Rise of the Night Witch

For SUAR 5

Outside of Summer Hilld waited the woods. Its leaves and branches sang a song as gentle as the town itself. The soothing whispers of the wind breezed through an ecosystem that, slowly, but surely, prepared for dawn. Birds became quiter in their songs while the sunlight patches on the forest floor shrank and shrank.

And outside the woods waited a gravel path. Shields indicated the path back to civilization, but neither Darcy, nor Marissa, nor the man in the purple robe wanted to return to it yet. Instead, the practitioners sat on a subaked bench in the middle of the hiking trail.

The bench felt neither old nor hard. Even in the afternoon, the rays it absorbed made the wood as comfortable as a sofa.

The fortysomething man was the last to sit down. His tired bags looked even larger when viewed from a close distance.

He was fairly chubby for what seemed like a professional battle wizard. With his spectacles and his receding, brown hairline, he wouldn't have looked out of place in a classroom had one clad him in an argyle sweater.

"My colleagues and I were on a patrol in Sleepy Hollow when Mage Leaf called. Count yourself lucky that your town is so close," he said. "My name's Andrew Wiggs. I lead the northeast division of the Hunters." He revealed an apple from his robe's pocket. "That apple's from the Netherlands, take it. You need the energy."

Marissa gave the apple back. "I'd prefer something local."

"More for me," he said and took a bite. "It's organic!"

Marissa squinted as Darcy inspected her hair. Talking to strangers had always been difficult, although the fact that one of them was the sister of someone that seemed trustworthy made it somewhat easier.

On the other hand, if those people were the "secret occult society" her father mentioned, they had her mother to answer for. That alone earned them a thousand minus points.

"So," Wiggs asked. "Please, give me a full summary of what happened with no omissions."

She told him about her encounter with the hellhound and man with the scarf. She left out details regarding Siris, but otherwise, there were no ommissions.

Wiggs let out a throaty belly laugh. "You'd make for a decent Hunter. Assuming you didn't exaggerate how you beat that hellhound."

She nodded. Not out of agreement, but to keep him talking.

"How 'bout we Initiate you on Monday?" he said. "It's my duty to report unregistered practitioners to the Covenant anyway."

Her heartbeat thrummed as she broke eye contact. "What's part of this 'Initiation'?"

"You meet our Council," Wiggs said, "and you swear by our rules. Normally, you'd get your familiar, but it appears the Worldsoul already blessed you with one!" He leaned back. "Just like me, back then. I was also a late bloomer."

"Late bloomer?"

"Most practitioners get Initiated at the age of sixteen," Darcy said.

"Those that just enrolled at the Cunning Folk Academy are gonna have a head start of two years over you," Wiggs said. "If you want to catch up, you should enroll now. The semester just started and it's a great institution." He shook his head emphatically. "But maybe I'm just biased because I lecture there."

Of course, he did. If Marissa met this guy in a bar or on the street, she'd have never believed that he'd be a professional monster hunter. But a teacher? That fit the way he liked the sound of his own voice.

"Do I have to go to this Initiation?" Marissa asked.

"Well, being a hedge witch isn't like being a Covenant member," Wiggs said. "You won't enjoy our education and the Hunters won't give your town the kind of priority protection homes of our members get."