The Nightingale Witch

The smell of fall fills the air as the bonfire crackles, the Nightingale Coven enjoys this annual All Hallows’ Eve.

Wulfric Nightshade sits alone on a haybale next to the fire, listening to his fellow witches enjoy the night. A man suddenly stands up on a log and starts playing his fiddle, it's a beautiful tune capturing the essence of All Hallows’ Eve.

Amelia Vormir, a girl with dark red hair and a very kind demeanor sits right next to Wulfric, “Wanna dance?” She asks politely.

Wulfric, being a hopeless antisocial, says, “Um, dancing’s not really my thing.”

Amelia looks around awkwardly for a second, she doesn’t know how to respond to that, but she doesn’t give up. Amelia stands up and walks directly next to the fire, she whispers an incantation to herself and scoops a piece of the fire out.

The small flame dances above her hand, “Cool trick.” Wulfric says to her.

“Don’t flatter me, anybody over the age of ten in the coven could do it.” Amelia responds. Wulfric gets up and walks over next to her, he says the incantation and scoops a piece of the fire out into his hand.

He wriggles his eyebrows at Amelia as the fire dances in the palm of his hand.

“Thraconus.” Wulfric says, the flames shape themselves into the shape of a dragon, it flaps for a second, and then the glowing particles of fire dissipate into the air and sparkle like little orange stars.

Amelia stands there, mesmerized by the spell Wulfric just did. “Do you want to try something a little more complicated?” Amelia asks after a minute of silence.

Wulfric lifts an eyebrow, “What do you have in mind?” He asks, already regretting the question.

Amelia pulls out a book, bound by leather that almost seems hand cut, and a title carved deep into it: Bushwick’s Book Of Spells.

A look of dread grows on Wulfric’s face, “How on Earth did you get Bushwick’s book?” He asks.

Amelia proudly shrugs her shoulders, “I found it locked inside a box in the woods.” She says.

Wulfric nods his head with a frown plastered on his face, “Yeah, locked in a box for good reason. Bushwick went crazy, he just about burned the town to the ground,” He says, he reaches over and snatches the book from her hand, “His spells are strictly forbidden by our coven, and just about every other coven in the country as well.”

Ameilia rolls her eyes, she reaches up and grabs Wulfric around his shoulders, “Come on, don’t be scared, I just wanna have a little fun.” She says seductively, Wulfric blushes, “Look, we’re both 18 years old, we’re experienced enough to handle any unraveled spells.” She continues.

Wulfric, barely convinced, says, “What spell did you have in mind?”

Ameilia squeaks with excitement as she takes the book from his hand and opens it up to a page.

Scribbled on the page in ludicrous handwriting is directions for a very powerful spell, Wulfric reads over it.

“What’s this?” He asks Amelia curiously.

“It’s a spell to conjure an oracle fae, this fae can tell you anything you want about anybody.” Ameilia responds.

“You know how dangerous it is to conjure something, especially a being. If we missed even a single step, it could be devastating.” He says.

“But we’d be set for life if we had our own little oracle, it could tell us all of the gossip in town.” Amelia pleads.

“Little? Amelia, do you even know what a fae is?” Wulfric asks aggressively.

“Yeah, it’s like the little happy person with wings, we could trap it so easily and it would have to work for us forever.” She says naively.

Wulfric sighs and puts his palm in his face, “No, you need to learn the difference between Faes, Fairies, and Pixies. A fae is a shapeshifting creature that is known to hate humans, I’m sure creating one just to do our bidding would not end well.” He says.

Amelia sighs, “Welp, I guess I’m doing this spell on my own, if only there was a good samaritan in this coven to come protect me.” She says as she walks toward the woods.

She steps into the edge of the woods, Wulfric, who is still standing next to the fire sighs, “This is not gonna end well.” He whispers to himself before running after Ameilia.

He catches up to her in the dark woods, “I knew you’d come around.” She says proudly as he approaches her.

They get to a little tree clearing, in the tree clearing, there is a circle of salt with a Labradorite crystal in the middle. Placed neatly around the crystal is some tied up hair, a crow’s feather, a bowl of water, a lit candle, and a clay doll.

“Now, I know you’re thinking I set the spell up wrong since the candle isn’t in the middle, but I promise I followed the directions in the book.” Amelia says. Wulfric shakes his head, “No, you did it right, you’re thinking of a summoning where the candle is the focal point, this is a conjuring, the Labradorite is meant to grant life and is therefore the focal point of the spell, the lit candle merely serves as an element.” He says, he looks over to the hair, “Who’s hair is that?” He asks nervously.

Amelia looks down, “Oh, that’s my hair, the book said to do that.” She says. Wulfric thinks for a second, “Well, if I were you I’d remove your hair from the circle, the only purpose I can see it serving is attaching you to whatever we conjure.” He says conclusively.

Amelia rolls her eyes, “Don’t be a wuss, I’m just gonna follow the spell exactly how it reads, we aren’t experienced enough to tweak spells yet.” she says.

Wulfric notices a break in the salt circle, he quickly gets down and scoops it closed, “The salt is meant to contain the being, we can’t have any breaks.” He says.

Amelia looks down at him judgmentally, then clears her throat and looks into the book, then back at Wulfric, “Are you gonna come say the incantation with me or not?” She asks.

Wulfric hops up and looks at the book, they both start chanting, “Scieppan lif fae oraculum, scieppan lif fae oraculum, scieppan…”

They continue chanting, until it feels as though the atmosphere changes, the two look up from the book and into the salt circle. In the circle there is a 10 foot tall pale human like creature with a gaping mouth and no eyes.

Amelia squeaks in excitement, but Wulfric nervously backs away. As Amelia gets closer to the salt circle, the creature clicks a few times and struggles to get some words out, “A…Amelia” It says in a barely human voice.

“Oh my gosh, it already knows my name!” She says excitedly. Wulfric shakes his head, “Yeah, because you bound yourself to it.” He says in a scared voice.

Amelia ignores Wulfric’s warning and asks, “Okay, first question, does my crush like me back?”

The creature almost seems as though it’s trying to look around, even though it doesn’t have any eyeballs, as it continues to unnervingly take in the environment around it, it forces out the response, “His feelings for you are complicated.”

Amelia looks back at Wulfric, “And what does that mean?” She asks curiously. At the same time, a slight breeze blows and moves some of the salt, just a tiny bit, but the creature notices. It quickly morphs its body to the size of a bug and crawls through the opening.

As soon as it escapes the circle, it grows back into its enormous size and roars. Amelia looks back, terrified, she throws her hand forward and hits it with a blast of purple energy.

The creature strains for a second, but recovers quickly, it gets up and grabs Amelia, picking her up off the ground. Its gaping mouth starts expanding and it swallows her whole.

After it does, it forms itself to look exactly like Amelia, and as soon as it has eyes, it spots Wulfric.

It stares at Wulfric using its dead eyes, then starts walking towards him. Wulfric panics, he pulls a sharpie and draws a simple rune on his hand, he points the rune at the fae and starts chanting, “Go raibh bas ort, go raibh bas ort…”

After a few times chanting it, the fae’s veins start to blacken, it clutches its gut and screeches.

Wulfric turns around and runs the other way, knowing that won’t hold it for long, “What have I unleashed?” He says to himself between breaths.

The End…