Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 56

Fawn found Vivienne sitting on a bench in Sancova park, leaning over Jules' massive grimoire. The sun hovered high in the sky over her. She cautiously approached Vivienne but was stopped by an unseeable force.

"Go away," came Vivienne's low and hoarse voice, her eyes still on the grimoire.

"You're doing magic like this in public?" Fawn said quietly. "Really, Vivienne?"

She finally looked at Fawn. Her eyes were dark. Wild.

"How did you even find me?" she seethed.

Fawn shrugged.

"I don't know, actually. I just . . ." Fawn narrowed her eyes, staring off. "Kept walking . . ."

Vivienne scoffed.

"You didn't just keep walking. Your clairvoyant abilities led you to me. You just didn't realize it."

"That's what this is about, isn't it?" Fawn said. "Me being an elemental witch . . ."

"Did you figure that out on your own, or are you using your telepathic abilities, too?"

"You need to stop this!" Fawn scolded. "You're being really immature right now!"

"I'm sitting here minding my business."

"You stole Jules' grimoire! You're doing magic out in the open." Fawn shook her head. ". . . You attacked Freya and Monica with magic."

Vivienne grimaced.

"There's no excuses for that. It's nothing I'm proud of." Her voice was breaking. She looked at Fawn. "Are they okay?"

Fawn shook her head.

"Freya's pretty pissed." She shrugged. "Rightfully so. Monica defended you, though she's clearly hurt."

"I didn't mean to hurt anybody," Vivienne whined, a single tear streaming down her cheek. "I didn't have control over my magic. Sometimes when I'm angry, I just . . . erupt."

"You should apologize to them—"

"Of course I will," Vivienne interjected. "I just hope they'll accept it."

"They will," Fawn said. "Now come on. Let's go back."

Vivienne hesitated.

"I . . . just practiced borderline dark magic."

"What?"

"I know, I know. But I don't like when I'm told that I can't do something," Vivienne said, standing. "When Aunt Jules said that she had magic in her grimoire that I couldn't perform, naturally, I had to see for myself." She held up the massive book of spells. "Then I stumbled upon shadow magic. Or umbral magic. Golly, I had no idea Aunt Jules practiced such iffy magic."

"What's . . . what's umbral magic?" Fawn asked.

"Magic that's not exactly forbidden, as it doesn't physically harm its user or victim, but largely seen as taboo amongst witches."

"How come?"

"Most umbral magic causes emotional or psychological trauma or misfortune—things like that. Nothing too serious."

"Serious enough to be considered taboo," Fawn mumbled. "So, what kind of umbral magic did you do?"

Vivienne grinned as she stared past Fawn at a tree behind her. A moment later, a crow or raven flew out of the silhouette of the tree and landed on Vivienne's shoulder.

"Mind-possession magic. It works on humans and animals alike. This kind of magic is also taboo."

"I'm surprised it's not considered dark magic," Fawn said. "Mind-control takes away its victim's freewill."