It was late. The city lights were the only thing lighting up the darkness so she could find her way out. She was running fast, the autumn leaves crunching with each fast step she took. Someone, or rather something was after her and she couldn't figure what. She looked back behind her to see the dark figure getting closer and closer the faster she went, there was just no way out. She stopped and faced the dark figure and held out her hand. The ground started shaking as vines started to attack the figure. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two people on her right and one on her left. She didn't see their faces but she knew they were there to help. With their forces combined he just vanished, and so did the other girls next to her. She turned as she heard layered whispers from three different voices, "Find us."
A deep breath emerged from her lungs as she woke up. With her eyes still closed, she tried to sit up but hit her head on the ceiling instead as she realized she had started flying in her sleep, "What the hell?" she lowered herself back down as she rubbed her head. Once she was grounded she turned on the lamp next to her bed and started writing down her dream. She started keeping this journal of dreams once they started. Whenever those dreams came, it had the same set of three women with her and she couldn't figure it out. Sometimes she wondered if they were even real. But when it comes to the magic, things are pretty real. Also, she wasn't even the girl running, so who was the girl?
Once she finished writing she looked at the time on her phone that read seven thirty in the morning. She got up and got dressed. Once she was done with that she picked up Caeil, her fat white cat, and brought him into the kitchen with her so she could feed him. She got the food down and put it in his bowl. She made a cup of coffee and sat down at the bar in her kitchen. She tried taking a sip, but it was too hot. She whipped her finger around the top of the coffee before taking another sip, "That's better, you go Tara." yes, she just talked to herself.
Taking a look around her house she started feeling overwhelmed by all the packed boxes. She had recently moved to Salem for a job opportunity with printmaking and just didn't have the time, or rather motivation, to unpack them. They'd been sitting around in all their correct rooms for about a week and a half, still, nothing unpacked except her spell/potion room and over half her bedroom. At least she had that, right?
She looked down at her cat who was purring around her ankles, "Do you think I should be productive today and go to the store? I think I should just stay home and watch tv all day." she picked him up and brought him up to her nose, "Don't you agree?" she hugged him and then she put him down. Se got up to get her laptop to start watching Netflix before she turned into a puff of wind and was teleported. She didn't have control over what was happening, she just knew that she was being taken somewhere. Once she was returned to human form she saw three other women before her. They all just stood there looking at each other in silence. That was before a woman spoke from the darkness around them, "I have summoned you four here because it is time for you to fulfill your destinies." They each heard her heels click on the floor with each step as she got closer. The woman snapped and the lights turned on and she was revealed. She walked in front of them and stared for a few seconds before speaking, "I can't believe you're all actually here, together."
They all looked around at each other once more with a questioning look. Apparently the woman noticed because she answered all of their questions, "You may be wondering who I am, and who the others are." she paused and during that pause the darker haired brunette spoke with an irritated tone, "What else would we be wondering." the blue-eyed blonde laughed a little and so did the brown eyed one. The blonde lady before them rolled her eyes, "Miss Prentiss, you don't have to be so rude you know?" Prentiss laughed sarcastically and then got serious as she looked at the woman, "It's Emily"
The lady nodded and then continued, "Okay, Emily." she paused more quickly this time, "I am Erin Strauss but you can just call me Erin. I am the head witch on the witches council. We have been watching you all for years waiting for the time to bring you together. You ladies are the only perfect matches for the elements." she pointed to Each of them going down the line, "Earth, Wind, Fire, Water." she gulped loudly, "You four are the first true pairing since 1807 and if time serves right, there is something coming for you all and you need to work together to stop it."
Tara stepped up, "So you're saying that in our entire lives we have never met each other and now you expect us to beat this larger evil together?" Erin nodded looking surprised at the question, "Yes." Tara knew this was related to her dreams. She didn't fully trust any of these people around her but for some reason, she knew she needed to stay no matter how crazy it sounded. She stepped back in the line they had made and Erin spoke again, "You all need to get to know each other so introduce yourselves. Once you are done you'll be transported to your new home. Before you say anything, all your cats and belongings are already set up and ready. The girls looked confused until it hit them all that magic was involved.
Erin walked away and it was just the four of them. The brown-eyed blonde spoke first, "I'm Penelope Garcia and my element is earth." she wooshed her hands together to form a flower for each of them. Once she was done, the next one spoke, "I'm Tara Lewis and my element is air." It was hot in the place they were in so she whipped around a small gust of wind to help. The other blonde smile, "Thanks for that. I'm Jennifer Jareau but please call me JJ. My element is water." she formed a ball of water and then threw it at the brunette next to her because she read minds and knew it wouldn't phase her. The brunette was soaked and frustrated. She started heating up and the water on her had turned to steam and then she was dry. She formed a flame in her hand and threw it at JJ, well failed to as JJ blocked it with a ball of water. They both laughed, "I was mad, but that was pretty good Jareau." Emily formed a large flame in the shape of a phoenix, "I'm assuming after that you all know my element is fire. Also, I'm Emily." The Phoenix went away and the laughing died down. They all stood there before they all transported once again. Before they knew it, they were in a house, a house they assumed was now theirs.
They were put in a hallway and all of a sudden four doors opened, with two doors on each side. The girls moved together slowly looking into the doors. Once they each realize whose was whose, they explored. Garcia's was and earthly pink, a mixture of all sorts of colors, and a wooden headframe. She couldn't believe her eyes. The bed had a pink flower comforter and there was a desk with tons of computers. She nearly freaked. They sent over all of her tech stuff plus more. Her clothes were all in her new walk-in closet and everything she normally used in the bathroom was there. She's the kind to only use magic if it's needed so sometimes she forgets that it exists. That kind of worried her, the fact that she was part of this huge thing whether she liked it or not and she wasn't super strong in her powers like she thought she needed to be. As a kid she was taught use her brain because her parents didn't want her to use her powers for everything, so she taught herself to code and can hack into almost anything. She looked around and realized that someone was missing, she rechecked her closet and found her. On a pink pillow, Terra, her cat was lying asleep underneath all her clothes. Penelope stood back and smiled before letting her girl be and heading to the corner in her room to look and study spells and potions.
Right next to her was JJ. The blonde looked in her room and almost gasped. There was an ever-flowing waterfall she had constant access to that was right next to the entrance to the bathroom. The bathroom wasn't much and neither was the closet, but that's what she expected and at least she had a bathroom and closet. Her bed, on the other hand, she didn't like major bed frames so it was simply on a metal one. But the Carpet was a dark grey and the comforter was a navy blue with grey and white throw blankets and an assortment of accented pillows because the girl loves some pillows. Laying at the corner of her bed on a white bed was her black kitty named Aqua. She was new and JJ just recently got her, when she saw her, she just knew she had to have her. Diagonal from JJ and across from Garcia was Emily's room. It was simple like her. A white comforter and white pillows, brown walls and beige carpet. She had her nonchalant fire decorations that just oddly fit, but it was in her closet where everything else was. She mainly had an assortment of black clothes and she had tons but she folded some so she could have space for her spells and potions. As per usual, she went into her bathroom to find her orange cat Ignis in the bathtub. She never understood why he liked it there but she never messed with it.
Next to her was Tara. Her room was all white and grey theme. Very bright. Tara loved sunlight and whoever decorated their rooms caught what she loved so perfectly. The walls were white and her comforter was very light blue. There was a huge window and she could see birds flying up. Like Garcia, she used a corner as well for her spells and potions so that was where it was needed since she didn't have another room like at her apartment. She couldn't find her cat so she looked under her bed, as soon as her head peeked she saw Caeli under there just chilling. She grabbed him and set him on her bed and he fell asleep shortly after that. Once she checked everything out she went out into the hallway to see if anyone else wanted to check out the rest of the house.
No one was out there so she knocked on Garcia's door, "Hey, wanna check out the rest of the house?" there was some silence until she heard some clicking and footsteps before the door opened, "Sure" Garcia walked into the hallway and shut her door. As they were about to check, JJ and Emily hurried up out of their rooms oddly and the same time in front of them and yelled, "No, wait." they looked at each other because they synchronized without trying. After getting over that they turned back to the other two. JJ held out her hand, "If Em is thinking the same thing as me then take my hand." she looked at Emily and the brunette nodded. All of them held hands in a circle and closed their eyes. Penelope and Tara didn't know what was happening until it happened. Their minds started going down the hallway they were in. Room by room and step by step. All their minds were as if they were one. It was so clear in their minds as if they were walking in the house singularly. Once they finished and made it back to where they were standing, they broke apart. Garcia looked super hyped, "Okay, what was that and how did you guys know that would happen?" Tara agreed, "No kidding." Emily and JJ smiled at each other before Emily spoke, "I don't know how JJ knew but I've read about it in my readings and it says that the true four can connect and do things many cannot. If it wasn't proven to me before that we are all supposed to do something, it is now." JJ chimed in and added, "I heard from stories my mom and grandma used to tell me as a kid. I never believed it until now. One thing though, if that's true then so is the rest of the story."
"Why don't we go downstairs and I'll make everyone some tea." everything was starting to connect in Tara's head and she knew that JJ would help. Everyone headed downstairs and she put the water on the kettle. While they were waiting JJ started telling the story while sitting at the bar with the others, "She always told this tale about four witch friends who each had a power of the four major elements. Water, fire, earth, and wind. They met around our ages and had to start training for a battle against 'the dark man'. I don't think that's its actual name because my grandma wanted to make sure I wasn't scared, but anyways in every story, they defeated it. She always made sure to tell me that they did it together and if they tried alone they would all die." the tea kettle started whistling and Tara got up to pour the tea. Emily just looked at JJ with no hope, "That's reassuring." JJ just ignored her and Tara turned around floating each mug on a gust of wind setting one in front of them without spilling anything. JJ smiled, "Thanks." Emily was silent and just nodded while Garcia smiled larger in happiness because she found others powers so cool and interesting, "That's SO cool." Tara smiled in reply, "Thanks." before returning to JJ, "Did your grandma ever say what happened to the witches after?" JJ took a sip of her hot tea before answering, "Yes, she said they went to go on to fight bigger evils and protecting the world."
Tara took a sip of her own, "Did they die saving others?" JJ looked up at the woman in front of her and cleared her throat, "Honestly, I don't know." Garcia tried to make it less harsh buy growing a lemon tree. She picked a lemon off, "Do we have any knives?" Tara pulled one out of a random drawer and handed it to her, "Here you go." Garcia smiled, "Thanks, anyone want any lemon?" everyone nodded a yes. Emily had some knowledge to Tara's answer but she didn't know if she should say anything or not. JJ kicked her leg and she knew she had to know. How the hell did JJ know what she was saying anyway? What a minute, it dawned on the brunette. She held one hand and did a mind block spell on herself. Shortly after, right before JJ was about to take a drink, Emily heated up her tea. The anticipation of seeing JJ burn her tongue for what she did earlier was making the time go by so much slower. Right before JJ took a drink she realized that she wasn't hearing Emily's thoughts anymore so she froze. Garcia and Tara were looking at her, "You okay JJ?" suddenly she knew what had happened so as she took a small tiny sip of her overly heated tea, she made sure a little bit. But as she took a drink she made a lot of Emily's end up on her shirt.
Everything happened so fast that Emily barely knew what happened. Even with the mind block, the blonde was still always one ahead of her. She tried to mentally dehydrate her, not kill her, but at least try to one-up her...that didn't work. That was the day that Emily realized that she couldn't win against everyone and that this woman before her only made her a better witch, all of them did. She cooled down and just let it be. Tara handed her a towel to clean up the liquid. Once Emily dried up as much as she could with the towel, she did the rest on her own. As soon as she finished up she spoke, "Before JJ ruined my favorite shirt, I was going to say that my grandmother told me about other aspects of the story." JJ rolled her eyes, " it's not ruined because you dried it yourself so it didn't have time to stain, plus you're wearing black." Emily rolled her eyes before realizing that everyone was waiting for her to continue. She moved her mug over and sat her elbow on the counter, "In my version, it was the same except there was a fifth who controlled the darkness and she fell before she got a chance to meet us and before you ask, by 'fall' I mean the evil took her first. As for your question Tara, the witches don't die for someone else because they end up fully fulfilling their destiny and having families. Now I'm wondering if my grandmother sugar coated that since my childhood was pretty rough because that sounds too good to be true the more I think about it. Also, the future can change."
Garcia quickly intervened, "Don't say that, I think witches like us deserve to be happy in the end for what we're supposedly doing. I think we'll get there." Tara laughed at the optimism, "Yeah right, the world isn't like that." she sipped her tea and looked at the optimistic blonde. Garcia rolled her eyes and looked around at them, "You guys will see, I promise." little did they know that she could see the past AND the future. From what she could see, things were going to be okay for now. What really worried her was the fact that she couldn't see what they were going against, she could feel some power blocking it from her mind and it was not good.