Rise of the Night Witch

Chapter 2.5 - The Initiation

Recap: Last time, Marissa recovered from the Grief Eater attack in the gingerbread mansion and bought a rod there. Now, it is time for her Initiation.

I entered the Tower alone.

An enormous Gothic frame-and-plank door opened before me as I stepped through its roof. It was awkward, having the tip of a wizard tower so close to the ground. Telescopes peeked through the roof tiles, but with the woods blocking the sight, I doubted you could see the stars at night here very well.

The headquarters lurked in the depths of this dungeon. I crawled down spiral stairways that reached so far into the ground that they became as thin as ribbons from my vantage point. Torches hung from marble walls and illuminated dust mites floating through the bottomless floors.

It was so much colder here than outside. And I was asked to come alone. Darcy wasn't here, but at least I had Siris. His black eyes reflected the torchlight as he greedily followed my new rod.

"No," I said. "You can play with it later!"

"C'mon!"

As I pointed my staff, he obeyed my will and dematerialized into a puff of smoke. For my Initiation, I wanted no distractions.

I walked and walked and walked past doors carrying labels of arcane science. "Astrology Room II", "Divination Chamber I", "Magical Library IV", "Monster Containment, Eleventh Floor", "Helheim Research Group", "Door to R'lyeh; Access Only to Authorized Personnel". What on Earth did they hide here? My legs had turned to lead once I finally reached the bottom dungeon.

I walked over the stone-flagged flooring and approached the oval table in the middle. It was barely bright enough to get an idea of the table's size. Hundreds of chairs sat around it filled by cobwebs rather than practitioners.

A carving of a white serpent with six feathered wings and six heads, each of which had six eyes, decorated the table. It appeared so real. Even the faintest light made it flicker like a star cluster. The twinkles in its eyes faded in and out, giving the impression that the heads of this angel hydra moved.

"This is Seraphiel, creator of the Veil," a man spoke.

I looked up. I expected a Black Knight in imposing armor to reveal himself from the darkness. Instead, I saw a chubby man with sideburns, glasses, and an avuncular smile that made him look like someone's friendly neighbor. He looked harmless, except for his intimidating staff and his purple sorcerer cloak with a plaque on his chest reading "HUNTER Andrew Wiggs".

"You must be one of the new students of our Academy," he said. "I'm the combat magic teacher Professor Andrew Wiggs. You must be Marissa Luisa Alice Carter?"

The moment he spoke my full name, pain shot into my head. Names carry power. They are part of a person's spiritual essence. A cloud of energy from his staff assaulted my soul and I pressed my fingers against my temples in the vain hope of warding off his mind magic trick.

"Ah, so sorry for that," he said. "Just testing if you reacted to your True Name. For your Initiation, I needed to verify you are truly Marissa Carter and not a transfigurator or glamour-user wearing her face. Our diviners say you got involved in a Veil breach around Summer High in Summer Hill, New York on August 26th between 3:13 PM and 5:05 PM, with photographic evidence of your spirit guide being recorded and shared by Isabella Kelly, am I right?"

"Um," I said, "guess so."

"Very good, very good!" he said and gave me a card that read HUNTER ACADEMY APPLICATIONS. "Our diviners have no clue what caused the breach. The spirits are too scared to talk? How 'bout you join our Hunter Academy in case it happens again?"