A Witch and her Familiars

Chapter Thirteen - Before the Grand Coven

Even though she smiled, there seemed no hope left. Without her wand, it would take a miracle—

"Daphne?" cried a voice from down the hallway. "Daphne, is that you?"

Daphne's head snapped up, her eyes wide. "Mmm?" she shouted through her closed lips.

"Daphne!" her mother yelled, running towards her. Her dark braids bounced over her shoulders and her blue-and-silver robes flew out behind her like an angel's wings. Daphne's eyes filled with tears of relief. Her mother had come to help her, just as she always had.

"What is the meaning of this?" Laurel demanded of their captor, her hands on her hips. "Why is my daughter here? And what have you done to her? Remove these bonds at once!"

"Your daughter was caught sneaking mortals into the Great Library," the witch replied, sounding a bit flustered in the face of Laurel's anger. "She's being taken to trial."

Laurel turned to look at her daughter. "Daphne, is this true?" she asked quietly. Daphne nodded, tears now flowing down her face. Her mother would set this all right. She would gather her in her arms and take them all home.

Instead, she stepped back and looked at Daphne with a cold, unfamiliar expression. "Then take her away."

Daphne's heart dropped. "Mmm?" she asked, struggling against her chains. "Mmm!"

"I have no use for a daughter who breaks the Grand Coven's most sacred laws," she announced. "Do what you will with her."

"Mmm!" she screamed through her lips. "Mmma!"

Laurel did not look back as she walked away.

Daphne fell to her knees on the cold floor, mind reeling. Her mother left her. Left her. Bewildered, angry tears poured onto the ground.

"Up," said the man roughly, seizing her arm and dragging her off the floor. "In." He forced the girls through an ornate wooden doorway, all swirls and carved fruit, before jerking them to a halt. "Bow," he said through gritted teeth, sinking low on his knees.

Daphne gasped through the threads. She was standing in an octagonal room of white marble and dark wood, towering almost as high as the Library's lofty ceiling. Carved into the marble  were balconies with cloaked faces looking down. The spectators were dressed in blue, green, or black robes with varying amounts of silver trim twining around the edges. The people above stared at the ones below. In chairs high and elaborate enough to befit the impressive chamber sat seven witches clad in shining robes of pure silver, their faces relaxed and disdainful at the same time. The Grand Coven.

She sank into a bow almost as low as her captor's, awed to be in the presence of the most powerful witches in the world. She was furiously excited—at least, she was until she remembered why she was here.

"Rise," said one woman on the left side of the room. "Nathan, what have you brought before us?"

"The daughter of Laurel Elder," said the man, standing respectfully. "She was found in the Great Library without permission—" There was quiet murmuring from the Coven and the watchers above—"and in the company of these two mortals, whom she brought into the Library." Angry gasps rose up around the room.

"Thank you for your service, Nathan," said the first witch. "You may go. And as for you..." She pointed her long, curling wand at Daphne. "Explain yourself." The threads melted away from their mouths and the chains from their wrists. All three girls gasped with relief and gratefully put hands to their lips. "Explain," the witch repeated icily.

Daphne was so shocked at being directly addressed by one of the most powerful witches in the world that the words just spilled out. "Please, I didn't mean to cause any harm," she started. Several Coven members scoffed; some people in the balconies above tittered. "I didn't! We only visited the library to learn about Reliqua."