I was cleaning up the kitchen, while Mia was talking to Laura about adding more protection to the house. She will visit the house after the full moon, adding her magic to the circle, to reinforce the protection circle or to draw another circle of her own making. I gave the kids tons of baked goods, since it was the end of the day and they would have been thrown away anyway, and I even added some sprinkles so they can sprinkle the donuts themselves. We talked no more about the Mother or me being the Guardian, but I felt the eyes follow me everywhere I went. Laura calmed enough to drive, and Mia gave her the last bottle of Hideaway, and told her how to use it more efficiently until she reinforced the protection. She took some hair from the kids and Laura, to make little dolls with the kids magic signature and lure the evil away from the kids, possibly even to our apartment. She was even talking about making several dolls and dropping them all around the town, so if anyone is looking for them, they won't know where to go and how to search for the kids. Since they share blood, this might be the only way to confuse the magic that the sorcerer was using, at least Mia hoped so. I knew very little about doll magic, so I let her do her own thing, while I stayed quiet. I knew the kids were looking at me, looking for me to protect them, but I truly did not know how to protect them against this kind of magic or even their sorcerer father. If it would have been a magic attack then yes, I would simply stand in front of them taking the magic within me, but as a shifter, I had little control over magic search spells. After they said their goodbyes Mia came and stood next to me, opening her arms into a hug.

We were not blood cousins, but we looked similar enough that no one doubted when we called ourselves cousins. Our coloring was fairly similar, me having darker brown hair with red undertones than her light brown, and she had light blue eyes while mine were borderline gray. My nose was wider and smaller, my lips less full than hers. I had a nice oval shaped face with no dimples, while Mia had a sweetheart shaped face and every time she smiled her dimples would appear making her seem younger than she was. I had an hourglass figure, although it was mostly hidden by a layer of fat. I was definitely more cubby and smaller than my beautiful cousin, with bigger breasts and behind. She would often joke, how if you would combine our features you would get the perfect woman, tall enough and with all the right curves so that everyone would find it beautiful.

I knew I was pretty, especially if I dressed for it, but I was merely pretty, while she was beautiful. I was also aware that beauty is only skin deep, and that it’s the inside that makes a person truly beautiful. Luckily my cousin was beautiful on the inside and the outside, and she really did light up like a sun when she smiled and no one could argue with that. I loved my witchy cousin, and we have been best friends since early childhood.

“I never realized Laura had such a horrible and sad past,” my cousin started saying. I leaned away from her arms, sharing my thoughts on the matter.

“I guessed that it had to be something like that, to be honest. The way she needs to stay hidden and how protective she is of the kids, someone had to be after the kids and or her.” I looked at Mia for the first time after they left.

“Can you help them?” I caught her biting her nails.

“Well, yes. But… It’s complicated. There are several things that bother me. First of all I am at my weakest at the moment, one week before the full moon, second the amount of magic that Sarah is leaking is enormous. I gave her a talisman that should keep the magic contained for now, but it won’t last long and the only thing that comes to mind is harvesting the extra magic and sealing it somewhere. But that comes with its own set of problems.” she sighed loudly, making exasperated arm gestures. I nodded, following her thought and took her hand in mine, pulling the nails out of her mouth. It was a bad habit and she only indulged it under stress.

“Is it the same situation you were in, after you came into power?” Mia was not born a prodigy. When she was 9 years old she went missing for several days and it changed her completely. By the time she was found her magic was greater than it was, greater than that of her grandmother, who was a matriarch of the coven.

Mia was a powerful moon witch, meaning her magic was at its most powerful during a full moon and almost null during the empty moon, although during the empty moon some spells have more potency than others, or so she claims. She specialized in protection runes and they are powerful enough that no one can enter her protection circle without her permission, no matter how powerful the person is. At least in theory, but even she admitted that there are people with such potential that they could just walk through any protection circle, even hers. Being a moon witch is rare enough but there is another aspect of her magic that makes her special.

When she disappeared all those years ago she was just a normal girl that showed a mediocre potential for moon magic, and when she came back the amount of control she had over her magic was astounding and she was as powerful as any adult moon witch. I am the only one she told what happened to her and I am pretty sure she didn't tell me the whole story, but the short version is already odd enough.

While being lost in the woods, she prayed to the moon, to the sun and the earth. It was the old Gods that answered. One God in particular took an interest in a young witch and that was Veles, the slavic God of witchcraft himself. He appeared before her, as an old bearded man with horns on his head, dressed in leather tunic and bare feet. He stared at her and she stared back, silent in her shock. He moved forward and extended his hands beckoning her to come to him and she did. As soon as she touched his extended hands she felt at peace and she could hear his words, even though he was not speaking. They conversed for a time and he promised he would help her, but only if she would make a statue of him and pray to him for a year, praising the name of Veles so that he may walk upon the Earth as a human for a short time and see how his people have fared. She promised and a day later a small bear walked up to her to lead her out of the forest. I was that bear, but I told her that Veles did not send me, the Great Mother Bear sent me. In the end, it did not matter, she was saved and that was that.

Few days after the ordeal she did as she was bid. She found a large piece of wood, as big as her forearm and she carved a likeness of Veles into it. It was a crude statue, probably nothing like Veles expected, but it was his image and every morning she would put part of her breakfast in front of the statue and she would offer thanks for being saved. She would tell me that with every offering the carved statue changed, and by the end of the year the statue was quite elaborate and detailed and bore an exact likeness to the God she saw in the woods.

This was just the beginning. She would pray and talk to other gods and eventually reached an agreement with some. They would give her a power or a boon in exchange for offerings or sacrifice, it all depended on a God she was talking to. Eventually her mother and other witches realized that something was off and once she told them, they called her a pagan and that she should only pray to Hecate, the mother of witches or Mother Earth, the one who gave birth to us all. Mia refused and it was the first difference of opinion that she had with her coven and that eventually led to her leaving the village all together.

I never understood what the big deal was. The other witches worship Hecate, which is also a pagan goddess, but Mia assured me that it’s not the same thing at all even if I fail to see the difference. As a pagan priestess she has a direct connection to the Gods and she can ask for boons and more often than not, in exchange for a small sacrifice, her wishes are granted. With the blessing of the Gods she can do some wonderful spells or even enchant objects, which was considered a lost art.

I love my cousin dearly, but as a pagan witch she more often than not, scares the shit out of me. I have seen and heard Veles talking through her, using her as an avatar, and it was the scariest thing I have ever seen up to date.

Unlike her I was just a shifter, and while bears are rare and only found in eastern Europe and in Russia, I was nowhere near as special as my cousin. Compared to other shifters, bears are superior in terms of not being bound to the moon, not being allergic to silver and breeding true, but our healing was almost as slow as human and our bite would not turn anyone furry. As my grandmother always said, there is a difference between the gift that we have received and the curse that most other shifters are under.

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My train of thought was interrupted by Mia answering my question.

“Yes, in a way,” she said deep in thought. “She has too much magic and her body can’t handle it so it’s leaking and leaving her magic signature everywhere. Not only is that bad because their father is on the hunt, but this kind of magic will attract others as well. Black witches love children because it's easier to steal their magic, vampires find magic users especially tasty and children even more so, even shifters would love to have a child to raise in their family for their own purposes. And not to mention the coven.” As soon as she mentioned the coven, her face made a sour expression as if she just sucked on a lemon. She finished her rant, muttering under her breath.

“I knew that children with magic were precious, but I didn’t know that witch families have fertility problems.” That got me thinking of our own families.

“We don’t have that problem,” I said. “I mean, you have two sisters, both witches. Not like you, you are special, but they are competent.” Mia didn’t say anything more, but sighed loudly and left the bakery to go to the apartment. That left me with the cleanup of the bakery, which would usually make me upset but I figured she had more important things on her mind.

Mia was not the only one changed by her disappearance. Third night of her going missing I had a dream in which I was visited by the Great Mother Bear, who is said to be the first human to undergo the change from human to bear. I was only eight years old at the time and my memory of the dream has been hazy from the start and I didn’t truly believe that it happened until I felt a magical connection to Mia. The Great Mother Bear asked me if I want to help my friend and if I am willing to change my whole life to be of service, if I was willing to be more than I was supposed to be. She might have used different words, but the intention was clear she was asking if I was willing to change to help Mia. I told her I would do anything to help find her. When I woke up I was in my bear form, which was unusual, but even more unusual was that I knew exactly where to go to find Mia. I wandered into the forest behind my house and walked for hours, until I saw Mia crying on a clearing, just in front of the most bizarre cottage that looked completely out of place in the middle of the forest. I did not question why the cottage was there, nor did I question human looking bones around the cottage or the massive eye that was the window in a little turret on the roof. I ran to Mia and pulled her by her hand, urging her to follow me home.

We have been together ever since, inseparable, together forever, bound by blood, wild magic and fate. I wonder sometimes who was I meant to be, who was Mia meant to be and why we were not allowed to be normal. It is a dark and gloomy train of thought and if possible I try not to think about it. We were both changed by the wild magic, making us both more powerful and more alien, even if it did save our lives. When I ask Mia about it, she simply says that whatever happened was meant to happen and it helped her survive, but even she is not sure sometimes if it was worth it, as her life has taken some bad turns.

I found her sitting on the couch in the apartment and I sat down next to her.

“What are you going to do?” I finally asked.

“I need more magic than just one ritual.” She answered with a sigh. “I will ask Penelope if she would be willing to help me raise some magic.”

I looked at her in surprise. I knew she had a way of acquiring magic that is incredibly powerful, but her usual way of getting that magic is asking the Gods, and that would require a sacrifice of sorts, the bigger the magic, the bigger the sacrifice. The only thing I could imagine that would require another person is blood magic, but that is a dark road that she swore would not use unless someone's life is on the line.

“I want to ask, but I know your rituals are sacred. I have only been a witness to a few of them, and you have grown and changed a lot since then. So, is there something you want to tell me?”

She chuckled a bit, putting her long hair in a ponytail. She got up nervously and looked out of the window, not wanting to face me.

“I don’t do death magic, so you don't need to worry about it. But there is a goddess I can ask for help with protection magic and I know what she will ask for, because she has been leading to it every time I asked… I just really did not want to ask her…” She went quiet, wrapping her hands around her as if she was cold. If I would have been braver I would have walked up to her, but I was hoping not to be involved in her magic rituals.

“She will lend me her magic if I honor her with a specific ceremony like her priestess used to honor her, but that ceremony usually ends up in orgy.” I blinked. Then I blinked again.

“Uhm, excuse me?” She then laughed.

“If I dance and later fuck Penelope under a full moon, while calling upon Mokosh I can make myself as powerful as an entire coven.” I suddenly got a headache.

“Couple of orgasms, in the middle of the forest, on the night of the full moon?” She laughed out loud and nodded.

“I guess the truth about many orgies that my ancestors held, had a purpose, and it wasn’t just for fun.” Ancient priests and priestesses of my land were famous for their orgies. It was a long discussed topic amongst our families and most of them agree that public orgies were just rumors and did not actually happen.

“Don’t you think Penelope would be against public sex?” I asked. She looked out of a window and hmmed.

“Well as a daughter of a shaman, being Native herself, she has often asked how my magic works. She knows I’m not a normal witch, so it might be intriguing to her. Your presence might bother her though.”

“My presence? No offense cousin, I love you dearly, but I do not need to see you have sex.” She looked at me.

“It’s a very complicated ritual that will raise a lot of magic and I will need my guardian. I will invoke the Goddess and just that act will protect us to an extent, but you know how it is. Invoking is an invitation and even if I make a call, they might not answer. I need my guardian to be there if something else comes. Also it will be a night of full moon, and I have heard howling wolves in the past few months.” I groaned because everything she said made sense. I just really did not want to stand guard while she did her ritual. But she made a very good point about the wolves.

“So did I.” I whispered back.

One of the reasons why I stopped going with my cousin to perform her rituals was because my smell would intrigue the wolves. If they just smell a witch they would avoid her, being more interested in other food or activities, but if she plans to do magic and have sex, the smell of sex would be too irresistible to the wolves. She would need protection, and that was my job description. I was her guardian, whether I wanted to be or not.

“Well, this full moon will be fun.” She threw me a cookie, making sure I was covered in crumbs. Laughing at my frown, she said: “You don’t have to look at us while we perform our ritual. You are needed for the first part, when we call upon the Gods and then you can shift. As a bear you can stand guard around us, but not really being close, you know? Just sit somewhere in proximity, making sure we are not disturbed. Although you might not really be needed, last time I did a similar ritual the magic itself was strong enough to hide me and keep me safe.”

“I guess.” I finally conceded. It didn’t sound like we had much of a choice.

“Now I just have to sell public sex to Penelope, and that will be a tough sell.” I started laughing at my poor cousin. I knew she would never pick her partner based on their genitals, so her considering a female partner was not surprising. It was one of the reasons that we left home though. Being different around our family was too difficult for her and she needed to leave so she could be herself.

“Why Penelope?” I asked gently.

“Wouldn’t it be faster or easier with a man?” Meaning, wouldn’t a man honor the goddess more.

“I love Penelope. It’s more about the feelings, the hunt, the catch, the release. It’s about our sacrifice, what we are willing to do for power. Problem is also that invoking Lada might be too fertile and I would be worried about pregnancy if I would have sex with a man, no matter what kind of contraceptive I would use.” She looked away from me and stared out of the window, almost whispering the next part.

“I guess I just can’t imagine doing this with anyone else but Penelope, and that is also a part of the ritual. I just know she would be perfect for it.” I nodded, ate my cookie and left for my room to think. I needed a nap.

“Wake me up if you need me for anything.” When I walked past her, I kissed her forehead, praying that she was right and that we can make a family safe, while being invisible ourselves. I don’t want to announce our magic to everyone. The world is not ready for a lost, wild magic to reappear, no matter what my cousin says and I would prefer to stay a secret. No one knows what the supernatural community will do once they find out that the old Gods are walking on this Earth again.