114 - Eliza (Flashback)

The smell of lavender, sage, roses and dirt washes over me. I love it out in the garden, I can feel my magic tingle in my fingers. I can't wait for it to manifest. Mama says it should be soon. My sister's magic woke early cause we are the High Priestess' daughters. My sister is very powerful, but Mama says mine feels even stronger. She says magic will come when it's ready and when we are ready for it; that it always knows where it belongs. Copyright 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions.

A shout from somewhere in the village brings me back to my task. Mama sent me to get herbs to dry for our Summer Solstice celebration. She is going to show me how to make my own Solstice protection totem to burn at midnight on the Solstice. Sissy has been doing her own for years, but now I am old enough. I can't wait. It will be my first time making a totem all on my own.

"We need more protections...you aren't doing enough..." I hear a man's voice from my mother's work room. This Chaos nonsense needs to be stamped out. It's dangerous and unpredictable. You've seen what they can do." He shouts and I lean against the wall. I'm afraid, but I want to know what he's talking about. "They corrupt everything that they touch, their magic devours everything that we hold sacred.”

"Our wards are solid, as you well know Malic. Chaos magic is not well understood, that doesn't make it bad, just unknown." My mother is calm with him. It's the same voice she uses with me when I am frustrated learning the intricacies of magic. Not being able to do it makes learning slow and boring.

"We will handle this, with or without you." He says in a whisper. Mama won't let him do anything, she's the High Priestess, she's the boss.

The door to the workroom bursts open, banging off the wall. I jump out of the way, but Malic doesn't even see me, as he stomps past. "Mama?" I question, walking into the room. Her back is to me, but I know she is thinking. She likes to stare at her wall of herbs and tonics when she needs to think really hard on something. “Mama?" I call again, close enough to reach for her hand this time.

"Oh! Eliza, you startled me. I didn't hear you come in." She moves back to the work table and continues wrapping her sage bundle. "Why don't you leave your basket here and go help with the village square set up."

"But what about my protection totem? We were supposed to put it together for tonight."

"Don't you worry. I have a couple things that are taking longer than they should, so I will get all your things in the dryer myself and they will be ready later this afternoon. We will have plenty of time to make you bundle."

I nod. I know something is going on, but she thinks I am too little to tell. I bet Sissy will tell me. She doesn't think I am too little.

Our village is big, but I can get from our house on the very edge, next to the forest, to the other in thirty minutes. love all the cute houses. They are all almost identical, except for the color. The driveways are the same length, with a fence around the front garden. Mama says we have to look like normal humans on the outside, cause humans with no magic get jealous and try to take it from us. If we look normal, they

leave us alone 1 pass our gfotery

store and see Manic talking to a guy and using his hands a lot. They are by a building that has trucks and machines in it, I think. I don't play around in there like some of the boys do. I hide behind a garbage container and listen.

"We need protection now. They will come eventually and we need to be ready." I hear Malic whisper. "They want the girls."

I slap my hand over my mouth. Girls. What girls? What is he talking about? Who is coming for girls?

Screaming.....I hear screaming from the center of the village. My heart is pounding. Malic and the other guy look towards the noise and then disappear inside the building. Someone is coming for our girls. This must be what he was talking about.

I run back towards my house. I don't know where my sister is, but I can get to Mama. My chest feels tight from running so fast, but I have to get home and tell Mama what Malic said and what's happening.

I'm three houses away now. More people are screaming and yelling, but I can't tell what they are saying. I can feel magic building in the air. It smells like ozone right before a lightning storm.

"Mama!!" I shout as loud as my throat will let me. "MAMA!!" She doesn't come running though. Shez must not hear me. Or, maybe, she's already out there taking care of whatever is going on. As round the corner my house sits on, all see is smoke and flashes of colors. "Mama?!" I whisper and run towards the Chaos. These people are after girls and Malic said Mama wasn't doing enough. Why do they want girls? Why are they attacking us?

I duck next to a porch as a stream of light flies at me. I look out to see another and another. I feel a crackle in the air around me. Mama. It's her magic lt touches my face and then whips around like the wind. Yellow light sparkles in the air. She's trying to protect us Mama hates fighting and using our gift to fight never understood that part though. If someone is trying to hurt us, she can stop them easily with her magic, so can my sister. I don't know why they let people fight and waste their energy, when my mother and sister can just stop it all.

"Where are the girls?!" A man's voice shouts. "Give them back and this all ends."

"It's not my mother who answers though, it's Malic. "Never. You won't spread your unnaturalness anymore." Copyright 2025 Miss L Writes and Ember Mantel Productions

"There is nothing unnatural about a witch. What is unnatural is punishing innocence for something out of their control."

“Bullsh*t! You breed them on purpose to infect our kind..." Malic continues to yell at

a man. Their features are all warped from the smoke and magic in the air. I see Malic raise his hands and flex his fingers towards the other man who goes flying.

Then a blast of energy sends me backward as well. I hit my head and everything goes dark.