Misty Day Cordelia Foxx/Goode Foxxay
Post Coven Finale
Prequel
The most innocent, most guileless, purest, wildest, freest of them all is trapped in her own cruel hell, oblivious to the ongoings of the place she once called home. Home, where the new leader of witchcraft, they call her the Supreme, manages all her new tasks and responsibilities brilliantly! That is on the outside. On the inside she is plagued with guilt and loss and pain and overwhelmed by confusion. Especially because she can't quite explain why losing one of her coven's witches hurts her excruciatingly more than losing others before. While the Supreme is uncertain of how to deal with her emotions (she switches between: try to forget her, move on, the hurt will pass and I have to find a way to make things good, to bring her back!), the lost swamp witch is caught in an endless circle of agony, having to kill an innocent being over and over again.
But even though they're worlds apart, in different spheres, different realms, different dimensions, there is a thread, finely spun between them, emerging from the vibrations of their aching hearts beating in sync.
This is why the Supreme has dreamed of frogs almost every night ever since the wild one's parting - waking up in dismay and at a total loss of how to analyze her nightly visions.
This is why the stuck swamp witch very slowly, along with her tormenting consciousness, develops a tiny connection with her subconsciousness. Tender impulses, such as a faint smell or a certain tone bring back memories of a place long gone. At first they are just feelings and images, without meaning, without content. But soon they create a sort of natural instinct within her, whispering to her. Wake up!
Neither of them are aware of how the universe, the stars - imperatively, inevitably pull their destinies back together. And while the Supreme lies awake, her heart as heavy as the moon without gravity, a spark inflames. Inflames right there where people imagine the soul of a being would inhabit their unlasting body. A spark so small, so infinitesimal, that one cannot be sure it is even there. Oh but it is! Proven thereby as it makes its way along the very thread, that so feebly, yet steadily connects her aching heart to the other's. Exploding on the tip of her tongue and for once her scream is not wordless, but it utters a name, loud and clear: "Cordelia".
Chapter 1
"Misty", she merely whispered but the sound of her own hushed voice was enough to wake her up. She opened her eyes, bright sunlight and unwelcome awareness hitting her hard. She sighed in frustration, not sure if she should be thankful for, for once, not having dreamed about frogs, or if the dream she actually did have wasn't even worse. Unconsciously she put her hand on her heart, letting it rest there, as if to console the fluttering organ. Turning her head towards the window she squinted against the rays of sunshine which flooded the whole room. As, with a blink of her eyes, Misty's face appeared before her, beaming alongside the sunlight, she groaned deeply, turned to lay on her side, pressed her eyes shut and clutched at her heart tightly. "I'm trying, ok?" she blurted out unnerved, not really knowing who she was talking to.
Then she quickly got up, shook her ruffled hair and banned Misty into the back of her mind. There was a lot of work to do that day and she just was not in a position to neglect her duties. Days were needed for her living girls, her coven - nights belonged to her.
Showered and dressed she felt better already and made her way down to the dining room. Some of the witches had gathered there already to have their breakfast, chatting and giggling and wishing their Supreme a good morning. Cordelia was filled with pride looking at her girls, happy and safe and growing to be excellent, powerful witches and smart, confident women.
It's been only two and a half months, since she had found out that she was the new Supreme - her mother's successor, since her mother's death and since she decided to open up to the press, the people, the world. Open up about their kind, about witchcraft and about the dangers that witches were faced with, as long as people were not properly informed and educated. So much had changed during these few weeks, changed for the better. Change made possible by Cordelia's commitment, bravery, perseverance and hard work. Almost fifty young girls and women from all over the states had come to seek refuge, to find a home, a place, where they would be understood, welcomed, enlightened and educated. Education was one of Cordelia's most important agendas. To provide housing for all of the young witches, she had procured another domicile, right down the street, to be able to keep an eye on all of them. About a dozen of the younger witches resided with Cordelia, her council and some staff members in the house that had been the coven's home for centuries. The older witches, along with some guardians and staff had moved into the new house. Besides the private school, she collaborated with (a deal made possible thanks to her public relations work), the girls attended various witchcraft classes, held by Cordelia and her Council at the coven's main building.
She spotted them at the end of the big dining room table - all three of them, plus Kyle. It warmed her heart to see these young women (and Kyle), that had grown to be somewhat like a family to her - sitting together right at the place that she called home. Even though, she every so often, had to be the authoritative figure and to keep them in their place, they were a huge help and made it possible for her to achieve so many of her goals. Each one of them had been given special duties and responsibilities, and so far, Cordelia had had the right intuition with the arrangement of the tasks, as they all fulfilled them successfully.
Queenie and Madison, as always, seemed to be in a quarrel, wildly gesturing at each other. Madison still loved to provoke everyone at any given chance, especially Queenie, as she knew she wouldn't just take her shit, which made her the perfect target.
While approaching them, she wondered (not seriously, but somewhat annoyed) if it wouldn't have been better to leave Madison amongst the dead. Before she greeted them, she chuckled to herself and reminded herself, that Madison did have her strengths, too.
They stopped arguing, when they saw their Supreme, and wished her a good morning. "Your majesty!" Madison mocked and curtsied, a mischievous smile spread across her face. Cordelia just rolled her eyes, ignored her and, turning towards, Zoe, Kyle and Queenie asked: "Why again did I bring her back?" "Beats me!" Queenie scoffed but grinned at Cordelia. They all laughed (except Madison, who pouted), sat down, had breakfast and discussed today's business to be dealt with.
After breakfast the girls were sent off to their regular school classes. Zoe and Kyle took Delphine to get groceries, Queenie showed some of the new staff around the house and Madison went off to her room to do yoga.
Cordelia attended to her endless pile of paperwork. Her next witchcraft class would not start until the afternoon.
Still, after like an hour of reading and returning mails and phone calls, she felt the need to get out to the greenhouse, to check once again, if everything was well-prepared for her potion's class later that day.
She checked the herbs, liquids and powders she would need and placed them neatly on the big table in the middle of the greenhouse. She counted the test tubes and the copies of work sheets and compared the numbers with the attendance list. Finally she made sure all the safety precautions were set and was about to leave the greenhouse when her eyes caught a movement on the table in between all the glasses and tubes. She frowned and turned to step closer and get a better view. Behind one of the glasses she could see something green crawling along the table. Inexplicably she tensed up! She was hit by a sudden premonition, a sense of mourning spread inside of her chest and when she was close enough to identify the green little creature, she felt a sudden pang in her heart.
"Are you serious?" she exasperatedly exclaimed towards the ceiling. Not addressing anyone in particular, but then turning to the frog sitting on the table in front of her. "Jesus! What do you want from me?" The frog just sat there, besides breathing and blowing up its cheeks, not moving and not making a sound. But it seemed to have its eye focused on Cordelia. She sighed heavily, let herself drop on one of the stools and leaning on the table, propped up on her elbow. She peered at the frog, smirked and muttered, not sure if to herself or to the frog (or to someone else entirely): "We do miss you, you know I I miss you! I sure could use a hand around here we did make a great team." Again she sighed heavily, her heart aching in her chest. "I should have never let you take part in the Seven Wonders ceremony, I shouldn't have made you. I'm so sorry" she said, leaning closer to the frog.
"Delia?" Queenie caught her off guard and Cordelia was so surprised, she almost fell off her chair. The confident black witch was standing in the door to the greenhouse, watching Cordelia, a big frown decorating her face.
"Queenie, hi, are you insane, sneaking in here like that, you scared the shit out of me."
She ran her fingers through her hair, sat up straight and composed herself.
"Yeah, I'm insane, when you're the one talking to a freaking frog!" the younger witch shook her head in disbelief and before Cordelia could respond, she continued: "Zoe and Delphine are back with the groceries. They didn't get the dried lavender you needed. Just thought I'd let you know."
She turned to leave again, still baffled, shaking her head and mumbling: "The hell, Delia a damn frog!?", but chuckled in amusement.
"I wasn't talking I mean it's not what it ugh nevermind!" She let it go as Queenie had already left anyways.
Her frog friend was still sitting in the same spot, still oddly gazing at her. Cordelia quietly laughed at herself, smiled at the frog and suddenly overwhelmed with a rush of affection she carefully leaned over and placed a tiny kiss on the small creatures head.
She barely had time to retreat from the frog, when all of a sudden a bright flash of light emerged from the frog's core, blinding her and causing her to stumble backwards in shock and fear. Panicked by the explosion-like flashes of light and heat, she covered her eyes and backed away, crashing right into the counter with all the tools and utensils - causing a vast pandemonium. Before she could fall and get hurt, she almost instinctively transmuted herself to the other end of the greenhouse, getting away from whatever the hell was happening on her lab table. Her heart was drumming against her chest violently and she breathed in deeply to calm herself. The dazzling flashes finally subsided and she could look in the direction of the table without being blinded. The light still seemed to be brighter over there, almost as if the place was illuminated by sunshine, arising, however, not from the sky, but from the middle of the green house. From the table - which made it harder to make out the cause of the mayhem. Tensely and cautiously Cordelia stepped closer, one step, two steps and then her heart stopped. Her mind stopped. Her breathing stopped. Time stopped. Everything stopped. She just stood in shock, staring at the image that was revealed in front of her.