Here's chapter 6, hope you enjoy! I do not own Stranger Things

This is going to be a lot of background on Odette since we don't know much about her time away from Eddie!

Odette

"What do you mean magic?" Lucas asks as Mike splutters indignantly across the room.

"I mean...I have certain abilities that attune me to...things..." Odette looks unsure "I'm not quite sure how to explain it in English" She says sheepishly.

"What difference does language make?!" Mike is groaning with his face in his hands. "I thought we saw all the crazy crap there was to see-"

"We haven't seen her do anything!" Lucas argues back, she can feel Will's eyes on her and she gives him a small smile. "I...I know it's hard to believe."

Will nods, "I've been kidnapped by a monster and the government tried to fake my death as a cover up...I have no room to talk." He gives her a cheeky grin "So is it like a wizard school?"

She giggles "A little? It's not like...exclusively about our abilities. We did ballet too" She rolls her eyes playfully as the boys scoff but lets it roll down her back.

1973

Odette held her Grandmother's hand tightly as they walked through the streets of New York, it was so crowded, she could hardly see past the tall heavily wrapped up people to see the skyscrapers around her. It was very cold, her little pink gloves weren't keeping the bite away totally as she was pulled up to a large grey building that had silhouettes of ballerinas lining the ground floor windows. She followed her inside curiously, knowing that she was being signed up for ballet classes.

"You'll do whatever your teachers ask of you Odette. Being a ballerina is hard work; but it's the most elegant thing a woman can do" Her grandmother had told her that morning as they bundled up to go out into the snow filled streets. As they stepped through the doors she felt warmth flood her skin, the smell of roses thick in the air.

"Can I help you?" A heavily accented voice asked from the front desk, Odette tried to peer over it but she was too small. She settled for listening to the low but warm voice of the woman with an accent. After her grandmother had filled out her papers the woman came around from behind the desk, kneeling before Odette so that they were looking one another in the eye. "You are Odette?"

"Yes ma'am" Odette took her in, she was very tall when she wasn't stooped over. Her long black hair was tied up in a long ponytail trailing from the top of her head and had a few strands of grey running through. Her skin was coffee colored with crinkles around her black lined eyes...Odette hoped she'd smiled a lot. Her lips were colored a dark red color and her eyes were a warm caramel color.

"I am Juliette Dubois, but you will call me Madame Dubois." She smiles warmly and stood, towering over her and her grandmother, she could see now that she was wearing a long dark green dress. She held out her coffee colored hands, adorned with multiple gold and silver rings, out to Odette. "We'll see what she can do, then we'll place her in a class. She will be finished at 6:30 this evening." Her tone is authoritative and for the first time, Odette's grandmother doesn't argue with someone, she simply leaves without another word. Odette nervously allowed herself to be pulled into the next room with Madame Dubois, she clutched her little pink dance bag that held her new ballet slippers inside as she walks nervously. But she isn't pulled into a dance hall first, instead it's a small blue room with two chairs on either side of a mahogany table. She climbs into one of the chairs as Madame Dubois perches herself on the edge of the other one. "Now, this will be a very simple test for you Odette, you'll just need to think of a memory. It could be your favorite, it could be something that happened this morning...but it must be very strong in your mind. Can you do this for me?"

Odette crinkles her nose slightly, not understanding but nods. She takes the older woman's outstretched hands and closes her eyes, thinking of her 6th birthday when Eddie had snuck her the last strawberry poptart in the house and had almost set the house aflame with the candle he'd precariously placed on top for her to blow out. She'd singed her carpet but the poptart had been wonderful and Eddie had gotten her a new coloring book for a present. One of the pages had already been colored...but she'd figured that it was a present from Eddie so he wanted to color it for her. She's still thinking about her coloring book when she hears Madame Dubois chuckle low in her throat. She opens her eyes to look at her.

"Is this your brother you were thinking of?"

"Yes ma'am" Odette nods "How did you know?"

"I could see it, he got you a coloring book did he not?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes ma'am...How did you see? Was it on a tv?" She looks around the room for a tv but the warm chuckle met her ears again. "No child, we'll explain later..." Madame Dubois next led her into a small room that looked like a dance studio. There were other little girls her age there. Each of them had on a small silver bracelet around their left wrist, on each one was a single white feather.

Odette

"So you went to a school for witchcraft?" Mike asks incredulously

"Yes...but it was also a ballet school." She bit her lip

"So can you cast fireball?!" Lucas grinned and she rolled her eyes "No. I...I left my school to come to Hawkins...so I'm not a fully fledged witch. I've got books...and spell components...but I don't do things like that. I'm much more well versed in divination, healing salves and...health stuff. It sounds a little lame compared to fireball" She sighs

"Why did you leave a magic school?!" Will asks, looking confused

"Well...the school was lovely...but home was awful. I lived with my grandmother and she's cruel and...I missed my brother. I hadn't seen him in so long...so it was a no brainer." She looked at her hands a little sadly "I miss the girls of course"

"Were there no guys there?" Lucas asks

"Well...there were...but Madame Dubois never had one that had abilities...it's rare in boys..." She shrugs, but allows her gaze to linger on Will for just a second longer.

"How can you tell?" Mike asks sounding like the shock had worn off and replaced with excitement.

"Well...when I was admitted they gave me the test right away...a potential witch will touch the skin of another witch...and think of something really hard. Like a memory...or a message. And if they're a witch the older one will be able to see it like it was their own." As she speaks she can almost feel their next question before it tumbles from Lucas's mouth. "Can you test us?!"

"ok" her heart pounded in her chest at the prospect. She felt a little lost, being all on her own for something so serious.

1978

Odette was now 11 years old and she'd been studying at Madame Dubois' ballet school for five years, she'd been taught every step they could give her and were now more working on lengthening her legs and straightening her posture...at least that's what her grandmother assumed. Odette was indeed learning ballet...but it wasn't her only subject in the school. She'd been given the test, one magical being to another...it was something they could all do, a transfer of memory or feeling from one to the other...it helped to tell the students apart. From that moment when she'd given her birthday memory to Madame Dubois, she'd been placed in the "Elite" dance classes...it was a cover for the girls learning to hone their skills. All of the girls were given a bracelet with feathers on them, to show their connection to one another and to mother earth.

She'd learned to appreciate dance as an outlet and she'd been taught french in order to be able to speak over the phone of what was truly going on. She stretched her left leg up, letting her torso dip down so that her legs made a straight line between the floor and the ceiling. She kept her eyes closed, trying to balance as she heard the whispering from the other girls in the class. They were all her age for the most part. There was an older class of girls that had feather bracelets too...but she'd not spoken to them much. In her years at the school she'd thrown herself into ballet as well as magic...loving the feeling of her body as she glided over a stage...almost as much as the joy she felt when she could light a candle from across the room...or turn her lunchbox green...although she'd not been able to turn it back just yet. Although she found it hard to love any other subject than their divination studies. She'd nearly mastered it if Madame Dubois was to be believed. No matter what had been lost in the school, give her just a moment with her seeing stones, and she had it. Not once in the past year had anyone been able to surprise her with a birthday gift.

"Detta!" The voice startled her, sending her tumbling to the hard wooden floor beneath her. She opened her eyes to see Suki standing above her. She was a bubbly Japanese girl with a sweet smile who'd joined the same year as her. "Sorry!" She leaned down and helped her up, still grinning like a mad woman. "Have you heard?"

"No...what's going on?" Odette asked, still rubbing her now sore behind.

"Madame has news for us!"

Suki grinned at her, her long black hair had been left loose that morning, cascading down her back like a black waterfall. Suki grabbed Odette's hand and yanked her into the next room where the rest of the girls Harmony, Rose, Penny, and Charlotte.

Harmony was a slim little thing, the oldest of the group but not nearly as tall. She had long red hair that she kept in a tight bun on the top of her head, not so unlike the dancing silhouettes on the windows of the school.

Rose had thick glasses and blonde hair that she kept short, ending at her jawline. She was forever beautifully tanned from her holidays to Florida with her parents.

Penny had white blonde hair and silver eyes. She'd known her best talent from the moment she'd set foot in the school, she'd joined the latest of all of them, only two years ago...when Madame Dubois had heard her charming a taxi driver to take her to the nearest airport for free...she had been trying to run away from home...but had been talked into attending the school by the madame. She could get away with just about anything with the normal ballet instructors at the school...but with Madame Dubois, she couldn't get away with a toe out of line.

Charlotte had been there the longest of all of them, since she'd been 3 years old and her mother had signed her up for dance. Madame had known right away that the little girl had a gift, she'd shaken hands with the dance teacher and had spoken her name before she'd been properly introduced. The girl had light brown hair with big brown eyes and the kindest heart Odette had ever met.

They all sat on the floor, their pink tight covered legs pulled up to their chests in anticipation as Madame Dubois entered the room. She looked exactly the same as when Odette had met her 5 short years ago. "Ladies, have a seat." She gestured with a heavily ringed hand to where the rest of the girls were sitting. Once they were seated she faced the room at large, her feet crossed in 5th position and a wide smile crossing her lips. "Ladies we've worked very hard to get where you are today. You've all waited so patiently...I think we're perfectly ready for the next stage in your education." Her thick accent was filled with joy as she grinned at the class. "We're beginning our more practical practices. You'll be reading about healing, protection spells, and astronomy." She claps her hands together giddily "Your new books will of course be waiting for you in your dance bags and we'll work out the new time tables in the mean time."

Odette felt Suki squeeze her fingers in excitement, they'd seen Madame heal skinned knees, cut hands, and even once, a broken bone. Penny had fallen, trying to do a standing back tuck and landed on her foot poorly, snapping one of the bones in her ankle. Her cries had scared everyone else in the room, Rose running for a phone when Madame Dubois had stopped her. She'd held her hand out, asking Harmony for the bag she kept in the corner of the room. Harmony had dragged the heavy thing over and madame had slipped her hand inside, pulling out a large bundle of mint, a small shard of pink stone, and a lighter. Madame took two sprigs of mint from the bundle and lit them, allowing them to smolder under the nose of a still sobbing Penny. After a few moments, the smell of burning mint had filled the room, and madame took the snapped ankle in her hands despite the whimpering of the girl. It was held at an unnatural angle, Madame placed the leg in her lap, whispering soothingly in french as she took the shard of stone and rubbed it in the ashes of the mint. She then held the stone to the broken bone beneath the skin, whispering softly so they almost couldn't hear her. "Guérir et être renouvelé" She chanted the phrase over and over as she pressed the shard to Penny's ankle. Not a word was spoken as they heard the harsh snap of it moving back into place. The squeal of Penny's surprise and the last sob of hurt penetrated the silence that followed. When Madame's hands were moved, the ankle was no longer at a strange angle. She could move it again, although the tears still shined on her face. But healing so much comes with a price, Madame had stepped out of the room to treat her nosebleed as the girls comforted Penny.

Odette

She sat on the floor in the Byer's living room holding out her hands; breathing deeply and trying to clear her mind. "Ok...Mike is first, think of something hard...a memory if you can. Just make it clear, like you're standing in there." She says softly in the quiet of the room. The only noise was the distant buzzing of the fridge in the kitchen. She feels Mike's cold hands fall into her own, gripping them feebly. She gives them a comforting squeeze as she breathes in deeply, keeping her mind as blank as she can. For a few moments she hears nothing...sees nothing...finally she pulls her hands away from his. "I don't think so Mike."

He grumpily gets up off the floor and sits on the couch pouting. "How do we even know any of this is true?"

"She saw something with Billy" Will whispers, looking embarrassed at Mike's sudden doubt because he didn't have any abilities.

"Prove it then." Mike glares at Odette and she bites her lip...ok. She goes out to the truck and gets her bag and comes in. "Ok..." She takes out a small leather pouch and holds them out to Will. "Think of something. An object in this house that I would have no clue of...then hand it back to me."

She sits back on the floor, waiting expectantly for Will to do as she'd asked. He looks at the little bag and thinks, closing his eyes in his effort...picturing it. He hands her back the pouch and she dumps it's contents into her hand. It's small stones, smooth and sparkling, in every color you could imagine. She put the bag down and began to slowly play with the rocks. Letting them slide from one hand to another, humming softly as she did. Then she dropped them on the floor but she didn't look at them as they scattered. She walked with purpose past Will's room and past his mother's right to Jonathan's room. She comes back seconds later, holding out a single cassette tape. On it was The Clash's band name as well as the songs on the tape listed in tiny script.

"Is it this?" She asks with a small smile, she was certain it was. Will nodded and the other two boys looked at her strangely. Mike scoffed. "He could have told you that"

"When?!" Will is pouting at his friend now, hugging his knees to his chest.

Odette sighs again but simply holds her hand out into the air, pausing the argument happening before her. She focused her mind and the scattered stones flew back through the air, gathering into her outstretched hand. She allowed herself a small satisfied smile at the shock on their faces. She slips the stones back into their pouch. "Who's next?"

1983

Odette leaned against the wall of Madame's dressing rooms, fiddling with the feathered bracelet nervously. She'd told them she'd be evaluating them this evening, seeing just how powerful they were...if they were ready to move on to bigger and better things. Now at 16 she found herself worrying over it. Suki had already exited the room, no longer wearing a bracelet, instead her ears were adorned with twin feather earrings a huge grin on her face. She'd given Odette a hug, wishing her good luck before going back to their studio to practice.

Charlotte too had gotten her new feathered features almost right away...Penny had taken longer...but she'd still exited with the earrings. Harmony and Rose had gone in and come out within five minutes with their earrings...but Odette had sat waiting. Finally, she was called into the room. It was the same room Madame had tested her in when she'd arrived at the school on her first day. Still naive to the workings of the city and the magic that lay just out of her reach. Madame sat before her, elbow on the table, observing her carefully. "Have a seat Odette darling...we have much to speak of."

She did as she was told, nervously pulling at the bracelet around her wrist. "Oui Madame"

The older woman smiles sweetly at her, holding out a single hand out to her, it was missing one or two of its rings she'd noticed. "Show me your heart Odette" Odette slides her hand into the older woman's without question. Her heart ached as she tried to show what she wanted...but she didn't know. Life was so hard at home...Eddie didn't call as much anymore...he was a senior now...why would he call his dorky baby sister when he could be out with his friends? She couldn't keep her head clear as she tried her best to think of what she wanted. She didn't realize she was crying until she felt Madame's other hand reach up to wipe away the tears on her cheeks.

"Odette, do you know why we have taught you magic?" She asks in a low voice

"No Madame"

"You are a daughter of earth sweet child. A seer of skill. And a girl who's wanted more for those she loves...you worry for him still?"

"Eddie?"

"Oui mon cher" She smiles affectionately holding Odette's hand in both of her own.

"I do...he says he doesn't think he's going to graduate this year...I know he gets bullied too...I worry about him Madame." She sniffles a little before turning her head to look at the door. "I want to be with my brother...I want to help him...but I don't know if he'd want me there...and I don't want to leave here" She lets out a sob finally, covering her mouth with her free hand. "I...I don't know what I'll do if I leave here..." She doesn't voice her true fear of leaving them. She was terrified that if she didn't come back nothing would happen. No one would care...she'd fall into the abyss of the forgotten and simply be a witch that gave up.

"Mon chérie" She feels one of Madame's hands on her face again, this time turning her chin to look the older woman in the eye again. "You will not be forgotten. You are a member of this coven. Of our hearts. You are a witch of our own until the day you die." Her voice has a finality to it that she hardly heard towards herself. "The future is bright for you girl...and I will not have you waste tears on fearing it." She stands, letting Odette's hand fall limply to the table as she turns to her bag that sat on the floor by the door. She reached in and pulled out a small box. It was no bigger than a matchbox and made of silver. The lid had a single black pearl embedded into it with the etching of an eye surrounding it.

"Hold it." She places the box into Odette's outstretched hand and she gasped. She'd expected the metal to be cold...but it was ice. It felt as though she'd stuck her hand into a pile of snow. It leached the warmth from her skin in seconds. She looked at it in horror, the pearl was slowly turning grey...then white as she held it. When the pearl had stopped changing color Madame took the lid from the top of the box. "This is the box of every cruelty I have witnessed..." Her smile is tighter now. "Well, the hopelessness from every cruelty..." The cold is now running up her arm, she could no longer feel her fingers. "If we allow those cruelties to occupy us...we allow it to kill us" Madame places her hand on Odette's free one and she feels warmth return to her. Madame replaces the lid and returns the box to the bag, the pearl was black once more.

"The world is a hard place for our kind. There have always been those too closed minded to believe we are anything but devil worshippers." Madame scoffs at the thought, slamming the silver lid down onto the table. "There have also...always been those who wanted to...to harness our gifts for themselves." She shudders slightly but continues "We must keep ourselves safe...and part of that is keeping the coven safe...if you leave us then you will still be a part of us...but you cannot tell anyone about this...unless it is life or death. I will not have the coven hunted down by bigots...not again"

"I won't Madame. I would never put our coven in danger" Odette whispers, feeling the desperation to get her sincerity across rise in her.

Madame smiled, genuinely once again. "That's all I needed to hear Mon Cher" She takes off a ring from her other hand, a silver one with a glimmering emerald there and held it in her hand. it glowed white hot, forming into a pair of feathered earrings, the same silver of the ring still adorning them, but now with delicate little crescent moons and stars. "You have worked hard Odette, I am sorry to see you growing up...but immensely proud."

Odette

She was once again sitting on the floor with Lucas's hands in hers, she could tell that he was thinking intensely but she didn't see anything. She finally let his hands down gently and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder before she turned to Will who was nervously bouncing his legs from his newfound spot on the couch. "We don't have to if you're not comfortable with it Will"

He shakes his head and takes the spot on the living room carpet that Lucas had just vacated. "I want to it's just...I don't...Let's do it" He holds out his hands with a shaky smile "I know what I want to think of already"

Odette smiled and took his hands in both of her own...at first there was nothing but a slight buzzing in her fingertips. She opened her eyes and she no longer saw Will...instead she was sitting on a bed...with an older boy. He had shaggy brown hair and Will's eyes. The two of them were bobbing their heads to Should I Stay or Should I go by the clash as sunlight streamed into the bedroom. She could feel Will's excitement over the bonding moment with his older brother...with Jonathan...

The memory ended and she pulled her hands away from the younger boy who's face had fallen. "It's a no?"

"Jonathan would say otherwise...and you need to listen to something other than The Clash." Odette can't help but giggle as he excitedly looks to his friends who are trying their best to give him encouraging smiles as it became clear he'd had it. She found herself grinning as they began to talk, how they had a real wizard in the group but then her heart sank as Will began to talk about telling more people.

"No."

Will looked at her worriedly "I can't tell my mom? Jonathan? Our friends?"

"No. No they could react poorly...they could put the coven in danger." Odette tries to inject some of Madame's finality into her voice as she spoke but she only got angry looks from Mike and Lucas...and a disappointed one from Will.

"We're not part of your weird coven!" Mike said snottily, making her flinch. She didn't know if she liked him knowing about them.

"Will is...he's got a place with us if he wants it. We will protect him...just as we would one another. And part of that is not telling the world about us."

"We're not telling the world!" Lucas argued

"They know about the Upside Down...they won't freak out...and neither will Steve" Will says gently "Really...this is mild compared to what happened last time."

Odette took a deep breath..."I don't like this. And you are not telling Steve. You can't." She's yanking at her sweater nervously as she speaks, no longer looking at the teens in the room.

"He'll understand-"

"But he'll...he'll look at me different." She whispers "I...I don't know if he'll trust me."

"Why wouldn't he?" Will asks hugging his knees to his chest.

"I've already used magic on him once."

June 1985

She'd been packing for days, her grandmother somehow hadn't noticed...or else she wouldn't have let her go out with her friends from Ballet. She sat in the coffee shop where she'd worked with the girls from her class...her coven and the air around them was somber.

"So you're really going?" Suki asked quietly

"Yes. I want to be with my brother...he needs someone who loves him other than our Uncle." Odette is gripping her late tighter than she probably should, but she wanted to stop the pale green mug from shaking.

"But to buttfuck Indiana?!" Penny asked incredulously, she'd long since finished her own coffee and her cup sat empty on the table before them. "Why can't he come here? He's over 18"

"He could never afford it Pen. It's too expensive here and I want him to finish school" Odette says in a soothing tone, knowing the girl would spit flames if she could. "I'll visit as often as I can...and you could all visit me there!"

"Raising hell with hicks, what better way to spend the weekend?" Harmony giggled, burying her smile in her tea. Odette smiled, although ruefully. She knew she'd miss easy afternoons with the girls like this...the tired evenings after ballet...she'd miss them all so dearly.

"You'll call won't you?" Rose asks, her thick glasses sliding down her nose.

"Of course I will!" Odette wraps an arm around the blonde with a large grin "We're sisters. All of us...and who else will help me when I somehow manage to lose a seeing stone?" She ends with a whisper and a grin that is shared by the others.

Suki raises her lemonade to her lips with a thoughtful look "What if you find someone in Hawkins?"

"Like a boyfriend? I'm sure she'll find some redneck that's pretty enough for a ride" Penny laughs loudly at her own joke, making Odette blush but chuckle all the same.

"No...like one of us...someone who's not found their coven?" Suki had shocked the group to silence, even Penny. There was a contemplative quiet...all of them considering the thought. "We can't just be in New York and Paris...there have to be other places." Penny muttered quietly.