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Misadventures of a Tiny Witch

The moonless night was brimming with stars, and the wispy trail of incense Orion had lit earlier. The dark sky lapped against the open windows like a lake. Nox’s shop for herbal remedies had long since been shut, the shelves lined with herbs and crystals glowing eerily under the candles she’d lit. Despite running it in her garage, Orion’s shop was her pride and joy. She loved giving strangers a little magic they could carry with them. The tiny stockroom’s walls were lined with countless items, and the floor was currently hidden under this week’s shipments, but Orion had managed to carved some space on the floor for her ritual.

Lighting another purple candle, the red-haired girl stepped back to survey the spell site and items. The air smelled a little funky, but that was probably because of the asafoetida placed beside the candles. The most important part, the sigil, looked alright under the crystals and charms she’d placed for protection and summoning. Orion could only channel magic when her intentions were clearly stated. Her dagger was heavy in the pockets of her skirt. She gripped its ornate, porcelain handle and pulled it out. A cat with patchy fur loitered around the edges, his eyes sharp and gleeful, as he curled up onto a box.

“Shouldn’t you be helping me? Aren’t familiars supposed to guide their witches?”

If Casper could roll his eyes, he would’ve. “You’re doing a locator spell, it’s simple enough. We’ve been brewing tea water and playing with twigs all week, it’s horrible” he shuddered dramatically.

Humming with a smile, she pulled her red hair behind her ears and pushed the knife against her thumb, letting a few crimson drops drip into the symbols. Her candles flickered and the spell she’d inscribed, search, was glowing blue. It had begun.

—

Zephyrus was having a bad day. He’d tricked the humans passing by, into a fairy ring but they only had measly potions and trinkets, all with minimal magic. The only thing worth saving was a wooden charm, entwined with some wildflowers. It was smaller than his palm but pulsing with magic, so its creator must be close. Those damned witches had been causing more than usual. It was bad enough that Metztli Nox-witch kept denying any knowledge of the corpse raids, despite the glaring fact that all witches in Misthall came from the Nox coven. Energy after death changes, especially for magical beings like the Fae, and has to be returned to the earth where it came from, so it could revert and go back to the newer generation. Raiding holy graveyards of Fae folk was an open act of war, the only ones who dealt in energy transfer apart from spirits were witches. He still had a long way to go while tracking the bastards behind it.

The earth seemed to sway beneath his feet, and the charm burned his skin. Hissing, he dropped it, before the magic around him grew suffocating. A black hole swallowed him up, gravity became meaningless before he landed harshly on something hard. The new scent of asafetida candles only made his head throb painfully. Zephyrus could see the world come in focus again and instantly wished it hadn’t. He was magicless, angry, and now in the middle of a witch’s summons. It was indeed a bad day.

The blue fairy stared at her with the same confusion she felt.

Orion was in the middle of searching for a place with enough magical energy [ip1] when the spell had gone awry. Her mentor, Metztli, had ordered her, knowing its importance. If she planted anything in a magical hotspot like that, it would remain there forever, well unless someone intervened. She could plant crystals or precious rare plants, and they wouldn’t disappear, as long as they kept feeding off the magic. It would change everything.

The flames had turned blue, and sigil had melted into the figure of a tall, lean fairy sitting in front of her, who looked equally confused. It had wispy sea-green hair, long, grey-ash blue limbs, a strong jaw, and stormy eyes that slowly surveyed its surroundings.

“Well,” Casper looked delighted, perking up from his place before the spirit. “Things just became more interesting.

—

Orion had learnt a lot of things today.

First, aside from her tools, she should have also checked the cardboard boxes around her. It turns out the funky smell was because one of the packages shipped had an unfamiliar wet tree, which was used as offerings to the Fae. The wood was mottled and dark, but she could make out a few words inscribed on it in different places- ‘summon’, ‘familiar’ and ‘offering’. So instead of finding the right place to plant her crops, she had summoned an obnoxious Fae as her familiar.

After revealing he was a wind spirit, knocking everything down and arguing with Orion for a long, long time, Zephyrus enlightened her about why people avoided the Fae. He looked down upon everything and scoffed at her beloved shop and home. He fiddled with her charms and misplaced her things. His annoyingly tall and lean frame, took up too much space for her to work. He called toast and jam peasant food and refused to settle. If she had a dollar every time a Fairie caused her trouble, she’d be living in a mansion. The urge to hit him, really hard, was singing in her blood. Barely holding back, she ground her teeth and forced herself to take deep breaths. All her hard work would not be wasted like this.

‘Now I know why you’re so tiny,” He gestured to her over spilling house, “you wouldn’t fit otherwise,”

Orion realized she wasn’t as against murder as she earlier thought. Nina, her new apprentice, turned out to be the culprit behind the mess. She cowered behind Orion, frightful of the fee’s presence. Casper was content with observing the chaos unfolding in front of him and continued to smirk at it all. Only six hours and she had learnt so much.

It was now well past opening hours for her store, and Orion was still trying to deal with life’s bullshit.

Why couldn’t life have just given her a garden to plant flowers?

“Okay, enough,” She turned and pointed the poor shaking girl towards the deliveries she had organized. “Since you’re useless here, go out. And buy some grape juice on the way back,” Once she was off, Orion strode away from the other useless pile of bones lounging over her couch, limbs dangling over the edges. He was wearing a hello kitty t-shirt and flower-patterned jeans, which were the only things that fit him. Orion tried not to think about how his skin looked like carved marble under the sun. She tried even harder not to stare at his pointed ears and the dark tattoos that covered his forearms.

“I’m a royal fairy with the wind at my service. I demand more than a tiny witch, such an insulting summons and this shack you call a store. My abilities deserve more respect. I deserve more respect.”, he spat with all the airs of arrogance one would expect from the Fae.

“I didn’t know you had any abilities other than being a constant annoyance.”, Orion shot back, sneering at him.

That earned her a little silence and a staring match between her familiars. She pulled her long hair into a bun and rolled her sleeves up to start work. She took extra time to check the protection charms she had made. Blessing dreamcatchers and pendants sounded horribly mundane, but she savoured the quiet moments. It was this slow lull of magic that she liked, like a melody she could recognize anywhere.

“That’s all she does?” Zephyrus started, baffled as the redhead moved from one tedious task to another, all the while appearing to be thoroughly enjoying it. Her movements were graceful, and the tiny bursts of magic tasted like blueberries on his tongue. The cat, curse his insolence, chuckled dryly, sitting just out of his reach. “That’s all,” he said but looked at her like there was more to her. Like there was another layer, under this mundane magic.

Annoyed that he couldn’t leave, Zephyrus decided to shift his energies towards exploring the shop. It seemed to the extension of a small, well-lived in house. There were a few rooms, and most of the furniture was covered under a mountain of tools, but there seemed to be a method to the madness. However, the charms taped to the ceilings bothered him. Why? What was she hiding?

The next few hours were a blur with Casper grilling the tall, blue fairy while Orion suffered quietly. Nina came back with the new order but was still trembling, though she couldn’t be wholly blamed. No one kept powerful spirits like that in their house. Orion ate lunch in her study, locking the door despite the knocking and loud arguing outside, and only let Nina inside. It didn’t help that Zephyrus was still knocking stuff over with outbursts of wind. The skies shifted from cotton candies to inky patches, and the air turned colder, calmer.

They were eating dinner on the table near the window while Zephyrus paced around. Being irritating came to him as naturally as swimming came to fish, she mused quietly. He kept demanding figs despite the fact that spirits didn’t actually need food, just energy, and it was summer.

“Can’t you just, make some with magic?”

“I’m a witch, not a fairy. I can’t make something out of nothing.”

“Well, what can you make?”

“Instant noodles,”

“You’re joking.”

The cicadas sang loudly outside, while Orion just slurped on her noodles. With a huff he settled on the chair beside hers, aggressively sipping tea. “You sure know how to pick them,” Casper chortled at her glare. The calico spirit was curled in her lap, enjoying her lazy scratches. His eyes were solemn when he looked up, “You’ll have to start looking again.”

Her movements paused, and Zephyrus looked slightly interested. “This place you were looking for?”

“It’s somewhere close enough but obscured, within the forest. It needs to have enough magic for my plants to take properly,” Orion said, stretching her arms above. She looked wearier than before. “If I don’t find it soon, my mentor will kill me.”

“Serves you right,” he growled, grimacing at the few moths gathering near him, “Why the hell do they keep coming back?” It wasn’t raining, and moths were never good news.

“Definitely not because of your glowing personality,” Orion smiled tiredly, and they fell into banter again.

The next week consisted of work as usual, but with the delightful bonus of Zephyrus making everything more difficult. He couldn’t go too far, because he was summoned as a familiar, so instead, he invaded Orion’s space. He placed everything higher, swapped things when she wasn’t looking and laughed at her confused struggles. Casper stopped him when he tried to go through her other stuff until he had to give up.

Zephyrus refused to sleep on the couch but wouldn’t take the guest bedroom either. He knocked over things and made cold winds blow around the shop too much. Casper never missed an opportunity for a jab. Most of her food was declared unfit for royalty like him. Poor Nina seemed to be the worst off, and every time he messed with her, she would squeal and run to Orion. However, after the fourth day, they were getting quite used to it. Nina smiled more around Zephyrus, quietly laughing at his struggle to acquire figs. Orion kept running her unnecessarily mundane shop, giving potions and charms to people who mostly needed it for everyday things, like banishing dreams and attracting prosperity and luck.

Meanwhile, Orion’s bedroom was the only place he hadn’t messed with, and the urge was eating at him. As predicted, Orion was called by her mentor for continuing the search. Leaving the house in the care of Nina (and Zephyrus) she left early with Casper.

It was past midday, and the two hadn’t returned. Nina was asleep on the kitchen table, her brown hair covering her face. All it took was a little sweet, gentle breeze, and he was free to explore. The bedrooms were on the first floor, and he went towards the door with a sigil carved on it, locked shut with magic.

Using a little of his own, he managed to break the knob and forced the door to give way. His witch sure knew how to protect her things. Wait, his witch?

Ignoring that stray thought, he moved slowly, watching out for any traps. The first thing that hit him was a strong incense. It smelled sourer than lavender. The next thing he noticed was the stark contrast from Orion’s workshop upstairs. The books were lined up too neatly, which just didn’t seem like Orion’s style. Her crystals, bowls, and tarot cards were arranged in a neat line, and a plant was perched near her tiny bed. Her hunt was more severe than she made it sound. The room was charged with intent, and he could almost taste the magic. The ceiling was covered in multiple tiny illustrations, such as a crescent moon, constellations and many flowers floating in the night sky. Trailing his sharp fingers over the walls, he stopped at the plant, which looked like it bore fig blossom flowers. Just as confusing as before.

‘Who are you? What are you?’, wondered Zephyrus, as his confusion only increased.

Zephyrus was turning to leave when a glint caught his eye. A large box was shoved under the bed. He pulled the metal chest onto the floor and flicked it open. Seeing the contents, Zephyrus’ blood ran cold. It was full of bones, of all sizes. Some too small to be human.

‘That’s all she does? That’s not it at all’, Zephyrus knew there was something sinister at play here.

Orion was looking for a place to consecrate these bones. Did she have his as well? She was keeping things alive in more ways than one. It was staring at him in the face.

Orion was a necromancer.

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