Cyberwitch Academy: Learn or Burn

Chapter 28

Then Mel is on me, around me, dragging me inside, puts her hand on the back of my neck and I go weak like a ragdoll, feel kinda seasick, but the glitching fades, the voices fade, and she drags me back into the apartment and the girls are there, and they're all fussing around me, clucking and cooing, and they wrap me up in all kinds of blankets, soft, soft fabrics, I didn't realise how cold I was until just then.

Mel says to me as she strokes my hair.

"We've got a lot to talk about Ursula, we've got a lot to talk about."

Vash says, "Mel, can it wait? Can it?"

Mel says, "no girls. No, I'm afraid it can't wait. They won't wait. So we can't either."

Ty and Vash whisper together

'Learn or burn' and they waggle their fingers like flickering flames.

"Go take a shower kiddo. You'll find a parcel in there for you, new clothes, new identity. When you come out, we'll eat." Says Mel

"And then we'll talk. Deal?"

I nod weakly and drift towards the promise of a hot shower.

###

I emerge from the bathroom reborn; the mood has changed. Mel and the girls have set up camp right in the middle of the living room floor, under the floating edifice that is the TV, a screen apparently suspended in mid-air, currently acting as an oversized mediaeval fireplace. I think it's even giving off heat, and yeah it actually smells of wood smoke.

All the windows have shuttered down, some kind of military grade shielding, look like they could take a rocket attack and not even tremble.

Candles are everywhere.

"Found 'em in the cupboards."

Ty grins, running his fingers back and forth through the flame.

Vash is doing cross stitch. Mel, I think, is knitting, no wait maybe crochet. I can't help giggling at this. Mel's arms are scary thick, little pieces of granny square emerging from her fingertips, look of absolute deadly serious concentration.

"You'll need to get yourself an Earthing too." Mel smiles.

"It's the warp and the weft. The Weaver way. You go way out into the Gap, up the mountain, you have to come back down to the valley. An Earthing is a way to get back here, to the everyDay."

I must look as confused as I feel.

"She means, when you use Weaver magic, when you use the Rhizome a lot, you need to balance it out, pay it back. The Rhizome carries a price, fries your nerves. Earthing is a way of mending your frazzled nervous system." Vash tries to clarify.

"Has to be analogue too. But other than that, it can be whatever really. I knew a witch who always had jigsaw puzzles in her bag."

"When I was little, I used to sit and draw tiny circles for hours." I'm surprised at myself, hadn't thought about that in years.

The microwave pings and Ty heads to the kitchen to get the soup. He returns and hands out the mugs from a tray.

I sit in the middle of them all, trying to identify which question to ask first.

Of course, mom.

"Tell me everything you know about my mom." I linger over the word everything.

"Well, let me see."

Mel leans back, holding her steaming mug in both hands, her eyes leave the room, looking back on some other time.