three
spiders.
"I NEED YOUR help," Selene declares that evening to Ambrose, who's staring at her in amusement. "I want to scare my principal, not kill him." She then holds up two glass cages full of Hilda's spiders. "And well, I'm taking this as a sign from the Dark Lord himself."
"Why is that?" Ambrose raises a confused eyebrow.
"He's afraid of spiders," the strawberry blonde smirks. "And Hilda won't need her familiars tonight, so... will you help me?"
"You know I will," Ambrose purses his lips as Selene moves so she's sitting next to him on his bed. She then hands him a picture of Principal Hawthorne, and he can't help but grin.
"Are you sure you don't want to kill him?" He questions jokingly. "Because we could do that."
"As tempting as that is, I don't want to kill my school principal," Selene rolls her eyes. "I just need the guy to take a sick day tomorrow."
"Right," Ambrose nods, before gently dropping Hawthorne's picture into one of the cages of spiders. "Well, we'll only mildly traumatize him, then."
Ambrose and Selene then join hands, closing their eyes and whispering the spell. "Spider O Spider, pray why do you spin your pretty white web so fine and so thin? To catch fat flies and make them into pies. Spider, O Spider, pray, do you not see? Here comes a big, buzzing, blundering bee. He'll spoil your fine net while you fume and you fret, but no mercy you grant, and no mercy you'll get."
Once she's satisfied it worked, Selene pulls her hands away from Ambrose's. She's quiet as she returns the empty cage to Hilda's room, knowing the spiders will find the way back on their own before she heads back to Ambrose's room, returning to her spot on the bed with a smile. "Thank you, Ambrose."
"So, why did you wanna do all this?" Ambrose questions as Selene moves so that she's laying on her back besides Ambrose, allowing her eyes to flutter closed.
"Sabrina wants to start a club to help some of the girls at our school," Selene informs quietly, feeling her breathing begin to slow. "I need to get Hawthorne out of the picture, so we'll be able to start the club."
"Ah, that's why," Ambrose nods, laying down on his side so that he can face Selene. "You really will do anything for her, won't you?"
"I'd do anything for you and your entire family," Selene is quick to correct him, but she doesn't open her eyes. "I love all of you."
Ambrose is silent for a moment, considering what to say, but when he opens his mouth to speak, he realizes that Selene has fallen asleep. A small smile finds its way onto his lips as he gingerly pulls a cover around the strawberry blonde, not objecting when she moves to wrap her arms around him, the way she's done so many times when she's fallen asleep in Ambrose's room.
Ambrose thinks she's having a peaceful, happy dream, but he doesn't know what she's actually seeing.
In her dream, Selene is standing in the middle of a dark forest, and the sky is a dark orange color. She's standing in front of an old apple tree, but there are no apples hanging from the trees. In their places, the bodies of several witches are hanging. Once she registers who they are, the girl turns on her heel and begins to run through the woods as fast as she can. She continues to run until she tries to push through some foliage, and when she does, she jerks awake in Ambrose's bed with a petrified scream.
Hours had passed since she had fallen asleep, and Ambrose had drifted off into oblivion in that time. But as soon as soon as the girl starts screaming, he shoots awake, concerned for her. "Are you okay, Selene? Are you alright?"
"N-no. No," Selene sobs with wide eyes, burying her head head in his shoulder. The girl has tears in her eyes and she's shaking. "I saw them."
"Saw who?" Ambrose echoes, gently patting her back. This isn't the first time that this has happened. Selene has to take foxglove to sleep or the Dark Lord will find his way into her dreams, showing her horrid images from the past and things that have yet to happen. "Who did you see?"
"The Greendale thirteen."
——
The next day, Selene's father, Faustus Blackwood decides to make a visit to the Spellman home to see Sabrina since she's having second thoughts about her dark baptism. Selene has, of course, gathered her bearings, and looks a lot better. There's no trace of the sobbing girl that Ambrose saw last night.
So Selene, Faustus, Ambrose, Zelda, and Hilda sit in the living room of the Spellman household when Sabrina walks through the door, growing confused once she takes in the scene in front of her. She hastily takes a seat on the sofa, before raising an eyebrow at Faustus. "Father Blackwood, what're you doing here?"
"Your aunties told me you have questions, about your baptism and such," he replies with a flat voice, almost like he's bored.
"I do," Sabrina nods calmly. "But I'm not sure where to begin."
"Allow me," Faustus smirks, shifting in his seat so that he can fully face Sabrina. "A witch's dark baptism is our most sacred unholy sacrament. The oldest of our rites. We've been performing them for centuries. Our Dark Lord's book, the Book of the Beast, is the most ancient tome in existence-"
"About that," Sabrina cuts him off. "If I sign my name in the Book of the Beast, does that mean I'm giving the Dark Lord dominion over my soul?"
"That's one interpretation," Faustus admits as Selene watches them anxiously, not sure if and when she should intervene. "But it's largely a symbolic gesture, as rituals in most religions are. What else?"
"Let's say I do sign my name in his book. Doesn't that mean he can call on me?" Sabrina asks, not wanting to do the devil's dirty work. "To do his bidding?"
"All religions demand some sacrifice," Faustus states. "But signing your name in the book is more like... a pledge, let's say. That you'll abide by his commandments. Do you know the Thirteen Commandments?"
"She knows them like the back of her hand," Selene finally speaks up, narrowing her eyes at her father.
"I'm not an evil person, Father," Sabrina assures him, as he laughs.
"I am glad to hear it. Neither am I. Neither are you aunts. And neither is my daughter."
"But the devil..." Sabrina begins.
"The Dark Lord, yes?"
"He's the embodiment of evil," Sabrina points out bluntly.
"Incorrect," Faustus shakes his head sternly. "He is the embodiment of free will. Good. Evil. Those words matter to the False God, but the Dark Lord is beyond such precepts."
"What about Hell?" The Spellman girl questions, gingerly making eye contact with Selene. "I don't want to go there when I die."
"First of all, if you accept the Dark Lord's gifts, you won't die, for a very long time," Faustus retorts. "Second of all, Hell is for mortals. In exchange for their service and devotion, witches are exempt from the eternal flames of damnation. Really, what's needed here is a fundamental shift in thinking."
"Okay, well, what about my boyfriend?" Sabrina demands. "Why do I have to break up with him?"
"Your boyfriend is a mortal," Faustus reminds disapprovingly. "There is an inherit incompatibility. Should you become a full witch, your human partner would age much faster than you."
"My father married a mortal," Sabrina counters.
"True, but he was High Priest of the Church of Night and was granted a special dispensation by the Dark Lord himself," Faustus heaves a sigh. "He blessed the union of your warlock father and mortal mother, but even then, it was not without controversy."
"Some girls at the Academy of Unseen Arts have suggested that my parents' deaths weren't accidental, that maybe they'd been... murdered," Sabrina informs, an upset expression crossing her face.
"Brina, there was an investigation," Selene speaks up with wide eyes. Of course, Selene knows everything about Sabrina's parents case, because a couple of years ago, she had been skeptical about their deaths. "The evidence showed no indication that your parents were murdered. It was an accident."
The Spellman girl nods, before pursing her lips. "Lastly:Earlier today, I took a bite of a malum malus. And the future it showed me was horrible."
"The biting of a malum malus for prognostication of the future hasn't been recommended for decades," Faustus shrugs. "Specifically because of its wild accuracy. But might I remind you, your father was one of the Church of Night's greatest thinkers. He wanted you to follow in his footsteps. It's right that you have so many questions. My advice? Take your baptism, and join my daughter at the Academy of Unseen Arts. Learn our history. Find answers to your questions. Challenge them. Make better answers. Make us stronger. Will you try, at least? And should it not be to your liking-"
"You'll let me leave the Church?" Sabrina infers as Selene's head snaps towards her father, knowing what he's gonna say next.
"Free choice," Faustus lies. "This is the bedrock on which our Church is built. But I do hope I'll see you in the woods on Samhain. The moon is certain to be glorious."
"She'll be there, Your Excellency," Zelda pipes up. "With bells on, won't you, Sabrina?"
"Looking forward to it."
"In that case," Faustus rises to his feet. "If there's anything else, my daughter can walk me out?"
"There is one thing, Your Excellency," Ambrose interjects, shocking everybody. The warlock had been sentenced to house arrest 75 years before, because he tried to blow up the Vatican. And because of this, he's normally silent whenever Selene's father comes to visit.
Ambrose then leads the group down to the basement, where he performs autopsies on the corpses bought into the Spellman's mortuary.
On the table, lays the corpse of a boy in his early twenties. His body is ashen, and his lips are blue. But Selene can still feel the magic that's lingering on his body. Out of curiosity, she closes her eyes and touches his body, looking for a confirmation. And just as she expected, her powers lead her to a witch's mark on his right forearm. "He's a warlock."
"What about his parents?" Faustus questions, staring down at the boys body numbly.
"His parents are mortals," Hilda answers. "They adopted him, and don't know who his birth parents are."
"Poor boy," Faustus frowns. "Alone in the world. Raised by mortals. Never baptized. Think of what he might've accomplished. Tragic, really."
Selene slowly travels to the boys face, wondering what he would've been like. Ambrose watches her, before he talks to Faustus. "His murder hasn't been solved. I've been checking the papers, the news. So, we've started to wonder if there might not be a witch-hunter in our midst."
"Highly unlikely," Faustus scoffs.
"But possible," Ambrose remarks quietly.
"I'll speak to the Council, but I shouldn't think this is any more than what it appears to be," Faustus heaves a sigh, before his daughter leans down so that her lips are almost touching the dead boy's. His eyes widen once he realizes what she's going to do, and just as she's about to use her powers to bring the boy back, Faustus pulls her back.
"What're you doing?" Selene hisses, narrowing her eyes at him.
"You cannot keep practicing necromancy on humans," Faustus shakes his head. "You'll hurt yourself."
"Well, if I could just wake him up, then we could ask him if a witch hunter killed him or-"
"No," Faustus cuts her off firmly. "Necromancy is an old, dangerous form of magic, and you mustn't practice it outside of class."
UNEDITED