Hexed

16

"There are many aspects of feminism, but the most noise is radical rebellion."

— Oluseyi Akinbami

☽★☾

The noise grew louder and louder as Brynn and Joan reached the main town square. Immediately they were enveloped into the chaos of a dozen shouting members of their group, as well as the other townspeople who were trying to escape the mess. Fists were throwing punches at the air and other people, while heads raised to shout into the quickly brightening sky. Despite the imminent danger of the movement and the severity of the reasons behind this distraction, Brynn felt a smile creep across her face. She glanced over to Joan and found that she was wearing the same expression, lips turned up in a hopeful smile. Brynn wanted to kiss those lips again right then. But she forced herself to step away; there was business to be done.

It wasn't until the two grew closer that Brynn was able to decipher what was happening in the crowd. Members of their group, most still wearing the black witch dresses they had been put into for the execution, were waving their hands and throwing sparks in the air. 

"Are they... performing magic?" Brynn asked curiously as Joan led the way around the outskirts of the crowd. The young woman had told her that not all of the members were witches; not all of them would be able to do magic, and yet all of them were doing things she didn't think possible.

A hint of a smirk twitched its way onto Joan's lips. "Not quite. Some of them are, but it's mostly just a guise." Her chin jutted out, bringing Brynn's attention to Elise and a couple of others who had flames dancing playfully in their palms. "See those ones? They're just using some fire strikers to make little sparks. It looks pretty magical from a distance, or if you can block it with your fingers, but it's a completely common tool. It's perfect." She sounded proud  — in awe, even — of her group for making up such creative ways to distract the building audience. Brynn could tell from the onlookers' horrified expressions; they believed this was real witchcraft.

"Do we have time to put on a little show?" Brynn found herself asking, unable to contain a smile as she watched their friends perform their tricks all around them.

"You have something in mind," Joan replied, raising her eyebrow. The words weren't phrased as a question, but Brynn still nodded eagerly in response.

"That wind trick, the one that you showed me with the flag... Do you think we'd be able to do it with, say, that man's hat?" She grinned as she pointed a finger at a young man trying to keep the crowd in order. He was wearing an almost comically large black hat, befitting of the Puritans that Brynn had seen in history books.

A smile slowly spread across Joan's face as she came to realize what Brynn meant by the idea. "You bet we can," she answered with a rough laugh, mischief flickering into her eyes. "Want to do it together?"

Brynn nodded, hand instinctively slipping its way into Joan's. Even though she knew that it wasn't necessary for their little spell to work, and it would likely get them into trouble if anyone caught them, she found herself still wanting to get closer to Joan. The young woman gave Brynn's hand a squeeze, keeping it close to her side.

"Let's make it fly off to the right," Joan murmured, head tilting only slightly towards Brynn as she spoke. Her dark eyes still lay on the young man, their target. 

That hat is completely whipping around. It's so windy. There's such a powerful breeze pushing it off his head. Brynn repeated these sentences in her head, imagining the hat flying off the man's head. The hat didn't move, so she tried a different approach. It's like... The energy between Joan and I. So powerfully magnetic. Something like that is pulling the hat off of him, stronger than any breeze. 

Brynn had her doubts that the idea would work, but suddenly the hat was flying off of the man's head... and sailing directly towards Joan. It hit her in the chest and the young woman sucked in a surprised breath, her hand dropping Brynn's as she caught the hat. It only took a moment for the hat's owner to whip his head towards the pair.

"Give that back this instant!" He cried, his hand patting frantically at his head as if he couldn't believe that it was gone. Brynn met Joan's eyes. They hadn't meant to pull the hat towards them — that must have been Brynn's doing, thinking about her attraction to Joan — but now that they had it, there was no sense in just giving it back. Both girls turned as one and ran out of the square, Joan clutching the hat by its brim.

They ran until their sides ached before they finally slowed, turning to stare incredulously back at where they had come from. Surprisingly enough, the man hadn't followed them; he must not have thought that his hat was worth it or simply didn't feel like running all this way. Brynn glanced over at Joan, who still held the hat tightly in one hand. The young woman lifted the hat up, giving it a curious glance, and placed it onto her dark-haired head. Brynn had to stifle a laugh. With the black dress and the hat, Joan really did look like a witch.

"What?" Joan asked, dark eyes leaping up to catch her staring. "Does this look as terrible as I think it does?" She reached a pale hand up to take off the hat, but Brynn intercepted her before she could, her hand gently clutching Joan's arm.

"No. Actually, I think it looks rather fetching," the auburn-haired girl replied with a smile. "Looks very... witchy." 

"I like witchy," Joan replied, a smirk tugging at one side of her mouth. Brynn's smile widened as she moved closer, wrapping her arms around her.

Brynn pulled the other young woman closer until their noses practically bumped. "Me too," she replied in a whisper, closing the distance between them. Warm desire spread like fire through her belly, pleasantly heating up every part of her until she was tingling all over. She would never grow tired of kissing Joan. 

She pressed closer to Joan as the dark-haired young woman deepened the kiss, feeling her arms grip her waist to steady her. She thought of a million different ways she could have kissed Joan, but she paused as she felt the young woman grow rigid in her grasp. Her lips felt suddenly cold as Joan lifted her head away and pulled back. Brynn, her eyes still shut, let out a small groan. She couldn't leave her now; Brynn needed more than that teasing kiss. A foot stamped down onto her toe. 

Brynn grunted in surprise, her foot pulsing from the force of Joan's pointy-toed shoes. "Ow... Why are you—" 

"Vixen," Joan snapped. Brynn's eyes furrowed with confusion, completely oblivious until she noticed that Joan's gaze wasn't on her. It was on something above her, or... someone behind her. Brynn spun around, biting the inside of her cheek so she didn't let out the gasp that threatened to burst through her lips.

They had gone out looking for him, and yet he had still caught them unawares. Sebastian. And, in his hand, a cage containing Erebus, Joan's familiar. The owl gave a solemn hoot of greeting as all hope inside Brynn seemed to collapse within her.