Most people wake up to the sweet sound of birds chirping. Or they wake up to the smooth words of a loved one, or maybe the smell of their favorite breakfast. I on the other hand woke up to the sound of my mam yelling at me.

" Come on hurry up we don't want to be late. You know Veronica doesn't like it when people are late!" My mam yelled.

I swear to Satan I've never gotten ready so fast in my life. I slipped on my last shoe as we left the house.

My first lesson of the day is apparently with Veronica. She will probably just tell us how strong the bond with our familiar is or something that we basically already know.

We hurried across the meadow. I'm frantically trying to keep up with my mam.

I don't know why but a part of me thought that my mam would not go through Hawthorn, but she turned down the path into the village.

" I thought we weren't going to come through here. After what happened the other day."

" Son, we are servants of the dark, we cower to nothing. We can't let these mortals know they can push us out." She growled.

" She does have a point master."

" Did I ask your opinion?" I hissed.

" Sorry master, I won't do it again master."

Like the other day, everyone silently watched as we walked past. Every time I looked back at one of them they would gasp and run away. I took pride in the fear I install in them.

When we reached the center of the market the priest walked past us.

" Good to see you back on your feet father." my mam smirked.

The priest shook his head and continued walking away.

" You see my boy even the strong will eventually cower before the power of the dark." My mam announced loud enough so that everyone could hear.

" I can see that." I chuckled.

" You may win this time witch but one day your time will come and you will burn in the pits of hell!" The priest yelled.

My mam spun on her heels to face the priest.

" On the contrary father, I will be dancing in the flames, along with my fellow witches and the demons we praise. I will have respect when I die, you on the other hand will be eaten by the worms. You think you will seat upon a throne in heaven, but I can assure you, father, your heaven does not exist!"

" You know nothing of which you speak!" He yelled back.

" Actually father I know more than you think!"

" As entertaining as this is we should be going. You said it yourself Veronica will not like it if I'm late." I said.

" You're right let's get going."

Silence plagues us as we neared the temple.

" Mam, what did you mean by you know more than he thought?" I asked, wanting to have some sort of communication with my mam.

" It's just something I learned from a demon I summoned one time." She replied.

" You summoned a demon." I gasped, not many witches can summon demons by themselves.

" Yes, it was a long time ago."

" What did he say?"

" Nothing that concerns you." She snapped.

When we reached the arena the whole coven was already waiting for us. My mam stood next to my aunt while I went to the center of the circle and stood with Naomi and Cleo.

" Initiates, welcome to your first day of training. The next month will be the hardest month of your life. If by the end of the month the instructors do not deem you fit to be in this coven you will be kicked out. Lessons will be one hour every day, well for only two of you. Familiar lessons are first. Naomi and Tobias follow Veronica to the designated, meanwhile Cleo you can wait here or in your room, blood lessons are in two hours. Let the training begin!"

" Naomi, Tobias, follow me." Veronica commanded.

Veronica looked like the old mixed version of Naomi and Violet. She reaches just under six feet. She has very tanned skin, with a few wrinkles popping out here and there. Her long blond hair ends past her hips, but it is normally tied up into a braid. Her eyes are a mahogany brown. Fang- her familiar- is coiled around her wrist. He popped his head up a few times and hissed at Lily and Halin.

" Master please keep him away from me and Lily." Halin begged.

Naomi looked at me, Lily must have asked her the same thing.

" Why bud, I thought falcons eat snakes?"

" Fang hissing told them that he is the boss and they must respect him. Now let's get going time is ticking."

We followed Veronica to a small room. There was a podium in front of two beanbags. The stone walls were lined with old posters of animal anatomy. A glass case on the western wall was filled with tubes of venom and stuffed animals.

" Creepy isn't it?" Naomi chuckled.

" Not really." I shrugged.

" Oh come on you can admit it, I won't think less of you."

" Will the two of you shut up and take a seat." 

We sat down on the beanbags. Halin and Lily flew up to a perch made for them. Fand slithered up to Veronica's shoulders. His cold, unblinking eyes looked down on us.

" So as you will know the bond between a familiar and its owner is extremely strong. The only stronger bond is a witch mate bond. You can do many things with your familiar, they are created to help you. Over the next month, you will be learning what you can do with your familiar. Today we will discuss how you can use your familiar as a spy, you will be able to use your familiar's eyes and ears. By the end of this hour, you will be able to see what your familiar sees and hears what it hears with one simple spell."

" Lily come here." Naomi ordered, Lily shrieked as she flew to Naomi's outstretched arm.

" Halin come here."

Halin flew down to me.

" Take out any notebook you may have," we took out our books," The spell doesn't have a name so make any heading you please. How it works is you hold your familair by its head and look deep into its eyes. The spell goes as so: Ego autem cum meis familiar. Quod enim videt me videt, quid hoc audio audit. Then repeat, you try."

I turned Halin to face me and held his head in my hands.

" Ego autem cum meis familiar. Quad enim videt me videt, quid hoc audio audit."

It was like a rush, I was successful. Suddenly I was looking through Halin's eyes.

Judging by Naomi's smile she got it right as well.

" Well I'm impressed, not many witches get it right their first time. Now to end the spell say the words: Ego sum not cum iam non est. Ego non video, quid videt. Quod audit me non audiat."

I repeated the words and the spell was broken.

We spent the rest of the hour doing that spell over and over. We tested how well it worked by sending our familiars around the temple. Finally, it was time for my bone lesson.

" Good luck!" Naomi called as she ran to her room.

" I don't need luck!"

I went back to the arena and met up with Peggy. She led me to a room. Like Veronica's room, this one had a podium with a beanbag in front of it. Unlike Veronica's room, the walls were lined with posters of human anatomy. The glass cases on the walls were filled with different types of bones.

" Take a seat and take out your notebook." She commanded.

Peggy looks very much like Cleo. She is about five feet eight inches tall with fair skin. Her short black hair makes her piercing blue eyes shine. I've always found Peggy to be the nicest of all the witches in the coven, not as nice as Naomi but still nice. She always has a smile on her face and she helps others. I'm surprised Lizzie allows her to be like this.

Halin made himself a perch on one of the skeletons and looked down at me.

" So because your mam is a bone witch I'm sure you know most of the spells and potions bones are required for, am I correct?"

" I know most but not all." I answered.

" Okay, so I have something to start with. Since you have so many classes today I will cut this down to half an hour. Today I will show which bones to use for spells and potions and which bones to never use. Open your notebook and make the headings, you will need one page for each topic. Tell me when you are ready."

I opened my notebook and made the headings on the next clean pages.

" I'm ready."

" Great, so the most common bones used are the skulls and thumb bones since they contain the most power. Some uncommon ones are the other finger bones, the knuckles, ribs, and the first three vertebrae of the spine. The bone used for most spells is the skull and it is the one I recommend for the hard spells. If you need to conduct a simple spell then the ribs are for you. Now those are just the bones for a human, the best bones in animals will depend on the animal. The main animal we use are snakes, again the skull is the best but all the bones in the snake is good. Another animal we use is cats, like the snake all the bones except for the bones in the paws are good for any type of spell or potion. Tell me when you are finished writing and then we will go over which bones in a human not to use."

I frantically and neatly wrote down everything she told me.

" Okay, I'm ready."

" The bones in a human to never use are as follows, any bones in the arms, legs, or the rest of the spine. The reason we never use these bones is that over time our ancestors have either found that they contain no power or they change the spell back on us a bad way."

" Can you give me some examples of how they turn the spell around?"

" Well, I do have a story about it. When I was ten my cousin came over and she wanted to do a spell that would trap someone she didn't like in a makeshift prison. She needed to use a rib bone but she used the fourth vertebra instead. Long story short that bone being used turned the spell around and she was trapped in the prison. It took quite a long time to get her out. Using the wrong bone has consequences. And would you look at the time the lesson is over. You should get moving Lizzie doesn't like it when people are late. "

I packed up my notebook and bolted to the arena where Lizzie and Cleo were waiting impatiently for me.

Lizzie led us to her office. The only difference to the other rooms was that this one has a large table with pots on it.

" Take a seat and take out a notebook." She commanded.

We quickly say down and took out our books. We do not want to get on Lizzie's bad side, that would probably end with our death.

" Today we will talk about how to properly sharpen your different blades. A blood witch must have at least four different blades and they must all be sharpened differently. The first two blades are used to cut through the armor of a human and animals with shells. They are the same type of blade, sharp and serrated. Normally when you are home you simply sharpen your knife by using that metal thing, but when you are out in the wild a rock is your perfect tool. Pick up a blade and one of the stones and move the blade against the rock to sharpen it."

After about twenty minutes Cloe and I managed to get the knives to Lizzie's perfection.

" The next two blades are used to slice through flesh. Unlike the other two, these are not as serrated. The best thing in nature to use to sharpen this is your leather belt. Now a leather belt isn't the best thing in the world to sharpen the blade, but it will get this blade to perfect cutting ability. Take the other two blades and a leather belt and get sharpening."

By the end of the hour, we had all our blades sharpened to perfection.

" Tomorrow we will discuss how to drain the blood. Now Tobias you need to report to the arena to meet with Nathan. "

I bolted to the arena where Nathan was already waiting for me. Well if you call making out with your girlfriend waiting.

" Ugmm." I coughed.

They quickly pulled apart and fixed their clothes.

" Sorry." Martha mumbled.

" Yeah, what she said." Nathan said.

Being the assassin for the coven Nathan is very built and tanned. His dirty blond hair shone in the early afternoon sun, making his green eyes shine. He stood at six feet seven inches tall.

He towered over Martha who is only five feet five inches tall. Her long red hair was tied in a pony. The red hair made her grey eyes seem friendlier than they normally are. Like Agatha, Martha has a slim body. If we had to put it to a vote Martha would be crowned the most beautiful girl in the coven.

" We should get going lots to do. I'll see you later." He smiled at Martha.

" Love you." She smiled.

" Love you too." He said, pecking her lips.

" Good luck." She said to me before turning around and walking away.

"Let's go."

He led me to a small room on the first floor. On the far side of the room, there was a long table stacked with knives and skulls. In the center of the room, there is an old wooden stand with a target painted onto it. About fifteen paces in front of the stand there is a white line painted on the ground.

" Normally assassin training will start with fighting but I want to switch it up. I am going to tie a skull to the stand and you will throw knives at it, understood?"

" Yes."

" Okay go to the tables and select some blades."

While he tied a skull to the stand I picked up three blades that called to me. I tucked two into my pocket and held the other in my left hand.

" Stand behind the white line and show me what you got."

I stepped back behind the white line, took a deep breath, and threw the knives.

Surprisingly the knife hit the skull dead center, causing the skull to smash into tiny pieces.

" Wow, I was not expecting that. Now take out two knives."

He attached two skulls to the board.

I took a deep breath, lined up the knives, and threw. It only took a second then the sound of the skulls shattering echoed through the closed room.

" That is insane! Have you done this before?"

" No, must be in my genes or something." I shrugged.

" Must be. Now let's see how well you do when the skulls are in the air."

When the hour came to a close, I could successfully hit a skull in the air while running.

Nathan was gobsmacked. He couldn't believe what he saw.

" Lauren, you know I'm not easy to impress but your son was exceptional today!" He called as we entered the arena.

Everyone turned to face me.

" So Nathan do you believe we have a great assassin to take over for you?" Lizzie asked.

" I believe we may have the greatest assassin ever." Nathan smirked.

The coven cheered in delight. Naomi looked at me with jealousy but also pride.

" Alright, lessons will go on tomorrow at the same time. You may leave now."

" Bring some healing potion tomorrow we are going to be fighting." Nathan said to me.

I don't know why, but I thought what Nathan said in front of the coven would result in my mam and I having some conversation on our way home. But as always the walk was silent.

When we got home I immediately went to the kitchen and fixed myself some sandwiches.

My mam came in and made herself some tea.

" Did you have a good first day?" She asked, taking a seat in her chair.

" Yes."

" What did you learn?"

" Well, I learned how to connect my sight and hearing to Halin. I learned which bones in humans and animals to use and not use. I learned how to sharpen my blades for draining and knife throwing."

" Sounds like you had an eventful day."

" Yeah, I did. Anyway, I should go make that healing potion for tomorrow."

I put the plate back in the basin then ran up to my room.

" I thought you wanted a conversation with your mam master."

" Yeah I do, but I'm so not used to it it just felt awkward."

A healing potion takes quite a while to make, so the sun had set and the night had taken over by the time it was done.

My mam and I had dinner then I went up to bed. I was so exhausted from the day as soon as my head hit the pillow I fell asleep.

" Tobias!" A girl called.

" Hello!" I called back.

" Tobias." She giggled.

The scene changed. I was back in the meadow chasing the girl. But this time I can see more of her- her hair. It is long and beautiful. It is a mix of dark and light brown.

As always when I caught her we tripped and fell.

I cupped her cheek in my hand and stroked her cheek. Her skin was so soft. She leaned her head into my hand. Her lips gently kissed my wrist. The touch of her lips sent shivers down my spine.

" Who are you?" I asked.

She leaned down, her lips brushed my ear.

" Find me."