It bursts into flames.
In my panic, I clench my hands into fists instead of holding the triangle my fingers were making. A gust of wind sweeps off my black hat, and I feel a few drops of water fall onto my head. When I look up, I notice a rain cloud above me.
The drops turn into a rapid drizzle, and then the cloud turns into wisps of smoke, but it doesn't leave quietly. I lift my hands helplessly into the air and try to shoo it away, but that's another mistake. I've messed up my gestures, and I must be doing some different ritual as I'm left drenched from head to toe.
It puts out the fire, but it also washes away my summoning circle.
And the last shreds of my dignity.
3
Seth
The sun has sunk by the time I get out of class.
I squint up at the full moon. It's bright and glowing an odd faded-yellow color. I pull down on the sleeves of my thick wool coat as I hurry along the cobblestone pathway. Not that it does much good. Underneath my coat, my clothes are still wet. So are my cheeks.
I was the only witch who didn't summon their familiar.
In the distance, I can hear the sounds of celebration already underway as everyone makes their way to the Samhain festival. I shiver and sniffle as I walk. The candlelight from the lampposts guides my way.
Yeah, that's right. St. Salem doesn't have any electricity.
Everything is lit by natural candlelight and firelight or by magical sources. No laptops. No smart phones. The only computers are kept under lock and key by the academy librarians in a special sigil-covered room.
Why? Something about how electricity interferes with ley lines.
St. Salem is full of little odd quirks like that.
I stay on the pathway as I scurry back to the dorms. The wind is really picking up. A shiver races down my spine. Something feels off. I hear more than my own footsteps and the groans of the trees as they sway in the wind. There's a...pantingsound. Like someone has been running and they're out of breath.
I stop to look over my shoulder, convinced someone is coming up behind me, but there's nobody there. And nothing. Yet as I look around, I swear I seesomethingout there. Shapes moving among the black and twisted trees.
Two sets of eyes. Watching me. Blinking red.
I rub my face. When I look again, the strange sight has vanished. The darkness of the woods is just dark. No man. No beast. Maybe a spirit? But if it is, they're not mine.
Probably just someone's wayward feline familiar from class.
Fat stormy clouds sweep in and block most of the moonlight. Maybe it'll rain tonight. Good. I embrace the sudden spike of bitterness curdling inside of me. I hope it pours down, raining cats and dogs to go along with all the familiar spirits.
Surely that's got to be a spell too.
The heavy oaken doors to the dorm creak as loud as a scream when I open them, but the entire building is as quiet as a grave. Nobody is here. I'm all alone. Though...it doesn't feel that way. There's movement out of the corner of my eye. A shadow crawls out of the parlor. Yet when I blink and look at it directly, it's gone.
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as I take the long, spiral staircase up two at a time.
My assigned room is on the top floor and at the end of the hall. All I want to do is shuck off my wet clothes, get warm, and curl up with a book for the rest of the night. No, for the rest of Samhain. With a cupboard stocked with snacks, I can hide away until classes start up after the holiday.
My room is dark. And freezing.
The other witches have automated spells to light everything up whenever they step into a room, but that's too advanced for me. I haven't been able to successfully pull off a fire spell. Lasttime I tried, I lit my sleeve on fire. And as today proved, I've also set things on fire without even meaning to do it. I might have burned down the whole classroom if I hadn't also messed up twice in a row by bringing forth that water too.
Professor Hawthorne made me sit in the corner, watching and taking notes while everyone else finished calling forth their familiar spirits. At the end of class, he told me I could try again next Samhain, and mentioned that a feline might be too complicated for me. That I'd be better off summoning something simple.
Like a toad.
Biting on the inside of my cheek, I use a match to light a few candles so I can see my hands as I add a fresh log of wood in the fireplace and throw on some kindling. Lighting that fire is quick and easy. Within seconds, it chases away the cold and the dark. The gentle flick of flames and quiet crackling turn it into a cozy space as I hang up my hat and coat.
