Chapter 1
Fiona stood on the castle Teress, giving her a front view of the entire Coven. She kept tracing her hands around her 10-month pregnant belly. She was over ten months pregnant which was scaring the life out of her. It was not weird being over ten months in the witch world but it was usually a bad omen.
All her fellow witches, part of the child givers' division in her coven, had given birth to bouncing baby girls a month ago. She was the only one yet to give birth. There was chatter around the witches saying she was carrying a beast. Her last month was nothing but full of stress, especially that unknown forces were blocking her from seeing what she was carrying, making it difficult for her to confirm if the rumors she had allowed to get to her were true.
Every ten years the Witches of Santris Coven, an all-women Coven in England belonging to the Child givers division were deployed into the human world for consummating rituals. Every witch in the coven had an assigned duty; some were spellbinders, others food producers, craftswomen, historians, gatekeepers, watchwomen, sorceresses, and the most precious, the Child givers.
Fiona was part of the Child givers, the division in charge of giving birth to the next generation of witches. She hated being in that division and had spent most of her teen years trying to get the high priestess, Ezeldah, their Leader to reassign her but it all fell in vain. She always felt she belonged to the sorceress's division, she was good with spells and magic but her pleas fell on death's ears.
After years she accepted her division, found a human that impregnated her but it looked like something was wrong. She knew it and knew the high priestess knew it and was trying everything to avoid her.
For an entire week, she had tried to get an audience with her but was always turned away by the guards. Fiona was desperate and scared the priestess knew and was hiding something.
She finally made up her mind, walked back to her room, and packed a bag. She was not the type that waited for the unknown. She needed to find out what was in her womb and the only place she knew could give her an inside view was the human world. They had the technology to check and even induce her labor which her fellow witches had failed.
She was very much aware she was breaking the rules but screw the rules, it was the high Priestess and the elders' fault. She knew they were hiding because they fucked up, she was right all along, they assigned her the wrong division, and she was probably caring a beast because she was not supposed to have children. She was not going to sit around and wait while they hid and failed to face the consequences.
She quickly cast a spell, "Vodia," and a portal opened. she walked through and teleported to a tarmac leading to the nearest human town.
It was a long walk but she needed the exercise but she only walked for a few minutes before a pickup truck stopped for her.
"Going somewhere?" the old man in the track asked.
Fiona stopped and looked up at him, she never trusted humans, however, the few minutes she had walked were tiring and she needed the ride very badly.
"Hospital," she replied.
"That's a long way from here, I am heading in that direction."
Fiona looked up at him again
"It is very dangerous for a woman very far up to be walking alone. Get in and I will drop you off," the man offered.
Fiona was a bit hesitant but the man was right, if only she had teleported near the hospital or clinic. However that was rule number one of teleportation, "never teleport near humans"
She quickly got into the track, her mind occupied with what she was going to find in her womb and all the coven rules she had broken.
The truck driver tried to start up a conversation but she kept quiet the entire trip to the hospital.
Realising she was not that social, the driver gave up and pulled over in the hospital car park, reminding her they were at her destination.
But Fiona seemed to be in her head, unaware of her surroundings.
She finally snapped out it and looked around
"We are here, do you need me to assist you inside?"
"No," Fiona replied, opened the door, and got out of the truck without thanking the surprised man. Her mind was somewhere else, she could not even remember to thank him.
She walked into the hospital confused on how she was going to get a scan. She had a plan but forgot humans had a system that they followed. She had no identification or booking. She began regretting her decision.
A nurse noticed her looking around, worriedly and approached her.
"Excuse me, do you need help?" The Nurse asked.
Fiona turned, "I'm almost eleven months," she replied.
"Ooh, can… I see your antenatal cards or scans?" the nurse requested.
Fiona began fidgeting, she needed to think fast, "I lost them… ouch, something is wrong with my baby, please help him,"
"Calm down, we first have to check your records from the system if you lost your copies."
" No, I'm not from here?"
"Where are you from?" the nurse asked.
"Please do scans on me and check, the baby has not been moving for days," she lied.
The nurse looked up at her worried, seeing the gravity of the case, she quickly grabbed a wheelchair and ordered Fiona to take a seat. She was going to deal with the registration after the scans, the baby's life and mother's mattered the most.
Fiona was rushed to the maternity ward and an obstetrician was immediately called in to check on her and the baby.
He introduced himself and placed the gel on Fiona's tummy and began the scan. After some seconds, he smiled at Fiona and asked if it was her first baby. Fiona quickly nodded with sweaty, shaky hands. Her heart was beating very fast, scared of what the doctor was seeing.
"The good news is that the baby is okay and kicking but the bad news is, yes he has overstayed and we need to induce," the doctor informed her.
"The baby… you can see the baby…?" she stammered.
"Yes, and if you turned your head to the screen, you can see him as well," the doctor stated pointing at the screen.
Fiona froze, her eyes almost popping out of her socket. She grabbed at the doctor's arms, almost sinking her nails into him.
"No no, you mean her, she is alright?"
The doctor moved a bit, trying to get out of her grasp but she was way stronger than him. "Miss… you are expecting a boy, calm down, you are hurting me," he tried to calm her down.
Fiona's nails were now piercing the doctor's hand and a bit of blood began gashing out. The doctor pushed on her as he called on the nurses. He had no idea what was happening but the girl in front of him seemed to be going into shock.
Fiona stared at the screen, she could see her baby moving around. She was expecting to see a beast and not a male child. Santris witches never gave birth to male children, it was an abomination that once happened centuries ago. Something was wrong, the doctor was wrong, he had to be wrong.
The lights in the room began flashing, her stress began igniting her witch powers inside of her as the room began shaking.
The doctor and the nurses stared at each other, thinking it was an earthquake or something. The Doctor quickly grabbed a syringe and ordered the nurses to hold her down.
"No no, you are lying, it is a girl, check again, check again," Fiona kept crying as a needle was inserted in her. seconds later she became drowsy and slowly fell asleep. All the shaking and blackouts stopped as soon as she was knocked out. The nurses stared at each other again in shock.
The doctor quickly ordered them to take Fiona to the operation room for an induced cesarean section. The room was prepared and Fiona was taken in for the operation.
By the time she woke up, it was a new day. She closed her eyes with sadness as she remembered the doctor's words. Deep down she wished everything was a dream and she was at the coven, in her room. But when she opened her eyes, the white room with the bleach scent hit her, she was at the hospital.
She quickly placed her hand on her tummy, hitting straight on the cesarean cut. A loud cry escaped from her lips, as she breathed in and out heavily. A very big part of her hoped the baby was dead, she was going to become an outcast, a low breed, and worse the baby would be thrown in the grave forest of the lost souls to starve to its death.
A male child was an insult to the Coven, they were considered worse than a beast and rarely talked about. The Santris Coven was a female coven of witches, no witch ever gave birth to male children and that's why the priestess made it her mission to select the Child giver's division to avoid such abominations. However, it looked like she was wrong and Fiona was paying the price. Tears began streaming down her face, why was she so unfortunate, she kept asking herself.
Her life was based on trying to fit in a division she did not belong to and sneaking around practicing magic that her division was not allowed to.
Suddenly, the door opened and a nurse walked in with a crying baby in her arms. Fiona quickly got up and took a seat ignoring her tears and pain.
"Thank God you are finally awake, this cute thing here can't stop crying…" the nurse stated.
Fiona cleared her throat, "is it really a… boy?"
"Yes, but if you look at him, he looks like a girl, he looks so cute. You can still dress him in pink," the nurse joked trying to lighten up the mood.
Fiona looked away as the baby kept crying
The nurse walked closer, "look here, I have no idea how you got pregnant but I can guess. That does not mean you should hate the child."
Fiona kept quiet and focused her attention on the window, cursing her life. She kept wishing she could die and end her miserable life.
"You can put him up for adoption if you want," the nurse suggested.