A Magical Scheme

Chapter 6: A New Partner

I met Lukas downstairs and gestured for him to stand in front of me. I gently grabbed his hands, and oddly, he didn't object. His hands were soft and gentle, not the hard callused flesh I would've expected from a hunter. I concentrated and said, "You might want to close your eyes for this next part, don't want you getting too dizzy." He nodded and I couldn't tell if he closed his eyes before I closed mine and thought of the image of the house Circe put in my head. Within seconds I felt the air around us circulate and I opened my eyes to see Lukas doing the same. He was enchanted with the sight before us as the air started to push us closer together, our hands in between us being the only thing to keep us from being smashed together. Our feet began to lift from off of the ground and suddenly we began to spin. I closed my eyes, but I don't think Lukas did the same, and all of a sudden we were dropped back on a hard surface. I opened my eyes and saw Lukas plastered with a shell-shocked reaction on his face. I almost laughed as I let go of his hands, and looked around. We were in the middle of Catalina's beach house- it seemed. I'd never heard of Catalina, in fact, I didn't know it was possible to live without a coven. The floors were wooden, we were in her living room, there were two plush couches and a small stone table in front of them. I walked over to the small table in between the couches and picked up a picture frame, with a picture of Catalina and another woman. I couldn't quite make out who it was, their face looked like it had been blacked out by coal, but I saw a small little bracelet on her right arm, with a small gem in it. Before I could look any closer, I heard a noise from the next room over, and I realized Lukas had left. "Lukas", I whispered. No reply. I sighed and left for the next room, the kitchen. There were herbs and strings of garlic hanging from the low stone ceiling, and a small cauldron was sitting on the stovetop. I leaned forward and smelt around the rim, a familiar scent lingered but I couldn't quite place my head on it. I looked around some more and eventually found a small wooden door that seemed like it led to the basement, where I heard a faint voice talking as if it was repeating itself. I slowly opened the door to see a steep set of steps in front of me. I spotted Lukas, sitting at the bottom of the steps, his back turned to face the darkness. I was about to step forward and ask what he was doing until I heard him softly say, "Here kitty kitty." followed by a soft meow. "Lukas, is that a cat?" I said, as I saw the faint outline of the small feline, it seemed as black as the darkness surrounding it. Lukas turned to me and said, "I heard the poor thing scratching at the door and came to investigate." I smiled and stepped forward, except in landing on the step below, I felt a wave of dizziness and miscalculated due to the low light coming from the doorway behind me. I reached out to grab the railing to avoid toppling face-first down the stairs but was instead stopping mid-air by two strong arms I soon recognized belonged to Lukas. Even in the darkness, I flushed, my entire weight was leaning forward as his arms gripped my underarms and smoothly swung me around to the bottom of the steps. "For an all-powerful witch- who knew a steep set of stairs would get the best of you?" he spoke, I could almost hear him grinning. I scoffed and snapped my fingers to create a flame from my palm to light the room. The black cat had hidden behind Lukas as I looked to investigate the rest of the basement. It was more like a large room than a basement, the ground and walls were all made of stone but as soon as I spotted a torch on the wall I sent a spark to light it aflame. After I spotted two others, I extinguished the flame in my palm. The room was quite empty, save for a few wooden shelves with a mix of marked and unmarked vials and jars of various sizes. I spotted a bookshelf and searched for any sort of clue, as Lukas began to do the same with the other shelves. Sooner or later I spotted a tattered leather journal, the smallest book on the shelf. I pulled it from its place and before I could open it, I heard a voice from above, soon followed by a few others. The first one sounded rough and spoke about something relating to criminals and a craft of some sort. Before I could say anything, a hand clamped over my mouth and I turned to face Lukas who motioned for me to be quiet by raising a finger to his lips. He leaned close and whispered softly, "Hunters. We need to leave." I nodded. How did they find this place? But it wasn't the time to ask. I slowly concentrated my thoughts and began to think of home, as I grabbed Lukas's shoulders and within the next minute we were standing in my living room again.

Before I could say anything I spotted a small black figure emerge from behind Lukas. "Looks like we caught a stowaway." he chuckled, before bending down the pet the affectionate creature. "I've never been one for endorsing stereotypes of witches and cats. But I will admit this kitty is quite persistent." I spoke as I bent down to stroke the cat's soft fur. "However I don't believe your burly friend will be a fan of this kitty." Lukas frowned, "Oh yeah," he said, "I hadn't heard of that." I nodded back, as I looked out the window to spot the sun rising above the pine trees. Lukas peered out behind me and spoke, "Its morning already? Uh oh no- I've got to go, but I'll stop by tonight maybe?" I smiled, "Sounds good, I'll see you then." And Lukas rose from his spot of the floor and swung his satchel across his shoulder as he gave me one final glance before walking out the small cottage door. I let go of the breath I hadn't known I'd been holding in, and I turned to see the small kitty had hopped up onto the couch and fallen asleep. I smiled and sat down beside her as I opened the grimoire, and began to explore the life of Catalina.