I almost fell into the bayou. Being careless and clumsy, I slipped while climbing aboard the Lazarovs' boat. At the last second, right before I hit the water, Shawn caught my arm and pulled me back from the edge. I steadied myself against him, and was able to breathe again.
I thanked him and everyone started teasing me about my spacy personality, to which I replied, "Can I help it if the inside of my brain is more interesting than the outside?"
Isabella laughed at me. "You say that every time."
"Because every time it's true."
Autumn jostled my arm, making me laugh.
Sakura set us down the bayou, every so often asking one of us to do something to help us along. Then we were good on our course for a while, so Sakura was able to leave her post at the wheel.
She joined us on the main deck, clomping down the short staircase that led up to the bridge and the wheelhouse, where all the controls were. The conversation leaped into action as soon as she got there.
"So what's our plan of action?" Isabella asked, leaning against the ship's railing.
"Well I think we should learn how to use our powers," Sakura suggested with emphasis. "Besides, I don't even know how to shift yet."
"And I don't know how to use my magic," I said.
"Or my powers," Autumn added.
"Or mine," Austin and Isabella said together, glancing at each other.
"And I've only fully shifted, like, once," Shawn pointed out.
"So it's settled then?" Sakura asked.
"We'll all help each other learn how," Austin stated. "And to control it."
"When?" I asked.
"Why not now?" Shawn asked.
"One," Autumn started, "It's the middle of the day, and someone could see,-"
"Two," I continued for her, "It's already pretty late, and this could take a while."
"And our mother will want us home soon. We have a pretty early curfew," Isabella added, gesturing to herself and Austin.
"I'm free tomorrow morning," Sakura offered.
"Same," Autumn said, shoving her hands in her back pockets.
"Me too," I replied.
"Yeah, I can be there," Shawn said.
"Around eleven maybe? We could meet at the base of the big cliff?" Isabella asked, gesturing towards the cliff, to the right of the bayou.
We all nodded in agreement.
We boated around for a while along the bayou, being silly and pretending to be pirates under Captain Lazarov, and First-Mate Walker. It was fun. We were on the bayou until the sun went down, then Sakura told us we had to get the boat back: her mom doesn't like it when she's on the bayou in the dark.
So we headed back, the starry sky above us twinkling and dancing, the water reflecting it. It made me feel like we were sailing through the night sky, with stars above and below us, the inky darkness surrounding me from all sides. I leaned over the railing and watched the world around me, the trees given black and blue hues from the moon, fuller now, hanging in the sky.
Everything felt magical. And in that moment, right then and right there, I wanted to test out my magic. See it spark and fly in this perfect moment. But I didn't. Couldn't. I didn't know how.
About fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to the dock. Sakura slowed down the boat and then jarred us to a complete stop. I was up in the wheelhouse with her, and saw her bush a few buttons, then turn the keys out of the ignition. She spun them around her finger, tossed them up in the air, and caught them again.
She waved Autumn and I out of the wheelhouse and down onto the bridge level. We all got off, and helped Sakura tie off the boat. Well, Autumn and I did. But that was usually how it went. Sakura was doing this because it was her family's boat and her house, but normally Autumn and I were the responsible ones in the group. We were the ones always saying to call it a night, or warn our friends of something wasn't safe. It was kind of like our job in our friendship group; Sakura and Isabella were reckless, and Autumn and I pulled them back from the edge, in a set rhythm.
We deboarded the boat and each one of us headed home. My footsteps echoed on the wooden deck, she sound taking me back to the previous night, when someone could have discovered us. I washed away the anxiety coming back to be from that memory and continued on my way home, following the same path along the bayou's edge.
***
My phone buzzed on the bathroom counter. I picked it up while brushing my teeth, and saw it was a group chat Shawn and Sakura made.
Sakura- Hey guys. I had a thought, that we all should wear swimsuits or something if we're going to be shapeshifting and...
Shawn- Yeah, I get it. Thx for the idea
Then I added to the conversation, spitting out a mouthful of toothpaste. Yea, thx Sakura
Sakura- :) np, gn
I signed off and continued to brush my teeth. I finished, pulled my hair up, and headed to bed for the night.
Just one problem. That night, sleep wouldn't come to me. My brain was anxious about the upcoming training we were about to do, I figured. I tossed to one side, and couldn't get comfortable. Flipped over, still not comfortable. Tried the other side, but at this point I knew my body was ready to go to bed yet. My brain kept circling back to something. Something that it wanted me to do.
Finally, I gave into it and pulled out my file papers. Using my phone as a flashlight, I reviewed them again. It was pointless, I reasoned, but my brain wanted me to do it, so I did. This one section stuck out to me. It said that after I've had enough Shifts, I should be able to only morph parts of my body into my owl form, like just giving myself owl ears to hear something, then morphing back to my normal ones. It also said the pain should pain over time. It just didn't say how much time.
I read them all again- especially that section- with a total of three pages, and then stuck them back in my bedside table drawer, folded. I turned off my phone flashlight and tried to go to sleep again.
Everything was dark. Not like at night. Nothing. Complete and utter darkness, no variation in color, no light about to come at the end of the tunnel. There was nothing. I reached out with my hands and felt nothing. I stumbled blindly through the darkness, my hands in front of me in case I felt something.
I sped up to a run, and my hands felt something. I stopped myself short and felt solid stone. Running my hands over it, I was trying to see if there was an opening through it. But I couldn't feel one. I moved down the wall, still feeling for a way out, but was still unsuccessful.
I sat down, giving up, when a small voice called out, "You're getting closer..."
I lurched to my feet and swung my head around, trying to find the voice's origin.
The same voice laughed. "So close, yet so far..."
I knew where it was coming from. It was coming through the wall. My shoulders slumped.
It laughed again. "Look at you..."
It felt closer now, like it walked through the wall.
"So much power..."
I glared at the voice, knowing it was taunting me now.
"...and look at how you waste it..."
"Who are you?" I called out, my voice firm.
"Oh, got some fire I see..."
It was definitely a male's voice, soft and melodic.
"Where are you?"
"Don't know what to do with it..."
I walked around a bit more, trying to seek this guy out.
"...or with yourself..."
"Why are you doing this?"
He laughed again, the voice floating above my head. "Because it's fun... of course..."
My alarm went off beside my head. My eyes opened and shut off the alarm on my phone with a single swipe. Stifling a yawn, I sat up in my bed, my vision slightly blurry from sleep.
Then my dream came rushing back to the front of my mind. I felt like it hit on the side of my head with a baseball bat, causing me to blink and shake my head. I remembered the darkness pressing in on me. The soft, lilting voice taunting me, just out of reach. The frustration dream-me felt came bubbling up inside my own chest.
But I pushed it aside and got ready for the day. It was only a dream, I told myself. And I tried to believe it.
After I dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans and a light blue t-shirt above my red swimsuit, I looked in the mirror and- for the first time in weeks- studied my face. I saw dark smudges had appeared under my eyes, my cheeks were sunken in, and my eyes dropped with a tiredness that consumed me, inside and out. Resting my hands on my bathroom counter, I took deep breaths, trying to chill my mind.
It wasn't working.
But I pushed past it, and got ready for the day. It was a big one: we were having our first training session with our new powers. A nervous energy hummed through me as I finished getting ready.
As a last-minute thought, I grabbed my file pages before I left, stuffing them in my back pocket before I left my room for the day.
I saw the note on the counter as I headed into my kitchen. It was from my father, and was telling me he had to step out and see someone for lunch, and he'd be back soon. Even though I wouldn't be here when he got back, he still felt the need to write me a note. I heaved an internal sigh, then made myself breakfast, nearly time to head out myself.
After making myself toast, I cleared my dishes and headed out the back door. I honestly thought I used my back door more often than my front door. The thought made me smirk.
It seemed all of our houses met at one spot in our small town, like six small flies caught in one tangled spider web. That spot was at the base of my favorite climbing cliff. It was far enough away from town so no one would hear, but close enough to walk to without too much trouble. I felt that way, but it was clear some of my friends didn't, as they were huffing large breaths when I arrived.
Sakura and Shawn were there when I arrived, Sakura breathing hard and Shawn only looking a little winded. From Shawn's house, most of the way here was uphill, so I understood that. Sakura just wasn't a good long-distance person.
I waved as I approached, but still made Sakura jump. I laughed when she did, and earned myself a scowl from her.
I was still giggling when Autumn arrived from the other direction. When she got closer, she called out, "What's so funny?"
When I explained, Autumn laughed too, Sakura scowling at Autumn too. Autumn held up her hands in mock-defense, still smiling.
And lastly, Isabella and Austin came along, late, as usual.
Then we were ready to begin.
Sakura went first.
She stripped down to her swimsuit, ready for her first shift. Her eyes closed, standing in the center of the clearing. We all lined the edges along the treeline, like spectators to a game.
A few moments later, Sakura rapidly shrunk, her swimsuit staying the same size. He all-but disappeared, a red fox now sitting atop her pile of clothes.
"That didn't even take her that long," Shawn said in a wistful tone.
"And it looked painless," I added, feeling the same way Shawn was.
"Jealous?" Autumn asked us, crossing her arms, raising her eyebrows at us.
Both Shawn and I nodded vigorously, making Autumn laugh. Sakura chirped as a fox and twirled around Vera and Shawn's legs, as if apologizing.
I crouched down next to her and whispered, "Nod if you can understand me."
Sakura nodded, her small head bobbing.
"Try to focus on shifting back. I found imagining my human self to be effective."
Sakura chirped again and crouched to the ground, squinting her eyes shut. We all turned away as she focused, giving her some privacy. I didn't see, but I heard the leaves rustling under her as she grew back to herself. Sakura gasped, leaves rustling again. A whisper of fabric as she pulled her clothes back on.
When Sakura called out, "Okay, I'm good," she was still tugging her shirt down when I turned back around.
"Who's next?" Sakura asked.
"I'll go," Autumn volunteered.
We all nodded.
"But I'm sure where to start."
Sakura and I stepped closer and peered over Autumn's shoulders at her file pages.
Sakura snapped her fingers, making Autumn and I jump. "Why don't we try Summoning that ghost that was pestering you the other night?"
Autumn noddeed. "Yeah! I kinda thought about doing that, but wasn't sure how."
"Wait," Austin asked, "What ghost?"
We debunked the whole story, saying that, "Basically, Autumn was being haunted by a ghost spirit, and we helped her send it away."
Austin nodded after we told him. "Cool."
I smiled and shook my head. That seemed to be his response to everything: take it in stride.
We looked at Autumn's file and she thought she should etch the symbol in the dirt to make sure she got this specific spirit. We helped her, every so often looking off the picture to make sure we got it exactly right. It said if the symbol is drawn wrong it can cause strange things to happen to the ghost realm, like tears in the fabric of their universe and damages.
The symbol was two circles, one thin one like a ring around the edge of the bigger part of it. There were six letters within that thin circle, in the Necromancer Language. Then in the bigger circle, there was an X-like shape in the middle, and across the middle of the X, was a line, and one each end was a crescent moon near the edge circle. Then there was something else crossing the other direction through the X, which looked like two candelabras with another connecting line between them.
We etched it out in the dirt without too much trouble, then Autumn began Summoning. She sat cross-legged just outside the symbol and placed her hands palm-out towards the symbol. When Summoning, a Necromancer was calling out in their mind and envisioning a certain spirit and pulling them towards her. They would then be tied to the Symbol while there, and only be able to come and go by the Necromancer's command. But they could speak freely, so maybe we could get some answers.
Maybe a minute later, Autumn took in a sharp breath, eyes popping open. We all stared at her, not seeing what was freaking her out.
"Is the ghost here?" I asked.
Autumn nodded, her eyes wide.
"What are they saying?" Sakura asked next.
"She's ranting about how I nearly pulled her head off when I brought her here."
"You can do that?" Isabella asked.
Autumn shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she's over exaggerating it."
A question was forming on my tongue, but before I could ask it, Autumn gasped and pulled back from the symbol.
"What is it?" Shawn asked.
Autumn took a breath, the replied, "She left the circle. I thought it said the spirit couldn't do that?"
"It did," I said grimly. "I think I get it now."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"The spirit," I stated. "She's a witch."
Autumn nodded. "Yeah, I think she is. I'm pretty sure it said only Supernatural beings become ghosts, and not just regular humans. But they can be brought back to their corpse if needed, like for an army or something creepy like that."
"Ask her something," Sakura suggested. "About why she was hanging around you. Tell us what she says."
Autumn nodded. Standing up, she then put her right hand out, palm out. She closed her eyes, curled that hand into a fist, and pulled back. A moment later, she smiled. "Now tell me: why were you hanging around my house and trying to scare me?"
Silence, the witch answering her.
Autumn turned to us. "She said it's our fault she's dead. Her and all her brothers and sisters."
"How?" I asked.
More silence. This was getting really tedious.
"Her coven was recruited by our parents to cast a spell on us all."
"What?"
"Why?"
What did the spell do to us?"
We all had questions, but Autumn held up her hands to us, then re-asked our questions to the witch spirit.
"She said the spell covered up our powers. To make us never know we were Supernatural, and dim our "sensor"."
"Our what?" Isabella asked.
"She says it's something other Supernatural can feel and see about each other: it's how they know if you're Supernatural or not. With us, the spell shut ours off, and made it so nothing else can sense that about us, and we can't sense it about them."
"That's... unsettling," I murmured. And it was, but we finally had an answer. And that counted for something.
"What does it look like? Feel like?" Austin asked.
Autumn relayed his questions, then answered for the witch spirit. "It feels like a sense of trust. That you can be your Supernatural self around them. And it looks like a warm glow around each Supernatural."
"But it didn't work," Shawn stated. "Why didn't it?"
Autumn asked Shawn's question. Then, she said, "It did, but then..." she stopped talking.
"Autumn?" Sakura asked, her voice rising.
"What is it?" Austin asked.
"But then our parents killed their entire coven so no one would ever know about us."
Silence. No one spoke. No one breathed. No one dared.
Finally, Isabella asked a question. "But if they did the spell before they were... killed, then why didn't it work?"
Autumn stepped back, her eyes wide.
I looked around, but I couldn't see anything, but Autumn clearly could. "What happened?"
Autumn spoke again, but not to me. "Isabella, back up."
"But w-" Isabella was cut off.
"Just do it."
Isabella backed up to her brother, hands out. "Is the ghost..." Isabella started to ask.
Autumn nodded. She reached both of her hands out and yanked them both back. Wind started to pick up around her, picking up tendrils of her fiery hair and plucking at her loose shirt.
But it worked, and the wind died down.
"It's okay now, Bella. You're good."
Isabella physically relaxed, relieving her tense shoulders.
Then Autumn reacted to something the witch was doing again, making us all jump. I followed Autumn's gaze, and saw the witch was right above all of our heads.
"What is she doing?" I asked.
Autumn shrugged. "I don't know, but nothing I'm doing is working for very long, and it kinda hurts."
Then she gasped. "No, don't-"
Her warning was cut off as Shawn went sailing across the clearing, thrown by an unseen force.
Autumn closed her eyes and tried to pull against the witch again, but it was unsuccessful, as Austin was thrown next. He thudded onto the ground next to Shawn, a groan escaping his lips.
Autumn darted her gaze around the clearing, eyes wide and terrified.
"How is she doing this?" Isabella questioned, her voice high and shrill.
Both Shawn and Austin picked themselves up, uninjured, but she wasn't done yet. I felt my body lift up off the ground, getting higher and higher in the sky. "Autumn! Help!" I yelped, but it was too late.
I soared through the sky and across the clearing, and saw the ground rushing up to meet me. I tucked into a roll and landed on my back. The wind knocked out of my lungs, I laid there, gasping, tasting blood in my mouth.
I caught my breath again, rolled over and looked back at my friends, and saw Sakura being lifted off the ground as well.
"Autumn!" I yelled. "The symbol! Erase-" But I didn't need to say any more. She slid her foot through the lines, and disconnected the two circles from each other.
Sakura fell back on the ground, landing flat on her ass. Autumn sank to the ground, then fell back and screamed.
I scrambled up and rushed to her as fast as I could, still sore from my fall from the sky. Sakura was there with me.
"What happened?" Sakura asked. "What did she do?"
Autumn caught her breath. "It's a little hard to explain, but she kinda... disappeared into me. When she saw what I did, she flew at me, screaming, and then disappeared into my body."
"Does that mean something?" Shawn asked.
Autumn shook her head. "I broke her foothold. She couldn't do anything at that point to hurt any of us." Then Autumn turned to Shawn, Austin, and me, who were all still on the side of the clearing the witch spirit had thrown us. "Are you guys okay?"
We all nodded.
Autumn shook her head. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't control her."
"Hey," Austin started. "You've never done this before. It's fine."
I nodded. "She probably targeted us because we're the shapeshifters. Don't worry, we heal quick."
Autumn smiled.
Sakura rubbed Autumn's arm. "Do you want to try something else now?"
Autumn nodded. She stood up. "I read that I can see animal spirits too. I wanna try one of those."
We set on that. We didn't need the symbol anymore, so we erased it completely. Then Autumn knelt on the ground again, resuming the same pose as before, except kneeling and not sitting cross-legged.
A few moments later, Autumn opened her eyes and smiled.
"What is it?" Austin asked.
"A squirrel. A little squirrel spirit." She looked up at us. "I know it's kinda morbid, but it still looks so cute."
Sakura laughed at her. "And that's why you wanted to summon an animal."
"He's disappearing. I'm gonna try and hold him here." She closed her eyes and resumed her Summoning, hands out, fingers twitching as if by an outside force.
Then her back arched, hands went slack, and she started chanting in an unknown language, her voice low and raspy. "Se va acoo sen jerun rarcaso. Nen so ar endoskai." Autumn opened her eyes, filled with confusion and concern. "How did I do that?"
"What was that?" Isabella questioned.
Then a rustling and swinging of tree branches to the right had us all jumping again. Leaves rustled and crinkled like old paper. Branches creaked and groaned. Grass whispered across a small creature as it stepped out in front of us. It was a squirrel, fur matted and gray.
And dead.
There was a hole in its side, filled with maggots crawling all over it. It was more than a few feet away, but Sakura still made a horrible retching sound and backed away, covering her mouth.
"Autumn," Isabella started, "you have to release it."
"How?" she asked.
I put my hand on top of hers. "Close your eyes and imagine freeing the squirrel spirit you saw before from that shell. Or from a cage. Something like that. Calm down, and try it."
Autumn nodded, heaving a shaky breath. She did what I suggested, and soon enough, the corpse fell over, spirit freed.
Sakura put a hand on her shoulder. "You did it."
Autumn stood up and said, "Somebody else can go now. I am so done."