September Speculative Fiction Prompt

I didn’t hear her approach. I didn’t hear her light the candle, though she must have done as just moments ago, the cave was pitch black. How had she approached so soundlessly? How had she created light without even a murmur ? This witch frightened me. The little bit I knew of spells and witchcraft came from the same source as everyone else’s bit of knowledge – and that was the FMD or the Federal Magic Department, created three months ago when magic burst upon our reality as more than make-believe and boasts of women who, while not actually mental patients, certainly should have been considered for evaluation, according to most of us. The little bit the FMD had told us was that magic was real; magic was inherited and operated through a strict set of rules; and most importantly, according to those rules, spells must be spoken in order to work. Clearly, this witch had never shared her method of magic with the FMD. Or, as had been the case with many other bits of information the government had given us since the Event, it wasn’t true. I wondered if governmental agents were just as clueless as I or anyone else was about magic. Wouldn’t surprise me – give a politician an audience and they’ll say whatever they think you wanted most to hear. And most of us definitely wanted magic to be something we could measure and understand even if we couldn’t wield it. What we really wanted most to hear was that life would return to normal but even the most pandering politicians weren’t saying that.

“I knew you would return; I told you so when last we met,” the witch said. Yes, she had told me that. I wasn’t happy about it then and I certainly wasn’t happy about it now. But needs must and all that, so here I stood, shivering either due to the dampness and cold, or due to fear. It was the damp and cold. Definitely. Yes, that was it.

“So you knew – goody for you. Will you tell me what’s going on or are we going to play let’s scare the human some more?” Did I think being aggressive was a good idea? Not really, but her poise and calm assurance that she held the upper hand was annoying and I tend toward aggression when annoyed.

“It wasn’t my intent to scare you,” she replied, with that annoying small smile getting a bit bigger.

“Right. Because appearing out of thin air and producing light without making a sound certainly shouldn’t scare anyone. How silly of me,” I said, throwing out an arm for emphasis. Sarcasm was also a knee-jerk reaction to fear, at least for me.

“Ah, yes. Your FMD. The FMD knows what we want them to know or what they believe they’ve figured out. Our magic is new to this world – it would be foolish to assume the FMD or any other group would know all there is to know about it.”

“Clearly. Wait… this world?” My head started spinning and I didn’t want to contemplate the possible explanations behind that cryptic remark but knew with certainty that she was going to disturb me even further with revelations, though I couldn’t understand why. Why me? Of all the humans in all the different places on this planet, why tell me? Of what possible use could I be to them? It made no sense.

“Yes, Mirana. This world. There are many populated worlds. We exist on all of them.” Could her smile have become a smirk? Yes, I think it definitely could, and did. So. Many worlds – well, we had assumed that, hadn’t we? The question was, how to move between them. The next question was, were we sure we wanted to? But a bigger question had just blossomed.

“You know my name.” Not a question – clearly a statement. “How?” That was the question most begging an answer at the moment.

“I know much about you. I know your parents’ names, and their parents and so on. I know where you’ve lived and worked, who you’ve loved. I know -“

“Hold on just a minute,” I said, the volume of my voicing rising along with my fear. “How do you know these things? Why do you know them? What do you want from me?”

The witch looked at me with something akin to pity in her eyes and her voice got softer as though knowing she was about to deliver a blow and wanted to soften it even though she knew she couldn’t. “Because your family is my family as well. We are related.”

Shock coursed through me – how could we be related? I came from a very small family circle, no siblings and only one aunt who had several cats but no children. We couldn’t possibly be related. Besides, I was pretty sure I’d been born on this planet. “You’ve made some kind of mistake there-“I stopped and looked at her inquiringly.

“You may call me Sonia. That is not actually my name but is shorter and easier for you to pronounce.”

“OK Sonia – you’ve made a mistake. We’re not related. I have no siblings, my parents have no siblings except for one and she has no children. There’s no way we’re related.” The woman was clearly insane. She came from a different planet – apparently – did she really think she could sell me on this? But more importantly, why would she want to?

“There’s no mistake, Mirana. Ask yourself why you came here when we last saw each other. You said you heard a voice calling your name. It’s true someone was calling your name – it was me. But I was not calling your name with words – I did not speak. You heard words that were not spoken. We are related.”

This was getting creepier by the minute. “Anyone can think they hear someone calling their name. That doesn’t mean anything. It certainly doesn’t mean we’re related.” I was beginning to feel less fear and more anger and I had had enough. “If this is a joke, I’m not laughing,” I said, hoping she would finally acknowledge it as all for a laugh and admit that one of my feather-brained friends had put her up to it.

“This is not a joke, Mirana. I understand this is difficult for you. I also understand you don’t want it to be true – but it is. Your mother gave up a child before you were born. Ask her. Once you have asked, come back. We have much to discuss.” And with that, the light went out and she was gone. It was always possible she just blew out the candle and moved – it was pitch black except for the bit of light coming from the cave opening and I couldn’t see a thing. But I didn’t hear her blow out the candle and I didn’t hear her move, either. I took a step toward where she had stood and cast my arms out in front of me, searching for her, but there was nothing. I thought I could hear her voice, but it wasn’t emanating from inside the cave, it was in my head. I reached in my pocket and took out the small flashlight, switching it on as fast as I could. There was no one there. Walking toward the cave entrance, I reached into the other pocket and pulled out my cell phone and dialed.

“Mom? Mom, please tell me I do not have a sister that you put up for adoption.”

My mom let out a deep sigh. “I knew this day would come – I didn’t know how, but I knew it would. Where are you?”

“I’m in a cave having just spoken to a witch who claims to not only be my sister but to come from another planet and I’m wondering just what the hell is going on!” I answered.

“Come home, sweetheart – we need to talk.”