Dreathing deeply as she walked across a narrow wooden bridge, Celeste noticed that it smelled like it did after a rain storm. The bridge crossed over a massive river at the narrowest and fastest moving location to connect what Tabitha called the “elder forest” to what she called the “young forest.” Water rushing by created a noise laugh enough to drown out the ambient noise of the forest, including the voices of the trees. It would have been a beautiful and peaceful moment, had it not reminded Celeste of the late leader of her coven. She stepped off the wooden bridge to the far side of the river. Looking around for a think unmarked trail, she heard a shriek behind her. Turning, Celeste saw her plump friend Belladonna waving frantically at a mosquito that hovered around her pointed black hat. “Hurry up, Bell,” Celeste called back to the only other surviving witch from their coven. “I’m trying,” Belladonna whined. “We already walked a long way… maybe we should take a break?” “We need to get to the grove.” “You keep saying that, but are you sure that’s what we need to do? I mean, this shade killed… everyone…” Whispers in Celeste’s head began to intensify, and she closed her eyes to focus on what they were saying, “Just ahead, keep walking, protect the grove!” “The trail is just ahead,” Celeste shouted over her shoulder while keeping her eyes focused forward. Belladonna got to her feet and scrambled after Celeste, staring at her wide eyed but not uttering another word. After a few short steps, the trail she saw in her vision came into view. Before Celeste could turn down the trail, Belladonna shrieked behind her again. “Bell, you need to calm-“ Celeste started to complain before turning around and seeing Belladonna wrapped in vines and dangling in the tree behind her. “What happened?” “It grabbed me!” Belladonna whined. “This one doesn’t belong here,” a voice boomed from the shadows. “Who is there?” Celeste screamed back, scanning the tree line for movement. “Who are you talking to?” Belladonna whimpered. “You didn’t hear that?” Celeste questioned. “Hear what?” “Your friend does not have the power that you do,” the voice clarified. “She does not belong here.” “I’m not leaving her behind!” Celeste shouted out loud, stamping a foot and reaching out towards Belladonna, who’s eyes were wide with fright. “Let her go!” Immediately, Belladonna fell from the tree and wailed as her head thumped on the soft grass. She stood up, rubbing her head and sniffling, and stared at Celeste. “Why would you leave me behind?” Belladonna whimpered while locking her yellow eyes with Celeste’s. “I’m not, the trees were,” Celeste stammered, calming down and rushing to embrace her friend. “You really can hear the trees?” Belladonna blubbered. “Yes,” Celeste answered, getting interrupted before she could elaborate. “She does not belong here,” the voice stated. “Suffering, pain, destruction, and death is all she will find in the elder forest.” “Who are you?” Celeste screamed at the nearby trees. Belladonna flinched at the sudden outburst, but Celeste held her tight, as if letting go meant losing her. “I’m the elder tree of the forest,” the voice responded. Images of a massive oak tree, surrounded by a ring of slightly smaller oak trees came to Celeste’s mind. “Every tree in the forest comes from my lineage, and I have kept these lands safe for the last 1,000 years.” Unable to move or see normally, Celeste watched a series of menatal images flash across her conscious thought. She saw the oak as a sapling in a barren field, a small cluster of young oak trees with a bigger oak at the center, a tiny forest with small trees, an empty field apparently burned to the ground after a fire, and several more images leading up to an overhead view of the forest with the river barely visible in the distance. Shaking her head, Celeste’s normal vision slowly came back into focus. Looking up over the tree line, she could make out a massive tree at least twice as tall as the rest of the forest in the distance surrounded by a misty fog. “Why do you keep showing me these things?” Celeste complained. “You speak the ancient tongue,” the elder tree answered. “I’ve never heard you until now!” “We’ve never needed your help… until now. The world is changing; an age of darkness is upon is.” “What does that have to do with me?” “For 1,000 years I’ve protected these lands from the Dark One, but alone I can not contain her. She threatens to escape and walk the earth once more…” “The shade already escaped. She killed everyone we know.” A laugh roared in Celeste’s head so loud it shook the entire forest. Belladonna screamed and burried her face in Celeste’s chest, clinging to the whispering witch so tightly that Celeste winced in pain. The world shook for a few seconds and the trees seemed to droop. “What killed your friend was not the Dark One,” the elder tree clarified. “Merely her shadow.” “Shadow?” Celeste repeated. “Yes, a poor projection of herself cast upon the land.” “How… why…” Celeste mumbled with tears welling up in her eyes. “Come to me,” as the voice spoke the trees parted to make the small trail made my animals of the forest larger. “Together we can do what we can not do alone, and I can show you everything.” “I’m not leaving my friend behind,” Celeste stated. “If your friend must come, bring her, but she is not prepared for what is to come…” The loud voice of the Elder Tree went quiet, but the whispers that had silenced returned to Celeste’s mind. “Dangerous! Leave her. Not prepared! Foolish…” Ignoring the voices pulsing in her head, Celeste rose to her feet. Belladonna stood with her, still wrapped in her arms, and stared at Celeste with her yellow eyes wide. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. Rather, she stood still and shook in Celeste’s arms. “We need to follow this trail,” Celeste said after a minute or two. “There is a tree that can help us.” “What tree? What side it say? What did you see? Why do the trees hate me?” Belladonna blurted out. “It’s okay, it’s going to help us,” Celeste assured the plump witch, squeezing her shoulder gently. “How can a tree help us?” Belladonna wailed. “Cele, that thing is still out there, we need to run!” Celeste locked eyes with the shivering witch and shook her head. “I can’t run.” “Why not? I have a potion that makes us invisible! We could get out of the woods and never come back.” Belladonna pulled open her bag, but only managed do drop a few bottles with her trembling hands. “I…” Celeste furrowed her brow and thought hard for a moment. “I just can’t… the trees need me for something… but I’m not going to leave you behind.” “But… but… I don’t know if I can do this…” “Bell… I don’t either…” Celeste admitted, hanging her head and dropping her shoulders. “We can do it together though: I can’t lose you too.” Nodding slowly, Belladonna took a few shaky steps towards the widened trail while taking Celeste’s hand in hers and squeezing it. The pair of young witches traveled down the well marked trail. Celeste kept hearing the concerned muttering of the trees, and belladonna jumped every time the trees moved to open the trail for them. Eventually they crossed a patch of old birtch trees that towered above the rest of the forest, and as the sun began to set, they arrived at the ring of old oak trees at the center of the elder forest. Breaking nearly an entire day of silent tension, Celeste whispered, “This is the grove.” Looking up at the towering oak trees, Belladonnas jaw dropped. Each tree was farther around than any building either girl had seen, and they were too tall to see the top of from the forest floor. The nearest branches to the ground didn’t start until the trunks of the elder oaks eclipsed the top of the tree line for the rest of the forest. Just the leaves were almost as large as belladonna herself. “I didn’t know trees could be this big…” Belladonna squeaked. “The one in the middle is bigger,” Celeste warned her, leading the way past the massive trees. “Welcome to the grove, whispering witch,” the Elder Tree said as Celeste entered the clearing in the middle of the elder oaks. “The tree is talking to me,” Celeste told Belladonna as they both stared at the Elder Tree, which was at least twice as large as the massive oaks surrounding it. “What is it saying,” Belladonna asked. Her grip on Celeste’s hand intensified to a painful level as her yellow eyes shot a puppy-dog look at both the tree and Celeste. “It welcomed me, but it hasn’t said anything else…” “How do we talk to it?” “I can hear you,” the Elder Tree chuckled. “However, there is no need to waste time. If you touch my trunk, I can show you everything.” “He wants me to touch his trunk…” Celeste repeated out loud to Belladonna. “Is it going to be like the last time?” Belladonna whimpered, shuddering and ducking behind Celeste. “He didn’t really say… but it’ll be okay,” Celeste offered with a half-hearted smile. She took a deep breath, walked up to the Elder Tree and placed her hand against the rough bark. Again, her vision blurred, head snapped backwards, and she rose five feet off the ground. Her mouth gaped open, and Belladonna screamed as her friend levitated but looked limp like a corpse lifted by the nose. However, Celeste never heard her friends cries. Celeste found herself in a vast space without a body; however, she could see. Birds flew by, rabbits hopped along the ground, insects buzzed about, and a shadow kept crossing her view and vanishing, only to reappear in a different location. It was as if she could see the entire forest at once in fragmented visions that streamed across her mind simultaneously. Similarly, she could hear everything. Every bird that sang, stick that snapped, frog that croaked and even silence in a still meadow. The noises all bombarded her brain both fragmented and complete, so she knew where every sound was happening within the forest, but could not listen to any one particular sound willingly. Celeste’s head spun with the sudden growth of her physical awareness. “Welcome to the grove,” a familiar voice greeted her. “Where am I?” Celeste asked, suddenly acutely aware of the Elder Tree’s presence but unable to see him. “Your souls has merged with mine, and thus, with every tree in the forest.” “It hurts…” Celeste felt a scraping sensation from beneather her, as if something was crawling out of her stomach, that added to the splitting headache she developed. “In time you will grow accustom to sharing your soul with nature, in its various forms, but we have no time for that now.” As soon as the Elder Tree spoke, Celeste felt her legs moving. Only, she didn’t have legs. Struggling to focus, she was able to adjust her vision to the clearing where her body was standing. Belladonna was screaming and pulling her arms, as the roots from a large oak tree sprang from the ground and wrapped themselves around her body. “What are you doing?” Celeste cried. “It’s okay, your body is needed. The roots can bolth protect your physical body and use its form to guide the transformation,” the Elder Tree explained as the roots began to drag Celeste’s body below ground. Belladonna started clawing at the grass, trying to retrieve the sinking body in vain. However, her screaming intensified when a riot wrapped around her leg. Trying to run, Belladonna was quickly restrained and dragged towards the circle of oak trees. “Stop!” Celeste shouted, causing the earth to tremble. The roots obeyed. Belladonna was able to wriggle out of them and craw to the middle of the clearing where she curled into the fetal position and wept. “Please let us continue,” the Elder Tree urged her. “Your power is great, but we do not have much time…” the Elder Tree warned. “Why are you taking Belladonna?” Celeste questioned, despite being able to feel the shadow of the shade growing closer by the second. “The roots are the only way I can protect her.” “Then I’ll protect her. Do whatever you need to do with me, but leave her alone,” Celeste demanded. Sighing, the Elder Tree continued to drag Celeste’s body underground. “Foolish witch, you do not know the consequences of your hubris,” the Elder Tree said before Celeste felt her body growing and changing. Before long, Celeste had a more normal view. However, she was standing well above the tree line of the forest. Looking around and down, she realized that she was standing above the clearing as one of the elder oaks. Her legs were the massive trunk split down the middle, and her arms were mighty branches. Everything moved as naturally as her own body, but carried momentum that shook the ground when she walked. Careful not to step on Belladonna, she turned around just as the shadow burst into the clearing. The shadow was a flowing black form that seemed to meld into the darkness of the growing shadows and shy away from what remained of the sunlight. Death followed it in a wake, as if everything it passed by spontaneously combusted. Rather than burn, everything simply singed and died or decayed. Only the elder oaks seemed immune to this instant death. As the shadow looked up at Celeste with glowing red eyes, it’s face contorted and a primal scream escaped its jagged black mouth. Instantly, it charged forward. Its speed was alarming, and the swirling formless body floated above the grass like thick smoke from a forest fire. Celeste swung a massive tree branch the size of a bus at its path, but the shadow wasn’t moving towards her. It circled around the clearing and seemed to laugh as it moved toward the center of the the ring of oak trees. “No!” Celeste thought as she realized that the shadow was headed towards Belladonna. She broke into a run and moved effortlessly across the clearing, even with the earth rumbling with her every step. Reaching out to the plump witch laying in the center of the field crying, Celeste was a step too slow. The shadow plunged into Belladonna’s mouth and nose, working its way into her body as if getting absorbed by a sponge. Falling to her knees, Celeste could only watch in horror as the shade completely disappeared into her friend. For a moment, everything was still and silent. Celeste hoped that the shade was simply gone. Then, Belladonna slowly rose to her feet. She moved awkwardly, as if wearing clothes that were too tight, and stretched every muscle in her body. Finally, she opened a pair of glowing red eyes that replaced her usual cat-like yellow eyes and laughed.

Celeste’s eyes widened as belladonna laughed a deep menical laughter. Her eyes glowed red and her face grew pale as she shuffled forward towards the Elder oak tree with both arms outstretched and stiffened. Black bile spilled from her mouth as the shade continued to cackle from inside her body. Raising a fist, Celeste quickly realized that there was nothing she could do without losing Belladonna as collateral damage. She put an arm between the plump, possessed witch and the Elder oak. Turning to face Celeste, the shade laughed through Belladonna’s mouth. Tears welled up in the corners of Celeste’s eyes as she saw Belladonna’s face growing paler and aging quickly. She would have screamed, but the tree she was inhabiting didn’t have a mouth. That’s when she heard it. The frantic whispers that ran through her head had changed; rather than a jumbled mess of hushed voices, she heard a chorus chanting. Thousands of voices in perfect unison repeated the same phrase over and over in her mind like the beating of a drum. Unable to understand the phrase, Celeste could only repeat it. At once, the words flowed through her mind like a river breaking through a damn. They coursed through her thoughts and shook the foundation of her being, as she felt like her thoughts were merging with the faceless voices in her head. Then, roots slowly rose from the ground around the shade. Grasping Belladonna in a firm embrace, the roots lifted her and the shade off the ground. Celeste could feel Belladonna’s unnaturally cold body as if it were in her hand as the roots forced their way into the open, laughing mouth being controlled by the hellish being. Soon after, the laughing stopped, and those glowing red eyes opened wide. Two screams escaped from Belladonna’s dying body. One was high pitched and fearful, while the other was deep and pained. Belladonna’s body slowly began to sink into the earth, carried gently by the roots of the trees. However, the shade was ripped out of her mouth as Celeste continued to chant. Celeste continued to chant until Belladonna disappeared below the ground and felt secure in her roots, then immediatly swung a semi-truck sized fist at the shade. Its body exploded into several clouds of black smog. Each one Celeste mercilessly pounded into the ground until there was a small crater in front of her. Breathing heavily, Celeste watched in horror as the shade began to slowly merge together and reform. It got pulled together enough to laugh before Celeste pounded it back into the ground. This process repeated until the sun sank below the horizon and Celeste’s arms that once moved naturally felt as heavy as they looked in the starlit sky. Finally, Celeste took notice of the chanting that had been present in her mind. Repeating the words as easily as if she knew them, Celeste felt herself slip into the collective consciousness of the forest. The elder oak glowed in the moonlight as Celeste watch her own body rise from the ground. As the roots unwrapped from arounf it, Celeste gasped and almost lost track of the rhythmic chanting. She was pale: her skin and hair were a stark white that shone under the stars. The colorless version of herself fell from the vines lifeless like a rag doll, but slowly rose on unsteady feet as Celeste continued chanting. Jerky, unnatural movements dragged the body forward like a marienette. Meanwhile the shade started cackling again. Its head and torso were completely formed by the time it noticed Celeste’s limp body lumbering towards it. A terrible squeal escaped its black mouth as its red eyes opened wide with fright at the sight of the lifeless witch’s body. Trying to flee, the fragmented pieces of its body swirled uncontrollably but accomplished nothing. Chanting steadily, Celeste watched as her body began to move more naturally. It crept up to the shade, raised a pale hand and opened its mouth. Celeste could hear her body start to repeat the chant in a raspy voice, as her own eyes and hand began to glow. Moonlight gathered around her hand as the sky grew dark. Light drained from the moon and stats themselves as Celeste’s outstretched hand grew brighter. Heat emanated from the light as if Celeste’s body were holding the sun, and the shade screatched as Celeste’s hand grasped its throat. It started glowing briefly, before exploding into a million lights that seemed to float up to the stars to relight an otherwise black sky. Several minutes passed before the night sky returned to normal, and when it did, Celeste’s body collapsed into a heap. Feeling dizzy, Celeste struggled to remain upright. Eventually, she collapsed and shut her eyes, accepting the urgent invitation to sleep.

Celeste froze in place and shook her head. A dull whisper had been tickling her ear all morning, but it was getting louder. Putting her pinky in each ear, she first tried to block the sound and then clean her ear as if she could claw the whispers out of her head. “Are you okay?” A voice called out. It sounded louder than the whispers, but distant, as if someone were screaming at her from far away. “You look pale…” Looking up, Celeste met the gaze of a pair of yellow eyes she knew well. “I don’t know, Belladonna, something is wrong,” Celeste admitted. “Are you ill? I think I have a potion for that…” Belladonna took a leather messenger bag off her broad shoulder and began to rummage through it as the daylight dwindled in the ancient forest. “Invisibility won’t help… oh! This is poison, should put that in a separate pouch…” “Thanks, Bell, but I don’t think I’m sick… do you hear that?” Gesturing towards her ear, Celeste closed her eyes and the whispers grew louder. She could even make out a few words that were repeated louder than the typical humming. “Not safe” “Protect the grove!” “Listen, help, listen!” “Hear what?” Belladonna asked, tilting her head to listen, causing her black hair to sway in the breeze. “There is no one out here but us… and the trees, I guess. Are you sure you don’t want a potion? I found one for headaches and parasites.” “I’m fine… just have a ringing in my ears,” Celeste lied. “Besides, I remember what happened when Helena tried your remedy for allergies.” “How was I supposed to know she was allergic to walnuts?” Belladonna scoffed. “Walnuts are the only thing that can cure allergies, it doesn’t make sense that a witch would be allergic to them.” Celeste grinned nodded, happy to have Belladonnas familiar complains to drown out the ringing in her ears. The pair of novice witches pushed their way through the undergrowth and low hanging branches. However, Celeste noticed that beaches that snagged Belladonnas hair and black dress seemed to bend out of her way on their own. “Stop!” A voice cried in Celeste’s head louder than the others. Then, the humming merged into a louder unified voice. “Stop—turn back—death approaches.” “Bell, we need to stop,” Celeste hissed as she put a hand to her forehead. “You really should try this potion for headaches,” belladonna said, but it sounded like a scream to Celeste. “Get down,” Celeste whispered, pulling belladonna behind a large oak tree. The tree seemed to bend and contort, dropping its beaches low to help hide the wishes from view. “What’s gotten into you?” Belladonna whimpered, shaking and staring wide-eyed at the tree that was reaching out to her. “How are you doing this?” “It’s not me,” Celeste whispered. “I can’t do magic yet, remember?” “Seems magical to me… why are we hiding?” As soon as the words escaped Belladonna’s mouth, a shadow passed over them. Chills ran down Celeste’s spine as the air grew cold and the stench of rotting flesh filled the air. Both witches held each other and trembled as the warmth of the summer evening was sapped from around them. The voices in Celeste’s head moaned with agony, and she felt death spread across a patch of the forest. Moments later, it was gone, but the pair huddled under the unnaturally bent tree didn’t move for several minutes. Finally, Celeste stood up and crept around the tree: all of the leaves had fallen from the branches on the opposite side of the tree and a trail of barren land line with dying trees led back the way the witches had come. The voices in the area were muted, as were the physical sounds of the forest, as if nothing could exist in the wake of whatever passed by. “What was that?” Belladonna squeaked from her place on the ground. “I don’t know… but it’s headed towards our hut,” Celeste said. She jumped back, realizing the implications of her realization only after she vocalized it. “We need to get back to the hut!” “No!” Both Belladonna and the voices in Celeste’s head wailed in unison, but Celeste was already running towards her home. “Stop,” the voices in Celeste’s head begged. “Too late. Death. Gone. Dead.” The warning only made Celeste pump her legs faster, trying desperately to get back to the only family she had ever known. Minutes later, Celeste collapsed to her knees at the edge of a familiar clearing in the forest. Everything in the clearing was scorched, black and smoking. Nothing was green, moving or alive, and an erie silence filled the clearing. Celeste was too stunned to move. She wanted to sob, but her body wouldn’t move. Not until the crunching of leaves alerted her to someone behind her, and Celeste whirled around with the hair on the back of her neck standing straight up. “How… why…” Belladonna muttered as she stumbled into view with tears streaming down her cheeks. “They… could be alive…” Celeste stammered, dropping her eyes to the ground to avoid Belladonnas face. “Tabitha!” Belladonna yelled, talking a tentative step into the clearing. “Tabitha, where are you?” Forcing herself to her feet, Celeste followed somberly. She was thankful for the silence in her head but too worried to think what might have become of her sisters. Belladonna led the pair to the ashes that used to be a sturdy hut with a thatched straw roof. It smelled rancid, like death. “Helena, Deirdre… Tabitha?” Belladonna called out. Suddenly, a form rose amid the smoke. Celeste sprung in front of Belladonna and put a her arms out, as if to hold whatever was rising from the ashes back with her bare hands. Her heart pounded as the form dusted itself off and turned to face them, using both hands to straighten its head on its crooked-broken neck. “Calm yourself, child,” a familiar voice cooed. “I am not going to hurt you.” “Tabitha?” Celeste replied in disbelief. “Your alive?” “No, child, I’m not.” A slender older woman who was pretty despite her body being bruised and broken stepped out of the smoke. Her face was clean, but her white hair was covered in dirt and blood. “Cheating death is impossible, but it is possible to send a message from the grave…” “What happened?” Celeste asked the closest thing she had to a mother. “Do you remember what I told you about death?” “You said that it is unavoidable.” “Not every witch takes heed of those words of wisdom…” Tabitha sighed. “An ancient evil has been loosed into the world.” “What kind of evil?” Celeste asked, taking a step forward and noticing for the first time that Tabitha was missing an arm. “A shade: a witch that thought they could use magic to avoid death.” “That thing was a witch?” Belladonna muttered. “A powerful one,” Tabitha assured them. “One that tried to make themself immortal, but only managed to keep their body and magic alive. Her soul and anything else that made her human is long dead.” “How do we kill it?” Celeste asked, clenching her fists as tears welled up in her eyes. She felt hot, as if the smoke and ash were boiling her blood. “That depends on the magic keeping it alive… some shades are bodies that can’t die of old age but are otherwise susceptible to death… others simply cannot die.” “So we can do nothing?” Celeste screamed. “You must find a whispering witch,” Tabitha said in a matter of fact tone. “A what?” “A witch who can hear and speak the language of the trees. They are powerful witches who can unlock the secrets of ancient magic—natural magic.” “But magic is not natural,” Belladonna squeaked. Turning to face the plump witch, Tabitha corrected her, “Most witches learn to do unnatural magic through careful study of nature and years of practice. Natural magic is whispered to those worthy of using it by the trees themselves.” “Once we find one, what do they need to do?” Celeste asked. Tabitha turned back to her, then collapsed. Her body fell into a pile of contorted, broken limbs. The head shriveled and spun back to its twisted resting place. Her eyes remained open, staring lifelessly at the sky. Celeste fell to her knees and wept. “What happened?” Belladonna shrieked. “Come back!” “She’s not coming back,” Celeste blabbered between sobs. Falling to her knees, Belladonna cried next to Celeste in the center of the ring of death and unnatural silence. They stayed there for several minutes. It grew quieter when they ran out of tears to cry. “We need to go,” Celeste eventually said. She stood up and spun around slowly, unsure of where to head next. “Where will we go?” Belladonna asked, scrambling to her feet. Walking, towards the tree line, Celeste heard the whispers return, “The grove. Protect the grove. Come! The grove.” “We are going to the grove,” Celeste informed Belladonna. “Where?” The scared witch asked. “Is that where we will find a whispering witch?” Celeste stopped just past the tree line and put a hand on a nearby tree that was beckoning to her. Immediately, her vision blurred, head snapped backwards and she rose five feet off the ground as if lifted by her nose. Belladonna screamed and backed away. Meanwhile, Celeste saw a series of pictures: a river roughly a half mile away with a wooden bridge she recognized, a trail carved by the deer in the spring, several large birch trees that stood above the rest of the trees, and a ring of old oak trees at the center of the forest came to her mind. It was like the trees drew a map on the inside of her head. “The grove is at the center of the forest,” Celeste said to a trembling Belladonna as her body returned to normal. “The trees are leading us there.” “The trees?” Belladonna repeated. Celeste stopped and locked eyes with her frightened friend. With conviction, she said, “I am the whispering witch.”