My Long Lost Mate

A swirl of white smoke appeared on the crystal ball, twirling softly inside. It was very faint, yet it could instantly be seen on the previously clear crystal ball. I could feel my mouth falling agape when I saw the slight change, my hand quickly wanting to dart away from the sphere. 

Maggie let go of my wrist with a satisfactory grin, confirming that her ȧssumption of me was true. She was happy to see the dumbfounded expression on both my face and Luke's. As I pulled my hand away from the crystal ball, the smoke quickly diminished. 

I am a witch. 

"See? I didn't tell any lies." Maggie leaned back on her chair, her legs crossed. Despite the fact that I had anticipated this outcome, learning that I was truly a witch still came as a shock. "You're my kin," she smiled. 

"But nothing changed when I first touched it! The smoke didn't immediately appear as to what happened when you touched it."

"That's because your magic is weak," she explained, her eyes boring into me. She sipped on her tea as she watched the frowns on our faces, calm and peaceful as she was the only one who was not concerned about this whole situation. 

"Why? Is there something wrong with her?" Luke asked, giving me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder. 

"Well, I have already noticed from the first time I saw her that the magic around her is very faint," she said as she gestured towards me, her hand circling my body. "It was as if something was suppressing her magic inside her body—a seal, for example." 

"You mean someone deliberately sealed my magic inside of me, and that's why I can't use it all this time?" She nodded. "But why?" 

"Probably to protect you." Instead of Maggie answering my question, Luke was the one who answered. "As you were living amongst humans, it could be dangerous if one day you accidentally used your magic around others. You do know the stereotype around witches. It's not very good." 

Maggie scoffed at his response but agreed regardless. She said that it was the most probable answer to my question. 

If it was to protect me, then—could it be my mother? If my father was the witch among the two, there was no way that he would do that to protect me. Wait, can men be witches too?

"Are there any male witches out there?" 

"Very few," Maggie replied. "Most of the men who were born from a witch will live as a normal human, as they can't possess any magic in them. There were only a very few rare cases where those men were able to inherit their mother's magic and live as male witches."

So that means there was still a possibility of my father being a witch. Though, knowing about it now doesn't really matter as I wouldn't have anything to do with him anymore—unless I decided to blow his cover. That would definitely teach him a lesson to live as a more decent human. 

"It's quite strange, though," Maggie added. "If your magic is sealed within your body, your magic shouldn't have leaked out. That only means that the seal is almost broken."

"But I never did anything that could possibly break the seal... I think." I fiddled with my fingers, thinking of a time when I encountered something magic-related, but there didn't seem to be one.

"How old are you?" 

"I'm seventeen—going eighteen on the new year's eve. Why?" 

"No wonder," Maggie chuckled as the realization dawned on her. "A witch's magic will reach its peak when they reach eighteen. It is the age where their hearts—the core of their magic—will be the ripest. Your growing magic must have broken the seal, as the seal itself was probably already too old and too feeble to hold your magic inside." 

"Then... what should I do with this?" 

"That depends on your decision," Maggie answered, casually cleaning her fingernails. "If you want to be able to use your magic now, you should break the seal. But if you want to wait until later, you can just let it be. The seal will eventually break on its own the more you get exposed to magic anyway, and there is tons of magic around here—even in the Alpha's manor."

When Maggie mentioned his manor, Luke quickly glanced at her—alarmed, but soon realized that she was referring to the magic barrier that he'd asked the witch to put up. 

I swallowed the lump in my throat, not sure of which decision to make. So the actual question was; do I want to continue living as a normal human for a while longer, or do I want to become a witch right now?

"What—what can you do with magic?" 

"Almost everything," Maggie smiled, amused by my interest in magic. "As you can see from before, you can do something as simple as creating fire with only a flick of your finger, or you can do something as entertaining as strangling someone without actually touching them. Sounds fun, don't you think?"

"That sounds... quite evil." She laughed. 

"Wait," Luke raised his palm. "I thought white witches couldn't use their magic to harm others? But why did you say—" He stopped talking, as if realizing something, then glanced at me. "Is she—is she a black witch?" 

I could feel my body tensed at his question, anxious to hear Maggie's answer. The news of my magic being sealed inside me made me forget to ask the most important question—what kind of a witch I am. 

Maggie lifted one of her brows in response to the inquiry, very intrigued by our tight expressions. She must have guessed what kind of response that we were hoping for.

"She is..." she smiled, and it felt as if my world fell apart. I glanced at Luke, and he only smiled reassuringly as though telling me that it was fine—but I knew that it wasn't. I was the wicked witch from the tale. 

"...a white witch," Maggie added, amused by the fact that we couldn't even disguise the disappointment on our faces. When Luke glared at her, unhappy that she'd made a small pause in between her sentences, she shrugged her shoulders casually and said, "I wasn't finished talking."

I could finally see why Luke disliked Maggie. She was quite a pain in the neck. To think that she could make our stress levels spike just by not finishing her sentence. 

I sighed in relief, as being a white witch was a lot better than being a black witch. 

"Don't worry. Every witch began their lives as a white witch—the purest form of a witch. Even if your parents were black witches, you would still be born as a white witch."

"Then how did they turn into black witches?" 

"Their greed tainted them, of course. Black magic offered us so much power, power without limitations—not like white magic. You can't even kill a ċȯċkroach with white magic. The moment you harm others with white magic, the color of your magic will slowly turn a shade darker. It will turn darker with each time you use your magic to harm others until it finally turns black."

"What do you mean color?" 

"You'll see when you decide to break your seal." Maggie poured herself more tea into her cup, then offered some more for me as well, but realized that my cup was still full. She gave me a tight-lipped smile, rolling her eyes. She must have realized that I didn't want to drink the tea she'd made for me. 

I felt bad, so I lifted the cup to my mouth, pretending to drink the tea. 

"So, what's your decision? I can help you if you want to break the seal, but, of course—it won't be free," she glanced at Luke, smiling at him. "I'm sure your mate wouldn't mind paying a little fee for all my help today." 

Luke only stared at her—unamused—but didn't say anything to respond. He placed his palm on my cheek, turning my face to look at him. He smiled, then said, "I'll follow your wish."

Whatever the case may be, I'm still a witch. Isn't it better for me to learn how to use my magic sooner rather than later? Rather than staying like I am right now, where I lack any ability that could be of help to Luke, possessing magic would be a better option, wouldn't it? As Maggie said, I could do a lot of things with magic. 

But... breaking the seal would be like choosing a witch's life above a human's life. Am I ready to live as a witch? Though, ready or not, I couldn't change the fact that I was born a witch. All my life, I was, unknowingly, a witch disguised as a human. Breaking the seal simply means that I'm living my life as the person I was born to be. This should be the right decision. 

"I want to break the seal."