Happily Never After

The Fairest of Them All

The moon usually bathed the forest in a soft glow but today, it was conspicuously absent among the clouds. The wind howled and the stars blinked, unusually dim. It was as if they knew what was going to happen and they wanted to stop it.

Ellise knew she should've listened to them, but as a young witch, she didn't know what the elements were saying--and her mind was already occupied elsewhere. So she just pulled her cloak tighter around herself, shivering as she waited. A blizzard was about to begin, she could feel it in the air. She clutched the potion tighter in her hand, waiting for her fellow witch.

'Greta better be here soon,' she thought.

And she was.

Soon, a figure clad in a red cloak emerged from the trees--a sure sign that it was a witch from Ellise's coven. As the woman came closer, Ellise could tell it was Greta. Ellise smiled, relieved.

"Do you have it?" Greta whispered.

Ellise lifted the flask containing the blood red potion in her hands.

"Can you tell me now what you want it for?"

"Patience Ellise, you'll see soon enough."

The young witch was in awe of the control her senior exuded, so without doubt, she handed the potion over. For a moment, Ellise thought Greta's cloak looked black--the cloak of Dark Witches.

'But Dark Witches are dead,' she reminded herself, 'they were killed after Helen, their Coven's leader caused the Trojan War.'

She couldn't, however shake the feeling of foreboding creeping up her spine. But Ellise told herself it would be okay and that Greta knew what she was doing. After all, Greta had been practicing witchcraft even during the Salem Trials and she was still alive. So Ellise pulled her cloak even tighter, hoping it would ward off the chills she was getting. Hoping it would keep the feeling of foreboding away.

Greta drank the potion, not sparing a glance at the younger witch who was supposed to be her mentee. Once more, the young witch thought her mentor's cloak looked black, but it had to be a trick of the eyes.

Unaware of the inner turmoil in the younger witch, Greta smiled encouragingly at her, "You did well."

Then Greta flew back to her home. Ellise followed her, wanting to reassure herself that nothing was wrong and that the chills creeping down her spine were just because of the light snow that had begun to fall.

She watched from the edge of the forest, concealed behind the trees, into Greta's house as her current husband came and pecked her on the cheek. After saying a few words to him, her senior took a ball of cotton and sat near the window where the spindle was kept.

Spinning, Greta is spinning. Nothing to worry about. Ellise thought, now confident nothing would go wrong. She turned around, wanting to leave, just when heard the outcry from Greta.

She'd pricked her finger.

Greta shook her hand outside the window and it didn't escape Ellise's notice that only three drops fell on the snow, colouring that area a light red.

But it was when she heard what Greta was murmuring that the horror struck Ellise.

"Blood red lips,
Snowy skin,
Ebony black hair,"

Ellise didn't stick around to hear the rest. She knew this spell well enough, everyone did. But it was because they were never supposed to use it, or hear someone use it.

'Bring back the one who doesn't care.'

Ellise was naive, as any young witch would be and she told the Coven. She thought she could prevent Greta from re-birthing Helen. But it was her word against Greta's, someone who'd proven herself time and again.