Page 2 of Reluctant Witch (A Course in Magic #2)
2
Ellie
Ellie stood in her room in the castle, not entirely sure what she was supposed to do now. She’d not made friends with any of her classmates since she had been focused on her new relationship. Honestly, Ellie was embarrassed by how little she remembered of the school and her time in it. She knew no names, although she did know her way around. She remembered hobs, wee magical beings who popped in and out of existence. She remembered the infirmary and the doctor there. She recalled snippets of classes. She had a hazy memory of voices in hallways.
And a car… going… somewhere.
Was that the accident when her magic awakened? Or something else?
Ellie scowled. She was worried about how jumbled her mind seemed. Had she not slept enough? Was this a side effect of magical usage? Was it just the lack of the internet, smart phones, or even newspapers? How was she to keep track of time without the constant reminders on a device that never left her reach? Or television or streaming shows or a job? Everything that had been commonplace in establishing a linear sense of time within her life was gone. Her routines were gone. Her technology was gone.
Ellie made a mental note to talk to someone—she wasn’t sure whom yet—about whether or not there were calendars in Crenshaw. At the least, she wanted a sense of tracking time. Once she knew when it was, maybe her memory would get back in order.
A tap-tap-tap on the door interrupted Ellie’s musings.
“Ellie?” Hestia’s voice identified her arrival before she opened the door. She sounded strong, and Ellie was grateful that she’d decided to come to Crenshaw, too.
Ellie paused, staring at her aunt. “Why did you come here?”
“To visit you…?” Hestia stepped past her and made her way into Ellie’s rather undecorated, nondescript room. For reasons Ellie couldn’t explain, she knew that all the rooms looked like hers initially. She couldn’t recall whose room she’d visited, though.
“Yes, but why did you come to Crenshaw?” Ellie clarified.
“To be with you. Lady Prospero thought it was important.” Hestia scowled. “Maybe to heal up my body after that surgery…? I remember surgery, and then being here. Again. I think Prospero is… was my friend. She rescued me, sent me back to you a long time ago.”
“You gave up magic to raise me.” Ellie felt her eyes fill with tears.
“No regrets about surrendering my magic, El, but I will admit that I feel a little sad now that I remember that I used to be a witch. I dreamed of being here, you know. Considered seeing a talking doctor because of the dreams.” Hestia dropped a small twig on the floor and looked at Ellie. “I want a rocker like at home.”
Ellie let her magic roll out of her body and started to reshape that bit of wood into a chair with elegant spiral rockers. In a few moments, a bentwood rocking chair sat gleaming in the low light filtering into the room. Instead of the cane back and seat on the one at home in Ligonier, this one had lightly woven twigs, as if they had been soaked and thatched together.
Hestia let out a deep sigh and settled herself into the chair. “I want to go home, lovey. I’ll miss you, but… let me go home.”
“ What?”
“I can visit you. I know witches can’t stay over there in the regular world, but if they’re letting me come here now, they’d let me visit you.” Hestia stared at her, rather reminiscent of arguments over the years that had sometimes erupted into loud words. “I don’t want to live here.”
Ellie flopped onto her bed, feeling like someone had just taken her down at the knees. “Did something happen?”
Hestia stared out the locked window briefly before saying, “I don’t belong here, Ellie. I remember enough about magic to miss it, to miss Crenshaw, to miss the witch I got to having feelings for once upon a time.” She met Ellie’s gaze and added, “But this isn’t my place now any more than my old farmhouse was your place.”
“So what are you going to do? Just… live over there alone?” Ellie had made so many decisions to avoid that very thing. She remembered that quite clearly. “I planned to take care of you.”
“I know you did. Now, I need you to go talk to Walt about the rules. That cagey old man is hiding things. In my younger days, I was ready to move in with him, you know? Maybe be a wife. Then I had to choose between being your auntie or staying here as a witch and wife. I chose you.”
Ellie felt tears on her cheeks now. No longer threatening, they were spilling down her face like a small river. “I’m sorry.”
“Pishposh. I’d choose you every time, Ellie. Being able to act like your parent all these years was one of the best parts of my life.” Hestia held a hand out toward Ellie, who moved to sit on the floor beside her feet as she’d done often as girl. “But this is your world now, Ellie, and I don’t have a place here. I’ll grow older, and they all won’t. You won’t. I had extra time before I was siphoned. That’s enough.”
“I can’t… you… what if they could give you some of your magic back? Is that a thing?”
“No.”
“But I don’t want to lose you. Without magic, you’ll get older and…” Ellie couldn’t even say the words. She felt like a child every time she so much as considered the loss of her remaining parental figure.
“That’s what people do. Get older. Die. The trick is to live a good life first, a full life, adventure.” Hestia touched her shoulder gently. “You stayed there with me long past when it was time to have your own life. You refused to move on, which isn’t what I want for you. I think being a witch is forcing you to move on like you should. ”
“I was content,” Ellie protested.
“I want you to be more than content. Be happy. Be fulfilled. ” Hestia gave her a gentle smile.
They had this argument so often that it was one Ellie couldn’t counter. Not really. She did want more out of life, but she didn’t know how to have that sort of future.
Especially when Prospero is rejecting me.
“You have a place here, a woman who makes your eyes sparkle, and I want to go home. Back to my farmhouse. Back to my books and television, and maybe get some chickens.” Hestia laughed briefly. “And a goat. I always wanted a goat. They’ve been bothering me to teach a few history classes over at the high school. Maybe I ought to do that.”
Ellie sat there, silent as her aunt stroked her hair like she was a child. She knew she was clinging to Hestia, endangering her or trapping her if she stayed here. The rift spewed toxic air that would sicken Hestia if she went outside, so she was forced to stay inside the castle. That didn’t mean Ellie wanted to be apart from her.
“If you could change anything in your life, what would it be?” Ellie asked. “Usual rules.”
The “rules” to their game had always been that they never mentioned Ellie’s parents’ deaths. The game, Ellie now realized, might have been a side effect of the magic Hestia once had.
“Fuck the rules,” Hestia said. “I never wanted to wish your parents to stay alive. When your time is up, it’s up, but I used to wish they were witches instead. I used to imagine that they were swept away to Crenshaw, and I was given you instead. It felt like a fair trade, a child to raise rather than magic. You were the prize, not a burden. I hope you know that, Ellie.”
“You wanted kids?”
“Eventually. Then I was a witch. No kids for witches. Then I was with you. I would’ve taken a dozen of you, lovey. A house full of grumpy kids who thought they knew everything.” Hestia grew silent then. “But my life has been amazing, El. I want it back. Tell them you are fine with letting me leave.”
Ellie laid her head on Hestia’s lap. “You’ll visit.”
“I will.”
“And bring me books to give Prospero and books for me and—”
“You can count on it.” Hestia sniffed. “I always thought you would move out sooner or later, but it feels so sudden. I’ll need to find a chicken sitter sooner than I’d planned.”
“We… you don’t have chickens.”
“Yet. Maybe I’ll find me a nice young man who bakes. I did get used to those morning scones of yours.” Hestia smiled down at her. “When I visit…”
“I’ll make you scones. It’s a plan.” Ellie sat upright. “Okay, so we have a plan. How do we get it sorted out?”
“Atta girl! No time like the present. I suppose we talk to Walter. Explain that I am going home, but I’ll be visiting sometimes. You can send Prospero or Walt to fetch me.” Hestia straightened her sweater as if she were readying herself for a battle of wits. She had always liked to look polished before she went to debate anyone.
“Why don’t I go talk to him?” Ellie offered. She had a few questions for the chief witch anyhow.
Hestia gave her a look. “Be careful. Use the fact that he liked me if you need to, but don’t mistake him for harmless. He’s older than dirt and as wily as a snake.”
Ellie shivered at the tone in Hestia’s voice.