Chapter 5

Harrowing.

An horrendous means of pranking amongst the vilest of teens. Back home in Charmed Hills, there was a girl by the name Hida Huffman, she was into the gothic lifestyle, and when I said into I meant she carried the lifestyle as her God.

Hilda would torment her "enemies" by killing local animals and hanging the dead bodies on their porch, sometimes she even went as far as murdering their pets and leaving an indication to her rivals that it was her doing. Not enough to label her the perpetrator but just enough for the victim to understand who had done it.

Of course it was still bearable even though it was insane to think of. But it stopped being bearable when Hilda began to think she was a witch, she even joined a Cult which brought back very bad memories in me.

Instead of her usual demented means of pranking, Hilda used a new method to victimize people. Harrowing. A witch's means of making a victim out of people was Harrowing.

My mother's grimoire mentioned five methods of witch Harrowing.

One, Drowning. Bind your victims and throw them into vast water, if they survived the witch was bound by the rules of Harrowing to let the victim go, if they didn't…. They would end up dead.

Two, Burning. Much like the common occurrence of burning witches when captured in the nineteen hundreds, another Harrowing means was burning, just like Drowning if they survived the witch would let them go.

Three, Hanging, another renowned means of killing witches in the nineteen hundreds. Hang the victim, by some miracle if they survived the Witch must let them go.

Four, Guillotine. The contraption perfected for beheading was another means of Harrowing for Witches. Somehow survive the Harrow via Guillotine or….. Die.

Five, Hunting, bind your victim, leave them to run for their lives in the forest at dark, survive the hunting of a witch or die.

I was mortified when I read about Harrowing in my mother's grimoire. I never read it again until much later. All the methods of Harrowing were intense, cruel, and crafted for the certain death of the victim.

Harrowing was by far for the surely insane. I never thought that after psycho Hilda, I would see someone who practiced Harrowing.

I continued looking at the black haired girl. She had center parted straight midnight black hair narrowed to her waist, the smallest of pale faces, a medium height which was a head taller than me. She wore a knee short button up with a slanted V neck, a crosswork net on the chest area, with strawberry colored slants.

Her naturally pouted lips spoke wicked volumes especially with the black lipstick on her lips. "Now, now Wolf, calm down, it's not as if we're trying to kill you….. Well for your sake you better hope you survive the Harrow."

Harrow? I watched the boy's body quiver and thrash with as much energy I reckon he could possibly muster. Everyone were simply watching without so much as breathing, each eyes were on them but they played it out as if this was a normal thing.

"Looky here, his running out of energy, he might not survive the Harrow after all," She said in what I believed should have been a cute voice but sounded utterly evil in my ears.

As if the hands pressing down on the boy, stopping him from rising from the drum was not enough, the girl pressed her hand down on his back head in addition.

I snapped.

A pair of black eyes stared at my face in what I could only perceive as…. Shock. I did not know what strange traditions they had going on in here but she certainly had not expected anyone to jump in.

You don't have enough skin to save everyone….. The words of Douglas, My Father cooed into my mind for a moment, but mortification of watching a human being die in front of me pushed the words deep down.

You are human first before you are a Witch, Persephone…. Helping is never the Problem... The words my Mother had spoken to me before sending me away to this school echoed in my head. It defeated the warning my Father had given me.

My hand latched onto the small hand that was pressing the back of the boy's head. I could not see my own face but with the mix of horror and anger boiling in my chest, I just knew I had a pissed expression right now.

"What is wrong with you!" The words may have came out louder than I wanted.

The girl quickly recovered from her shock. "Excuse me, who are you?"

I ignored her question. "Let him go," I said, seeing the boy was turning weaker and weaker.

The girl jolted both of her eyebrows, taking steps nearer to me, until if she took another step she would step on my feet. Her stupid breath was all over my face, but I remained focus.

With her so close I had no other choice but to have myself staring deep into her eyes, her black eyes that began to swirl, swirl, swirling from black to…. Yellow.

I would have stumbled back from the shock I received having seen the…. Magical shift of her eyes.

... Was….. I….. She was not human?

Perhaps the shock was prevalent on my face because her smirk rose again.

I swallowed, glancing back at the boy who had now stopped moving at all. Helping is never the problem….. The words echoed all over my head, temporary negating my shock.

"I don't know what you are," My voice had a shaking edge. "But I am not human either." My throat bobbed, and the magical chill arose from my core blending into my irises and changing my eye color.

"So you better quit it, Blair the teenage witch, and let that boy go." I had hopes that my voice was as firm as I wished it to be.

She opened her mouth to speak again but someone else did. "Would you look at that, a gaggle of lunatic witches."

Whatever authority that voice had on the girls…. Witches….. They immediately let go of the boy, allowing his soaked body to fall on the ground.

Both I and the black haired girl shifted our eyes to the side. A red haired boy was standing with a murderous frown on his face.

Not Sin... Caspian…. The insane one.