The Petrov Witches
Anna Petrov a blond haired, blue-eyed, 14-year-old girl had lived on a farm outside of Kirov, Russia her entire life. Her grandmother raised her since her parents died when she was 3 years old. For as long as Anna could remember she had been close to her grandmother but never more close than during their Sunday morning drives around the countryside. Little did she know that it was on this Sunday morning, when her grandmother drove down an unfamiliar dirt road, that Anna’s life would change forever.
“Grandma where are we going?” inquired Anna, “We never go down this road.” Marta turned to Anna and said with a warm smile on her face, “Today is a very special day, I must tell you something important.” The car came to a stop in front of a vast oak tree with a base of large gnarly roots; giving away its decades of dominating the landscape.
“Why are we here? There’s nothing but this tree for miles,” questioned a still confused Anna. Marta said nothing and motioned for Anna to follow her as they walked behind the tree and stopped where a cluster of roots had wrapped themselves into a circle. Her grandmother went closer to the roots and reached out her hand. All of a sudden her hand disappeared. Anna screamed in fright. Her grandmother continued forward, stepping through the root circle disappearing more and more until she was gone. Stunned, Anna crept towards the root circle calling out her grandmother’s name. Suddenly a wrinkled hand appeared, latched onto Anna’s wrist and pulled.
Anna landed with a thud on a hard, cold floor. She slowly looked up and saw her grandmother standing over her. Anna shook her head and said to herself, “This has got to be a dream.”
“It’s no dream dear”, her grandmother asserted. “You have gone through a portal that allows us to pass into our mystical world of Whyccia.” Helping Anna up, her grandmother walked them over to a settee and in a calm voice said, “Anna, you are a witch.”
“That’s not possible!” exclaimed Anna.
“Yes it is. You are a Petrov, and Petrov women have been casting spells for centuries. However, we will lose our magic and forevermore be mortal if we don’t save Whyccia by the end of the solar eclipse, tonight. An evil force called the Darkness is seizing the power from witches and warlocks, turning them mortal and incapable of slowing its invasion. ”
“Why can’t you get someone else to help you?” asked Anna
“While others can help, only the powers of two Petrov witches can banish the Darkness. I need you. Will you help me?” asked Marta.
“Yes of course, but I don’t know anything about magic,” stuttered Anna.
“It’s in your DNA, so we’ll begin with a simple spell,” said Marta. Anna followed her into a library; at the center stood a podium and on it sat a thick book bound in leather. Marta waved her hand over the book and the pages started to turn. Soon the pages stopped and her grandmother said, “Aha, the perfect first spell! But first put this on.” Marta had a silver ring engraved with the Petrov family crest and placed it on Anna’s finger. “Remember that you must be wearing this ring to cast spells,” she said.
Anna read aloud “The Orb of Light Spell shall create light wherever it is dark”. She continued, “Bal sveta poyavlyayutsya.” In the blink of an eye, a floating orb of light hovered above her and lit the entire library. Anna was astonished; she couldn’t believe that she had magical powers.
“That was terrific Anna! Together we’ll defeat the Darkness and save all of Whyccia!” her grandmother exclaimed.
Then Marta waved her hand and the pages of the book turned, but this time the book shut. Marta froze and in an alarm-like state she manually flipped the pages back and forth. “What’s wrong Grandma?” Anna inquired.
“It’s not here, the page with the banishing spell has been torn out,” Marta said looking down at the tattered remains of what was once one of the elaborately decorated pages. “That’s fine, I have a second copy of my spell book,” she explained. They searched the house, but found no trace of it. “The only other way of finding the book is to go back in time,” explained Marta. Marta took Anna’s hands while she spoke an incantation. All of a sudden a glowing portal appeared in front of them.
They went through the portal and in a flash they were in Marta’s house. Suddenly, they heard footsteps and from around the corner came a much younger looking Marta. Startled, the younger Marta cried, “What are you doing in my house?”
“We’re from the future,” explained Marta, “We came back in time to get the book of spells to use an incantation to defeat the Darkness that is trying to take over Whyccia, but we need to hurry, the solar eclipse is just a few hours away. The younger Marta understood, “The spell book is in our family safe, I’ll go and fetch it,” she said. While young Marta went to go get the spell book, without warning Marta collapsed to the floor. Anna rushed to her grandmother’s side, “The Darkness is beginning to seize my powers,” she explained. Just then the younger Marta came back holding the familiar looking spell book in her arms.
“You must return to the future and face the Darkness, I’ll conjure the portal for you,” said young Marta. As Anna helped her grandmother up, Marta spoke an incantation and a portal appeared. Supporting her grandmother, Anna took the book of spells from Marta, the last thing she heard were remarks of encouragement as she entered the portal.
Moments later they were back in present day Marta’s house. Anna left the spell book on the settee where her grandmother sat. She ran to the window and looked at the sky, only a sliver of the sun could be seen. She ran back to her grandmother and looked at the pages covered in warnings, and at the center of the right hand page was the words “Banishing Spell.” Anna took her grandmother’s hands and together they read the spell. They waited a few seconds, but nothing happened.
“My powers must be too weak,” said Marta.
Suddenly, the foggy light of a portal appeared and entering the room was Marta from the past. “I’m here to help you Anna. Together we can vanquish the Darkness.” Anna and the past Marta grabbed hands and spoke the incantation. As they finished their hands began to glow, the glow intensified and then a burst of white light came from their hands. First illuminating the room, the light quickly cascaded throughout the house and poured onto the surrounding streets.
Marta seemed instantaneously better and cried out, “Well done Anna! You are truly a Petrov witch and thank you Marta for helping us.”
The Marta of the past sighing in relief said, “It’s not the first time the Petrov women have saved Whyccia and I’m afraid it won’t be the last.”
“Well if something else comes, I know I’ll be ready,” said Anna as she held the spell book tightly to her chest.
Picture from:
Villains Wiki villains.wikia.com/wiki/The_Darkness_(Twitches). Accessed 22 Nov. 2016
Word Count: 1214 words