Adalyn Kershan

The sun was high in the sky, and beat down on the city block where school was letting out. 17 year old Adalyn was ready to just get home. She had a headache from all the badly controlled magic, and where wolf children flaunting their new scents by marking over each other until every hallway in the school smelt like a wolf den and some had even ignored courtesy. They had marked the walls with their scent after a crappy gym shower… rubbing wet fur all over the log corners of the small school. It was enough to make her nauseated.

With her book bag on her back, and her long, warm brown curls pulled into a neat ponytail high on her head she strolled out of the main hall into the sunshine and fresh air. Well… fresh was a hope more than the truth. Outside the magic crackled in the air to her complete annoyance. Adalyn watched the other girls wishing she could be like them, completely unaware of the raw magic in the air. Granted there was one up side, it was New World Magic and wouldn't anger the Gods or Spirits of ALL Hallows.

Adalyn waited for the cross guard to wave her her across the street so she could begin the walk home. He was an older gentleman who had known her since she was a child. "Ho, Ady girl, it seems your friends are rushing to meet you." Cal pointed at the two girls rushing her direction. Adalyn groaned and tightened the tie in her hair.

"Cal please? At least give me a head start?" Adalyn all but begged, her lip quivering as she looked at the older man in a desperate pout. Cal chuckled. Adalyn had the mark of an Old World witch, one eye blue as the sky and the other dark as the richest brown tree bark. He nodded at her and let her pass. She hurriedly put in headphones and started playing the witch's music.

"Be safe and good luck little Witch." He told her as Adalyn rushed past with a hurried word of thanks. He chuckled heartily as the other two girls rushed passed him to catch up with Adalyn. Their shoes with their retractable wheels engaged were making a quick job of catching up. Soon they were close enough to touch Adalyn's hair.

"Ady!!!!!!!" Yelled the faster girl, who was a lot like Adalyn in age. They were the same height and similar build but she wore a light purple frilly dress in contrast with Adalyn's Jeans and long black tunic like top. The girl had long blond curls falling loose and a pair of bewitching green eyes, which to her dismay was the most magical thing about her. Priscilla wanted desperately to be a mage or a witch, she didn't care which but she wanted to command spells and magic. Her crystal necklace and rune earrings spoke volumes of this wish but… she didn't have the discipline for real Magic. Perhaps a few parlour tricks if she worked at it enough.

"Adalyn please, we need you. There are only 8 of us and we need multiples of three. They aren't going to let Suzan and I participate without a third partner." Pricilla begged and Adalyn sighed, removing her earphones. "Please Ady? I will even help you with your math finals!"

Adalyn let the girls offer mull over in her head. She did need some help in trigonometry. "What do you need?" Adalyn asked, a little unwilling to write a girl like Pricilla a blank check. That had burned her once before.

"We just need you to come to the Coven meeting tonight, as a guest. You dance and sing and that's all." Pricilla replied and Adalyn inwardly groaned. This coven thing was getting out of hand. Ever since Michelle Arinda had arrived in town she spoke of nothing but how strong a coven was and what it did for the witches in it. Complete balderdash. The coven itself was only as good as its weakest witch. This group lacked the understanding of the Rituals and Rites they performed.

"Tonight is really not a good night to have a coven's first meeting." Adalyn pointed out honestly worried. The harvest moon would give power to even the weakest wisp. It was a night for practiced witches to appease the Winter, Harvest, and Hunter gods. It was not a time to play teenage games and practice skills.

"But Michelle said it's the best night of the year to form a strong bond." Pricilla replied, her expression was full of determination. Adalyn could only scoff inside.

Of course, because your beloved Coveness had said so, Adalyn thought with disdain. Adalyn herself was not officially part of any coven, but she tended to tag along with her Grandmother to meetings and even watch rites. She knew how tonight would go, but if this group did something to anger the gods, the harvest could be ruined and the hunting grounds without game.

"Alright, you win. I will be there. One rule, No Candles." Adalyn warned her, folding her arms across her chest and giving the younger girl the most stern expression she could muster. A side effect the child hadn't expected however, was her eyes struck fear in any human heart when one was cold as ice and the other warm as a candles dancing flame.

"I will tell them. Thank you so much, Ady." Pricilla hugged her in a warm embrace. As the girl's gratitude washed over her, Adalyn could only sigh. Was that just the discomfort from being hugged that she felt run down her spine, or was that a witches nerve warning her something wicked this way comes?

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Adalyn ran up the last few steps to reach the doors of her Grandmother's house. It was a simple town house, 6 small rooms stacked 2 by 2 from the door to the topmost balcony. The first floor was a Kitchen; neat and tidy with jars labeled 'Flour' beside the jar labeled "Moon Dust." The second room on the floor was suppose to be a dining room but it served as a study, with books, specimen bottles and other trinkets on shelves.

Her Mother, Rosalyn, was busy at the stove cooking and enjoying the music a little housebelf was playing for her. A candle burned on the sink in a simple wooden holder etched with details too delicate to see. It filled the room with the warm sage smell of protection.

"Ady, your home late. You know the rules on Harvest Eve. Bath in the smoke before you come into the kitchen." Rosalyn reminded her and Adalyn chuckled and stepped into the smoke so it could cleanse her skin of the NW Magic that clung to her every pore.

"Yes Mom, sorry. I just had a frustrating day at school." Adalyn replied as she took off her hoodie and backpack setting them on the table by the door. Rosalyn turned her deep, woody brown eyes on her daughter.

"Oh? Did something happen or is it just The Harvest?" Rosalyn asked. She was a well built woman with a kindly smile that came from a generation where being rude, was rude.

"Were children without manners. Many of the early bloomers changed for the first time last night and wanted to spread scents." Adalyn sighed deeply as she plopped down at the kitchen table behind her mom. Rosalyn sniffed the air then put a dainty hand discreetly under her nose to block the majority of the scent.

"You are still friends with that Roary boy aren't you?" Rosalyn asked and Adalyn nodded.

"Yes. He wore my hoodie for a bit so those brats wouldn't try to mark me in their stupid games. He's still an alpha so they left me alone." Adalyn replied running a hand through her ponytail to remove the band. Warm strands of hair fell around her shoulders and down her back.

"You need to wash the hoodie and yourself before the Hour tonight." Rosalyn replied with an understanding smile. Her daughter had come home with six write ups last year, from hexing or hitting a number of were creatures for trying to mark her with their scent. Coming home drenched in Roary's smell was better than a trip to the principal's office.

"I don't plan on wearing the hoodie tonight. I am going to wear my dress I think. The sheer green one with the orange tank top and green pants." She explained and her mother seemed to think a moment, as if trying to think of something.

"And the Pumpkin boots I assume? What about your hat?" Rosalyn asked vividly recalling her daughter's purple sashed pointed hat that fit perfectly with the purple dress and black hoodie she normally wore for the Harvest. Suddenly, Adalyn couldn't look up from her fingernails as she tried in vain to clean them. Rosalyn untied her green and purple apron, complete with multicolored eyeball fabric, and hung it on a hook.

"Yes, as far as the Hat goes… would you be angry if I didn't want to go to our Coven's Gathering?" Adalyn asked, as much as that pained her to say. She was only two meetings away from being a junior member. It had taken four years to get this far. Rosalyn frowned deeply, there was suspicion and concern in her eyes.

"Were you threatened by the warlock boys again?" Rosalyn asked, remembering the group of spellcasters who terrorized any young witch just before her debut. The less spell casters the more raw magic there was for them to harness.

"No… not by them at least." Adalyn admitted as she thought over the repercussions if she didn't show up tonight. Rosalyn tossed her rag into the sink.

"Spill, dear." Her motherly concern and protective notes weaving into her tone. Adalyn sighed and got up to open the fridge and pull out a bottle of green tea and twisted off the cap.

"Well, to be honest I think that new girl in town is going to try and have a coven gathering tonight." Adalyn explained rather simply, and took a drink of her tea. Rosalyn smiled.

"And you want to take part. That is fantastic, practice gatherings are amazingly good for young witches and warlocks. It builds good connections early on." Rosalyn honestly seemed excited that Adalyn would go to something like that. It meant the child was finally trying to make friends!

"No, Mom. I mean A Gathering. As in multiples of 3, a bonfire, dancing, chanting, singing." Adalyn replied meaningfully. Rosalyn looked a bit more serious now, little worry lines appearing on her forehead.

"As long as there are no candles or an adult witch is present we should be fine." Rosalyn pointed out and Adalyn drank her tea in a long slow stream. There was a meaningful silence between the two and Rosalyn's eyebrow raised. "Adalyn Morigan Kershan…"

Adalyn winced at the use of her full name. It sent a tremble of power down her spine when her mother said her middle name… her witch name. When a parent uses a child's second name and they were born to a witchy house, it meant business in a mystical way not just 'angry mom voice' sort of way.

"I am pretty sure I saw them with a book on candle making a month back and this Suzan girl is determined. She wants to be recognized as a witch, but does not have the discipline." Adalyn admitted and Rosalyn nodded.

"Suzan Rynalda? She has been petitioning since they entered town. They wanted Suzan to join the coven on the basis she was a junior member in her hometown." Rosalyn added the situation suddenly in a new light. "What do you plan to do?"

"What can I do, Mother? I am going to go, forbid candles, and thwart every chant I possibly can. Hopefully it will be enough to allow the Gods and spirits to ignore us as ignorant children." Adalyn sighed deeply and finished her tea as though it was something stronger. Good thing young witches were not allowed to drink.

"Ady you know what happens if 1 god comes to this unsanctioned gathering…" Rosalyn spoke softly, her voice gentle with her daughter as though the girl was made of brittle glass.

"Yea, I know. If he comes… but he won't. Not unless my candle burns as I dance. No candles, remember?" Adalyn reminded her, setting the glass bottle in the sink and running up stairs to shower and take a short nap.

Rosalyn watched her daughter go, and her eyes flicked to the portrait on the wall. Ellawyn Kershan's soft bi colored eyes stared back at her, her smile just as confident as ever. Behind her in the portrait was a Harvest Moon and a pair of figures on the hill. "Great Great Grandmother… please protect us."

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