I was so thankful the family spell book had given me that recipe for the cramp tea. Oh boy the pain had literally come out of nowhere. I fixed up a pot of the tea according to the instructions and got myself comfy on my bed with a hot water bottle. The best thing about this tea was that it was doctored regular tea; so I used a bag of the Yorkshire Tea we usually had in then added the ingredients that were needed, most of which were in the dorms kitchen pantry such as honey, ginger and cinnamon and some that my Auntie M had given me. I was to infuse the tea with some good energy and say my own chant while making it and the best I could come up with was; "pain pain go away, come again another day." It seemed to work though. But trust my timing, having my period on the weekend I was supposed to be having my coven initiation. Typical.

It wasn't long till Auntie M showed up, looking fresh as a daisy considering how rough she was last night. She had just come back from Mr Clarksons house just near Hitchin to go and offer her condolences and maybe even scout the house out in whatever way she was trying. I knew Auntie M was powerful enough to do some weird astral projection thing that I had randomly found on my searching through our family spell book, it looked really complicated and something I probably wouldn't be able to do for a while. I also knew she could possibly have done a sleeping spell that could be used on Mr Clarkson; leaving my Auntie M undisturbed for a short while as she searched the house.

Turns out she hypnotised him and he showed her around his home like it was nothing at all.

Auntie M had perched herself on the end of my bed and laid down a few papers she had acquired on top of my duvet in front of me. The papers were pretty old and stained with age that had made the handwriting on it slightly faded.

'Looks like your old Chemistry teacher was keeping the school safe. For a long, long time. I mean decades. She also left her coven decades ago too and has been on her own ever since, literally guarding the school.'

'Did you find out why?'

Auntie M scowled slightly.

'She didn't keep any records of the reason why but... from the looks of what little research she had on the school and what kinds of spells she was using, Saint Augustine's was built on top of an energy vortex. I think.'

I had to try and attempt to make sense of what my Aunt was saying especially as I wasn't feeling so great and even though the tea had helped my pain a bit. She noticed my confusion and elaborated on what she had said.

'An energy vortex is a particularly powerful place, where energy naturally resides in huge amounts and the one at the school seems to intersect on energy lines too. Lay lines.'

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

'So why was Mrs Clarkson working her magic on it, what was she doing it for?' I asked, that's what I really wanted to know.

'Energy vortexes can draw things to it both good and bad.' Auntie M gathered up the papers. 'I think she was trying to mellow it out to be honest and defend against any nasties.'

'How come you didn't pick up on it Auntie M?' I asked, I wasn't being sassy or rude or anything but I was surprised that as powerful as she was; she didn't know about this place nor did she pick up on it. Really none of us magic users had.

'You'll come to understand that no matter how experienced you are in our craft, there's always loads to learn. But there also stuff we don't touch and stuff that can't be helped, at all. I've only ever read about this kind of magic, I've never done it or witnessed it before.'

Auntie M looked pretty serious right now. This was not gonna be good. She had a habit of drip feeding me information at times as apparently, there were things I should and could only learn till after my initiation which she kept telling me whenever I asked certain questions. She told me I'd learn some stuff at my initiation and I'd also get to meet some very important people. Who I don't know, she wouldn't even tell me that.

'There are spells and practices that are mainly used by our bad counterparts for whatever reason; Dark magic if you will. Using these spells doesn't always mean that the result will be evil but something bad usually happens during the casting and they live for that shit. But a good magic user can still use those kinds of spells for a "good" outcome.'

'Is this about the intent again?' I asked.

'Precisely. This kind of magic usually involves some kind of large sacrifice, usually a human life.'

Oh boy, here we go. I knew this topic was bound to come up at some point.

'So you think that Mrs Clarkson... sacrificed someone, to keep the school safe?' I hesitated in asking. It didn't sound right.

'Possibly. Or herself, like a delayed reaction.'

'The stroke!' I gasped. 'Was her spell slowly... killing her?' My Auntie M just nodded.

'These spells are serious business Maddie. This is why we don't actively learn them as part of our training if you will, but sometimes they're necessary. We do not let anybody or anything die in vain, for the greater good.'

I was speechless. I really didn't know what to say, so I just kept my mouth shut.

'Anyway that's enough seriousness for now. Get dressed and we'll go out for brunch, or dinner or... brinner.' Auntie M screwed up her mouth. ' You've missed breakfast and I'm hungry. Plus I can fill you in on a little plan I've concocted for tonight with Daniel and Liam.'

'A what? Plan, what for?'

'We're gonna do a little B and E in the school tonight. See if we can't speak to some dead people or something.'

Most normal kids my age were probably out having fun with their friends on a Saturday night. I dunno going to see a film, going to a restaurant or sitting in the park drinking cheap and nasty booze or trying to get in to a club with a fake ID. Tonight I was going to be wandering around an empty school with my Aunt, my History teacher and classmate trying to talk to ghosts. I suppose it was a pretty exciting alternative to a two litre bottle of White Lightening cider. Which to be honest, I never really cared for.