Taylor Hartley - Shes Powerful Trouble

For Mom, who taught me to keep going even when the road got dark. Miss you forever.

Love you always.

And for Dad, who shows me every day how bright my future will be. Love you more.

T he two women dance cautiously around the dead.

The lights. Mother Mol grabs Dahlias arm as they creep further inside the hospital. She even blew out the lights.

They inch through the darkness, clinging to each other out of necessity more than fear, moving carefully around the bodies. The light from the full moon filters through the windows, casting long shadows along the walls. A man in a tweed jacket lies flat on his back in front of the double doors, the muscles in his face relaxed so he looks like hes smiling. In the caf nearby, the steam wand from the espresso machine screams. The outline of the barista drapes over the counter, and beneath her, another body lies curled like a sleeping child. Entire families slump against each other in the waiting rooms. The nurse behind the admit desk stares straight up at the ceiling, seeing nothing.

The women expected the usual two corpses. Nothing like this.

We should leave, Sister, Mol says. The power to do something like thisthe girls evil.

What about ancient duty and dying breeds? Dahlia tenses beside her. If we dont protect her, who will?

She isnt like us. The grip on her arm tightens. Look around you, child.

Im not a child anymore, Mother Mol, Dahlia hisses. But when you found me all those years ago, do you remember what you told me? You said I could fix the evil things Id done. And this girlshe deserves that same chance, dont you think?

That fact is written on Dahlias bones. Pushing past Mol, she closes her eyes and lets the magic wake inside her, lets it pulse and spiral through the air, searching.

Where are you, lady? The words come out of her mouth and surprise her.

Mother Mol huffs beside her. Novices.

There.

Dahlia feels the babys fear well up inside her own body: how dark everything is, and how lonely. Shes closeon the second floor, maybe. The elevator on the far wall doesnt work; the girls short-circuited the entire building. Dahlia cocks her head at Mol, and together they head toward the staircase at the end of the hall. They tiptoe around the nurses and doctors who lie sprawled on the steps.

At the top of the stairs, Dahlia hears it: a loud, enchanting wail. Zigzagging around more corpses, she races toward the sound. Shes not sure what it is, only that shes desperate to hold that little girl, see her and know that maybe the Covens not doomed after all.

The baby lies in the room at the end of the hall. With the curtains drawn closed, its impossible to see anything, so Dahlia flicks her wrist, and the fabric draws apart to let the moonlight in.

The childs father lies draped over the foot of the bed, hugging his wifes feet. Theres a look of joy on his ebony face and tears of blood in his eyes.

He never knew he was dying.

The mothers eyes are closed, neck bent low toward the infant cradled in her arms. Dahlia feels the sob sitting in her chest and lets it go. She thought this part would be easy; shed heard about it so many times. But this mother wanted so badly to kiss her beautiful daughter, who cries like she has four lungs instead of two, and it doesnt make sense. Dahlia bends down slowly and touches her lips to the mothers forehead.

Rest well, she says, pressing her forehead against the womans. Her skin is cold. Well take care of her.

She hears Mol moving behind her as she bends her knees and takes the child in her arms.

Sister, we cannot take her with us, Mol says. Its the first time Dahlias ever heard her frightened. Ive never seen this kind of carnage before, and Ive seen terrible things. This isnt natural. This child is our end. I know it.

Why would nature give us something we dont need? Dahlia asks, eyes fixed on the girl. Her grey eyes spark in the light. If we let her die, we violate every law we swear to live by, dont we? I cant do that again. I wont.

She could kill us all, Mol says. Theres no way to know what shes capable of

Dahlia looks into the girls face, and the baby hiccups and turns her face away. Dahlia steadies herself and looks back at Mol just as the sirens start to blare in the distance.

Unless we take her with us.

M other Mol started telling me the story of my birth when I was, like, four. I blew out my birthday candles, and then she just hit me with that little nugget of knowledge. She wanted to ensure I knew that Im the dark, evil force that might just kill us all.

Theres only ever been one other witch born with a power like yours, and she nearly destroyed the Coven, she said. So, you must remain vigilant.

And that was it, the end of the story.

Then when I was seven, I met that witch face-to-face. I mean, not really, because shes super dead, but pretty much. We were in the Gathering Room, just me and Airi and Amana practicing with Mother Calista, trying to levitate books, when I suddenly felt a freaking pipe organ going off inside my chest, and then the entire room evaporated.

This darkness swallowed me, and I was falling, falling through total and complete nothing. Then, I slammed into the ground, and all I could see was a woman, red hair billowing around her like we were underwater or in some kind of fluid dimension or something. Her green eyes flashed, and her grey gown flowed behind her as she walked toward me. As she stooped down and brought her face to mine, her name bloomed in my mind: Eurydice.

And then she spoke, and her voice echoed through my head so loudly my ears rang for actual days. Her words sounded like smoke.

The Earth shall shroud in shadow. The dead shall rise again. In Wicker Creek, two lovers meet, and the future shall begin.

She looked at me with this smile on her face, and I felt my magic curdle. I felt it bubble in my veins, like she hadnt just dropped a stupid nursery rhyme in my lap, but instead, set off a toxin that turned me into a nuclear weapon.

Sister Dahlia and Mother Calista (total space cadet, by the way, but she can definitely see the future), said Id been called, said the whole freaky vision thing meant there was some kind of destiny waiting for me in this Wicker Creek place that could change our world forever.

But Mol wouldnt let me go, even after Dahlia begged her.

If a witch doesnt fulfill her calling, nature makes the world pay for it, she told her, amber eyes blazing. Everything around Mariah will start to sour, you know that!

If its a message from Eurydice, its better not to listen, Mol insisted. Besides, we dont even know what kind of beginning she means. Its far too dangerous.