With a tight smile on my lips, I bid farewell to my last appointment of the day.  Another fake prediction doled out to the humans ⏤ my fifth to be precise, all just to make a living. With a heavy sigh, I placed my hand under my chin. About that moment the bells on my workshop door tinkled, announcing a customer. I lifted my gaze, even as the patron chuckled, only to encounter Azalea's vibrant red hair. My gaze fell to connect with her chocolate brown eyes. Seeing her brought a smile to my face.

"Azalea." I acknowledged my apprentice's arrival.

She stopped chuckling, but kept her amused smile, "The Old Ones would not be pleased with you for giving false predictions."

I scoffed at her and continued to count my day's wages.

Standing up, I pushed in my chair while I unplugged my magic ball. My magic ball, not even pausing to watch the swirling galaxy light fade to black. For some strange reason, humans loved the effect.

"The Old Ones are dead," I growled. "They can watch me all they want, whisper all they want in my ear, but they can't tell me how to do my business. This is the 21st century, not the 1600s."

Shrugging her shoulders, she swept the rest of the floor before we grabbed our things and locked up the place.

Azalea drew closer. "Are you going to teach me a hex tonight? Do you think I am ready for the ceremo-"

"No," I cut off her inquiry.

Who does this child think she is? She would die before she even arrived at the Void.

Azalea dropped her head, ashamed to ask such a deadly question.

"But Lady Poppy..."

"I said no and you will respect that and will not bring up the ceremony until I deem you ready." I paused to blow out my candles. "You are not to bring it up to me again. I will tell you when you are ready."

After a couple of minutes of walking toward our coven's territory in silence, Azalea squirmed a bit, a sure sign she had yet another question bubbling.

Azalea broke the tense atmosphere a moment later, "have you ever been in love?" Her eyes glittered in anticipation of my response.

"No."

"Do you want to be?" She stopped and looked down at her hands fiddling with them. I wondered what brought on this topic.

This question light something in me that I hadn't thought of for a long time. The topic of soulmates and lovers.

Did I want a lover? Am I waiting for my soulmate?

I frowned, the idea of love was foreign to me. Lovers felt superficial. Soulmates seemed unrealistic.

I ignored her question, not wanting to answer her. Azalea did not need me feeding into her idea of love.

"I think I'm in love." Azalea looked dead serious, if she hadn't I would have laughed in her face. A newly turned eighteen-year-old experiencing true love was humorous. I stayed quiet as the awkward silence thickened between us.

"I'm heading home now, want a ride?" I grabbed my purse and stepped out of my store, Azalea close on my heels.

"Thought you would never ask!" I smiled at her right before closing up the shop for the day.

When I arrived home, I sat at my table made a cup of herbal tea, and brought out my copy of Alice in Wonderland. Right as Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, there came a knock at my door. I ignored the sound, pretending not to be in residence.

My visitor seemed to know better for they bellowed, "Poppy! Poppy!"

Taking the last sip of my tea and bookmarking my place in my book, I crossed my house to open the door to see Kazuki at the other end. His pitch-black hair clung to his forehead as he held worry in his eyes.

"Not sure you got the memo, but I have upgraded to Lady Poppy." Tilting my head, I smiled at him from behind my cup. He grabbed my shoulders, digging nails in enough to make me flinch.

"We don't have time for your antics! We are summoned to a hearing!"

"Whose?"

"It's Azalea!"

"What? What do you mean Azalea?" He nods vigorously.

"She's been accused of breaking the laws."

"What?" I repeated. "I just saw her no less than an hour ago. What possibly could she have done?"

"I don't know, but it's serious enough for the Elders to call the entire coven."

My eyes widened and I grabbed Kazuki's arm as we ran to the heart of our coven. Our village seemed eerily silent as all the witches went to the summoning. We finally reached the large oak doors and walked in to see the whole coven at Azalea's hearing. The minority group of the room was the council of Elders. All of five old hags who didn't care for the coven, only power.

"Azalea, you are accused of treason." The eldest crone announced. "We have reasonable evidence that you have been collaborating with the Witches of the East end to bring about the destruction of the other covens."

Everyone in the room, including me, gasped. My brain went into overdrive trying to determine if I had glanced over clues that she was doing something so against our circle.

Would Azalea do such a thing?

Why the Witches of the East End?

They dabbled in the ancient arts and believed that Mother would bring destruction to us, for falling off the path of the ancient ways. A child of The Circle, raised to avoid the Witches of East End at all costs, helped our sworn enemy? Why would she do it?

"Why little Azalea did you help our enemy coven?"

"For love, Elder Dyani." Hushed whispers spread out through the whole building. I looked around and found that Kazuki left my side and disappeared off somewhere. I stayed hidden in the shadows watching the scene unfold. My heart clenched thinking of what is going to happen to the girl that I had been training for the past five months.

"Do you wish for a pardon to prove you are not guilty?" Obelia spoke, from the middle of the Elders. She was the oldest and presumed to be the wisest, Obelia's grey hair was pushed into a bun on top of her head with a sacred hairpin, only reserved for elders, keeping the bun together.

"No, I did this for my love and I will die for my love." Despite how heinous her crime was, a small smile lit on my lips in pride over the spirit I helped instill in her.

"As you wish. Your punishment is the burning." My body reacted before my mind.

"No!" I screeched like a raven and stood protectively in front of Azalea. Tears streamed down my face. The Elders' lips all pulled up in evil, amused smiles. Poppy Le Rouge the direct descendant of Morgiana Le Rouge, one of the founding witches of The Circle actually cared about someone other than herself. This scene probably sparked a memory within The Elders. A memory I longed every day, for the past three years, to be forgotten.

Twisting around I faced the strong-willed young witch. She wore a white cotton dress, traditional for a witch's hearing, including the thick knotted rope tied at her waist.

"Azalea don't do this! Please don't!" I screamed while people grabbed my arms to pull me away from Azalea who was looking at the ground with a hard face. Two other guards grabbed Azalea and dragged both of us to the field behind the Council building. What stood there was a reminder of my past, a wooden pole on a pile of freshly chopped wood. Azalea was going to be burnt at the stake for loving our enemy. One of the Elders' lackeys tied Azalea to the wooden pole. All five Elders finally made their appearance. Obelia held a smirk while Dyani cast a circle around Azalea.

The bonfire's light surrounded Azalea as she smiled, mouthing two words to me, thank you.

The words held so little meaning for me. An irreverent courtesy each time I made a prediction for some unwitting human. She took the words I never cared for and twisted them into a phrase I would never forget.

The fire caught and spread. The only thing I could hear were shrill screams of Azalea burning.

Memories of Koda being burned at the stake flashed in my head vividly. He was a child, only six years old, twelve years younger than Azalea. You would think in twelve years, The Elders would have any ounce of guilt. I watched the fire lick Azalea, trailing up her body, engulfing her. I stood there until all was left were her hot ashes. The rest of the coven raced to snatch her ashes in a glass vial, tripping and stepping on top of each other like the greedy hyenas they were. My apprentice was reduced to being a component for a spell or ritual. An awful feeling settled in my gut.

I did not realize I walked back home until I stood at the foot of the door to my personal workshop. The low light illuminating room smelled of herbal incense that flowed through the room in a smoky haze from my censer. I walked towards my cauldron looking down at the crystal clear concoction. Should I summon him and ask what I should do? My hands turned white from the pressure of holding the side of my cauldron. I grabbed my wand, placed my crystals and runes along the brim and my last preparation was to create a fire at the bottom. The cauldron started to bubble and sizzle turning to pitch black, I stirred the contents with my wand, feeling the tar-like resistance.

Saying a quick chant I placed a diamond with the rune for father and cold, polished stone with the rune for The Other Side into the cauldron. Once I cut up the herbs with my boline and mixed it with the crushed bones Koda collected for me earlier, I placed the ingredients into the pot. A light peck at my window appeared, making the grimace I had worn throughout this evening into a small smile. I walked across the cluttered room and to the small window. I pushed the salt at the window to allow the raven into the room. The raven hopped through the little window and cawed at me tilting his head.

"Thank you, Koda." I petted his head as he held a small heart in his claws. Flapping up he dropped it into my hand and flew to rest on my shoulder. Instead of placing new salt on the window, I left the windowsill empty to allow Father entry. Both Father and Koda harvest magic from the Other Side, making it hard for both of them to enter any building where salt is blocking the window and door.

I raised my hand over the cauldron and crushed the heart. The blood trickled down my hands into the cauldron. Once I squeezed out all the blood from the organ, I plopped it into the concoction. With a puff of smoke, the cauldron settled. I closed my eyes allowing the magic to flow through my veins. I let out a heavy breath and started my chant. I waved my metal wand, entwined with my birth crystal peridot at the top. Everything stopped as I spoke the last words in my chant. A hand gripped my shoulder and leaned over me.

"My child you have summoned me."

"Yes Father, I was wondering what I should do next." From the corner of my eye, I saw Azalea's hazy spirit. I faced Father and saw how little he changed. His skin was a rich dark brown that rivaled my own brown, with black twisted hair sitting at the top of his head. His eyes, as always, were pure milky white as if he was blind, yet Father knew all and saw all. He had a skull painted on his face in the same shade white as his eyes. I stared directly at the python around his neck as its tongue flicked out to taste the air.

"Well my little witch, I feel as if you already know." He smirked at me and leaned on his cane of bones. I felt a tug in my heart, pulling me somewhere unknown.

"Should I follow this feeling? Will this help us succeed in our plan?"

"That's for you to decipher my child. I am just here for you as a resource and to keep you on the path of what we both need and desire."

I looked over at Azalea's ghost to see her walking to Father. She looked him up and down, I could see her calculating in her head wondering if she should trust him. Father's smirk turned into a full-blown grin.

"I also heard what happened to dear Azalea, that poor soul." He turned to face Azalea and grabbed her throat. Koda cawed at Father, he ignored the raven and continued his inspection of Azalea. A shadow figure grabbed onto Azalea's arms pinning her down, I watched with unwavering eyes. Father released his hold on her neck and let murky shadow consume her. My hands gripped onto the edge of my dress, biting down on my lip enough to draw blood. Once the shadow released her, my own grip released as well. Where Azalea's spirit once stood, now laid a red Somali cat with long fur. Father picked her up cradling her as if she was a newborn, before passing her into my awaiting hands. I snatched her quickly and brought her close to my chest. I knew she could hear my erratic heartbeat and smell my sadness wafting through the room.

"Another gift to befriend your son." His words caused an unwanted tear to slip out of my eyes, Koda nuzzled my head. Yet again another person I cared about was transformed into an animal to bid my every will. Koda and Azalea, both will be familiars until the day I die.