Affinity Witch

Chapter 7: Sabrina Gets a Workspace

Smiling and waving goodbye to her friends, Sabrina hurried to her mother's office. Tugging on the door handle, she was annoyed to find it closed, which meant her mother was meeting with someone, so she stood in the hallway, tapping the toe of her boot against the grey stone floor.

Eventually, the door opened and Tante Alice, an older witch with an affinity for music, stepped out. She'd been Sabrina's childhood piano teacher, and her deep-set hazel eyes lit with recognition as they landed on her former pupil.

Sabrina was in no mood for a conversation about why she hadn't continued with the piano...yes, she'd been good at it, but every moment with the instrument had been one away from her metal-working, making her music lessons a necessary sacrifice in the pursuit of mastering her affinity.

Stepping forward, she returned the music teacher's smile, then spoke before the other witch could. "I'd love to visit, Tante Alice, but my mother requested I see her about something. I'm so sorry," she explained before darting inside the Sprechen's office and closing the door firmly behind her.

Marlene was sitting at her ornate desk, the wide legs of which were carved to resemble flames in honor of her affinity for fire, and she looked up in surprise as Sabrina rushed into the room.

"I received your note," Sabrina offered, hoping that explained her admittedly abrupt entrance. "Do you really think you found a place for me to work?"

Marlene nodded and, after putting a few things away, gestured for Sabrina to follow her. As they made their way through the labyrinthine corridors, Sabrina could barely contain herself. A million questions danced on the tip of her tongue, but she kept them to herself, knowing her mother would share information when she was good and ready and not a moment sooner.

Finally, after numerous twists and turns, Marlene pulled an oversized key from her dress pocket and inserted it into a large wooden door that was straight at the bottom and rounded at the top. The door was quite reluctant to open, and Sabrina watched her mother push against it with her shoulder before it eventually swung inward, groaning loudly on its hinges as it did.

For some reason, the fact that the room was reluctant to admit visitors seemed like a good sign to Sabrina.

As she followed her mother inside, she inhaled sharply—one wall of the room was made entirely of windows, the glass squares providing an unobstructed view outside, over the Neckar River, and all the way to the edge of the Schwarzwald.

Even though the windows were in need of a thorough cleaning, Sabrina walked forward and peered out, her eyes sweeping over the wide blue river, taking in the shadows dancing beneath the pine trees forming the border of the forbidden forest.

A hawk glided past, and as Sabrina followed its flight path, she realized she could see all the way to the other end of the castle, which curved gently inwards and was marked by the astronomy tower, the tallest section of the entire structure. Sabrina had spent many a night on the flat observation deck during her schooling, charting the movement of planets and admiring the constellations. She now spent more time with microscopes than telescopes, but perhaps one night she could find the time to revisit the tower and its unparalleled sky-gazing.

Turning from the view, she examined the rest of the room. The high ceiling was supported by rough wooden beams, and shelves were built directly into sections of the walls. A stone counter ran almost the entire length of one wall, fitted with an oversized sink that would be useful.

Three different-sized tables were placed haphazardly throughout the room, and Sabrina envisioned herself rearranging them, able to leave her projects out with plenty of space to spare rather than needing to clean up after herself every time she worked on something, making the limited space available to others.