❛ CHAPTER NINE ━━ THE WITCH ❜
𖤐¸𓍢 ━━ ❪ ACT ONE OF SOULBOUND ❫ ˖ ୧ 。
◟ ✦ LIGHT OR DARKNESS? ❞
THE WINCHESTER TRIO PACKED UP THERE THINGS AND HIT THE ROAD ━━. They stopped just outside town so the eldest could make space for Sam's things in the trunk, "I didn't realize I had that much stuff back there," Dean admits, picking up a bad and throwing it in the backseat.
"Well. I need some space." Sam states. "I kind of picked up some stuff along the way." He goes to move a large dreamcatcher that hangs from the trunk, but Dean smacks his hand away. "Dude."
"Olive made that in art class." He explains as if Sam would get it, but his brother gave him an annoyed frown. Dean fumbled slightly, trying to find the manliest explanation possible. "Well. .You know. .It. ." He gives up. "It has all my favorite colors, okay? And she'll fling all her stuffed animals at me if I take it down."
"You really have gone domestic." Sam scoffs. " It's. . .weird."
He shrugged. "I guess taking care of a supernatural child who can sneeze a country off the map might just be as domestic as it gets for me."
"Right." Sam dragged, before slowly pointing towards the lake. "Is that situation covered in your daddy 101 books?"
Olive kneeled at the edge of the lake with her whole head underwater. Dean lets out a startled noise between a shriek and choking as he rushes forward. "Olivia Winchester get your head out of the lake!" He lifts her up and throws her over his shoulder, trudging back to the car as she splutters.
"I was trying to catch fish!" She squeaked out, nose stuffed.
"That's not how you catch fish! That's how to catch a cold!" He said in bewilderment, placing her inside of the backseat and slamming the door, motioning for her to stay put.
Olive pops her head out of the open window, her hair wet and sticking to her face, "The bears did it on Animal Planet!"
"You aren't a bear!"
"I couldn't ask Goob, he was busy!" She yells back. He points at her, then to his closed lips in a zip it! motion. She slumps forward in the backseat, crosses her arms over her chest, and blows away the wet strains.
"She's going to give me a heart attack." He breaths out. Sam doesn't seem all that interested in their banter and makes his way towards the passenger's seat. Dean hesitates. "So, uh. Are you okay?"
"Me?"
"No, Goob." Dean deadpanned.
"Well in that case. ." Sam jokes, but Dean didn't seem to find it amusing. "Yeah. I'm great."
Dean nods, unconvinced. "Really? Because there's been a few times you got me wondering."
Sam looked slightly offended. "Come again?"
"Well, like where were you when Cas was giving the holy taser treatment to that kid?"
"I was. .right there."
"Really? Because, honestly, I felt like I was the only one raising a card. Especially when Olly was thrown into it."
"Right. I mean, uh, I was with you. But, I don't know, we needed the intel. Besides, she seems perfectly fine now." Sam explains.
"Yeah, I know, but that's not the point. The point is that we tortured that kid to get it." Dean expressed. "I just. .didn't get the feeling that you even cared."
"You're wrong," Sam replies in weak defense.
Dean scoffs lightly. "I'm just trying to figure this out because something's different with you. You know that."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He shrugs.
"Really?"
"Yeah. .I mean." He scoffs. "I've been hunting nonstop for the past year. Kind of out in the wild, you know? So yeah, I suppose I'm a little rough around the edges."
"Yeah, I get that." Dean states, glancing inside the car to check on Olive before looking back at Sam. "But I just don't think I'm getting the whole scoop. You went to hell, Sam. And believe me, I know what that does to a guy."
"To you."
Dean blinks. "What?"
"You know what it does to you." Sam repeats. "It tortured you, you know? I think it still does." He backtracks, giving a chuckle. "But, Dean, I'm okay."
"So you're saying, what? That you're stronger than me?" He mused.
"No. No, I'm just saying that we're different." Sam states, and with a tight-lipped smile, he steps into the car.
Olive instantly leans forward, handing him a smushed flower from her back pocket. Sam frowned at it, looking back at her once before facing forward without a word.
She slowly pulls the flower back into her chest, frowning at it. Maybe he doesn't like sunflowers, She thinks. I should get him a rose instead.
Dean slides into the driver seat, giving Olive a grin through the mirror, which she matches with large dimples and buck-teeth. She quickly hands Dean the sunflower—he takes it wordlessly and puts it on the dash where she could see it.
"Are you dropping me off with Lisa and Ben today?" She questions, practically jumping from excitement as Dean pulls out of the parking lot.
"Wow, I can see where the loyalties lie, O." He chuckles.
Olive leads forward, placing her chin on the front seat. "I'm still gonna miss you loads, you too Mr. Sam." She looks up at him.
Sam manages a nod. "It's only three days. You'll be fine."
"Daddy says I have a really short attention span." Olive states.
"One time, she started whining at a carnival while we were waiting in line," Dean smirks at the memory.
"We were waiting for forever!"
"It was ten minutes."
Olive leaned back, grumbling. "That's still forever."
━━・ ✦ ₊ 🌻 ⊹ ° . ❫ ━
"YOU GOT HER COLORING BOOKS IN THERE?" DEAN ASKED ━━. He hands the pink backpack to Lisa reluctantly, the woman having to pull it out of his hand. She laughed at his hesitation, loving the way he worried about his daughter. He's come a long way from the last time they crossed paths.
She smiles knowingly. "Yes, Dean, I'm sure it's there."
Dean glanced at it. "Her favorite jacket? You know what maybe I should double-check."
He reaches for the back but Lisa quickly moves it out of his reach, pecking his lips. "You worry too much."
"I think I'm the one with separation anxiety." He mumbles. Dean looks behind Lisa and towards Olive, who was piggyback riding on Ben's back in the frown lawn. He sighs. "I'm just glad she isn't anywhere near hunting. The first one was already nerve-wracking enough."
"Did she. .?" Lisa trails off, clearing her throat.
"Cas said he stopped her before she did anything." He says softly, "I don't think I can picture her hurting someone on purpose."
"Me either." She frowns. "But, hey. That's why we do this right? A little slice of peace, a little slice of crazy. It'll keep her grounded, I promise."
He smirks. "Try not to spoil her too much, every time we pass by a fast food place she thinks I'm getting her a milkshake."
Lisa gives him a look. "Do you?"
He reddens. "Maybe."
Sam honks from inside the car, an impatient frown on his face as he points at the invisible watch on his wrist.
"Right. That's my cue." He forces a smile, kissing Lisa on the cheek before pulling her into a hug. He was reluctant to let go but forced himself to anyway. "Olly!"
Her head snaps up, sliding off Ben's back and running towards him. "You're leaving now?"
He kneels down. "Yup. I'll be back in three days." He reassures.
"Take your time." She smiles, hands clasped behind her back. Dean wasn't an idiot, ever since they left the motel she's been acting strange, secretive.
He knew her as he knew himself—and considering Olive was like him in many ways, he knew she was planning to do something he probably won't like.
Dean huffs, trusting that Lisa can handle whatever she had planned. "Right. I'll do that." He holds his arms out to her.
Olive wraps her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, "Don't die." She mumbles.
"You too." He grins. Knowing that he was catching on to her, she gives him a toothy smile before running towards the house, turning back to give him a wave.
He returned it with a soft smile. Wondering what he did to get so lucky to have his small piece of happiness.
━━・ ✦ ₊ 🌻 ⊹ ° . ❫ ━
OLIVE BARGES INTO BEN'S ROOM LATER THAT DAY ━━, causing him to jump with a yelp, pulling off his gaming headphones, "Do you ever knock?" He huffed in annoyance, putting his GameBoy down. "What is it?"
Olive holds up her mother's journal over her head. "I have a secret." She announces loudly.
Ben snorts. "Not anymore, genius."
Olive huffs, closing his bedroom door and jumping on his bed. She holds up the journal. "This was my mommy's. Not Sophia or Lisa. My first mommy." She explains. "The angel gave it to me!"
Ben's eyes widened. "What-?"
"His name is Balthazar, like the big guy from Mario." She explains. "He made a man turn to salt with a crystal." She explains, as if he would understand.
Ben blinks. "This happened during the week?"
She frowns. "No. It happened last night." Ben sputters at that. Olive seemed unfazed. "So can you read this out to me? I tried this morning but I can only get the drawings." She states.
Ben hesitates for a moment, before shrugging. "Guess so." She eagerly hands him the book. Ben instantly furrows his eyebrows, thumbing through the pages. "There's nothing here. ."
Olive looks over his shoulder. "What do you mean? It's right there!" She points to the blank pages, but in her eyes, they weren't blank at all, "See?" Ben shook her head, causing her to frown. "I'm not crazy." She defends half-heartedly.
"I-I didn't say that, Livvy." He reassures. "I guess I just can't see what you see." He looks down at the book again, his eyes sweeping the pages before squinting his eyes at the leather.
He rubs the corner of it, practically pressing the book against his face to read the writing. "I think the reason you can't read it, is because it is in a different language." He explains. Showing her the small words written. "And maybe the reason I can't read it, is because I'm human."
The thought made Ben overwhelmed with excitement. He loved the supernatural growing up, fantasy. He knew a lot about things in video games but he didn't know someone of them were based off of real things. At least real things in Olive's eyes.
The world he spent wishing to be apart of was real, and apart of him was jealous that Olive was born into it. Though, he had to be grateful to have have one foot in the life through his sister.
Olive throws herself back with a groan. "Great! Now I'll never know."
Ben takes a moment, eyebrows furrowed. "Come on, let's ask my mom."
She follows him down the stairs, slipping on her socks just to catch up with Ben, who walks into the kitchen where Lisa was reading a magazine and drinking a cup of coffee. She smiles at them, "Guys want snacks?"
Ben shakes his head. "Mom, do you know what the language on this book is?" He hands her the book.
Like he once did, Lisa frowns. "It's blank." Olive stands on her tippy-toes, pointing to the small words on the inside of the leather. She hums. "I think it's Greek. I'm not sure. I took it once in High School but I don't remember." She states. "Sorry."
Olive smiles lightly. "That's okay." She takes the book back and presses it against her chest.
Ben didn't want to give up yet. "Is there anyone you know that speaks Greek, mom?"
Lisa thinks for a moment. "You know what. Someone knew just moved into the neighborhood a few weeks ago...yeah, her last name is Portokalos, which is Greek. Maybe you can ask her?" She suggests, casually picking up the magazine before frowning, "What's this for anyway?"
The siblings panicked, glancing at each other. "Uhhh."
"We found the book outside." Olive blurted. "We're just curious! It's like a little adventure." She lies.
Lisa nods, convinced. "Alright. Be back before it gets dark, okay? No wandering." She smiles.
Olive jumps for excitement, letting out a fit of giggles before running towards the front door. Ben waves at his mom before grabbing his bike, chasing after her. Olive grabs her backpack, throwing it in the basket. "What's that for?" He asked.
She smiles knowingly. "You'll see." He shrugs and they take off.
━━・ ✦ ₊ 🌻 ⊹ ° . ❫ ━
"YOU KNOCK ON THE DOOR." ━━, Olive pushes him towards the bright green door of the small house at the end of the street, which had vines of flowers growing up the stone walls around the home. Ben stumbles forward before nervously running back.
"No you do it. You're the one with the powers." He states, pushing her lightly.
She runs behind him, popping her head out from the side and staring at the door nervously. "But you're the big brother. You gotta do it." She explains.
Big brother rights over superpowers, he guessed. Ben sighs, and slowly makes his way towards the door. With a deep inhale, he knocks once.
The door instantly swings open to reveal a young woman with dark brown hair.
In Olive opinion, she dressed very weirdly. With her long black skirt that flushed out like a flower, a grey sweater that hung off her shoulder. She wore a floral scarf in her hair, tied in a knot and creating the illusion of a pigtail, sunglasses over her eyes.
She smiles at them, hand on her hip, "Finally." Her thick Greek accent laughs happily. "I thought you'd two never show up!"
Ben swallows thickly, "Uh...what?"
"Come on in. Olive, Ben." She walks back into the house, the door wide open.
They didn't move an inch. "Did Lisa call ahead?" Olive calls out.
"Nope!" The woman stays confidently, "You guys drink Lemonade or tea? No wait, let me guess. It's Lemonade!" She says from the kitchen.
"Think she's gonna kill us?" Ben mumbles to her. Olive shrugs off her backpack and opens the first pocket, pulling out the Angel Blade. "When did you get that?" He said wide-eyed.
"I stole it from an Angel." She says casually before holding it out. "Are you gonna kill us?" She yells out to the woman, who walks back into the hallway carrying a tray of lemonade.
She laughs. "No." She says simply, disappearing into the open living room. "Hurry! You're letting my aura out!"
Olive shrugs, "Makes sense." She slips into the house, and Ben is forced to follow, closing the door behind them.
The house seemed smaller on the inside, the hallways cluttered with books and jars of different things, the walls covered in crooked photos and pinned insects that hide most of the dark green wallpaper. The living room was just as cluttered as the small hallway,
Ben almost tripping on a stack of books filled with sticky notes. The woman, who neither of them knew the name of, hurriedly poured them tall cups of lemonade, plopping down in one of the armchairs
"Are you going to stand there all day? Your mother only gave you until dark." She states.
Ben grabs the corner of Olive's shirt, tugging her lightly as he narrowed his eyes at the woman. "How did you know that?"
"The same way that I know you're here because of the journal in your sister's backpack." She points towards Olive, who raises the angel blade.
"So you're like. .a Physic?" Ben hesitates.
She laughs. "In a way, yes""
Olive narrows her eyes. "She's a witch." She announced.
The woman raises her hands up. "Guilty."
"My dad says to stay away from people like you," Olive says firmly.
"No offense, Darling, but your father is pretty ignorant." She replies. "I'm just a person, like Ben here. I just have a little extra. ." She gestures to the air, trying to find the perfect word. "A little extra sparkle. Yup, that's it, sparkle. So no, I'm not gonna kill you."
"I haven't met a person that hasn't tried to kill me yet," Olive admits. "I don't think that's gonna stop for a while, Ma'am."
She smiles. "No, it definitely won't. You have a lot of enemies, Olivia Grace, but you have more people on your side than you think." She laughs suddenly. "I haven't introduced myself, have I? My name's Fotoula! You can call me Toula, makes me feel younger."
Ben and Olive share a glance, before slowly sitting on the couch across from the woman with in-sync motions.
Toula didn't seem dangerous, just blunt and overwhelming at times. Olive had to give her points, everyone else who tries to kill her always attacks within the first few minutes.
The child hands the Angel Blade to Ben, who had no idea what to do with it besides pointing it at the woman.
"Why are you wearing sunglasses inside?" Olive asked curiously. "Dad says only douchbags do that."
"Are you blind?" Ben asked.
Toula smiles, moving her glasses to the bridge of her nose. Glazed-over eyes stared back at the children, an odd shade of blue where her cornea was meant to be. They shift uncomfortably, causing her to laugh. "Lost them a long time ago. I wear them so people don't feel obligated to stare. And trust me, they stare."
"Does my mom know you're a witch?" Ben asked suddenly.
"Well if she did then I guess I'm bad at keeping secrets." Toula responds.
"She said you moved in a few weeks ago. ." Olive furrows her eyebrows. "My dad says if it seems like a coincidence, it's probably not."
"My dad says," Toula repeat, "You seem to think highly of every opinion he has."
Olive nods proudly, "Because he's always right."
"Did your father say that, too?" She asks.
Olive falters, "Yeah. . ."
"Why'd you move here?" Ben asked.
Toula sighs. "It's all a long, complicated story. Like I said before, you have more people on your side than you think. Your ancestors were kind, powerful people. Nomads if you will—never hurt anyone, always stayed to themselves. People like that make allies in unexpected places." She hums, taking a sip of her tea. "I can see that in you. The Guardians are naturally charitable people."
Olive leans forward, intrigued. "The Guardians?"
Toula laughs. "Oi theoí mou! Do you really have no clue? It must be hard running from people who want to kill you when you have no idea why."
Olive slumps back. "You got that right, Ms." And then the realization hit her, and she grinned widely, "Wow, my neighbor is a witch!"
Toula grinned back.
Ben takes a large gulp of his lemonade. It felt weird for him to be in the presence of a Witch. He hasn't had any contact with the world Olive and Dean seemed to grow up in, at least not for a long time, none that didn't end with him locked in a basement.
Ben understood why Dean wanted him to stay as far away from that life as possible, but he couldn't help but be so intrigued.
"So, can you translate the journal?" He asked.
She scoffs. "Of course I can, I'm no rookie." She holds out her hand.
Olive frowns. "No offense, ma'am, but how can you translate something you can't see?"
Toula smirks, wiggling her fingers for the journal. Olive shrugs, placing it in her hands. "Watch this party trick, kids." She opens the journal, takes a deep breath, and blows across the page. Ash, the color of glowing yellow, flies off the pages and floats onto the floor in the form of dust.
The pages that were not blank, covered in fancy letters and drawings.
"Can you see it now?" Olive asks excitingly. Ben wordlessly nods, opened-mouthed. She reaches for it, but Toula pulls it back.
"Not so fast. Unless you know how to read Greek?" She says, giving the child a questioned look, "Besides, the pages will go back to being blank, and Ben won't be able to read it."
"So I was right?" Ben frowns, "I can't read it because I'm human?" When she nods, he feels upset.
"Oh. .I guess I didn't think about that part." Olive slumps back. "I don't think I can learn Greek in three days."
"Guess not." The witch shrugs nonchalantly, reaching towards the coffee table and grabbing a jar. "Even then, you aren't that good at reading."
Olive throws her hands up. "I know, right! I stutter every time and—" Toula grabs a handful of green dust from the jar and blows it straight into Olive's eyes, causing the child to cry out in surprise.
Ben stands up, holding the blade with two hands. "What did you do to her?" He demands.
Toula, who seemed fazed by the weapon, leans back in her seat. Olive rubs at her eyes, the tears making her eyelashes clump together as she reaches for anything. Toula hands her a napkin, which she hastily dabs her eyes with.
"Just something to speed up the process." She states. "How do you feel, sweetie?"
She blinks rapidly. "I think I'm blind too."
Toula laughs, "Here. ." She pushes the journal towards her. "What do you see?"
Olive looks at the page slowly. "I, um, see words. ." Her eyes widen when the blurry words began to form into steady sentences. "I can see the words! I can read them! Look, Ben, look!" She shoves the book towards Ben, who awkwardly stares at it.
"It's still in Greek for me." He states.
She turns to Toula. "Why can I only see it?"
"Because it's yours. And from what I gather you need to learn about who you are now more than ever before." She grabs Olive's hand, "The world is challenging you, Olive. It will stop at nothing until you lose hope. I can already see it in your eyes that you want to give up. But you have to be brave. You truly are the last of your kind."
"That's what Balthazar said," Olive said fearfully. "He said I needed to live up to it. But, I-I don't know if I can."
She felt overwhelmed. Guardians? Allies? She wants to save the world but that's every child's pipe dream before they grow up and realize they're like every other normal person.
But this was her reality. She really had to save the world and instead of it being a dream, it was an obligation. It was scary. She's hardly seven.
"How can I be the person everyone already thinks I am, Toula? H-How can I keep fighting if I'm just a kid? That's all I am, right? a stupid kid who can't do anything right!"
"You're anything but! And soon, you will help a lot of people, Olive." Toula reassures.
Help people? She can't even help herself. She can't help Dean either, that's the whole reason why he dropped her off right? At least that's what she thought.
"No, I can't." Olive backs away, grabbing her chest, "I can't save anyone! I couldn't save Sophia, and now Dean is probably going to get hurt too." Tears stain her cheeks as she choked on her words. "I don't want these powers! I want to give it back!" She sobbed out, shaking her head as she stepped back.
Toula shakes her head. "You don't know how wrong you are, Darling."
Ben looks up at the flickering chandelier, gulping. "Livvy, calm down." He says gently.
"No. I can't calm down! Why can't anyone just tell me who I am?!" She bellowed, throwing her hands down. The lights in the living room pop, the chandelier shattering.
Ben ducks for cover, but Toula stands tall in front of her, kneeling down. The Witch had to remember that children throw tantrums, and in Olive's case, those warrant more than just kicks and screams and cries.
Sometimes things explode.
"I know you're overwhelmed, that's why I'm here to help you," She rubs her arm in comfort, "Dean can't because he's your. . ." She pauses, saving that talk for another day, "He's bias because he loves you. He won't do what's necessary if there's even a slightest chance something bad will happen. Same for Lisa."
They'd hold her back out of fear of losing her.
Thankfully, Toula didn't know her well enough for that.
"You can't give your powers back because they're apart of you," She pressed her palm into Olive's chest, helping the child slow her breathing, "The world has taken too much from you for me to consider you a child. I'm going to teach you how to find your center, and help you choose."
Olive closed her eyes, allowing herself to breath, "One, two, three, four." She continued to six and then breathed out, feeling better.
Ben smiles reassuringly, grabbing her other hand, "I want to stay," He says, "I wanna be here."
The Witch nods, "I can make that happen."
Olive sniffles, "What do you mean? Help me choose?"
She shifts, "The universe is waiting for you to pick a side."
"A side?" She sniffles. "What sides?"
"You're the daughter of a corrupt Guardian," She reminds, "That isn't just a mental choice, it's a physical one. Your mother went against her the literal fibers of her creation to rebel and destroy. It becomes apart of her, like a gene. That type of choice can effect even the children she conceives."
A fearful chill runs up Olive's spin, "I'm evil?"
Toula smiles, "But you're boun— raised, but a righteous man. A man who went against darkness and chose the light, to help people. You might be born from darkness Olive, but you were raised into the light. So, you will grow up and choose which path to follow."
"The light, or the dark." Olive finished.
The light, or the dark.
PUBLISHED, at this point, I'll never know!
EDITED, 12/22/2022!
WORDS, 4360!