Page 82 of Elmwood Inclusive Magic Academy
We all sit down around the table. It always seemed too big when I was young, but now it’s just the right size. Astrid joins us. There’s a strange expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, as she takes her seat between Lydia and Millie. “Is everything ok?”
Astrid looks at Lydia, then back at me. “Your mothers and I have something to discuss with you. But we’ll do it after dinner.”
Quiet falls over the table. Rae takes my hand, a look of concern on her face.
“What do we need to discuss?” I ask.
Millie responds anxiously, “It’s all right, nobody’s hurt, we just need to talk to you, Maggie.”
“Alone,” adds Astrid.
“No,” I squeeze Rae’s hand. “If you have something to tell me, you can do it in front of Rae, and Hallie, and Rory. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t want them to know.”
Lydia sighs. “Are you sure, Maggie?”
“Yes, definitely.” Hallie smiles in my peripheral vision.
Astrid frowns, but concedes.
“Magdalena,” she says. A shiver runs down my spine. Pan jumps into my lap and then onto the table. His ears perk up.
Lydia and Astrid share another look. A knowing, pained look.
“What?” I ask, irritation creeping into my voice. “What is it?”
“Maggie,” Millie says, leaning across the table. “Your mothers and I love you very much, and were only protecting you…”
“You didn’t need to know before,” says Astrid sternly.
“But now, we think you should,” Lydia continues. “The magical world is dangerous, and we won’t always be able to protect you if you decide to stay at the academy.”
“Iknowthat,” I say, impatiently. “We just fought off the shifters and the vampires, I know I have to be careful-”
“There are forces at work even more powerful than that,” says Astrid. Her raven familiar perches on her shoulder, gazing at me intensely with beady, black eyes. “Forces within you.”
“What…what do you mean?”
“Maggie,” Millie whispers softly. “Did you ever wonder what coven your mothers belonged to? Before you were born?”
“Well…the Hecate coven, right?” I say, looking at Lydia. “June said you were a powerful witch with the Hecate coven before I was born, then you came…to live over here…”
I look at Astrid again. I remember her standing on the castle grounds, raising the dead from their cold slumber, the corpses bending to her will. How the moon and stars went out. Even I know that that must have taken a tremendous amount of power. A type of magical power they probably don’t teach at Elmwood Academy.
“Ididn’t belong to the Hecate coven,” Astrid says. Her voice is low and quiet. The silence in the room is so complete, you can hear the rushing winter wind outside the cottage. “Maggie, when I became pregnant with you, I belonged to a different coven. One that was at war with Hecate coven.”
“What…what coven were you part of?” I ask shakily.
My heart is beating quickly. Pan jumps on my shoulder, his tiny claws digging through my cardigan and into my skin.
“Mom,” I whisper, looking at Astrid. “Why can you raise corpses like that?”
“Maggie,” my mother says, her dark eyes intense. “When you summoned me with your blood, you didn’t just call me to you. Your blood has extremely powerful magical properties.”
“I…I don’t understand…” I say.Why would my blood be able to wake the dead?
She takes another deep breath and continues.
