Chapter 2
A witch always had a test in her lifetime,whether it was the witches road that Lilia saw in her premonitions or something the divine mother destined for her children. Lilia never caught a break and she never would,or at least, that's what she foresaw.
Lilia could hear the chiming of bells come from outside of her coven's home. Lilia rushed down the halls,which were filled with colorful tiles that had pictures of great witches from the Calderu lineage etched into the very material of the tiles. "Time for tea leaves!" Her maestra called to Lilia from a chair that sat behind two small teacups on the table. Lilia felt a shift. She wasn't in the doorway leading outside,she was in the chair. Her maestra coughed violently,falling out of her chair due the intensity of the cough. "Someone help!" A shiver ran down Lilia's spine as she watched the members of her coven grab the maestra by her arms and carry her inside. Snap. She was back at the doorway,and her maestra gave her a gentle smile. She didn't look pale,her eyes weren't sunken,and she wasn't coughing. She was okay.
Lilia pulled a chair outside and placed it in front of the table as she sat down. "Sorry,I didn't get a chair for both of us today,I was feeling a little tired."
"It's alright,maestra. If you wanted an excuse to get me to grab my own things,than that's fine." Lilia joked,earning a laugh from her maestra,"You crack me up sometimes." She looked down at the teacups,"Shall we?"
The best part of reading tea leaves was the tea you got to drink before reading them. Lilia usually took small sips to get to avoid reading the tea leaves,but her maestra was a smart woman,maybe a bit old with a bad memory,but smart,and caught on. "What do you see in the leaves?" Lilia peered into the teacups,all she saw were the leaves. "What am I supposed to see?"
"What you see in tea leaves are your interpretation-" The maestra was interrupted by her own cough,which she ignored,"-so what do you see,la mia piccola strega?"
Lilia looked into the cup again,a shiver ran down her spine. She could hear coughing,but was that from the future or was it happening now? "Sickness." Lilia blurted out abruptly. "Sickness? What kind-" Her maestra's coughs became more intense,until they left her on the floor. Lilia watched in horror as the sight she saw earlier came to life in front of her. "Someone help!"
Rio was pulled out of bed by Miguel,who tickled her feet,which were ticklish. "Hey! Stop that!" She said through giggles. She squirmed out of his arms and onto the wooden floor. It was cold to the touch,but nothing that Rio hadn't gotten used to,after all,she had lived in the house for 6 years,or 500 years in the human world. "Stop what? I wasn't tickling anyone." Her father put up his hands in defense. "Oh wait that's right. I got a little something for you." He put a hand behind his back,his hand fumbling something around before he pulled his hand back out with something in his hands. It was a green robe. "Surprise,mi vida!"
Rio took a good look at the robe and tore it out of her father's hands. "Is this for the job? Do I get to do more than watch?"
"Slow down,you don't have to do anything yet. You just have to decide if you want it or not after you see what I do." Rio nodded before she slipped on the silky green robe. It was like touching a cloud,yet very messily stitched together,but she loved it. Death had the power to create anything it wanted,yet it decided to make meals(which it wasn't very good at) and see robes by hand. "Let's go. And yes,you can spin the staff."
"Yes!"
After a long lesson of which direction to spin the staff and how to get to the location she wanted,Rio had arrived in a Sicilian town. Bright lanterns lit up the tiled streets and the ocean that could be seen from miles up. It was a beauty to look at,the water so clear and blue that it made the sky jealous, the waves rippled just right to leave white currents that only elevated the appearance of the ocean. She looked up at her father for guidance,"You'll be able to sniff out the death,well,I can. Different people have different methods." He took a breath of the salted air in and out, "Follow me."
Rio didn't expect anyone to be outside since the bright stars and crescent moon filled the indigo sky,but there they were,a group of teenage boys in the streets. They wore puffy sleeves shirts that went out like skirts and cape like drapes that went over their shoulders. The boys took one look at Rio's father,who was shrouded in fog and started swearing and praying in Italian. They ruled the streets,in fear for their lives,but death hadn't come for them,it had come for the Calderu's. Her father made an abrupt stop at a door. The glass was decorated with the side profile of a woman,her lips were upturned in a smirk and her skin had a small tan to it. The woman's long,black hair looked as if it were blowing in the wind. Miguel's hand clicked against the handle of the door,twisting it to open it.
When the door opened,they could hear the scurrying of rats and something else in the house.Rio could smell sickness,and the home felt uncomfortably warm. She skipped down the halls,her footsteps echoing throughout the gloomy house. The lanterns were unkept,spiderwebs had been weaved into the inside of them. The tiles were stained with blood and had been left cracked. Rio turned the corner into a room filled with beds. They were filled with elderly and middle aged woman whose eyes were empty and sunken,cheekbones exaggerated by hunger and sickness.They were motionless.
A chair sat by one of the beds,and it was occupied. Occupied by the moving body of a young girl. She wore a red and yellow dress with long sleeves that had slits with puffy white cloth that went through each one. She looked up to see Rio in her tiny green robe. She waved to the girl,who went into a trance for a moment and snapped her head back up. "You have a scar." Rio looked down at her hand,which had healed from the previous day. "I don't think so?"
Rio watched as her father took the souls of the lifeless bodies in the beds. He hovered his hand over the girl, "Wait, you're not dead. What is your name?"
"Lilia Calderu."
"Yeah, you're not on my list." Lilia looked down at the floor with a frown,"I know that. I am the sole survivor of this horrific fever." Death put a hand on the young girl's shoulder," Don't feel guilty. Your coven will live in peace and you... You will do great things, I'm sure of it. Be glad that you lived,your coven would be glad."
Death returned to the afterlife with 7 more souls that night and Rio returned with a thought in her head.She wanted to be the best Death ever. "So,how was it?"
"I liked it. Could I do one on my own? I watched you do it and I think I know how to do it!" Her father looked impressed,"Fast learner. I might let you deliver an animal,but first,you need a staff."
"Can you make one?" Rio begged,trying to make her eyes look as pleading as possible. "Well I could,but to make something,you need materials,right? I already have some wood from our world,but I need some from the human realm,wood from magical ground specifically. So,either I get some or-" Rio interrupted him eagerly,"I'll get some! Just put me down there and I can do it." Her father let out a chuckle,"Alright. I can trust you,right?" Rio nodded,reaching for her father's staff,"Hold on,you don't know where to go. I'll just-" He spun his staff,fog seeping out of the end of it. The fog circled Rio like a predator,making it's way towards where she was standing until a portal formed under her. "Good luck!"
Rio was in the air for a short time,landing on her hands and knees like a cat. She looked down at the floor to see dirt under her hands and fingernails. It didn't look the same as Sicily,instead of a beautiful ocean in front of her,she could see mud and rain puddles forming at her feet. Plop. A raindrop landed on Rio's tiny nose. Her warm brown eyes searched the woods for some sort of shelter, eventually landing on a small cottage at the edge of a village.
A girl played with a leaf and stick in front of the house. The girl was Rio's age,her long brown hair was messy and frizzy. She wore a lose white dress,dirtied by the muddy ground. The girl seemed to notice Rio's presence,turning her head to look at her. Rio only then noticed all of the young girl's beauty. Her striking blue eyes,her pouty lips that curved into a small smile when she looked at Rio. She felt a tiny bit of color rush up her neck and into her cheeks.
Rio smiled shyly and waved at the girl from the woods. A middle aged woman who had grey hair and a permanent frown on her face suddenly came out of the house,shouting at the girl and pointing to her muddy dress. The older woman looked like her mother,and she wanted the girl to go inside.Rio could see the words,"There's a girl in the woods. She looks lost,mom," form on the girl's lips. The mother turned her attention to Rio. The older woman marched towards Rio,"Where are your parents?"
"My father is- asleep? I can't go back home right now."
" Hm,sounds like another lazy man. Just like my daughter,Agatha." The mother laughed at her own joke,"Well,you should come inside then. The rain has already started to fall so I suggest you start moving before I leave you." The woman started to walk away,and Rio stared for a while before the woman called,"Well,come on then. Don't want to end up soaked like a stray mutt."