Auntie M and I had found a pretty nice cafe in town to have a bit of lunch. Dinner as Auntie M called it as where she was from it went; breakfast, dinner and tea and not breakfast, lunch and dinner. We were sat in a cosy booth away from a lot of the other cafe diners with some huge elegant looking sandwiches, if sandwiches could be elegant. I had tuna salad on brown and Auntie M had cheddar cheese and salad on malted brown. The bread was fresh and tasted amazing; all washed down with large lattes. I sat with a bunch of bags beside me, one with my new spell book in and a few more with various other bits and bobs Auntie M had bought for me. She had bought me some different coloured candles, some essential oils of peppermint, chamomile, lavender, tea tree and sandalwood, some dried herbs; basil, mint, sage and thyme, a small bottle of almond carrier oil and a few cute little bottles with screw tops.
'Fresh herbs work better in most cases, but dried herbs are fine when you're stuck.' She told me.
I had asked her loads more questions whilst we were eating. Like what we had to do as witches, were we allowed to tell anyone, had my Auntie M come across anything really horrible she had to get rid of.
'Hmm a few years ago me and the coven had to exorcize a particularly nasty demon from a woman in Northampton. She was a parishioner of St Mary's which was kind of funny at the time but even the vicar couldn't get the damn thing out of her. He called a friend of his who called another friend who contacted us.'
'And did you get the demon out?' I asked, hanging on her every word and pausing to take a bite of my sandwich.
'Of course we did. It wasn't easy though. The lady had more than a few chinks in her armour so the demon was clinging to her like shit to a blanket. Turns out she had quite the shady past and the guilt had caught up with her.'
'Wow. What did you do?'
'Drew the demon out and banished it. Simples.'
I was a little bit gobsmacked after hearing that, then Auntie M carried on talking.
'I'm not just here to take you through your early witch years Maddie, I have to tell you this.'
'What do you mean.'
'Well,' Auntie M said, laying her sandwich down on her plate, 'Your school is surprisingly magical and not in a good way.'
I frowned. 'What do you mean by that?'
'It appears to be a beacon for bad juju. You'll feel it soon enough now your abilities have manifested but I think it has something to do with your old chemistry teacher dying, the whole place has some jumbled up vibes.'
'Mrs Clarkson? How so?' I was puzzled now.
'I think she was a guardian of your school. She had been there a long time am I right?' Auntie M asked me.
'Yeah quite a long time.'
'That's interesting because none of us in the community or coven actually knew about her. She may have been a covenless witch. We also have a tendency to keep our powers under wraps especially from strangers or warlocks, we don't really get on with warlocks that well.'
I was learning even more now.
'Not all witches belong to a coven, not all witches are good and the same goes for warlocks. We keep ourselves to ourselves as the bad ones of our kind would rather prefer our powers be theirs. In fact that may even be the first spell I tech you, especially because you're a new witch your powers are gonna be all over the place.'
Auntie M wiped her hands on a napkin and signalled for me to reach mine over to her. She held my hands in hers and closed her eyes.
'Just breath normally for now Maddie and do what I say.'
I tried to breathe normally like she asked me to but her hands were doing weird things. One second they would feel blazingly hot and then instantly they would turn freezing cold. This happened for about thirty seconds.
'Hmm you've got some pretty erratic energy but this should be an easy fix for you, you're not emitting much radiant energy but the closer I get to you physically the more noticeable it is.'
I looked at my hands as my Aunt spoke, wondering what she had just done. She pointed to the bag that had my new spell book in it, gesturing for me to get it out as she rummaged around in her handbag for a pen which she slid over to me.
'Write these words down okay? "May my powers be quiet, from those who cause harm, may my energy recede and not cause alarm. My power is mine, they will not know, my power is mine, it will not show." You got that?'
I nodded as I scribbled down the words quickly but neatly in my book.
'Another thing you can do so you don't have to chant that several times a day is mix a few drops each of some lavender oil, tea tree and chamomile oil in to one of those little bottles filled halfway with the carrier oil. Give it a good shake and say the chant while you're mixing it. It's good for repelling negative energy but boosting it with the chant should help keep your powers from going mental. Just rub a drop between your wrists.'
I scribbled the recipe down in my book in clear writing. My very first spell.
Auntie M smiled at me.
'Once you get a bit more confident you can start making your own spells.' She said as she finished off her sandwich. 'And when I've taught you a few more of the basics, I'll let you use the family spell book. How does that sound?'
We finished our lunch and shopping trip and soon made our way back to the school around two o'clock. Auntie M found a large gate that led in to the forest that surrounded the school and pulled up her BMW near it.
'Come on, get your stuff and bring it with you.' Auntie M said to me. For some reason she was rummaging around in her glove box and brought out a folding map of the UK. She shoved it under her arm and slung her handbag over her shoulder. She locked her car and motioned for me to follow her. We walked for a little bit and eventually came to a clearing in the woods, I think it was the same clearing I wandered out to the other night. My Auntie M began gathering twigs and fallen branches and stacked them in a fairly large circle of stones that was obviously used for previous bonfires. She turned away and vaguely shook her fingers at the collection of wood which erupted in a mass of flames. I stood there watching, stunned by her simple gesture that created this sudden display of light and heat.
I looked behind me to where Auntie M was now sat on an old school twin settee, drinking from a mug in one of her hands while handing me a mug with her other hand, which I graciously took. She was instantly willing all this stuff in to creation. She snapped her fingers and a small wooden coffee table appeared out of nowhere in front of the settee. She patted the neat next to her, motioning for me to sit down. I placed my mug down on the coffee table and my bags on my knee.
'Get one of your candles out. Put it on the table.'
I did as she instructed. It was a simple white tealight.
'Okay so now I'll teach you some basic fire magic. It's easiest to do when you have fire around you it helps you concentrate.'
The fire was actually really nice, especially as today hadn't been particularly warm or sunny. And it was getting a bit chilly as the day went on.
'So, lets try this first.' Auntie M started. 'Relax, concentrate on the candle wick. Not too hard though, acknowledge that it's there. Feel the warmth and the light emitting from the bonfire. Think about it in your mind and how it makes you feel. Think about what a flame does to candles, ask it to light or even point at it. You want that candle to light and it won't do it itself without your energy, intent and a bit of imagination.'
I tried to follow what she was saying but I was struggling to concentrate a bit and it was making my brow furrow. I sighed thinking it was pretty fruitless but a little stream of smoke crept up from the candle wick. I jumped back in my seat then looked at Auntie M.
'Carry on.' She smiled and carried on drinking from her mug as she got her phone out and started scrolling through her social medias. I must have concentrated, and strained and made smoke come off the candle wick and even spoke to it for another fifteen minutes or so before I wanted to give up. Auntie M was now on to her second magical brew by now and had been chuckling away at something on Reddit.
'Auntie M, I can't do it.' I complained. She dropped her head to the side and looked at me as if I was an idiot. She put her mug down and shifted the candle in front of her on the table. She made a gun gesture with her right hand and pointed at the candle which instantly lit. She then wafted her hand which made the candle go out. She raised her hand up again and the bonfires flames went up at least another six feet higher than they already were.
'That what I did there, takes practice. Here, lets try a different way.'
She picked up the candle and placed it in my hand.
'Close your eyes and clear your mind. Think of darkness.'
'Okay.'
'Now imagine this little candle, imagine the wick starting to char then imagine it flickering to life with fire.'
I did exactly as she said. I tried to regulate my breathing thinking it may do some good and help me to relax.
'Is the candle burning bright in your mind Maddie?'
'The flame is swaying.' I whispered.
'Open your eyes.'
I did what she told me to. I looked down at the tealight in my hand and noticed that it was alight, the flame was swaying. I gasped as I held the tealight out in my palm. Auntie M just smiled at me.
'Okay, now blow it out without blowing it out. Use your imagination.' Auntie M went back to her brew, I could feel her gaze on me as I closed my eyes again; imagining the lit candle in my mind. I tried to picture myself blowing the candle out in one blow and the residual smoke drifting up. I opened my eyes to find the candle had gone out.
'I did that? I mean did you blow it out when I had my eyes closed?' I asked, Auntie M just shook her head. I was beaming at what I just did and was pretty pleased with myself.
'I want you to keep practising this one and push yourself to do it differently when you master it one way. It's different for everyone, but I think you have concentration issues. You try too hard to start with.'
That was an interesting way to put it. I thought. She was kinda right though, I did have a tendency to try hard at new things but then I'd usually give up soon after if I didn't get the hang of it pretty quick.
'Okay. This one should be fun.' Auntie M downed the rest of her drink and sat the mug down on the coffee table. She unfolded the map of the UK and spread it out over the table. She then started digging about in her handbag and brought out a pretty pointed amethyst crystal attached to a long silver chain. She shook the chain out and handed it to me.
'This one should be pretty easy, mainly because we're blood related. But I'm gonna teleport somewhere and I want you to find me. Hold the crystal by the chain over the map and use your instinct on this one. Chant, ask the crystal to find me, whatever feels natural to you. I'f you don't find me in ten minutes I'll come back.'
'How will you know I've found you though?' I questioned, the tasked seemed a bit weird and she wasn't giving me any more to go on.
'Oh, I'll know.' She grinned. I blinked and within that split second she had disappeared. I sat up slightly shocked that Auntie M had literally vanished and left me in the middle of the woods sat on a settee she had conjured out of nowhere along with a bunch of other furniture being warmed by a big bonfire she didn't take a gallon of diesel to, to get roaring away like it was. I sighed. I tried to remember some of my favourite films and TV shows that had witches and spells in them then remembered I had seen this kind of magic somewhere before. I held the amethyst crystal out over the map with my right hand, the point of the crystal about an inch away from the surface. I let my shoulders slump down in an attempt to release the tension in my body. Noticing my Auntie M had left her handbag on the settee I rummaged in there and found her car keys. I gripped them in my left hand and closed my eyes. I tried to imagine my Auntie M in my head as the imagination technique seemed to be working quite well. I slowly breathed in and out and started to whisper; "Where are you Auntie M?"
I repeated this a few times and I could feel my hands warm up and start to tingle slightly in my fingertips. I gradually opened my eyes and saw that the tip of the crystal was pointing to the left side of the map, the silver chain pulled taught from my hand. I leaned over a touch to read where the crystal was hovering over.
'Blackpool?' I said aloud wondering why Auntie M would teleport to Blackpool. As soon as I said it, she was advancing toward me with two double ninety-nine ice creams in her hands, complete with flakes sticking out of them and slathered with raspberry sauce.
''Ere ya kiddo.' Auntie M handed me one as she started to tidy up her own ice cream which was beginning to dribble down the sides then sat down next to me.
It was September, I was a brand new witch sat in the middle of a forest in Hertfordshire, sitting on a magical settee, with a magical bonfire eating a Mr. Whippy ice cream that my witch Aunt had just teleported all the way from Blackpool.
It was an odd situation. So I did the most normal thing I could think of and just ate my ice cream.