Fungal Halo

You wanted this. Keep reminding yourself of that.

You've been thinking about it for years. You did your research. You found a witch that carries a powerful reputation, highly regarded by its peers, and, and…

Now that you're here, all the nervousness is catching up to you.

The darkness insisted on its own finality. It didn't so much close around me as it devoured even the memory of light. It was as though darkness was all I had ever known.

It insisted I give up, lie down, and accept this ending.

Truthfully, I never did know how to do that.

"If you're heading out, I'm going with. Rules haven't changed."

"I'm a grown woman, Sev," I counter. "I should be more than capable of grabbing cigarettes myself."

"Still coming," he says, grabbing his coat.

I don't budge. "It's because I'm not real. Isn't it?"

A coven must guard itself against the interloper that brings infectious false magic into its midst.

When it adopts a young thing that appears to have the gift, it is a kindness. When it later dumps the same girl into a pit to rot, that is also a mercy.