~2017~
Zoe and Angel stood before a line of girls who were seated at the table, a white rose held in each hand. The two witches were not only members of the Council, but they were also instructors at the academy.
"It might seem easy to alter the color of a flower, but the rose is unique. It resists change. Why?" Angel asked the girls, rhetorically.
"Empress Josephine Bonaparte, wife of Napoleon and proud witch, cultivated one of the largest rose gardens in Europe." Zoe informed, taking slow steps around the table, maintaining eye contact with her students, "It's said that Josephine enchanted her roses so that the colors she produced remained fixed as she wanted them."
The two briefly glanced at the doorway as Cordelia, current Supreme, strolled in and overlooked the lesson.
"Maybe so." Angel chimed in, looking back at the girls, "But one thing's certain." Angel and Zoe raised their roses in front of them, focusing on the petals. Slowly they began to change from white to purple and red, respectively. They both gave soft smiles, "Nothing is immutable when the will of a strong woman is applied. Now, show us how strong you are." Angel finished, placing her colored rose on the table top.
The two approached Cordelia's side and Zoe leaned in closely, "Watch her."
"You really think she's something special?" Cordelia asked, referring to Mallory who was one of the students in attendance.
"I'll let you be the judge."
All the girl's roses began to turn into vivid colors, washing away the blank slate of white, giving way for their artistry. The three witches kept their focus on the brunette witch as her petals turned a bright blue. Admittedly, the same hue as her crush's eyes. Though she had only seen Angel's eyes on a few occasions, the girl was constantly wearing a pair of sunglasses. She glanced up at the three from her seat, her gaze lingering on Angel for a moment longer than the others. The petals began falling from the bud of the plant, softly falling onto the table.
Cordelia turned her head to Zoe, "She has some ability, no question."
The two Council members gasped softly, "Look." Angel said, giving a light tap to Cordelia's arm.
They all watched as the blue petal levitated off the table and within seconds turned into butterflies. They all watched as they fluttered around the room.
"My god." Cordelia gasped, raising her hand out to catch a blue petal as they reverted back into their original form. As it fell into her palm, the color became white once again.
"She claims her grandmother told her that her bloodline stretches all the way back to Salem." Angel revealed. Zoe glanced at her colleague; when did Mallory tell her this?
Behind them, they heard a door open and close, the sound of clicking heels following. Myrtle appeared from around the corner and approached the three.
"What is it?" Cordelia asked, seeing the grim look on the woman's aging face.
"The Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men." She informed, "They called an emergency council. We're obliged to get on a plane immediately. Airline food for lunch when I made reservations at Galatoires. It's just too cruel." She sighed.
They all nervously glanced at one another. Never before had they been summoned by the warlocks, this must've been important.
"Go pack your bag, girls." Cordelia said, looking at Zoe and Angel. The two obliged, heading up the stairs. As they made it to the top, Angel looked at her older friend.
"Isn't Hawthorne all the way out in California?"
Zoe sighed, "Yep. So get ready for a long ass flight. Hope you're not scared of heights." She teased.
Angel scoffed playfully, "Please, me, a death-defying witch, scared of heights? I don't think so."
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Turns out Angel, maybe, had a small fear of heights. Not that she would ever admit it. They had survived the airports, the long flight, and the long drive and they were all approaching Hawthorne's. The school wasn't much to look at. In the middle of a dusty, dry field stood a spiraling sculpture which now served as the school's entrance after it was burned down back in 2014.
As they exited the car, Angel could see two men waiting at the entrance. She subtly lowered her sunglasses and inspected their auras.
The darker skinned individual was surrounded by burgundy, fuchsia, orange, red, and navy blue. After consulting with Cordelia, Angel knew this to be Behold Chablis. She was pleased to find that the red swirling around him was but a sliver of color. He was deemed okay in Angel's book. The other one however...
Next to him was a small man in stature, wearing a black cloak on his shoulders. He was giving a bitter smile to all the witches. Ariel Augustus, Angel deduced. His aura was an amalgam of red, green, brown, greenish yellow, burgundy, and navy blue. The amount of red, green, and greenish yellow around him indicated that perhaps Angel should keep a close eye on him. He was dangerous and envious, of what she didn't know, but surely it was a recipe for disaster.
Zoe jabbed her elbow into Angel's side once she saw what she was doing. She shrugged her shoulders but complied with her friend's silent request to quit, raising her sunglasses back up.
"Are you sure we couldn't have made them come to us?" The brunette asked.
"The rules are the rules." Myrtle sighed, "Besides, did we really want all those men traipsing around our house?"
"No." Angel harshly replied, a frown growing on her face.
Cordelia looked over at the girl and raised a questioning eyebrow, the girl simply waved her off, giving her a look that said 'we'll talk later'.
The two men parted ways as the women stopped before them, allowing them entrance into the school. As a group, they all silently entered and made their way to a library set up for their meeting. Standing in the room were two other men. The taller, blue-eyed man introduced himself as John Henry Moore. The Asian man next to him introduced himself as well, Baldwin Pennypacker. Angel couldn't help but mentally snicker at the man's last name.
They all took their places at the table, the witches on one side, the warlocks on the other. John Henry sat across from Myrtle, Ariel from Cordelia, Angel from Behold, and Zoe from Baldwin, the man using a small typewriter of sorts to document the meeting.
Angel placed her sunglasses above her head, once again trying to subtly read the new men- a little difficult considering they were at opposite ends of the table. Regardless, she was able to see that John Henry's aura consisted of blue, brown, purple, and navy blue. All well and good. Baldwin's aura was made up of brown, navy blue, greenish yellow, and red. Hmm, not so good.
Cordelia's voice broke the blonde from her musings as she started, "Let the record show that at the request of Hawthorne School, that we have assembled an emergency meeting of the Council."
"In order to address what must surely be a matter of grave and pressing importance." Myrtle finished, exasperated.
"Proceed."
Ariel stood from his seat and gazed at the women, "Illustrious members, I want to thank you for coming and giving us this opportunity to share with you what we discovered. We recently took in a boy here at the school. At first, we thought he was simply one of us, a warlock who needed our help and training." Baldwin's fingers furiously typed away as he spoke.
"But?" Angel prompted, bored.
All the men looked at her, giving varying degrees of glares, Baldwin ceasing his typing. She didn't shrink back under their harsh stares.
Ariel took a breath and continued, "The things he did were extraordinary, and after conducting the requisite test of his powers, we came to the conclusion that his abilities are so impressive that they rise to the level of Supreme." He informed.
There was a beat of stillness as Ariel took his seat once again, before Cordelia broke the silence with her soft chuckling.
"Did you say this was a boy, as in male?" Myrtle asked, skeptically.
"Ariel, you actually believe this?" Cordelia asked in disbelief.
"We wouldn't have summoned the Council otherwise."
"In all recorded history, no man has ever approached the level of Supreme. Men are simply not equal to women when it comes to magical ability." The blonde stated.
"Not to mention everything else." Myrtle said.
"Testosterone is a known inhibitor." The Supreme mentioned, "It impedes access to the ethereal realm. Frankly, I question your judgement by calling us here."
"You're not even hearing us out." John Henry calmly cut in.
"There's nothing to hear. There will never be a male Supreme. It will simply never happen." The redhead countered.
"Listen to yourselves. You say that something hasn't happened, therefore it can never happen." Ariel argued.
"What exactly is it you want from us?" Cordelia questioned, trying to steer the conversation in a productive way.
"We want you to administer the test of the Seven Wonders." Ariel replied.
All the girls glanced at one another in nervousness. Angel tightened the black shawl on her shoulders around her body, she was clearly uncomfortable by this turn of events.
"That is out of the question." Cordelia said.
"Why?" Behold demanded.
"Because I'd be condemning this boy to his death." Cordelia replied strongly, "I lost one of my most promising witches, Misty Day, by sanctioning a test before her time." She glanced over at Angel from the corner of her eye, "I will not make that mistake again. I take care of my own."
"At least the ones you care about." Ariel replied bitterly.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked, offended by the insinuation.
"One of your own, who you abandoned, Queenie."
"Of course it's the black girl you leave behind. I see you Ms. Supreme." Behold sassed.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Angel defended her mother figure, glaring at the warlocks.
Cordelia raised her hand. She was a big girl, she could fight her own battles.
"Queenie was missing. She traveled to Los Angeles and never came back. I knew something awful had happened to her. Her life force just vanished." She informed the men, "So I went searching for her. And when I found out she was trapped in the Hotel Cortez, I went immediately to bring her back from that monstrous place. And I had no illusions about it being easy. The Cortez is a place of evil. A hell mouth." Her voice grew thick with emotion. "I could hear the souls screaming in the walls, desperate for a way out. I realized then that the hotel wasn't merely haunted, but an entryway to all things dark and satanic...where the devil reigns."
She glanced down at her hands and took a deep breath in, "We went through every door and every window, but we couldn't escape the hotel. All my spells and incantations were useless in that dark realm. The light from which we draw our power was extinguished by Satan himself. I was there for days. The ghost of March got bored and finally left us alone."
She sniffled and wiped away the tears from her face, she was truly regretful, "My effort to rescue Queenie is by far my greatest failure as Supreme. But I tried." She reaffirmed, "And I do care about all of our people. All of our people. So I won't throw this boy's life away on some useless endeavor. There will be no test. That is this Council's decision." Her tone was firm and final.
Ariel opened his mouth in disbelief, "Why do you get to decide that?"
"Because I'm the fucking Supreme."
Ariel shook his head, "No, you're just a scared bigot."
"Scared of what?" Cordelia retorted.
"Of the Alpha. Of a man rising to the level of Supreme. Of an end to the ages of female dominance." He said angrily.
"And your time is up. This council is closed. The decision is final. There's nothing more to be said." The Supreme said, effectively ending the meeting.
The men all rose from their chairs and departed the room.
Angel lowered her sunglasses in front of her blue eyes, "Well that was fun." She sarcastically remarked, standing from her seat and stretching.
"'Because I'm the fucking Supreme!'" She imitated and chuckled, "Ooh, I love it, Cordelia! Way to stick it to the man."
The others chuckled in amusement but Cordelia's fell a little flat. She had to relive her failure in saving Queenie and it hurt her, but she appreciated Angel's humor.
Angel could see the sadness in her eyes and she lowered herself down to the Supreme's level. "Don't let them get to ya, okay? They may never understand the love and compassion ya have for all your girls. Ya tried, and Queenie knows it. That's all that matters."
The blonde smiled and fondly caressed the girl's cheek, "You're right."
"Damn straight. Now, let's get out of this hole in the ground and go grab some food. I'm starvin'." She stood tall and looked at the other witches.
Cordelia smiled up at the blonde, her gaze prideful of the girl she honestly considered as the daughter she never had. She had grown a lot in the few years she had known her, thanks to Zoe and Queenie. And although she didn't realize it, she was also responsible for the teen's growth. Angel had seen herself in Cordelia and as the Supreme's confidence in herself grew, so did hers.