Three young women stood in the park, their eyes scanning over every inch. The eldest of the three sniffed the air, her long dark brown hair resting over her shoulders to cover her front while her light brown eyes moved from person to person. “This place smells strange, it’s almost ripe with the smell of magic but someone went through a lot of trouble to try and hide that fact” she said, the middle sister walked up to the oldest, her maroon eyes following a trail only they can see, her short red hair framing her pale face like a candle’s flame, “Whoever fought here went off into the woods” she said.

The third sister held out her hand in the direction the second had indicated, “There is something there, it isn’t letting me see inside… I see eyes, eyes filled with blood… we should be careful, this magic is nothing like what we are used to, its old, very old” she said, her long sandy hair braided behind her while her sky blue eyes looked further than any could.

The three sisters stood looking in the direction, “Let’s go, Lou, Cense” the eldest sister said as she started to walk towards the woods, “Okay” Cense said, her braid moving behind her like it was a tail, “Finally time for some payback, Right Mag” The red head stated rather than asked the eldest to which the eldest replied, “And it’s going to be sweet” with a wicked smirk.

The second the three young women stepped into the trees they sensed something was off, it was as if they had stepped into a different world and here they would not stay living if they ventured further. “We should leave…” Cense trembled as she spoke, her voice betraying the fear she was raised never to feel, “T-these woods are haunted… the trees are talking, whispering, they are telling us to leave…” a howl pierced through the silence of the woods before Cense could finish. Mag looked into the darkness, her skilled eyes searching for whatever had made that sound and sure enough she found it, a pair of eyes redder then blood stalked closer and closer the longer she looked, its eyes drawing her into a sense of calm and if it didn’t happen that Lou yelled beside her at another red eyed black dog then she would have watched as the one walking towards her had torn out her throat without putting up a fight.

“What are these things?” Lou yelled before launching a ball of fire at the one closest to her and then the one stalking closer to Mag, “T-they a-a-are summons” Cense said while knocking one aside that had jumped at her. The three sisters watched as the black beasts reformed every time they would knock them down, no amount of damage they did would stick as these monsters kept on getting back up and coming at them.

“I’ve never seen summons this strong”

“They’re too powerful, there’s no way someone could control this”

“We have to f-fall b-back”

The three sisters argued as they held their ground, they had fought against odds like this before but never in their long lives have they ever encountered anything like this, they had never seen a spell this powerful or someone or thing that could control it.

“We can’t fall back, no matter what we must push forward and retrieve the boy for our mistress” Mag declared before erecting shields around all three of them, the wolves/dogs didn’t stop coming, though now their teeth and claws only hit a shield instead of flesh. “No holding back then” Lou exclaimed as she let loose a turret of flame from each hand and burned the woods around them until there was nothing left but charred earth.

Hayden looked up from her book and out the window, Ander who was also reading some of the many books she had looked at her before following her line of sight out the window and towards the woods, “It seems there are some niños who I need to have a talk to about fires in the woods” the young woman said as she stood up and left. Ander didn’t know what was going on, he couldn’t see anything outside except a bright blue sky with some clouds that whispered of a light spring rain, but smoke or fire he couldn’t see.

Ander looked back to where the witch had sat and sure enough there was a dog laying there, it seemed to be asleep but he knew that it was just waiting for him to make a mistake so it could present his dead body to its master like a prize.

The three sisters continued to battle the black dogs as the woods burned around them, the heat from the fire and the choking of the smoke made them feel alive just like they always did during a battle, however when the dogs stopped their attack and backed away and heeled they knew something was wrong.

They first felt it as a chill running through the air, it ran down their spines like it was alive and just when they thought that it was just the wind they heard the whisper that carried on it, Cense was the first to notice but before she could tell her sisters that they were already caught in the spell the wind gripped her throat and choked her.

Lou had noticed her sister being choked and went to help her without thinking and got caught up in the same spell as the wind gripped her tight and tried to choke the life out of her, Mag wanted to help her sisters but her job was defence, she needed to find a way to save them without getting caught in the same spell.

The eldest began chanting, her voice rising above the wind and the whisper it carried and easily broke the hold that the spell had had over them but she had to wonder how she had done so. While Lou and Cense were fighting to regain themselves Mag saw the one that had cast the spell, the woman walking… no floating towards them wore a haggard and torn old dress that looked like it was a few thousand years old, her long hair flowing just like that of their mistress and the other high witches, it was this woman that had let her sisters go because now she knew that she didn’t help them, no she now saw that they were let go as an act of mercy, one chance to leave and live.

“M-Mag, we should leave… w-we can’t beat her, s-she’s too powerful… she’s a high witch, and she’s older than we’ve ever met” Cense tried to reason with her sister, the fear of the woman floating before them getting her to surrender for the first time in her life, Cense might not have liked to fight and because of that became a supportive caster but she still knew how to fight if she was pushed to it, and now every fiber of her being, every instinct she had gotten from surviving battle after battle told her to run, to run and never come back.

Lou voiced her own thoughts, her own fears and Mag couldn’t say no to both of her sisters and even though they had never failed before she couldn’t help but think that there was no way that they would be able to get past this woman, this witch who was strong enough to bring the black dogs under her control. “We’ll retreat… for now” the eldest sister said, her voice loud enough for their opponent to hear.

Hayden watched as the three sisters left the woods, one of the dogs sitting by her side while she played with its ears as it watched them leave as well, “It seems things will become problemático now” she said and laughed a little when the dog gave a low growl in the direction of the border, “Well, I could use a cup of té, let’s go home and get you chicos a snack for a job well done” the dogs blurred and then disappeared until only two Chihuahua’s followed behind her.

Ander watched as Hayden came back, he noticed two more dogs following her and knew that there really had been trouble, his mind went to Eric right away, he knew that he might have been followed here and he now knew that he couldn’t waste time getting Hayden or Eric to trust him. “Your friends burned my yard, not very nice of them” Hayden said when she passed the living room where she knew Ander still sat, “I’m making té, yell your orders” she suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs and heard the replies from the children.

After tea Hayden had started on dinner, Ander staying close to watch her and search for his moment to strike. “How old are you?” the young man asked, the reply he got left him speechless however when Hayden only spun round and whacked him with a celery stick on the head, “Foolish boys shouldn’t be rude and ask foolish questions” she said before going back to preparing dinner.

“I’m old enough to tell you how heavy it is to bear sin, old enough to say that history is boring because it always stays the same and I’m old enough to know what will happen to this world like the ones that came before” Ander wasn’t expecting an answer after the whack but the one he got sent chills through his body. Silence filled the kitchen as Ander thought about the woman before him, for the first time since he got here he truly looked at her and not at her dogs or the power he knew she hid, and what he saw was someone who really did know the weight of a sin and in that moment Ander felt something other than anger towards the young woman.

“Will you tell me your story?” Ander asked when he was helping to set the table, his eyes never leaving the woman before him as he did, her eyes sparkled with remembrance but she didn’t say a word. After the table was set she looked over at him and smiled, “Buy me dinner first before you start asking personal questions” and then she showed off her strong lungs again as she yelled for the children to come and eat.

Drew peeked around the corner quickly and saw Ander before rushing over to Hayden, “Eric says he doesn’t want to eat here” the boy motioning towards him when he said “here” and he felt a pang of guilt like a dagger to the heart, “Well just take him a plate and for you too so you can watch him and make sure he eats” the boy darted off to the table and got two plates from the places Ander guessed belonged to him and Eric, each plate looked different.