The next day we all sat around the table. Another unusually quiet morning. "You look smitten, cousin," Ambrose smirked knowingly. I glared at him as my mother eyed me over her newspaper, "I have no idea what you mean, Cousin." The sound of the phone ringing trilled through the house and my Aunt stood hastily to go and answer it. We heard her gasp, "Oh! It's Sabrina. It's Sabrina! Come on!" We all dropped what we were doing to rush to the phone. Once Aunt Hilda saw us all approach she held the phone back up to her ear, "Oh! It's so nice to hear your voice. How are you, my little possum?" My mother stood next to my Aunt jerking the phone so she could hear better. I rolled my eyes and stood on my tiptoes to listen over her shoulder carefully avoiding her lit cigarette. "Uh, I'm okay, but I need your and Aunt Zelda's help. Nicole should come too," Sabrina's voice was quiet, all of her usual nauseating enthusiasm gone. "Sabrina? This is Zelda. What kind of help? What have you done now?" My mother had already been called up to the Academy once to retrieve Sabrina's familiar and because Sabrina decided to throw punches at one of the Academy's top students. But no one could've predicted what Sabrina said next, "Children are dying at the academy, Aunt Zee, and no one is doing anything to stop it." My Aunt and mother looked at each other quizzically. I glanced back at Ambrose who looked just as puzzled. "Dying? Dying how?" My mom questioned. Sabrina's voice came out as a whisper, "Students have been harrowed to death by other students. And the weird sisters...are harrowing me." As she whispered the last part my blood ran hot. Time to make good on my promise. As I began to plot how to turn their bones to ash my mother placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Are they now?," she questioned sharply, straightening to her full height. "We'll be right there love," Aunt Hilda reassured. "Okay, please hurry," Came Sabrina's broken reply before she ended the call.
We were at the Academy in a matter of minutes not wasting any time. "But Zelda, Harrowings have always been a part of the Academy. They're tradition. You even participated in some yourself. So did your daughter," Father Blackwood reasoned. My mother scoffed, "Spirited child's play, Faustus, I never killed a child! And I assure you my daughter didn't either!" Blackwood looked amused, "Other than your sister, who is in violation of her excommunication by coming here." I put a hand on my mother's arm stepping forward, "I would contend that circumstances demanded it, Father. She is here under my authority as handmaiden of Lilith. A title that you chose me for or have you forgotten?" He regarded me smirking, "I remember perfectly well and I would also contend that the Church of Night is only as strong as its weakest member, and that a good harrowing forges the weak." My mother was fuming at that point, "My niece is not weak!" He shrugged and I wished desperately to wipe that smug look off his face, "Then really, sister, what is there to worry about?" My mother's voice was quieter when she spoke, "What if it were your child being harrowed?" As we exited the office Sabrina and Aunt Hilda stood. "What did he say?" Sabrina asked eagerly. A load of bullshit. As handmaiden of Lilith one of my many responsibilities was to look after the well being of the members of this Coven and School but Father Blackwood insisted on treating this like a joke. "He's going to look into it," I stated flatly, still fuming. "And you believe him?," Sabrina asked, looking between us. "Of course not. Take us to the children," My mother requested. It was a short walk into the Greendale woods just outside the Academy. I wondered how I'd never stumbled upon it before. Tiny headstones with careful engravings dotted the clearing and my heart dropped. They were so young. They never even had a chance to truly come into their powers. "Quentin! Would you please come out?" Sabrina called, "We uh- we want to help. And feel free to bring the others." Wind softly blew through the clearing and the hair stood on the back of my neck. We all turned and there a group of children stood. Their faces solemn. "Oh, the poor dears! Your heart breaks for them," My Aunt said breathlessly. "I think they're bound to the academy because they died here," Sabrina told us. My mother shook her head, "Witches hurting witches. It's unspeakable." As if we hadn't received enough death and persecution from outsiders over the centuries now this. "How can we free them?" Sabrina questioned. My Mother walked forward bending to their height, "Is that what you want, children? To be released from here?" I was instantly transported back to my childhood. I was reminded of every nightmare my mother chased away, every tear she caught, and every fever she ever soothed. "Where would we go?" The little boy who I assumed to be Quentin asked, "This is our home." My mother stood crossing her arms, "Yes, it is. So, what do you want then?" Quentin looked down unsure of the answer. "I— I believe I know what they want," Aunt Hilda spoke up, "I was harrowed back in my day. By my own sister no less." My mother rolled her eyes at this admission and I stifled a laugh. "And the thing that I craved more than anything in the world was revenge. They just need someone to give them permission to do it," she whispered the last part more to us than them. She skipped forward excitedly bending to Quentin's eye level, "Isn't that what all well-behaved children need? Permission? Okay, come on. Gather 'round, my darlings. You listen to your Auntie Hilda. We're gonna play a game, and you're gonna love it. We're gonna have fun and you'll feel so much better." And so it happened, we all made a plan and once night fell we would put an end to harrowing for good.
I waited patiently in the shadows just outside of the clearing where the original 13 were hanged. The children's spirits waited alongside me, flickering with excitement. Just before midnight the weird sisters led Sabrina into the clearing bound in rope. "You guys remember the plan, yeah?" My voice came out just above a whisper. They all nodded excitedly. "Do you know what it's like to die by hanging? Most people think it's fast, but it's not," Prudence spoke before throwing the end of the rope that wasn't around Sabrina's neck into the tree, "any last words?" My ears rang and it took everything in my power not to rush into the clearing. "Yes. Thirteen witches were hanged here by witch hunters. Those women couldn't possibly have imagined a place like the academy. A school where witches would be safe. Even if they could, they'd never believe that the women inside its walls would turn on one another like this. Which is why... the academy tradition of harrowing ends tonight, Prudence," Sabrina finished with conviction. Prudence looked at her in disbelief, "It's three against one. You're going to die, half-breed. So give the Dark Lord our best, won't you?" She pulled the rope and my heart began beating rapidly. "Now," I told the children. One by one they disappeared from around me and their voices filled the clearing as they appeared surrounding the girls. "Light as a feather, stiff as a board," They repeated. Invisible ropes wound around the weird sisters' throats as they were hoisted into the air. I willed my magic to manifest a ring of fire surrounding the tree as I stepped forward. The flames were high and kissed my skin as I stepped through them unscathed. I tsked, assessing the scene before me, "You should know I make good on my promises, Prudence. I told you what would happen if you touched a hair on my cousin's head." The flames around us flared with my anger, illuminating the girls' panicked features as they sputtered and clawed at their necks. "Perhaps I should drag your charred bodies back to the Academy and make an example of what happens to witches who cross me. What do you think, Cousin?" I smirked. She shook her head, "That won't be necessary, 'Cole, because like I said harrowing of any kind will no longer be tolerated. Understood?" When they didn't answer the children continued chanting their invisible nooses tightening and pulling them higher. "Understood?" Sabrina asked again with more emphasis. They coughed out their understanding and Sabrina turned to Quentin with a wink. All at once the other children released them from their ghostly bindings. They coughed and gasped as they hit the ground. Sabrina offered her hand which Prudence hesitantly took as she helped her up. "If you say another thing about my mother or father to anyone ever again...I'll choke you to death on your own blood," Sabrina threatened. I couldn't be prouder of my cousin in that moment. Sabrina turned and began to walk away but I wasn't quite done. I gripped Prudence's jaw, my nails digging in her skin mercilessly, "You're lucky my cousin was here tonight to show mercy, Pru. Next time that luck may just run out." I patted her cheek and turned to follow my cousin as my flames were extinguished.
