Nikita’s POV

“Nikita, you’re a witch”

I hated the way my name sounded on his lips. It was like he was imploring me, like he was searching my soul, looking for weakness, any weakness and then he would hold on to it, hold on to me, until I broke my wall.

I would not.

What he told me was not surprising. I knew I had abilities no one else had, like Mike, but I just didn’t know what it was. My dreams were riddled with me performing so many feats. One time I was speaking to rivers and trees and the wind. One time I was fighting demons on a gold dragon in a barren land. Yesterday a cat told me that ‘I am too open’ and then gave me a castle with high thick walls.

“Whenever you want to hide, go into this castle, it will protect you”

At first, I thought it was bloody stupid that my brain was overreacting, as it always did. I have been having crazy dreams for as long as I remember. There was no day I did not dream about something so absurd, but I kept it inside of me, afraid that Mike would be scared of me because what I did in my dreams were sometimes awful. I drank blood, I ate flesh, I slaughtered children and then befriended dragons and dangerous spirits to lay waste of civilizations. Even though I wasn’t at all bad, the evil version of my dream self scared me. I was able to ignore them after I woke, even forget them completely, then I saw Neil. All my dreams presented themselves to me, one by one, the good, the bad and the evil. His presence put my whole self in disarray, I did not know what was real or not. My dreams suddenly became memories as if I was the one who raided a village and drank their blood, as if last week I got married to a beautiful black maiden when I returned from the forbidden forest. I was so afraid of Mike knowing that I locked myself in the castle the cat gave me and I was so scared when it worked. Mike could not see me; he could not hear me and he could not touch me and this frightened me so much. I did not know what to do with myself and one thought ran about in my mind all day, driving me fucking crazy.

Holy fuck I am a witch.

Neil saying it just confirmed my suspicions and it drained all the energy from my bones. I suddenly went cold, so cold, and I leaned back in my bean bag, closing my eyes.

I felt Mike hold my shoulders.

Are you okay?

No Mike, I’m not. I’m a witch and I’m a monster. I deserve to go to Atwea mountains and be delivered.

Don’t be stupid Nikki.

“Is she okay?” Neil sounded worried. I wanted him to stop talking, I did not like what his voice did to me.

Nikki, talk to me, please.

I’m a monster! Then I projected the picture of the castle in his mind.

Who gave you that!?

I opened my eyes.

“Just how much do you know about all of this?” Mike looked conflicted “What are you hiding from me?”

“I can’t tell you” he said quietly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why?” Why did everyone think that they had to hide things from me? I hated it so much! Mike sighed.

“He told me not to” I knew the person in question. His sort of teacher, from his school or whatever. I lay back on the bean bag, my head suddenly woozy. Mike got up from in front of me and sat down, still holding my hand, he demanded from Neil why my being a witch was enough reason for him to try and kill me.

“No, you got me wrong” the no he said reminded me of that very Sunday, his hands around my neck as he screamed no, over and over again “It is not because she was a… witch that I… attacked her. She was using her powers in public! That’s dangerous”

“She wasn’t!” Mike said defending me “We don’t even know how to use our powers!”

The pause that ensued reflected disbelief.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t we be?” Mike squeezed my hand, I jolted awake but kept my eyes closed. “Our parents are as normal as could be, we are the weird ones. How is it possible that we would even have powers and even know how to use them without help?”

“That’s very strange” Neil finally said “Nikita was flying and shape shifting”

Make me like Rose! Is that what I was doing? I also remembered how the wind was rushing towards me, I was flying? I was flying and shapeshifting? Now my eyes were wide open.

“You were doing that in public.” he said looking at me, as though he knew what I was remembering “It goes against the rules. With shapeshifting, you need a license…”

“So what? I had to be killed? I did not even know what I was doing!”

“I know now! I did not know then!” he knelt “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had killed you!” I had nothing to say, I was so shaken. This time, Mike spoke

“Against the rules of what?” Neil kept quiet for a while, arranging his words in this head before speaking them out. Then he just yelled out, looking very conflicted.

“Why can’t you tell us?” Mike said.

“It’s secret. It’s like, the best kept secret in the entire world. And the only way you get to know these secrets, is if you’re one of us. And I don’t even know if you are one of us”

“But you just said I’m a witch…” I spoke.

“Yeah, I said the word ‘witch’ because it is closest to what people with magical abilities are called around here, but I’m not sure…”

“Not sure?!” I said with disbelief “Do you and your people just go around calling people witches without even being sure?”

“Witchcraft is a wide range of things…” Mike had had enough, he interrupted Neil unable to stand what he was saying

“Nikki was flying! She was shapeshifting and then she hit a tree! She almost died from the accident then from you. Our mother hates us and our pastor thinks my sister needs deliverance. Now,” Mike leaned towards Neil, his voice dripping with venom “start being sure or else you’ll never be sure of anything in your entire lifetime.” As he said that final sentence, Mikes eyes begun to glow blue. Neil’s eyes widened.

Mike’s eyes were glowing freaking blue. Since when was he able to do this? Is this part of the things he could not tell me? I knew I couldn’t blame him for keeping secrets if I was doing same but I can’t say it didn’t sting.

“Yes, she’s a witch. You’re a witch too. Actually the word is Vodun and we don’t call practicing Vodun spells, we call them Agreements, as in making an Agreement with nature to do things for you”

“Oh, so now you’re sure?” Mike’s voice sounded truly menacing, he was scaring me. I wanted to tell him so but instead I held his hand and then showed him my castle. I then opened the great castle gates to him. He turned to look at me, face still glowing but I wasn’t afraid of him. I was afraid of what he could do, but I wasn’t afraid of him. He was my brother, and I loved the shit out of him. He smiled, reading my mind.

No more secrets?

No more secrets.

Neil seemed oblivious to our interaction and was still talking. Mike told him to start again.

“This is not just about abilities, it’s about family, blood, loyalty and things like that. A person may have powers and whatnot but how do we know they are loyal to the community?” So, it’s a community. Neil noticed his slip up, but he couldn’t stop talking now, Mike had threatened him with whatever was threatened “So you now see why I don’t know what to do? How do I know that you are loyal?”

There was a long pause after that and Mike’s eyes came back to normal, thankfully. Neil made us think, did we want this? To join this community of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Mike smiled at the name I made up for it.

“We will not make any promises,” Mike said, his voice stern but his face looked curious “but you’ll have to tell us everything we need to know to inform our decision”

Neil’s smile was so wide I saw a bit of groundnut paste on them.