I dropped them home in the car an hour or three ter. I didn’t have much food left to share so they couldn’t exactly stay for dinner. In an act of sheer hubris, I took the skateboard to school again the next day. This time I managed to express that I maybe wanted Alice to carry me home instead. She made it halfway. I live nearly an hours walk from the school, most of it up a hill of 15 degrees or more. Smooth sailing to get to school on a skateboard. A long way home though. By Friday I was limping well enough to make it all the way home, though honestly if the opportunity arose to get carried home again by Leah or Alice on Monday I was taking it. I didn’t participate much in PE.

  On Saturday I finally felt strong enough to face the Elders, so I made my way to their clearing. While the st time I had been here they’d all been fishing calmly, they were now embroiled in a loud debate. I silenced it with a polite cough and a not so polite mental “STFU”. “Vanessa!” gasped Elder Laurent. I gave a small curtsy in greeting. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick!” demanded Elder Nichos.

  “Sorry, I got kidnapped by witch hunters and had a bit of a breakdown once I was sure I was safe” I said lightly. “A breakdown? A BREAKDOWN? While you’ve been off having your BREAKDOWN we’ve been considering the logistics of relocating the whole the town because we don’t know if hunters followed you home!” Cried elder Laurent. “Did Peter not give a report?” I asked with some concern. “Peter couldn’t tell us SHIT!” Elder Laurent snapped. I sighed. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

  There was a short argument about who got to ask questions first. Elder Laurent seemed to have won when I tuned back in. “Okay firstly, do you know how you were caught” he asked. “I believe it was just bad luck. They were scanning every car passing by for magic and got lucky” I replied. “What magic were you doing” he asked. “My powers are semi-passive. I tend to unconsciously influence the people around me so they were probably detecting that” I noted.

  Elder Laurent sighed. “Okay. Did any of you use any other magic that day” he asked. I considered lying. But elder Maggie would definitely call me out on it. “I used mind control on a car full of misogynist assholes to make them drive off and keep driving till they ran out of gas” I recalled. “Do you think they could have traced the signal back to you from them” he asked. I shook my head.

  “My power only produces lingering effects by making people misremember things. But that probably wouldn’t show up on a magic detector. Its like an object thrown by a telekinetic like Rose. Sure magic put it in that state but it remains in that state due to the normal ws of physics. I doubt Jared is immune to having things thrown at him with telekinesis” I noted.

  “Who’s Jared?” asked Elder Sampson. “Alice’s little brother. Jared Cooper” I replied. Elder Maggie smiled. “I know him. Perhaps this theory ought be tested” she mused. “Don’t hurt him” I warned. “She smiled. “I never would” she reassured with a smile.

  “Any other dispys of magic?” Asked Laurent. “Rose attacked a women with telekinesis in a bathroom” I noted. His jaw dropped. “WHY?” he cried. “The woman thought Leah was a man in disguise and started harassing her” I expined. “Peh! Well maybe if that little pervert would just dress normal…” snapped Elder Ange. I fixed her with an irate stare. No. They thought Leah was a man in disguise. 6′4″ beastshifter. Short hair. I think you’re confusing her with Alice” I said coldly.

  She fixed me with a furious stare. I stared back. I kinda wanted to punch her. “The target of her ire is irrelevant. She presented a threat and Rose neutralized her, yes?” said Elder Laurent. “Not so simple. I had to erase her memories, and then there was another witness who’s memories I also had to deal with” I summarized. “The one with the purple hair from Victoria’s report?” he asked. I nodded.

  “Do you think either could have tipped off the hunters?” posited Laurent. “Not a chance in the seven hells. I erased both of their memories” I said. “Are you sure it took?” he asked. “Do you doubt my power?” I said with a dangerous grin. He sighed. “Very well, lets take it that the chance of either of their involvements are slim. Could you answer some questions about the arrest itself”

  “Sure” I replied. “Why didn’t you teleport out as soon as the car was stopped?” he asked. “One, repcing a car is no easy feat. They’re expensive and there’s all sorts of documentation you need to fake. Two, I thought I could solve the problem without magic. By all accounts they looked like police men. I thought the worst that could happen was a speeding ticket. The risk of the report of a ghost car making it to someone who’d know what it meant seemed greater than immediately teleporting to safety at the time” I replied.

  “Alright. We saw what happened on your recording device. Would you mind telling us what happened after Victoria teleported out” he asked. “Oh right! Can I have that back?” I asked. Elder Maggie reached into the fishing supplies chest and tossed me my cellphone, which I pocketed. “Thanks. Right, so. I tried to use my powers on him but he was somehow immune. He also called me out for a witch. So I slit his throat and attempted to escape by road. However, my tyres were damaged by a well pced bullet and I crashed and lost consciousness and woke up in the hunters custody” I expined.

  “Your power allows you to slit throats? asked Elder Nichos. “There are other powers than magic, and a good warrior packs many, in this case a knife” I stated. “Do you still have the knife?” asked Elder Laurent. “No. I lost it while I was unconscious. I’d actually like it repced” I grumbled. The elder nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. Another question if you please. You were in their custody for a little over a week. Why did you wait to escape?”

  “I wanted the pce burned down to the roots. I had them put me in a machine they use to awaken dormant powers and then issued some commands to everyone in the base. The night we left most of them were high on substances known to cause hallucinations and also ordered to forget what the base actually did and invent their own stories. I also killed the general of the base on the way out, which was not the pn but no pn survives first contact with the enemy” I said.

  “Do you think you’ve vanquished the witch hunters forever?” he asked with a note of incredulity. “Witch hunters are an idea. You can’t kill an idea. Not forever. But I think I’ve banished it to a deep pit that it will take quite some time to climb out of. If it buys us twenty years then 5 days was not such a high price to pay” I stated.

  “Okay. Final question. Is there any way they could track you back here?” he asked. “I removed the microchips they put in me and Charlotte. I changed license ptes 5 times between here and Texas. I had the car resprayed in New Mexico. Nowhere we stayed has any record of our being there. I had them burn all their own records and destroy any digital copies… The general knew my deadname. No idea how. If she told anyone, one could probably find out who my father is, and he knows where the town is” I said.

  “We need to track down her father before the hunters do and eliminate him” said Elder Laurent. I burst out ughing. “What?” he said. “Them finding my father is a big if. The man is an unhinged prepper who’s also hiding out in an anonymous patch of mountains. And if they do find him he’s likely to greet them with a bullet to the teeth. He HATES the federal government. He thinks its run by satan worshipping, baby eating lizard people. If you want I’ll show you where he’s hiding on a map and you can station a teleporter to watch him but… I would not advise that you try to kill or capture him. That’s likely to result witches dying.” I expined.

  Elder Laurent nodded. “Very well. That will be all. No more questions” he stated. I looked around. “Why could you only save the beastshifters?” asked Elder Maggie. “Hm?” I asked. “We’ve lost a couple of people over the years. Why could you only bring the beastshifters back” she said with a little bit of venom. “The machine they put me in to amplify my powers had a high fatality rate according to the general. I believe their captors experimented on them leading to their deaths. The beastshifters survived the experimentation as beastshifters are notoriously hard to kill” I said bluntly. She gasped in horror and covered her mouth. There was an awkward silence.

  “You asked. If you aren’t prepared for the answer then don’t ask” I said bluntly. Elder Maggie nodded mutely. “If that’s all I’ve got some questions of my own” I said. “Ask away” said Elder Sampson. “I’m still going to need to leave town occasionally. The things I need outside of town I still need. I understand if you don’t want me taking anyone else out of town again but… its my life to risk. So…” I trailed off. Elder Sampson recovered first. “Even after all you’ve been through… you’d still go out into the world and risk meeting them again” he whispered.

  “I can’t afford to ignore the world. It might be cruel. It might hate me for being a witch, and for several other really stupid reasons. But I can’t survive without it. And I refuse to run and hide from it!” I replied. The elders stared at me with a mixture of horror and awe. “Don’t go alone! Promise me you won’t go alone child. At least take a teleporter” said Elder Maggie. “As you wish. I’ll let you know when I need to be out of town and you can assign me one. Not Victoria again though. I… don’t think we get on very well” I said. “Not Victoria! Vanessa, you’ll break her heart if she hears you say that” gasped elder Sampson.

  “What? Why?” I gasped. “Did… nobody tell you?” asked Elder Nichos. I shook my head. Elder Nichos teleported beside me and then we both teleported… to a house in the town. I expected to lose my lunch or something but besides the immediate change in signal intensity from all five senses I barely noticed we’d moved. Elder Nichos knocked on the door and then vanished again. I gritted my teeth. I barely had the energy for the elders, I did not have energy for Victoria’s bullshit today. But Charlotte was the one to answer the door. “BIG SIS” she excimed and threw her arms around me.

  “What are you doing here? I thought this was Victoria’s house?” I said. “M-hm! We’re staying with Aunt Vicky because there’s been no time to build us a new house” Charlotte excimed. “Wait… Aunt Vicky?” I said. A familiar redhead wandered over to the open door. She took one look at me and her jaw dropped. “Vanessa? You’re back!” she gasped. “Hey Victoria” I said carefully. She crouched down and threw her arms around me and squeezed me tight. “T… Thank you!” she sobbed. “For?” I choked. She didn’t answer immediately, just tightly hugged me. “You brought my big brother home you little weirdo!” she eventually replied.

  “It was nothing” I handwaved uncomfortably. “Don’t give me that! If there’s anything you need. Ever. Anything at all. I’ll teleport you anywhere you want to go. I’ll join your weird little girl kissing cult! Hell, I’d even…” - “Whoa! Easy there” I interrupted. “You don’t have to kiss girls if you don’t want to!” I said. “But… well the Elders say I can’t leave town without a teleporter so… I might ask you to do that from time to time if that’s okay” I noted.

  She nodded. “Yeah. Anything” she swore. I smiled. “Okay. I believe you have some of my stuff? Particurly a little gss bottle? I’d like my DVDs too don’t get me wrong but… that stuff is literally life or death” I said. “Sure” said Victoria. She disappeared into the house for a minute and returned with my things. “Thanks” I said. “Sure. No problem” said Victoria. She was still crying a little. “Would you happen to know where Leah lives?” I asked. “Sure, I can teleport you straight there. Why?” she asked. “Because I’ve got a sore hipbone and I want her to carry me home” I admitted shamelessly. She fixed me with a judgemental stare. “She got shot!” Charlotte added helpfully. “Oh, sure… I’ll take you right too her” said Victoria.