Spring-It-On: Test of power. #2

Braylee had done well for herself, learning new and old wiccan ways since the spring festival she went to turned out to be a Beltane wiccan festival to find new witches for the Hecate worshipping wiccan coven.

Today was a day she had been looking forward too since that night. two weeks had passed and she was reading all of the notes she had taken over those two weeks. This was all in preparation for a sort of test she and her re-kindled friend Lacy would take in two hours. All she knew was it was going to test her powers, even though so far she hadn't used any. Only learnt about herbs, crystals, divination among other things. Lacy did give her one clue, "It's all in your heart." a 'clue' Braylee kept mumbling to herself as she studied.

Lacy came by to pick her up in her dads Audi sedan. She honked to let Braylee know she had arrived. Who had no clue how time had flown while she studied. She jumped up from a note book cluttered bed, dressed in jeans and a colorful singlet. As she raced out the door, down the stairs and waved at her mother goodbye she grabbed a sweater off the coat-rack and dashed to the car. "Hey Sista!" Lacy called from comfy drivers seat. "Hi!" Braylee said cheerily, leaning over to hug lacy before they drove off to a hidden cabin in the woods.

Lacy managed to park the car, all though a little sideways. Braylee got out and nerves over took her. Lacy saw it written all over her face as she stepped out, locking the car. "It's alright bray." she comforted her. They headed through the trees, brushing branches away. "Think it'll be difficult?" Braylee asked with a nervous grab at her hair. Lacy's eyes darted back and forth as they walked their path. "Maybe." she sighed. Braylee had noticed a few odd things about lacy but just chocked it up to the seven-ish years they'd for some unknown reason been 'frenemies.'

When the found the small clearing the with old timey wooden cabin that was bigger on the inside, they found their teachers, Greta, Hellen, Abby and Ethel standing beside the door of the cabin. "Blessed be ladies." Hellen spoke first. "Blessed be" Braylee and Lacy said in unison. "Today's the day." Greta smiled through a wide toothed smile. "Time to see what you've learned, and what you'll gain for it." Ethel smirked slightly evilly. Abby waved her hands gently at the girls, her old greyed hair cascaded over her shoulders with split ends poking out everywhere. "Don't fret. Everything will be fine." her eyes smiled for her lips.

After the girls each drank a sweet purple liquid, "Meant to lightly suppress your mental faculties" Ethel snickered at them, Lacy said she was just teasing. They were ushered through the cabin door by Greta. Once inside they didn't see an old fashioned cottage overly furnished with books and wooden furniture, they saw a single hall way that was dimly lit. it branched off in four directions. Lacy and Braylee shared a look, Not the same look though. Braylee was confused and shocked. Lacy was basically rolling her eyes. "What's going on Lace?" Braylee nudged gently. "Nothing." Lacy answered too quickly. Braylee shrugged and started down the hall. Lacy closely following.

When they reached the four separating paths Lacy headed down a call with a sign labelled "Hall Basil." She didn't say anything to Braylee as she left. Braylee looked at the halls signs. Basil, Thyme, Rosemary and Lavender. Herbs first? Braylee thought "So what maybe my favorite of the four?" she thought a loud to herself. She considered what she knew of the herbs and couldn't think of anything in particular to make one better than the other. So, she shrugged her shoulders and went down the hall labeled Thyme, her favorite of the herbs listed.

When Braylee found the end of her chosen hall she found a door covered in animals, on closer inspection the animals each had their own glowing outline. Aura energy maybe Braylee thought to herself as she pushed on the door. Inside was a mini forest, with a stone bench in the middle. Braylee was more confused. She wondered how lacy was doing. She walked up to the bench and sat on it. As soon she sat any amount of pressure on the stone bench she started to hear bird songs, but not see them. It relaxed her. She was finding it hard to think. Which made her worry she had indeed drunk something to mess with her head. But her eyelids felt so heavy. She blinked, and blinked some more. Soon her eyes closed and she meditated, with a blank mind. Unable to pull any thoughts out. She still heard the birds singing though.

She focused on the sounds around her, chittering sounds added to the mix, Followed by rustling tree leaves. It started to feel like time was passing her, not the other way around. Her thoughts slowly came back "test remember! test! thyme! herb! good for negating negative energies" she mumbled to herself as the thoughts came. "thymes good" a sweet soft voice said somewhere near her. Braylee slowly opened her eyes, kind of afraid to open them. "H-hello?" she asked out. Her eyes adjusting to the light change. "Hello" the voice spoke again. Braylee looked around and saw nothing. "Who's there?" she asked pulling her legs up onto the bench. "Down here." said the voice. She looked down, just over the edge of the bench and saw a squirrel. With the most stunning tail. It waved to her and smiled. Her eyes widened. She waved a small wave with her fingers more than her hand. "You can talk?" she spoke slowly. The squirrel nodded quickly. "Yep, We all can. And now you can talk to us!" the squirrel gestured to the rest of the forest and a parade of woodland creatures from well squirrels to stags, they all came out from their forest hiding places to see her.

"Is this a test?" she asked. all the animals shook their heads no. Braylee's eyes fell on a small rabbit hiding behind another, but their tail and ears poked up wiggling. "Wren? what are you doing here?" Braylee was so confused. Her little spark she got at the spring festival the thing that told her she was a witch and was her familiar was here in the forest/ test room thing. A black little bunny with white ears and tail poked his head up and nodded. Wren the Rabbit familiar hoped over and onto her lap. "And now we can talk properly" the little female rabbit talked with a slightly high pitched but spoken softly voice. Braylee cuddled wren right. "Oh wow!" she ex claimed. After the hug she looked at the animals. "Are you all familiar sparks?" she asked. All the woodland creatures shook their heads no. "Just me. their animals. But you can talk to all the animals now. You past the test with your meditation." wren announced.

After the animals cheered for her and showed her to the way out, which was a door in the side of a tree. Wren followed Braylee through. "Is it over? Do you know anything?" she asked wren who hopped along beside her. "All i know is I as your familiar had to be where-ever you ended up in the test. I think while you meditated you unlocked the ability to speak to animals. Maybe its cause you're so good at everything" wren went on. and on. Wren liked to talk apparently. They reached another hall way, no sign of lacy. Braylee was disheartened to notice.

Another set of four paths lay before Braylee and wren. four identical doors each with a crystal name on it. Clear Quartz, Rose Quartz, Amethyst and Aventurine. Braylee didn't think this time and just went with her gut feeling. She walked through the rose quartz door. Wren hoped through behind her. “Roses are pretty” Wren the rabbit cheered. “Yes, they are.” Braylee automatically responded.  Through the next door  it was dark, except for several hundred heart shaped lights hanging in the air. “Ooh!” Wren was excited she squeaked too. “they are lovely.” Braylee replied honestly not automatically this time. “I wonder what I’m meant to do with them.” She said walked closer to them. Wren followed. “hug them?” she said.  “I don’t think so but that’s plan B” Braylee smiled glancing down at wren. 

When Braylee got close enough to the hearts she realised they were larger than her hands, angularly shaped, and not hanging but floating. Braylee reached out to touch one of them. She felt sadness and the heart changed from its Rosey pink colour to blue. She pulled her finger back quickly wiping away tears. “what the” she stated. “Its blue now?” Wren said confused. “It’s hurting…” Braylee sighed. “But it’s a light?” wren said more confused. Braylee shrugged “Maybe not.” She thought and thought. Minute’s past.  Twelve minutes before she moved or did anything. “Wren… How high can you jump?” Braylee asked deep in thought. “As high as I want. Why?” Wren replied. Braylee shrugged as she looked up noticing some of the hearts were too high for her to reach.  Wren followed her eyes. “ohhhh you want one” wrens little rabbit face curled up in a smile, her furry uppy lip lifting up showing off her rabbit teeth. Wren hopped, once, twice and on the third she sprung up, launching ten feet higher than Braylee was tall. Reached out her little front paws and took the heart right out of the air, Wrens floppy white ears folded forward over the heart: she started to descend heart in paws. Braylee reached out and jumped to catch Wren. “your brilliant little poof ball I love you!” Braylee said cuddling wren to her chest. Wren squeaked and lifted her ears up, letting the heart touch Braylee. Braylee froze, she was flooded with the same sadness. She felt a little more this time… Loneliness.  She pulled wren out from her chest; the heart turned the same blue as the other heart. A thought occurred to her. She set wren down with a soft pat on the head. Took the heart and walked to the other blue heart and pressed the two together. As soon as two small parts of the angular shaped hearts touched a flash happened between the seems and Braylee couldn’t part the two. The hearts returned to pink and Braylee felt happiness growing, Love blossoming.

“I have to match the hearts!” She exclaimed proudly.

Wren jumped for joy “woohoo you figured it out!” she squeaked.

It took Braylee and wren fifteen minutes to match each set of hearts. As Braylee joined the last two and the seam flashed melding them together, the heart set flew out of her hands and the other pairs started flying around in a circle, fast at first then slowly. Their lights all brightened and the room was lit. a plain white room with a door at the end. Wren bounded off ahead of Braylee “I’ll race ya!” she called out. Braylee laughed and dashed off  after her.

As they burst out the door and went to keep running, Braylee and Wren took in two dep breaths of fresh forest air! “Welcome back.” Hellen smiled waving at her. Braylee was faced with her wiccan sisters and teachers as if she hadn’t even entered the cabin. “Oh? What just happened?” Braylee turned on the spot. Wren just laughed. “You finished the test.” Abby smiled. “I knew you would” Hellen added. Greta and Ethel didn’t speak just waved.

“Where is Lacy?” Braylee asked curios not to see her friend. Ethels old face suddenly looked cross. “She’s not out yet.” Greta said smiling oddly at Braylee.

It was another hour before Lacy appeared, the same way Braylee had, out of nowhere as If she hadn’t even entered the cabin. Lacy looked pleased with herself, she was staring at a large Aventurine ring on her right ring finger, and a White fluffy cat walking snootily behind her. “WELCOME BACK LACY!” Ethel and Greta cheered, racing over to her. “Oh, Hi all.” Lacy smiled and immediately tried to hide the ring. Ethel was looking Lacy over as if looking for injuries. Greta was just standing near by with a big wild smile. “How’d you do?” Braylee asked as nicely as she could. She wanted to run over and make sure Lacy was alright too, but didn’t want to crowd her after the test, she didn’t know what Lacy’s test were. “Passed. Flying colours!” Lacy smiled and took a triumphant pose. Braylee smiled and applauded. Wren thumped her foot, like thumper from Bambi, applauding in her own way. Hellen and Abby quickly joined the applause too.  

The while cat slinked its way over to Wren. “So how’d it go for yours? The cat had a stuck-up feminine voice to match her pure white fluffiness.  Wren stopped thumping, smiled at the cat. “Ask her yourself.” Wren beamed across pridefully. “You know other witches can’t talk to other familiars.” Said the cat as if wren was as stupid as they come. Braylee had of course heard it all. “I did great. I think. Thanks, uhm? Whats your name? Kitty?” Braylee asked, as she knelt down and sat on the ground beside the two furry familiars. The cat looked at Braylee in disbelief. “Lacy, MY witch. Named me Snowy Quartz. First and Last name… Now don’t talk to me.” Snowy the cat was no impressed, she slinked off flicking her tail angrily. “Sorry.” Braylee said softly. 

After Lacy finally got Ethel and Greta to leave her alone she joined Braylee on the ground. Braylee was cuddling Wren. “Hey Bray. So you got talking with animals hey?” Bray looked at lacy, not surprised snowy had said something.  “Apparently. So far its cool.” She answered. Wren smiled “it’s awesome. Wasn’t strong enough to even talk to me before!” wrens remark made Lacy laugh. Braylee laughed too, though she felt a little embarrassed.

“I got healing.” Lacy stated. “healing?!” Braylee said impressed. “wow! Like other’s or just yourself” she asked excitedly. “Both.” Lacy smirked. “I noticed you got a new accessory too.” Braylee poked at lacy gently. Lacy nodded shyly. “Yeah, my big failure.” Braylee was confused. “I didn’t get anything from the second test. I guess I failed worse.” She tried comforting lacy. Lacy laughed. “I’m sure you got something.” She replied happily. Lacy showed off the ring with a flash of the right hand. It was silver, with a giant Aventurine gem resting in it. Braylee reached out to Lacy, “It’s beautiful.”  Braylee touched lacys fingers to look closely at the ring. A wave of pain crashed over her. Immediately she fell to tears dropping Lacy’s hand. Lacy pulled back frightened. “you ok?” she asked awkwardly. Braylee wiped her face and looked at Lacy. “Your… Heart.” Braylee looked at lacy’s chest. “You’re in pain…” Lacy looked at Braylee wide eyed. “You got something for the second test alright.” She sighed and sat down with her arms folded.

Lacy drove Braylee and wren home, when they arrived Braylee burst “why are you in so much pain?” Wren looked at lacy with sympathetic little rabbit eyes. Lacy sighed. “I got dumped recently… ok…” Lacy reached out

 And hugged Braylee. “I’ll be ok. Talk tomorrow.” Lacy pulled away and smiled letting a small part of her pain show. Braylee smiled sympathetically back and got out of the car carrying wren.

Back up in her room Wren sat on a cushy pillow on the bed, Braylee paced back and forth the room thinking about the test. She knew she could now talk to animals… That’s cool. But feeling what’s in someone’s heart from just a touch. Braylee was seriously hoping gloves year-round would work to solve the many problems she could think of occurring. After a while Wren got dizzy watching Braylee pace. “stop please” she sighed. Braylee did and sat down on her bed. Her left leg bouncing.  “sorry” she sighed back. Wren made her way across the covers to Braylee and sat curled up against her.

They stayed that way a short while, soon here was a tapping at her window. It disturbed Braylee from her thoughts, and Wren of her rest quickly. “I wonder what that is?” Wren said calmly, but lightly irritated.

“I’ll check.” Braylee said standing up and going to the window.

There was an Owl at her window, a brown owl with white chest feathers. Braylee looked cautiously as the owl. The owl managed to smile at her, a similar smile to Abby’s she thought. She opened the window, it slid upwards easily. “Hello?” she tried talking to the owl. “Braylee?” the owl spoke with a gentle masculine voice. Braylee nodded. “I am Warlocks, familiar. You call him Tom?” the owl spoke gently, with a slightly faster pace than normal. Braylee nodded in response. “He said to deliver this message” the owl tucked his head under his wing, pulled out a letter in his beak and braylee gently took it with a grateful smile. “thank you.” She said looking at the letter, sealed with wax? “I’m Arnold. It’s Likely we will see each other again. Goodnight.” The owl winked playfully and jumped out backwards from the window, opened his wings, flapped and soared away into the night.

Braylee was curios about the letter, but she was also very, very tired. She closed the window, feeling slightly cold from the gust of air pushed through the window from Arnold taking off, so she wrapped herself up under the covers off her bed, the letter still in her hand. “That was interesting.” Wren sleepily chatted as she crawled up beside Braylee. Braylee nodded, her eyes already closed.  “Yeah, but that’s tomorrow’s problem.”