Anastasia sat on her living room couch as her mother, Marian, paced back and forth in front of her, anxiously chewing on her nails.

     “Honey, are you sure you want to do this you could wait until next year-“

     Anastasia stood up and moved to stand in front of Marian, placing her hands on her mother’s shoulders, putting an end to her pacing. Anastasia sighed. The weight of a familiar conversation was pressing on her patience.

     “Mom, I’m going to participate in this year's ceremony. We talked about this-“

     “Why must you do this to me, Anastasia?”

     Anastasia scoffed, walking toward the kitchen to rummage through the fridge.

     “Mom, I know this may come to a shock to you, but this has nothing to do with you! I am 20. I should have been in this ceremony two years ago! I am not going to let another year go by, making me even more of an outcast in the family. It’s the work of the gods that I even got powers.”

    Having selected a bottle of water and an apple from the fridge, she slammed the door of the fridge causing a magnet to fall to the floor. Anastasia bent down to pick up the magnet with an annoyed groan. Standing up, Anastasia met Marian’s angered gaze as she stared forward with her arms crossed.

     “Look ma-“

     “No-” Marian snapped- “You listen to me. I know there are times where you don’t agree with my methods of raising you but everything, and I mean everything, I have done since the day you were born was in your best interest-” Marian faltered, her voice wavering momentarily as she regained her composure “-To give you the best life I could.”

     Anastasia put the water bottle and apple down on the counter and embraced her mother.

     “I know, mom, But it is time for me to do this.”

     Anastasia pulled away and smiled at Marian, who still had a look of apprehension on her face.

    “So when do I get my dress?” Anastasia grabbed the apple and water and flopped down onto the living room couch. Marian joined her in the living room, sitting in a recliner across from the couch.

     “At the ceremony, you’ll find a dress in your size and put it on. They are enchanted to adapt to be the color of your specialization.”

     Anastasia looked to Marian doubtfully and, with a mouth full of apple, questioned, “Weally?” Marian shot Anastasia a displeased look while waiting for Anastasia to swallow and ask again, “Really?”

     Satisfied, Marian continued to explain the significance of the ceremony.

     “Well, of course. It judges a young witch based on her true energy which isn’t always something another witch can judge. It isn’t uncommon for a witch to develop some minor abilities in more than one category.”

     Anastasia rolled her eyes with a sigh, “Must be nice. I’m just happy that I at least gained any abilities, even if it is just Spell writing. At least it is something.”

     “I mean, there are advantages to an ability like Spell writing!”

     Marian, taking the conversation’s divergence onto abilities as an opportunity to lift the mood, began to happily go on about the advantages and privileges of being a spell writer. However, about three sentences into her speech, Anastasia started to block out her mother’s speaking and instead tried to find shapes in the ceiling tiles. Anastasia found a little horse, a man, and a dragon. As she stared up at these shapes, they seemed to move and come to life. She blinked her eyes, trying to determine whether she was losing her mind or falling asleep, but they didn’t stop shifting. Something about the situation created a tension in her stomach. She quickly sat up, startling her mother.

     “Honey, are you alright?” Marian’s voice was laced with concern.

     Anastasia stood up and offered her mother a tired smile, “Yeah, I just think I might need a nap. I’ll get up at six to get ready for the ceremony.”

    Marian smiled and nodded before watching Anastasia walk up the stairs. Once she heard Anastasia’s door shut, she pulled out her cell and quickly dialed Eliza, a second cousin of hers that she had grown up with. Eliza was also the one who told Anastasia’s future when Marian was still pregnant and, most significantly, was the only person Marian could trust. The phone rung three times before Eliza answered.

     “Who is it and what the hell do you want?” Eliza groaned into the phone, just having woken up.

     “Eliza, it’s Marian. It’s about Anastasia.” As soon as Marian said Anastasia’s name, Eliza shook off the last of her sleepy daze.

     “She, uh, she is participating in this year's ceremony.”

      Eliza considered for a moment, “Impossible. She should be without any powers. You took the potion when she was a fetus; she should have no magical potential.”

     Marian released a breath of annoyance, “Hence my call. What should I do? I can’t convince her to wait until next year and, even if I could, what could I do in the interval of a year?”

     Eliza listened intently, taking a long drag off a cigarette, “Well, what ability does she have?”

     Marian hesitated before responding, “She is a spell composer.”

     “Then that’s good! That requires the least amount of magical potential out of all the abilities. This could just be the effect of underestimating her magical potential as a baby so, instead of erasing it, the potion just significantly lowered it.”

     Marian felt some of the tension in her body ease, “Really? You think?”

     “Yes, I do. Now I need to finish my nap. I will meet with you at the ceremony.”

     “Alright. Goodbye, Eliza.”

     “Bye.”

     Despite Eliza’s assurance that everything was going to be alright, Marian still felt a pit of anxiety -- a sense of pending danger. She let out a breath of exhaustion before walking to her bedroom. She looked around and when her eyes landed on the closet, she stopped, staring intently. She began to approach it, trying to remember where the box containing the information about Marian’s pregnancy with Anastasia inside. She opened the door and began to move around the clothes that hung heavily, hiding the objects that littered the back wall.

     After a few moments of digging through many boxes, she found a small box labeled ‘Pregnancy’. Marian shoved the other boxes back against the closet wall and took that one with her as she sat on the bed.

      Marian hesitantly lifted the lid. The anxiety she had felt earlier swirled to life again yet she pressed on. Removing the top revealed a few papers, pictures, and a few bottles. The papers consisted of hastily written spells, humorous notes, and print-out info sheets. As Marian began to shuffle through these, she uncovered a small journal at the bottom of the box. She quickly grabbed it and started to flip through the pages, trying to find the log dated five months into the pregnancy.

     “One… two… three… four… Aha! five months,” she scanned through the pages searching for the divination. She found the pages and they read,

     ‘Eliza was in charge of the divination today. I was told the divination should give us some information concerning Anastasia’s future, her specialization and her role as a witch. The process can only be performed by a seer like Eliza. We were halfway through the process then Eliza suddenly stopped. She didn’t speak or move for a few moments. It was similar to how she looks when using her third eye, but she shouldn’t be able to in a sealed room. It was causing me to become quite anxious. Then she snapped out of it, she stood abruptly and crossed to the small potion station she had in the room and began to mix something. I kept asking her what was going on and if everything was okay but she wasn’t responding to me. I sat silently as she continued to work on the potion. The energy of the room was oddly tense and I began to feel unwell. Suddenly, Eliza turned around and came to sit with me. She took my hands and asked if I knew the prophecy of the end. I felt my heart drop. Apparently, my Anastasia is the girl in the prophecy. The one who is meant to be hunted down by her own family and put to death because of her magical abilities. Eliza handed me the potion and explained what it would do and then left the room. I hardly contemplated before drinking it. If it would give her a real chance at life -- it would be worth it. Even if it cancels out all of her magical abilities, alienates her from the family it will be worth it. I had no other choice. I now have to take one dose of the medication every week until she is born. Eliza promised to not tell the family and will help me to protect my baby. I have to protect her.’

     As Marian finished reading the entry, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

     “How did this happen? Why did it have to be my Ana?” Marian wiped the tears away and began to look through the notes when she heard a knock on the door. She quickly shoved the journal and the papers into the box.

     “One second!” she shoved the box under the bed and called out for Anastasia to come in.

     “What do I need to take to this ceremony?” Anastasia wandered in, absentmindedly running a brush through her hair.

     “A change of clothes and your phone charger. Oh, look at the time! We should head out now. It's a bit of a drive.”

     Anastasia stilled hearing this,“How long?”

     “About two hours, but we don’t have to make the trip back tonight. We’ll stay there after the ceremony.”

     “You know I’m reconsidering that you may have a point about the whole waiting till next year thing... Especially if waiting means I don’t have to endure your driving for two hours.” Anastasia smirked at her mother.

     “Go get your things before I fling this book at your head!”

     Anastasia laughed as she walked back to her room. She quickly threw her belongings into her bag as she heard her mother moving around downstairs. She was about to close her bag when she realized she didn’t have her phone. She searched for it with little success. When her mother called to her telling her it was time to leave, she relinquished her search and ran down the stairs, bag in hand.

     “Ready, Ana?” Marian questioned from the front door.

     “Yeah, let’s go. Don’t want to be any later than two years.”