Chapter Text
Darius stepped outside the Castle gates, it was a blistering hot evening. One did not have to be an oracle witch to know that there was a rainstorm coming soon. He stared off towards the sunset. Well, he thought, I did it. I became Head Witch, and now it is time to find the truth behind your death, old friend. He blinked. There was something by the water.
“Good evening Head Witch Deamonne,” Lilith’s voice echoed behind him, tearing his focus away from the moat and towards the horizon instead.
“Good evening Head Witch Clawthorne,” he replied, turning to face her.
“Congratulations on the promotion.” She froze. “There’s something by the water.” Darius stared by the water, it looked like a person.
“It looks like a person,” he said. Lilith nodded, and threw her staff over the bridge, swinging over it as she did. Her palisman erupted and she soared off. That was odd. She had a palisman. The Emperor’s Coven wasn’t usually allowed palisman. Orion did say that there were cracks in everything if one knew where to look.
* * * * * *
Lilith landed onto the ground. Lying next to the shore of the lake was a child. As far as children went, they weren’t anything out the ordinary, except they had round ears. “Rot,” Lilith swore. “Who leaves children lying by a lake?” She picked up the child, and gently set them on Mike Socks. They faintly stirred, and cracked one brown eye open.
“Where’s Mami?” they asked. “Or Papi?”
“We’ll find them.” Lilith spun a sleep spell and gently put them to sleep. She would need to send for someone to check the child’s vitals. Make sure everything was fine. They almost looked like a child of Edalyn and Raine, minus the round ears. Lilith paused, round ears… those ran in the family. Sure it was only her Aunt Lorna who was alive and had Round Ear Syndrome (that Lilith knew of anyways), but it was possible it passed to this child. Although “Papi” didn’t sound like a word someone would use for Raine, so perhaps this theory was Titan snot.
Mike Socks dropped them carefully off on the bridge, and reverted to the dormant staff position. “That’s a child,” Darius said, stating the obvious.
“Indeed.” Lilith snapped her fingers and a scout came running over. “Bring me a certified healer, now!” The scout saluted and ran off. She was pretty sure that one was Archer.
* * * * * *
Darius sighed, staring at the child. They looked so small and frail, they had to be about the same age as Alador’s youngest. Not that Darius cared about that hack. Or paid that much attention to his life. “So,” Hettie said behind them, “who is the patient?”
“Head Witch Cutburn,” Lilith replied coolly, “the patient is the child on the bridge.” Lilith gestured to the unconscious child. “I want them brought up to the proper condition for a witchlet their age, and given pain relief spells.” Hettie walked over to them.
“I will need to take them to my office, when the healing is done I will leave them in the meeting room.”
“Good. Because when the healing is done, we are going to have a meeting.” Lilith strode into the castle, leaving Darius outside. The healing coven head picked up the child and walked inside after her.
“Well my day just got more complicated,” Darius muttered. “Evening meetings, just when I had an opening for some me time.”
* * * * * *
“No!” Luz screamed. “I want ice cream for lunch!” Mami chuckled.
“Mija,” Mami said, “we don’t have dessert for lunch. It upsets our tummy.” Luz stared at her. Fine. If they weren’t gonna let her get dessert, she’d find dessert in the forest! With a house of witches! Like those kids in that story Papi read to her! She snatched an apple slice and ran out the front door.
* * * * * *
Darius walked quickly into the emergency meeting. Finally, the healing was done. It was getting near midnight. He opened the doors to the meeting chamber.
“Good,” Vitimir said, “we’re all here.”
“Let us begin then,” Lilith said. “We found this thing outside the castle.” She stepped aside and the strange child was lying there. They had round ears. And they were currently asleep in an old white cloak.
“That is a child,” Adrian said.
“Does the Emperor know?” Scooter asked.
“Emperor Belos knows lots of things,” Terra said. “Don’t tell me you forgot?” Oh Titan, Darius did not want to deal with this witch tonight. He didn’t want to deal with any of them, but especially not Terra.
“I was requested to heal them,” Hettie said. “And they had some serious issues.” That could be a problem. “First, their heart seemed to be missing pieces, and I predict that if left untreated they would not make it past their 30th birthday.”
“Missing pieces?” Mason wondered.
“Chief among them being a lack of a bile sac. Now fortunately, I am a genius and a master at my craft. The child will live with a new heart, and I only picked from the best.” There was a reason Orion didn’t like her, and now Darius saw it clearly.
“Is there a point to this?” Darius asked, acting as bored and detached as he could muster. “Some of us do value our beauty sleep.”
“I normally don’t agree with the Head Witch of Abominations,” Adrian said, “but this one raises an excellent point.” He checked his nails idly. “This random child could have come from anywhere. And be for anything. And if all we were woken up for was to listen to Head Witch Cutburn brag, I would prefer to listen to twice that much in the morning in exchange to be let back to bed.”
“The question I have,” Lilith said, “and one that cannot wait, is what do we do with them.” Other than send them to a healing session with Hettie? “Furthermore, we have many other things to discuss about them. Such as potential risks of them being a relative of a wild witch.” Right.
* * * * * *
The child was lying in that old cloak, like a little seed. “So,” Terra said, “how fares the seedling?”
“The healing was a success,” Hettie replied. “The sleeping spell will wear off tomorrow morning.”
“Now,” Lilith said, glaring at everyone, “what do we do with this thing?”
“Train them as a scout?” Vtimir suggested. That was a boring idea.
“They’re too young,” Osran said, finally tuning in. “One will take care of the child. One will teach her everything she needs, and she will usher in an era of peace and prosperity.” Deamonne raised his eyebrow.
“Who would take her in?” the abomination witch asked. Terra smirked, if she were slightly younger, she’d gladly take the seedling in.
“Well, I see using her as fertilizer is out,” she drawled out, time to see who would be the weakest link. Who would falter. “Perhaps I can find another use for her in my gardens.”
“Perhaps,” Mason said, “but she looks more like a construction witch.” He paused. “Ushering in an era of peace and prosperity by renovating the architecture of the Isles perhaps.” Terra stared at the Little Seedling. She did not look like a construction witch.
“I am interested in performing a medical study on her,” Hettie mused, “she could lead us in an understanding of anatomy. It is a wonderful possibility.”
Eberwolf growled something. And Scooter hummed in response. “Nonsense,” Deamonne said, “she was found outside of a palace, the stories would say she should be raised as a princess.”
“I second what Head Witch Deamonne said,” Lilith replied. “We will not be using this one for parts. If Head Witch Cassandros has foreseen that this child will usher us into prosperity, we will treat her as one of our own.” Lilith folded her notebook away. “Now, do we have volunteers? There will be checkups.”
Trust Lilith to end the fun. “What’s in it for us?” Vitimir asked. “We’re incredibly busy, Head Witch Clawthorne, and we don’t have to take care of a child for free.”
“Well the meeting won’t end until someone takes the child under their wing, but I suppose we could find some coven resources for whoever takes the child.” Lilith opened her notebook again, jotting something down.
“Having a pupil of my own,” Terra mused aloud, “why she could learn to be the next master gardener. The best one in her generation.” Not that Terra Snapdragon was going to take in the child, she did not have the energy to properly mentor a child, and handle her second in command.
“Perhaps I could take them in,” Scooter mumbled. “After all, there’s plenty of young teachers who would adore having a prestigious student on the roster.”
“You aren’t even wanting to teach the Chosen One?” Adrian said. “She deserves nothing but the best, therefore it falls to yours truly to take her in.”
“You mentioned using a heart, Cutburn,” Darius interrupted the argument, “where did you get it?”
“A traitorous former coven head,” Cutburn mused. “I almost did my predecessor’s heart, but alas, that wasn’t a favorable match.”
“I see, and the last traitorous former coven head was in the abomination coven if I recall correctly.” Darius placed his hands carefully into a triangle position. “Would the heart affect the potential magic the child has?”
“I see a future of lavender,” Osran murmured. “A future of a good witch, and following the Titan’s will.”
“That sounds like an abomination witch if I ever heard a description.”
“Balderdash!” Scooter exclaimed. “Osran, tell me what the future holds if this girl becomes a bard!”
“I see fire,” Osran replied. “I see anger and hatred. I see someone playing a flute with a mask on. I see the child not reaching her destiny.”
“So helpful.” Scooter leaned back in his chair. “Well that convinced me not to fight for the kid, someone convince me to side with them.”
“You could be worth some of my attention,” Adrian said.
“Pass.”
“I could find uses for them in the potion coven,” Vitimir said. “Although I have proteges. The Havenic family is quite generously enrolling a third generation into the potion track.”
“And I do not have a protege,” Adrian said. “No one who understands my vision. Unless I can train them from an early age.” Well, Adrian just threw his vase out. Now the trial was down to Vitimir and Darius primarily. Eber and Hettie had not placed their case out in the open. And Osran was seemingly not interested. He probably knew who was going to get the resources, and had tuned out the entire discussion except when spoken too.
“Well I think this is just lovely,” Terra said with a grin, “once the girl becomes a plant witch, why she’d never have to worry about this ever again. She’d never worry again.” Eber flashed their fangs at her. “Well I think it is time to vote!” She had to plant this idea. They had to unify to one or two people. Then she could begin her investigations of her Deputy Coven Heads. And Scooter’s while she thought about it. He was starting to lose his edge.
“I vote the chosen one goes to one Adrian Graye Vernworth,” Adrian declared.
“I vote the child and resources go to Hettie Cutburn,” Hettie said. Well that didn’t matter, she wasn’t an important vote for starting Terra’s investigations.
“I say the resource goes to Head Witch Vitimir,” Vitimir declared.
“I vote that Darius Deamonne becomes the guardian of this child,” Darius said.
She might as well stake her claim now. “I vote that the child becomes the student of Terra Snapdragon,” Terra said. Four votes left, three of them were up in the air. And if it tied then Lilith got to vote.
Mason was asleep. Terra tilted her head, and Eber bit Mason’s finger. “I vote for me!” he yelled, waking up. “Wait what are we voting for? Oh yes, the child. I vote they go to anyone but Adrian.” Lilith glared at him. “Okay I vote, uh.” He spun a spell circle. A small disc landed on the table. He flipped it into the air, and then it landed. “I vote for Darius Deamonne to become keeper of all lost children.” Well that would be an amusing outcome.
“I see worlds colliding,” Osran said, “and a future of vision. Osran votes that Osran Cassandros holds the child.” Well that was interesting.
“Darius is the only one who seems to actually have a point,” Scooter said, “therefore, I vote for Vitimir to be responsible for the student.” The abomination witch didn’t look shocked. He must either be tired or he was expecting that. He’d be a fun person to debate in more coven meetings.
Eberwolf stared at Terra, Darius, and Vitimir. And then walked over and bonked their head against Darius’s cloak. “Is that your vote then?” Lilith asked. Eberwolf growled in affirmation. “Then Darius Deamonne will become the guardian and mentor to this mysterious child.” She snapped her book closed. Terra smiled, now she had an excuse to investigate this new coven head. “Now that that is taken care of, you all are dismissed. Deamonne, you can keep the cloak she’s on.” Lilith strode out of the room and vanished into the darkness.
* * * * * *
Well, Darius mused to himself, that could have gone better. He summoned an abomination to carry the girl back to his office. He was not getting sleep tonight, was he?
Inside his office, Darius breathed a sigh of relief. She would be fine, assuming he could get supplies for the kid. Perhaps he should follow Adrian’s book, and have a place outside the castle. It was certainly not a place he would want to train a child. Well he had time. And contacts. She would need an education outside of just what he provided, but that could wait. He opened his scroll, and typed in Hexside into the scrying bar. Still run by Faust. She wasn’t going there. Not while he reigned. He opened the one for St Epiderm, and checked. That could be a good school.
* * * * * *
Luz woke up in a weird room, her chest hurt, the air hurt, everything was ow. She tried to sit up. “Careful,” a stranger said, “you were hurt pretty bad when we found you.” She blinked. The stranger was a man dressed in blacks and purple. And he had goo on his head. “How are you feeling?”
“Ow,” Luz said. “Where’s Mami? Or Papi?” Or her abuela? Or someone she knew?
“We’re looking for them. In the mean time, you’re under my care. The Isles are not safe for children to wander around.” She wasn’t a child! She was four!
“Why do you have goo on your head?” He laughed.
“It’s a secret,” he winked, “I can tell you when we find your parents.” Okay! “Does she not know who the coven heads are?” he said to himself. “Patience Deamonne, she was found in the moat.” Coven? That was in the Good Witch Azura book that Papi read to her. He said it meant lots of witches! Was she in a witch place? The man knelt down next to her. “I’m Darius,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“Luz!” She smiled her biggest nice smile! “My Mami’s name is Mami and my Papi’s name is Papi! If that helps!”
His face scrunched up a bit. “It helps,” he said slowly, “as I said, we’re definitely looking for them right now. Can you tell me what they look like? There’s a few people called Mami and Papi.” Right.
“They’re tall, and have big shiny squares over their face. They look like me!” Papi always said she was pretty like Mami. “Mami’s super pretty! And Papi’s cool and strong his beard tickles when he hugs me!” Darius closed his eyes, her descriptions were the best! “I can draw a picture too!”
“Excellent.” He moved his finger in a circle and purple light trailed after it. And then a piece of paper and some pencils appeared by her. “Wait. We should get food first.”
“Are you magic?” Wait. “Can I have ice cream?”
“I am a coven leader, what do you think?” Best day ever! She met a witch! “And sure, after you get some griffin eggs.”
* * * * * *
This was harder than he thought it would be, Darius pinched the bridge of his nose. At least she was happily munching on some sherbet (it was what he had, she seemed excited however), and drawing. Her drawing of her parents wasn’t that helpful. But if she was that small, and confused clearly he couldn’t blame her. She was questioning magic, not the system, but the existence! What was her home life like? It was times like this, Darius missed Orion. The late Golden Guard was so much better at dealing with children than Darius was. “Luz?” Darius asked. “I’m going to take your drawing of your parents to Ms Lilith. So we can look for them better.”
She grinned again. “Okay!” He was going to regret this, but what harm could a small child do in his office? He had closed everything behind locked cabinets the moment he took over. He summoned an abomination. This one would protect and watch over her. She laughed and then winced. He needed to get medicine too. And a report from Hettie. He stepped out and walked as quickly as he could to Head Witch Lilith’s office.
* * * * * *
Lilith stared at the witch in her office. “If that concludes everything Captain Wrath,” she said, “don’t let me detain you.” The captain stuttered and stumbled out of the office, bumping into another witch who was striding in. They weren’t even in uniform. She glanced up. “Hello Head Witch Deamonne, what can I help you with?”
“The girl has woken up,” he said. He spun a spell circle and a crude drawing landed on her desk. “This is her drawing of her parents, which is the most helpful thing she shared.”
“Hmm, this is a bad drawing.” It was drawn with minimal lines. As if the artist was drawing people made of sticks.
“You see our conundrum.” He brushed some dust off of his cloak. “However, we owe the child everything we can in finding her parents. They need a stern talking to.”
“And what makes you think that?” She carefully pushed the drawing back towards Darius.
“She didn’t know what magic was.”
“That and the drawing rules out my guesses on her parents.” Edalyn would never miss an opportunity to brag about magic. “Regardless, I have some official pardon letters to draw up, seems like a former wild witch would like to begin teaching for the Bard Coven, and needs a new lease on their career.” She pulled out the petition, Mx Whispers could use… Whispers. Raine Whispers. Lilith internally sighed, this was going to be another all nighter. “This sounds like it would be better arranged under the rest of the covens,” she said, gesturing to the drawing on her desk. “Don’t let me detain you.” Darius picked up the drawing, and left the room. Thank the Titan, her patience was running low.
* * * * * *
Darius stared at the checklist, medicine acquired. Messages about Luz’s parents delivered. Too bad no one else was up. He walked past the throne room on his way down to his office. Faint sounds resounded from within the chamber. Almost as if there were two people inside there. There was a faint growling behind Darius. The coven head turned, and Eberwolf stood near him.
“Ah Head Witch Eberwolf,” Darius said, smiling with all teeth. “Did I interrupt your place in the line?” They growled and pulled out their scroll.
“Where is the kit?” he input into the scroll.
“My ward is safe. She’s recovering from her wounds.” Eberwolf rolled his eyes, and tugged on Darius’s arm. Time to follow the strange coven head to who knows where. “Holy Mother of Titan, you could at least get my Penstagram before dragging me off who knows where.” The Beast Keeper looked at him as if to ask if he was serious. They wound up in an old office, long cleared out, and covered in muck. Eberwolf spun a spell circle and aimed it at Darius. Orange light enveloped the witch.
“Good,” Eberwolf said, with perfect clarity. “The spell has taken hold. Where is the kit?”
“My–” Darius paused, first his voice sounded awful, and second the ward sounded like it could lead to something he didn’t want. An investigation. He had heard what Terra did to the last witch that hadn’t met her investigations properly. “The kit, yes, she’s in my office.”
“And what do you know?”
“About her? Or…” he trailed off. The Huntsman glared at him. “You know something.” It wasn’t an accusation, but it could be. The Beast Keeper shrugged.
“Who is going to believe you? The moment I take the spell from you, you will forget the tongue of beasts.” Is that what happened. “And ‘I had a conversation with Eberwolf the Huntsman’ will just sound like paranoia and ruin your reputation.” Oh he was good at this.
“Well if I cannot prove that you are doing something suspicious, no matter what. I can still ask you what you know. Because you know something.” Darius idly checked his nails. Eberwolf flashed a grin, it was not like those Luz showed earlier.
“What do you know of the Day of Unity?” What did that have to do with anything? “I’ve heard about you Darius, you were the student of the Golden Guard. You turned seven high ranking officials in the abomination coven in for treason.” That he regretted, only one of them deserved the punishment traitors got. Fortunately, after that one was proven to be a traitor, the rest of his accusations held weight. And he got to prepare the coven as he saw fit. “Furthermore, you aren’t exactly the most engaged witch. Not with the political intrigue.” Hmm. Eberwolf could be a problem. “You know something.” And there it was. “And you’ve thought about it. Hard.”
“Orion mentioned that bones carry more than they seem.” Well, that wasn’t what he said, but it was what Darius would share.
“The bricks have secrets hidden within them,” Eberwolf replied. “There’s something you need to read and then destroy coming to your office tonight.” Eberwolf stopped their spell circle and growled something. With that they climbed up into the ceiling and vanished from sight. Darius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Just what I needed.” His voice was back to normal. He paused, Eberwolf knew that he had suspicions. Nothing with proof, but it was enough to make a witch wonder. He walked through the hallways to his office. He opened the door, and saw a mess. Luz was covered in abomination muck and the cauldron of abomination matter he was studying was all over the floor. He sighed, this was going to be a pain to clean.
“You’re back!” she exclaimed. “Was my drawing helpful?” She smiled brightly, and her abomination guardian groaned.
“Well princess,” Darius said, “I passed along the drawing and information to my colleagues.”
“Call leaves?” She tilted her head while asking. Any lingering annoyance or regret melted.
“It means people I work with.”
“Oh.”
“They’re going to help me and my friends find them.” He spun a spell circle and the abomination matter on the floor and the child flew off the respective places and landed in the cauldron.
“I wanna know how to do that!” Darius smiled. Maybe he could mentor her, prove his methods were better than Alador’s. And prove that he was a better teacher.
“Well I can teach you, when you’re healed.” He moved the cauldron back under the shelf where it belonged. “I do not want to push matters.” Luz pouted. “Actually, I have a few lessons we can start with.” Her eyes lit up. “First, every witch needs to do their magic with style!” Luz nodded.
“Like a pointy hat?”
“Those went out of fashion, no we’re talking capes.” Luz eagerly stared at him. “Also good boots.” He’d have a talented witchlet as his pupil soon enough.
* * * * * *
Alador Blight stared at his Penstagram, this was unacceptable. Darius had somehow acquired a child, and had posted about the style and creativity of them already. If Darius Deamonne had a child under his tutelage, then Odalia and Alador needed to get a step over the witch. “What is it darling?” Odalia asked, walking in with a cup of tea for him.
“It’s simple,” Alador replied, “Darius has gotten a child, one the age of Mittens, and he’s boasting about his child’s creativity and talents.” Odalia handed him a cup of tea. “We must begin preparing to give the children a good and stable future. One where they can have hope of becoming anything they wish to be.”
“Then we better start that company idea we had.” Blight Industries: a home security company. Which Alador already knew was a popular market, and if it wasn’t he knew how to replicate other abomination witches’ styles, and could make inferior abominations to infiltrate places. “That reminds me, Mittens says there’s something they need to talk to you about. They already told me, but they want to tell you too.” Right. The family’s interests were top priority.
“I’ll speak to them before dinner.”
* * * * * *
Darius set Luz down on his bed. He forgot to get a second bed, but that didn’t matter. He could sleep in a chair tonight. The sherbet did not seem to agree with her stomach, which was something to take note of. Perhaps it was the amount, perhaps it was the milk. Lots of people were allergic to milk, such as Odalia. A large spider crawled down the wall, it was carrying a scroll. Darius unfurled the scroll and a scrap of paper fell out. He picked up the scrap of paper, and on it he saw scratchy text. That was a good choice, the note had written on it, publicly drawing attention to the kit. He tossed the note into the fire place. Darius suspected she was an orphan, and didn’t know it. For her sake, he hoped he was wrong.
The Day of Unity, the scroll had written on it, a day where we enter a world free from Wild Magic. That was what they had been told. But what is Wild Magic? According to the Titan, it is the mixing of magic that results in his wrath. But if all of us are born with a potential for wild magic, why has the Titan not blessed us with pure Coven Magic? And will that be the case in paradise? Then if that’s the case, what about the Emperor’s Coven? They all have the sigil and yet they wield all the magic. And if only people were born with their coven powers, would there be an Emperor’s Coven? The rest of the scroll was written in a different handwriting. And was from a book on fire bees. Darius dropped the scroll into the fire as well. The spider had vanished. This would have to be their communication. Or… Darius summoned his scroll and typed in Eberwolf’s name. RAISEDBYDIREWOLVES came up, and it seemed to be their page. He hit the “add friend” button, and seconds later got a confirmation.
“Hey,” Darius typed, “were you wanting to discuss the Bones of the Titan?” And sent, a simple yet useless message if someone were to search their conversations. Frankly it was probably the only message they’d share between the two. A severed thumb floated up as a response.
“Perhaps at a cafe in New Patella,” Eberwolf replied. Darius had a lot to ask them, and preferably, where they were out of range of people’s eyes. One did not discuss the flaws of the system openly, after all. He sunk into the chair, he really needed to invest in a bed.
* * * * * *
Dinner, predictably, was late. This is what happened when someone dropped fire bees on the front porch. Alador sighed, at least it was handled by their security, the prankster would not be so lucky again. “Dad?” Mittens asked, walking into Alador’s office.
“Ah Mittens!” Alador replied. “Your mother said you wanted to talk.”
“I want to be a girl,” the witchlet replied. “Be called Amity, and wear pretty dresses.” She wasn’t making eye contact, but Alador understood.
“Then we’ll get you some dresses tomorrow after the twins leave for school.” This was the important things after all. This is what he needed to build a future for. So that Amity Blight would be able to have all the pretty dresses she wanted, so that Edric and Emira could dress as fancy as they wanted. And so that all of them had a bright future where their options were numerous as well, things that there were a lot of.