A witch is nothing without her coven, Clarke. And I am so very, very alone.”
Newly twenty-seven as of exactly fourteen minutes and six seconds ago, Lexa’s first moments into her new year of life are spent skulking around the edges of her hometown. She’s headed north to the graveyard that lies just west of the outskirts, past the farm houses and clusters of fields that bunch together, golden patchwork quilts of wheat and corn before the houses become fewer and fewer, as town fading into the distance.
There were graveyards much closer to town, but when witchfolk had settled Polis prior to the arrival of humans, they wanted to be deep in the thicket of the woods, far away from the fields and open plains that nestled at the feet of the Arkadia mountain range nearby. While they couldn’t have foreseen the hatred that humans would initially carry for them (until a group of witches would save the entire town from early waves of an unknown illness shortly after the second winter came to newly founded Polis- leading to a begrudging coexistence) they somehow knew regardless, even after death they wouldn’t be accepted in the graveyards and sacred places humans revered.
She had known it would be hard to be here, her first proper time back since she had left so shortly after Ascending two years prior. She could feel Clarke’s presence like a siren song, could practically feel her heartbeat, slowed in deep REM, in her small cottage on the southern side of Polis.
She hadn’t anticipated the way every beat of her own heart would physically hurt, or that knowing that Clarke was sleeping mere miles away from her for the first time in years would feel like a constant itch, just at the base of her neck.
Go to her, go to her, go to her … the very trees seemed to chant and sway as she stood, paralyzed by indecision just outside of her planned destination. But the though of seeing Clarke again, blue eyes hazy as she sits up in bed, warm and pliant with sleep…Lexa bats the thought away like an irksome fly before taking a fortifying breath and strolling forward.
Lexa shivers slightly as she strides through the iron doorway, cold latch biting into the meat of her palm as she skirts the rusted pole that stands quiet sentry just within the twin metal gates.
While most witches and warlocks were respectful but properly wary of the untamed magic that lay within most graveyards, Lexa had always been drawn to the thrumming, ancient power that twined hungry fingers among the ruined graves since she was a small child. As her mother was a wood witch and spent the majority of her life convening with the earth in some form or another, Lexa had always felt most at home amongst the trees, under the sky that yawned endlessly into the beyond stretching above her. Her fondest memories took place under the wide open beyond as she ran with Anya through this very graveyard, wildflowers blooming in her steps as Anya, cackling with joy, dodged Lexa’s small grabby fingers amongst towering stone guardians.
Lexa could still catch whisps of recollection floating by, tugging on her cloak like a restless child. Running a thoughtful finger across a large whorl in the nearby oak, Lexa recalls sitting under the same tree with her mother as a toddler, giggling delightedly as her mother sent fallen leaves spiraling around her in a small tornado, curls dancing wildly with the breeze as she spun in joyful circles. The brown, orange, and red leaves had shone translucent in the afternoon sun, nature’s stained class as the pair spent their days outside under lazy fall skies.
The spirits that lay slumbering under the damp ground seemed hungrier and wilder than she recalled in years past, the crackling, untamed power leaving her slightly breathless as she passed silently by. It had been years since she dared to visit her mother’s resting place, knowing how townspeople would gossip if the stepdaughter of the dead town carpenter had been seen on the outskirts of town a handful of years after his suspicious but allegedly natural death. Unlucky bastard, falling off of his ladder one crisp winter day and onto his saw-horse.
Lexa had allowed herself one trip back to Polis after she had Ascended. Just the one.
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A continuation of my Clextober universe. I Don't Believe in Magic is set in the College time of Clexa. I'm always accepting more prompts!
---
Lexa drew circles in her notebook with her right hand while her left supported her lazy head. She sighed and flipped the page as the lecturer continued to drone on about mythology. She didn't even know why she took this class. It was a joke in one aspect - listening to humans blather on about mythical beings and how eerie and strange they appeared in comparison to their human counterparts - but another part of her longed to find some similarities between herself and the humans.
She easily found one - they were terrified of one another.
Lexa just didn't understand why.
Her father had scolded her time and time again for being careless with her magic, giving herself away to humans. "You can only rewind someone's memories so often before you run into trouble, Alexandria."
But, Lexa always had a soft spot for humans - always interested in the way they perceived the world and knew that deep down they were more alike than they knew. So, denounced her family tradition of attending the top wizarding school in the world, and accepted the soccer scholarship offered to her by Arkadia University.
***
Clarke Griffin was on a mission. Her last name carried the power of a world-saving doctor. Unfortunately, it also carried the expectations. But Clarke was always known to defy expectations.
That's why she wanted to go above and beyond her mother's medical degree, and double major in both medicine and art.
It was her greatest ambition.
It was also her stupidest idea.
Because, at eight in the morning, when Clarke could have been sleeping before her three hour Animal Kingdom lab, she was stuck in this stupid Mythology 101 class, learning about creatures that never existed and paintings that didn't capture anything of substance.
She wondered how high some of these painters were when they painted these things. Because scientifically speaking, there was no way a woman could take an inanimate object, like a broom, and create enough velocity and speed to have it fly.
Clarke was a woman of science. She had seen her father beat death twice, all due to the medical advancements of man. Sure, hundreds of years ago it would have been seen as witchcraft, but she was positive that the only magical beings were the things that weren't researched.
She sighed, rubbed her eyes as the sigh turned into a yawn, and flipped the page of her agenda, scheduling her free time into her already packed schedule.
***
"Excuse me, I understand that as a society, we've always been a bit spooked by the unknown, but it just seems like the entire concept of witches were solely based on repressing women. I mean, Medusa only turned the men that raped her into stone, but she's spoken of like a villain. Women who showed any sort of forward thinking in Salem were hunted down for witchcraft. I think that maybe we should be discussing the mental health of the accusers than the 'magical powers' of the accused."
Lexa's ears perked up at the husky voice in the midst of destroying the lecturers current argument. Not that she knew what it was, zoning out into a state of semi-consciousness as the monotonous voice of the lecturer carried on.
She looked across the room, noting the long blonde hair and dark blue leather jacket sitting in the front row. She felt her heart do a funny thing then - it beat with a staccato rhythm, every pound precise as she gazed at the girl.
The beating of her heart was so loud that the rest of the argument was lost to the sharp beat in her ears.
Before she could snap her fingers to bring herself closer, the lecturer had dismissed the class, and the blonde was the first one out of her seat.
Lexa grumbled, wishing that at this moment she could snap her fingers to catch up to the blonde. Instead, she had to hustle down the stairs from the back of the class, her shoulder bag flopping against her bare leg.
She caught her just as she had stepped out of the building. "Hey!" Lexa said.
The blonde didn't turn around. Lexa ran past her and came to a stop just in front, doubled over and gasping for breath. She held her hand up to the blonde to ask her to wait.
"I really don't have time for this," Clarke sighed.
"I just -," Lexa gasped. "I wanted to - whoo," she panted, "I wanted to tell you that I liked what you said back there."
Clarke quirked a brow.
"About witch hunting."
"Oh," Clarke laughed. She let her eyes trail up and down Lexa's lithe figure, noting the purple soccer shirt she wore and the short soccer shorts that left little to the imagination. "No one really believes in that stuff anyway. Witches? Goblins? It's just stuff parents tell their kids to behave."
"Maybe we could discuss that? Over coffee?" Lexa asked.
Clarke's grip tightened on her bookbag. "Thanks, but I don't believe in magic. It was nice meeting you…" she trailed off, waiting for the brunette to say her name.
"Lexa, and you will."
"Lexa," Clarke repeated. "It was nice meeting you. See you next week." And with that, the blonde was off.
"Is that the face of a girl who has been sorely rejected?" The dark figure asked as it stepped out of the shadows of the building.
"I'd ask you how much you heard, but I know you're a lurker," Lexa replied, not bothering to look over her shoulder and acknowledge her sister.
Anya laughed and slapped her sister on the back. "I'm not a lurker, I just happened to leave class at the same time. She's cute."
"She's human," Lexa said.
"And yet, that's never bothered you."
"Of course not," Lexa said with a cheeky smirk.
***
"Oh my God," Raven gasped.
Clarke looked up from her notes for a second to check that her friend was okay.
"Who is that hottie? How have I never seen her before?"
Clarke glanced over her shoulder, much to Raven's protest. "Don't look! Oh my God, you make it so obvious!"
The only person Clarke saw was the long brown hair of the soccer player in her class - Lexa.
"Lexa?" She asked her best friend. "The brunette?"
"Screw the brunette, I mean the blonde sitting with her!" Raven said. "She's hot."
"They're both hot," Clarke commented offhandedly. "They're probably together."
Almost as if being summoned, Lexa and her companion stood from their table and walked towards Clarke and Raven.
"Be natural, but they're headed this way," Raven said. She adjusted her posture to sit up taller, pushing her chest out.
"Totally natural," Clarke teased. She bowed her head just slightly, pretending to be deep into her work. For some ungodly reason, the idea that Lexa was walking towards her was unsettling.
"Hey Clarke," Lexa said, stopping by the table. She adjusted the strap of her satchel on her shoulder. She held a regal posture, swagger and confidence seeping from her core. "What's up?"
Clarke looked at her, stunned by the intensity of the green eyes - ethereal in their beauty. She hadn't seen a pair of eyes quite that colour - as though it was constantly shifting when she finally found the name to match the shade. They were light at first, but the longer Clarke stared, the darker they appeared.
"Oh, hey, um…" She was so taken aback by the girl's eyes that she fumbled over her name.
"Lexa," Lexa answered for her. The quirk of her lips disappeared at the rejection. Her eyes shifted to a sharp green before they dropped to her shoes. Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment. "I um," she shook her head. "Nevermind."
Anya cleared her throat.
Embarrassed that the girl she hadn't stopped thinking about could barely remember her, Lexa swung her bag wildly to knock the pile of books in front of Raven to the floor and hustled off, her cheeks hot with embarrassment.
"Hey!" Raven yelled after her.
Lexa got all the way to the parking lot before the sound of the raspy voice she was enamored with got her to slow down.
"Hey!" Clarke yelled. "Lexa!"
Lexa stopped walking, pulling in a deep breath into her chest. Lexa Woods was better than some silly embarrassment. She turned, cocky smile on her lips and ready to greet Clarke again, but anything she had been planning disappeared with a sharp pang in her cheek and a hollow thud only she could hear.
She fell back onto her butt, her outstretched arms the only thing stopping her from hitting her head.
"You know, you're such a dick. Bullying someone with a disability isn't going to make me want to be your friend! You may be the school sweetheart because you can kick a ball, but Raven is so much more than you'll ever be."
Lexa gaped at the blonde, confused by her words and impressed by the ache in her jaw.
"Just leave me alone, and don't you ever put your hands on Raven or her things ever again!" She turned and stormed away before Lexa could even get a word in.
***
"You're a genius!" Anya sighed, throwing her bag onto the counter of her shared apartment with Lexa.
"Yay," Lexa said sarcastically.
Anya pouted down at her sister and flopped down onto the couch beside her. She flicked her wrist and an ice bag hit Lexa in the face.
"Ouch," Lexa whined. She adjusted it to press against the blossoming bruise she had received from Clarke.
"Raven's human, but the science she used to fuse her spine and create that brace to allow her to walk is practically magic. She's so open minded. Not to mention, beautiful. She and I are going out tomorrow."
Lexa sighed and smiled at her sister. "I'm happy for you."
"I'm sorry Blondie KO'd you. I cleared it all up and told her that you were just incredibly clumsy."
Lexa shrugged.
***
"Hey," Lexa said to the blonde as she entered her Mythology class. She wanted to clear the air and apologize to Raven. "Listen, about yesterday - I didn't -"
"I know," Clarke sighed. "Raven already yelled at me. I'm a little overprotective. Sorry about the left hook."
Lexa smiled down at the girl, and shifted her satchel. "I think it's hot," she said. Her eyes widened, and she looked away, her cheeks dusting pink at her slip.
"Well " Clarke said, pulling at the edge of her textbook, "I'm really sorry. I thought you did it on purpose."
"I did," Lexa answered, nodding at the blonde, "but not for the reasons you think."
Clarke quirked a brow.
"My sister wanted to meet Raven. I had promised to introduce her, but you couldn't remember my name and I was embarrassed. But, I never break a promise, so," Lexa shrugged one shoulder.
Clarke looked down at her text. "Yeah," she breathed.
The lecturer walked in at that moment, and Lexa sent one last look at the girl before heading up the auditorium steps to her seat.
She spent the entire class picturing blonde hair and blue eyes.
***
"Hey, Lexa?" Clarke called out to her as they exited the building. It was pouring rain, most students huddling under the awning as they prepared to race to their next class.
Lexa turned and smiled at the blonde. Clarke was struck again by her beauty. "What a miserable day," she said. "It'd be a good day for a warm drink."
Lexa might have had a witty response if she weren't so preoccupied of the way the little clouds of condensation curled out of Clarke's lips when she spoke.
Clarke chuckled. "About that coffee," she said, hands tightening on her textbooks. " I have eighteen minutes until I have to get to my next class. Would you like to join me?"
Lexa smiled and Clarke blinked rapidly, swearing she saw the green of her eyes shift to a lighter shade.
"Do you feel that?" She asked Clarke.
"Feel what?" Clarke asked, unable to pull her gaze from the brunette even as the girl stepped out into the rain. She was thoroughly soaked when she turned back to Clarke.
Her smile was blinding in it's intensity. "The magic in the air."
"I don't believe in magic," Clarke called, cheeky smile on her lips.
Lexa ran back up the steps next to her and produced an umbrella seemingly out of nowhere with her clothes remarkably dry.
Oh, you fool, there are rules, I am coming for you
(You can run but you can't escape)
Darkness brings evil things, oh, the reckoning begins
(You will open the yawning grave)
The Yawning Grave - Lord Huron
~~~
Clarke’s smile had nearly split her rosy cheeks as she twisted one jolival finger in the air, the same cape spinning merrily in front of Lexa’s disbeliving eyes as it made a neat rotation within the air before landing obediently in Lexa’s lap.
“I- Clarke this is….”
“Beautiful? Perfect? Incredibly fitting for a promising young witch of newly sixteen?” Clarke had piped up from her seat in the hay-covered loft, having accosted Lexa with a rousing chorus of both “Happy Birthday” as well as a verifiable mountain of sloppily levitated presents upon her entry into the barn.
“Well, yes. All of those things. Bit it’s also too much. I got you a witchlight for your birthday. This must have cost…” Lexa trails off as she runs an admiring finger down a glistening green seam. The cloak shimmers in response, the trace amounts of magic that were woven into the very cloth reacting to the same power that sung through Lexa’s being.
Clarke’s smile dims slightly upon seeing the defeated slouch in Lexa’s shoulders. Standing fluidly and brushing trace amounts of hay off of her matching dark blue cloak, she floats gracefully to land, catlike, in front of Lexa.
They both pretend not to notice how Lexa holds her breath when Clarke reaches forward to gently brush an auburn curl from Lexa’s cheek.
“I wanted to, Lex. It practically followed me home, you know how these capes are. Besides, I’ve been helping out so much at my mum’s apothecary, I had the extra gold. And, every witch deserves a cape for her sixteenth birthday, it’s witching law. Or so says nan.”
They exchange a mutual hidden smile at the mention of Clarke’s grandmother, a wonderful woman with twinkling blue eyes who just so happened to produce the meanest Amnesia spell of this side of the Atlantic. Rumor had it Clarke had also inherited her spell casting ability, a skill that Lexa was keen to not try out any time soon.
“Well…” Lexa draws out the word heistently as she stoops just enough to let Clarke, mouth twitching to hide a gleeful smile, gently tie the velvety strands around Lexa’s slim shoulders. “If nana says so, who am I to argue with the head of the Griffin Coven?”
Clarke’s fingers linger briefly at the base of Lexa’s neck, pointer finger resting oh so gently on her pulse, which flutters like a trapped hummingbird under the attention.
if the silence takes you then i hope it takes me, too
///
Clarke shivers as the wind whips icily around her, pulling her thick black peacoat tighter to her frame as she hunches her shoulders for a brief respite from the chill. Frost sparkles brightly on the long grass, the cool glow of moonlight bathing the fringes of the forest with silvery light. A murder of crows sits silently on the wire fence that stands at the far end of the field, soft cawing occasionally breaking the deadly still of the night. Clarke counts seven, goosebumps raising on the back of her neck as every pair of beady eyes tracks her progress through the yard.
Dried, browned leaves dance across the frozen ground, spinning and twirling in the wake of the breeze. The soft crunch underfoot is the only noise that echoes through the eerie stillness of the field, save for the loud pounding of Clarke’s heartbeat as it rushes through her ears.
She reaches for the small talisman in her pocket, trying to draw comfort from its solid presence as she stares up at the derelict barn that sits at the far corner of the clearing, sagging with age and neglect. What was once a fence lies in pieces in front of the building, broken. Rotting wood stands at awkward angles, jagged teeth that punch the broken surface of the ground. Clarke silently skirts a rusted bed frame that sits slumped by a corner of the barn, pulling her coat in so she doesn’t snag on any exposed pieces.
For three years, Lexa had been rewinding Aden's memory.
"Why do we have to keep doing this?" Madi sighed as she looked at her best friends blank expression. She pushed his floppy blonde hair out of his eyes as he stared at the wall in front of him.
"I told you," Lexa says softly. "He can't know you're a witch."
"He keeps figuring it out, though," Madi counters. "Every single time we erase it, he figures it out a different way. Now, he's just losing more memories." Her blue eyes lingered on his face, his blonde mustache that he started growing. At fifteen, Aden still looked like a twelve year old, chubby cheeks and innocent eyes, and he was desperate to look older - hence the tiny patch of hair above his lip. "Soon enough, he's not even going to remember me."
"She's right," Clarke said. She sat next to Madi and slung her arm around her daughter's shoulder. "You never erased my memory."
"Trust me, my parents tried. Many times. You're just remarkably stubborn. I just - I need to keep you safe, Mads."
Clarke pulled Madi into her chest and sighed. "Just for now," she whispered to her daughter.
"Okay," Madi sighed.
***
Aden rang the bell to the Griffin-Woods home, excited to start the movie marathon he and Madi watched every Friday night.
Startlingly blue eyes stared up at him, a pretty smile on his best friend's lips. Aden blinked, his hands suddenly getting sweaty at the sight of her.
"Hey, loser," Madi teased. "You coming in or what?" She asked.
Aden laughed, shouldering past her to get into the house. "Last one to the couch smells like feet!" He called, then raced to the couch in her living room. He leapt over the back and crashed onto the cushions. "Beat ya!" He called out before Madi had even turned from the door.
Madi rolled her eyes and settled onto the floor in front of him.
"I'm just kidding. Come sit up by me." He moved his legs and tugged on Madi's sweater until she relented and moved to the couch with him. "So what do you wanna watch?"
The brunette shrugged.
"Slasher? Freddie? Jason? Killer Clowns? Scream?" He asked.
Madi laughed. "What is it with you and scary movies lately?"
Aden shrugged. "I find them funny." He looked at his best friend through the corner of his eyes. "The supernatural doesn't scare me."
"Jason isn't supernatural. He's just a crazy dude."
Aden cleared his throat. "Yeah, we can watch something else. What about a witch movie?"
Madi's cheeks flushed. "Why a witch movie?"
Aden lifted one shoulder and let it drop when he said, "I think they're cool. They're just normal people with like… extra powers."
"They're not normal at all," Madi disagreed. "It's weird, having powers. You're not like everyone else."
"Yeah, you're special. You get to see the world through a totally different lens. Being a human kinda sucks. We're squishy and whiney and usually prone to doing dumb things." Aden pointed to the DVD case in his hand. "Like, always run towards the sound of murder."
"Witches are squishy and they can do a lot of harm to people."
"Or they can save people. Hello, Harry Potter."
"Voldemort."
Aden leaped across the couch to cover Madi's mouth with his hands. "Don't say his name," he hissed. His heart beat unsteadily in his chest.
Madi giggled underneath him, and for the briefest of moments, she thought about what his lips would taste like and if the hair above his lip would tickle. The thought startled her, knocking her stomach into her shoes, and she licked his palm. Aden's nose scrunched up and he pulled away immediately at the wet feel of her tongue, wiping his hand on his pants.
Her cheeks turned bright red, and she tucked her legs underneath herself in the corner of the couch trying to distance herself from the feeling. "Just pick whatever movie you want."
"What about Bewitched?" Aden chewed his lip as he cast a nervous glance at his best friend.
Madi blew a raspberry. "That's like ancient."
"Yeah, but she wiggles her nose," he commented with forced nonchalance. "Seems kinda relevant."
Everything suddenly went eerily silent. Madi swallowed down the knot in her throat and avoided her friend's eye.
"I know you know that I know," Aden said. His brow scrunched and he shook his head. "I mean - I know you're a witch. And I know your Mama's a witch."
Madi hissed, "Aden, stop -," her eyes widened as she looked around, looking to see if her parents were listening. Surely, they'd rewind his mind of tonight and Madi wasn't ready for that again.
"No wait, listen Mads." Aden turned to face his friend fully. "I know. And I know you're going to delete my memory again or whatever it is that you guys do, and that's cool, but just know that I know and I'll always know and I'll always keep it a secret. Clearly, it needs to be since you keep wiping my memory."
"How did you…"
Aden shrugged. "It makes sense. There's pictures of things that we've done together, places we've gone, but when I try to remember them, I can't even recall one single memory of the day. You always have to tell me what happened, and you haven't ever told the same story twice."
"Your amnesia isn't -,"
"And how you always take the entire week off if you're sick. And how you always make me jump because I'll be sure you aren't around and then you just poof right into existence next to me."
"Yes, but -,"
"And how your Aunt Octavia is never in any pictures I've ever seen. I've even tried to take a selfie with her and she nearly broke my hand. She's a vampire, isn't she? And how defensive you are over what witches actually look like. You even coined witch-ist."
"I didn't coin anything."
"Okay, well, what about that one time I was playing soccer and you were the only person in the stands and I kicked the ball from half-field and it literally spun around all the defenders to end up in the net."
"Physics?" Madi said awkwardly.
"Madi," Aden sighed. "You're going to wipe my memory anyway, you might as well not lie."
Madi sighed and ran her hands down her face. "Fine," she murmured. She looked up into earnest blue eyes and said, "yeah, I'm a witch. My mama, too, and her sister. But aunty Raven and my mom aren't."
"And your aunt Octavia?"
"Vampire."
"Uncle Lincoln?"
"Werewolf."
"Those are real?!" Aden shrieked. Madi cast a wary look at him and Aden cleared his throat. "Those are real?" He hissed.
The brunette nodded, and started playing with the ends of her braids.
"Okay, wow," Aden said. He ran his hand through his hair and asked, "so can you fly? Do you need a broomstick?"
Madi laughed. "Nope." She wiggled her nose and levitated off the couch a few inches. Aden's eyes widened comically.
"Cool! Do you make potions? Do you have any warts? Can you teleport? Is there a killing spell? Do you need a wand? How come you have to wiggle your nose? Do you wear gowns? Did you have to go to witch school?" He started asked the questions so quickly that Madi couldn't keep up with them to answer.
"Whoa, Aden, holy, wait!" She cried. She laughed at his excitement. "First of all, this isn't Harry Potter. Secondly, I'm a half-witch, so I have my own set of special powers. Each of us are different. My mom's got super athletic/physical stuff and I -,"
"Can talk to animals," Aden supplied.
"You - you know that?"
Aden smirked. "I saw you in the park last week. A wolf came up to you and you followed it. A wolf, Madi. You followed a wolf. Anyway, I followed you."
"Oh," Madi said, a strong swooping feeling in her stomach made her skin hot. "Why would you follow me if there was a wolf?"
"You were talking to it. And then when you found the litter, you talked to them, too. The pups came right up to you. You talked to them like they could understand you, and I just pieced it together."
"You followed me because you thought I was a witch?"
Aden swallows loudly. "Uh, yeah."
"Oh," Madi said, her brow furrowing at the fact that her stomach had dropped unpleasantly. "Right, yeah, well, I can talk to animals."
"That's cool."
"How come you're not more freaked out by this?" Madi asked, diverting the attention away from her disappointment.
Aden shrugged. "You're my best friend. You're important to me, and I just… I want you to know I'm not gonna hurt you. So when you wipe my memory this time you can at least know that you're safe with me."
Madi leaned over and hugged her best friend tightly. "Thanks, Aden."
"Anytime, Mads."
***
"You can't rewind his memory this time," Clarke hissed at her wife.
They were doing what any good set of parents would do - they were eavesdropping.
It's not that they meant to, but Aden's voice was changing, and it cracked when he was excited. He spoke with such excitement that both Clarke and Lexa thought it would be safer to know than not know.
"I need to protect Madi," Lexa said sadly. "I don't enjoy doing this. I adore Aden."
"I know you don't, but it doesn't seem to matter anyway. He keeps figuring it out. We've rewound his memory almost thirty times already. Nothing even happened this week and he figured it out. What are you going to do, kill him?"
Lexa opened her mouth only to snap it shut seconds later. She couldn't kill the boy. "What if we move?"
"I will literally kick your ass, Lexa. You're not doing that to Madi. You'd have to rewind to her toddler years and I am not going through the fire burping phase again!"
Lexa slumped into the counter. Clarke stepped into her space, cupping her chin and directing green eyes to meet hers. "Aden's a good kid. He's Madi's best friend. Maybe we should just trust that the universe wants him to know." She pressed a soft kiss to the pouty bottom lip of her wife.
Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke's waist. "When did you get so wise, Mrs. Griffin-Woods?"
"When I married my best friend." She kissed Lexa's smirking lips and then pulled away. "Let's go talk to them."
***
Madi was in the process of returning Aden to his human form after she had turned him into a desk lamp.
"Whoa," he gasped as his butt landed on the side table. "That was so cool!"
Lexa cleared her throat from the entrance to the living room, and both teenagers froze.
"Looks like you're having fun," she commented. Aden jumped off the table and sat on the couch in a poor attempt to feign innocence.
"Mama wait, I can explain."
Lexa held up her hand to her daughter. "Nope."
Madi looked at Clarke, who just shook her head at her daughter. Lexa took a seat on the arm of the couch next to Madi and Clarke sat beside Aden, her hand running soothingly along his back. "We want to talk to you both," Clarke said.
Aden sighed, his shoulders hunched forward. After a long moment, he said, "Alright, I'm ready." He sat up straight and looked at Madi. "Thanks for being honest with me."
"We're not removing your memories," Lexa said.
Aden gasped at them. "You're - you're not?"
"No, we're actually going to give them back to you, if you want. I'm sorry I took them from you, but I needed to protect my daughter."
Aden shrugged. "That's cool, I get it." He looked at Madi. "I'd protect her, too."
Lexa shared a knowing look with her wife, then turned back to the boy. "Do you want your memories back?"
"You can do that?"
"Yes. It will disrupt the timeline, but it won't make too much of an impact because you continuously figure it out. At least, well, I hope."
"You hope?" Clarke hissed.
"I mean, well, it's not like I ever had to do this before!" Lexa said.
Clarke groaned and ran her hand down her face. "Fucking magical children I have.
"Anyway," Lexa cast a look at her wife before turning back to Aden. "I can, but it's pretty painful. Like, extremely painful, so you need to be sure you want --,"
Aden cut her off, "Yes, I want them. I want to remember."
Lexa nodded and switched seats with Clarke. Clarke took hold of her daughter's sweaty hand, stifling her chuckles. "He'll be okay."
Lexa placed her hands on either side of Aden's head and breathed in deeply, closing her eyes. He followed suit, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.
She whispered an incantation that wasn't English then released Aden's head.
Nothing happened. Aden opened one eye, and then the other, and then pouted at the ordinary room.
"I don't think anythi -- agghhhhhhhhhh!" He screamed, clutching his head between his hands as the waves of memories were dumped into his subconscious.
He fell over, his body crumpling to the floor in pain. His head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. He saw glimpses of fire and ice and blinding, painful lights.
Images flashed before his eyes of all the adventures he and Madi and been on since they became friends on the apple farm. Moments of terror and fun and pre-teen awkwardness, and images of Madi's face and her wiggling nose illuminated his mind.
His body seized and convulsed with the rewiring of his brain, and after a long, long moment, his body went still.
Madi was beside him instantly. "Aden? Aden?" She asked as she shook him.
Aden gasped and bolted upright, clutching his head as the visions swam before him. Madi stumbled back, her eyes warily watching her best friend, waiting for him to say something.
"Madi," Aden gasped, eyes landing on his best friend.
"Hi," she said quietly.
His face broke into a large, beaming grin. "Hey, hi, hello," he laughed at himself. "Holy shit, hi!"
"Do you remember anything?" Madi asked, still wary.
"I remember everything," he cheered, then lunged at her to give a tight hug.
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"How do I look?" Clarke asked, twirling about the living room. She was dressed in her Halloween costume, showing off her talent for makeup.
"Are you serious?" Lexa asked, mouth agape.
Clarke laughed, her hat falling down over her eyes. "Come on, don't be so offended."
"I mean, it's just…" Lexa trailed off, chewing on her lip.
Madi bounded down the stairs, yelling a, "whoa, mom that's so witch-ist!"
"Witch-ist?" Clarke asked.
Madi floated an apple from the fruit tray to meet her when she plopped down on the couch next to Lexa.
"Feet," Lexa admonished her eight year old.
Madi huffed and chomped down on the apple, a few pieces falling out of her mouth as she said, "yeah, it's prejudice against witches."
Lexa clicked her tongue at her daughter, scooping up the pieces of apple that had fallen from her mouth and wrapped them in a tissue. "No talking with food in your mouth, Mads."
"It's a joke!” Clarke said. "You guys don't even look like this. No wonder humans haven't ever been able to find you." Her face was painted green with warts on an exaggerated nose. Her head was covered by a pointy hat and she wore a long black gown. "Really, why would you ever want to look like this if you could change it with magic? Besides, it’s a rocking costume if I do say so myself.” She twirled again, and Lexa had to fight down her smile at her wife. She really, truly loved her, even if she was being highly insensitive right now.
“It’s kind of like saying that all humans are stupid and slow,” Lexa commented instead. “Like shoving our faces with the garbage some of you call food, and talking about how we’re the superior race and whatnot.”
Clarke twisted her mouth to the side in thought. “Okay, but I don't think like that,”
“Obviously, or we wouldn’t be together,” Lexa quipped.
“I just mean -- it’d be so much easier to be a witch. I mean, Madi can talk to animals, you are a superstar athlete. You’re like the spoiled brats of society.”
Lexa scoffed. Madi rolled her eyes. “I am so not a spoiled brat,” Madi chimed, more apple crumbs falling from her lips. Lexa glared at her child until Madi picked up her trash from the couch. She tried to wiggle her nose to send it to the trashcan, but Lexa snapped her fingers before she could, putting a safety lock on her nose.
"Come on!" she whined.
"You have legs," Lexa retorted. "Use them."
With a huff, Madi got up and dumped her trash into the trashcan in the kitchen. Lexa joined her, stirring the pot she had started for dinner.
Clarke continued her rant, “You kinda are. Whenever you want something you just have to poof it into existence. Lexa snaps her fingers or you wiggle your nose and there it is, whatever your heart desires.”
“What would you do if you had magical powers, babe?” Lexa asked over her shoulder. “Since you clearly have had such a horrible hand dealt to you.”
Clarke shrugged. “I’ve never really thought of it because it’s completely impossible. It’d be like a vacation, though. I'd probably make everything silent so I could just relax. Man, you guys have it so easy.”
Lexa smirked, and then winked at Madi. "Alright babe," she said, turning to her wife. "Deal." She snapped her fingers, and the costume on Clarke’s frame shrunk down to fit her snugly, and the green paint disappeared from her face.
“What the --”
“Let’s see what you got,” Lexa teased, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ve just handed over my powers. You, Clarke Griffin, are now a witch for twenty-four hours.”
“You mean to tell me that you’ve had the ability to turn me into a witch for our entire lives and never bothered to do so? Rude!”
Lexa laughed. “It’s not quite how it works. You have to have a deep emotional and physical bond with someone.”
“Like a soulmate?” Madi asked.
“Yeah, like a soulmate. Seeing that you’re my wife and also have bore my child, our connection is more than strong enough to allow me to pass my powers onto you for a short period of time.”
“So I’m legit a witch?”
“And I’m human,” Lexa replied.
“Cool! Can I be a werewolf?” Madi asked.
“No!” both parents barked at the same time.
“How does it feel to be powerless?” Clarke asked. “You do realize I’m not going to help you with any of the housework so you can get a sense of how tough it really is to grow up and have to fold your own laundry.”
“I look forward to it,” Lexa said with a small laugh.
“Wow,” Clarke said, marvelling at her hands. “How do I like, make it go?” She tried snapping her fingers and blinking excessively, but nothing happened.
Lexa chuckled. “Stop forcing it. Just let it come to you.”
“Got it, Chief,” she said, pointing her finger guns are Lexa that she typically did when she was trying to be sarcastic. With a flash of light and a poof of smoke, Lexa’s head donned a Native tribal headpiece.
Clarke’s eyes widened and she looked at her hands. “Oh, come on!” she bemoaned. “I can’t believe my trigger is finger-guns!”
***
Lexa bit into the dinner she had prepared, noting the meatballs ended up a little spicier than she had originally anticipated. She stood to refill her glass of water, but Clarke held a hand up to stop her.
“Don’t worry babe, I got this.” She finger gunned at Lexa and said, “water.”
Lexa sighed.
A sudden downpour of water fell atop Lexa's head, soaking her clothes right through.
A few seconds later, an empty glass appeared in the air, only to crash onto the kitchen floor.
***
“Jesus… Christ… How do I… Stop this… from… happeniiiiiiiing?” Clarke asked as she bounced up and down in the air, trying to get control of her levitation. She pointed her finger at Lexa, who sighed as she floated, and tried her best not to throw up at the sudden rollercoaster that her wife forced upon her in their living room.
***
Halfway through the pile of laundry, Lexa pouted at her smiling wife. “I got this, babe,” Clarke said. She finger-gunned at the last of the clothes and said, “fold,” but the already folded clothes exploded from their spot on the bed, littering the room in the family’s underwear.
***
“How’s it going?” Lexa asked, poking her head around the corner to Clarke’s art studio.
Clarke huffed and pouted at her wife. In front of her was a series of canvases covered in sad clowns and dreary landscapes.
“Moody,” Lexa said.
“I don’t seem to know how to control any colour other than the black. This was easier when I was human."
***
Clarke was determined to master her magic, knowing that she would never hear the end of it if she came out of this day not being able to cast one proper spell.
Lexa drove them to the store to get groceries for the week. She perused the aisles while Clarke thought and thought and thought about what she could do to get it under control.
She thought over the words and the basic spells that Madi taught her when Lexa wasn't working, finger gunning without casting the spell aloud so she could practice her posture.
“Hey Clarke, isn’t that Harper?”
“Who?” Clarke asked, finger inadvertently pointing at her wife.
Suddenly, there was a poof of smoke and a bright flash of light, and hovering in front of her was an owl with the greenest eyes she had ever seen.
“Lexa?” Clarke gasped.
“Hoot, hoot, hoot,” the bird replied, fluttering its wings furiously. "Hoot, hoot, hoot!" The owl called. Clarke slowly backed away as the owl squawked and screeched and flew after her.
***
The next morning, Clarke awoke to a platter of eggs, bacon and pancakes, and a single lily in a vase.
Lexa leaned against the doorjamb, smiling at her wife as she handed over a cup of coffee. “Come downstairs whenever you’re ready.”
Bashful and cowed, Clarke took a sip of her coffee and nodded at her wife.
After she finished her breakfast, she brought the plates downstairs and marvelled at the sparkling clean home. “Looks like someone got their powers back,” Clarke teased her wife.
“Nah, you still have a few more hours,” Lexa replied, hands busy scrubbing the pans used for breakfast.
“Really?” Clarke asked. She finger gunned in the direction of the milk container, and made the entire jug explode, coating the ceiling in dairy. She sighed. “Wheres Madi?”
Lexa laughed and pulled out a rag from the cupboard, already moving towards the mess when she said, “At Jordan’s. It really was Harper we saw yesterday.”
“So, you’re telling me you cleaned our entire place and made me breakfast without the use of your powers?”
“Clarke,” Lexa sighed. “I always do. I don’t want Madi to grow up thinking that her powers are the answer to everything. Everything I do at home I do as an equal to you. I only use my powers to spoil you if I can… or to fix something I broke on occasion.”
Clarke’s cheeks dusted pink at her wife’s words. “You really are something, Mrs. Griffin-Woods.”
“I’m yours, Mrs. Griffin-Woods.”
“I’m sorry for saying you were spoiled. This magic stuff is harder than I thought. I love you.”
Clarke leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her wife’s lips, and with a gentle poof of smoke and a warm flash of pink light, Clarke's magic worked properly for the first time ever, levitating her and Lexa off the ground together, high off their love.
Back to school was the favourite time of year for most. Parents were overjoyed that their children would be supervised while they were working; children were overjoyed the see their friends again; teachers were overjoyed to… well, they were overjoyed for the weekends.
Madi, on the other hand, hated back to school. Being a half witch meant she had half the human antibodies, and half the witch antibodies, therefore, she was in for a whole dose of unrelenting colds during the first two months. She would get sick at least twice in that short amount of time, causing her to miss a lot of school and a lot of the time that children spent making and solidifying their friendships.
But, she couldn't go to school. Not when her nose was stuffy and running and she was sniffling and sneezing and turning her mother into an elephant, blowing her Aunt Raven up like fireworks, and sending her mama into the desert and back again in a wiggle of her nose.
But Ms. Indra insisted that she be present for the first field trip of the year. The kids were going to the apple farm, after all, and Lexa had volunteered as the class chaperone.
In hindsight, Madi should have known that her class would have been more interested in Lexa and her superstar status than the actual field trip. Even as the ten year old curled up in her mama’s shoulder, she was still having to deal with boys and girls interrupting to get a picture with her mama or ask for her autograph.
Madi sucked down the hot tea that her mama had packed in her travel mug, a blend of echinacea and magical herbs to fight off both sides of the cold virus. It relieved the aches and pains, and most importantly, stopped the sniffles for the time being.
The class wandered through the apple farm for a majority of the day, getting lost in corn mazes, learning how to bale hay for the animals, petting tiny lambs in the petting zoo, and drinking warm cups of apple cider and eating apple pie.
Madi had made it throughout most of the day without mishap aside from sneezing and blowing her mom across the corn field. Lexa snapped her fingers and fixed the holes that were created before anyone had noticed, though.
The last part of the trip was the horse rides around the farm. Each child in the class took a turn on one of the ten horses for a tour of the entire farm.
Madi brushed her hand along the nose of a chocolate pony. “Hey. Your name is Ryder. It’s cute.”
The horse stomped it's foot in the mud and shook it's head up and down. “I think my handler was a punny guy.”
Madi chuckled. “That’s actually funny.”
The horse took a step back. “No way you can understand me.”
Madi smiled up at the big nose, lifting her hands in deference like her mama had taught her to approach animals. “Duh. You speak English. You just have a weird accent.”
The horse neighed, catching Lexa’s attention. and she took a quick picture of her daughter smiling up at the giant and sent it off to her wife.
Ryder bowed his head and said, “Well I’ll be, aren't you just a smart lil cookie. Hey Cleatus! Lookie o’er here! We got us our own Dr. Doohickey!”
“Dr. Doolittle,” Madi corrected, and Ryder huffed at her.
A black stallion galloped over towards them and sniffed Madi’s neck. “She smells like apples. I love apples!”
She giggled at the contact, and pulled an apple out of her pocket, holding it out for Cleatus.
“You can hear us?” Cleatus asked.
Madi nodded and giggled more when he stepped right into her space, his giant eyeball looking into hers.
A white mare saddled up to Madi shortly after, nudging her bum with her nose.
“Ponyelope,” Ryder scolded. “She’s a good one.”
They were interrupted by the sounds of her classmate yelling. “Look at this weirdo!” Josephine Lightborne pointed at Madi, who was surrounded by horses. “She can’t make real friends so she hangs out with animals!”
Madi’s classmates pointed and laughed, and Lexa had to squeeze her hands together to stop them from snapping and giving all the ten year olds wedgies. But, if Josephine ended up stepping in a suddenly appearing cow-pie, Lexa was none the wiser.
“Don’t mind them, darlin’” Ryder consoled. “Let’s just go on a good ol’ fashioned ride. That’ll cheer ya’up, I promise,” he neighed.
Madi sighed, but smiled when Ryder rubbed his nose against her cheek. Ryder took off at a slow cadence once Madi climbed aboard, describing all the parts of the farm to her. He wandered as far away from the rest of the group as he could without drawing suspicion to point out the magical flowers in the fields and the magical animals that could only be seen by those with abilities.
The path wound around and through the pumpkin fields, and Madi tensed. "I'm allergic to pumpkins!" She hissed to the horse.
Ryder slowed his trot, but the cowboy handler that was leading the group circled around and forced him to carry on.
Her nose tickled, and she looked over to Lexa with fear in her eyes. She clutched at Ryder’s fur, and her heels dug into his sides.
"I'm trying, I'm trying," Ryder said, trying to console his rider. He tried to move faster, but his handler wasn't letting him, tired of his antics.
Madi sneezed and all hell broke loose.
She had turned the pumpkin patch into a giant, living creatures that scared Josephine's horse into bucking with her still on. She fell off the back of the horse and straight into the mud with a scream.
The rest of the horses followed suit, kicking and bucking their riders off so they could free themselves.
"Whoa, whoa!" The handlers tried, but the terrified animals wouldn't heed. The animals kicked and whined, and started to run off.
"What did I do?" Madi questioned, her voice shaky with sadness.
Ryder didn’t buck his rider off; however. He took off with Madi on his back, straight to the rest of the now free horses. All the horses had run about a hundred yards from the scare and we're circling the ground, huffing angrily.
"What was that?"
"I'll kill it!"
"I hate pumpkins!"
"Fight back!"
Madi jumped off the horse and approached the pack with her hands up. "Whoa, whoa," The horses were frazzled and frightened. "I know you're all scared. It's okay, it's my fault."
"Kill the girl!" One horse yelled, neighing and rearing back on its hind legs. Ryder moved in front of her. "Calm down, Otis, she's just a girl!"
"It was an accident!" Madi pleaded. "It was an accident. I can't control my powers."
"She scared us!"
"But we're fine!" Ryder said.
"Let's just all calm down," Madi said. "I'm sorry I scared you. I won't let it happen again."
The horses huffed and sneezed, but Madi wouldn’t move from the middle of the pack.
"Madi, no!" Her teacher called.
"Wait, wait," Lexa said, grabbing the teacher and stopping them from interfering. “They’re calming down.”
“Please, just come back to your owners. I promise, no more magic. No more pumpkins.”
Ponyelope looked around, her ears twitching with nerves.
“Please,” Madi breathed.
Ponyelope took one step, then two, then moved right past Madi and headed towards the handlers. The rest of the horses followed, and Ryder pressed his big head into Madi’s chest. She laughed and hugged his nose.
The class looked on as Madi corralled the horses and got them to follow her back to the handlers.
"How did you do that?" Aden asked when she got back.
Madi just shrugged.
"It's because - it's because she's a weirdo!" Josephine said, covered from head to toe in mud. "She doesn't have any friends so she talks to animals, and even they don't listen to her!"
A few of her classmates laughed at Madi, whose cheeks became warm with embarrassment. She ran back to the bus, and Lexa trailed after her.
"Hey, shut up!" Aden Forrest, they typically shy and well mannered boy, yelled. "She saved your life, Josephine! She saved all of us from getting really hurt!"
***
"Mads?" Lexa asked, slowly sitting next to her daughter on the large seat of the deserted bus.
The only sound was a sniffle, and then Lexa felt the soft flutter of snowflakes cascading onto her head.
"I hate this," Madi whispered. "I hate having magic! I hate being human! I hate that I'm just a weird half-thing!" The sound of her voice grew louder until she shouted at her mama. She turned and punched the seat in front of them as tears poured from her eyes.
"I'm sorry you feel that way Madi," Lexa said, dusting the snow off her shoulder and then wrapping her daughter in a warm hug.
Madi sniffed again as the tears fell and Lexa was pelted with sand and dirt.
Lexa snapped and created an umbrella to hover above her and her daughter to stop the onslaught.
"You have so many special gifts, Madi, but the best one is that you're kind. Don't let someone like Josephine take that away from you. What you did today made me more proud than you learning your first spell. You're a great person, and kids are just dumb. It'll get better, I promise. If you want to be sad right now, or if you can't help it, that's okay. I'm right here. But, never hate who you are. You’re the best parts of me and the best parts of your mom. You’re an incredible kid, Madi."
Madi leaned into her mama and hugged her tightly around her neck. "I love you, mama."
"Love you too, Mads."
Aden was the first student to enter the bus since the incident, and his heavy, awkward footsteps sounded until he was standing directly in front of Madi and Lexa’s seat. "Hey, sorry, Hi, Mrs. Griffin-Woods. I'm sorry to interrupt, but uhh," Aden said, shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot. He had a piece of paper in his hand that he folded and unfolded methodically.
Madi hid her face in Lexa's collar, and it took everything inside of the brunette not to snap at the boy. "Yes, Aden?" She asked, already pulling her pen out of her pocket to sign his paper.
"Sorry, um, thank you for offering, but I don’t want your autograph.” He ran his hand through his shaggy blonde hair, “but can you give this to Madi for me? I just want her to know that she's the coolest person ever and say thank you for saving us." His earnest blue eyes pleaded with Lexa and he thrust the paper into her face. She gracefully retrieved it from his fingers and opened it only after he scurried away and off the bus.
Lexa’s heart melted at what she saw.
Aden had written a big 'thank you' on the cover of the card. Inside, all the students in the class signed the left side of the page. On the right side, he had drawn a picture of Madi with a cape and a horse. And on the back, he scrawled, 'Madi, thank you for saving us. You're a superhero. Can I sit with you at lunch tomorrow? - your friend, Aden'
