Chapter Text
it was september when she found out.
which means a month had passed since school started, and everyone had settled back into the boring rhythm the school year usually took. the jitters died out, and it felt like it always did. natalie didn’t mind the feeling.
but today was different. the wiskayok high’s halls were buzzing with a different kind of strange. people were chatting way too excitedly for 8:20 am, scanning the halls and pointing at phones. or maybe the buzz was from the cigarette she puffed on her walk to school. whatever it was, natalie pulled on her headphones to attempt to ground herself before english.
she was already failing that class, the essays were too boring, the prompts too basic, the teacher too expectant, and her responses fake and half-assed. ms. honeycut must have picked up on it because most of nat’s grades were also half-assed. barely a month in and natalie had already given up on her already-doomed gpa.
she wasn’t planning on doing anything about it, but jackie had approached her after practice one day. she explained to nat that she had to maintain a certain gpa in order to stay on the team, seriousness etched over her usual cheerfully determined face. nat had read her expression as real, and she didn’t want to be the one to fuck things up for the team.
shuffling her way to her locker, she caught sight of kevyn leaning on the one next to hers. he was trying to look composed and chill, like he usually was, but there was an obvious anxiety lingering under his walls.
he saw her looking and tightened those walls, shut the curtains. he nodded a greeting with a sloppy smile. she raised her hand half-heartedly in return and returned his smile.
when she had been shuffling through her locker for a hot second and still hadn’t said a word to kevyn, he cleared his throat at her, an expectant look on his face. she pulled her headphones to her neck, “i’m not fucking telepathic, kevyn.” she teased, slightly grinning. kevyn scoffed, a smile pulling at his lips.
“right, right. you said you’d go to the record store with me today, remember?” nat attempted to recall her empty promise as well as an excuse to ditch. his smile was getting less confident by the second. guilt whispered its way up her throat, threatening to close it. she shut her locker and swallowed the feeling down. she’d probably follow it with whatever richard brought later. “yeah, about that-”
“AIRBALLLL” saved by a loud outburst of laughs and teasing sneers, both of them turned to the wall of lockers opposite to them. mark smith, who she knew from cursed english, had his hands cupped around his face like a megaphone as he shouted at his friend. the group he was with snickered, looking down the hall at the victim of the teases.
it was travis, coach martinezis’s son. his face was riddled with embarrassment and frustration. he tried to play it off with a chuckle as he made his way back to his group. at the spot he had turned his back on, was lottie matthews.
she had tanned bronze skin, brown beach-wavy hair and bangs, light makeup on, and her lips were open in a shocked smile, her brown doe eyes wide. jackie and shauna on her left and right. lottie mathews. her desk partner in english and soccer teammate.
natalie noticed little things about lottie in that class; what music she was listening to, which one of her millions of mechanical pencils she was using, what color of lipgloss she had on. it was only because the class was so boring, ms. honeycutt’s rambles droned on forever and there wasn’t much else to do.
beyond the encouraging pats on the back in soccer and occasional joke in class, they had an odd, unspoken connection. rumors had always been spread about them; about natalie being a druggie and a slut, about where lottie's family's money came from and what they did with it. lottie was different from the rest of the girls on the team, though. she never believed the rumors about natalie, or maybe she did and never showed it. either way, she never treated natalie like she was different, scum, less than her. and natalie didn't treat lottie like she was snotty and untouchable.
“natalie? did you hear me?” kevyn leaned in, snapping in front of her face. “yeah,” she mumbled, mind and eyes still on the trio she saw. “cool! i’ll see you there at 5 then.” wait huh? nat snapped out of her trance and opened her mouth to object, but kevyn was already turning the corner.
it’s fine. she wasn’t eager to get back home, her father and mother had been fighting when she’d left. a distraction wouldn’t hurt.
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nat and kevyn had been at the record shop for a little while, kevyn was chatting with his friend who worked there. natalie had been looking around when her eyes landed on the cranberries's everybody else is doing it, so why can't we? album.
she had heard sunday playing from lottie’s airpods one day in english while the teacher was ranting about paragraph sizes. because she had no way to tell lottie with her voice, she got a sticky note out instead. her pencil was buried somewhere in her backpack, so she stole lottie’s, to which she got a flick on the arm for. she wrote “i can hear ur music, turn it down or give me an earbud” she was joking when she wrote the last part, but lottie giggled and next thing you know they were listening to the cranberries together the entire class.
“yo natalie, come see this.” kevyn called her over to the tv by the register, laughing. she came over to get a better look.
it was the news, a story on a report that witches may be in the area, and to be on the look out and report anything suspicious. “looks like they’ve hit lil ol wiskayok” kevyn’s friend laughed at his remark, changing the channel. is that what everyone was buzzing about at school?natalie made a mental note to ask her dad if he’d seen that there’d been more reports on this area. he hunted witches, and that's what paid the bills.
“you gonna get that?” kevyn asked her, nodding to the cd in her hands. she didn’t remember when she picked it up, but she didn’t have cash on her so it was out of question anyways. she sighed, “can’t, no money.” he took it out of her hands smugly, “don’t worry, this one's on the house. right kaleb?”
“no- what?? oh fine, but this is your birthday and christmas gift.”
her walk home had been boring, considering the way she rushed out of the house caused her to not only forget her lighter, but also her headphones. nat was left alone with her thoughts and no cigarette. the record store hadn’t been bad, she’d gotten a free cd out of it. she’d owed kevyn one for that.
natalie was so zoned out, she nearly fell over when she yelped at the sight of a cat in front of her. the cat had run around the corner of a neighborhood, and stopped short at the sight of natalie. not just any cat, it was completely black, and had shining, alluring… purple eyes? she sighed in relief once she realized it was just a kitty, and kneeled down to more closely inspect the curious cat, offering it her hand to sniff. “jesus, you scared me, you gorgeous thing.” what a rare phenomenon, purple eyes. nat stared at them while scratching its head.
oddly enough, the cat didn’t take much time assessing nat before climbing onto her lap, then onto her shoulder, then onto her backpack. nat let out a breathy laugh, from surprise and adoration “you tryna hitch a ride or what?”
she tried to remember if she had any food in her backpack the cat would be so determined to get, but her mind went blank. until she saw a raging dog turn the same corner, sprinting straight at her. a weimar-dalmation mix to be exact. and to be even more exact, it was her weimar-dalmation mix.
“duke!” he was jumping onto her with all his hunting dog mass and height, “down!” nat was helplessly trying to push him off of her while also balancing her dog’s prey on her backpack. “jeez, you hunt witches not cats.” she grumbled, finally wrestling him off her. she took hold of his black collar and stood, panting, while duke continued to growl under his breath.
she strained her head around to look at the cat on her back, who was now leaning its head on her left shoulder, peering down at the dog from nat’s shoulder. she coulda sworn the cat was almost smirking. “you haven’t got a collar, huh? guess i’ll drop you off at a shelter later. i gotta get this guy home.”
before she moved along, she switched to holding duke with her non-dominant hand and pulled out her phone to take a selfie with the cat. she posted it to her story, caption being “punk thinks im an uber” after all, it’s not everyday you have a snow-white moment.
when she got to the trailer park, she was grateful to see her fathers truck wasn’t pulled in. natalie put duke in his designated gated area, who hadn’t stopped growling, and scolded him for being bad. topping her lecture off with a kiss on the head, she walked the steps to her door, unlocked it and came inside. her mom was on the couch, watching tv with a glass of wine. she shot nat a bored look and said nothing at the sight of the cat, returning back to whatever bullshit drama she was watching.
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it was midnight when nat got a notification from an unknown number. she was still fuming from when her dad got home, drunk and forceful. he berated nat into submission to an apology for this morning, before she went into her room. she struggled to open her window and lit a cigarette once it finally came open. the black cat was hidden under her covers before nat came in, then came out to settle in her lap. she half-mindedly stroked the cat while listening to her carefully formulated playlist for when she was angry.
opening the text with radiohead blaring in her headphones, it read, “is this natalie? you have my cat you kidnapper.” followed by, “this is lottie, plz give him back! :(” surprised, nat pulled her headphones off her ears onto her neck to double check the text. she read lottie to be a capital-proper grammar girl, all “hey girl!”
she stubbed out her cigarette, it was half-way done anyways. a small smile curled at her lips as she typed back a response, “bold of you to assume he wasn’t just running away from your abusive grasp” deciding not to mention the fact her own dog nearly killed him.
“not funny!! 😡 give me your address right now.” her stomach dropped with the thought of rich, preppy lottie mathews seeing her house, and besides that there was no way she was letting her near her dad. “jeez take me out first mathews…” quickly clarified with, “kidding, i’d rather take him to your house instead.”
she stared down at the sent under her message, nervousness building in her stomach. why was she nervous? probably cuz you’re holding hostage a rich girl’s cat, natalie. a notification pinged from her phone. “and i’m the bold one? 😒 dasflkdjfksf(this is her address)jklkj” natalie let out a sigh of relief lottie mathews can take a joke, and plugged in the distance to her house on google maps.
20 minute drive, 1 hour bike ride, and a 3 hour and 20 minute non-stop walk. damn… nat realized she’d have to make the bike ride, considering a car would be too loud and she was planning to sneak out. the walk was obviously out of question.
looking at the path she’d have to take, she realized there was a park halfway-ish there. 20 minutes on her bike. “can we actually meet up halfway at this park? ejakjfsldkfsdf(this is the location of the park)jfaslkdf” she and her legs prayed lottie would say yes. “awhh don’t say you're being shy now. yea i’ll see u there in 10.”
too tired to get mad at lottie mathews “awhh”-ing her, she shot back a “it’ll take me around 20-25. weirdo” she emptied her backpack and coaxed the cat into it for the ride.
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22 minutes later, she pulled into the park and saw lottie waving at her from a bench. the lightning was low, with a few lamp posts illuminating the park. and the flickering one across the park, too. she was wearing baggy jeans and a baby tee, her hair down and light makeup on.
nat regarded her own outfit; black and white plaid pajama pants, a loose basic black tank top, and a light gray jacket over it. what’s she so dolled up for at 12:32 am??
nat set down her bike on the floor near the bench, “hey, thanks for returning him.” lottie began as nat shrugged the backpack off her shoulder, “i didn’t know he’d go so far, sorry for the inconvenience.” she smiled warmly at nat, who was cradling the cat. “hey” nat breathed, returning a half-smile. they stood there awkwardly for a bit before lottie moved.
she took the cat from her arms, who quickly moved to lotties shoulder and began hitting her with his paws. “ow- what the hell.” she leaned away, wincing. she maneuvered the cat off of her and held him up between nat, who was watching with an intrigued expression. the cat had surrendered mid-air, and dangled in her grasp.
“what's your problem, atlas?” nat snorted at lottie squinting into his eyes, like she was genuinely expecting an answer. “got something to say, thief?” lottie teased nat without looking away from her cat. nat clutched at her chest in faux-hurt, “excuse you, i saved this guy from a hunting dog.” that got her attention.
she let her cat crawl to her back and walked closer to nat. her cat, apparently, still hadn’t given up on annoying lottie, with his tail covering her eyes. “a hunting dog? are you serious? what kind??” lottie seemed genuinely worried, breaking the light mood they had.
nat swallowed anxiously, hoping lottie wouldn’t be too mad. she explained how it happened to lottie, ending with a blame on her dad. “my dad must have let him loose.” lottie swatted the tail out of her eye and smiled at natalie, a hint of curiosity behind it. “guess i lucked out you happened to be there.” natalie was relieved lottie wasn’t upset, a little shocked she had been so lowkey about it.
lottie pried her gaze away from natalie and onto the bench, grabbing a watermelon-flavored red bull. she held it out in front of natalie, who stared at it open eyed.
she loved redbulls. especially the watermelon red bulls.
“for heroically saving my cat from your own dog.” lottie smiled gently, and natalie felt a blush threaten to crawl up nat’s neck. “no problem.” she nodded, looking away from lottie. her smile, her eyes…
the lamp post across the park stopped flickering.
she took the red bull and put it in her backpack, hurrying to get on her bike.
“oh, natalie?” she paused, legs straddling her bike. “yea?” she rasped, throat suddenly dried. “if you ever want a ride home after school, just let me know.” lottie smiled her smile again and walked away before natalie could respond.
natalie rode home, faster than she had to get to the park. she couldn’t stop thinking about lottie, her face imprinted in her mind. in specific, her purple eyes.
lottie mathews was a witch.
natalie scatorccio was the daughter of a witch hunter.
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thoughts raced through her head, ranging between accusations and her own guilt. why didn’t you notice earlier? dad would be so disappointed. lottie must know-it must be why she's watching me so closely. why else would she know her choice of beverage? lottie was trying to manipulate you. but she’d been so kind. maybe they were contacts. maybe it was a trick of the eye, it’s late after all, and you’ve got smoke in your system.
she stopped at a streetlight and pulled out her phone, googling with shaking thumbs, “is atlas a moon?” it buffered for a second before loading.
nat paled at the answer on her screen. yes, atlas is a moon. specifically, it is a small inner moon of the planet saturn. it is known for its….
it could still be a huge coincidence, nat was wishing more than thinking strategically.
she glanced up at the sky, and no wonder she was still able to see. she had the help of streetlights, and the moon.
a breaming, shining, full moon.
—----------------------------
“see this here?” her dad was pointing at the unrealistically colored eyes of multiple women. little eight year old nat nodded enthusiastically, wanting to please her dad, excited at the attention he so rarely gave her.
“this is what the eyes of witches look like when it's a full moon. their familiar-” nat interrupted, eager, “what's that?” he looked down at her disapprovingly, before continuing on “don't interrupt. it’s a witch’s animal or companion, like a cat or dog. a familiar shares a witch’s full moon eye color. they are commonly named after moons for this reason. remember that, natalie, it will keep us safe.”
natalie knew in the back of her mind that her dad cared about witches so much more than the rest of wiskayok because his brother had been killed by one. he never told her, her mom did one day when she was drunk. “is it cuz of reggy?” innocent natalie asked, feeling smart for figuring it out. her dad didn’t seem to think so.
that was the first time she’d been hit. it wasn’t the last.
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natalie shuddered as the truth hit her, no longer being able to be avoided with what-if’s and coincidences, lottie fucking mathews was really a witch.