Goddess Unravelled

To War

Once she was on the windowsill Alice found herself struggling to stay calm. She’d ridden a broom once before, after Azura had bolted a bicycle seat to the handle, and this one had handlebars too, it shouldn’t be hard. But the fact was she’d practiced kicking off from the ground, not jumping out of a two story window.

                Gritting her teeth, she swung one leg over the broom and settled onto the bicycle seat, taking a deep breath in through her nose. If she could face a god, she could ride a broom. Simple.

                Still, she shut her eyes as she let herself drop off the window ledge, nearly forgetting to tilt the broom up as the air rushed past her face. Alice shrieked once, eyes flying open. She jerked the handlebars back and the broom tilted up sharply. She had to hold on with all her might so she didn’t fall off. Cursing at herself, she tilted the broom so that it was even, and it levelled off in the air.

                “Alright. Go.”

                It went, and Alice had to hiss “Slower! Go slower!” through clenched teeth as the broom shot forward. Finally she found a speed she liked, tilting the broom slightly so that she was skimming above the rooftops. The view was dizzying, and Alice fixed her eyes on the wide black roof of the city hall in the distance. That was where she needed to go, she was sure of it.

                It was hard to resist looking down at the street as she flew above it. The streets of Sidney were pretty quiet, only a few cars were waiting at the stoplights, and there were small crowds of pedestrians moving in and out of the shops. A few people looked up as she went by, and Alice hastily cast a spell over herself so that she couldn’t be seen. Other magic users would still see her go by, but that couldn’t be helped.

                Doing magic was strange now that the magic was actually in her. All she had to do was think about the pattern, and the spell happened, like the magic was coming together and weaving itself inside her. It was effortless, and exhilarating. Why did anyone bother with weaving anyways? Why didn’t witches just take in the magic and use it that way?

                Alice smiled. It was because there weren’t many people that could actually take in the magic. She’d forgotten about that. Her smile grew grimmer, more of a death grin, as she got closer to the town hall. It was stupid, but she wanted nothing more than to smash her way in there and start cracking heads together. Not a wise move, but it was hard to supress the urge when all the magic was coursing through her. She felt she might even be able to take on one god right now, but not two. It wouldn’t help Altair if she got herself killed.  

                Altair. She bit her lip so hard it hurt. He had to be okay. What if they tortured him to find out about the Halfmoon order? He didn’t know anything, but they might think he did. Although, since the god who had captured him was Aphrodite, they probably weren’t going to need to torture anyone. The goddess probably had…other ways.

                Alice scowled down at the roof tops and said sharply, “Go faster.”

                Another two minutes and she had almost reached her destination. She was going to land on the roof, and had even begun guiding the broom down that way, when she felt it jerk beneath her. It nearly ripped the handlebars out of Alice’s hands, and she stiffened in shock.