Witches are born with a wide variety of powers. Some are common, gifted to each witch born with the blood, like healing and the ability to cast incantations. Others are given sparingly by Great Mother, envied by the ones who don’t possess them. Those gifts, however, can be a curse.

You were hidden away within the trees, next to the stream not too far from your home. If you squinted enough, you could make out the faded yellow walls and old terra cotta shingles that made up the small cottage you grew up in. No one would find you here. No one cared to venture this far into the woods. It wasn’t as dangerous for witches as it was for humans, but one couldn’t be too careful. At least, that’s what Mother Willow constantly said. It never stopped you, though.

All was quiet for the most part. Sure, birds were chirping and water was running over the rocks it’d long ago smoothed into a slick surface, but the soundtrack of the forest was the only sound that could be heard around you. That was good. That was what you needed.

Taking one last peek around you to be completely certain that you were alone, you scooted closer to the edge of the river and held out your hand.

At first nothing happened. In the past, it had been accidents, not involving your concentration. But you knew you could do it. On the rare occasions you’d been able to practice on your own, you’d been successful once or twice. So, you pictured it over and over in your head, the water rising up, swirling together to create a little sphere. It seemed simple enough, however, you were struggling. The water was barely coming up out of the river. You could lift it, but you couldn’t make it take form.  

Frustration built up inside of you. If you’d been allowed to train properly, this wouldn’t be so difficult. You’d be able to do much more than this. Why couldn’t they just-

“(y/n)?”

You gasped, swirling around in your spot. But you weren’t the only thing that moved. The water you’d been manipulating shot through the air, hitting Soomi in the face, drenching her.

“Oh, crap!” You jumped to your feet, searching for anything that might help her dry off. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“Its okay, (y/n),” Soomi sighed as she rung out her hair. The drops of water splattered against the dried fallen leaves before dispersing in even tinier particles. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was, um, I was just-” Caught. That’s what you were. You were caught red handed doing the one thing you were ordered not to do. Well, maybe ordered was a little strong. It was simply “highly suggested” that you didn’t try to “overextend your gifts”. A.k.a., don’t use them at all.

You couldn’t entirely blame the mothers for being wary of what you could do. Sometimes, when they acted on their own, your powers scared even you.

Centuries had gone by since the last recorded incident of a witch born with elemental abilities. No one quite knew what to do with you once your “gifts” had been discovered and several of the elder witches didn’t exactly hide how they felt. While they weren’t advocating for you to be locked in a dungeon for the rest of your life, you had heard whispers of binding spells. It wasn’t your fault that the last witch had gone crazy and killed almost an entire village before she died as well. You weren’t her, so why were they treating you’d risen from her grave?

Soomi was kinder towards you from the beginning, like an older sister you’d never asked for, but turned out you needed anyway.  

The older witch released another sigh. The look of sympathy on her face made you want to scowl, but you held it back. You knew it came from a good place. Didn’t mean you had to like it, though.

“Let’s go,” Soomi simply suggested. “It’s time for your lesson.”

You rolled eyes. That you couldn’t hold back. “You make me sound like Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”

At least Soomi laughed. “You used to like that show.”

“That’s because I thought once I reached high school, I’d be getting into whacky hijinks with my friends while trying to keep the ‘big secret’. Turns out I was just homeschooled.”

“Homeschooled”. That was the official termed used so the school district wouldn’t get hissy that you weren’t showing up for their classes. Really, you spent your days out in the fields learning magic from the different mothers with the other young witches in the coven, not geometry or chemistry. On days where it was too cold to be outside, you were all stuffed into the house of whichever mother was leading lessons that day. There were times that you missed those days. The days when you were still like everyone else.

“Let’s just go inside,” Soomi urged. “Before Mother Willow gets suspicious.”

“I bet she already is,” you grumbled. While the old woman swore up and down that she wasn’t telepathic, you didn’t believe her. She somehow always knew when you were doing something that you shouldn’t have.

Soomi laughed at your comment before turning to head back to the cottage. You took a step to follow, but that familiar nauseated feeling bubbled in your stomach.

No, no, no, not another one.

The world around you began to spin and you fell to your knees, barely keeping yourself up by the palms of your hands.

“(y/n)!” Soomi ran to you, sliding down her knees as well as she grasped your shoulders. But you were no longer in the present.

The scene that took over your vision was as fuzzy and in coherent as ever. Everything was shifting and static, like an old VHS tape that had been played too many times. But new clues were finally given to you in this latest vision.

Moss covered trees surrounded you and it was night, however there was still plenty of light to see by. Light given by the harsh red moon hanging in the sky. A woman stood facing away from you, platinum hair that looked like starlight cascading down her back. She seemed to be speaking to you, but you couldn’t make out any of the words. Her shoulders began to move. She was starting to face you. Before you could fully see her face, however, the vision came to an abrupt end.

“(y/n)! (y/n), can you hear me?” Soomi’s frantic voice came back loud and clear in your ears. You were back.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” you reassured her in a croaked voice. You hated the powerlessness and lack of control you had over the visions. They would come at any time, no warning or preparation beyond the sickened feeling in your stomach. But even that was hardly enough to make you ready for whatever was being forced through your head.

“Did you see anything new?” she whispered.

You wanted scoff. Even though you knew your health was really her first priority when these waves hit and consumed you, but the small part of her couldn’t help be concerned for the wolves these visions revolved around. You’d hoped that someday she’d get passed whatever infatuation she had with that Junmyeon guy. Sure, he was smart and attractively cute, but he had a mate. And there were plenty of guys scrambling to get in line for a date with her.

You’d thought that she was getting over it. The visions you’d received in the beginning hadn’t been clear or involved the wolves at all. They just gave you a feeling that something powerful was coming. Soomi had been the one who insisted on warning the pack that lived near here as she felt they too would be in danger. She’d received quite the scolding for that. Until you had that vision.

It was the only that hadn’t made you feel like you were going to throw up. It had been somewhat peaceful just before it came on that you thought maybe you’d simply fallen asleep or started daydreaming aimlessly. This one had come in clearer than the others, also adding to your confusion. Only the dizziness told you that it wasn’t something your mind had come up with. 

A white wolf was limping towards you, blood matting in the fur on its front left leg, hiding the source wound. Amber eyes that seemed almost human shined at you. The animal was too big to be a normal, wild creature of the forest. It was a werewolf.

When he was right in front of you, he collapse, his muzzle landing softly in your lap as you sat on your knees. You reached out to comfort him, but the vision was over before you could confirm that the snow fur was as soft as it seemed. 

Soomi was the first one you told and she confirmed that it had to be another premonition. Immediately, she called Junmyeon to tell him, but you were confused as you overheard the conversation. She didn’t go into detail, simply saying that you had now seen an injured wolf and this “coming evil” would affect everyone after all.

“Yeah,” you finally answered her with a nod. “Yeah, I did.”

“Come on.” Sommi helped you to your feet and started walking you towards the house. “You can tell Mother Willow and then we’ll figure out what to do from there.”

You didn’t reply, just letting her lead you through the trees until the little house came back into view. She helped you through the back door and sat you down at the kitchen table before going to fetch Mother Willow. The wood surface was covered in specs of dried herbs, drops of oil, and different stone bowls used for mixing the ingredients to whatever concoction the old lady was inventing next. It was the main reason you never ate at the table. You wished that she’d make something that would stop the visions or at least make them a bit more bearable to handle, but she said it was simply “meant to be”.

“Tell me what you saw, dear.”

You jumped just as the two older witches came back into the kitchen.

Mother Willow, with her wild gray hair just as chaotic as ever, sat across from you, sliding a cup of tea over to your side of the table. You breathed in the steam given off from the caramel colored liquid and instantly felt more energized and recovered. Herbal magic. Her specialty. And soon to be yours.

“What did you see, child?” she asked after you’d taken a sip.

Pulling your face into a frown, you closed your eyes and thought back to what you’d seen. “I was in the forest. It was dark. Nighttime. The blood moon was high in the sky. There was a woman with white hair. I couldn’t see her face. But she was just standing there, staring at the moon.”

“That was all?” Mother Willow asked when you became silent. You nodded, opening your eyes. Exhaling, she turned to Soomi. “The blood moon is only a month away. Whoever this woman is, she must be behind whatever is coming. I’m sure of it. She is not to be underestimated.”

“Do you know who she might be?” you asked cautiously. Mother Willow was like an old leather-bound history book hidden in the forbidden part of the great library; full of secrets and long forgotten tales. How she came across the things she knew, you weren’t sure. You were always too afraid to ask.

Mother Willow shook her head. “There are dozens of possibilities, each more worrisome than the last.”

Concern and fear decorated Soomi’s features. “What should we do, Mother?”  

“Go to the boys,” was her answer. “They should be prepared to help fight whatever this is. According to (y/n)’s visions, they’ll be involved one way or another. It’s best they have every detail that we have as soon as (y/n) has another vision. And maybe they’ll have knowledge that we don’t possess.”

“What could they possibly know that we don’t?” you questioned. They were simply wolves that went on with their lives. The only time they ever got involved was when they were directly threatened, like when the small coven that lived within the city limits had tried to kill one of their mates. Idiots.

“They have their own histories they carry with them,” Mother Willow explained. “They have enemies that we might not know about.”

“If they haven’t thought of it by now, I hardly doubt it’s suddenly going to dawn on them,” you argued.

It’d been over two years since you first started getting the visions. At first, you would go months without receiving another one. Lately, though, they were hitting you more often. Mostly just the same blurred trees, indistinguishable babble, and occasional appearance by the white wolf, save for today’s adventure. Maybe you were still just a little bitter about that. Bitter that you were the one who had to deal with this. Why couldn’t it have been one of the wolves that got the visions instead?

Oh, right. They weren’t that special.

Mother Willow looked up to her ceiling, exasperating by your constant fight back. “Your visions involve them. It is only right that we include them. I can’t see the future, but they will be the back bone of the fight. I can feel it.”

“I’ll let Junmyeon know we’re coming.” Soomi left the kitchen, disappearing through the living room and down the hall, where your bedrooms were housed. You still felt guilty whenever you thought about how Soomi had given up her travels to come back here and train you. Now she was stuck here, making sure that you stayed out of trouble and made it through your lessons. Not to mention being the constant connection between the coven and the wolf pack. 

“You were using your powers again, weren’t you?” Mother Willow inquired after a minute or so of silence.

You tried to keep your face composed. “Why do say that?”

Like she’d ever fall for that. “Soomi’s hair was dry when she went to go look for you.”

You cringed. “That was an accident.”

“It always is,” she mused. Standing up, Mother Willow walked over to you and patted your head. “You know you have to be careful. If you dive too deeply, you might never make it back to the surface.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” you mumbled, looking away from her as you crossed your arms over your chest. If you were given these powers, why couldn’t you use them?

“Most days, no it wouldn’t be, but you know what it can do. What it’s done.”

“Fine!” You jumped up from the chair. “I’ll just tie my hands behind my back for the rest of life and be done with it!”

“(y/n)-”

“I can’t talk,” you snapped. “I have to pack.” You stormed down the hall towards your room. Just before you slammed your door, you made brief eye contact with Soomi from her room across the way. She was still on the phone, so you cut off the connection and shut your door, hard and loud before collapsing on your bed.

Why did it always have to be you?

**

“Has anyone seen my statistics textbook?”

“Oh, man, who ate the last of the waffles?”

“Okay, who took my black shirt?”

“I’m leaving now, if anyone doesn’t want to drive themselves, you better come now!”

“Don’t leave without me!”

“You can’t leave without telling Mei bye! Do you want to make her cry?”

Sehun smiled to himself as he stared up at the ceiling, hands behind his head for an extra pillow. While the rest of the house was up and getting ready for the day, he’d stayed back in his room, just listening to the chaos that was a daily occurrence around here.

Unlike the others, Sehun didn’t have anywhere to be. After graduation, he wasn’t sure what to do. A few days a week he helped Kris out at the shop, but for the rest of the time, he mostly just hung around the farmhouse or wandered around town.

Gone were the days where he could count on his brothers to keep him company or to cure his boredom. All of them had mates that needed attention and love and he was still the odd man out. Not that he resented any of the mates; it wasn’t their fault, they didn’t choose it. Mostly. No, he wasn’t resentful. Just… bored. But he was content with that boredom. He’d rather be in this overcrowded, chaotic house than anywhere else.

Deciding it was time to venture downstairs, Sehun peeled himself out of his sheets and shuffled over to the closet. 

Some of Tao’s clothes were shoved over to Sehun’s side of the small space. The evil idea of wearing one of Tao’s precious shirts crossed his mind, but decided the whining the older wolf would give wasn’t worth it. Especially since Lottie was able to smother the fits fairly quickly. It just wasn’t as entertaining as it used to be.

Pulling one of his own shirt off the hanger, Sehun juggled pulling it over his head as he left the room. He made a quick stop by the bathroom, brushing his teeth and waking himself up with a splash of water to the face. In the mirror, he could see his dark roots peeking of from the sandy blonde ends. Running his fingers through the messy hair, he mused over the idea of a change. He smirked to himself. What a nice way to shock everyone around here. It was an easy decision to make, but not today. He’d give it a bit before really deciding on what to do.

Things had quieted down significantly as he descended the stairs after leaving the bathroom. Only a few mates and their wolves were scattered around the kitchen. Everyone else had already headed into town.

“Good morning, Sehun,” Evie waved from the breakfast booth as she sat next to Mei, watching to make sure the little rascal didn’t make too much of a mess since she liked doing it on her own now.

“Morning,” he mumbled back as he made his way to the fridge. Not really hungry, he snatched a yogurt from the top shelf and let the door close itself shut.

“Any plans today?” Jongdae asked as he stood from the kitchen table.

Sehun shrugged. “No, not really.” He was about to ask Jongdae if he wanted to find something to do with him, but then he remembered it was Wednesday. Jongdae and Jiyoung had a standing date at the old Orpheum theatre every Wednesday to see whatever old flick was being played that day. Although, Sehun wasn’t sure a lot of “watching” was being done. “I’ll find something, though. Maybe bug Junmyeon during his office hours.”

Jongdae laughed. “That’s right. Poor guy needs some company with Kita out on that internship dig.”

“She comes back next week, doesn’t she?” Lanie asked.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t stop Junmyeon from panicking every five seconds,” Chanyeol chuckled as he threw an arm around Lanie’s shoulders.

His mate rolled her eyes. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t be doing the same thing.”

Sehun snickered, but kept his mouth shut. He liked having the girls around. They were quick witted and could sometimes come up with better jokes and comebacks than he was able to.

Finishing off the yogurt, Sehun threw it in the trash and headed for the back door.

“Where are you going?” Evie asked.

Sehun shrugged. “For a run, I guess.”

He was out the door before anyone could respond. Because while he liked having everyone around he was sick of the stare. The “I wish he wasn’t alone” stare. The sympathetic stare. He wished they would stop, but he knew they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t get that he really didn’t care. He wasn’t pining for this mystery mate that had eluded him. If she showed up, great. If she didn’t, he wouldn’t care. He was purely neutral on the whole idea. Besides, he kind of liked things the way they were. Why did they need to change now?