Bound: An Aurora Willow Nightingale Fantasy Novel, Episode 0.5

Prologue

Blurb: Upon her parents’ death, Aurora Willow Nightingale found out she was a witch with a price on her head. Aurora stumbles along into the magical community, discovering the truth about what it means to be born from the union of two powerfully magical families that hid the secret from her for the first 22 years of her life…because such a union was forbidden. In a worldly dimension adjacent to our own, there’s a school called Maverick's Magical Academy. It just might hold the people, secrets, and answers she’s looking for. Or it might hold trouble…While Aurora’s parents wanted her to have a normal childhood, now that they’re dead, can she learn magic fast enough to save her own life?

Magical Reference Dictionary

Episode 0.5: Prologue

May 3rd, 1993

One warm and hazy morning in early May, a man and woman stood around a copper-colored cauldron in the basement of their big yellow house in Stillwater, Oklahoma. From the outside, everything looked perfectly normal. The house was nothing unusual. The yellow paint was bright and fresh, and the front yard was surrounded with a cute little white picket fence that suggested charm. The lawn was a luscious green color with well-maintained hedges that looked like belonged in home and garden catalogue. It looked the picture of domesticated normality, but the haze that lingered around the house wasn’t one of natural phenomenon. It was magical.

Other than a magical being, whether human or nonhuman, no one would have known the difference between the quite ordinary haze of an overly humid Oklahoma morning and that of an extremely powerful magical potion haze spilling out of a little hopper basement window. The haze billowing up from the basement had a sparkly sheen about it that was just a little too pretty, and just a little too thick, to be that of a normal variety.

An ordone, or non-magical folx, would have never suspected what was really happening mere feet away. That truth be told, two new parents, a young witch and a wizard, were brewing a potion in their basement to protect their two-day old baby from all the dark evils that lurked out of sight. If they’d passed this man and woman on the street, they would have noticed them only barely more than any other person. The only thing that would have stood out would have been the power that emanated from them. Even an ordone could sense that much power. Although, they would have attributed their unease to the way one feels around someone they feel is better than them and marked it off in their head as nothing.

As calm as the young witch and wizard looked in their little basement dwelling, they were actually quite panicked and in a furious hurry. They were afraid that it was too late to protect their baby, Aurora, from the burden of being their daughter, the burden of being part of the magical community that either revered them or hated them. They didn’t want her to struggle like they had. They had to make everything go away so she could live a normal life.

The young witch in question was named Belladonna. She was as powerful as they came. She had her frizzy brown hair tied back at the base of her neck in a delicate baby blue lace ribbon. The frizzy curls flowed down her spine giving her the appearance of elegance and natural beauty. Her husband, Rowan, was tall and broad shouldered. He looked majestic with his short flaming red hair, chiseled chin, and bright green eyes. He two matched his wife in strength. The two put off an energy of absolute vibrant power as they added ingredients meticulously to the bubbling cauldron that sat on the table in front of them. On the same table, there laid a very large and very old looking book that was bound in some type of emerald green skin like binding. It was open to a potion recipe.

There was a loud whooshing noise, and out of nowhere, a pigeon flew through the basement window that was left open. Belladonna and Rowan looked at one another, alarm highlighting their beautiful features. Rowan hurried over to the pigeon and retrieved a little note attached to its foot with a string. He unrolled it, and he turned to Belladonna looking quite grave.

“We must hurry. They know. It’s almost too late.”

He crossed back to the cauldron and grabbed handfuls of different unusual ingredients from the little jars and pouches on the table. By now, there was a slight sweet scent billowing out of the cauldron. As the smell strengthened, Belladonna scooped up the little red haired baby girl from the bassinet she was sleeping soundly in. She held her close to her chest, shushing her despite the absolute silence from the little one.

The sweet smell and haze drifting up from the cauldron grew thicker, and then it turned a glittery golden. The mist rose and coated the entire room in a sparkling golden haze. “It’s time,” Rowan said in barely more than a whisper. He opened a little pouch that was laying on the table, and he pulled out a tiny vial. He scooped the vial full of the brew from the cauldron and poured it into a baby bottle of formula. He shook the mixture briefly, and then he handed it to Belladonna. For a brief moment, they looked sadly down at their sleeping infant. She yawned sleepily and her frizzy curls wiggled on her head. She had so much hair for an infant.

Belladonna eased the bottle into little Aurora’s mouth. The little one started sucking almost immediately. Rowan took Belladonna’s hand and said, “It’s time.”

He pulled a small scrap of paper from his pocket, and he held it out so they could both read it. In unison they spoke loudly and clearly, reading from the piece of paper, “Hide this innocent from all evil. Banish her powers until retrieval. Hide her from all that seeks. Cover her in blissful peace.”

There was a brilliant light of gold that beamed out across the room. It reflected off of the shimmery haze. If someone would have looked in through that little basement window, they would have saw that it was coming from little Aurora. Within seconds, it was gone. Aurora let out a squeaky little yawn, and then the room seemed darker, quieter, and more somber.

August 4th, 2000

On a sunny morning in early August, Aurora was playing with her dolls in her bedroom floor. She was pretending they were fairies that could fly around the room and sprinkle golden dust on things to make it float. Aurora often dreamed about fairies and magical things. Actually, she was quite obsessed with magic. She pitter-pattered around her bedroom on bare feet saying, “Flippety-floppety-floataty!” Her dad stuck his head in upon hearing all the commotion. He said, “Oh little dear, what are you playing?”

“I’m playing fairies, Daddy! I’m making things float! Come play with me.”

“Sorry darling, I have to do a couple things. Stay in here. If you need me, I’m in my office down the hall. “

“All right, Daddy,” she said sadly.

After Aurora heard her father walk back down the hall and enter into his office, she peeked out of her room. If she was very quiet, he’d never have to know she left her room. She tiptoed down the stairs and headed into the living room to ask her mom to play fairies with her.

As Aurora walked into the living room, she saw her mother was floating several feet above the ground. She was replacing the light in the chandelier that decorated the living room ceiling. Aurora watched with the wide eyes of a shocked child, but when her mother saw her, she sighed loudly. Her mother drifted back down to the floor.

“Don’t be scared, Darling,” she said comfortingly. Aurora wasn’t scared though. Aurora was fascinated. She wanted to learn how to float.

“Rowan!” Belladonna yelled as she walked towards Aurora. Rowan came hurrying in from the other room. “I thought I told you to keep her busy for a few minutes!” her mother snipped at him. “I don’t want to have to keep doing this. Eventually it won’t work anymore.”

Aurora said, “Mommy, how were you doing that? Are you like a fairy?”

Her mother chuckled. “No, Sweetie.” Rowan and Belladonna each placed a hand on Aurora’s shoulders. Together, they chanted, “Take this memory from her head. Let her forget all that was said. Where darkness turns to light, dull this memory and this fright.”

Suddenly, the living room was filled with a brilliant light. It was coming from Aurora’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. It plunged out and doused the room in a dazzling silver. Then, it faded away until it was completely gone. Little Aurora looked around with confusion for a moment. Rowan and Belladonna stared hard at her.

“Mommy, can I watch tv?” she asked.

December 20th, 2006

Rowan and Belladonna sat at huge wooden table with several other witches and wizards. The table looked like it was hundreds of years old and was ornate with carvings. It certainly wasn’t your average meeting table. Nothing about the room was average though. The walls were a bright emerald green. The ceiling was painted with images of large dangerous looking creatures, but that wasn’t the only unique thing about the room. The people that filled it looked unique as well. It wasn’t their attire, but more the weird sense of power that emanated from them. All the people in the room were staring at Belladonna and Rowan. One older witch with bright blue eyes spoke first.

“You know, she’s old enough you need to have her start school.”

“No!” Belladonna said. “We aren’t doing it. She will finish school and maybe even college before we burden her with this.”

“She has the right to know. She’ll be furious when she finds out,” said and older graying man.

Rowan looked frustrated but much calmer than Belladonna. “Here’s the things,” he said. “It’s no one’s call but ours. We have made the decision, and it’s final. Question us no more.”

The room was silent. No one looked happy. Another witch, who looked much younger, spoke after a few minutes of silence. “I understand your choice. I often wish I’d have been allowed to live my life as an ordone. I could have enjoyed so many things before I learned I was a witch, but alas, as a cornerstone kid, I didn’t have that chance. Let my niece be happy and carefree. Leave her be.”

Belladonna sighed at the murmurers in the room. “I think this meeting is over. We will reassemble tomorrow.”

Everybody stood up and started whispering to one another. The young witch looked at Belladonna, “I’m glad you are being firm with them. We didn’t get to be normal. Don’t you wish our parents would have let us?”

“Every single day,” replied Belladonna.

May 9th, 2015

Aurora Willow Nightingale wasn’t your average witch. In fact, there was nothing average about Aurora. She was downright gorgeous with her long fire red ringlet curls that draped down her back. She liked to keep them tied at the base of her neck with a pretty, yellow lace ribbon that contrasted against her hair. But her looks were nothing compared to her spitfire temper. She could scare a sailor with her mouth when she got angry. But all of this paled in comparison to the fact that she was massively talented and brand new to her craft. Unlike most witches, she didn’t know about her powers until later in life. She wasn’t raised in an openly magical household. Magic was hidden from her until a few days after her 22nd birthday. Then, she went from being your normal 22-year-old to a witch with some of the greatest powers known to man in less than 24 hours.

Her story begins on a sunny May morning. It was the day of her graduation from college. She got up early that day because she was so excited. She’d long dreamed of graduating college with her flawless GPA. She couldn’t wait to see the look of happiness and pride on the faces of her parents. She dressed in her black sun dress and took extra time to make sure her curls were flawlessly fluffed. After it was late enough, Aurora called her mom’s cellphone. She got no answer. She called her dad’s cellphone. There was still no answer.

Aurora was worried. In the pit of her stomach, something felt off about the day. It wasn’t like her parents to not answer when she called. She hoped they had just stopped for a break on the way, and they hadn’t heard their phones. They were supposed to meet her in a few minutes time. She tried to shove the intrusive troubled thoughts aside because after all, it was most likely just the nerves causing unusually active butterflies in her belly and not a real problem.

Aurora applied her makeup to her pale as fresh powdered snow colored skin. She took her time, trying to edge her nervousness away. When she finished, she called again. There was still no answer. She had to head out to her pre-graduation reception or she’d be late. With a sense of dread, she went ahead and proceeded to her reception.

On the way, the weirdest thing happened. As she walked, she noticed it was hazy outside, but the haze had a sheen of gold emanating from it. The thick morning air almost glittered around her, and she was almost at ease by the time she arrived at her reception. It felt like the walk had both refreshed and calmed her. The beauty of the golden haze had refreshed her, calmed, and brought back some weird sense of calm and déjà vu. As she entered the large room, she allowed herself to breathe in the moment that was finally upon her. She was going to graduate from college.

Everything was quiet and calm through the reception. Everything was absolutely ordinary. At the end, Aurora started looking for her parents again because she was sure they’d slipped in during one of the speeches, and she hadn’t noticed them in the crowded room. She still couldn’t find them anywhere. Once again, her anxiety started to ramp up. Where could they be? She hurried out of the room, and she dialed her mom’s number again. It went straight to voicemail. Next she tried her dad. Still nothing. She just couldn’t imagine any good reason for them to be out of touch.

As her anxiety grew faster than a sunflower after a rainstorm, she felt like everything slowed down around her. It was like those walking out of the crowded reception hall she had just inhabited weren’t moving at normal speed. They were barely moving at all. She thought she must have been having an anxiety attack. She turned to hurry down an empty hallway where she could have sworn that two people were frozen in mid conversation. One woman had her hand outstretched gesticulating wildly, but she was absolutely frozen. What was happening? Once in the bathroom, she took deep calming breaths and used a napkin to gently wipe the perspiration from her face. Once completely calm, she thought she’d imagined everything. She was sure it was nothing more than her overactive imagination spinning a tale, just like the time she thought she saw her mom floating a full five feet about the step ladder to change a lightbulb in the living room of her childhood home. Aurora’s imagination had always been extremely active. She was certain she was overreacting to her parents’ absence. They’d be there any minute, apologizing for their tardiness. After all, parking was always horrendous on graduation days.

As she walked with the group of other soon to be graduates to the gymnasium, she took more calming breaths. She chatted with a couple girls she’d had class with along the way to keep her mind busy. As she neared the entrance of the gym, she pulled her phone out one more time. When her finger tapped the screen, it burst into flames. She threw it on the ground. “What the hell?” she cried. A guy a few steps behind her quickly poured his water on it extinguishing the flame.

“Shit man! Sorry about your phone. That was crazy,” he said as they looked down at it.

“It’s no matter. Thanks for putting it out…” she said, in complete shock. She picked it up and carried the now useless contraption with her. It might have been a charred mess, but at least it was backed up.

The ceremony was nothing more than a blur. She went through the motions, but she was feeling so overwhelmed she couldn’t focus. She kept feeling like everything was in slow motion around. By the time the ceremony ended and she marched out with the other graduates, she felt like she was nearly hysterical. She convinced herself she must have been getting sick.

As she stood in the concrete jungle surrounding the gym, she looked around for her parents. Her stomach sunk when two police officers approached her with her advisor Maria in tow. In that moment, she knew she wasn’t wrong. Something terrible had happened to her parents. Maria reached out and placed her hand on her arm, as the two police officers spoke.

“Ma’am, we need to speak in private...” one officer started. Then, they were frozen. The world around her was utterly quiet. It was like someone had muted the TV or paused a movie. Aurora raised her hand and waived it back and forth in front of their faces. No one moved. She knew what was happening now. She was dreaming. That was all. She pinched herself hard on the arm. Nope. She was definitely awake. It hurt like a bitch. She waived her hand another time or two, and with a sudden whooshing noise, everything resumed movement again.

The officer continued, “It’s an emergency.”

Aurora felt her throat constricting. This had to be a nightmare. “It’s about my parents, isn’t it? I can’t reach them, and they didn’t show up.” They’re dead. They’re dead. Oh my God! They’re dead.

The officers exchanged a look, and Maria said, “Let’s find some privacy. Okay, Dear? You don’t want us to talk here.”

Aurora started to cry. She jerked away from Maria. “They’re dead, aren’t they? Tell me, god damnit!”

The two officers looked at her with pity. The officer that hadn’t yet spoke said, “Ma’am, we have reason to believe that your parents were killed in a car crash early this morning.”

The whooshing sound happened again. Everything went completely still. Aurora looked around. It was like time had frozen. The only thing making a noise was her pounding heart and gasping breath. The hot May air felt like it had been sucked right out of the atmosphere. Her throat was constricted. The world was simultaneously frozen and spinning around her so fast she felt like she might die of dizziness at any second.

And then, everything was normal again. But for Aurora, nothing would ever be the same again.