Spellcasters: Part Four
Part Four
"So you're Tina Traveller."
"H-how'd you know my name?" Tina tried not to let on how nervous she was as a woman with bright green skin stepped out of the shadows. The stranger almost seemed to have an aura around her, a green glow to match her skin. "And who are you?"
"That's not important. What's important is that you've been using magic. It may be a doll but it's not a toy, Tina. Do you even know what your magic did?"
"Well, not exactly but-"
"But nothing! Voodoo magic is a dangerous thing to play around with. If you don't know what you're doing, you could easily get someone- maybe yourself- hurt. Do I make myself clear?"
Something about the woman's tone told Tina she wasn't just talking about Tina's magic potentially doing harm, but that it was a threat the woman would personally carry out if Tina didn't stop.
"What if I learned? There has to be someone who knows how this works."
"Even if you studied voodoo magic for years, something could so easily go wrong, and the longer you study the worse your mistake could end up being. Not to mention how much harder it'll be too fix," the stranger scowled. "Do me a favor and let me burn the doll. You'll be much safer that way."
Again Tina heard a threat in the woman's voice, and she almost considered going to her dorm room and handing the doll over. Meanwhile, another part of her was already lying to the woman, saying, "I threw it in the trash already, and would rather not dig it out."
Frances furrowed her brow in anger. What sort of fool did Tina take her for? But the girl seemed scared enough of Frances that she wouldn't risk another visit, and Frances certainly couldn't do much more than threaten without the Council's approval. So instead of forcing Tina to give up the doll Frances got on her broomstick and left.
"Back in the old country I was the Council," Frances muttered under her breath as she flew away. "I could've burned her entire dorm along with that stupid doll and if anyone didn't like it that was too bad, I was the Head Witch and my word was law. Now I might as well not even be Head Witch for all the respect I get!"
Back in her dorm Tina sat at her desk and looked at the doll, contemplating what to do. No doubt the woman would know if Tina tried to used magic again, and she was right that Tina didn't really know what she was doing. But Tina didn't want to give this up before she'd even really started.
It was at that moment that she remembered Adrian and his family in Strangetown. Rumor had it Nervous Specter was the son of the Grim Reaper himself, and she was pretty sure Adrian had mentioned Nervous's cousin Ophelia Nigmos being a witch. If there was anywhere she could learn more about magic and how to keep the stranger from finding out when she used it, then Strangetown seemed like a good bet.
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Author's Note: I darkened these photos a bit, but I'm not sure I like it. On the one hand I think it does lend something to this scene (which is why I did it in the first place), but it's also harder to see what's going on. I still have the original pre-edit photos so I might end up redoing them to be lighter. What do all of you think?