This is an idea I had of a witch in Riverdale (with a possible Sabrina crossover later). It starts a couple months before season 2, so before Jughead is forced to transfer to southside high. The pairing will be Fangs/OC/Sweet Pea, however it will not end with them in a poly relationship - one of them will break off. This is an au of my story Tower Over Me, those of you who haven't read that it's not required - this is it's own story. And you can actually skip the rest of this note.
For those who have read Tower Over Me, you'll notice similarities especially when season 2 starts but I'm gonna try my best to make it overall a different experience. Also, this Lane grew up different so she's at her core different as well. While still being the same prickly cactus inside we all know and love. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope ya'll enjoy.

It was a dark moonless night, the stars had been emptied from the sky and shadows hung like thick blankets smothering every inch of the quiet town. The kind of quiet only found in a graveyard, like any noise at all would shatter it.

With a gasp Lane woke to a soft voice whispering dark words in her ear. With a twitch of her fingers the light turned on and she looked around her room releasing the breath she'd been holding at finding it empty. A dream, it was just a dream.

Settling back she turned the light off with a voice she'd convinced herself wasn't real still tickling her ear. But she sat up once more at the deep burning glow she now saw beneath her door. Lane threw her door open and the quiet shattered. All at once she could hear the flames crackling as her lungs filled with smoke.

"Dad," she yelled rushing down the hall to his room where the fire seemed to be coming from. The heat was almost unbearable and she squinted trying to see in his burning room. "Dad," she cried again, hearing the shrillness of her own voice that left her sounding like a child.

Flame licked every inch of his scorched room and was only beginning to crawl past the doorframe to ignite the wood around it. But in the place beside her dad's bed Lane saw a dark shadow the shape of a man, and she stepped back feeling a sliver of ice wedge deep in her chest. As though aware she'd noticed it, it turned faceless towards her.

She ran. There was a sick thud against the wall behind her as it threw itself into the hall after her. Her shoulder hit the frame of her doorway from how sharp she turned into her room and she quickly threw the door shut with a whispered plea. A great force struck the wood and Lane stepped back with baited breath seeing the frame hold, for now.

Over and over again it rammed against the door, and Lane moved quickly to her bookshelf snatching the sealed box off it and unlatched the window. The door splintered behind her and she jumped, two stories down. She hit the ground and rolled, not having time for the pain in her ankle as she ran for the car.

Climbing behind the wheel she snapped her fingers starting it, and she was stopped cold by the sight of its long shadow caught in the beams of the headlights. She threw the car in reverse blindly backing out of their long driveway racing for the main road, and with a piercing squeal of the tires she was gone.

She didn't look back until she reached the town line, she crossed into Riverdale and as the light from the moon illuminated her car she glanced at the rearview mirror. Behind her the figure stood as though trapped within the borders of Greendale and she watched it bleed into the night until it was gone. Releasing a breath Lane looked back to the road and reached a hand to the box on the seat beside her, containing an old book and the letter her mother left before she disappeared.

Finding herself suddenly alone in the world Lane reverted back to the likeness of a child, doing what her mother told her. Standing outside of the neon lit bar in a parking lot full of motorcycles wishing she'd grabbed a pair of gloves - Lane took a breath, shifted her hold on the box, and went in.

It wasn't quite midnight but it was Friday and the bar was packed, smoke hung thick in the air along with the heady smell of alcohol. But there was a lull at the sight of the short young woman standing barefoot in a thin white nightgown scouring faces for the one her mother said she would know. Conversations resumed undeterred but several stares followed her, untrusting. Her gaze landed on an aged man with a hard weathered face and long dirty blonde hair, and he seemed to stop breathing when he saw her.

"Amara?" Tall Boy asked softly to the girl standing before him.

"I'm her daughter, Lane," she answered seeing him swallow as he straightened. "Are you Gerald Petite?" she asked and he nodded. "She told me to find you if anything ever happened."

Girl was the spitting image of her mother, except for those shining green eyes. Those were his. "What happened?" he asked knowing it must be big for her to be standing here looking like she just rolled out of bed.

"A fire."

"Where's your father?" he asked.

"He was in it."

Her mother had been the same way, a short monotone answer and a blink of her heavy dark eyes – she'd been alluring. But this girl, Lane, she was hiding something. "Is someone after you?"

"I'm assuming."

He sighed wondering what he was supposed to do with her, if there was anything he could do. But her mother was gone and her father was dead and her standing here meant she had no one else. "Where's the new kid, Fogarty?" he called, turning only to see Fangs step forward before he looked back to Lane. "He's gonna take you to my place, you're gonna sit tight and I'll see what I can do." He waited for her to nod before he turned to Sweet Pea and told him, "take her car to the garage get it out of sight."

He wasn't happy about helping this girl who'd shown up out of thin air, but Sweet Pea nodded and stepped toward her with his hand held out. She blinked up at him expectantly. "Your keys," he said a little rougher than he meant.

Clearing her throat uncomfortably Lane turned to Tall Boy. "I don't have them," she admitted, seeing his eyes harden. "There was a lot going on, I might've panicked a little."

His brow rose irritably. "You drove here without keys?" he hissed under his breath.

"I said a little," Lane told him firmly.

Staring her down he eventually gave in with a weary sigh. "Okay, I'll drive you home." He turned back to Sweet Pea and asked, "you working tomorrow?" At the younger boy's nod he clapped him on the arm and shooed Lane forward, noticing the way she recoiled before he could touch her. "We'll see you at the shop."

Lane walked with him back outside still clutching the box, refusing to let it out of her sight. She climbed in the passenger's side and turned to where he sat behind the wheel waiting. Holding her hand by the ignition she snapped again and the car roared to life. "You don't seem very surprised," Lane said as he drove, seeing the places and houses were all worn down.

"I knew your mother a long time," he replied. Though he hadn't known about Lane, she'd been a surprise and he was still reeling. "So what really happened?" he asked now that it was just them, now that she was aware he knew.

Taking a moment to think about what she'd seen, trying to make sense of it, she eventually decided that it didn't. "Something was in my father's room as it burned. It followed me but I don't think it could cross town line."

He took that in stride, which was the only way to take something like that, and nodded. So she was stuck here until she figured out what was going on, if she even could, and how to fix it, again if she could. Which meant he was stuck with her. "Alright," he told her.

She turned to him curiously. "What?"

Looking from the road to her watchful face he shrugged. "Just, alright."

She nodded realizing he was settling for doing this, for doing it with her. And in that moment, knowing that she at least had someone even if she didn't know him, the world didn't seem so impossibly big. "Alright," she agreed softly.

They didn't say much else that night, there wasn't much to say other than the polite getting to know you's that left them both feeling the kind of déjà vu that came with having met before. The night ended with them on the couch in his trailer watching an old show in black and white, and while Tall Boy snored with his head fallen back Lane reached a timid hand to his trying to get feel for him. Ultimately she decided he was good enough and she turned back to the TV. Unable to close her eyes without seeing the dark figure in her father's burning room.

Daylight couldn't come soon enough, Tall Boy turned to see her blinking heavily and knew she hadn't slept. He drove her to a diner to get coffee and breakfast and then took her to the store to get everything she'd lost in the fire; toiletries, clothes, shoes, and several different pair of gloves. Then he took her back to his trailer so she could shower, and while she was occupied Tall Boy's eyes stuck on the box she'd left on the counter. Curiosity got the better of him and he tried opening it but a sudden heat ignited beneath his skin and he pulled back shaking his hand. Smart girl.

She came out with her hair piled on top of her head in a bun wearing the shirt and jeans he'd bought her. "What now?" she asked because she didn't have a plan. She'd spent several hours last night while he snored going through her mother's book looking for answers and ultimately coming up with nothing. She had a thought of what she needed but her mother had told her never to go to the Church. So she was in the same place today as she'd been last night, which was nowhere.

"I've gotta work, you're coming with me," was his gruff answer. He saw her glance at the box and he realized he was right in guessing what was in there, but she couldn't lug it around forever. Walking over to the couch he lifted a cushion revealing a hidden cubby, and he waited as she reached a decision and grabbed the box off the counter placing it inside. "You're not gonna charm it?" he asked when she stepped back.

Fixing him with a blank stare she promptly informed him, "it's already charmed." And she walked out of his trailer leaving him to shake his head as he followed.

…

Both Fangs and Sweet Pea saw her enter the auto shop with Tall Boy and they both turned watching as he led her to the back office. She wore a pair of black gloves that ended just below her elbow, something about them made her seem both elegant and bitterly cold – untouchable. Sweet Pea was fine going back to his work but at around an hour curiosity got the better of Fangs and he tapped his arm and jerked his head to the back.

With a heavy sigh Sweet Pea tossed his tools back in the box and followed Fangs to where she sat alone behind a computer going through a stack of paperwork. "Hey," Fangs offered in greeting.

She barely acknowledged them as she gave a soft hello, her eyes scanning the paper in hand. "You from the Northside?" Sweet Pea demanded, the more untrusting of the two.

Without looking up from what she was doing she asked, "north side of where?"

"Taking that as a no," Fangs interjected trying for friendly, mostly to counteract that Sweet Pea wasn't nor would he make the effort to be. "Where are you from?"

"Greendale."

She still hadn't looked at them and Fangs was starting to think this might have been a mistake. Pretty or not, and he very much thought she was, she clearly wasn't interested in making friends. "How's your day going?" he asked, his final effort before he'd give up.

Her eyes paused on the line of numbers she'd been adding, losing her place, and she finally looked up the two hovering in the doorway. "Well, someone set my house on fire last night killing my father and I'm pretty sure they're after me too and I have no way of finding out what the hell's going on or how I'm supposed to fix it, so I am now stuck with a man I don't know working on getting this office's reports up to date from last year." She didn't need to say it, she clearly wasn't doing well and it was very obvious now that her eyes were on them how tired she was. But she sighed and offered a small, "how's your day been?"

Fangs wasn't sure what to say to that, hearing her plight had even Sweet Pea's closed off face slackening with surprise. So Fangs shrugged and answered, "pretty good so far."

She blinked at him curiously and came around to the thought that he had a good face, a trustworthy one. And a very small smile quirked on her lips. "I'm Lane," she told him and his taller less open friend.

An easy grin spread on his mouth and he stepped forward offering her his hand. "Fangs." She fit her gloved hand in his, and standing this close her green eyes seemed so much brighter set against her ambiguously ethnic brown skin. "That's Sweet Pea, and no he really doesn't really get much better."

While Sweet Pea scoffed rolling his eyes Lane looked to him with an expression that was almost pleasant. "It's nice to meet you," she told him before turning back to the computer. And she fell once more into guarded silence.

"I'm not paying you to stand there," came a gruff voice from in the garage.

It had both boys turning to leave to get back to work, but Fangs cast a last look at her over his shoulder and met her eyes when she glanced up at him. And he could've sworn she smiled.

…

She kept to herself the remainder of the short weekend, returning to Tall Boy's trailer instead of going with him to the Whyte Wyrm so she could continue searching her mother's book for any idea what was after her, and while he worked on cars she sat huddled in the back office going from actual work to useless internet searches that yielded nothing.

More often than not Tall Boy found Fangs standing just inside the doorway to the office with a wide smile as he got her talking. And less often but still frequent, Sweet Pea was with him.

Which is how Tall Boy found himself in the front office of Southside High filling out the paperwork to enroll her. Lane was almost sulking beside him, leaning against the counter with her cheek in hand watching him fill in her name – Elaine Petite. Claiming her as his.

"Do I have to be a sophomore?" she asked him quietly, glancing at the woman who stood several feet away gathering more paperwork.

He looked down at her out of the corner of his eye. "You should've made more friends than Sweet Pea and Fogarty," he informed her bluntly, having already gone over this was more so the two could keep an eye on her. "Besides, if there is a person attached to the attack it's best not to make it obvious."

He was right, she knew he was, but it didn't make her any happier about having to repeat tenth grade. But what she said was, "we are not friends, I wanted no part of that."

It had him chuckling as he wrote himself as her emergency contact. "I bet," he mused having already understood she actively made it difficult to get to know her.

"Alright, I just need the name of your last school so we can get your records."

Both Tall Boy and Lane turned to the office administrator fixing her with similar heavy stares, and it surprised Lane that they both reached the same decision. Glancing at her desk Tall Boy picked up her mug and handed it to Lane with a brow raised expectantly. The only thing she could get out of him was that he'd known her mother well and for awhile, even when she touched him she couldn't get past his walls – they had that in common,.

Grabbing the mug Lane took a sip and held the lukewarm bitter coffee in her mouth, filling it with intention, and then she spit it back into the cup. "Have a drink," she said holding it out to the woman who now stood locked in place. When she'd done as told Lane said in a serious tone, "use the records from the last student who transferred here, and make up the rest."

They watched the woman turn as though in a daze and begin searching through a filing cabinet with student records. "Impressive," Tall Boy said, seeing she'd inherited her mother's knack for controlling people.

But Lane shrugged and leaned on the counter again. "Not really," she told him honestly. "It's easy when they're weak willed." The two shared a small smile as they waited, finding a strange familiarity in each other.

"I've got your schedule printed, there are a few more things to review with your father but you can go ahead to class."

Lane took the paper from her and looked it over seeing she was taking almost all of the same classes she'd done last year, the only difference were the electives and she was stuck with the ones the boys were in. She looked to Tall Boy who jerked his head toward the door, and with a nod she left him.

Walking the carelessly dirty halls she made her way to what was listed as first period. The teacher's apathetic lecture paused at the door opening and he took the slip she handed him to see she was a new student. By the time he looked at her again she was already sliding into the seat behind Sweet Pea. "Everyone welcome Ms Petite," he said in a dull tone. No one did, so he continued the lesson.

She sat with her cheek in hand looking miserably bored in every class as she listened to lectures she'd already heard before. Lunch came around just in time for her to start questioning whether she'd actually died and was stuck in purgatory.

Lane watched the lunch lady plop some soupy brown meat onto her tray along with a slice of wonderbread and Lane stared at it a moment before sighing dejectedly and taking it. Her eyes were trying to find any substance to the liquid as she walked through the cafeteria, looking up long enough to spot an empty table and head that way.

A rough hand wrapped around her waist herding her toward another, and as she sat beside Toni Sweet Pea took the seat across from her next to Fangs. "You too good for our food?" he asked as she poked at her tray with a fork.

"Yes," Lane answered without hesitation, looking up at his dark irritable eyes. "But to be fair, I was too good for what my old school served too."

The pink haired girl beside her hummed, glancing at her gloves and finding her odd. "A brown bag girl, you're one of those," she teased with a faint smile, seeing what might've been a flash of amusement in the other girl's pale eyes. "Toni Topaz," she stuck her hand out, "and yes, it is nice to meet me."

"I'll be the judge of that," Lane said pursing her mouth around a smile.

Across from her Fangs, who'd been watching her micro expressions to see there was in fact a person in there, piped in. "Now that we're all acquainted, how's your first day so far?"

Looking up from her milk, that Lane considered safe to drink, she turned to Fangs who wore a pleasant grin. "Well," she started ripping the carton open, "I was top of my class and in line to be valedictorian, and now I'm here repeating my sophomore year. So," she raised her milk as though to toast, "it's great."

The three watched her face immediately screw up after taking a drink as she realized it had soured. She spit it back into the carton and set it on her tray, then slouched with her cheek in hand looking as miserable as she had all day. Only now Sweet Pea, who she was stuck sitting behind, understood why she kept sighing.

"Why are you enrolled as a sophomore?" Toni asked, tracing the planes of her somber face.

"Tall Boy wanted someone looking after me and these are the only friends I've made," she answered waving a hand between Fangs and Sweet Pea.

Sweet Pea promptly informed her, "we're not friends," not caring for the elbow Fangs jabbed in his side.

Lane sighed heavily. "That's what I said. Although," she looked up at Fangs, the only one so far to get her guard down enough to make her laugh, "you are my favorite."

Fangs shrugged feeling his mouth curl in a stupid grin and he worked his jaw trying to keep from showing it. "What about this guy?" he asked jabbing a thumb at a sullen Sweet Pea beside him.

"No," was Lane's quick answer. "I am all the asshole I can take."

Sweet Pea scowled while Fangs snorted, but Toni chuckled quietly telling Lane, "as long as you're aware." She looked from Lane's uncaring face to Sweet Pea's furious one and thought that if nothing else this would be amusing.

…

Scribbling the car's details on an order form Fangs ripped the sheet off the notepad and handed it to Sweet Pea. "Give this to Lane, would you."

With a frown Sweet Pea wiped his dirty hands on a rag. "Why can't you?" he asked, still bitter over what she'd said at lunch. But instead of answering Fangs set the paper down and walked away, forcing Sweet Pea to get over it. Which he did unhappily with a growl as he stalked to the back office. But he stilled in the doorway at Lane's broken face as she sat staring at the edge of the computer lost in thought, and he hesitated contemplating making Fangs deal with it because he was better at these kinds of things.

"Do you think by standing there mouth breathing and reeking of diesel you're not interrupting me?"

Scoffing unamused he shook any lingering thoughts of her as he stepped forward shoving the paper at her. And he stepped back watching her glance it over before pulling a contact list out of the desk, making the mistake of sticking around long enough to hear her quiet sniff. Her entire world had been upended, he had to remind himself that and as frustrating as he found her she was grieving – whether or not she was acknowledging it.

With a rush of heat swelling in his chest he moved around the desk and stood looking down at the top of her head finding her small by comparison. Almost timidly he reached a hand to her thin shoulder, and he expected to feel her flinch or to jerk away or to say something biting because she was hurting too much to say anything else. What he felt was her take a small breath and then the soft brush of leather as she gently held his hand.

They stayed that way for a few quiet moments but her eyes were flooding and she was so tired of this feeling. "Can you go now?" she asked in a soft voice laced with the tears she refused to shed.

In a quiet breath he answered, "yeah." It was a relief to get away from her, he didn't know her. But as he stepped back into the garage he looked at her over his shoulder seeing her reaching for the phone, intent on pretending she was fine. He didn't like her and he wasn't sure if he ever would, all he knew was he didn't like seeing her cry.

.^.

A week passed without further event. No sign of anyone coming after her, Fangs and Sweet Pea stuck close to her in school keeping unwanted eyes off her, she'd been convinced to come to the Wyrm and she usually kept to herself at the bar talking to Toni and Fangs who eventually always ended up at her side with Sweet Pea usually not far behind. It almost felt normal as the Serpents got used to this strange girl they harbored.

Lane stood at her locker storing the books for the last half of the day and only grabbing what she'd need before lunch. Her back straightened at the sudden sense that she was surrounded, and she stilled at the feeling of someone tugging on her hair. She could feel his malice burn along her roots.

"Anyone tell you what we do to snakes who wander from the pack?" asked a cruel boy in a hushed voice as he wrapped her hair around his finger. She was a pretty little thing with the greenest eyes, and he and his boys had been waiting to get her away from the two that guarded her. But she turned to him and her eyes were black, and it was like the world fell away and he was left with a sharp ringing in his ear. And beneath that he swore he could hear the rattle of a snake.

"Shit," Fangs muttered when he saw a group of Ghoulies had cornered Lane. He turned to get Sweet Pea's attention but he was already charging forward, fury etched in his features. But they both stopped short at seeing Lane smile. It wasn't a pretty smile, it looked like it'd been carved on her face. They watched her say something to him, and then as if in a daze he slowly turned and slammed his head into a locker.

The other four Ghoulies watched him slump to the ground unconscious and turned back to the girl who calmly looked between them. She stepped forward and they recoiled as though they'd been burned, and it curled a terrible grin on her face as she casually walked away. "Hello boys," she greeted the two gaping boys in a low almost sultry voice as she moved between them.

Their heads turned to watch her pass and they both blinked feeling a similar heat in the pit of their stomachs that had their breaths growing short. As she disappeared in the crowded hallway Sweet Pea and Fangs shared a wide eyed look, wondering who the hell she was.