The first time that Ophelia got to meet Kathleen was a bit earlier than Atticus, for two reasons. One, the coven elders wanted to know if she could teach the younger witch balance, and two, to be sure that she would take to Atticus, as Ophelia had put in her recommendation before she had even met the young woman. It was their first time really without Mitch around, as he spoke to Checkov, and Ophelia had flashed her a rare smile.
“Mitchell?” she half scoffed, “Though I must agree that he has annoying tendencies, he is an excellent guard, but no he’s not the only one. You will have Atticus Slater. He is much less annoying.” She answered. “But, if we are going to be having lessons on getting you to achieve better balance in your soul, Mitchell will be around. But you can always tell him to shut up. He may not like it, but he will know it’s what’s best and just start muttering to himself… by then we will have moved the lessons away from him though. Still in eye sight, but not in ear shot.”Ophelia was focused on breakfast, plating and cooking when everyone started coming in and waking up. She had half waved to Atticus and Mitchell as she hummed, putting breakfast together on the plates she had brought out, and after she had two plated she heard Mitchell’s comment. “You would know if I were ignoring you, Mitch. I wouldn’t have acknowledged you at all.” She quipped, but upon hearing Kathleen, she smiled a bit.
“Good morning, Kat. It’s going to be a bit chiller today, so dress appropriately for our garden lessons.” She said, a bit of a motherly tone coming. She hadn’t meant for it to come out that way, but in the four years they had had together, she had seen so much of her younger sister, Bianca, in Kathleen. There were major differences though. For one thing, Bianca had been the only natural soul to grace the Lockhart clan, and two, Kathleen was still alive… she shook the thought from her mind, the humming stopping.
She heard Mitchell’s comment and she shook her head. “She isn’t getting
weirder, Mitch. She is having to learn a very different form of magic than she is used to. On top of that, old magic is something very difficult to learn later on in life. I was taught young, and when you live your life believing one thing and finding out another… it’s hard. She is doing quite well, actually.” She said, and she finished up the other plates and took her seat at the table, sipping on her tea.
She played with her eggs a bit before looking over at Mitchell. “Need more coffee?” she asked, taking her tea cup as she stood and made herself another cuppa, filling Mitch’s cup as well before she set her tea down and brought out the butter and syrup she had forgotten. Soon, Atticus and Kathleen were joining them, and she watched as Atticus made himself a cup of hot tea with more sugar than anyone should have in one sitting.
“Thanks, Lia. Smells great, as usual. What had you up so early anyway? I mean, I won’t complain because we’re getting breakfast out of it, but still, it’s weird that even didn’t hear you and Kat sharing the mirror this morning.” Atticus said, and Lia sighed.
“It’s none of your business why I’m up so early, so just enjoy your breakfast.” She said, taking her plate with silverware on it and heading up to her bedroom. She sighed, setting her plate on her dresser as she pulled out her clothes for the day. She selected an
outfit that had a long sleeved grey shirt and a pair of skinny jeans that she tucked into her black boots. She took a few bites of her food and pulled on her black leather jacket as she put a few books into her messenger bag and she sighed. She ate a few more bites before brush get out her hair and applying her make up in the mirror attached to her dresser.
She finished up the little bit of food she had left, swallowing her tea as she made her bed up and then sat on it, laying back and staring at the ceiling, barely realizing she was falling back asleep.
The flames that had once engulfed the Lockhart home were gone… a nearby wolf had happened across the scene, but quickly left when Ophelia began shouting a spell at it that hurt it’s ears. She walked about the bodies, her father was ahead was ahead of them all, the burns making him barely recognizable. Her mother wasn’t far from him, holding her sister’s body. She had died before the flames… the stupid warlock killed her because he couldn’t have her.
Lia knelt down beside her sister, stroking her hair away from her face. Lia had only survived because she had gone hunting for herbs for her sick brothers who were also outside. She looked to them, and she spoke a spell, watching the bodies burn to ash.
She headed inside the heavily fire damaged cottage, and she packed up a few things. She exited and she headed off into the night, only to be met by other witches. The darkness within her soul was emitting, and with little thought, she killed each and everyone of them, not caring how much magic she used… not caring that it could have very well killed her. Her vision blurred as her consciousness faded.She woke again, breathing heavily again, and she hoped she hadn’t screamed again. She had done it before when she fell back asleep after a bad night, and the fact she hadn’t had a good night in a while was beginning to concern her. She’d have to start burning her lavender and sage again as she fell asleep again.
She sat there for a few moments, trying to collect herself again. She couldn’t let on like anything was wrong. Not with the delicate lessons that she and Kat were having today.
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Atticus was glad to be out in the brisk air. He quite enjoyed this time of year, but then again, he had come from further north than most or them, so the cold had never affected him much. He took another sip of his tea when he heard Kat enter the kitchen. Good, she was awake and that meant that the day would get started a little bit quicker. His eyes stayed on the horizon, and soon he felt a hand in his hair, and he smiled.
“Good morning going to you too, Kat.” He chuckled, and he turned to her when she sat. “And I’m not hiding, if I were hiding you wouldn’t have found me. I just enjoy the weather, and I am glad we will be outside today. It’s going to be a beautiful day up until it starts raining.”
He offered his hand to her after a couple more moments or watching the horizon, and he stood up. “Better get inside. Smells like breakfast is done.” He said, and once inside he made himself another cup of tea and sat down. Sausage, eggs, and pancakes. A good breakfast for sure. However, something was off when the normal banter with Lia went south. Even when it had just been him, Mitch, and Lia, she would just say that she felt like getting up early, and he felt a little bad when she left.
He would apologize when she came back, and he looked to Kat, hoping that he could diffuse the tension this time. “So, are you excited for the garden lessons today?” he asked her. He had a feeling she was, but Checkov had been adamant about her lessons being held within the castle.
In fact it wasn’t until the last meeting when Lia said she couldn’t continue to be bound by not he castle for her teachings that he finally allowed the outside lessons. However, Checkov had been different as of late as it was. The lycanthrope problem had gotten worse, though they hadn’t scaled an attack on the coven, it couldn’t be far off from that.
Then there was the more frequent meetings with the surrounding smaller covens. He knew that this coven had offered aid to the surrounding ones, but he also knew that the coven leaders only met with the elders once every few months, and now that the meetings were coming once every few weeks, it was putting everyone on edge.
But that wasn’t Atticus’s department, and his main priority was sitting to his left. He would keep her safe at all costs if something were to happen, and considering it had been nearly a decade since the last attack on the cove , he had a feeling one would be coming soon.
A noise struck his ears. A muffled sort of scream, but Atticus didn’t move, knowing where it had come from. All of them did, and it was becoming more and more clear that something was about to happen. He looked to Kat, remembering how quickly her moods changed and how easily it was for her balance to get throw off, but Atticus also knew that Mitch would be on it. He always was.
The silence that fell though, it was eerie, and for once Atticus couldn’t take it as he took up his plate and headed to the sink. “Anyone else need anything?” he asked, his eyes looking out the window and to the path that lead up to the castle. Thee horse drawn carriages were coming, and he rose a brow. They were from the coven to their east, and they had just been here the week prior, at least he was almost certain of it.
“Kat, which coven did you see coming last week?” he asked.
This whole thing breathed trouble, and he didn’t like it. Not one little bit, but hopefully the lessons would take their minds off of everything going on, like it normally did.
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