The Cauldron Coven

Chapter 10 - Death's Shroud

Kayla saw the other woman sitting along the back windows, her nose in the thickest book Kayla remembered seeing. She smiled, slightly. It was a book about as thick as those Alex Barrister would read just for fun, one of those epic fantasy books he would always go on about. With a deep breath, Kayla tamped down the thoughts of Alex and headed to the young woman she hoped could give her some answers.

Kayla neared the other girl—she looked like all the other girls at the local college—except Kayla knew the young woman wasn't anything like the other college students, not with the way she looked at Kayla out at that lake, her eyes glowing a bright yellow. She stood there a moment, her hands stuffed into her pockets, trying to figure out how to introduce herself. How do you go to someone and ask them about their magic powers?

“Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to say something?" the girl asked, never looking up from the book she read. “It is kind of rude to just stand there staring."

Kayla sucked in a breath as she yanked her hands out of her pockets, wringing them in front of her. “Oh, sorry," she said, anxiety gripping her, making her pulse race. “I just..." She pointed out the window to the lake. “Just wanted to ask you about...you know...um...what I saw outside."

The girl turned the page, the sun glinting off her light brown hair. “And what, exactly, did you see outside?"

Kayla felt her brows pinch over her nose as doubt gripped her. Surely, this woman knew Kayla witnessed her glowing eyes. Why would she be coy about it? “Your eyes," Kayla said. “They glowed. I saw them. You turned and stared right at me." She took a deep breath. “You have magic."

The girl c****d an eyebrow at Kayla as she finally took her gaze off the book in her hands and looked at Kayla. “My eyes glowed? Really?" She tilted her head to the side. “Like a neon glow stick? A glow in the dark toy? What do you mean, my eyes glowed? That seems rather...bizarre, don't you think?"

Kayla took a deep, steadying breath. “I've seen plenty of things a lot more bizarre than that. Glowing eyes isn't a stretch of the imagination. You have magic. Why deny it?"

“Why deny it?" the other girl repeated. “I don't know you. I saw you out at the lake, and now you're here asking nosy questions. Why on earth would I admit anything to a stranger?"

“Okay, good point," Kayla said, slipping her hands back into her pockets. “But..." She took a deep breath, warring within herself about whether she was making the right decision by pursuing this or not. “I have magic, too. I just thought..." What did she think? She shook her head, wishing she knew. “Nevermind. I must have been mistaken." Turning, she started to walk away before she embarrassed herself any more.

“I'm Selina," the other woman said to Kayla's back. “Do you usually go around telling people you're a witch?"

Kayla turned, still not sure what to think of the woman. “I usually only tell other witches," she said. “And since I saw your eyes glow, I assumed you and I shared something in common."

Selina gestured to the empty chair beside her as she closed the book. “Have a seat. Tell me more about the bizarre s**t you've seen."

Kayla wasn't sure she wanted to go down memory lane right then, but outside of the Cauldron Coven and the Warrior and his friends, Selina was the first person with magic she knew about. She wasn't sure she could walk away without learning more, like how did Selina make her damn eyes glow.

“It's kind of a long story," Kayla said as she sat down. “How did you do that with your eyes? I've never known someone to do that."

Selina shrugged. “It's just a burst of power I focus in my eyes, instead of shooting it from my hands like most do. My hazel eyes give the power a goldish glow. It's mainly to scare people, not that I was trying to scare you." She turned in her seat, so she faced Kayla better. “I could tell you were a witch, as well. Your aura glowed with your magic. That's one of my gifts, the detecting of auras. I think my surprise at seeing you is what made my power show in my eyes." She shrugged again. “Sorry about that."

“How long have you been a witch?" Kayla asked, making a mental note to do some research on auras. She remembered Laci having some ability with auras. Perhaps she could talk Laci into helping her read them. Kayla would have to talk to her, if Laci was talking to anyone right then. As far as Kayla knew, Laci said she wanted out of the coven, as well. Seemed like everyone was making a fresh start.

“If you believe some people, I've been a witch my whole life," Selina said. “It just took me a while to come into my powers. I've been practicing since I was sixteen. I'm a member of the Daughters of Darkness. Are you part of a coven?"

“I am. Or rather, I was." Kayla rubbed her hands back and forth on her legs, a knot in her stomach tightening as she thought about her reasons for leaving the group of witches she had been a member of for the past year or so. “We called ourselves the Cauldron Coven, because we met at The Murky Cauldron downtown. Tansy Paxton leads us." Kayla stared out the window, watching as two mallards floated across the lake, the sun shimmering on the surface as the ripples pushed the water to the lake's edge. “I kind of walked away from them, though. Too many terrible memories." She saw Alex standing there at the end of Main Street near the railroad tracks, saw him as he stepped into the circle he made to keep the demons locked inside, and then saw him cross that circle to try to protect her, to pull the demon out of her. She closed her eyes as her mind replayed her snapping Alex's neck, killing him. A tear pooled at the bottom of her eye as she took a deep breath. “I can't go back."

Kayla felt Selina staring at her, saw her in the window's reflection as she nodded, turning her gaze out the window as well. “Bad memories block our inner peace, which also blocks out our power. It's probably best you didn't go back." She turned to face Kayla again. “However, you need to be a part of a coven. We draw strength and power from each other. A witch on their own can find themselves in over their heads sometimes."

Kayla nodded as she turned around, facing Selina. “Tansy always said the same thing." She smiled as she thought of the older woman. Tansy always did what she could for the witches in her care, thinking of them as her responsibility. The fact that Rose and Alex died, and Laci and Kayla wanted out of the coven must be driving the leader of the Cauldron Coven crazy. Kayla didn't want to cause the woman grief; Tansy did a lot for Kayla, but Kayla just couldn't bring herself to walk back into The Murky Cauldron. “I miss her and the others, but I just can't go back there yet."

“So, join another coven," Selina said with a shrug. “There are several in Harbor City. I could put you in touch with some of them." She turned back to Kayla. “Or, I could bring you to meet the others in the Daughters of Darkness." She grinned. “I could even show you a little about auras if you're really interested."

Kayla nodded. “That sounds great. Where do you all meet?"

“We meet out at High Priestess Cherise Rycroft's place, a ranch out west," Selina said. “She has a huge backyard with trees lining her property, so no one can see what we're doing out there." She giggled a little as she shrugged again. “We can't freak out her neighbors, right?"

Kayla glanced over at the other girl, her head c****d a little. “Why would her neighbors be freaked out? The Cauldron Coven always did everything in The Murky Cauldron, sometimes even when the place was open."

Selina nodded. “That explains why you didn't recognize me or perhaps why you've had so many awful things happen to you. You can't draw on the elemental power around you if you're inside a brick and mortar business. You need to be out in nature, shaking off the shackles of civilization that hinder you from reaching your true potential as a witch. That's why we meet out at the High Priestess's property. There's nothing to hinder us from drawing on the power of the elements."

“I don't understand," Kayla said, shaking her head slightly. “I thought you could reach the elements from anywhere."

“While that's true to a degree, when you're out in nature, it's easier to sense nature. Not so much in a brick building surrounded by the material objects of this world."

“I never really thought of it that way," Kayla said, staring down at her hands.

A smile creased Selina's face. “Then you haven't really studied witchcraft. I think it's time we broadened your horizons, don't you? Tap into the real power inside of you."

Kayla just nodded. Everything the other girl said made it sound as if Tansy held things back from the Cauldron Coven, but why would she do that? If they had more power, all the power available to them, then Rose and Alex wouldn't be dead, and the demon would not have possessed Kayla, forcing her to do terrible things. Why would Tansy cripple her own coven that way?

Taking a deep breath, Kayla swore to herself she would never again be powerless. “So, when do we meet?"