Coven Fowler

Chapter 2 - Coven Reunion

Clara sounds like a zombie, gasping for air as she is brought back onto the living plane.

Reviving Clara wasn't easy, mostly because Pepper half-assed the necromancy twice.

I'm in the basement of my house right now. The only light illuminating the dark area is the wax candles that Uncle Cain fetched on a trip to Bath & Body Works. At least it masks the smell of the dead.

Clara looks at Uncle Cain, then me. It's off-putting to see the reflection of her eye come back so suddenly. At least she's okay.

I quickly embrace Clara in a warm hug, and I hear a regal voice once again.

"That was my favorite frock," she says, quietly weeping into my hoodie.

Although it is just a dress, I suppose I'd cry too if I were Clara. She treasures her fashion more than Pepper does sometimes. And of course, she's dressed in a spare set of pajamas, because her frock was completely ripped to shreds by that strange Skiff Lake crocodile.

"I promise I'll find a way to mend it for you, Clara. I promise." I tell her. I've been practicing a mending spell lately, but with how fancy Clara's dress is, I'm unsure if I can fix it.

"I'm so glad you're okay," I say again, clutching Clara harder. Her skin is still damp from the submersion of the lake. I clutch her hand and chant a simple spell, too complex to write on paper.

I watch as Clara shakes her head, confused. I did a simple memory loss spell on her, to make her forget the moment she was being ripped apart. She still knows she died, but just not the details. It's normal nowadays to do one of those spells, so the victim doesn't develop trauma.

"Oh Clara, I'm so sorry. If I had known better, I wouldn't have taken us out there." Uncle Cain finally decided to talk, putting a hand on Clara's shoulder. I turn to see if Pepper will help console Clara, but she's already gone upstairs.

I feel horrible about Clara's death. None of us ever died, not even Uncle Cain, and he's 46. I feel nauseous again just at the thought of the crocodile ripping her apart.

"I'm..." Clara says, putting a hand on her head. We never took the time to dry her hair or remove her makeup; we just changed her clothes. She may be alive, but goddamn, she looks dead. "I'm going to go bathe." Clara manages to conclude her sentence as I pull away from our long embrace.

"Did you see anything after it happened?" I hear Gum ask Clara through a full mouth of toast in the morning.

"Gum!" I say, swatting his hand. "Clara's been through a very rough day, and questions like those are not needed." I try not to be too stern, because Gum gets quite scared of yelling. The last time I broke down at Gum for being annoying, he strayed away from me for two days straight. I felt like a monster.

"No, it's fine," Clara says, taking a bite of her toast. Unlike Gum, she begins to swallow her food before speaking again. "And I can't quite remember. The spell made me forget."

"Why was there a fucking crocodile in the lake anyway?" Pepper speaks, away from the dinner table. She made the rare choice of sitting in the living room while doing her makeup today. "This isn't the Amazon, or wherever those live."

"That is a good question, Pepper." I heard Uncle Cain speak on the couch. "That's why we're going to the coven today. I've called an emergency meeting with the High Priestess."

I whip my head towards Uncle Cain.

"Victoria? We haven't met with the coven for months. Why don't we just go to the police?" I've nothing against Victoria, the High Priestess of our coven, but this seems a bit extreme. "Shouldn't we just call the police or something?"