prophctic

[prophctic]

ajani watched mae's reaction carefully, curiously; he didn't draw attention to it, but made a silent, mental note to himself to speak with her about it later. he wasn't certain if her connection to, and possessiveness of, the mirror was a connection to it, or something the mirror was foisting upon her, but he vowed to keep a watchful eye, lest the worst case scenario come to fruition.

ivy smiled at her best friend, giving her a wink as damaris began to speak. she nodded, her smile fading and her mouth setting in a grim line as damaris explained the depths of danger the coven had placed them in, as well as their entire community, through their selfish actions. she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, and spotted rose touching piper's arm comfortingly as damaris continued to speak. it was almost enough to make ivy smile again, if not for the severity of damaris's words, and their situation, drawing her attention sharply back to the moment.

"that's a great question," ivy sighed at saint's words. "i think the answer is more research. we have to piece together what exactly it was they did with their spell, and how far back it goes."

"there may be something else to consider," eshe mused. "a blood sacrifice on a nemeton is not only feeding those performing the sacrifice, it is feeding the nemeton itself. nemeton were places of worship for ancient druids; like you have all said, magic is a religion in salem. the location of salem, and this religion, may well have started as something beautiful and positive. when druids located a nemeton, it was said to be a world tree; they viewed it as the center of their world, of their magic, and gave thanks to it as well as worshipped before it. a nemeton can provide protection to those who guard it, but if it is ever damaged, the consequences can be dire: floods, plagues, fires, death, destruction. not only for the town itself, but for surrounding villages, as well."

"but if the nemeton acts as a protector...does it require sacrifice in order to do that?" willow whispered nervously.

"not at all," eshe assured her. "but there are two important things to note. first, if a blood sacrifice is committed upon a nemeton, this act, in a sense, charges it. it not only imbues it with power depending on what the sacrifice is, but it also causes the nemeton to illuminate, in a sense. it transforms the tree into a beacon that calls to the supernatural, draws them towards it. in effect, your elders may not only be feeding their own magic from those they sacrifice, they may also be feeding from the magic of the nemeton that is drawn from those sacrifices. they may, in turn, be drawing additional danger to salem by turning the nemeton into a beacon through these sacrifices."

"so they're basically trapping themselves in their own vicious cycle," gemma said, brows knit together. "they have to make sacrifices to stop whatever they angered, and to be strong enough to protect themselves agains whatever they're drawing to them, except their only drawing it to them because they're making the sacrifices."

"precisely," eshe nodded.

"fuck," lo murmured under her breath.

"you said there were two things, eshe," sam said. "what was the other one?"

"stealing power from the nemeton, is, in a sense, harming it. while they may not be cutting into it or chopping it down, they are still bringing harm to the sacred tree."

"...which means on top of pissing off some mystical unknown, and drawing the supernatural to them, they're also possibly incurring the wrath of the nemeton itself," aiden groaned.

"i hate to add to the list of concerns," ajani said softly, "but i'm afraid i may know what the diary entries referred to when they spoke of the deaths mae read to us."

"you do?" nora chewed at her lower lip, looking at harry worriedly, then back at ajani.

"i may," he said. "you may know of vampire lore that suggests that killing a vampire will cause all of those that vampire has sired to die, as well."

"i've heard that," sam nodded. "but i was never sure if it was true or not. there aren't any reliable records or sources, only urban legends or folklore about it."

"that is quite intentional," ajani said sadly. "as it is true. if those who wished us harm knew they could wipe out not one, but dozens, or more, vampires by killing one, it would put all vampires at great risk."

"oh my god," willow whispered. "that's awful."

"wait," taylor's eyes widened, and she stood up abruptly. "if killing one vampire would kill anyone they turned too, what would happen if...?" she trailed off, barely daring to speak it.

"if someone killed me," ajani said, his voice still sad, "it would kill every vampire in the world. every vampiric line can be traced back to me, to us. and i fear the same is true for werewolves and hybrids, too. perhaps even more. we are at the beginning of every supernaturals origin, save for a few, such as witches like yourselves. the same magic that creates vampires creates so many others. and the same magic that can kill vampires can do the same to so many others."

"so the people who tried to kill uche, the dread doctors..." annika swallowed.

"they may be exactly what was written about. if they have come here to kill us, they may very well kill nearly every supernatural in existence."

mae nodded, still in awe of the fact that dragons continued to exist somewhere. "yeah, i think that'd be good. i just..." she couldn't explain why she felt nervous about the idea of going back to the seller. it wasn't as if she would take the mirror back... was it? mae had bought it. it was hers. and she was struck, suddenly, by how strangely possessive she was being over an object she'd only had for a week. she set the mirror down and nodded more firmly. "yeah. i'm ready to go whenever you are."

"jo, you said you'd found more stuff about the harvest, right?" dean asked.

jo hummed her confirmation. "actually, ivy and damaris figured it out. i just added a bit of my own research to the pot." she waved towards them.

damaris nodded, standing up and addressing the room. "ives and i were talking a while ago about what we know of the harvest and, more importantly, what we don't know. why was piper there? why have piper and the parents do the dirty work if the elders are supposedly the strongest? why waste time searching for dom and cass if they don't have time, instead of replacing them with another fire and water witch? how did piper find them but the coven didn't? why do they care so much about continuing this tradition?" at some point, she'd begun to pace, but here she stopped and looked at piper with a smile. "we totally believe everything you've said. we know you've told us what you know. so we're not doubting you, i promise."

piper smiled at her, thankful for the reassurance, though it didn't completely assuage the guilt in her stomach.

damaris continued. "so we got to talking about it, and we did some research, with jo's help, too. and what we've discovered is that the harvest that the coven carries out is⎯excuse my language⎯a fucking mess."

darren blinked. "oh."

"it's not a real thing," damaris said. "i mean, it is⎯⎯it's several very real rituals that they've poured into one ceremony. there is a harvest like the one you all grew up looking forward to. in that ceremony, you sacrifice a portion of your magic into the land that birthed you and it protects your home. the good that you've poured into the earth comes back to you and the earth blesses you. there's a coven in sweden that hosts the ritual every year, and one in brazil that feeds their nemeton with it. there's nothing in that ritual about death or human sacrifices. there's another ritual that calls for a minor blood sacrifice for the enrichment of the land, but that's borderline archaic. other rituals that call for animal or human sacrifices to appease gods..." she shook her head.

"so what?" dean asked. "you think they're doin' all of them?"

damaris ran her tongue across her lips. "there is this belief in communities like salem, where witches are a part of the history, the foundation, that if you desecrate the land and its magic, misfortune falls back on you tenfold. and there is no doubt that the coven has desecrated salem and the magic that belongs to it. they've concocted an unnatural ceremony and slaughtered salem's children. there is a reckoning coming for them. doing a blood ritual to suppress angry spirits or gods is just a survival tactic, at this point."

"that's why they're doing this?" claire asked. "because of superstition?"

"it's not superstition," harry said in a gentle tone. "not to them. it's religion, it's history. they tell us stories about covens and colonies that have been ravaged by vengeful spirits because of their actions. our magic comes from nature; the way we treat that magic is a reflection of how we honor nature. and mother nature does not take kindly to disrespect."

"it's why necromancy is taboo," saint added. "it goes against the laws of nature for something that is dead to be revived." he nodded to ajani. "it's why witches historically try to stay away from vampires. when you mess with the balance of nature like that, it will come back to bite you."

"oh," claire said. "so if they don't continue the harvest... something will come for them? what?"

"that's the part we don't know yet," damaris said. "to have started this whole blood sacrifice thing, they had to have angered some entity and been made aware of it. but until we know what entity they pissed off, we won't know how to stop it from decimating salem or how to get the coven to stop looking for dom and cass. but we did find out some other things," she added hopefully. "for one thing, the purpose of the harvest. i said before that the original harvest ritual is to give magic back to the land. the easiest assumption here is that the coven isn't feeding that magic to the land, they're feeding it to themselves. it's... extremely likely that the elders are very weak witches who are siphoning magic from the witches that they've killed, and thus depriving the land of the magic that should be returned to it."

"shouldn't that have consequences?" anna asked.

"yeah, absolutely," jo confirmed. "in theory... piper is holding off the consequence."

piper blinked. "me?"

jo hummed. "it's why they made you a part of the ceremony. you're an earth witch, right? that means you have an inherent connection to the land. you're a child of salem, and the magic clearly favors you. so if you're a part of the ceremony, that means that some fraction of magic is still going back to the earth. but it also means..."

"...it means i've taken magic from the dead."

"that's our theory," damaris said softly. "we think that's why you were able to find dom and cass. the coven paralyzed you with the knife and they made you complicit."

"which also means that if this ritual backfires, pipes could get caught in the cosmic karma backlash," harry guessed.

damaris considered it for a moment before shrugging. "it's possible, but we don't know that for sure. what we do know is that this harvest is a horrible frankenstein-coded monster that is drawing in consequences for the coven's own actions. we could let them deal with that themselves, but the innocent people in salem would get caught in the crossfire."

"so we need to find out who or what the coven pissed off," saint surmised. "how do we do that?"

[prophctic]

"i can assure you, dragons are very real, and in many forms, as well," ajani said, so casually that nora's jaw dropped.

"seriously?" taylor asked, looking at him with wide eyes. ajani chuckled in response.

"of course. granted, dragons— or dragon shifters, to be more precise— used to be far more abundant than they are today," ajani said. "there were many kinds; those who flew in the skies, and those who dove deep into the depths of the seas. like shifters we know of today, they were often in their human forms, but were able to take the forms of dragons. in many places, they were seen as guardians, as protectors; in others, they were seen as fearsome, terrifying, and dangerous. the same is true, of course, for many of us across the world and across cultures."

"dragons," nora repeated, breathing out the word in awe.

"you said there used to be more of them. what happened?" sam asked. ajani frowned sadly.

"unfortunately, as i'm sure many of us in this room have seen, humans often tend to fear what they are not, and what they do not understand, especially if they believe it may harm them. it is why, in general, supernaturals still have to stay hidden today. i say in general because, as you have no doubt seen, things are...a bit different here in this particular city. nearly every resident believes in the supernatural, and has a respect for it to one degree or another. some find it exciting and fascinating; others view the concept of the supernatural the way those who live near forests view wildlife: they respect it from a distance, but prefer not to interact for their own safety. still others actively engage in it; why, if you enter certain voodoo shops here, you will find altars humans leave offerings upon, and they're known to leave offerings at marie laveau's tomb, as well. in certain areas of the city, drivers will not pick up passengers late at night as they have, on occasion, picked up a wayward spirit; even the voodoo temple allows humans to tour it and learn about the religion. but, as we know, that is not the case everywhere. it is easier for some of us to hide, but even then, we have been tracked down. i am sure our friends from salem understand that," ajani said sadly, nodding towards the witches. "and there have been witch and werewolf trials in europe, as well. but wolves, and many other shifters, are smaller, and often indigenous to an area or able to be mistaken for something else. a dragon, whether on land, in the sky, or in the sea, is difficult to mistake for anything else, and difficult to hide."

"people hunted them?" ivy asked incredulously. ajani nodded sadly again.

"even dragons can be slain, i am afraid. but there are still some, some descended, in fact, by those who i believe also lived at the same time as our journal writer."

"if dragons are real, then 'pitch below the dragons belly' can definitely help us. but...what does it mean?" willow wondered.

"i am afraid we will likely need more translation to understand. but i have every faith it can be done," ajani said. "though speaking of the mirror, i have wondered if perhaps there is a link between it and the diary. mae, what would you think of accompanying me back to the flea market one day? perhaps the seller knows a bit about it's history."

"so a lot more research, and patrolling," annika mused. "what other things can we research that might help? with this, and with salem?"

"she didn't quite say what the travelers did," jo said. "at least, not in the parts that we could translate." she gestured between herself and anna. "neither of us are fluent in hungarian, so translating that is going a lot slower. we were actually hoping you or your siblings might be able to help with that part?" she asked ajani.

as everyone turned their attention to her, mae sank her teeth into her bottom lip and studied the page again. "it doesn't look like any other language i've seen. it just... i don't know, it makes sense. like, this part." she places the book on the ground and points to a line of symbols. "she says there's a sound, a frequency, that renders them incapable of travel. but she describes it in a strange way: the pitch beneath the dragon's belly. i don't know what that means."

"maybe it's a metaphor?" dean questioned.

"could be literal," anna suggested. "there are rumors that dragons wren't myths. i mean, so many things from the legends are real, so it stands to reason that dragons would be, too. have you ever met any, ajani?"

"what else does it say, mae?" damaris asked.

mae flipped the page a few times. "um, here, she's describing a vision, or⎯⎯a premonition, that's the word she uses. it's... graphic," she said, her stomach turning tight at some of the words. "she's talking about mass deaths, all happening simultaneously. like... more than half of the population, just gone."

"like thanos snapped, gone?" darren asked. "or dropping to the ground all over the world?"

"it... looks like a little bit of both. it's, um... it's heavy, sorry, i can't stomach that right now."

"that's okay," claire said, rubbing mae's back. she looked down at the journal, curious about what it said and why it was written the way that it was, but unwilling to push mae to read anything she wasn't able to. "honestly, i'm still amazed you can even read it."

"how can you read it?" harry asked. "i mean, my guess is that the book is spelled so that only a powerful witch could read it, but..." he turned his gaze to piper.

blinking, piper slanted a look at him. "i don't know everything, harry." but he continued to stare at her, expectant. piper sighed. "first theory is, obviously, that it's a bloodline thing. jo said there's no record of vhaerya vhassos having descendants, but there are ways around that; illegitimate children, children born of magic, doppelgängers... we can't discount the idea of reincarnation itself."

damaris blinked. "whoa. i didn't know reincarnation was real."

"a lot of people don't think it is, but i don't see why it wouldn't be," piper said with a shrug. "my second theory is that it's just an innate ability. some witches who aren't very skilled in practical magic excel in the theory and study of it. like dom."

harry raised his eyebrows at that. "i thought dom was amazing at magic."

"he got better when we grew up," saint clarified, remembering all too well how dominic kim was with his magic. "but when he was a kid, he was awful at it, which is why he took up brewery and potion-making. now he's skilled all around, but back when we were kids, he could barely manipulate water. cee's heart defect pushed him to learn healing magic, and he just kept getting better from there."

piper nodded. "so it's possible that mae, like dom, struggles to perform spells, but she's very attuned to things that practical witches can't decode, like enchanted writing. third theory... the mirror."

dean looked at her in confusion. "what mirror?"

piper smiled a bit awkwardly and waved a pen towards mae. "a week ago, mae and ajani went to a flea market, and mae found a mirror. it looked like a regular mirror when she showed it to me, and i'm assuming it did to ajani, too, but mae felt drawn to it. i didn't feel any magic from it, but i know that it entranced mae. so much so that i would bet she has it with her now." she gestured to the blonde.

nibbling on her lower lip, mae's hesitation was obvious, but she eventually reached into her bag and pulled out the pink mirror in question. she held it to her chest, nervous to let it go, even as the others looked at it.

"i don't know what the deal with the mirror is," piper confessed. "it just feels like a regular mirror to me, even when i touch it, but it clearly isn't like that for mae. between that and the journal... it might be a coincidence that she's the only one tuned into these things. but it might also be a chain reaction."

"like finding the mirror opened something up for her?" darren guessed.

"yeah. or that something led her to the mirror in the first place," piper said. "i had my suspicions about the mirror, but it didn't seem like a big enough deal to bring to eshe, with everything else going on. twice is coincidence, but thrice is a pattern, and... being isolated in magic is dangerous, and i'd prefer to keep an eye on it."

"then we will," damaris promised with a nod. "i'll help with the transcriptions, too. maybe if we get eshe's eyes on all of this, she can shed some light on it for us."

"i'll help with patrols," dean offered.

"if it's okay, i think i will, too," jo said. "speaking of being isolated with this stuff, i've been deep in it for weeks now and i could use a break."

piper's eyes fell to the table, then she looked at rose. "i don't know if i feel safe using my magic yet," she confessed. it was easier, somehow, saying these things to rose instead of anyone else. "i know my body is mine now, but i still don't really feel like it." she looked back to the rest of the group. "i'll help with research, if that's okay."

jo smiled at piper with understanding, then looked back to the others. "oh, please," she said, nodding to the books. "feel free to take them off of my hands, i don't think i can stand to look at them for another day, at least not for a while. there is more stuff about the travelers there, but honestly, it's all so mixed up, it's taking us forever to get through it all."

"luckily, you have more eyes now," harry said. "once we get everything translated, it won't be as hard to put the pieces together, right?"

[prophctic]

"what if that's what they called themselves?" sam mused. "not the travelers; it makes sense that vhaerya would call them that, considering she seemed to be aware of how they traveled. but what if they called themselves the virtuous?"

rose let out a huff, nodding grimly. "it wouldn't be the first time someone engaged in some horrible act while operating under the impression that they were doing the right thing."

"that's actually a really good point," sam sad, tone equally grim. "half of the hunters we meet lump all supernaturals together and think they're doing the right thing by blindly attacking. jo, you said that the book you found talked about them trying to find a host for sebastian valet, but this journal predates that by centuries. did she write about what they did, what they wanted from them then? if we can figure out their motivation, it might help us untangle what's happening here, now."

"and maybe their origin, too," ivy suggested thoughtfully. "you said it was partially in hungarian, right? do we know for certain they originated in france? or is it possible they came from hungary?"

everyone's eyes seemed to widen at mae's ease in reading the code printed on the page. ivy leaned closer, studying the symbols, but it may as well have been written in a cipher as far as she could comprehend.

"you can really read that?" she asked, awe filling her voice. "mae, that's incredible. is it..." she studied the symbols and runes more closely, trying to make anything of them. "can you tell if it's related to any other language? or does it just...make sense to you?"

"there may be a reason it does. perhaps we will learn that as we read," ajani suggested.

"i can't help with the decoding or translating, but i can help you transcribe it, if you want," ivy offered.

"i can, too," willow volunteered. "maybe a few of us can. if we write will you translate, maybe we can get it done a bit faster. are we able to bring this with us?" she asked jo, turning her attention to her hopefully. of course, she would understand if the book needed to stay in the library, or with jo, but it would make things far easier and more efficient if they were able to take it home with them and start the process of translating and transcribing right away.

"i'll help too. with this, or anything else i can," nora volunteered.

"that brings up another good point," rose said. "with these dread doctors using electrical currents to travel, and a bloodthirsty coven possibly tracking us down, should we be...i don't know, setting up a watch schedule? preparing in some way?"

"a watch or a patrol is a good idea," ajani said. "for anyone who is comfortable volunteering to do so. however, i suggest we do so in groups; it took quite a few people to put a stop to their initial attack, and i do not want anyone else to be hurt. it is also possible that knowing more about them will help us better prepare for what they are capable of, and how to arm ourselves against them most efficiently."

nora chewed nervously at her thumbnail. ajani was right; anything that could hurt an original, and anything that had been around for centuries, was definitely something that terrified her.

"is there anything else you learned from this journal that might help us, jo?" ajani asked her.

jo hummed in response to sam's question. "yeah, but it's not the first time," she dismissed. "the bar is old as hell and the landlord refuses to pay for sustainable piping. i've tried to complain about it, because that's a health risk, especially for our non-supernatural clientele, but apparently, that means nothing. luckily, i have our detectors checked frequently, and i have a built-in gas detector for a coworker," she said, gesturing to darren. "so i just close down the building whenever there's a gas leak and wait for it to be fixed, burdened with the knowledge that it'll happen again in, like, a year."

"that can't be legal," mae said, horrified.

"when your landlord has a seat on the council, everything is legal," jo said. "but... the dread doctors."

everyone finished settling in, finding places to sit where they could all see and speak to each other. when they comfortable, they all turned their attention to jo.

"so i did some looking around to see if there was any record of the dread doctors before the death of sebastian valet," she said. "and i couldn't find any. which isn't to say that there weren't any, but it would have been much harder for anyone to record such a thing. but what i did find was a journal from 1391, written by..." she reached across darren to grab a book that was almost hidden under his thigh. "vhaerya vhassos."

"who was she?" claire asked.

"a witch from fourteenth century france, long before sebastian valet or marie-jeanne argent. the vhassos line died with vhaerya, as far as i know, but vhaerya was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of witch; all of the queen malarie's court witches were. and some of them lived for well over two hundred years."

harry nodded slowly. "so vhaerya wrote a journal?"

"yes," jo confirmed. "it was strange, and dismissed by most as the ramblings of a mad woman. vhaerya, in her old age, was regarded as a heretic, completely out of her mind. it's believed that whoever succeeded the throne after malarie hale had vhaerya put to death in a mercy killing, but whatever happened, she left behind a journal."

jo set the journal down and spoke with her hands. "whenever anyone tried to read the journal, they couldn't make sense of it. half of it lacked context and the other half was written in a language that has never been spoken by the human tongue."

she gestured to the book as harry picked it up, flipping through the pages. just as jo had said, none of it made any sense. he wasn't fluent in french in the first place, but even that was easier to understand than the almost inhuman characters that she'd written. "what are they, satanic runes?" he asked.

"that's the question that i've been asking myself," jo said. "it's clearly an alphabet of some sort, as evidenced by the reused characters. throughout the entire journal, i counted 149 different characters, so it's obviously not a direct translation to english." she sighed. "i'm still working on translating that. the part that caught my attention, though, is actually the incomprehensible french. she repeatedly uses this term, az verts⎯⎯which does not make any sense, because az is not a french term. but i think it is actually a mix of words, from france and hungary: az erényes and les vertueux. the virtuous."

"doesn't sound like our guys," dean pointed out.

"at first glance, no," jo agreed. as harry set the book down, mae curiously picked it up. "and reading the journal as it is does not make it any clearer. but i took all of the excerpts that are in french, reprinted them and reordered them. it doesn't make sense because it's all out of order. vhaerya vhassos wasn't writing nonsense, she was writing in code. so i passed it over to anna, who is much better at french than i am..."

taking her cue, anna cleared her throat and sat up a bit. "the virtuous that vhaerya spoke of, she also referred to them as les voyageurs at one point; the travelers. she spoke about how they manipulated time as if it were just water. so the obvious assumption here is that she's talking about time travelers, but she keeps referencing electric currents, which didn't make much sense for her time period. the concept of time travel as we know it depends on technology that she wouldn't have had back in the fourteenth century."

"so there's a good chance she came across the dread doctors, then," saint said. "but she never calls them that?"

anna shook her head. "that was a term coined by whoever wrote the book; they didn't call themselves that. we could be off base about it, but there's a good chance that we're dealing with the same threat she did. most importantly, she wrote instructions on how to catch them."

piper's eyebrows shot up. "seriously?"

anna and jo exchanged a look before jo sighed. "we think that's the part that's written in another language. until we figure out how to translate it, it's another dead end."

mae looked up at them confused. "you can't read it? really?"

they both paused and looked at her. anna blinked. "you can?"

"yes...?" mae turned back to the first page. "it's definitely another language, but it makes sense. doesn't it?"

"not even a little bit," harry said honestly.

"mae, how long do you think it'd take you to translate that book?" piper asked.

flipping through the journal, mae shrugged. "i don't know. a few days? i can read it just fine, but transcribing it might take a while."

[prophctic]

"hey," rose sat down next to piper, smiling as she tucked the other witches items beneath the table. castiel made his way over to dean as annika smiled at claire, and introduced their companion to the group.

"everyone, this is chloe." the girl lifted a hand to wave, smiling a little shyly.

"hi everyone," she greeted them.

"it's very nice to meet you, chloe," sam said, shaking her hand before setting a stack of books down on the floor and joining jo and ivy as the group discussed whispers— or were-pires, as dean put it— and everyone got settled in. "jo, what happened to the bar? there's a gas leak?" he asked, concerned, as her phone buzzed.

moments later, ajani greeted their final companion before entering the main area of the room along with him. ivy turned to look, then did a double take, her heart skittering before it skipped a beat.

"hi," she echoed, a smile crossing her face. it struck her how funny it was that they had both so deftly skirted the supernatural when talking, when all along they could have told the truth. even if he wasn't supernatural himself— and she had a feeling he was, if he was able to walk through a gas leak safely— he was clearly well-aware of it. she kept smiling in spite of herself, watching him as he took a seat. the others shuffled over, finding a spot either on the floor or at one of the nearby tables. lo hopped up to perch on the edge of one of the tables, while willow took a seat beside saint, and nora sat beside harry. chloe continued to stand by castiel and dean, and ajani strode towards the tables and took a seat as well, waiting for his siblings to join them.

"i think this is everyone," he said. "eden said she would be joining us as well, but she was looking for another of your alpha friends."

"kali," aiden nodded.

"we can let them in when they get here. for now, jo, might we begin with what you've learned about the dread doctors?"

piper looked up at rose's entrance and offered her a smile. "hey." she stepped back so that mae could hug rose in greeting before moving onto the others, then gestured to a table for her and rose to share. of course, the second piper took a seat, several of the other witches dropped their stuff at the table at her feet. it neither bothered nor surprised her, as she only tucked everything beneath the table, out of the way.

before jo could answer ivy's question, castiel and the others walked in. jo smiled up at them. "hey!"

claire waved from beside her dad, but her aunt beamed. "hi, joey! you got started without us?" greeting ajani with a smile and a brief hand on his arm, she walked inside to join jo and ivy. claire found her way to annika's side while dean waved castiel over.

"the bar's been closed, so i haven't had much else to do," jo reported with a small smile. "anna, this is ivy. ivy, this is anna milton, castiel's little sister."

"can i ask something?" saint asked, looking at anna, claire, and castiel.

predicting the question, anna smiled. "no, we're not adopted," she said. "cherubim are just... different. our appearances aren't really tied to race. castiel and i come from the same parents, and clary comes from castiel. it just doesn't look like it."

"whispers are the same way," claire said.

"what's a whisper?" harry asked.

"lux," piper said, flipping through a book. "lux is a whisper, and she is the antithesis of cherubim. they're operate sort of like vampires, but biologically, they're closer to demons with some similarities to werewolves."

"were-pires," dean provided sagely.

piper nodded with gravity. "were-pires. demonic were-pires, but yes. their biology can be completely identical, and they couldn't look any more different from two total strangers. in theory, it's because of their otherworldly dna; witches, vampires, werewolves, banshees... we're all human, at the end of the day. but cherubim and whispers are inherently not."

anna nodded, impressed. "you know a lot about that. i've met cherubim who don't know that."

piper smiled. "compulsory learning for coven leaders," she said, and nothing more. "jo, you had some stuff you wanted to share?"

"i did," jo confirmed. she handed one of her books to ivy as damaris joined them on the floor. "i did a lot of digging into the harvest that you were talking about. do we want to start there or..." she trailed off as her phone pinged on the floor. she leaned over to check it. "oh, that's my coworker. he's on his way in."

a minute later, the doors opened once more as darren entered with an armful of bags. "hey, ajani," he said, grinning at the vampire on his way in. he greeted the others that he recognized as he made his way over to jo. "you owe me, you know that? i don't walk through gas leaks for just anyone."

jo smiled and blew him a kiss as she accepted the bags.

darren's eyes landed on ivy and widened in surprise. "that kind of complicated," he understood, then offered her a smile. "i get it now. hi."

jo looked at all of her materials and let out an exhale. "okay, this is all of my stuff. do we want to start with salem stuff or dread doctors stuff? are you staying?" she asked darren, who shrugged and found a spot on the floor. she looked up at ajani. "are we waiting on anyone else?"

[prophctic]

ivy had almost immediately walked down a row of books, her hand hovering over the spines as she passed, scanning the titles and authors. she smiled to herself as she listened to the banter and chatter taking place behind her, only half-processing what was being said as she continued to quickly scan titles, before rounding a corner and continuing back towards where the others had congregated.

"i think we're supposed to be researching, guys," willow teased gently as taylor and gemma flicked through recent issues of magazines.

"this is research. they write about current events," taylor protested cheerily, holding up a copy of people magazine. "ugh, how good do they look together?" she added, holding up a page to gemma, who sighed dreamily.

"literally goals. but i am so serious, if that bitch announces rep tv while i am not watching a livestream, i'm going to lose it."

willow giggled as ajani opened the door again, letting in lo, annika, and rose.

"are we late to the party?" rose asked, breezing inside as though it were not approximately the same temperature a the surface of the sun outside.

"we are still waiting on a few people," ajani said, offering them the same friendly greeting the witches had received.

returning to where the others sat, ivy took a seat on the floor beside jo. "can i see what you've found so far?" she asked curiously. the doors opened again, and ajani let in castiel, claire, and two women ivy didn't recognize, one of whom was presumably his sister.

sitting on the floor of the library, jo looked up as the coven entered. "hey, you all made it!"

"not without a fight," harry muttered, tugging his collar away from his damp skin. the library was mercifully well-insulated, sparing him from the threat of passing out. jo's mouth tugged up into an empathetic smile, understanding all too well. as the witches made themselves comfortable, harry looked around at the otherwise empty library, then at jo. "why are you on the floor?"

surrounded by books and notepads, jo shrugged. "i think better down here. like when you hang your head over the foot of your bed, you know? sometimes it helps you think. at least it does for me. my coworker swears that i'm just made to be uncomfortable."

"and your coworker would be right, josephina," dean said, stepping out of the rows of shelves and joining the group.

jo pointed a pen at him threateningly. "i'll stab you!"

"jo!" dean hissed playfully. "not in front of the witches, you'll make us look bad!"

she stuck her tongue out at him.

"i thought you guys were sitting this one out," mae said, giving both dean and jo a hug. they'd been surprised the first time she'd greeted them that way, seeing as neither of them were raised in especially affectionate homes, but it just seemed to be who mae was. she overflowed with love.

jo smiled at her. "i just thought i had to work today. but there's a gas leak at the bar, so we're closed down until further notice. then my options were either think about how i'm going to pay rent or focus on research, so..."

"a reasonable choice," mae said, nodding sagely. "who else is coming?"

"that coworker i just mentioned is dropping by," jo said. "i don't know if he'll stay, but there are a few things at the bar that i needed and he can survive a gas leak better than i can, so he's picking them up for me and dropping them off. oh, and castiel's sister is coming."

dean looked up at her. "cas has a sister?"

"cas?" jo questioned. "also, yeah. she's a writer who lives for researching stuff like this, i've met her a few times. and she's a sweetheart, so you stay far away from her, gremlin."

dean put a hand to his chest in faux offense. "you wound me, joanna beth."

lifting the pen again, jo mimed stabbing dean through the chest. he grinned back at her.

[prophctic]

the anthology | coven

ivy was certain she'd never felt heat quite like this before.

it was hot in the summers in new england, certainly; closer to the coast the humidity was higher than it was inland, and summer nights on the cape were often made warmer due it the proximity to water. but new england summers, even at the coast, were nothing compared to summers in new orleans. they were deeper south than she had ever been, so close to the gulf they could walk to it's shores, and the moment she stepped outside she found herself sweating. she found herself sticking to the merciful shade of the spanish moss-draped oak trees during the daytime, hesitant to step out from under their branches even to cross the street, and nighttime came as a blissful relief.

another blessing, aside from the shade cast by the massive, romantic trees that lined the streets, was the fact that the city seemed to take air conditioning very seriously. the moment she stepped inside a building, she was instantly cooled down. even the insulation on containers seemed somehow superior to anything she'd experienced on the east coast; the cup of frozen coffee she'd gotten at cafe du monde earlier in the day stayed icy cold for hours, it's to-go cup protecting it somehow from the oppressive summer heat.

ivy suspected magic was involved, not only because of the impressive insulation on the cup, but because of the twinkle in the baristas eye as she'd paid.

magic was everywhere here, but so different from the way it was imbued within society in salem. residents of salem who were human still believed in witchcraft, certainly, and seemed well aware it was a part of their city's history. here, though, even humans seemed to openly not only be aware of, but embrace, the supernatural. sigils were carved into planters, and people left offerings at the voodoo temple or shopped for candles to cure their ills or sorrows; people returning from the bayou openly spoke of hearing a rougarou call or seeing the lights of a fifolet. they were a part of things, not just aware of things; even if they were not supernatural themselves, the people of this city seemed aware of it and respectful of it; open to the help of the paranormal, yet aware of it's boundaries. it was fascinating in a beautiful way.

a third blessing came from the originals, who, despite the salem refugees insistence on paying their own way once they could, were looking out for them nevertheless. clothes appeared in their wardrobes overnight; comfortable shorts and shirts that would keep them cool in the summer heat. a few dresses even appeared, including a vintage dolce and gabbana slip dress that made gemma squeal, and that had left her spinning on the balcony and jumping up and down with excitement.

gemma wore the same dress now as they traipsed to the new orleans library under the blazing sunset, all vibrant reds and pinks and oranges silhouetted behind palm trees. it was so different than anything ivy had grown up seeing; it was all so beautiful.

"won't the library be closed when we get there?" willow inquired hesitantly, still afraid to break the rules.

"ajani said they were staying open late for us," ivy said, feeling almost as hesitant as they approached the steps. as if on cue, ajani opened the door, smiling out at them.

"ah, there you are! come in, come in! i have a friend who works here; she offered to let us have the place to ourselves tonight for research purposes." ajani held the door for the coven members as they filtered inside, ivy's eyes widening as she took in the vast collection of books before her.

"a few more friends will be joining us, so i will wait by the door to let them in. please, feel free to browse until then if you would like."

[prophctic]

well, you're good at giving advice. i appreciate it. ...i'm starting to understand that. what did you do? when you realized you couldn't outrun it?

australia seems amazing. so does egypt. i've never really gotten to go anywhere outside of the east coast, and even then, i didn't get to see much. this is the farthest from home i've ever been. i always thought it would be interesting to go to london. i've...there's one page of the original beowulf manuscript left, and it's at the british library. i always thought it would be amazing to get to see that.

close! nah, this job brings in a lot of people who need to get stuff off their chests. eventually, the advice just starts coming to you. and i don't mind at all. it's ... a bit of both. it all kind of blurred together when all was said and done. i tried to outrun all of it and make it less real, but that's not how it works.

i liked australia. i don't remember a lot of it anymore. i was young. but i remember that i was really happy there. and i've always thought egypt sounded nice. i don't assume you've had much chance to travel? where do you want to go?

[prophctic]

you're my friend, too. and of course you can. you can ask me anything you like. i was...honestly, a little high maintenance as a kid. [lo laughs.] i loved fashion and glamour; my favorite thing in the world was mardi gras. all of the pageantry, all of the beautiful gowns at the ball, the parade, the celebration. i wanted to be mardi gras queen one day, then go to tulane, and live in a big house in the garden district with wisteria growing all around, and i wanted to sit on my porch and sip sweet tea and listen to jazz music. i had this whole plan. then hurricane katrina hit. my parents were killed during the storm. we had a bigger car, and we could help people get out of the city, so that's what we were trying to do. but the storm got bad, and my parents...they both died. i survived. i don't know why. i remember wading through water that was up to my shoulders, trying to find someplace to go, trying to find safe water to drink or something to eat. when a man offered to help me get to the superdome, i went with him. i knew that was where people would be sheltering until they sent someone to help us. ...he didn't take me to the superdome. he bit me, turned me. he was...making his own pack, he said, and i was in it now. it must have been so easy for him to find victims in the aftermath; no one was accounted for, and so many of us lost our families or were separated from them. he kept us here for a while, then moved us to new york city. the things he did, the things that happened to us, to me...i had to get tough fast. so i did. i sank who i used to be beneath the flood waters and i let all of my fear and sadness turn into rage. i was quite the prodigy. it didn't stop him, but i got stronger. better. then one night, when he tried to come after me again, i ripped his throat out. it turned me into an alpha. i told the others to go; that they could be who they wanted to be now. it wasn't long after that another man found me. his name was deucalion. he was building a pack, too. but by then, i was familiar with men like that. but for the first time, i became close with people again; the others already in his pack. together, we rose up against him, with the help of some new friends. after he was gone, i wanted to come back here; to try to be...well, maybe not who i was going to be all those years ago, but someone i can be now. i'd gone from being so sweet to being...brutal. violent. ruthless. i know that's still a part of me. but maybe it doesn't have to be all of me anymore. for a long time i was so angry. but being back here now...it's like i can finally start to let some of the anger go.

hey, you are my friend. the city is telling me so. we're going to be better together. though... can i ask what you were like before?

[prophctic]

do you moonlight as a psychologist when you aren't here? ...that was really good advice, and...really true. i keep thinking maybe i can outrun my past, outrun what happened, or reason it all away, but the truth is, it's a part of me, and wherever i go, there i am. it sounds like you're speaking from experience, though. do you mind if i ask...? if it has to do with your parents, or time spent in the system? i'm sorry if that's overstepping. please don't feel like you have to answer me, or even keep talking to me.

...where is your favorite place you've traveled? or where do you want to go next?

i mean, that's natural, isn't it? dissecting stuff is easy; dealing with how it makes you feel is a lot harder. especially if you're in a situation where you have to be objective about it⎯what good is it to get emotional then, right? thing is... it catches up eventually. and i hate to say it, but the longer you avoid it, the harder it hits when it does.

i wouldn't say they wanted to. they had some demons they were trying to escape back then, then they passed away. between that and being in the system... [he smiles at her, as if to say, "you get the gist."] i didn't hate it, though, i'll say that. i loved traveling. i still do, when i get the chance.

[prophctic]

you're an amazing person as far as i can tell. but maybe...maybe, in spite of the circumstances that brought us all together, we can all be better people now than we were before. i'd like to be a better person in this city. and i'd be honored to be your friend while we do.

[she smiles brightly and takes lo's hand, squeezing it gently.] you're very kind, lo. i appreciate the sentiment. and i hope you're right. i hope i didn't do anything to anyone that made me deserving of these scars. but if i did... then i just hope i'm a better person now than i was before.

[prophctic]

i'm sorry. i...we can take away pain, through touch. i guess it was just instinct to try. but i understand that. i think it's absolutely normal to wonder, and really beautiful to be happy with what you have. still, i'm...whatever did happen, i'm sorry it did. for whatever it's worth, from knowing you now, there's nothing you could have done to deserve that.

[her eyes drop to lo's aborted hand movement, and she smiles again.] you can touch them, if you want. they don't really hurt anymore. i lost my ability to speak above an inside voice, though. but, no, i don't. most of the time, it doesn't bother me. i'm happy with what i have now, you know? the people who've let me into their lives now. but i think it's only normal to wonder sometimes, right?

[prophctic]

[lo's eyes widen imperceptibly as she takes in the claw marks; her hand stretches out towards them slightly before she stops, curling her fingers back in towards her palms.] those look like werewolf claw marks. but just because you have them doesn't mean you did anything to deserve them. you don't remember what happened before you arrived here in new orleans?

ah, i don't know about that. i don't... i don't know if i'm a good person at all. i came to new orleans about a year ago. i think i did, anyway. [julia brushes her hair back and tugs the collar of her shirt aside. brutal claw marks mar her skin. though the wounds have healed over, they still look red and angry. she smooths her shirt back with a smile.] something happened to me before i got here. but i don't remember what that something was. i don't remember what i did to deserve it. so... [she shrugs, dropping her hands into her lap.] i don't know much of anything. not about me, or what i can do, or how i ended up here. but ajani was kind enough to take me in anyway and let me figure it out.

[prophctic]

i think i will be, eventually. right now it's all still a little fresh. thank you. for asking. ...i'm still trying to unravel everything that happened there. partially because i need to, but part of me also wonders if i'm throwing myself into research to keep myself focused on the facts, rather than thinking about how i feel about it all.

wow. you've traveled a lot. [ivy smiles, thinking of what it must have been like to live in so many amazing places.] what made your parents want to live in so many different places?

new england. [he recognizes when he shouldn't push. some patrons want to be pressed until their secrets spill out, but some want to keep their stories close to their chest. he thinks she fits in the latter, so he doesn't force the issue.] that must have been a rough revelation. i can't imagine. are you alright?

not originally, no. i was born in portugal. folks moved to australia when i was three. moved to new jersey when i was ten. i didn't get to louisiana until i turned fourteen. then i moved to new orleans about five years ago.

[prophctic]

it sounds to me like you're one of those good people. i admire you, the way you think. it's wonderful. i'm not sure any of us know how to help, at least, not yet. can i ask what you mean when you say you don't know much of anything?

i don't think the bad things take away from the beauty. bad people exist everywhere, but the world is still beautiful, hm? good people still exist. good things still happen. [julia nods, then pauses.] i feel a bit strange, to be honest. i feel bad that i don't know how to help. i don't know much of anything.

[prophctic]

that's really kind of you. ...yeah. i'm from new england. my complicated is... [ivy pauses. she isn't sure how to even begin explaining everything to a stranger, let alone a stranger who doesn't know about the supernatural. after a moment, she continues.] i grew up in a really tight-knit community; at least, i thought i did. then i found out that a lot of the people in my community weren't who they said they were. they believed in some really horrible things, and they used those beliefs as an excuse to justify doing some really horrible things. the decision to leave was really fast, but it was the right one. what about you? are you from the area?

i hear it all the time, yeah. that never makes it any less true. everyone's complicated is different. judging by your accent, you're not from down here. so your complicated is... type that made you move south?

[prophctic]

[ivy smiles.] i guess it would be bad for business if they didn't. [she takes a sip.] thank you. i...it's complicated. which i'm sure you hear all of the time, too.

not obvious... a little obvious. [he flashes her a smile to let her know she's joking as he starts on her drink.] but most people who come here look like they could use a drink, as you might imagine. [he slides the old fashioned over to her.] want to talk about it?

[prophctic]

that is an extremely beautiful way to look at it. [lo smiles.] i'm okay. in spite of everything, i was just thinking how nice it was to be back. and because of everything, i was thinking i should keep an eye on the area, just in case. are you okay?

it is, yeah. one of my favorite places in new orleans. it's beautiful, and it's peaceful, and if i squint reeeally hard, all of the houses and lights look like little blurs, like... stars and comets. [she smiles, wrapping her arms around her knees.] are you okay?