Disclaimer: See Introduction
"Were you able to find out more from Hecate?"
Ada hadn't even closed the door behind her when Alma posed the question. Her tone a tad more tense than Ada liked.
"A bit." She answered. "Has Mrs Hardbroom been here already?"
"MISS Hardbroom." Alma corrected her mockingly. "She is something, that is clear. Her behaviour was quiet…" Alma pondered how to describe Lilith´s peculiar etiquette. "…let´s say indifferent towards the information about her daughter, and ominous in general."
"She believed you?"
Alma´s lips tightened into a thin line.
"I am not sure. She seemed suspicious, but it could have been her normal demeanour. This woman didn't bat an eye when I alluded to it being strange that such a young child would run away from home."
Ada couldn't hold back an angry frown. She was glad that she hasn't been the one who had had to talk to Hecate´s mother. She wasn't sure if she would have been able to keep her cool. Though Ada might be known for being the nice one, what was not that widely spread but still very true, was that she could be very temperamental and passionate when it came to protecting family, friends and her charges. In those situations she could be just as volatile as her twin.
"What did Hecate tell you?"
Ada huffed.
"Told me? She showed me things that…you wouldn't believe it. It was…marvellous but sickening at the same time. "
"What do you mean?" Alma asked, curiously with furrowed eyebrows.
"She teleported effortlessly, veiled herself perfectly and she showed impressive strength when she threw Agatha two meters into the air, holding her there and then catching her when she fell down."
Alma cut her off with a waving hand. "Agatha?"
"Don't worry, Mother. I told her Hecate was the sister of a student."
Alma´s shoulders sagged in frustration and she sighed.
"Let us just hope that she won´t tell anyone."
"Agatha won't remember she met the girl by this evening."
Ada tried to calm her mother´s nerves, but in the back of her head a seed of doubt was sawn. What if her twin didn't forget about it and blabbered about Hecate to her friends? She shuddered, thinking about the consequences.
"Those are impressive powers, Ada. It isn't normal, you know that as well as I do."
"You haven't heard the best part yet, Mother." Ada said quietly. With a click of her fingers both witches were once again covered by a silencing spell.
"She shape shifted"
"She WHAT?!"
Alma clasped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed about her outburst. Shape shifting? Veiling and transferring? What kind of spells were these to teach a child. Besides the obvious misconduct regarding the Witches Code, something nagged at Alma in the back of her mind.
"Yes, she shape shifted into me. Right in front of my eyes, Mother." Ada reported, gesturing excitedly. Her eyes were showing the worry she felt though. "Mother, this child is talented and powerful, but the things she can do and the way she does them… something is not right about it. She couldn't maintain the shifting for more than a few seconds and she was distraught about it. Fearful even, that she hadn't fulfilled the expectations of…someone. Her mother I would assume, and the Council. She said something about a minimum time frame for maintaining spells"
"What was the expected time limit?"
"Five minutes."
"Mh…." Alma felt like the puzzle to solve this was just around the corner, but she just couldn't reach it. It was tickling her brain, an unbearable itch, that couldn't be scratch.
"She held the other spells effortlessly, though." Ada added. "I would guess that the shape shifting spell was a new one for her."
Silence descended upon them. Both witches were in deep thoughts, trying to make any sense of the new information they now had.
Suddenly Ada looked around herself and frowned.
"Did you feel that?" she shivered and Alma followed her example and also looked around, not seeing anything of interest.
"What?"
"AS if someone had walked over my grave."
Alma rolled her eyes, sighing in relief that I it wasn't anything serious her daughter had felt.
"You know that that is just superstition and we don't believe in that, right?"
"We don't?" Ada smirked with raised eyebrows, remembering her mother´s fear of walking underneath ladders and always knocking three times on wood when she said something forebodingly negative. The stern look she received from Alma, kept her from commenting anything further.
"Be it as it may, Ada. We need to make a decision here. We can´t keep the child hidden indefinitely."
"We can´t?"
"Ada!"
"Ok, ok. I understand where you are coming from, but you need to understand too, that I will not make Hecate go back to that place she, actually doesn't, call home."
Alma said nothing, looking at her daughter rather curiously. Ada has always been protective of weaker people, but this was different. She was invested. Personally.
"This leaves us with only one choice." The headmistress finally stated. "We need to find out what is happening at the Council and what they need Hecate for and what her mother has to do with it all." Her eyes narrowed and her gaze became harder. "And then we will take this to the Great Witch herself."
Ada´s lips formed a "O" in surprise but no tone came out. Now she knew that her mother must have really disliked Lilith Hardbroom.
Meanwhile in Ada´s room…
"Well met, Mother." Hectae whispered, scrambling up to her feet and bowing deeply. She stayed in that bow with practised patience, until her mother would allow her to rise again. This time the release didn't come very quickly. The girl could feel her mother´s eyes roaming over her body and finally boring into her head.
"What are you wearing?"
Hectae took the question as her cue to straighten again, still keeping her eyes on the floor. It wasn't polite to look someone older and stronger in the eye, her mother had explained to her once.
"I believe, it is the Cackles uniform." She answered politely. She heard the scoff her mother let out and felt her presence coming closer to her. It was always the coldness her mother brought with her that scared her the most. It penetrated her bones and it felt like it changed something deep inside her. The snow outside had been nothing compared to that.
Lilith regarded her daughter for another few seconds and finally spoke again.
"I spoke to the headmistress. It seems that you have acted convincingly. She told me you ran away again."
Hecate didn't answer. When she thought of Alma and Ada lying for her, something pinched her painfully inside her chest, taking her breath away.
"However…"
Hectae blanched. This was not good. She must have done something to displease her mother already.
"You were expected to keep in touch. Why did I have to make contact with you?"
"Well…I haven't been alone yet. I would have tried before, but there was no opportunity."
Suddenly Hecate felt her body go rigid. She couldn't move a muscle, everything was frozen, even her lungs. No breath was able to enter her body and she felt panic rising inside of her, but she fought it. It wasn't the first time her mother had used the immobilizing spell on her. She only hoped that Alma and Ada wouldn't feel the chill that usually spread through the whole room when her mother used that particular method of discipline.
"YOU are a witch." Lilith growled. "You are MY daughter and I hope that I taught you well enough for you to be smart enough to find a way to contact me. A witch MAKES things go her way, Daughter. Don't ever forget that, or there will be consequences."
Suddenly Hecate was released from the spell and she drew in a deep breath. Don't show any fear, she thought and simply nodded her head in understanding.
If Hecate had looked up at this moment, she would have seen a sneer contorting her mother´s facial features.
"Now, tell me again; what is your task here?"
Hecate cleared her throat before speaking timidly.
"To gather information about the Cackle Academy. To find things that will hurt the Academy."
Just when the last word left her lips, she felt a magic push knock her out of balance slightly. She tried to remember if she forgot anything but she still felt so very exhausted from the earlier performed shape shifting spell that her brain refused to work quickly enough for her mother.
"You are to gather information about the Cackle FAMILY!" Lilith´s voice boomed all around Hecate.
"Yes, Mother. I am sorry."
Lilith suddenly stepped back and her face became neutral again.
"Don't forget the rules, Daughter."
"Never reveal your powers." Hecate recited automatically.
"Precisely." Lilith agreed and raised her hand. "Don´t ever forget that I am close by keeping an eye on your progress."
And with that, Hecate found herself back in Ada´s bright room and warmth flooded her again.
When Ada and her mother came in only a short moment later, Hecate felt that strange pain in her chest again.
"Dear, where did Pandle go?" Ada asked, looking around for her Familiar. Hecate followed her lead and in fact, couldn't spot the cat either. Thankfully, before she needed to find a suitable lie, Pandle crawled from underneath the bed, meowing loudly and making a beeline to the door.
"I guess he had enough of playing with dolls." Alma laughed, but Ada couldn't help but frown at her Familiars behaviour. Turning back to Hecate, Ada was surprised to see concern and fear in her face. And something she couldn't put her finger on yet.
"Don't worry." She smiled at the girl. "He will be back. He can´t hold a grudge."
Hecate didn't answer but started to shuffle her feet nervously. Something was not quiet right here, Ada thought, but there would be time for this later.
"Let us sort out your bedroom, shall we?"
My bedroom?" Hecate asked, her expression changing into something akin to wariness.
"Yes, darling. We can´t have you stealing Ada´s bedroom, can we?"
"I would never…." Hecate´s horrified expression spurred Ada on to interrupt this line of conversation.
"My mother is just joking, Hecate. We simply thought you would be more comfortable in your own bedroom."
"Can´t I stay with you?" Hecate asked worriedly.
Alma looked from the child to her daughter and the moment she saw the soft expression on Ada´s face, she knew that the fight was over before it even began. With a swing of her arm, a pink canopy bed appeared in the corner of the room and the still perfectly formed mountain of toys transferred on top of it.
To be continued...
