Carina's POV
"...Tell me, Carina Williams, Would you like to be a witch?"
Is that even possible? is that something people can just do at any random point in time? shouldn't there be a protocol for these things? some ancient bloodline validation system? or some intricate initiation ritual at least?!!
I had a plethora of questions bouncing off the side of my skull overwhelming me to the point that the only sensible thing to escape my open mouth was "...huh?"
"...Yes, a witch, it's quite easy really?"
"Why?!!" foremost, what reason was there for me to become a witch? "...can't I talk to this Elliot guy without having to turn myself into a witch?"
Felicia answered immediately "No, You see, Elliot and his family are how you people would refer to as High brow..." her hands made air quotations at the word 'High brow' with her fingers bending as she pronounced each syllable
Who says high brow?! "....So they're like rich?"
"Hah!!!..." Felicia threw her head back, a hearty snort escaping her lips "..... Darling, Mark Zuckerberg is Rich, Elon Musk is rich, Jeff Bezos is Rich, and The Ruberiden Family on the other hand are filthy stinking roll in dirt as if dirt were money rich, They take Capitalism to a whole new height so much so that just Mentioning the Ruberiden name is enough to buy an entire Franchise, maybe even a small country...."
She can't be serious, no one is That rich!!
"....from the look on your face, you don't believe me...." was I that obvious? "..I'll tell you what, you know in the news how you hear a county is in debt or the world has a so and so amount of cumulative debt?..." she asks which I reply with a curt nod "...who do you think they are indebted to?"
"Nooo..?!!" I drawled unable to comprehend the mountain of money that the family was sitting
"Oh yeah, they aren't the only family with that much money and influence but they make up a big chunk of that 1%...."
And there it is, the truth of it, this woman is insane!!
If not she wouldn't be asking me to rub shoulders with the school bully who could beat up Tony Stark and take his lunch money!!
"How am I supposed to meet this boy?!! His assistants probably have assistants!!"
"That's where I come in...." she stands to her feet brushing away the dust caught on her gown ".....Follow me" she instructs walking towards a large bookshelf
Since we met I've been doing nothing but following her, it's starting to get old
Nerva slides off releasing me from her crushing bind and allowing me to stand as well, if I could feel my legs I'm sure I wouldn't be able to feel them after how long that large cat spent lying on my lap
We reach the shelf and Felicia turns to me giving me a small mischievous smile raising her hand and twisting her wrist followed by a loud snap of her fingers
Silence!!
Everywhere goes quiet, the rustling of leaves, the creaking of crickets, the sound of the wind, everything stills for a split second before the loud sound of Cogs grinding fills the air, I turn my head side to side trying to find the source of the sound when the ground violently jolts beneath me propelling me forward, I stretch my hands out in front of me steadying myself looking up through my puff ball of hair at Felicia demanding answers but all she gives me is another coy
"Hold on tight"
No time to react the bookshelf parts open into a long corridor, with one final jolt the floor beneath us zooms into the tunnel the world passing us in a blur, terrified I fall to my knees digging my nails into the ground trying to keep myself from being knocked off the speeding piece of plywood, Felicia and Nerva on the other hand were unfazed, Felicia stands tall with her hands behind her back and her head high facing forward towards the end of the tunnel while Nerva lies on her stomach, a lazy yawn passing her lips
Am I the odd one in this situation?!
We come to a grinding halt, the braking force so strong it knocks me flat on my face, with shaky hands I try to push my body off the floor but it feels like lead, oh God I think I'm going to vomit, am I even capable of vomiting?! We're about to find out
I feel Nerva at my side immediately rubbing her body against me nudging me with her nose her eyes looking heavily concerned, maybe it was because she was a familiar but Nerva had a very expressive face for a tiger
"I'm alright" Willing all the strength in my body I placed my hand on the tiger's head reassuring her that I wasn't about to die again, she placed her head under my arm lifting me off the ground and onto her back effortlessly, "Thank you.." I thanked her gratefully as I threw my legs over the big cat's back straddling her properly and propping myself up
"Comfortable?"
"No thanks to you" I match her snarkiness with one of my own, after putting me through all that with no warning at all she still had the gall to make fun of me
Felicia ignored my rude remark and walked down the dim hallway, the further she got the harder her figure became to make out, she got further and further away till she disappeared, I would normally panic in situations like this but having Nerva with me made me feel a little better
Hearing her purr was reassuring,
Clap! Clap!, the loud sound of palms slapping together was heard down the corridor followed by a flicker of light as one by one rows upon rows upon rows of white lights came on illuminating the dreary not-so-little hole in the hall
The place was MASSIVE, shelves as far as the eye could see, going down the hall and up the ceiling were shelves upon shelves of books spanning up different floors, on each floor there looked to be a metal platform held together by large chains, a spiral staircase connected all the floors, the smell of mildew was thick in the air, it was so overpowering that you could still make it out despite all the other conflicting aromas
A soft whistle calls out to us and Nerva moves towards it carrying me on her back and swaying me from side to side approaching the maze of shelves
Passing the first shelf I feel my stomach turn as I look at the items on the shelves, there were items in containers that made the jars at the entrance look like child's play
"Felicia!!!" I call out to her fully distressed, I didn't like it
"Over here!! and Stop whining!!!" we follow her voice into a large clearing in the center of the library, the shelves formed a circle around the large open space, and above our heads was a GIANT circular glass window that showed a perfect view of the moon, it looked so big, so close! it was still night time, with how fast my day has been moving I'm surprised it wasn't sunrise
"What is this place?" I ask Felicia the moment Nerva halts in front of her
"Have you ever met a witch without her Library?" she cocks a brow at me sounding genuinely offended
"I've never met a witch, period" I reminded her
"Oh, right..." Did she seriously forget that I just met her?, she brought two fingers to her lips and blew creating a loud whistle, I wasn't sure why until I heard the heavy sound of hooves clinking and clacking racing in our direction, my wildest guess would have been wrong because nothing could have prepared me for the large black cast iron cauldron on four short iron legs that came running towards us
I feel my head spin as my vision blurs, am I about to faint?
I loosen my grip on Nerva who jolts her body nearly knocking me off her back, the sudden action shocks me awake as I grab a fist full of her fur trying to keep myself grounded, I appreciated the sentiment but she could have been a little more
The black pot runs towards us bouncing up and down like a puppy running circles around Felicia who looks at the pot affectionately placing her hand on top of the rim and stroking it gently
"Hello poppy, Carina come say hello...." she calls for me, and Nerva wastes no time carrying me towards the large black pot, it took everything in me not to jump off the tiger and run for my afterlife, mostly because the tiger could catch me in no time at all, but witches and black cauldrons are usually not a good combination for other people, "...Carina this is Poppy, Poppy this is Carina she will be staying with us for a while..." the pot moves back and turns it's body around so It was facing me, I think?
The pot approaches me slowly walking full circle around me sizing me up, I never thought I would live to see the day I was intimidated by Kitchen utensils and thankfully I didn't
What felt like ions passed before the pot jumped up excitedly running around nudging my sides rubbing me playfully, it was like a giant cast iron German shepherd, I gave in and placed my hand on the pot rubbing what I was hoping was belly which made it even more excited, this pot is so cute!!!
"Alright that's enough, come here girl!!!" Felicia smiles as she calls the pot over to her who comes running to her side "...Sit..." she commands and the pot drops to the ground ".... now, where is that book?..." Felicia muses raising her hand in the air, a large book comes flying off the shelf into her waiting hand and she grabs it effortlessly, the book flies open the pages flutter after each other till her eyes land on a particular page and she exclaims "...Aha!!" she runs her finger on the page reading the content "... a stub of Morgadon root, two tablespoons of Epsilier powder, 6 Chrysanthemum petals, a dash of Coriander,...." as she recites items fly off of shelves in jars stopping at the mouth of the pot popping their lids open then pouring the content into poppy
Watching the display brought a smile to my lips and I thought of how ingredients were popping themselves into poppy the potion pot
"...a cup of wort whistles and lastly..." Felicia snaps the book shut throwing it over her shoulder, the book hovers a few inches above the ground before flying towards the shelf it came from
Felicia walked towards us stopping at our feet and bending down so she was level with Nerva placing her hands on Nerva's face rubbing gentle circles petting her light before latching onto a whisker and plucking it off
The tiger growls in protest angrily eying Felicia who gives an apologetic smile and a shrug of her shoulders before moving toward poppy
Sliding off the single silver ring on her finger she grabbed the large green emerald on it pulling hard till the large gem came clean off, she held the gem between her thumb and index finger staring calmly twisting it from side to side watching it glimmer in the moonlight then digs the gem into her palm cutting a nasty gash, I feel nauseated, forcing? my eyes shut and turn away to calm myself peaking back in time to catch Felicia drop the bloodied emerald into poppy
The pot sparks as colors fly in the air, purple smoke pouring out of the pot, Felicia then drops Nerva's whisker into the pot placing her bloody hand in the cauldron and the smoke pouring out of it freezes, she turns her hand around in small circle stirring the mixture the smoke following the direction of her swirling as the liquid in the pot begins to bubble!!
"Betier Galgamore" she chants in a whisper taking her hand out of the pot the smoke flying up in the air the mixture bubbling violently, a loud flash then poof, it all disappears, Felicia reaches into the cauldron and pulls out the no longer green emerald now dyed a deep purple
She turns to me and holds out the purple gem, curious I reach out my hand and she drops the gem into my palm, I expected the gem to phase through me but instead the moment it touched my palm it glowed brightly the warmth engulfing me covering every inch of my body
The light begins to dim and my eyes adjust to the sudden flash after rubbing them furiously, I move my hands away from face and my nearly double over in shock, I can see my palm
Not seeing through my palm, not looking at a transparent film or the ground, I could see my dark bronze-colored skin, it was beautiful!!!
I looked down at my body and I was naked
"WHY?!!!" I scream in protest wrapping my arms around my naked body Felicia rolls her eyes at me
"Were you born with clothes on?" she asks
Fair enough, so I changed my question "Why?" I ask and she replies
"Elliot has a very small circle the only people in constant contact with him are other high-borns of his status which are very few and his classmates meaning, should you agree to this, you will be attending the same school as Elliot and try to get as much information out of him as possible"
It sounded logical enough but ".. didn't you say he was some bigshot, I doubt he goes to a school I could just walk into" I nitpicked
"Oh please, don't you think I thought of that?, Elliot goes to the Margovich College of Unseen Arts, a school of high nobility, you will be attending as a member of the Leblanc household...."
"... Leblanc?" I asked to make sure I heard her correctly
"Yes, Leblanc, I'm no Ruberiden but I can give Zuckerberg a run for his money, please give me a lot more credit," she says with a smile
the final question "....What about this?" I raise the hand I wasn't using to cover my chest grateful for the coverage Nerva's fur was giving me, showing her the purple gem she gave me
"That is a glamour charm, witches use it to disguise their appearance.."
"...why do I need it? isn't this a magic school?"
"Yes it is a magic school but right now we aren't sure what you are, the best guess would be a Wandering Soul, though there are Human Wandering Souls the Status of Souls in the Witch World is that of household pets..."
"....You can't be serious..."
"... Sadly I am....." she says breezing through the conversation as if she didn't just describe slavery "...I made this charm to make you appear tangible though you technically aren't so please be careful not to to touch anyone...But no need to fear I made this charm specially for you, I infused it with some of Nerva's magic meaning even if we can't teach you to harness your magic well enough you can pull magic from the Gem, you can surround inanimate objects with mana and make it possible for you to pick it up, it is a tricky process that requires a lot of energy but when you get it right it will be a breeze, you might run into problems with bigger objects, Since the gem is infused with Magic from a Leblanc Familiar it will give us a somewhat similar mana signature and make the family thing a lot more believable, it also makes another thing possible...." she stands in front of me straightening her back "....Carina Williams, I know this is asking a lot from you, I have no words to express how dire the situation is or how badly I need you, frankly I wish we met under better circumstances but there's sadly nothing I can do about that, what I can do is give a proper introduction....." she puts her hand up in front of me for a handshake "....my name is Felicia Leblanc, it's a pleasure to meet you..."
I stare down at her hand, her no longer injured nor bloody hand, the events of today replaying in my mind, I went from busting tables to dying, and now I'm being adopted by a witch to stop a super secret cult, the sequence has been insane so far and I fear it would only get worse but if there is even a sliver of hope that at the end of this path, I could go back to my Diner then I was going to take it
I reach out clasping my hand around hers holding it in a firm handshake I reply "Carina Leblanc, the pleasure is all mine"