ACT I — CHAPTER II
Pʀɪɴᴄɪᴘᴀʟ Hᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴᴇ
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
Lydia and Sabrina ran to their school, Baxter High, in an attempt to wash off the curse the Weird Sisters had oh-so graciously bestowed upon them.
When the twins arrived, they went inside and walked as fast as they could through the halls to get to the locker room. They saw their friend, Roz, who said, "Sabrina, Lydia! Hey, girls!"
Trying not to sound rude, Lydia quickly replied, "We stepped in some poison ivy, Roz. Gotta wash it off."
Lydia grabbed Sabrina's hand and walked faster, pulling her sister towards the locker room.
Once the girls had arrived, they each jumped into a shower. Lydia muttered a simple spell in hopes of removing the curse.
"If truly I am cursed today,
Let water wash the hex away.
If truly I am cursed today,
Let water wash the hex away ..."
She muttered the spell over and over and over again as she scrubbed herself with a washcloth.
When Lydia thought that the hex was probably gone, she turned off the water and grabbed a towel. Lydia wrapped the towel around her body and walked out of the shower area. Sabrina, who had also finished showering, walked out with her.
Lydia was the first to notice Susie. She was standing in front of one of the lockers, crying.
"Susie?" Lydia asked. She walked over to her, with Sabrina trailing behind.
"Susie, what's going on? What happened?" Lydia asked. Susie slowly closed her locker.
She looked Lydia in the eye, and said, "They pulled up my shirt."
Her lip was bleeding. Lydia was seeing red.
"What?" she questioned, the anger she was feeling laced in her voice.
"Who did?" Sabrina asked.
─ ༓ ─
Lydia stormed out of the locker room, with Sabrina trailing closely behind. She marched all the way to the principal's office, not even seeing if she was permitted in. Principal Hawthorne looked up at Lydia, then at Sabrina. Lydia began to explain the situation, once again not waiting for permission.
"It was five of them, five barbaric football players," Lydia told him.
"They pulled up her shirt, Principal Hawthorne," Sabrina continued.
"They pulled up her shirt because they wanted to see if she had boobs or not," Lydia stated.
"To see if she was really a boy or a girl under there," Sabrina said.
"Well, uh, Miss and Miss Spellman, if you could give me their names, then I will have them in for review."
"Susie wouldn't tell us their names," Lydia said, "but I can take a lucky guess."
"Or you can bring in all the football players for questioning," Sabrina suggested.
"You're suggesting a witch hunt?" Principal Hawthorne asked.
"I don't care for that term —" Sabrina started.
"Yes, that would be most appropriate," Lydia interrupted, "Susie doesn't feel safe here, in your school. She is living in a never-ending state of fear."
"Well, if that is true, then you, as her friends," Principal Hawthorne drawled, "might, suggest to Miss Putnam that she ... find another school."
"Excuse me?" Lydia exclaimed. Before she could hex him all the way down to the Gates of Hell, Sabrina grabbed Lydia by her elbow and dragged her out of the office. Once Sabrina had successfully pulled her from the area, Lydia let out an angry yell, took off her shoe, and threw it on the ground.
She ignored the stares from other students, picked up her shoe, and stomped off down the hallway, Sabrina right behind her. They were quickly joined by Harvey.
"Hey, what's up? Everything okay?" he asked.
"Some jerks —"
"More like some assholes."
"Fine, some 'assholes' were picking on Susie, being cruel to her, Harvey. Calling her a freak, pawing at her," Sabrina explained.
"They are assholes. Who were they?" Harvey asked.
"Susie won't tell us their names, but can you ask around? Sabrina and I will do the same," Lydia suggested.
"Of course, but 'Brina, 'Di, these guys, they'll close ranks," Harvey said, "Especially to someone not on their bullshit team."
"But we have to do something. This has to stop," Lydia said.
"I'm with you, both of you, we'll try, I'm just saying —"
"That there's no way to protect Susie?" Sabrina questioned.
"Is that what everyone's going to tell us?" Lydia asked.
"Not at all," a new voice said.
The three teenagers turned their heads to find their teacher who was looking a bit ... different.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance, girls."
"Ms. Wardwell?" the twins asked in unison.
"Yes?" Ms. Wardwell questioned, her brow raised, as if she hadn't changed at all.
─ ༓ ─
The two Spellmans had gone with Ms. Wardwell to her office.
Lydia was confused by her favorite teacher's sudden change in outfit and behavior but decided not to mention it. She supposed that she saw some makeover trend-thing and tried it out.
"My heart weeps for your friend," Ms. Wardwell told them. She paced around the room, then placed a hand on each of the girl's shoulders, "Such a difficult thing to be going through."
"Yes, it's this, uh ..." Sabrina started.
Lydia spoke for her, "It's this town, this school, they have this culture of —"
"Puritanical masculinity?" Ms. Wardwell asked, interrupting Lydia.
"And Principal Hawthorne is the most intolerant, the most buffoonish, the most misogynist of all," Ms. Wardwell continued, "When will the world learn? Women should be in charge of everything. Our assistant principal, Ms. Glover, well she wouldn't turn a blind eye to what's happening."
"I just wish Hawthorne would just —" Sabrina started, but also was interrupted by Ms. Wardwell.
"Just what?" she asked. Sabrina's statement seemed to intrigue her greatly.
"Hawthorne's a bully," Sabrina said.
"And someone should teach him a lesson," Lydia finished.
"Why not you two?" Ms. Wardwell asked.
Lydia paused. the twins glanced at each other. Why not us?
"But how would that help Susie?" Lydia asked.
"A fish rots from the head down," Ms. Wardwell said. She began making her way to the window, "Principal Hawthorne isn't an ally. If — if he were to take a sabbatical, say. I suspect you and your friends would come up with a way to help Susie."
"The problem is, Hawthorne doesn't take sabbaticals, or days off, even," Sabrina said.
Ms. Wardwell tore her gaze away from the window and to the twins.
"He's scared of spiders, you know," she stated.
"Principal Hawthorne is?" Lydia asked.
"Hmm," Ms. Wardwell hummed. She then laughed, but stopped abruptly, which sent shivers down Lydia's spine.
"Absolutely terrified of them."
─ ༓ ─
After leaving Ms. Wardwell's office, the twins headed to the library to find a yearbook, which hopefully had a picture of Principal Hawthorne in it. They each flipped through a book.
"Got it!" Lydia exclaimed. Sabrina handed her a ruler.
"A graven image," Lydia muttered. She put the ruler at the spine of the book and tore the page out.
─ ༓ ─
"The football players are a symptom, but the disease goes much deeper, into the bedrock of this school," Sabrina said. They were currently walking to a table outside at lunch with Roz and Harvey.
"And that's where we fight it, with a club," Lydia said.
"For young women," Sabrina added.
"To meet and encourage each other," Lydia continued, "Where we can discuss issues —"
"And problems we're facing," Sabrina said.
"And come up with proactive solutions," the two finished, together. The four found a table and sat down.
"You mean, like, a club to topple the white patriarchy?" Roz asked.
"Wait, what?" Harvey questioned, but no one listened to him.
"Exactly," Sabrina smiled.
"To mobilize and protest if we need to get political, to fight when we need to fight, to defend each other. So Susie never feels alone, so none of us do," Lydia stated.
"But won't Hawthorne block this?" Roz asked, "I mean he wouldn't let me start a 'Daughters of the Black Panthers' club last year."
"Lydia and I may have a plan for getting this through without the interference of Hawthorne," Sabrina told them, "We just need to do it fast."
"How fast?" Roz asked.
"As soon as possible," Sabrina said.
"But definitely by Friday," Lydia added.
"Just in time for your birthday," Roz said, a knowing look on her face.
If only she knew how much she didn't know.
"Yes, but remember, we're not making a big deal about that this year," Sabrina spoke.
"But it is a big deal," Roz argued, "It's your guy's Sweet 16, on Halloween. There's an eclipse. I mean, that kind of cosmic alliance demands a party. Harvey, back me up!"
"I mean, I've tried, Roz, multiple times, but —"
"But we have plans with our aunts," Sabrina said.
"Years-in-the-making plans," Lydia added.
"It's a super-secret Spellman family tradition," Sabrina explained.
"We're not really supposed to talk about it," Lydia said, "So how about we just focus on our club? What should we call it?"
"The She-Hawks," Roz suggested, which caused Lydia to laugh.
They continued to brainstorm ideas until the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
─ ༓ ─
Lydia, Sabrina, and Harvey were walking home. Lydia walked behind the two lovebirds in an awkward silence, just listening to them talk.
"About your birthday, 'Brina," Harvey said, "I know that you and 'Di have this super mysterious thing with your aunts you're not allowed to talk about, but — are you a hundred percent sure I can't convince you otherwise?"
Lydia could see where this was going.
"It could just be the two of us," Harvey suggested. He took Sabrina's arm and looped it through his, "Watching the eclipse together, waiting for it to get dark."
"Harvey, that sounds like a dream," Sabrina began.
"Mm-hmm."
"But — this thing, it's — kind of an obligation," Sabrina told him.
Harvey sighed, "And you two really can't tell us, tell me, anything about it?"
"Only that it's important," Sabrina said, "To my aunts, And to me and 'Di."
"What's so important you're going to miss your birthday for it?" Harvey asked.
Lydia knew where this was going. It was the same thing, over and over again.
'Sabrina, can you please miss this birthday thing?'
'No Harvey, I can't."
'Not even for me?'
'No, Harvey.'
'You can't even tell me why you're missing your birthday?'
'No Harvey, I can't.'
'That's okay. I love you, Sabrina.'
'I love you too, Harvey.'
Then they'd start kissing, and Lydia would have to awkwardly make her way around them. It was the same old, same old. Nothing ever changed, and nothing ever —
"I'm moving, Harvey."
Lydia tripped and nearly face-planted. But neither of them seemed to care.
"I'm leaving, Baxter High, and going to a boarding school in Connecticut. Lydia is, too," Sabrina said.
Harvey was clearly taken aback.
"What?" he asked, "Are you being serious?"
"Our aunts are dropping us off, this Friday night," she answered.
"Oh boy, oh boy," Lydia muttered.
"What the hell are you talking about, Sabrina?" he asked.
"I'm talking about this amazing opportunity that we — we can't say no to," Sabrina tried to explain.
"So amazing you've never mentioned it to me? Or to Roz? Or to Susie?" Harvey asked. He had a lot of questions, but Lydia supposed anyone would in his situation.
"We didn't want to freak you guys out."
"So what? You were just going to leave? Without saying goodbye?"
"No, of course not."
"Well, what school? What's its name?"
Lydia now knew Sabrina that was officially, royally screwed. What's she supposed to say, the Connecticut School of Boarding?
"Um, it's, uh —" Sabrina began, but clearly, as Lydia suspected, she didn't know what to say.
Lydia decided now would be a fantastic time to leave. As she walked by, she patted Sabrina's shoulder, muttering, "Good luck getting out of this one."
"Hey! Where are you going?" Harvey called after her, "You didn't tell me you were leaving, either!"
"Sorry, can't hear you! I gotta go!" Lydia called back, walking faster. When she could no longer see the two, she slowed down to a normal pace.
As she walked, Lydia's mind wandered.
Although she would never admit it to anyone, Lydia had always envied her sister. In her mind, Sabrina got the pretty hair, the clearer skin. She believed everyone favored Sabrina over herself. Especially Zelda.
Zelda always said that Lydia followed Sabrina around like a lost puppy. She always said 'Sabrina and Lydia' instead of 'Lydia and Sabrina'. Well, most people did that.
She knew that Harvey was only friends with her because he was dating Sabrina. When she realized this, Lydia began to wonder if Susie and Roz were only friends with her because of Sabrina, too.
She didn't think she could bear it if Susie was only friends with her because of Sabrina. Susie was Lydia's first, real crush. At first, she denied it, because Susie's a girl, and Greendale wasn't the most accepting place on Earth.
She eventually learned to accept it when she was fourteen, and she told Sabrina soon after. She was accepting, of course, but Lydia didn't tell the rest of her family.
When Lydia really thought about it, she realized that her worst fear was that she would live in Sabrina's shadow for her whole life.
When Lydia reached the end of their driveway, she decided to wait for Sabrina — she'd probably be pretty upset about talking to Harvey and would need some support.
When she did reach the driveway, Sabrina was alone. Before Lydia could ask what happened, Sabrina spoke.
"I told him I was a witch," she told her, and before Lydia could say anything, Sabrina quickly added, "but he didn't take it well, so I wiped his memory."
There is a point in life where one realizes that now is not the best time to talk, and Lydia sensed that that time was then, so she didn't say anything.
They walked up their long driveway, and they found Ambrose sitting on the porch.
"Hey," he said to them. Lydia gave him a little wave and a small smile.
"Hey," Sabrina dully replied.
"Why so glum?" Ambrose asked Sabrina.
"Just wait 'til she tells you," Lydia said, which received her a hard elbow jab to the stomach from Sabrina.
"I was telling Harvey that we were leaving Baxter High to —"
"Go to a posh boarding school in Connecticut?" Ambrose guessed.
"Yes, but then — I didn't want to lie to him, Ambrose, so —" Sabrina sighed, "I told him I was a witch."
Ambrose had never looked more shocked in his life.
"Oh — my —"
"But it was too wrenching," Sabrina continued, "So I took it back."
"Wrenching in what way?" Ambrose asked.
"In every way," Sabrina sighed.
"This whole situation is just impossible, Ambrose," Lydia said.
"I love Harvey," Sabrina stated, "I don't want to say goodbye to him."
"And I don't want to say goodbye to our friends," Lydia added.
"I wish we could just —" Sabrina started.
"Bring them with us," Lydia finished.
"Along the path of night?" Ambrose asked.
When the twins gave no reply, Ambrose sighed.
"Oh, cousins," he said, "If — if only I could make things easier for you two."
"That's okay," Sabrina said, "We'll get through it."
She looked at Lydia and gave her a small smile.
Lydia knew they'd get through it. They had to.
"Actually, Ambrose, one thing you can do is help us with a spell later," Lydia said, "to deal with our principal."
"So we can set up a club at school before our Baptism," Sabrina explained.
"To protect Susie," Lydia stated.
"And all the girls," Sabrina added, "If we can't stay with them, at least we can do this one thing."
"My grimoire is your grimoire," Ambrose said, "and what time will we be spell-casting?"
"Midnight-ish," the girls answered together.
"The Witching Hour?" Ambrose asked, "Spooky."
The twins shot him a smile and then headed into the house.
─ ༓ ─
Lydia and Sabrina sat in the kitchen talking to Hilda about their awful day.
"Oh, Aunt Hilda, the Weird Sisters are horrible," Sabrina told her.
"Everyone who goes to the Academy is snobby and horrible and racist," Lydia said.
"Why on Earth would they curse the two of you for no reason?" Hilda asked.
"Don't worry, we washed it off," the two said in unison.
"Well, we're gonna check that for sure," Hilda said, walking off to get two bowls and two eggs.
"They're jealous of you," Zelda said. The two girls turned around to see their aunt, standing in the doorway.
"You two are the daughters of a High Priest. Who are they?" Zelda asked. She scoffed, "Nobodies. But that's precisely why you need familiars. To protect you from these sorts of attacks."
"We tried summoning them," Lydia said.
Hilda cleared her throat, "Break an egg, please, darlings. Better safe than sorry."
The girls each took an egg from their aunt's hands and cracked it into their bowls. The yolk was a dark red.
"Oh," Hilda sighed, chuckling, "I was right, that is a blood curse. Oh, it's lingering, so untreated, that is gonna eat slowly away at your health, your will, and your sanity."
"That's pleasant," Lydia remarked.
"So, a regimen of salt water baths, reversing candles, For a couple of weeks, and that will do the trick, I think," Hilda said, "All right, off you go."
Lydia and Sabrina both sighed, stood up, and started walking away. But then they remembered something the Weird Sisters had said.
"Aunties?" they asked together. They both turned around to look at the girls.
"The Weird Sisters said something — about mom and dad," Sabrina said.
"What did they say about your mother and father?" Zelda asked.
"Their accident," the girls said together, again.
"They were almost making it seem as if it wasn't an accident," Lydia said.
Their aunts look at each other, then back to them.
"Well, that's just poppycock," Zelda said, and Hilda agreed, "Your father and mother were flying to Italy. Edward was giving a lecture at the Vatican when their plane went down. Tragically."
"Now get upstairs and into a bath like your Aunt Hilda says," she finished. The twins turned around and walked up the stairs.
─ ༓ ─
Since they had a shared bathroom, Lydia took a bath first. When she was finished, she put on her yellow pajamas, which matched Sabrina's pink ones, and laid on her bed.
She was reading a book, but she started drifting off, and it became difficult to keep her eyes open. And then, she fell asleep.
─ ༓ ─
When Lydia opened her eyes again, she was still in her bed, but now she was in the woods. There was the sound of a baby crying. She was looking at her surroundings when she saw them.
Her parents, each holding a baby. They turned around and started walking away.
"Mom? Dad?" Lydia called. but the figures kept on walking.
"Wait!" she yelled. She got out of her bed and followed them, barefooted, through the woods. They walked until they reached a part of the woods surrounded by candles. Lydia's parents both turned around to look at her.
"Mom? Dad?" she called again, "Are you guys coming to my Baptism? Mom, I've taken your name, I hope that's all right."
Her parents walked away from her. It was then she saw that they had been standing in front of two altars, with two babies on each one.
Lydia looked at the set of babies on the left and felt an urge to look at those ones. She lifted up the blanket covering one of the baby's legs. There were normal feet.
She picked up the other side of the blanket and gasped in shock. In place of normal feet were goat hooves and legs.
─ ༓ ─
And then she woke up. She swore she could hear her heart beating out of her chest. Then, she heard the sound of the clock ticking. It was only five minutes until the Witching Hour.
Lydia sprang out of bed and to the bathroom door, where she was about to start knocking when Sabrina opened it. The two quickly made their way up the stairs to Ambrose's room.
When they got to his room, music was drifting from the record player. Lydia handed Ambrose the picture of Principal Hawthorne. He took it from her and looked over it.
"This isn't like you, cousins," he said, "Using witchcraft to settle personal vendettas."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Ambrose," Lydia responded.
"Now remember, we don't want to kill Principal Hawthorne, we just need to give him a good scare," Sabrina reminded.
"Ms. Wardwell told us that he's terrified of spiders," Lydia said, a smile on her face.
"Oh, that's easy, then," Ambrose said, "It's lucky that Aunt Hilda keeps them as her familiars."
They all retrieved the spiders and placed them in a row on the floor in Ambrose's room. Sabrina sat on one end, Ambrose sat on the other, and Lydia sat in the middle.
Ambrose held up the picture of Principal Hawthorne again.
"Are you sure you don't want to kill him? Because we could do that," he told them.
"Well —" Lydia began.
"Lydia!" Sabrina exclaimed.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Besides, you know how I am about killing stuff."
"Ambrose, we just need him to take a day or two off from school," Sabrina explained, again.
"Right. Well, we'll only mildly traumatize him, then," Ambrose said. He took off the lid of one of the spider enclosures and dropped the picture in. He put the lid back on and began to recite the curse.
"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."
Sabrina spoke next.
"Spider, o spider,
Pray, do you not see?
Here comes a big,
Buzzing,
Blundering bee."
Then it was Lydia's turn.
"He'll spoil your fine net
While you fume and you fret,
But no mercy you grant,
No mercy you'll get."
Once the curse was finished, the two thanked their cousin and wished him a goodnight. They headed back to their room with their arms intertwined and smiles on their faces.
The moment they entered their room, they could feel a cold wind wrapping around them.
Sabrina audibly shivered. Lydia looked over to the window and saw it was open. She slowly made her way to it, with Sabrina not far behind her. There were claw marks on the window sill.
"Oh no," Lydia breathed out.
"What now?" Sabrina questioned. The girls glanced at each other. Lydia reached forward and closed the window.
The moment the window was closed, two voices could be heard.
"Lydia."
One said.
"Sabrina."
The other said.
The girls quickly turned around. They looked around their room, but no one was there.
"Who are you?" they asked in unison, "Show yourselves."
"We heard you calling in the woods," the voices said.
And then the girls saw them. Two black figures, in the corner of their room, so tall their heads were touching the sealing. They made the twins gasp and slowly walk backward.
"And we came."
They disappeared behind the twins' room divider for a moment, but then came out, this time in the forms of two cats: one white and one black. The white one walked to Lydia and the black one walked to Sabrina.
"Aw," Sabrina cooed. The cats purred. Lydia picked up her cat, as did Sabrina.
"You're such a pretty kitty," Lydia told it, "and what's your name?"
─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───
REWRITTEN: august 2023
EDITED: march 2024
WORDS: 3,869
AUTHOR'S NOTE! hello! here is the new chapter :) i am very tired so i won't write much.
if you liked this chapter, please feel free to comment and vote! i would also like to tell you i have a tiktok account @caseyinthealps.wp where i post edits for this story and some drafted ones.
i also have to other fics, a harry potter one and a heartstoppper one if either of those interest you!
i hope you all have had an amazing day and enjoyed this chapter :)