Morana

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"Come and sit here," the Priestess continued, as if the exchange of words between me and Alejo hadn't happened.

Alejo gave me an encouraging nod before he left and I had no choice but to sit down in the armchair I was taken to.

"So, Morana, why don't you tell us a little about yourself? Who are your parents and for how long have you been living in Sacramento? You definitely are the first witch here in a long time that I don't know," the Priestess started what felt like it would be an interrogation more than anything else. Even the way we sat made it feel as such.

The Priestess was on the couch opposite me with Senalda next to her, and Astria and Marianela were in armchairs to the side. All of them faced me and it felt like a spotlight shone on me.

"I've been in Sacramento for about six years," I started. "And I don't know who my parents are."

"Why not?" Marianela asked in a light voice.

"They abandoned me when I was just a baby."

"Then who took care of you?"

"I moved between different foster homes."

"You mean humans raised you?" Marianela sounded completely horrified, and I felt immensely awkward. I didn't have a problem talking about my past. No problem sharing that my upbringing had been less than ideal. But the way they all stared at me made the situation very uncomfortable.

"Yeah," I said in a clipped tone.

"Then you've had no one to teach you magic?" the Priestess asked and leaned forward a little.

"No," I nodded and turned my attention from Marianela and back to the Priestess. "I didn't even know I was a witch until I met Alejo. But he's been teaching me."

The Priestess frowned and in the corner of my eyes I saw both Senalda and Astria look horrified. Marianela, on the other hand, just tilted her head and got a smirk on her face.

"He's been teaching you magic?" Astria scoffed. "Poor you, that must be awful."

"Senalda, you wouldn't mind taking Morana in to teach her?" the Priestess continued and turned to her eldest.

"Not at all. It is our duty to teach the younger generations, after all," Senalda answered aloofly.

"Alejo is teaching me just fine, so that won't be necessary," I rejected the offer. Senalda gave me a pitiful and taunting smile.

"Since you haven't grown up with witches, there is much for you to learn about our ways," she told me. "You should listen to us more knowledgeable and trust when we tell you he's not fit to teach you."

"I think I can judge that on my own!"

Astria opened her mouth to say something. But the Priestess held her hand up to stop her.

"We can talk more about this later," the Priestess then said before continuing the interview with me. "What do you know about your magic? There's something about it that seems to be more than just ordinary witchcraft."

There was no way I would tell her any of that. Hadn't planned to before coming there, and by the start of the conversation I was even less inclined. By the look on her face, the burning anticipation in her eyes, it also was clear that she mainly wanted to know exactly how strong I was and her questions didn't seem directed at getting to know me, but my magic.

"I don't know," I answered and shrugged, tried to make it seem casual. From the Priestess' narrowed eyes, she did not believe me. But she leaned back, which seemed to be a cue for Marianela to take over the conversation.

"How has it been living with humans?" she asked me.

What followed was a long conversation, mainly between me and Marianela, about humans. It definitely irked me how she talked about them as if they were these mysterious beings, vastly different from witches. But apart from that, she was the one out of the four of them I liked the most. She seemed genuinely interested in learning more.

But that she was the one I liked the most, said more about how much I disliked the others than anything else. Because she still came across as somewhat mean spirited and not against using others, or from the conversation at least humans, for her own gains and purposes. But she listened to what I had to say and did at least look like she took my words seriously.

After about half an hour, the Priestess announced it was time for dinner. I automatically looked for Alejo, but he was nowhere in sight. The dining room was on the opposite side of the hallway. Just like the furniture in the living room were antics, so were the ones in the dining room. The long table was in heavy, dark wood with matching chairs. The only other furniture in there was an old grandfather clock, and from the ceiling hung a crystal chandelier.

The table, which was filled with roosted beef, potatoes, and boiled vegetables, was set with white porcelain, which had golden edges, wine glasses in some sort of metal that made them look more like goblets, and cutlery in what seemed to be silver. As my eyes took it all in, I counted the number of seats. Five. There were only five set seats.

Was Alejo not supposed to have dinner with us? Did they really treat him so much as nothing more than a servant?

I felt nauseas and doubted I would be able to eat much, if anything at all. The Priestess had told him to prepare the food. Was he really forced to do that? Do all of this? But then not allowed to take part?

"To new friendships," the Priestess said as we sat and raised her glass in my direction. I raised mine as well and forced a smile. Friendship my ass. She seemed like the last person on earth I would freely spend time with.

"Speaking of friendships," Astria said in an indifferent sort of way, but it didn't quite manage to hide her contempt as we laid food on our plates. "How did you get to know our dear brother?"