Chapter 6: Taxidermy Dreams
The trio find themselves surrounded by animals and desperate for help. Who will they turn to for support and what are the consequences? You tell me! We've got 2 polls this week, so get your votes in!
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Welcome back to Plot Twist!
Chapter 5 gave us a little more insight into Ashley, a bit more of the lore of how magic works in this world, and ended with the trio of Selene, Ashley, and Willem having to decide what to do now that Hortensia’s power has been discovered.
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Chapter 6: Taxidermy Dreams
Dismissing the troops took more convincing than Selene had liked, and she was once again frustrated at the control her mother had over what should have been the Queen’s army; her army. General Harris had insisted on leaving a group of three Spellcasters at a hotel in town in case Selene needed them, and she knew that decision had come from Her Majesty. Spellcasters were desperately needed at the South Eastern front to fortify the wards and protect them from The Witch Hunters, General Harris would never have left them here sitting around in a hotel room without direct orders to do so.
As Willem wound the SUV up higher into the mountains towards the place Ashley had found for them to rent, Selene wondered at how little had changed in Wild Ivy since she’d lived there. Sure, the new age store had turned to an herbalist apothecary and the little old church was now a bookshop, but the essence, structure, and magic of the town remained the same. It felt like every week there was a new high rise in San Diego, even in the historical neighborhood where the Queen resided, and it was a balm to her soul knowing that there were places where life still moved at a slower pace.
Willem pulled up to a large gate and Ashley dictated numbers for him to punch into the keypad. The place looked massive, a chateau more than a home, and Selene found herself longing for the warmth of the A-frame’s cramped living room, curled up right next to the fire, Arielle’s arms wrapped around her, a book in her hands. They had no luggage to unload, so Ashley led them down the walkway and into the home, exposing a majestic view and garish décor.
“This is …” Willem started, but there were no words.
“It was all I could find at the last minute.” Ashley shot Willem a warning look as she placed her bag in a cowhide chair and began unloading its contents onto the wagon wheel table in front of her. “We’re here to strategize, not move in.”
Willem examined a stuffed squirrel wearing a bandana. “Thank the Goddess.”
“Sit,” Ashley commanded, pointing to the other chairs.
“I prefer to stand,” Selene replied from her perch at the window next to a shelf full of taxidermy birds.
The view was magical, the pulsing energy from Tahquitz mountain reminding her why indigenous cultures had worshipped the large granite outcropping for millennia before white settlers invaded this land. She was surprised more wizards didn’t live here with that much power so close to the surface, easily tapped into.
Selene felt naive for only now realizing that these woods were probably full of witches fleeing to the outermost edges of the Frontera coven, masking their power to avoid detection. People like her. Or like she had been.
Back then, Selene spent all of her energy tamping down her magic, fitting as best as she could into the humdrum life. She even changed her appearance, trying to separate herself from her famously rich and powerful family. She was so busy avoiding detection that she hadn’t noticed any other magical beings.
Would she feel their magic now that she was their Queen?
Was she even their Queen?
There was magic here long before the Frontera Coven was created, millennia of people tapping into the power that flowed from the earth, long before the coven wards were fabricated in the name of protecting those inside them. If people were here, not at the core of the covens protection – and politics – did that make them outside of her jurisdiction. Did she have any right to encroach on their lives?
These were the kind of questions she couldn’t ask of Ashley or Willem. They were the kinds of things she’d contemplated with Arielle, back in the days of youthful optimism that they could find a way to subvert the systems of power that oppressed them and their friends.
Now, Selene was that system of power. She was the oppressor. And she hated herself for it. But she hated even more how much was at stake if her family’s power faltered. How everyone – from innocent humdrums to her magical mother – would be destroyed if the wards fell and The Witch Hunters came flooding in.
“Selene!” Ashley shouted and the Queen startled out of her thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”
“Obviously not,” Willem replied for her.
“You need to take this threat seriously,” Ashley demanded. “If not for yourself, then for your coven.”
Selene let out a mirthless laugh, “you’re going to lecture me on duty to my coven right now? Really, Ash? You want to go there?”
The room began to shake around them, Selene’s frustration seeping through. Willem looked around at the many taxidermy animals and thrust a spell up to keep them in place.
“As much as I love to see you two go head to head,” he said, “I think if you’re going to fight you should maybe go outside. I honestly don’t know if you can bring these things back to life and I seriously don’t want to find out.”
“Don’t be absurd, she’s not a necromancer,” Ash said.
“None of us know what she is capable of,” Willem pointed to Selene, “least of all her.”
Selene shook herself, letting the power flow out of her and into the earth below. Let Mother Nature hold it. Channeling her magic into the earth was one of the first things her mother taught Selene. It was not proper to shake the house with a tantrum. It was not ladylike to show her emotions so viscerally. Tuck it away into the earth.
She took three breaths: Assess. Allocate. Act.
“I’m going to go talk to the birds,” Selene declared.
Ashley nodded her head, “Agreed. I’ll come along to translate.”
“No,” Selene put her hand up, “I go alone.”
“What if you don’t speak their language?” Ashely countered.
“I’ll call the crows,” Selene said.
Willem balked. “Why in the world would you put yourself through that?”
“We need to know what’s going on,” Selene said. “They’re our best bet.”
“They’re psychotic,” Willem countered. “You can’t trust them.”
Selene grabbed Willems jacket from where he’d put it on his chair. Even with his massive bulk of a body, it still didn’t fit her curves, but she threw it around her shoulders for extra warmth. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t let them peck your eyes out!” Willem yelled after her, “Or shit on my jacket!”
The door closed behind her and Selene took another deep breath. She could do this. She’d assessed the situation, allocated her resources, and taken quick and concise action. This was what a Queen did.
Selene headed off to the trees at the edge of the yard, just in front of the security fence, not like that would stop the crows. She sat down on a rock, braced herself for the worst, and began to sing.
Now it’s your turn!
For the next 3 days, voting is open in the poll and comments are ready for your input! This is a collaborative effort, so the more you participate, the better the experience for everyone – and the more fun you have. Your voting and comments directly change the story!
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So the crowd are annoying but also actually psychotic in a murderey way - so they can’t be trusted. But also they give her information that is like halfway helpful but confusing. Maybe when she figures it out right it does increase her power and otherwise it is annoying and either nothing happens or things get worse for her instead.