Chapter 4: A Spark of Recognition
What Selene finds on the mountain shocks her – quite literally. This is a juicy one, and I need your help deciding where the story goes next. Comments are open on this post to all subscribers!
Plot Twist: A Collaborative Novel is an interactive book project where you get to help decide what the characters say and do next. Check out the introduction to Plot Twist: A Collaborative Novel for all the juicy details on how this works.* And be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a step on this fun adventure.
Welcome back to Plot Twist!
Chapter 3 ended with Selene ignoring the warnings of Willem, Ashley, and General Harris, and walking straight into the magical anomaly, blocking everyone else out. This week, we get to finally find out what caused the massive magical surge!
Here’s how you all voted on what Selene would do next:
Rogue wizard group and a deer both were neck and neck. Let’s see how both play out this week!
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Ready to find out what happens next?
Me too! This one is a bit late today because it took me so long to find a way to incorporate your ideas from Chapters 1-3. But I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see your ideas in action!
Let’s dive in!
Chapter 4: A Spark of Recognition
Keeping her fingers at the ready, Selene meandered down a familiar path towards a wooden A-Frame cabin at the end of the road, a grove of trees giving it privacy, the expansive forest its backyard. Selene had loved it here, years ago, but now the place gave her the creeps, like walking through a graveyard at night, her whole body tensed, waiting to see a ghost. It didn’t help that the trees leaned into her, their branches gentle touches against her skin, hugs welcoming her home.
The source of the surge called to her, a hook in her gut pulling the Queen forward. Selene knew what she would find there, a deer, a mountain lion, maybe even a human, something dangerous that wanted to cause harm to the inhabitants of the home; something now dead from the electrical shock her old wards gave it. It was a rookie mistake, leaving them up, but she’d been young when she lived here, and mistakes were made.
She grimaced as she got closer, preparing to see the charred body of an electrocuted animal, but jumped when she heard a rustle in the leaves. The thing was still alive. And it was big.
Selene tried not to panic. Getting rid of the dead body of an animal was one thing. Killing something was a whole different matter.
Fingers at the ready, she slipped around a boulder, hoping to sneak up on the animal and shock it from behind. But instead of a wounded cougar, she was confronted with a wild haired child, curled in a ball crying, covered in mud and blood.
“Who’s there?” The kid jumped up, looking around nervously.
“I’m so sorry.” Selene stepped out from behind the rock with her hands up to show she was no threat. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just out for a walk and heard you crying. I thought you might be hurt.”
“Why are you out here?” The kid backed away from her, eyes wide and full of fear.
Selene knew all too well that these woods were secluded, that anyone wanting to walk through them would simply choose a different path, unsure of why. She was probably the first person the child had ever seen here, and she thought Selene a dangerous stranger lurking in the woods.
She wasn’t wrong about that.
“Ross at the café told me I could find some mushrooms up on that ledge over there, and I got lost,” Selene lied, hoping that Ross still worked at the café and mushrooms still grew in the patch she’d harvested for years.
“Oh,” the child responded, still unsure.
“I’m Selene, my pronouns are she/her,” she reached out her hand. Selene had flagged the kid as possibly queer or trans. Either way, it’s good practice to share your pronouns, even when you’re in the middle of a confusing crisis.
“She/her,” The kid crossed her arms over her chest, leaving Selene’s hand hanging in between them. “But I’m not telling you my name.”
This kid’s got a spark, Selene thought. But not enough to trip the wards. Something else must be lurking around here, whatever caused the child to be covered in blood. “Are you hurt?”
The kid looked down at her bloodied legs and shrugged noncommittally.
“We should get you home.” Selene started walking towards the house, but she didn’t follow.
“I can’t,” the kid cried. “I don’t want my moms to know.”
“Know what?”
“This.” The kid pointed to her lower half, covered in blood and mud.
“You don’t want your moms to know you tripped and fell?”
The kid looked down, her bravado lost. “I don’t want my moms to know I started my period.”
“Oh.” The hairs on the back of Selene’s neck were starting to rise, humming with a knowing she couldn’t quite yet grasp.
“Mamá will want to throw a big party, with candles and stinky smelling sage, and invite her aquelarre,” the kid continued, “But I don’t want any of that.”
The humming grew louder, Selene’s senses on high alert. She knew that word: aquelarre.
Coven.
Selene reassured herself that the woman must be one of those new age types that loved these mountains, the groups calling themselves witches or brujas and reclaiming of the sacred feminine. Surely Selene would have known if a real witch had moved into her old home, the wards would have warned her.
Except wasn’t that exactly what they were doing right now. Selene thought.
There was not a sanctioned coven for a hundred miles, that’s why Selene had loved this place. This kid, her mom, their group of witches, if they were real, then they were all undocumented.
Which meant they were all in very serious danger.
“Want to know a secret?” The kid leaned in conspiratorially and Selene bent over towards her. The child’s voice was a soft whispered confession. “I think I’m a witch now.”
“Guess what?” Selene leaned in and whispered, unsure of why she was still here, talking to this kid, while a group of the most powerful wizards in the world was waiting just outside the wards to come in and attack. “I am a witch, too.”
The kid’s face lit up and she clapped her hands. “Oh goodie. We can be friends then.”
No, we can’t, Selene thought, but instead she asked the girl the question that would save or doom her. “Can you do magic?”
The kid looked around. “Don’t tell anyone, okay?”
Selene pretended to lock her lips shut, and the kid nodded her head, suddenly very serious. Scrunching her face, she concentrated hard looking at her hands, and then touched Selene, sending electricity up her arm and through her body. Something inside of the Queen shifted, the fear in her heart turning to an aching in her gut, love filling her whole being, an intense desire to protect this kid bubbling up in her soul. Selene pulled back in shock.
“See?” The kid whispered, and Selene could taste the way the child felt both powerful and afraid, a metallic and sweet combination, just like the magical blood pulsing in her veins.
“That’s a cool party trick,” Selene took deep breaths to calm herself down. “Do the kids at school find it cool?”
“I’ve only ever shown you,” she admitted.
At least the kid instinctually knew to keep her power a secret. That wouldn’t keep her safe, nothing could anymore, not even Selene, but it could mean less human casualties, maybe even buy the kid a few more months of life. “Can I give you some advice, witch-to-witch?”
The kid looked at Selene skeptically, the way teens look at all adults who are about to impart wisdom, like they’re idiots who don’t know a thing. “Sure.”
“Don’t show that to anyone else,” Selene warned. “For now, at least.”
“Why?” she crossed her arms again.
Selene wanted to tell her the whole truth: that the Witch Hunters were growing in power, that whole covens of wizards would come looking for her if they knew she existed, that even Selene’s own coven could steal her away from her parents if they found her out here. Instead, she told the kid something every preteen would get. “People are mean to those they don’t understand.”
“Tell me about it.” The kid rolled her eyes. “But still, you gotta try making friends, right? You can’t just give up and be lonely and miserable.”
The words echoed a voice from Selene’s past and hit her right in the chest. She wasn’t sure when it happened–the night she disappeared on Arielle, the day Iris died, or the moment the crown was placed on her head–but Selene had stopped trying. She’s just accepted she’d be alone forever, shunned by humdrums and witches alike.
“You are a wise little witch,” Selene smiled, her heart breaking at what lay in store.
“Can you tell my mom’s that?” The kid replied.
“How about we tell them together.” Selene reached out her hand and the kid took it, a spark traveling between them.
She looked up at Selene as they walked. “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?”
I was good once, but now I’m afraid I am rotten to the core. Selene shrugged and said, “Depends on who you ask.”
The kid nodded her head in understanding as the back door of a beautiful A-frame cabin opened and an all too familiar face emerged.
“Mom, this is my new friend…”
“Selene,” the woman said, her voice full of shock.
“Hey Arielle,” The Queen replied. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Now it’s your turn!
This week, instead of a poll, I have some questions for you to help answer!
Let me know what you think:
Should Arielle be one of the kid’s mothers? Or just visiting?
Is the mom a “real” witch, or did something else set off the wards?
What should the kid be named?
What kind of danger should they all be in?
Will Selene be their ally or turn them in for unsanctioned
Comment below and help direct where the story goes next! Comments on this post are open to all subscribers.
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Kid's name: Hortense!
Type of danger: molten lava that is actually chocolate. It's tantalizing but too hot to touch.
Arielle should definitely be one of the kid’s moms. The ex who is also one of the moms should be a “real” witch, but the other mom should be a regular human and they thought the magic might not transfer over. The period should be what set off the wards = new witch coming into power.
The kid should have a name that is something that could be in a past oracle prediction our protagonist knows of - the prediction/name could be “a new witch shall arrive with a storm to come in 12 years time.” So name the kid “Gale” for example. Selene won’t turn them in mostly to save her own ass though. The danger they should be in should be something that comes with mixed kid problems (inability to control and accidentally creating power surges for example).