared you better. Brayden?”

  Brayden retrieved more apples from the kitchen and placed them on the floor where the table had stood. The remains of the table were cluttered all over. Hallie almost laughed at how ridiculous it looked.

  “Alright. I’ll tell you what Brayden told me during my training. You need to divide your magic up when you use it. You use part of your power to protect what you’re using your magic on. For example, if I want to bring one of those apples to me, I’ll imagine giving out a layer of protection, so part of my magic is released to lift one of the apples, but the rest of my magic is protecting everything I’m directing my magic on. So you’re releasing your power, letting it out, but using your own power to hold yourself back. Oh, I explained that terribly—I don’t know if that made any sense.”

  “No, I sort of see,” Hallie said. “I release my power but use part of it to shield what I’m directing it at? Could you show me first?”

  “Of course!” Ariel said. She held out her arm, wiggled her fingers, and one of the apples floated up in the air towards her. It landed in her palm and then Ariel made it float back to the others. She smiled at Hallie. “Your turn.”

  Hallie took a deep breath, prepared to blow something up again, but she was eager to try. She held out her arm again, focusing once more. Use your own power to hold yourself back.

  Hallie let out her power in two waves at once—one directed at the apples and the other holding back the first wave. It was a little different than how Ariel described it. She wasn’t trying to protect everything around the apples, but instead using her power to try and control the force. She strained, her body rigid as she tried to let out her magic in two different ways, and almost felt like she needed to be two different people to do this properly. She struggled and felt like the part of her power she was using to lift the piece of fruit was going to take over and send the chairs flying.