Strange Magic *Ambrose Spellman*

Moon Bath

Freya's POV

It's dark by the time we finish setting up the ritual. Circles made of white salt around a large bonfire. I take my spot in the circle. A bunch of small blankets and towels are laid out for witches to lay on. Except for the one sheet laid out for two. I think you can guess which couple was the most annoying and had to be together.

Spoiler alert: It's us.

"Cousin, are you alright?" Ambrose asks Sabrina and he unzips the back of my dress. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this part of the ritual involves my favorite thing, taking off clothing. "Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just do this." She mumbles as she wipes her obviously red eyes. Poor girl. She returned to the group shortly after she and Nick ran off. Eyes red and cheeks stained with tears. and no Nick. 

"Okay my darlings, so they are all applying the sacred oils. The moon is full. I think we should get started." Aunt Hilda cheers. I kick my dress to the side and the whole coven stands there in our underwear. I quickly rub the oil on all exposed skin and take my spot on the blanket next to Ambrose who presses a quick kiss to my shoulder.

"Can't we wait for my sisters?" Prudence asks from across the circle. Agatha and Dorcas still haven't returned from delivering the moon pie to the Pagans. "They can join when they get back. All right Hilda, what do we need to do?" Aunt Zelda asks. 

"Just make sure you're covered in oil and lie down with everyone else." Aunt Hilda says. She clears her throat and begins the ritual. "Coven, sisters, brothers, as you know, tonight we honor the Hare Moon. The Hare Moon is special. It's the nexus point of all magical calendars where witches celebrate renewal. Tonight your Hare Moon is full once again. And it's light shines on you, and you drink it in." Aunt Hilda says. I feel Ambrose's fingers reach out and intertwine with mine.

"Claim your power. Feel it. Feel it on your skin. Mother Moon, in the fullest of your form, we ask that you bless us with your gifts, your energies. As you ripen like a babe in the belly, make us whole again. Make our magics multiply in the spirit of the hare. We offer you our bodies, anointed in celestial essence, that we may become vessels of your energies." Aunt Hilda finishes. 

I close my eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. Slowly but surly, that familiar feeling washes over me. The feeling I got the night I signed the book of the beast. The night my powers were restored after Sabrina's trial. That warm and powerful feeling.

"I can feel it." I hear Sabrina whisper. "I feel tingly all over." Ambrose says in his high pitched excited voice. This causes me to giggle. This is the greatest feeling in the world. And I get to experience it with my love, my best friend, and my coven. 

"Wait....what's happening to the moon?" Sabrina asks suddenly. I open my eyes just in time to see the moon disappear completely. "Clouds?" I ask. All the energy that I took in flows right back out of my body. Leaving me exactly the way I was before the ritual. I look around and see other panicked faces. Must have happened to everyone. 

"Someone's swallowing the moon?" Aunt Hilda says. "I'm sorry, what?" I ask. "I believe your right sister, and I believe I know who's doing it." Aunt Zelda says as she sits up from her laid down position. "Those damn pagans. They're attacking us." She says as she quickly gets up. 

"Auntie, what do we do?" Ambrose asks as he climbs up off the ground. "The moon bath won't worked with an eclipsed moon." He explains as I stand up next to him. "Gather your things, students, and make haste. The Pagan witches mean to do us harm." Aunt Zelda explains. 

Say less. I'm already picking up my dress and pulling the blanket out from under Ambrose's feet. "We need to get back to the Academy. All of us." Aunt Zelda says. "I need to find Nick." Shut up Sabrina that's not important right now.

"I need to find my sisters." Prudence says. Oh shit. Yeah, that's important. "All of us! Then when we are secure behind our walls, we can plot our counter-attack. But no one if to go off alone tonight. We are in the gravest of danger." Aunt Zelda explains. 

When aren't we. 

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Freya's POV

"Need help with that?" I ask as Ambrose pushes an extra bed into the main room of the Academy. "Help? Have you seen these muscles? I don't think so." He says with a wink. If we weren't in a crisis right now I would have found this so fucking adorable. Okay, I still do. But the timing is just bad.

"We will all sleep in here tonight. It'll be much safer if we all stay together." Aunt Zelda explains. We all grab some clothes to change into when one of the witches close to me screams. We all stop to figure out what's wrong. She pulls the blanket off her bed and her bed is covered in snakes. 

I gulp and look down at the bed that I was going to claim for the night. I tear the sheet off... and you guessed it, snakes. Slowly all the sheets are ripped off and every single bed is covered in snakes. All snapping and striking at anyone who gets too close. 

"Sister Spellman!" Melvin calls as he sprints into the room out of breath. "They're outside." He says, frightened. Aunt Zelda straightens up and marches to the front door. We all follow after her. No way in heaven will any of us have to fight this battle alone. When Aunt Zelda opens the door to the academy...there they are. Waiting for us. 

"Witches of Night, your time is over. The old gods are returning. The old ways, the blood ways, are coming back." The leader tells us. "Bow and pray to our gods or your blood will be used to water the sacred earth. You have three days to decide." He threatens. 

I think that they are going to rush us, but instead they turn and disappear into the night. That is, except for two of them. One who is skipping around and singing. The other who is standing still. Too still. Prudence pushes her way to the front. 

"Sisters?" She asks. We descend down the stairs towards Dorcas and Agatha. Agatha ignores our calls and continues dancing and singing as if she had gone mad. I call out to Dorcas and wonder if she too had gone mad. It isn't until I reach out to touch her that I realize she's ice cold. 

"Dorcas?" I ask. It isn't until someone shines a light that I realize why she had been standing frozen like a statue. Because that is exactly what they had turned her into.