Savanna looked to Scarlet and sheepishly smiled as she closed the door behind her stepping back into the club. "He gave you a penny?"
Savanna soon feared she had done something wrong, and slowly nodded. "Yeah… he said it was his 'lucky' penny and it got him lucky with girls so he gave it to me…"
Scarlet gave her a slight scowl and then grabbed her wrist and put her hand to Savanna's. Closing her eyes Scarlet began probing Savanna's whole body, even the unmentionable areas, causing a slight flutter in her heart and a horrible awkward blush. She was afraid to ask what Scarlet was doing or why.
After a few more moments of probing and poking and prodding, Scarlet finally opened her eyes and nodded, "You're clean, sweetheart. He thankfully didn't do anything to you."
Savanna bit her lip slightly raising an eyebrow, unsure of how to feel. Pleased? Relieved? What was she to say? 'Thank you?'
Scarlet gave her a soft smile and gently brushed her cheek, "Go with the other girls, you're safe."
Feeling more than just comforted by the words, Savanna hurried to the doors where the others waited. Jessica and Stephanie were waiting for her. They were younger girls, like her. But they had been with the Covenant for longer than she had. Savanna had little more than a few months of training under her belt. Before that she only dabbled in simple magic, like making a feather float.
They quickly wrapped their arms with hers and walked with her out to the van. Of course, there were photographers taking pictures at such a god awful late hour in the night.
They'd undoubtedly be in the local colleges paper as the photographers were, again, undoubtedly college students.
Savanna climbed in after Jessica and rested her purse on her lap waiting for Stephanie. She waited, and waited, and eventually poked her head out to see what was wrong. "Steph?"
"Get back inside." The usually calm and cool young woman was scowling and looked ready to rip the head off a bulldog.
Madison climbed into the fan a moment later with a slightly torn shirt and skirt. She sat down next to Savanna and grinned. She had obviously had her fun with someone.
Stephanie got in after Madison into the seat in front of them and closed the van door before barking at the driver.
The ride back to the covenant was long and silent. Madison was the only one that seemed chipper. She had a grin on her face the whole way home. Then again why wouldn't she? She was the only one to get anything out of the whole experience except for a frightful scare.
Savanna had nearly screamed when she saw the Wizard leap over the side only to grab the railing. He was quite acrobatic… and strong. The thought alone made her smile slightly causing Madison to nudge her. "You saw a hot boy?"
Turning away she violently blushed at the thought of saying anything, and the smile was quickly choked off by fear. What if someone realized she was thinking about the Wizard?
"Oh c'mon Savanna, tell us what le looked like?" She nudged again, almost greedily demanding the details, leaning in too close.
Savanna was more than happy when the Van came to a stop and it was time to pile out because she was then able to escape their prying eyes and questions.
Madison, however, didn't want to let Savanna leave. She turned to face her and blocked the exit, cornering both her and Jessica. "You have to tell me or I won't let you out"
The dread and worry that she'd be caught began to boil up inside of her. She could tell that the blood was draining from her face. Her legs began shivering alongside her spine. Madison had mystical knowledge beyond that of Savanna and would more than likely get the knowledge she wanted simply by forcing her to talk.
She had no idea as to what punishment they would give her for even so much as speaking with a Wizard, let alone working with one.
Shaking her head vigorously, Savanna bit her bottom lip leaning away as Madison leaned in, grinning with wide eyes.
She got close enough for Savanna to almost see the magic in her eyes, to see the runes dancing.
"MADISON!" the invasive probing of those eyes was sharply terminated as Madison turned frowning.
Scarlet was standing outside the van glaring in Madison with arms crossed beneath her chest. She was not leaning onto one foot tapping the other, she didn't have her hands on her hips with an eyebrow raised. She was standing, with her eyes set and her breath, steady heavy and slow. She looked like a mad bull ready to barrel into the van after the elder sister.
"Get inside!" Scarlet barked it with such force and so spontaneously, that everyone inside the van jumped. Everyone jumped, except for Madison.
The elder sister glanced back to Savanna before scowling slightly and turning back to the door to crawl out and flip her hair at Scarlet before heading into the house.
Scarlet was near stepping on Madison's heals the whole way to the front door.
Savanna just had enough time to peer out the side of the van to see the front double doors slam shut and the screaming to commence. And when Scarlet screamed, it wasn't something to be taken lightly.
"What happened?"
Stephanie gave Savanna a helping hand out of the van as she still wasn't used to climbing in and out of the thing in a dress. "Madison broke a house rule."
An unfamiliar chill ran up her spine at that moment. Something told her that Madison may have tangled with a Wizard… but then why would she be grinning? "Which one?"
"None of your business Savanna. Go in through the kitchens and straight to bed with you." Stephanie made her orders clear, but she hardly snapped them.
Savanna nodded and hooked her purse on her elbow and then took Jessica's offered hand and walked to the side entrance with her older sister as an escort.
The side entrance had a small walkway that the chef's and delivery drivers used. The head chef, Maurice, was already up with his morning coffee and slowly sipping from the steaming cup. He was leaning back against the wall with his freshly cleaned white apron tied to his massive barrel chest and beer gut.
He was not a fat man, and neither did he wear the weight on his face. He had a strong massive jaw and finely trimmed and thin goatee lining his lips and chin. His black hair was peppered with strands of silver or grey as he was slowly advancing in age.
Upon noticing the two girls walking towards the kitchens, Maurice swallowed what coffee he had been sipping, stood a little straighter and shook off what he could of the morning haze that affected all at such an early hour. Clearing his throat, and quite loudly, he lightly bowed his head closing his eyes. "Ladies"
Turning to the kitchen doors he gripped the small knob with his massive meaty hand and twisted the jammed door with one attempt, of which it would usually take a normal sized man several attempts, and then opened the door for them to head inside.
"Thank you, Maurice."
Savanna thanked him in turn, "Thank you most kindly, Maurice."
Maurice gave Savanna a soft smile that he never gave any of the other girls.
He was very loving and fatherly, but hardly as much to the other girls as he was to Savanna. Her very first day at the house, she had been so frightened and nervous that she had lain awake for most of the night until she decided it best to get a breath of fresh air. She had yet to go through initiation or get all of her orientation completed and had to begin showcasing her pathetic skills in front of a house full of girls that were well beyond her in skill and technique. It was hard enough to keep her heart steady and calm, let alone sleep.
Sure enough, as Savanna made her way down the stairs and through the kitchen to the gardens, Maurice had been waiting for her. He had been waiting with a warm cup of chocolate. It was also her favorite kind. How the man had found out she loved hot dark chocolate was still a mystery to her, but she had spent the entire night, sitting and chatting with him. He had listened and comforted her and even told her stories as to when he was a young apprentice in the kitchens and Scarlet was the inexperienced new girl.
The old man had calmed and eased her nerves enough for her to sleep, and by the time morning had arrived, she had fallen asleep, curled up on the bench they had been sitting upon with a warm blanket and pillow he had brought with him.
Of course, Maurice didn't give as much time to her as he used to. He would sit up at night with her in the gardens and chat with her whenever she had an issue to resolve, and it always seemed as if he was always awake when she was worried. It was as if he knew when she needed his help.
Unfortunately, she wasn't sure if she could trust him that night. For betraying the secret of having spoken with a Wizard, to even working in conjunction with one was considered a high crime in the Witching community.
Jessica led Savanna through the dark, bleach-reeking kitchen on the way through to the second stairs leading to the dorms.
Even after only passing through the heavy double doors into the breakfast nook, which was at the very back of the house next to the gardens, they could hear Scarlet screaming at Madison. The words were far too muffled to understand what was being said, but they could tell that it wasn't pleasant.
Jessica hurried Savanna past the long table to the stairs and up the two rounded flights to the dorms. Most of the girls' doors were closed and some had clothing sticking out from under them.
Typically, the sisters were messy. "Come on now, we can't be late for bed or Scarlet will have all our heads."
Savanna lifted her feet one at a time and slipped off her low heels so that she could tiptoe down the rug hallway to her room.
Jessica split off when she got to her door and then waved Savanna on to her own. Savanna hardly had any reason to act like a sloth or take her time.
Opening her dorm room door she slipped inside and closed it behind her, leaving her in the silence and quiet of her thoughts. Those, however, were hardly comforting. The covenant was in trouble. A Wizard was trying to corrupt them from the inside, and Scarlet was on the rampage. How was she to save her sisters when she couldn't even save or believe her self?
Sighing and sliding down the door to the floor, Savanna pulled her knees to her chest and rested her forehead to her knees. She wasn't strong enough or smart enough to handle it all on her own. Even the Wizard seemed uncertain of himself. What were they to do?
"Sleep", that was what her father always told her, she had to allow herself to sleep and dream. "Dreams are where the mind solves the problems our waking minds cannot work to a solution."
Groaning and pushing to her feet she shuffled over to her closet and unzipped her dress tossing her shoes into her closet. Dropping her skirt, bra, and panties to the floor she then grabbed her night gown from her dresser and slipped it on and pulled her hair out from the collar.
Sleeping into her warm bed, the dark warmth of sleep soon became an inviting friend to her. Tense muscles relaxed to the point of dead weight and her eyelids began to draw closed.
No sooner had she closed her eyes, did she snap them open. She could have sworn she had heard something, possibly even her name being called.
Slipping from her bed and sliding on her slippers she shuffled to her bedroom door and opened it a crack to peer out. Nothing, all the doors were closed, including Madison's. She must have silently crept back up to her room. Turning back she saw from her night stand clock that it had been an hour since she had slipped into bed. Apparently Madison had gone back up to her room a while ago.
A light tapping at her window then caught her ear. It was near inaudible, but the slightest scratch was what grabbed her attention, and made her realized that the tapping existed.
Shuffling to the window and hugging her arms to her chest slightly shivering, she was surprised to find a small green cricket tapping it's leg against the glass on the outside.
Frowning, she touched her fingers to the window frame, teased a small amount of her magic into the wood paneling, and then gently lifted the window just enough to fit her hand under and flick the cricket away.
"No Wai-" before she could stop herself, she had flicked the tiny voiced cricket off the window sill, causing it to scream as it fell down into the bushes below. "AIEEEEEEEE!"
Covering her mouth in sheer shock to have even met a cricket that could talk, let alone scream, she quickly hurried to her dorm room door, peered outside, and then rushed down the hallway hoping nobody would hear her moving about.
Heading down the secondary steps into the breakfast nook, she was very quiet and very careful as to not cause the window pane door to creek on its hinges as she made her way out into the gardens.
Pausing, she peered around the tall bushes to see if Maurice was sitting on his bench, as per his usual precognitive appearances. Thankfully, he wasn't there.
Tiptoeing across the dew cold grass, Savanna got down onto her hands and knees near the bottom of the bushes by her window and began searching for the small bug. "Cricket?" she whispered as she tried to peer through the tangle of branches, dead leaves, and shrubbery. "Cricket, where are you?"
A tiny, high-pitched moan escaped near the top within the leaves. Getting up onto her knees, Savanna gently pushed aside the branches to find a small green cricket lying on its back with its many appendages twitching in the air and it's antennas off askew. "I think I bruised my mandibles" the voice sounded like that of a small man on helium, it was adorably high and tiny.
"Awe, you poor thing."
"Poor?" The small cricket groaned as it frantically thrashed its legs in the air before correcting itself. It then shook its head and flicked it's antennas to right. "I am not Poor!" The small bug slowly stood taller as if trying to puff out a chest it didn't have. "I am a Wizard!"
Near shrieking from fright, Savanna slapped her hands over the leaf, catching the small insect, and quickly silencing it. She could hear his muffled screaming and wild frantic jumping; tickling her hands in the process "let me out!"
He creaked and chirped as a cricket would and bounced against her hands tickling her, almost causing her to giggle.
Quickly hurrying back to the gardens and the breakfast nook doors, she ground to a halt as soon as she rounded the corner. Scarlet was standing with her hands on her hips and foot lightly tapping.
"What are you doing?"
Savanna paled at the sight of the older sister. How was she going to explain herself? How could she explain flicking a cricket/Wizard off her window sill and then running out to rescue him from her bushes? "I…"
"Well! Out with it!"
A small crowd was forming inside the nook and was looking out the windows to the small conflict taking place just outside. "I…"
"What is in your hands!?"
Before Savanna could have the chance to open them to show the leaping cricket, her hands were violently thrown apart and the cricket was launched from her hands.
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The magic that surrounded him in the darkness of the young Witches' hands was bright and powerful. It was amazing what a cricket could see. He was able to see in all forms of light, including the high infrared's and low lights.
The moment her hands opened, Ben jumped free from his confines, only to be blasted free from the release of magic. The extra momentum launched him through the air and into the brightness of the open light. His collision was with something wiry, but soft. The material was familiar.
Shaking his head and correcting his antennas from the wind-sweeping speed, Ben had the chance to focus his vision, and then freeze stiff.
He was on a woman's blouse… staring at her breasts. Slowly changing the focus of his eyes… he soon found himself to be staring up at the very woman that had let him go from the club the night before.
She was probably about as wide-eyed as he felt at that moment. Her face was paled, and she looked like she was ready to squash him.
"NO don't kill him!"
His antennas warned him of the rapid change in air pressure long before the hand got to her chest, and where he once had clung. Coiling up his legs he fire and released from her chest, jumping far from her, and missing her hand by scant inches. Thankfully, those scant inches, were near miles to a cricket of his size.
Landing in the long grass, Ben began a rapid and repetitive coil-and-release retreat of leaping towards the hedges in the gardens.
Mumbling under his small breath he couldn't help but comment to himself. "Thank god I didn't go as a mouse or I'd surely be broom fodder"
Landing in the shadowing safety of a bush, Ben hopped on the spot to turn and face the giant humans as they yelled at one another.
He couldn't quite make out their booming voices from the distance he sat at. Had he been in Human form he would have heard the conversation clear as a bell, but his sense of hearing was refined to the higher pitch to take the low rumble of the human throat. It was strange how he saw things so differently through a bug's eyes. It was only after transferring his consciousness into the form of a cricket that he started to finally understand how hard it was to be a bug and why Master Black enjoyed talking about wolves so much.
Unlike a wolf, a bug was a great deal smaller than a human, making the ordinary living world seem all that much larger. He couldn't just take one step and cover the lawn in a few strides. He had to leap several times in order to cover the same distance as a Cricket; making him thank the luck he found such a leaping marvel.
The young blonde girl was hanging her head slightly and nodding as the older, red-haired woman slowly approached and put her hand on the young blonde girls shoulder.
It was then that he realized that he needed to start getting names. Names would help him in the long run when explaining everything back to Council Master Lennon. It would be his first order of business once he got back to the girl.
As soon as they started heading for the door he began pouncing through the grass, spring-loading his legs and firing as fast as he could. He needed to get up the steps to the patio and through the doors before they closed.
He began springing his way across the stone pattern-work towards the glass doors and then dove through just as it was sliding closed. Skidding across the polished wooden floor he skidded to a halt and then hopped over to hide behind the table leg resting his own.
Watching the giants as they thundered through the room towards the rug stairs, both barefoot and comfy in slippers, one turned to the room and spoke in a higher tone that he was just barely able to catch.
"Did you hear that?"
His legs twitched, and it was only just then that he realized he was chirping.
Sitting slightly straighter he forced his legs to halt. It was reflex for a cricket to chirp in varying temperatures. It was something he'd have to watch out for. He didn't want to give away the fact that he had gotten into the house.
The red-haired woman turned back to the steps and slowly made her way up, pausing only to look back into the – what he could only guess to be – kitchen one last time before disappearing around the corner.
Ben eased his way around the table leg to look up to the girl. She too, was looking around the kitchen trying to find him. But she wasn't moving about the room, merely seeing if she could spot him from where she stood.
Hopping across the floor he leapt up and clung to her night gown as she turned to the stairs and started heading her way up.