Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The moon was full and the stars were bright that night. A shadowy figure stood in an otherwise empty forest clearing, holding a basket in each hand, as a portal swirled brightly in front of him.

Cora hadn't wanted their blood on her hands. That's why she'd passed them off to him. She wanted them dead and he was to kill them, but he couldn't harm a child. Even the Dark One had lines he dare not cross.

They would be safe in the Land of Untold Stories.

He placed one basket into the portal and then the other and watched them disappear. He remained in the clearing until the portal was safely closed before vanishing in a swirl of dark red smoke. The Twins were safe. Cora would never find them. Or so he thought.

o0o
2 years later

It had been purely by chance that Cora had stumbled upon the twins and the woman who was caring for them during her little trip to the Land of Untold Stories. Of course, she had killed the woman on the spot and then taken the two babies and promptly left.

She would have killed them. Taken their little hearts and crushed them like she'd done with their father.

But no.

They were too powerful to waste like that. She realized that now. They might have been tiny and helpless now, but she'd make monsters out of them. All that magic, that power, would be hers to control. Perhaps it was a good thing that Rumple had spared them.

o0o

She screamed. She cried. Begged for mercy and promised to be better, but still the angry magic raced through her system. Every nerve ending felt as if it were on fire and she felt although she was being burnt from the inside out.

“Stop your crying you useless girl!” Grandmother barked. “It's weakness!”

But Leah couldn't hear. The only thing she was aware of was the agony of the curse. Even as the effects faded, she lay curled in a ball with her eyes tightly shut. She could still feel it. Like hot embers, the remnants of a forest fire still smouldering as the flames died away.

“I said stop your crying!”

Like a sudden flame among the embers, pain shot through her arm. Leah scrambled to get up. Dry her tears. They were a sign of weakness.
An angry looking cut had appeared on her arm, another scar for the collection. Ruby red blood ran down her arm in sticky rivulets.

“Don’t slouch!”

Leah immediately straightened up. She automatically waved a small hand over the cut, healing it. And it did leave a scar, one that criss-crossed over another two. She didn't flinch when it sealed. She daren’t show any emotion. Not now.

o0o

He had offered to help them. He couldn't bare the idea of seeing them like that again. So broken, scarred and not just physically. Afraid. Perhaps it was because they reminded him of his own daughter. Grace, who was back in the Enchanted Forest. He knew that if anyone could get them out, it was him. Him and his hat. His trade. He was going to take them back to the Enchanted Forest as he knew that their mother was there. But those girls were smart. They knew that wouldn't cut it, not when it was Cora Mills they were running from. No, they needed something better. He knew a place. A place she would never expect them to go, that was, if she even knew of it herself. He was going to send them far away, to a land without magic. Somewhere Cora would never dream of going. Magic was that woman's lifeblood.

It was nearly midnight when Eva and Leah Mills burst into the small, cluttered cottage.

“We have to hurry, we don't have much time. She'll soon realize we're gone!” Eva exclaimed by way of greeting.

Leah was behind her, trembling slightly and obviously afraid, worrying away, thinking the plan would never work. Grandmother would catch them red-handed and then what? She'd punish them, make them sorry they'd tried to flee. If she didn't, she'd never stop searching. She'd find them eventually. She always did.

Jefferson wasted no time. He picked up the case that held his hat, his portal talisman. “This way. Quickly!”

He ushered them out the back door, to a garden bathed in silver moonlight. They watched him carefully as he opened the case and pulled out the hat and set it on the ground. He pulled a gold pendant out of it and held it up.

“This stopwatch will ensure you bypass the room of doors and go straight to your destination.” He flipped open the pendant to reveal a strange looking clock inside and started turning the dial on the back to adjust the hands.

“Why do we need to bypass the room of doors?” Leah asked nervously.

Jefferson sighed. “Because there is no door for the land you intend to travel to.” He was worried. In truth he didn't no if this would even work. The hat was said only to reach places with magic.

“There is something you're not telling us. Spit it out!” Eva demanded. There was no time for silly games.

“I am not sure if the hat will actually be able reach this land, as there is no magic there. If it does not work, you will simply appear in the room of doors. From there you can go wherever -” He was cut off by the sound of the front door slamming and heeled shoes clicking across the floor of the cottage.

Leah looked at Eva in horror. Their time was up.

Jefferson passed Eva the pendant and reached down to spin the hat. Within seconds a swirling portal opened in the centre of the garden, and not a moment to soon. Cora stormed out the back door, looking furious.

“Go!” Jefferson shouted at the twins. “And don't let go of each other!”

The girls, however, were frozen in fear and didn't move as their Grandmother advanced across the garden. Jefferson did the only thing he could and pushed them both into the portal before flinging himself in after them.

Eva and Leah hugged each other as they fell into the void of the portal. The last thing they saw was Grandmother's face, twisted in fury.

Chapter Text

Dawn broke over Castle Overblow and the early morning sunlight began it’s daily task of warming the ancient stones of the school. It was mid August and the days were warm. Dew glistened on delicate tendrils of grass as the birds sung their morning songs. The archaic, old castle was silent. The pupils that normally inhabited the droughty halls were spending the summer holidays at home with their families, leaving only Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom alone in the castle.

On this particular morning, a small black shape was slinking along the base of the ancient walls, making its way back in after a night of hunting. Morgana paused in her journey as a gentle breeze whispered over her, bringing with it an unfamiliar scent in the process. There were intruders on the premises. The cat, deciding she'd better investigate, moved cautiously and silently in the direction the scent had come from. She entered the courtyard and scanned the area through narrowed green eyes before padding around the perimeter.

It didn't take her long to discover the two girls who lay in a crumpled heap near the gates. Morgana pricked her ears but there was only silence from the humans. She carefully approached them and sniffed the air. The sour stench of fear and the metallic tang of blood was what she picked up. Not surprising considering the girls were covered in cuts and bruises. Morgana noted that they seemed a little smaller than the youngest girls who came to the castle to learn magic, although, she thought, it was difficult to tell whether that was because they were indeed younger or because they didn't seem entirely well fed.

Morgana wondered what had happened to them and where they'd come from as they weren't pupils. She decided she best go and alert her mistress, and so, went in search of Miss Constance Hardbroom.

o0o

Constance Hardbroom had always been an early riser, even during the holidays. She was always the first one in the castle up and about in the morning. This morning was no different.

As she went about getting ready for the day in her bedroom, she was not at all surprised when Morgana leapt through the window and landed on the sill. It was when her familiar jumped up onto her dressing table and let out an insistent meow that she allowed a frown to form on her features.

“What's gotten your tail in knot, hmm?”

The cat meowed again and jumped down in order to proceed to the currently closed door. She scratched at the wood insistently and continued to meow.

“For goodness sake, Morgana!”

Constance sighed and got up. She pushed open her door and watched as her cat streaked down the hall. She was about to close the door when Morgana stopped, turned around and meowed again. She sat herself down and waited expectantly for her mistress.

Constance's frown deepened. It was obvious something was wrong. Morgana seemed insistent that she follow her.

“Alright, I'm coming.” She relented.

She followed as Morgana led the way downstairs, past the empty staffroom and over to the main doors. Constance pushed them open and frowned again as her cat slipped out and streaked across the courtyard. She stepped outside and let her gaze sweep the yard.

In the early morning sunlight, she spotted Morgana near the gates standing beside a still shape on the ground. The cat meowed at her and padded around her find. Constance made her way across the courtyard.

“What on earth. . .” She trailed off as she stared at the two small girls.

They were both in an appalling state. Every inch of visible skin was littered in cuts and bruises and they were so thin Constance was certain she could see their bones protruding from under their pale skin. Underneath the cuts and bruises, was an ugly web of scars that covered their bare arms and necks. They both had ebony hair which was tangled and dirty.

Constance closed her eyes against the image of herself that her mind had conjured, bruised and broken after years of suffering under Mistress Broomhead. She pushed the thought out of her head and knelt down beside the girls, feeling their wrists for a pulse. She was relieved to find they were both alive, if unconscious and decidedly ice cold. Wasting no time in resolving the latter, she crossed her arms and transferred herself and her companions to a guest room in the castle. She made sure the girls, decidedly twins, landed safely on the bed before vanishing to the
potions lab.

o0o

Precious few people knew Constance Hardbroom, as in truly knew her. It was a select few of those people who could see through the ice queen facade to the damaged woman underneath. The woman who cared about her pupils and who would do anything to ensure their safety. But even those few would have been surprised to see how truly gentle she could be.

Constance was sat on the bed, carefully applying healing potion to the girls’ injuries with the most delicate of well practiced touches. She had already cast a cleaning spell over them and healed a couple of broken bones. All the while, Morgana was watching dutifully over them.

As the last cut faded away under the influence of the potion, she let her eyes drift over the ugly web of scars. The sight of so many scars on such young girls made her feel sick. On a grown witch was one thing but on a child was quite another.

Constance blinked and pulled the closest girl onto her lap. She let the tiny girl’s head rest on her shoulder as she conjured a hair brush and gently started to comb the tangles from her hair.

o0o

The first thing Leah registered as her mind was pulled out of the comforting realms of unconsciousness was that someone was holding her. Holding her and brushing her hair. Leah knew right away that that someone was not Eva. Eva was her twin sister. Her everything. The only one she could trust.

Leah, however, did not feel threatened by this presence. It was a strong, protective magical aura that radiated calm and control. It was not sadistic and corrupt like grandmother’s. It made her feel something she'd never felt before. It made her feel safe.

She kept her eyes closed until curiosity got the better of her and she slowly opened them. Leah found herself staring into the almond-shaped brown eyes of a woman she'd never seen before. They watched each other for a moment, as if unsure of how to proceed. Leah was confused by the fact that she didn't feel threatened.

Constance was captured by the startling blue of the girl’s eyes. It was true, she thought, that a person’s demons hide in their eyes. She could tell by looking into those blue eyes, that this girl was haunted. Broken by a lifetime of pain and suffering.

Constance moved her hand to place the hairbrush down on the bed, only for the girl jump back, her eyes widening with fear.

Leah saw the woman’s hand move out of the corner of her eye. She leapt away in terror. “I'm sorry, Miss, I didn't mean to! P-Please don't hurt me! It won't happen again!”

Constance wiped the look of surprise off of her face. “You didn't do anything. I'm not going to hurt you, or your sister. “ she said clearly. “You're safe.”

At the mention of her sister, Leah looked around her until she spotted Eva curled up behind her. She frowned when she saw the cuts were gone.

“Did - did you heal her?” Leah questioned.

The woman nodded. “I healed both of you.”

Leah looked down at herself. She inspected her arms and flexed her wrist, which had been broken. Again.

“Thank you.” she said in a small voice.

Constance gave the girl what she hoped was a reassuring smile. A small one, mind you. “Your welcome. Now, can you tell me your name?”

“It's Leah.” She replied.

“Well Leah, I'm Miss Hardbroom. what's your sister’s name?” Constance continued.

“Eva. Miss Hardbroom, where are we?”

Constance watched as Leah looked around, carefully observing her surroundings. “This castle is called Overblow castle. But it is also Miss Cackle’s academy. For witches.”

Leah frowned. She'd never heard of Overblow castle or Cackle’s academy before. “May I look out the window Miss? Please?”

“Go ahead.”

Leah got up and walked across to the window, looking back a couple times as she did, just in case. She pushed open the shutters and peered out. Below was a cobbled courtyard surrounded by an old stone wall with a large wooden gate set into it. Beyond that, lush green forest spread for miles around.

She stared disbelievingly at the unfamiliar landscape. “This - this isn't Wonderland. . .”

“What?” Constance was fairly certain she'd heard wrong.

“That portal. . .” Leah half whispered. She looked down at her wrists at the once angry red scars that encircled them. Now they were a pale pink. “We're free.” She looked up at Constance then and repeated, “we're free.”

Constance, for the first time that morning, noticed the ugly pink scars around the girls wrists, like thick bracelets. She paled. There was only one thing that caused markings like that. But possession spells had been outlawed years ago. Their use was strictly against the witches code, not to mention the wizards code. Constance felt sick. Who would be cruel enough to use one on a child? Not even Mistress Broomhead had gone that far.

“Leah, come here.” Her voice sounded strained.

Leah, however, instinctively backed away. “I'm sorry, Miss, I-I-”

“I'm not going to hurt you, Leah, please come here. I want to see those marks on your wrists.” Constance explained.

Leah still looked uncertain, mistrusting. She hugged herself nervously as she backed away a bit more.

Constance sighed. She wondered whether the poor girl had ever had anyone worth trusting. Or had all the adult figures in her life been deemed untrustworthy?

Morgana jumped onto the bed from where she'd been sitting on top of the nightstand. She positioned herself beside her mistress and Constance scratched behind the faithful cat’s ears. The witch knew from experience that troubled children often responded well to the comforting presence of a furry companion. Perhaps Leah would too.

“Would you like to come and say hello to Morgana?” She inquired.

Leah contemplated this. She moved a little closer, still watching Miss Hardbroom’s every move, ready to run if she had to. The woman, however, remained still, on the bed with her hands folded in her lap. The picture of patience and calm. Leah moved closer. She carefully climbed back onto the bed and the cat sniffed her hand. She scratched behind her ears and Morgana purred happily.

Constance was very patient with Leah. She watched the girl stroke Morgana for a moment and noted that her posture seemed to relax slightly. It was however still decidedly ramrod straight. Constance knew that a child could only have such rigid posture if it was beaten into her.

She continued to observe the girl silently. She spotted the way her hands seemed to tremble slightly with nerves. The way her blue eyes seemed to dart around, keeping a constant watch over her surroundings. Constance wondered what had happened to the two girls and where they'd come from. What did she mean by this isn't Wonderland? It didn't make sense. The girl wasn't acting confused or delusional, she had simply stated that she wasn't where she seemed to think she was before. Constance shook her head. The time for figuring that out would come. For now she needed to confirm her fears.

“Leah. Can you show me your wrists now?”

Leah chewed her lower lip. She wanted to ask why, why did Miss Hardbroom want to see her wrists so bad? But asking why, in her experience, was never a good idea. Grandmother never liked that word. Last time Leah had dared utter it, she'd gotten a stinging backhand that left a gash in her cheek from the woman’s ring. So instead of risking her new acquaintance’s rath, she obediently held out her hands.

“Good girl.” Constance praised lightly. She took them gently in her own and held them up for a closer look. Her blood ran cold. They were definitely possession scars, though they were pale pink rather than angry red. That would mean the spell was broken.

“Who did this to you, Leah?” She questioned.

Leah pulled her hands out of the woman’s grasp and looked away. She played with a tuft of Morgana’s black fur.

“Look at me while I am speaking to you, girl.”

Leah's head snapped back around to face her. “Please Miss, I'm sorry. It-it was our grandmother.”

“Your grandmother?”

“Yes, Miss. She - she's a monster.” Leah replied quietly.

Constance seemed to ignore that last bit. “At least we can safely say it's broken.” She whispered, half to herself, as her eyes locked back onto the girl’s scarred arms.

Leah heard anyway. She looked down at her wrists, at the ugly bracelet like scars there. “It's not broken, Miss. Just voided. She would never be so kind as to free us.” She said solemnly.

Constance frowned. “How do you know that?”

“We fell through a portal last night. Possession spells are automatically voided if the two parties are in separate lands. If - if we were to go back, it would be reactivated. Automatically.” Leah explained matter of factly. “The only way for it to really be broken is if grandmother was dead, or if she willingly removed it. And she's not and she didn't. I can tell you that right now.”

Constance blinked. Never before had she met a child who knew the workings of a possession spell. Mind you, she'd never met a child bound by one either.

Just who were these girls and where had they come from?

Chapter Text

Eva had woken up awhile ago and now Miss Hardbroom led the way through what turned out to be the gloomy halls of the archaic, old castle. The two girls took in their surroundings with rapt curiosity. In places where the floor was wooden, the boards creaked with age under foot and shadows gathered in dark corners and danced in the flickering light of the candles mounted on the walls. The stairs protested as they made their way down, even their meagre weight proving to be a strain for the ancient wood.

Eva didn't mind the gloom or the shadows. They simply made it easier to hide. And that's what they wanted. Needed. A place to hide. She could feel magic buzzing in the air, ingrained in the very walls, but it wasn't dark and malevolent like grandmother’s. Instead, it's touch was light, soft like a feather.

Eva did not understand. Miss Hardbroom had said, when asked, that this place, the land the castle was sat on, was called England. Eva remembered finding a book in Grandmother’s library about ‘The Land Without Magic’. She had read in that book that there was a place called England there. But this could not possibly be the same England, because there was magic here. Could it?

As Constance led the way down to the kitchens, she fell to thinking, as she often did. When Eva awoke, she'd been surprised by her deep brown eyes, having expected the same startling blue as Leah's. They were identical twins after all.
Eva was different than her sister. While Leah seemed nervous and fearful, Eva kept her emotions well hidden behind an eerily stony mask. Her eyes had an unsettling emptiness to them and her mannerisms suggested she was extremely guarded. It was not just that though. Constance had been startled when both girls had cast spells, non-verbally, to change their attire. They now wore black knee-length dresses with long sleeves, high necks and black leggings, to cover their myriad of scars. Leah's had blue detailing on the top, while Eva's had purple. But they were only about eleven. Most of the pupils didn't start casting non-verbally until the third year, and that was usually simple spells. A spell to change one’s clothing was not as simple as it sounded, in fact, it was college material. Constance wondered what else these girls knew.

“Please Miss, where are we going?” Leah questioned softly when they came to the stairs that led down to the kitchen in the dungeons.

Constance turned around to face her companions. After making the observation that both girls were rather pale and worryingly thin, she'd decided that breakfast was the first order of business. “To the kitchen. You both look famished.”

“Down there?” Said Leah nervously. In her experience, kitchens weren't normally located in the dungeons.

“That's the dungeons.” Eva stated. “You don't really think we believe the kitchens are actually down there, do you?”

Constance raised an eyebrow at them. “This is a school. We don't have dungeons, they were repurposed into kitchens. Now come on. I'll go first.” She flicked her wrist and a candle mounted on the wall part way down flickered to life. She led the way down and after a moment of hesitation, the twins followed suit.

As it turned out, Miss Hardbroom was telling the truth. There was, in fact, a kitchen at the bottom of the stairs. They watched as their knew acquaintance went about mixing up a pale concoction in a pot on the stove. When she had finished it and divided it into three bowls, they found that it was oatmeal.

Constance kept an eye on the girls as they ate. They were tentative at first, especially Leah. The blue-eyed girl even cast a spell on her oatmeal and orange juice to ensure it wasn't poisoned. She hoped to Merlin that didn't mean she'd been poisoned in the past, that she was just untrusting of strangers. Constance took a mouthful of her own oatmeal, decidedly better than the stuff Mrs.Tapioca made for the pupils. She hoped if they saw her eating, it would encourage them to eat as well. The poor girls were so small and thin.

A few minutes later, she was pleased to see her companions’ bowls being scrapped clean. But there was something about the way they ate. They scarfed it down like they were afraid it would be taken away, desperate to get every last bit. They've been starved, she realized with horror. Their grandmother obviously hadn't fed them. Of course she didn't! Look how thin they are! Constance scolded herself for not realizing sooner.

Her inner monologue was cut off by footsteps on the stairs and Amelia Cackle appeared, still in her dressing gown and pajamas. “Good morning Constance.” She smiled at the younger woman before her eyes landed on the twins. She paused and blinked several times before adjusting her glasses. “I didn't know we were having guests.”

“Neither did I.” Constance admitted. “I found them in the courtyard. Unconscious.”

“What?” Miss Cackle questioned. She seemed incredulous. “Where did they come from?”

“I don't know, but they're not going back.” Said Constance. When she saw the questioning look on her superior’s face, she stood and guided the older woman back into the stairwell.

“They've been. . .” She searched for an appropriate word. “Abused.”

Amelia had seen the bruises on their faces, it wasn't proof enough. “You don't know that, those bruises could be from anything.”

Constance shook her head. “Not just bruises, Amelia. They have scars, so many scars. . .” She couldn't shake the sight of them, it was like looking at herself. “And cuts and broken bones that I healed. And. . . And possession scars.”

“Possession scars?” Amelia gasped, horrified. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. They told me they were voided though.”

“What does that mean?” Amelia didn't know much about possession spells. They were outlawed after all.

“Certain spells can be voided if the caster is far enough away. Basically the next best thing to breaking it.” The younger woman explained. “They said it was their grandmother who did it.”

Amelia was silent for a moment as she took in the information. “What about their parents?”

“I don't know. But if they're in their grandmother’s care. . .we can't send them back, you understand don't you, Amelia?” Constance's voice was pleading and she didn't like it.

Amelia had always figured her deputy had something of a dark past, though she had never been privy to any details as Constance was a very private person. Now she wondered, simply because of her reaction to the current situation, if she was an abuse victim as well. Though it wasn't the first time they'd dealt with child abuse (there had been several cases involving pupils over the years), they certainly hadn't seen anything as serious as this case potentially was. At least she hadn't. Now she wondered if Constance had.

“Yes, Constance. I do.” She said. “I'll call social services after breakfast.”

Constance looked relieved. “They're witches. They cast spells to change their clothes earlier, non-verbally too.”

Amelia frowned. “How old are they?”

“Eleven or twelve, I would say. It's hard to tell because they're so small.”

“Poor things.” The older woman sighed as a thought occurred to her. “I hope they aren't separated if they're put into foster care.”

o0o

Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom had disappeared into Miss Cackle’s office as soon as the social worker, Dinah Foxglove had arrived. The sisters were left to wander around the castle alone while they had a private word.

Leah peaked through a doorway into a room. There were rows of tables and stools lined up facing a desk at the front and for each two stools there was one miniature cauldron. There was a strong smell of herbs in the air as she stepped inside, looking around curiously as she did. Leah breathed in to see if she could pick out any individual scents.

Lavender. It was easy to identify that one. She knew it well.

“This must be the potions room. Do you think they teach potions here?” Eva broke the comfortable silence.

“They must.” Leah agreed. She had turned her attention to the bunches of herbs that were hung up to dry. The smell was strongest here, from subtly sweet to bitter and pungent.

“Comfrey, lavender, marigold, hemlock, thyme.” She listed what she was seeing. Leah was quite proud of her knowledge of potions ingredients.

“Quite right, Leah.” Said Miss Hardbroom as she materialized behind the girl.

Leah jumped out of her skin and whipped around, eyes wide. “I-I'm sorry Miss, I promise we didn't touch anything!”

“Oh, I know you didn't. I've come to collect you to meet Miss Foxglove. Are you ready?” She replied as she headed for the door.

The twins hurried to catch up. “Yes Miss.”

Some time later, they had established that the girls’ father was dead and their mother was out of the picture’ for lack of better words. Miss Foxglove had taken one look at the sisters and their scars before deciding there was no way in hell she would be sending them back to their grandmother. Eva and Leah knew they wouldn't find her even if they did want to. The adults had the girls cast a few spells to ensure they really were witches, before Miss Cackle made a proposal they'd discussed earlier.

“Now girls, Miss Hardbroom and I have discussed it with Miss Foxglove, and I'd like to offer you places here, as pupils. What do you say?” Said Miss Cackle.

There was a pause. The twins looked at her in surprise, having not expected <em>that of all things</em>. “Do-do you mean that, Miss?” Leah questioned.

Eva and Leah may only have been there for a very short time, but there was something about the old castle that they liked. They felt safe here, hidden. More than anything, Eva realized, she wanted to stay.

“I do, girls. Would you like to stay here and learn to be witches?” Miss Cackle smiled.

“Yes please, Miss Cackle.” Said Eva, well mannered as always.

Leah agreed. “We'd like that.”

Constance was relieved. She had been genuinely worried the sisters would be split up in foster care, as she knew it was often easier said than done to find someone willing to take on siblings. She didn't think they'd handle that very well. She could tell they were very close.

o0o

Later that day, Constance found herself in the library. She was a naturally curious person and she couldn't stop thinking about what Leah had said that morning, about a portal and another land. That had gotten her gears turning. Witches (and wizards) had a very long history. Magic and the knowledge to wield it dated back hundreds of years. Possibly even thousands.

She pulled out an ancient leather bound book from a shelf in the back corner of the room. It was dark brown with faded gold lettering: The First War: A Fractured Land. Constance had to be very careful as the book looked ready to fall apart in her hands. Gently, she flipped it open to the first page and started to read:

Long before time had a name, the land was still wild and untamed and people did and went where and what they pleased. There were no rules. Nothing to state what should or should not be done under certain circumstances. So when people discovered the strange energy that coursed through the land and learnt that it could be wielded and that it was virtually limitless in what it could do, there was chaos.

Only a chosen few were able to wield, or even feel the mysterious power. They became known as witches and wizards. Those who could not, became jealous, greedy for the power they were not granted, so they tried to steal it. They came upon the knowledge of brewing magic potions but that was not enough. They'd tasted the power they craved and their want grew. When they realized they couldn't have it, they became angry and turned against the magicians, thinking that if they couldn't have the power, no one could.

The magicians though, were a force to be reckoned with, so much so that the non-magicians became fearful of them. Thus began the witch hunts. A so-called magical genocide took place, a war that wiped out over half of the magicians in the land.

It was then that a wizard by the name of Merlin and his counterpart, a witch called Morgana, stepped forward. They had great power, more so than their fellow magicians. Together, they cast a spell that would change the world as it was known, shattering the land into dozens of smaller pieces separated by the void that stood between them. The people were also separated into these new lands. The magicians went one way and the non-magicians went another.

Those who remained in the first land became segregated. The magicians hid themselves away, creating their own society and rules to keep themselves safe. Over time, the non-magicians began to forget that magic existed and the war it had caused had truly happened.

That is not the end though. The magicians developed ways to contact their comrades in the other lands. In time, stories and rumours of greedy kings, ruthless queens, ignorant princesses and cursed princes and many other things spread through the land and were leaked into the non-magical world. The non-magicians believed they were just that: stories, fairy tales. The magicians knew better, but even their memories began to fade as the years turned to centuries.

Constance continued to flip through the old book. People often speculated on whether these events actually took place. And in fact, some of them probably had. The jealousy of the non-magicians and the magical genocide that followed probably had. Non-magicians were a greedy lot, Constance thought. There had been several incidents throughout history where they'd tried steal magic for themselves only for it to backfire. Morgana and Merlin had certainly done something to stop the war, but exactly what was not certain.

She stopped when she came to a chapter entitled Alice and Dorothy: Stories of Strange Lands. She was well aware of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. In fact, she had enjoyed both books when she was a girl. She also knew that, in the magical world at least, they were based off of supposedly true stories. She wasn't inclined to actually believe that though. Even if Leah had said something about Wonderland and a portal. And it would certainly explain the strange dresses both girls had been wearing, red and white and strangely reminiscent of the Queen of Hearts. Or that they'd appeared from nowhere, or that it was all right here in this book.

Constance sighed and rubbed her temples, unsure of what to believe and wondered briefly if she'd accidentally overdosed on wide awake potion again, before dismissing the thought. That was ridiculous. She would know if she had.

Chapter Text

The castle was dark and silent, the inhabitants fast asleep in their beds. Clouds scudded across the inky black sky, blotting out the moon and stars. A summer breeze rustled through the trees and an owl hooted somewhere in the forest. All was peaceful.

Just as the clock in the hall struck two, a scream tore through the castle, ripping the delicate fabric of tranquility and shattering the silence. Eva's eyes snapped open, immediately going to her sister. Leah was tossing and turning, sweat glistening on her pale face as she struggled in her sleep. She screamed again and this time Eva jumped out of bed and ran to her.

“Leah! Wake up!” She reached out to shake her gently, but Leah fought against her.

“Stay away from me! Don't touch me, please!” She mumbled in her sleep heavy voice.

Eva had dealt with nightmares for as long as she could remember. This was nothing new. “It's just a nightmare. You have to wake up. You're safe. We're safe.”

“Eva!” Leah sobbed, still in the grip of the nightmare.

“I'm here. I'm safe. She can't hurt us anymore.” Eva shook her gently by the shoulders. As she did, the door creaked open and Miss Hardbroom appeared, her form illuminated by the lantern in her hand.

“What's all this noise?” She questioned, looking around the room. She was wide awake, as if she'd never been asleep in the first place.

“It's just a nightmare, Miss. We're sorry for waking you.” Eva's voice was soft and Constance thought she looked ashamed. However, she didn't speculate, as her attention was drawn to Leah, who sat bolt upright in her bed, gasping.

Constance couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor girl. She knew how terrifying nightmares were, after all, she wasn't exactly innocent herself. She sighed as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Leah was in a right state. Her chest was heaving and she was trembling, she was clammy with sweat and her blue eyes shone with fear. Eva hugged her and she leaned her head on her sister’s shoulder, calming somewhat.

“Was it your grandmother?” Constance questioned.

Leah nodded. It always was.

“She can't hurt you anymore. You're safe here, you know that, don't you? As long as you are here, I'll not let her near you.” Constance said, but she knew it wouldn't alleviate their fears. She, herself, still worried about her own demons, feared she'd be found and all would be lost.

Leah looked up. “She'll find us. It doesn't matter where we go, she'll never stop looking until she does.” Her voice shook with fear.

“Perhaps.” Said Constance. “But I happen to know this place is a fairly good hiding place. You're safe here, I promise.” She wasn't used to promising things, aside from maybe detention or lines for naughty pupils, but she felt these girls could use the reassurance.

Eva frowned. “Are. . .are you hiding from something, Miss?” She asked tentatively.

“I think we all have things we wish to remain hidden from.” She replied elusively. It wouldn't do to share her story with two kids she barely knew. Especially when not even Amelia knew that story. Instead, she held out her hand and muttered a spell, summoning a bottle of pale purple potion.

“This will help keep your nightmares at bay. One spoonful before bed and you'll have a dreamless night.”

She passed it to Eva, who was closest. Leah reached for it, relief evident on her features. “Dreamless sleep potion!”

Miss Hardbroom nodded. “I take you are familiar with it?”

“Oh yes.” Said Leah. “We use it all the time. I have the recipe memorized.”

Constance was a little surprised by this. Dreamless sleep was fourth year material and one had to be extremely careful with ingredients as to not end up with a coma potion instead. “Then perhaps you can help me make some more tomorrow. I need to replenish my stock before term starts again.”
o0o

A few days had gone by since the twins had arrived, bruised and broken, on the academy's doorstep and, after seeing what they could do with their magic, Miss Cackle had decided to let them stay at the school as pupils.

Leah had spent every free minute since they'd arrived exploring the castle with her sister. It was old and gloomy but it had a homey feel to it. Although the doors squeaked and the floorboards creaked, there were plenty of secret passages and hidden stairways, and nooks and crannies to hide in. They discovered an abandoned wing of the castle (which they were promptly told not to enter) and that they could see for miles from the top of the tallest tower.
It was not like their grandmother’s castle at all. Where her castle had wide, brightly lit corridors, this one had narrower, gloomier ones. Where there was grandmother’s vault full of dark magic, instead there was the dark, cozy kitchen. Where there was a heartless queen and a big throne room, there was the kindly headmistress and her cozy office. Where there was a big, confusing maze, there was, instead, the cobbled courtyard and ragged broomshed, and, perhaps best of all, instead of the constant feeling of fear and hopelessness, there was a sense of potential safety. The ancient, gloomy castle, surrounded by forest, in a world mostly without magic, was, perhaps, the the perfect place to hide from the woman who relied on magic for everything.

o0o

It was the first day of term. Eva and Leah had put on their new uniforms, complete with purple sashes, careful to hide their scars, then headed down to the courtyard to meet their new classmates. The teachers had already gathered outside to greet the pupils as well and the twins moved to stand beside them.

“Good morning girls!” Said Miss Cackle cheerfully. “All ready to meet your classmates?”

“Yes Miss.” Eva spoke for the both of them, as she often did.

They watched as the other young witches flew in on their broomsticks or walked through gates. Soon the courtyard was alive with many new and returning young witches. While they waited for everyone to arrive, the twins retreated to a corner to escape the chaos. There they stood, observing. In all honesty, they'd never been around people there own age before, besides each other, and they weren't quite sure how to act. Eva knew the best way to learn was to observe, so that's what they did, at least until a voice interrupted them.

“You two must be the scholarship girls my uncle told me about. I'm Mariam Hallow. You do know who the Hallows are don't you?”

The girl who spoke had shoulder length light brown hair, blue eyes, and a haughty nose. Eva eyed her suspiciously. “What makes you think we're the scholarship girls?” She said coolly.

“I can tell a peasant when I see one.” Mariam replied arrogantly.

“Worthless peasants! You should never have been born!”

Eva pushed grandmother’s voice from her mind and maintained her blank expression. “Only fools judge books by their covers.” She said, letting her voice go low and dangerous.

“How dare you call me a fool!” Mariam's voice rose.

Eva didn't like this girl. “How dare you call us peasants!”

Mariam smirked. “I'm only calling what I see.”

“Well I suppose You must be blind then.” Eva retaliated.

And Mariam, apparently having nothing left to say, stormed off, only to be replaced by two other girls.

“I can't believe you just did that!” One said. She had a mop of orange curls that fell over her shoulders, bright green eyes and freckles. “I'm Hannah, by the way. Hannah Hawkweed!”

“And I'm Tansy!” Said the second girl. Tansy had dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail and brown eyes. “That was awesome! You totally just put that brat in her place!”

Eva tilted her head. “You know her?”

“Oh, who doesn't? She's a Hallow!” Hannah exclaimed.

“A rude one at that. It's a pity she's in our year group.” Said Eva, eyeing the purple sashes both girls wore.

“Yes. Very unfortunate.” Tansy agreed. “What are your names? Us peasants have to stick together, right?”

Eva smiled, ever so slightly. “I'm Eva. This is Leah.” She added and motioned to her sister. Leah gave nervous smile.

Hannah and Tansy smiled. “Pleased to meet you, Eva and Leah. What do you say we join the others for role call?”

The four girls joined the rest of their year group. Then next several minutes were spent listening to Miss Cackle’s speech in relative silence. After that they split into their individual form groups for role call with their form mistress, who, in the twins’ case, was Miss Hardbroom.

They gathered in their own corner of the yard, in neat lines per Miss Hardbroom's orders before she began calling out names and checking them off on her list.

“Adrianna Adderfang?”

“Yes Miss.” A blond girl near the back called, earning a check mark on the list.

“Carolina Blackwood?”

Another blond responded. “Here, Miss Hardbroom.”

“Mariam Hallow?”

“Yes Miss Hardbroom.” The arrogant girl from earlier called, sticking her nose in the air in the process.

“Hannah Hawkweed?”

“Here Miss.” Hannah spoke from beside Eva.

“Eva Mills?”

“Yes Miss.”

“Leah Mills?”

“I'm here.”

“Penelope Paddock?”

“Here Miss.” A girl with strawberry blond hair, standing beside Mariam responded.

“Tansy Toadsworth?”

“Here!” Tansy was obviously excited. She earned a pointed look from Miss Hardbroom.

“No need to be so loud Tansy.”

There were a few more names on the list, but Eva stopped listening and gazed around the courtyard. On the far side, a group wearing red sashes stood with Miss Cackle. Beside them was a group with green sashes. A group who was just disappearing inside wore grey sashes. They appeared to be the eldest. There were also yellow sashes, currently struggling through role call with a flustered looking Miss Bat.

Eva didn't know what to think of Miss Bat. She was the chanting teacher, but she'd spent the entire summer (according to Miss Hardbroom) in the staffroom cupboard. Eva didn't know why.

o0o

Today had been a good day, Eva Mills decided as she, along with Leah, Hannah and Tansy sat in the dining hall for dinner. It was a Cackle’s academy special - overcooked liver and onions in cold, greasy gravy. Why they decided to serve that of all things on the first day of term was beyond the girls. It was, however, edible in the sense that it wasn't laced with a deadly poison (Leah had made sure of that), and that was enough for the twins.

“How on earth can you eat that?” Tansy questioned, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

“It's better than starving, wouldn't you say? Eva pointed out.

Hannah was prodding her dinner disgustedly with her fork. “I really don't know about that, Eva.”

“No, of course you don't . . .” Leah spoke softly, practically in a whisper.

Eva pursed her lips. “It's not at all favourable, Hannah. You should be more grateful for what you have.”

Hannah and Tansy gave them both weird looks then. “Ok . . .”

Eva mentally slapped herself, having realized that, by saying that, she'd opened a portal to their past, a past she didn't want to revisit and refused to talk to strangers about. Thinking fast, she managed to come up with a distraction from the dangerously revealing comment she'd just made.

“Here.” Eva pointed her index finger at the other girls’ plates and there was a shimmer of purple magic. “That'll make it more bearable.”

It didn't seem to have the desired effect though. Hannah and Tansy stared at her open mouthed, as if they'd never seen magic before. “How did you . . .”

Eva raised an eyebrow. “This is a witch school, is it not?”

“Yes.” Said Tansy.

“So I cast a spell. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

o0o

Later that evening, Eva and Leah were sitting in their room, talking. They talked about Hannah and Tansy, and they talked about Mariam Hallow, her sidekick, Penelope Paddock and about how life would be better now that they were free from grandmother’s chains. They talked about how they'd be safe - for awhile at least, and what it felt like to smile a real smile. They talked until they heard a knock at their door.

“Who is it?” Eva called.

Hannah and Tansy poked their heads around the door. “Just us. Can we come in?”

The twins nodded their accent (simultaneously) and the other girls stepped inside and closed the door behind them. “You share a room?” Hannah questioned. “Why? Were they short or something?”

“No. We requested.”

“Seriously? I'm surprised HB agreed to that.” Said Tansy.

Leah tilted her head. “Who?”

“Miss Hardbroom. I heard the older girls call her that when she wasn’t listening.” Tansy replied.

“Oh.” said Leah. “She's not as bad as you all think she is.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “Anyway. Over dinner, how did you do that?”

Eva frowned. “It was just a simple spell.”

“You cast it nonverbally though.” Said Tansy. “We don't learn non-verbal spell-casting until third year, and that's just an introductory course!”

“Oh.” Said Eva. “Uh, it's how we learned.” She didn't offer anymore in the way of explanation. There wasn't much else she could say without revealing things better left unsaid. Besides, it wasn't exactly a lie.

Unfortunately, Hannah and Tansy were not convinced. “It's not that easy. I know some grown witches who've never gotten the hang of it.” Said Hannah.

Now what? She didn't understand the thinking behind using words to cast spells. At all. As far as she was concerned it was completely unnecessary. All you needed to cast a spell was your mind. Sure, using your hands to channel your magic made a lot easier, but Eva and Leah had learnt, out of shear necessity, to cast without moving a muscle. It was hard, yes, but so was living in constant fear of their grandmother.

It was Leah who answered in her soft voice. “It's not as hard as people make it out to be. You just think it's hard because you learn to cast with words from a young age. If you learnt to cast non-verbally when you were young, you wouldn't think it so hard.”

“I guess you have a point there.” Said Tansy. “Can you teach us?”

Eva smiled. “It's just a matter of thinking what you want to happen and channeling your magic.” She stood up and pointed her fingers towards herself. There was a shimmer of purple magic and her uniform was exchanged for her pyjamas, which consisted of a grey nightgown with the school logo on it. She was glad it was long sleeved and that she remembered to keep her leggings on. Hannah and Tansy didn't need to see her scars. Nobody did. It was bad enough that Miss Hardbroom had seen them on the day they'd arrived.

Chapter Text

Mariam Hallow was not impressed as she gazed around the courtyard at the gathered group of first years, all holding broomsticks. It was their first flying lesson, directly after their first practical potions class. It was only a few days into term and the scholarship girls had already proven their worth. It was obvious that Leah had an impressive knowledge of potions and herbs while Eva seemed far more capable in spells than the rest of the class. She had already been put to shame by their exceptional abilities in the aforementioned subjects and she refused to let the same happen with flying. She wasn't going to let them of all people beat her at her at her own game. She was a Hallow after all and it wouldn't do to be anything less than top.

Eva and Leah had never flown on broomsticks before, but they were determined not to make a mess of it. In their experience, nothing good ever came of messing up, so there would be no foolish mistakes on their part.

If she were to be completely honest with herself, Leah feared the consequences of making a mistake. Grandmother never accepted anything less than perfect and she would do unspeakable things to them if she wasn't happy with their performance. So as far as Leah was concerned, nothing less than perfect would do.

Perfect, she supposed, could easily describe the familiar witch descending towards them on her broomstick. Miss Hardbroom’s back was ramrod straight as per usual, as she directed her broomstick down to the cobbled courtyard with practiced ease and landed gracefully. There was a chorus of awed gasps and murmured exclamations of amazement from the class that were quickly silenced by their form mistress.

“Broomsticks on the ground, girls.” Miss Hardbroom ordered.

There was a rustling of fabric as the gathered girls bent to place their brooms on the ground. Miss Hardbroom followed suit and proceeded with a quick intro and a demonstration, ordering her broomstick to hover in a commanding tone and than getting the girls to try.

Leah looked around at her peers to see they had, for the most part, succeeded in hovering their brooms. She held up her hand, palm facing down towards her broom. “Hover!” She ordered, and the broom shot up and bumped her fingers. She pushed it down so it hovered at her waist, as she'd seen some of the others do. She looked to Eva who had done the same. When it was time to sit on her broomstick, Leah endeavoured to keep her back straight.

“That's it, Mariam. Well done, Leah. Keep it steady, Tansy.” Miss Hardbroom was observing her class.

Leah chanced a look at Mariam, only to find the other girl glowering at her. Mariam was giving the twins the dirtiest look she could without catching HB’s attention. Why did those two always have to have such perfect posture? They were almost as straight-backed as Miss Hardbroom for goodness sake.

“Alright girls, give your brooms a sharp tap and command them, “up and away.”

Leah did just that, and her broom began to rise up at a slow, steady pace.

“I never thought I'd be flying on a broomstick!” Eva whispered from where she was directing her own broom up beside Leah. Eva too, was ramrod straight and she was copying Carolina, who had her ankles crossed.

“I know!” Leah whispered back.

Constance was secretly pleased with her class. Usually there was at least one girl who struggled on her first try, but this group was, she thought, doing quite well. Even Eva and Leah, who hadn't flown at all before, were getting on surprisingly well.

“Alright girls, circle around the yard. Not to fast, Penelope, we don't want any accidents.”

As Leah circled around the yard, she could sense Mariam's eyes burning into her back. She could sense the girl’s magic, buzzing in the air, right before her broom suddenly stopped and dropped out from underneath her, leaving Leah flailing as she fell towards the cobbled ground, letting out a shrill scream while she was at it.

Constance watched the first years flying above her. Her eyes landed on Mariam Hallow just in time to see her lips moving and her hand flick in the direction of Leah Mills.

“Mariam Hal -” she cut herself off as Leah's broom suddenly fell away from her and the girl herself started to plummet towards the ground. The teacher raised her spell-casting fingers but before she could cast a spell to stop her student’s fall, Eva, who had obviously been keeping a close eye on her sister dropped down fast until she was below her and caught Leah, who landed safely on the back of her broom.

Inwardly, Constance breathed a sigh of relief. Outwardly she was furious, knowing that it wasn't an accident that had just occurred. She had never had a pupil stupid enough to pull such a dangerous stunt before. “Mariam Hallow, get down here this instant!” She barked.

The girl in question descended and landed neatly in front of the deputy, all the while an innocent look was plastered on her face. “Yes, Miss Hardbroom?”

“What in Merlin’s name are you playing at, girl? She could have been killed!” Miss Hardbroom’s voice was dangerous.

The other girls had stopped and now hovered midair as they watched their teacher lay into their snobby classmate.

“It's not my fault she can't fly!” Mariam protested.

Miss Hardbroom crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “Don't play dumb with me, girl. I saw you cast that spell. Go and wait outside Miss Cackle’s office.”

“But Miss -”

“Now, Miss Hallow!” One could always tell when Miss Hardbroom was really angry, because she would call the pupil in question by her surname.

As Mariam walked towards the doors, she sent a glare in the direction of the twins. Eva stared back, not portraying anything and keeping her anger well hidden. That girl has got to go, she thought as she watched Mariam disappear inside. She would not have people trying to hurt her sister. Not again.

o0o

About a week later, the twins and the rest of form one were in potions class with Miss Hardbroom. Potions was Leah's favourite subject and she was already top of the class, much to Mariam Hallow’s displeasure (she believed that title should have been her’s). She had already tried to sabotage her and Eva's potion once a couple of days ago. Emphasis on tried, as Eva had stopped her.

They sat at the back of the room, in a spot where they had a view of the entire room. That was the way they liked it.

Leah had gone to retrieve some ingredients from the front table. She gathered what she needed and turned to head back to her and Eva's cauldron. But she stopped. Eva was busy concentrating on chopping mandrake root. She hadn't noticed what Leah had. Mariam. Mariam, the little rat, was reaching over from the next row, about to drop something in their cauldron. Something that obviously did not belong in their cauldron. Abandoning her ingredients, Leah disappeared in a swirl of blue smoke (that startled the entire class) and reappeared directly beside the instigator and caught the other girl’s wrist in her hand.

“Hey!” Mariam hissed, like the whole class wasn't watching by now.

Eva, who had also noticed the situation, fixed Mariam with dirty glare. The other girl quickly tried turn the situation back in her favour. “I was just - you missed an ingredient. I was trying to help.”

Leah though, usually very timid and nervous, was less than pleased and not falling for it. “Do you take me for a fool? You know as well as I that pondweed doesn't belong in a laughter potion!” She hissed back. Leah might not have ever brewed a laughter potion before, but she'd read up on it in preparation for the class.

“What on earth is going on here!” Miss Hardbroom's loud and annoyed voice sounded as she appeared right behind Eva, who jumped out of her skin.

Leah dropped Mariam's wrist like it was toxic. “She tried to ruin our potion, Miss, again.”

“I did not!” Mariam was still trying to resurrect the situation.

Miss Hardbroom raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you?” She said in her no-nonsense way.

Leah plucked the pondweed from Mariam's hand. “Pondweed doesn't belong in a laughter potion, Miss. Does it?.” She pointed out.

“No, it does not, Leah Mills.” Said Miss Hardbroom. “Detention, Mariam, tonight at 7:00 sharp. Do not be late.”

And that was that.

When the bell went, everyone grabbed their things and filed out, chattering excitedly about Leah and her transfer spell.

“Quietly, girls!” Miss Hardbroom called, before lowering her voice. “Leah, a word please.”

Leah stopped and waited for her classmates to leave and Eva, of course, stayed as well. Constance noted that she probably couldn't separate those two if she tried.

“Yes, Miss?” Leah questioned. She had moved to stand strangely close to Eva.

“Where on earth did you learn to transfer like that?” The teacher asked.

“Our, um, our grandmother, Miss. She does it all the time. We picked it up from her.” Leah answered softly.

“You mean to say you just picked it up from her?” Miss Hardbroom said incredulously.

“Yes Miss.”

Constance pursed her lips. “I see. Well, in any case, you are not to go trying to teach your classmates how. It can be dangerous if you don't know what you’re doing and we don't need any . . . incidents. Understood?”

Both twins nodded. “Yes, Miss Hardbroom.”

o0o

After potions it was time for lunch, during which Hannah and Tansy bugged them endlessly about transferring. They tried to get the twins to teach them, but that idea was promptly shut down. Eva and Leah didn't fancy being on the bad side of the potions mistress. Hannah and Tansy also came up with the absurd idea that the two sisters were HB’s daughters, and that was why they could transfer and cast non-verbal spells.

Eva didn't know where that came from. Aside from all three of them having black hair and Eva and Miss Hardbroom both having brown eyes, they looked nothing alike.

o0o

At the end of the day, Leah was walking down the hall alone. Sometimes she just liked to be alone, although usually she preferred to be with Eva as Eva always made her feel safer.

Leah wasn't expecting it, which was odd in itself because she was usually so very aware of her surroundings. She was always watching and waiting and expecting the next blow. But not today, and that was a dire mistake.

Someone came up from behind and before she knew it she was backed into the wall.

“Do you really think you’re better than me? Did you think I'd let you get away with making a fool of me in front of Hardbroom?” Mariam snarled.

“Did you think I'd let you off that easily, stupid girl?” Grandmother hissed right before she backhanded Leah hard across the face.

“Did you think your stupid sister could protect you?” She snarled as she conjured a knife and pressed it against the small girl’s arm, drawing blood.

Leah's blue eyes filled with fear. “Stay away from me!”

Penelope shoved her against the rough, stone wall and her head banged painfully against it. “What's the matter Leah? Scared now your dear sister isn't here to back you up?”

“What's the matter, dearest granddaughter? Scared without your sister to protect you?”

“Where is she! What did you do to her! Don't hurt her, please! Take me instead!”

Leah squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to push away those dark memories. Grandmother wasn't here. She was safe. Eva was safe. These girls were just that. Girls. There was no sense in fearing someone she knew she could overpower and she could easily overpower them.

“I'd be careful if I were you.” Leah whispered lowly, her trembling hands glowing blue.

“Please. Don't make me laugh.” Mariam raised her own hands. “I'll make sure you never get in my way again!” She said before she called out a spell in the spoken manner Leah had seen many of the girls use.

Before the spell could hit her though, Leah's hands flew up and she conjured a pale blue barrier. The spell bounced off and hit Mariam instead, turning her into a small, green frog.

“You'll pay for that!” Penelope yelled, and was about to cast a spell of her own but seemed to think better of it. “Turn her back!”

Now, that could have been easy. But since Leah knew that the magic here worked differently than back home, she knew she needed a verbal reversal spell to reverse it. But she didn't know a verbal reversal spell. Yet.

Leah held out her hands and summoned her year 1 spellbook. Penelope raised an eyebrow. “What? You can transfer, cast barriers without saying a single word, but you don't know a simple reversal spell? You've got to be joking!”

Leah ignored her and flipped through her book until she found what she needed. “Reversus Revolvus, Returnus Resolvus, Illio Allio, Redux Reducio!” She flicked her fingers towards frog-Mariam and she was restored to her human form with a shimmer of blue magic.

“You idiot! I'm going straight to Miss Hardbroom about this!” Mariam exclaimed angrily.

“I'll save you the trouble, Mariam Hallow!” Came Miss Hardbroom's voice, right before she appeared in front of them.

“Miss! She just turned me into a frog, for no reason!” Mariam lied.

Leah shook her head. “It was self defence, Miss. She cast the spell at me and I bounced it back. It hit her by accident. I don't even know a frogafication spell.” She said as she looked up at their form mistress.

Miss Hardbroom eyed Leah carefully. Of course she didn't know that spell. Not in it’s verbal form, at least. It hadn't taken them long to realize that the twins seemed to wield their magic differently than other witches.

“You liar!” Mariam exclaimed. “That's not what happened at all, Miss Hardbroom!”

Leah crossed her arms defensively across her chest. “The only liar here is you, Mariam.” She said before turning to the teacher again. “She was threatening me, Miss. She's mad about what happened in potions earlier.”

“You threatened me too!” Mariam exclaimed.

“ENOUGH!”

The three girls went quiet and Leah flinched and backed away apprehensively.

Constance could tell by the girl’s demeanour that she was telling the truth. It was nervous, defensive and every bit that of someone being preyed upon. Not to mention the haunted look of poorly masked fear in her eyes. She had expected better out of a Hallow though, not that they were known for their kind hearts. Nevertheless, the school had a strict zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, in any way, shape or form, and to Constance, it seemed that Miss Hallow and Miss Paddock had forgotten that.

“Mariam and Penelope. I expect five-hundred lines from each of you: In future I will not torment my classmates or try to turn them into frogs, on my desk by noon tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Miss Hardbroom.” Both girls muttered.

Chapter Text

“Leah!” Eva screamed as she pressed her hands against the invisible wall that separated her from her sister and their grandmother. She tried and failed to break the spell. With every burst of magic she let out, she grew more exhausted. Eva didn't let her own beatings break her, it was watching Leah suffer that truly broke her.

Grandmother threw Leah to the cold, hard, marble floor with a flick of her wrist. Leah scrambled to get away, but her efforts were in vain. The Queen of Hearts was furious and their would be no mercy today. There seldom was anyway.

“You stupid girls don't deserve friends!” She hissed. “Your dear Alice will pay for your foolishness!”

Eva could only watch as grandmother kicked her sweet sister as Leah curled into a ball in an effort to protect herself. A magical barrier would do little against physical blows. She sunk to her knees as grandmother threw a white hot fire ball at Leah, who screamed in agony as it scorched her arm. She yanked at the black leather cuff that bound her magic as Leah was dragged from the floor, grandmother’s razor sharp fingernails digging into her arms and drawing blood.

“Why would she want to be friends with dirt like you anyway?” She hissed in her ear and then backhanded Leah hard across the face, her ring leaving a deep gash in her already scarred cheek. Leah stumbled from the force and landed back on the ground, where she curled up in terror, her whole body trembling.

There were forbidden tears streaming down Eva's cheeks. She never cried when she was the one being beaten, not anymore. She refused to give grandmother the satisfaction, but she couldn't handle when it was Leah. She just couldn't.

“I'm sorry Leah! I can’t stop her, but I'll never leave you!” She cried.

“Foolish girl! You couldn't leave if you wanted to! You are mine, do you hear me? MINE! I will always find you, you will never be free! NEVER!

o0o

In another part of the castle, someone else was also suffering at the hands of their demons, reliving the horrors of their past.

“You call this an essay?” Mistress Broomhead snarled as she slammed a stapled bunch of papers down on her desk. The class had been dismissed, all except for Constance Hardbroom. The slender girl stood trembling in front of her tutor, her stomach twisting into knots as she tried and failed to suppress her fear. She knew what was coming.

“I - I -” Constance stammered. She didn't know what to say.

Mistress Broomhead delivered a stinging backhand that left a bloody gash in the terrified girl’s pale cheek. “What have I told you about that stutter?” She snapped.

“I'm sorry, Mistress Broomhead.”

“Sorry won't make it better!” The older witch growled. She flicked her wrist and a tarnished dagger appeared in her hand.

Constance barely suppressed an agonized scream as the red hot blade slashed her ivory skin. Another scar for another imperfection. Mistress Broomhead shoved her away and she stumbled to the cold floor with a hard thud. As her tutor walked towards the door, her heeled boot deliberately landed with a sickening crunch on her pale hand, cracking the bones painfully. She let out a strangled sob as hot tears broke from their barrier streamed down her face.

“I expect a revised and edited version of your appalling work on my desk tomorrow morning. Is that clear?” She said lowly. “And dry your tears! Witches don’t cry!”

“Yes Mistress Broomhead.” Constance wiped at her tears as the older witch left the room, slamming the door behind her and plunging her into darkness.

o0o

Eva woke with a start and her screams died on her lips. She barely had time to sit up before Leah engulfed her in a hug.

“I'm here Eva. She won't find us here.”

Eva wiped at her tears. She wasn't supposed to cry. Crying was a sign of weakness. “She'll always find us, L-Leah. She'll never stop looking until she d-does.”

A black furry shape slunk along her bed and into her lap to investigate the situation. Eva pulled her newly acquired cat, Twilight, close, but fear twisted her stomach into a knot. “Grandmother said we didn't deserve friends. W-what if she does to Hannah and Tansy what she did to Alice, when she finds us?”

Leah hugged her own cat, Raven, close. She didn't answer. There was a knock at their door and they suddenly became aware of footsteps, whispered voices and doors swinging on squeaky hinges. Hannah poked her head around the door. “Are you okay? We heard screaming.” She said, a look of concern written across her features.

Eva shrunk back a bit. “I'm fine, Hannah. We’re fine.”

Tansy appeared beside the redhead. “Are you sure? I think you've woken half the school.”

Eva flushed with embarrassment. Great. Just great. The last thing she wanted was for the entire school to know about their nightmares.

“It was just a nightmare.” Leah spoke softly. “Go back to bed, please?”

The two girls didn't look convinced. They were about to argue the point when they were interrupted by someone else.

“Back to bed, girls!” Miss Hardbroom called, and then, “at the double, Hannah Hawkweed! You to Tansy Toadsworth!”

Hannah and Tansy turned to go just as their form mistress appeared in the doorway.

“Oh Miss, I'm so sorry.” Eva said. “I didn't mean to wake you, or anybody for that matter.”

“I know you didn't Eva. It's not your fault.” Miss Hardbroom stepped in and closed the door behind her, as not to disturb the other girls further.

Eva and Leah stiffened, suddenly feeling like mice being cornered by a cat. Instinctively, they braced themselves, expecting a sharp reprimand. None came.

“You’re safe, you know you’re safe here.” Miss Hardbroom said, seeing the way the twins seemed to cower slightly when she closed the door. The two girls continued to watch her every move with fearful expectancy, obvious distrust written on their faces. She sighed, knowing exactly where they were coming from.

Out of all the things she was expecting, understanding wasn't one of them. But there, written in the woman's dark eyes, it was.

Don't fall for it Eva. That inner voice warned. That's what she wants, to trick you. The minute you show her trust, she'll turn on you.

Eva chewed her lip as she felt Leah press against her side. She wanted to trust this woman so badly, this woman who had showed them kindness, who seemed to understand.

“Are you alright now, girls?” Miss Hardbroom asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. She had taken a seat on the end of Eva’s bed.

“We're fine, Miss. I'm fine.” Eva assured. That was her go-to whether it was true or not. No one cared anyway. No one but Leah, and she always got the truth.

“We ran out of dreamless sleep potion.” said Leah, somewhat tentatively. “She let me have the last dose.”

Constance rarely ever slept without a sleep aid to ward off her own nightmares and when she did it was usually by accident and didn't end well. Not that she ever fell asleep by accident. That was a ridiculous thought. She did however, know how unpleasant it was for a nightmare prone mind to sleep unaided and thus torment its owner. That was why she decided she could help the poor girls.

“Come to the potions lab during lunch tomorrow. I think we could sort that dilemma.” She said, and then added, “I won't bite.”

Needless to say, Eva remained wide awake for the remainder of the night. She refused to succumb to her nightmares again. Sleep is a traitorous thing, she reminded herself. By morning she was digging through their potion stash for a bottle of wide awake potion. The last thing she needed was to fall asleep in class.

Eva really had no idea how Leah acquired the potions she kept in a box under her bed. They just seemed to accumulate after a while, but she was glad they were there now. That was one thing about Leah. She seemed to have talent for procuring things.

o0o

Eva was afraid of the consequences of their grandmother discovering their new friends, should she track them down. She would, surly. This was Cora Mills they were talking about. She'd meant what she’d said when she said she'd always find them.

She wouldn't let Hannah and Tansy suffer as Alice had. She would protect them, even if it meant distancing herself and her sister from them.

At breakfast, the twins sat at the far corner of the hall instead of with the other first years. It didn't take long for the rumor mill to start up, and soon the whole school seemed to know about the midnight screaming. Eva kept her composure, refused to let her mask slip, but she really just wished a swirling vortex would open and swallow her up.

When they sat at their desks in class, Hannah and Tansy asked what was wrong, why they hadn't joined them at breakfast. Eva and Leah assured them nothing was wrong, that they'd just wanted some space.

“We're fine.” They'd said. “Don't worry about us.”

During their free period, Hannah and Tansy found them in the Library.

“We can tell something is bothering you two.” Said Tansy. “You've been avoiding us all morning.”

“We are fine.” Eva replied shortly. “Just busy, that's all.”

Hannah sighed. “You can talk to us you know. We won't go blabbing to the others. Why don't you trust us?”

Eva shook her head. “No, we really can't, Hannah. You would never understand. It's safer for you to just forget about us.”

Leah nodded. “We should never have tried to be friends. It was just a dangerous dream.”

With that said, the twins got up and swiftly left, leaving Hannah and Tansy thoroughly confused as they followed their friends to the spells classroom. Miriam and Penelope were already there, sitting in their usual seats.

“Oh, look who it is. The witch who woke the whole school with her screaming.” Penelope sneered.

Mariam laughed cruelly. “What on earth even happened? We thought someone was being murdered.”

“Yes.” Said Penelope. “We thought you'd killed your sister.”

Eva was furious. She stormed up to the two bullies and slammed her hands down on their desktop. “I would never hurt Leah. Never! If I ever hear anything so disgusting come out of your mouths again -”

Leah placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “They're just trying to get to you. Ignore them.” She said in that quietly sensible voice of hers, before turning to the instigators. “If you really must know, it was a nightmare.”

“Oh really? What was it about? Did you fail your spells test?” Mariam cackled.

“Shut up.” Eva snapped. If you’d been through even a fraction of what we've been through, you'd be nothing but a gibbering heap on the floor right now. “If you can't be civil, be quiet.” She hissed.

Eva wasn't one to take bullshit from anyone, especially not her snobby classmates. It made her sick to think that they thought her hurting her sister was something to joke about. It was hardly funny! She was glad when Miss Cackle swept into the room, as Mariam and Penelope fell quiet immediately.

o0o

After they had finished their lunch, which was an unidentifiable green concoction that could have been pea soup, the twins headed to the potions lab. Miss Hardbroom was already there, busily marking a stack of essays.

The girls took up places at a cauldron in the front row and got to work on their dreamless sleep potion. The recipe was ingrained in Leah’s mind so they didn't even need to look in a book. A few minutes later, the cauldron was bubbling nicely and Leah watched as it slowly turned a pale green, courtesy of the chamomile leaves they'd just added.

“Alright, Eva. It's time for the poppy seeds.” She said.

Eva dropped in a half teaspoon of poppy seeds and the liquid fizzed into a vibrant red.

Constance glanced up from her marking to watch her pupils for a moment as they added the last ingredient: lavender flowers. The potion turned a soft violet color and she smiled. She couldn't help but feel proud of them. She might not have been the one to teach them that particular potion, but she had a feeling they'd taught themselves. They'd obviously done so well, because they'd just brewed the fourth year level potion flawlessly. Dreamless sleep was a potion the fourth years themselves often had trouble with, so to see the two eleven year olds brew it with such practiced ease was something else.

“Well done, girls.”

“Thank you, Miss.” They replied quietly.

They ladled the liquid into the bottles they'd set out in a line on their desk before cleaning up their station. As they gathered their things and headed out, the teacher called after them.

“Leah Mills, is this your work?”

The two girls both turned around to look at the paper she held up. “Yes Miss.” Leah confirmed.

“Well.” Said Miss Hardbroom. “You may be adept at brewing potions, Leah, but the same cannot be said for your penmanship. I can hardly read a word of it.”

“I'm sorry Miss Hardbroom. I did my best.” Leah's voice was quiet, ashamed.

“Please Miss, she did.” Said Eva. “Her hands. . .her bones have been broken so many times.”

Leah looked down at her hands. “Before we learnt to heal ourselves. . .”

Constance sighed. “Come here, Leah. Let me see.”

Leah and Eva walked back across the room and Leah held out her hands obediently. Constance took them in her own and ran her fingers along them. She could tell that the girl’s wrists and her fingers had been broken and set improperly.

“There is no spell for resetting an improperly healed bone.” Said Eva. “Is there?”

Miss Hardbroom shook her head. “No. There's not.”

The only way to fix an improperly healed bone was to rebreak it and then heal it from there. Constance refused to cause the poor girl anymore pain, and from what Leah said next, she knew this and didn't like the idea either.

“Please miss, don't hurt me. I'll manage like this. I always have before.”

Constance let go of her hands. “I’m not going to hurt you. But you are going to have to rewrite this. I really can't read a word.” She held up the essay in question.

Leah took it from her and inspected it. The first bit was legible enough but it just went downhill from there. “Miss? I know a writing spell. May I use it?”

Constance would normally say no, but she decided to make an exception. “I suppose. But not in class. If your classmates see you using it, they'll all want to as well.”

“Thank you, Miss.”

With that said the twins left the room and Constance prepared for her next class: potions with the fourth years.

o0o

Later that day, Constance was sitting in the staffroom marking fifth year potions tests. It was not, however, going very well. Her mind was preoccupied and after reading the same line several times, she threw her pen down in frustration and took a sip of her tea. She couldn't stop thinking about Eva and Leah Mills and the suffering they had so obviously endured, at the hands of their own grandmother no less. The three of them were more alike than she cared to admit.

Constance sighed. She vowed to protect those girls from that cursed woman. She wouldn't let her hurt them again. She'd keep them safe.

“Constance? Is something troubling you, dear?” Amelia Cackle questioned. The headmistress was seated at the table, about to tuck into a slice of cheesecake. She could sense her deputy’s agitation.

“That woman.” Constance spat.

Amelia frowned. “What woman?”

“Eva and Leah Mills’ grandmother. What she did to them. Amelia, Eva woke up screaming last night, from a nightmare. And Leah, she can't even write properly because of old injuries to her hands.”

Amelia shook her head. “Those poor girls. But what can we do aside from protecting them from her?”

Constance continued. “I gave them dreamless sleep potion. And I'm letting Leah use a writing spell to fix her essay.”

It wasn't good enough though. They could tell the two girls were haunted and, even if Eva kept it well hidden behind her mask, afraid. Constance saw it in their eyes every time someone got just a little too close or whenever someone moved their hands to cast a spell, or if someone raised their voice.

But what could she do?

Be there for them. You know what it's like, how it feels. Let them learn to trust you. Let them in. Her inner voice spoke. They need someone who understands. Hannah and Tansy are good friends, but they don't know. They're not scarred by a past that they'll never be free of. Not like them.

Not like you.

Chapter Text

The rain fell from thick grey clouds and dribbled miserably off the roof, obscuring the view of the countryside from the high tower window. It was a Sunday in mid November and fall was making it’s transition into winter. Eva and Leah hated November. They hated the cold miserable weather and they hated the threatening snow. They hated the way the plants lay dormant and the animals disappeared into hibernation. They hated the way everything seemed so. . . Dead. But most of all they hated the tears they would undoubtedly shed for someone they couldn't save.

Sitting up in that high tower window, staring down at the forlorn looking world below, the twins were, as they always were in November, prisoners of their own grief. Refusing to forgive themselves for something that wasn't truly their fault and tormented by a past they would never be free of.

“We don't deserve to be here.” Said Eva, her face a stony mask. “Our presence is putting everyone here at risk. If she finds us, she will do to them what she did to Alice.”

Leah was gazing through the rain, at something far away. “It doesn't matter where we go, we will always be putting people in danger.”

Leah was right. It didn't matter where they went. Lives would always be in danger because of them, because no one who dared to care about them would ever truly be safe. Grandmother would never allow that and Eva couldn't handle a repeat of Alice. She couldn't let what happened to Alice happen to Hannah or Tansy or anyone else. They didn't deserve it.

“Your right. You are. But we-we have to hope she won't find us here. Right?” Eva pointed out.

“And when she does, that hope will have been in vain. All we build will fall and those we learn to trust will suffer for it, as Alice did.” Said Leah. There were tears in her eyes.

Eva wiped a tear from her face. “When we met Alice, we didn't know the consequences of befriending her. Now we do. We can prevent it from happening again.”

“I think it's already to late for that.” Leah's voice wobbled.

They both turned to see Hannah and Tansy come up the stairs. “There you two are! We've been looking everywhere for you.” Said Hannah.

Tansy frowned. “It's freezing up here. You're going to catch your death.”

“If you don’t do as I say, girl, you will be the cause of your precious sister’s death. You wouldn’t want that would you?”

Eva looked up. “What do you want?” she snapped

“We just wondered where you got to, that’s all.” Hannah shrugged. “Hey, what's wrong?” She said, noticing the tears on the sisters’ faces.

“Nothing. We're fine.” Eva said shortly.

“Your not fine, Eva, your up at the top of a tower freezing to death. And you're crying.” Said Tansy.

“We will be the judges of whether we are fine or not, thank you.” Eva didn't mean to snap, but she just wasn't in the mood for an interrogation. She seldom was.

Leah sighed. “We are. Fine I mean. We're just. . . Remembering.” She wasn't afraid of revealing bits of their past. Not like her sister was.

Eva gave her sister a warning look but didn't argue. Leah had as much a right to talk about their past as she had to lock it up and throw away the key.

Hannah tilted her head. “What are you remembering?”

Leah looked back out over the forest. “A friend.”

“Oh.” Said Tansy. “What happened?”

“Her name was Alice. She-she was the only friend we ever had before we came here. The only one who cared.” Leah wiped at her tears.

Eva turned back to face her companions. “And she suffered for it. She died because of us. Because she cared about us.”

“Two years ago today.” Leah added.

Hannah and Tansy looked at each other. They obviously didn't know how to react to that. Or what to say. There were questions bouncing around in their heads but they weren't sure whether it was appropriate to ask. What had Leah meant by the only one who cared and how was her death their fault? Who are these girls? Was there a reason why they were so secretive? Why they changed the subject every time someone asked about home or family?

As if she could sense the oncoming questions, Eva stood abruptly. “I think we should go inside. It is pretty cold up here. Leah?”

Leah also got up and the two girls headed down the stairs with no further explanation. Hannah and Tansy followed suit, trailing after the twins as they left the tower and went off towards their room.

“Why are you following us?” Eva whirled to face the redhead and the brunette.

Hannah and Tansy stopped abruptly as well. “We-we were wondering, what did you mean when you said she died because of you?”

“We meant what we said.” She said shortly, before turning and continuing down the hall with Leah close behind.

“But, how? What happened?” Tansy questioned.

Eva whirled back around, looking annoyed. “It doesn't matter. Now, you need to go. You're not safe with us. There is someone after us who will do to you what happened to Alice if they find out you care. Go!”

She would have disappeared but Hannah stopped her. “Eva, wait. You're not making any sense. Who's after you? Why? Maybe you should tell the teachers -”

Eva shook her head. “They already know.” It was only a half lie. They might have known grandmother would look for them, but they didn't know how unrelenting she was. They didn't know anything aside from the abuse they'd suffered.

“You guys, calm down.” Said Tansy. “I'm sure this isn't as bad as you think.”

“No.” Said Eva. “You're right, it's not as bad as you think. It's worse.” And she disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke, followed closely by Leah.

Hannah and Tansy just stood there, shocked. Nothing the twins had said made sense, not really. It was like pieces of an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. Part was there, but most was not and they couldn't make any sense out of what they had.

o0o

Dear Alice,

It's been two years.

But know that we still miss you. That we always will, even if you hate us for what we caused. We will never forgive ourselves, nor will we forget you. You were a light in our darkness. You cared like know one else ever had before and that was all we ever wanted. Someone who cared.

We escaped her, Alice, we found a place to hide. Do you remember when we told you how we never felt safe? We feel safe here, Alice. The place we found is a witch school, in your homeland. You used to love what we could do with our magic, Alice and if you were still with us, we would show you all the new things we’re learning here.

No one knows who I am or what I did here, Alice, but certain people are getting too close. We don't want to let them in, because we know that if she found us, they would suffer as you did. We promised ourselves no one else would die because of us, Alice, but what if we can't keep that promise? I wish that we could lock away our past and throw away the key. The people here gave us our lives back, Alice, but they don't know of the darkness that follows us around. We want to promise they won't meet the same fate as you for helping us, but you know we can't keep such a promise, Alice. Just know that we’re safe, we’re free.
Now, I suppose we should say goodbye. Write you again in a year, Alice, and rest in peace.

Your dearest friends,

Eva and Leah Mills

Eva folded the letter and slipped it into an envelope. She let Leah write Alice's name on the front in her messy, childish handwriting. Eva knew Leah hated that her hands were so messed up, laden with old, improperly healed injuries, bones that had been broken and never reset properly, from back before they learned to heal each other. She had had to show Miss Hardbroom her hands once because the teacher couldn't read her essay. At least the teachers know she has a liable reason for using a writing spell now, Eva thought as she watched Leah place the letter with the other two from previous years in a box under her bed. The box for letters that would never reach their recipients. For various reasons.

o0o
2 years ago

The ridge where Eva stood was bathed in afternoon sunlight and carpeted in windswept grasses and heather. A stiff breeze blew, but it did not ripple the small girl’s black hair. Eva never wore her long hair down anymore. She'd learnt her lesson. It now remained tied into a tight crown braid around her head.

Eva started to gasp as her long, loose hair wrapped around her neck, tighter and tighter until it was cutting off her airway.

Grandmother laughed humorlessly.

Eva clawed hopelessly at her hair, but it was held fast by Grandmother’s magic. Her vision started to blur and she felt the cold marble beneath her as her knees as they hit the ground. Just as she was certain she would pass out, she felt the choke hold loosen.

Suddenly, sharp pain shot through her scalp as Grandmother took a handful of her long hair and yanked her up.

“Stand up, stupid girl!”

That was the last time Grandmother would use her hair against her. Eva never wore it loose after that, and she never would again.

Eva was gazing out over the countryside. This part of Wonderland was more ‘normal’ or perhaps it would be better to say ‘less unusual’. Giant flowers, oversized mushrooms and chessboard hills might have been ‘normal’ for Wonderland, however unusual they may have seemed. Therefore, it would be this area that was, in fact ‘abnormal’. If one was to go by Wonderland’s standards that was. It went without saying that every land had its own ‘normal’ and to conform to one, would be to fall away from another.

Eva and Leah didn't know why this part of the land was so different from the rest. It was a small, uninhabited corner that was eerily quiet, as if forgotten. Eva wished that she could take her sister and run from this land, leave and be forgotten. Like the rolling hills and tumbling rivers of this forgotten corner.

She knew that could never happen. Grandmother had made it quite clear that they belonged to her. The sisters could wish all they wanted, but it would always be in vain. They had lost hope long ago that they would ever be free. Eva and Leah always had been the queen’s prisoners, and they always would be. Even if they did escape someday, they'd always be bound by the chains of possession.

Eva looked down at her hands and the angry pink scars that encircled her wrists like some sort of sick bracelets. The physical marks of a possession spell, they would remain as reminders that she would never truly be free.

Possession spells were terrible things. The possessor could control the possessed as well as, if the victim was magical, drain their magic and take it for themselves. The only way to break the spell was either by the death of one or both parties or if the possessor willingly removed it. There was, however a third option. If the two parties were separated, if the possessed managed to escape into another land, the spell would be voided.

Eva thought about this. It was their only hope, to escape to another land. If they could void the spell, they could be free. Free to lose themselves in some far off land and hide in some little known corner. Free to try and forget.

She looked over to Leah, who was picking lavender nearby. Her sister’s maimed hands trembled slightly with constantly present nerves and her eyes flickered around, forever on guard. Eva sighed and looked away, sick of seeing her twin like that. More than anything, she wanted to be able to protect Leah, keep her safe and prevent her from being hurt again. But she couldn't. If she stood up to Grandmother, Leah would suffer, more so than she already did.

Eva was pulled out of her troubled thoughts when Leah grabbed her hand. She looked up to see her sister had abandoned the lavender patch and was now watching a lone figure ascend the hill towards them. Eva froze momentarily before slipping silently, protectively, in front of Leah. Crossing her arms tightly over her chest, she adopted a defensive pose.

The figure approaching them was a girl, no more than 12 years old. She had wavy golden blond hair that fell to the middle of her back and eyes the color of sapphires. She wore a blue knee length dress with short sleeves and a matching bow in her hair. She smiled when she saw them.

“Hello! I'm Alice. Who might you be?”

Chapter Text

The winter holidays were nearly upon Cackle’s Academy and the witches that inhabited it. This meant that everyone was headed home to see their families. Everyone that was, except the twins and Miss Hardbroom, for neither party had a family to return to.

A few days before the end of term, Dinah Foxglove, Eva and Leah's social worker, came calling. She was currently in the Headmistress’s office with Miss Cackle, Miss Hardbroom and the two girls.

“I think we all know why I am here.” She began, and paused to look around at the gathered party.

Miss Cackle nodded. “Have you found somewhere for Eva and Leah to go over the holidays yet?”

Miss Foxglove pressed her lips together. “I am afraid not. It's easier said than done to find a magical foster home willing to take one teenager, let alone two. The group home in town is nearly at capacity, they only have one space left. The ones on this side of London are also full. I could probably get them in separate homes, but. . . ” she trailed off knowingly.

The room was quiet. The three adults knew separating these particular sisters was off the table. Constance for one knew they would never cope with that. She'd seen how attached to each other they were. Looking towards them now, she saw the way they squeezed each other’s hands and stepped closer together. She didn't miss the way Leah paled, a look of fear flickering across her face at the prospect of being separated from her beloved sister, even as Eva's own fear was carefully hidden. Yes, separating these two would be cruel.

“Please Miss.” A small voice spoke. “Don’t send us back. We’ll be good. Just, please, don't send us back.”

Miss Foxglove frowned. “Back?”

“To our grandmother.” Leah all but whispered.

“Oh, my dears! You'll not be going back to her, that I can promise you.” The social worker replied. “You'll not have to worry about her again.”

“Has she been arrested? Their grandmother?” Amelia questioned.

Dinah shook her head. “No one knows where she is. No one’s even heard of her. She's gone. It's almost as if she never existed in the first place.”

Eva knew the adults would wonder if they didn't react, so she went on the defensive. “Are you calling us liers?” She exclaimed.

“No dear. Some people are just good at disappearing. Perhaps she changed her name, or perhaps she never told you her real one.” She assured.

“Oh.” Said Eva.

“I'll be staying here in the castle over the break. They are always welcome to stay with me.” Constance offered. She gave the girls in question a small, fond smile. She had been thinking about it a lot lately, secretly worrying over the twins getting separated, picturing them alone and afraid in separate homes, or getting stuck with some less than pleasant foster parents somewhere. They didn't deserve that.

Amelia looked at her deputy with some surprise. She had not expected the strict potions mistress to offer to watch the twins over the break. The older witch knew her younger friend had grown fond of the sisters over the course of the past term but she hadn't expected that. Nor did she expect it to become common practice as time went by, but wonders, apparently, would never cease.

o0o

They had been ever so grateful. They always were. No one had ever been so kind to them, as the witches of Cackle’s were. They never complained. Not about the food, or HB, or anything else. In their eyes, there was nothing to complain about.

Of course no one else was to know they were spending the holidays at the school with their teacher. It would require far to much explaining. So, they spun a web of lies. They told Hannah and Tansy that their parents were picking them up later because they lived too far away to fly home alone. When Tansy asked where they lived, Eva said they didn't actually live in a town, but a nice house in the country. The twins had always imagined living with their mother in the country, surrounded by rolling hills and lush forest. They had long since come to terms that that would never happen.

And so it was. The pupils and the teachers said their goodbyes and headed for home, leaving just the three of them. It wasn't so bad. Miss Hardbroom did have a soft side, one she saved specifically for the twins. And, although she'd never admit it, she often got lonely over the holidays. In other words, she enjoyed the company. Amelia was also glad of the arrangement, for she often worried about her younger friend and colleague alone in the castle.

o0o

It was a few days, or rather nights, into the holidays. Eva and Leah really should have been asleep, as it was the middle of the night, but they weren't. In fact, they were almost as bad as Miss Hardbroom when it came to sleep.

On this particular night, sleep was alluding the both of them. Now, they would usually stay holed up in their room, as wandering the halls at night was forbidden. Tonight however, they were restless and decided to go for a walk. They went down to the kitchen for a glass of water and then proceeded to wander the castle, thankful for their candles as it was pitch dark inside.

All was quiet. In fact, they could have heard a pin drop. That was, until the scream. It shattered the silence and bounced off the walls. The twins jumped out of their skins and stopped in their tracks. It was the most haunting thing they'd ever heard, and they'd heard a lot of haunting things.

They stared at each other, eyes wide in the flickering light of their candles. “What the hell was that?” Eva whispered, after a moment.

“Miss Hardbroom.” Said Leah. “It had to be her. She's the only other person here.”

“Oh god, Leah. What if. . .”

There was a moment of terror as the worst case scenario ran through their minds: Grandmother had found them and was making their teacher pay for helping them.

They could have run for the hills for fear their grandmother had found them, but they didn't. Instead they disappeared in swirls of purple and blue smoke respectively, and reappeared in front of Miss Hardbroom's bedroom door. As they did, there was another scream that echoed eerily down the otherwise silent corridor.

“I know we're not allowed in here, but I think this situation is the exception.” Said Leah.

Eva nodded her agreement and carefully pushed open the door. There was a collective sigh of relief as they saw their teacher was not, in fact, being murdered by an angry queen. She was simply suffering under the effects of a horrific looking nightmare. Her forehead was beaded with sweat and her eyes darted frantically underneath her eyelids. Her breathing was ragged as she tossed and turned, fighting against her covers and crying out in fear and pain. Nothing the twins hadn't seen before from each other.

“Miss?” Eva spoke as she placed her candle on the nightstand. “Please wake up, Miss.”

“You're safe, Miss. It's just a nightmare.” Leah added. “You're okay.”

Eva wondered what had happened to their teacher for her to have such a horrific nightmare. People didn't just have nightmares like that for no reason. She knew that, better than anyone, they were almost always caused by a traumatic experience.

“You're not alone. We're with you, Miss.” She said as she took her teacher’s trembling hand in an effort to wake her.

That seemed to do it. She woke with a start and sat up, struggling to calm her erratic breathing as she did. Eva noticed there was a look in her eyes they hadn't seen there before. Fear, unadulterated fear, which quickly disappeared behind her mask once she realized she wasn't alone.

o0o

“Wrong! You useless girl, can't you get anything right?” Mistress Broomhead snarled.

Constance stared at the stone floor, waiting for the inevitable. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her scalp as Mistress Broomhead yanked a handful of her ebony hair, pulling her so close she could feel the woman's hot breath on her face.

“Look at me while I am speaking to you, girl!” She barked, before shoving the slender girl away. She watched as Constance stumbled back and her emancipated form crashed into the unforgiving stone floor.

The older woman kicked her hard in the ribs with the pointed toe of her heeled shoe and Constance cried out in pain as she felt her bones crack.

“You're weak!” Mistress Broomhead shouted, and suddenly she was beside Constance, running a hot blade across the pale, milky skin of her arm. Constance shrieked in pain and tried to pull away, but her tutor held fast to her wrist and dragged her back to her feet.

She shoved a bottle containing Constance's botched potion into her other hand. “Drink it, Girl! Maybe then, you won't make such foolish mistakes!”

Constance stared down at the bottle in her hand. It was full of a thick liquid in a sickening shade of orange. It was supposed to be completely transparent. Like water. What a mess she'd made.

“Hurry up!” Mistress Broomhead snapped. Her hand connected sharply with Constance's cheek.

Constance uncorked the bottle with shaking hands and downed the contents in one go. The bottle crashed to the ground and shattered into dozens of tiny pieces that reflected the light like stars with dangerous intentions. She stumbled back against the desk behind her as her chest constricted and stole her breath away. A blinding flash of pain shot through her, reaching out to the tips of her fingers and toes and provoking a reaction with her magic which stung like a thousand wasps. Dizziness overcame her in no time and her vision spun as she fell to her knees, before fading into darkness. As she fell away from consciousness, she heard a soft, young voice.

“Miss? Wake up. . .”

o0o

Constance awoke with a gasp. Her eyes darted around for a moment, almost expecting to see her former tutor step out from the shadows. Instead, her eyes landed on the twins. Leah was sitting on the edge of the bed, a clear look of relief on her face. Eva stood a little behind her.

“Girls, what on earth are you doing in here?” She questioned, and her voice was unsurprisingly, and uncharacteristically, shaky.

“We're sorry, Miss. But we heard you scream and kind of panicked.” Said Leah. “We thought - we thought grandmother had found us. That she was hurting you for helping us.”

Her brown eyes softened. Of course they would think that. “You need not worry, girls. I'm fine. It was just a nightmare.” She assured.

Her eyes narrowed as a thought entered her mind. “What were you doing up? You should have been asleep downstairs.”

Both Eva and Leah looked a little sheepish at this. “Sometimes we just. . .don’t sleep.” Said Eva.

Constance knew what that was like. Some nights, her mind just refused to succumb to the nightmares, no matter how tired she felt. “So you were wandering.” She said, and raised an eyebrow.

“Just this once. Cause no one else is here but us.” Said Eva.

“Hmm.”

“Miss, um, we understand if don't want to talk about it, but, um, what happened? You don't just have nightmares like that without good reason.” Leah pointed out tentatively.

Miss Hardbroom was quiet for some time. It was as if she was debating her options. Did she really want to have this conversation with a couple of first years? She'd never shared her past with anyone, not even Amelia. She was never able to trust anyone with her secrets, didn't think she could handle their pity. But these girls were different somehow. They'd both been scarred by a past of cards stacked against them. If she were to be honest with herself, they had more in common than she cared to admit. They wouldn't pity her, because they knew.

“It was a long time ago.”

She was pretty sure the twins leaned in a bit at that. “We're listening, Miss.”

“When I was in college, I had a personal tutor. Her methods were. . .unorthodox, to say the least.”

Eva and Leah exchanged a look. The horrific nightmare, coupled with that statement? They might have been a mere eleven years old, but in a way they were much older. They didn't need an explanation to figure it out.

“We're not so different, are we Miss?” Said Eva.

“No, Eva we’re not.”

There was a moment of silence, before Leah spoke up, her voice questioning. “What made you choose Cackle’s, Miss?”

“Well, after I graduated from college, I. . .wanted, needed to get away.” Escape. “I got on my broom and flew. I flew for a long time, until I was sure I was far enough away that she wouldn't find me. It wasn't until I landed that I realized I myself was rather lost. So I walked for a bit until I found a cafe. That's where I met Miss Cackle. She was in need of a new potions mistress at the time. When I first saw this place, I. . .just knew. It was perfect and I. . .felt safe. . .for the first time in years, I wasn't. . .I wasn't afraid.” She spat the last word, as if it was poison on her tongue. “It's so far out, away from everything, isolated and nearly off the radar as a magical school. Not a place she would ever take an interest in.”

“This is your hiding place as much as it's ours.” Leah realized.

“Yes, I suppose it is.”

They were quiet for a while, lost in their own dark pasts and twisted, tainted memories, until Eva spoke. “We almost didn't make it out.”

Constance looked up at her questioningly. “What do you mean?”

“Just before we escaped, Grandmother made a foolish mistake. There was a man, he was a portal jumper from our birth land and he had helped. . . He had helped our mother get to Wonderland in order to retrieve something - or rather someone - who Grandmother had stolen from her. But the hat - the portal talisman - works in mysterious ways. The same amount of people who go in must come out. In other words, one of them had to remain behind in Wonderland. That someone was the portal jumper himself. Our mother crossed him and then stole his talisman. He was devastated, because he had a young daughter at home and he couldn't get back to her without his talisman.” She paused, perhaps for effect, as she seemed to be enjoying telling this story. “Now, you have to understand that Grandmother had the means to send him back. But she didn't, and that was her mistake.”

This was where Leah picked up the story. “Several days after all of that, Grandmother let us both leave the castle, to look for potions ingredients. Grandmother always watches us through her mirror when she lets us both go out. To ensure we don't try to run. We knew it was risky, that we'd pay the price, but we cast an anti-tracking spell on ourselves and went to the portal jumper’s cottage. He was trying to make a new hat, a new talisman, but he himself was not magical. We offered our assistance in exchange for his. He agreed and we cast the portal enchantment on one of the hats he'd created. It's a powerful enchantment but it only works on certain objects. Top hats work the best, or rings, anything circular with a space in the middle I think.”

Eva continued. “We couldn't test it, because Grandmother would have sensed the magical disturbance, so we left and returned that night. Grandmother followed but she wasn't quite fast enough. We managed to get the portal open, but just as we did, she burst in and we. . .we froze up. She would have gotten us if the portal jumper hadn't of pushed into the portal. I think he jumped in after us to escape her, but we ended up in different lands. We didn't mean to end up here, not specifically anyway, but I'm glad we did. We've. . .never felt so safe as we do here.” She smiled softly.

“I wouldn't change it.” Leah agreed.

Constance had listened patiently to their story. She wasn't going to deny that some aspects may have been true, like enlisting the help of their mother’s acquaintance in order to escape and almost not making it. But she couldn't help remembering what she'd read in that book several months ago on the day they'd arrived. Was their story really as far-fetched as it seemed? And something else wasn't adding up.

“Does your mother know about any of this?” She questioned. “About. . .what your Grandmother did to you?”

Eva picked at a loose thread on her nightdress. “I think she believes us to have died at birth. Grandmother told us she didn't want us, but we know she was lying, because she, mother that is, gave us these.” She reached up and pulled a silver chain from around her neck to reveal an oval shaped locket. Leah did the same. “She must have wanted us if she gave us these, right?”

Constance moved to reach up to get a closer look at Eva’s locket. “May I?”

Eva nodded and Constance took it carefully in her hand and unlatched it. There was no picture inside, but instead the words My Little Love were engraved on one side. “Yes.” Said Constance after a moment. “I think she did.”

They were quiet as Constance let go of the locket and Eva tucked it back under her night dress. She normally would have confiscated them, jewellery being against school rules, but she didn't have the heart to take away the only things they had of their mother. “You could have gone to her, but you came here instead. Why?” She questioned.

“It - It would have been the first place Grandmother looked. We needed someplace safer, where she wouldn't think to look. Maybe Mother would have tried to protect us, but I - we - we didn't want to be in the line of fire. Not anymore.” Tears formed in her big brown eyes and she fought to push them back, angry at showing weakness. “We were so tired, Miss. Tired of-of trying to protect each other, of healing, fixing each other, only to be broken again. We just wanted to be able to hide and - and live in peace.” She looked up at the potions mistress, eyes shining. “I've seen what she's like, Miss, what she does. I wanted to believe she wouldn't hurt us, because she wouldn't hurt her own daughters right? But-but -” She couldn't stop the tears that escaped her hold and ran down her cheeks.

“When I looked at her, I-I couldn't stop seeing Grandmother.”

Constance couldn't help it. It was common belief among the pupils that her heart was made entirely of solid ice, or perhaps, entirely non-existent, but those were, in fact, nothing but myths. The ice queen did in fact have a heart, and it had just been broken. To look at one’s mother and instead see one’s abuser must have been utterly horrid.

“And then there were these doubts, these what ifs, because what if? What if she was no better than Grandmother? What if I took us to her and she didn't want us, hurt us Grandmother did? I-I didn't - I wanted Leah to be safe, I didn't want her to suffer anymore, I couldn't watch her suffer anymore. Perhaps if I didn't have Leah, I would have risked it, but I couldn't risk Leah getting hurt again. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had promised her safety, a better life, only for it to be a lie.”

Eva hadn't meant to say that much, but like floodgates opening, once she had started she had found she couldn't stop. It felt good to let it out, to tell their story. She reached up and wiped her tears. “I'm sorry Miss. You probably don't want hear about our messed up lives.”

Constance however, found she didn't mind listening if it would help her girls to heal. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Eva. Nor do you, Leah.” She added as she looked to the other girl, who was stroking Morgana as the cat curled in her lap. It was strange, she thought, considering Morgana had always been rather a one witch cat. “After all, you listened to me. It's only fair that I should listen to you.”

Leah looked up, her blue eyes thoughtful. “Perhaps listening to each other once in a while is a good thing.”

“Perhaps.” Constance agreed. “Do I have your word that you will keep what I told you to yourselves? I'd rather it not become public knowledge.”

Eva nodded. “Of course, Miss Hardbroom.”

“What happens on the holidays stays on the holidays.” Leah added. “But Miss? If we keep your secrets, will you keep ours?”

Constance dipped her head. “You have my word, girls.”

Eva shifted closer to the teacher and wrapped her arms tentatively around her waist. “Thanks Miss.”

Constance stiffened. She opened her mouth to reprimand the girl but stopped. Eva didn't mean any harm and if she was brave enough to hug her, it meant she must have been learning to trust. She wrapped one arm around Eva, albeit a little awkwardly, and looked to Leah. The other girl moved to hug her to.

“I'm glad we have you, Miss.” She said, as she snuggled closer.

Constance wrapped her other arm around Leah then. She smiled softly to herself as she let them lay their heads on her shoulders. A pleasant warmth spread through her. It felt so right to hold them like this and she couldn't help the sense of motherly love that had surfaced for them. Yes, contrary to common belief, Constance Hardbroom did have maternal instincts. They were simply buried underneath her ice queen facade.

Eva and Leah felt safe. So very safe and so very warm. Perhaps, Eva thought, this was what it felt like to be held by one’s mother. She couldn't help the relief that flooded her. They were finally safe. Leah was finally safe. She need not fear for her sister’s safety anymore.

Leah couldn't help the warm tears that filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. For the first time in her life, she felt wanted.

Chapter Text

Something had woken her, a noise, obviously it had to have been a noise. A sort of thump, a distant creak, like someone stepping on an excessively squeaky floorboard, or opening a door on squeaky hinges. Perhaps that was it. Someone had opened a door and it banged against the wall. Probably one of her classmates messing about. Right?

But as Leah lay in bed, listening, she couldn't help but feel although something was off. Wrong. A lingering feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. For somewhere out there, a very unpleasant creature was lurking in the darkness, waiting to strike.

o0o

When the next morning rolled around, Leah still had that bad feeling. It stayed with her as she and Eva joined Hannah and Tansy in the hall for breakfast (cold, lumpy porridge). It tugged annoyingly at her insides as they brewed invisibility potions with HB (easy), sang an out of tune rendition of Eye of Toad with Miss Bat (why?), and gathered for lunch (an unidentifiable greenish concoction) in the hall.

There, they caught whispered words of warning between the older students.

“Cackle’s in a horrible mood today!”

“Have you seen Cackle?”

“What's up with Miss Cackle?”

“Watch out for Cackle. She's on the warpath!”

After that, Leah couldn't help but chew her bottom lip worriedly as they filed into the spells classroom. It didn't take long for the first years to find out what the older girls had been referring to.

When Miss Cackle swept into the room, Leah could immediately sense that something was off. Her usual kindly mannerisms were absent, replaced instead, by something else. Something. . .colder. Leah watched her every move with neurotic obsession, determined not to be taken off guard. Chancing a look at Eva, she saw that her sister was doing much the same. They were both nervous.

No sooner had class started, than Miss Cackle was snapping at everyone who dared stick a toe out of line. She hurled a textbook at Adrianna Adderfang, who luckily managed to dodge it, for whispering to her neighbor and turned Carolina Blackwood into a frog for answering a question wrong.

By the time it was Leah's turn to try the spell they were learning, which was supposed to revive a dying plant, she was petrified. She spoke the words in a shaky voice and when she flicked her fingers, her hands trembled. Suddenly, there was a pop and a crash as the potted plant she'd been aiming for exploded and fell to the floor in pieces. She'd said the words wrong.

Miss Cackle turned furious eyes on her and Leah gulped. “Look what you've done, you foolish girl!” She yelled.

“Look at the mess you've made, you foolish girl!” Grandmother’s voice rose in anger, and she slapped the tiny girl before her.

“I-I'm s-sorry, Miss C-Cackle.” Leah stammered.

“Well don't just sit there, clean it up!”

“What are you waiting for! Clean it up!” Grandmother shoved her to the ground and she landed in the pile of broken glass, the sharp pieces digging into her hands and knees and smudging the marble floor with crimson.

Before she knew what was happening, Miss Cackle had grabbed her and dragged her out of her seat and pushed her to the front of the room. She stumbled and fell into the shards of broken pottery.

“Leah!” Eva exclaimed as she stood up.

“Quiet, girl! This is what happens when you make foolish mistakes!” Miss Cackle snapped.

“Get on with it then! I don't want to see you again until you've finished your errand!” Grandmother barked. “And no more foolish mistakes, or your dear sister will pay the price!”

Leah waved her bloody hands and the mess vanished, but the teacher only seemed to get angrier.

“I didn't mean with magic, girl!” She yelled, and when Leah stood and turned around, she backhanded her hard across the face.

Leah's eyes widened in terror as she stumbled back against Miss Cackle’s desk, her fingers wrapping around the edge until her knuckles turned white. Everything around her faded into insignificance as she fought the invisible hand that was squeezing her lungs, making every breath a near impossibility. She couldn't control the panic that had begun to envelope her.

Eva didn't know what to do. She could hardly stand against the headmistress, but she couldn't just stand by and watch her sister be hurt. Again. “Stop it! Can't you see you've hurt her? She's scared!”

“Did I not tell you to be quiet, girl? Be quiet! And you!” She turned back to Leah then. “Get back to your seat!”

Leah didn't move. She was frozen to the spot, trembling in fear and struggling to control her breathing.

“Go!” The woman reached out to grab her again, but Leah threw herself out of the way and pressed herself against the wall.

“Stay away from me!”

“Don't give me orders, girl!” Miss Cackle snapped. She turned, looking ready to hit her pupil again, but Leah saw it coming. In a second, she had disappeared in a swirl of blue smoke, leaving behind the rest of the class in a stunned silence.

There was a long moment of dead silence while the first years didn't even dare to whisper to each other and Miss Cackle stared at the spot Leah had been, in what appeared to be shock.

That's weird. Thought Eva. She knows we can transfer - she's seen us do it before. Why is she so surprised?

Before she could contemplate that thought further, Miss Cackle spun around to face them and the class continued as if nothing had happened.

o0o

Leah reappeared in a small dark room. It was one of the many secret rooms they'd discovered in the summer. She snapped her fingers and a candle flickered to life, casting eerie shadows around the room. The blood on her hands glistened in the dim light.

No one would find her here. She was safe. The room was located above a storeroom on the second floor. There was a trap door in the ceiling of the storeroom and they'd discovered that when you pulled it open a rope ladder would slide down. The room was small, windowless and mostly empty. The only source of light came from the candles mounted on the wall. They were ancient, and when you lit them there was a brief but distinct smell of burning dust and wax had dripped down onto the floor in small dusty mounds. There were a lot of boxes and crates in the room and they too, were coated in dust.

Leah curled up behind a stack of these boxes and stayed there. No one will find me here. She knew it was too good to be true, but she had foolishly believed they would be safe anyway. Had tried her best to learn to trust them. What a mistake that was. They had said they cared, but that was nothing but a lie. Of course they didn't really care. No one did and no one ever would. She was stupid to believe they did.

Tears gathered in her eyes and ran down her pale cheeks as she cried softly to herself. What did I ever do to deserve all this hatred?

o0o
Several years ago

Eva was away running an ‘errand’ for their grandmother, leaving Leah alone in the castle with the Queen of Hearts. She had no idea what Eva was doing this time around but she absolutely hated being alone with their grandmother.

That was why she was currently curled up, hugging her knees, as she hid in a rather dark storeroom. Grandmother never went in the storerooms so she, theoretically, wouldn't find her here. Leah was still scared though. She could still feel the sting in her cheek from the last backhand and the searing pain of the burning curse that had hit her legs. The healing spell she'd used to heal the angry, blistering burns had helped, but it was still painful.

She won't find you here, don't worry.

She stared into the flame of the candle she held in her hands and watched the tiny flame flicker, casting long, dancing shadows on the walls. She was determined not to let her fear get the better of her. Fire was a dangerous thing, she'd learnt that lesson long ago. One of grandmother’s favourite ways to punish them was with fire. She seemed to enjoy the way they screamed when it scorched their skin.

I'm in control. It can't hurt me as long as I'm in control.

Leah spread her fingers and watched the candle, in its holder, levitate and float in front of her. She slowly dropped her hands, holding the candle steady with her magic and not even using her hands to channel it. Concentrating hard, she kept it floating, channeling her magic with her mind alone.

Suddenly, heels clicked down the corridor outside and Leah's eyes snapped open. She snatched the candle out of the air before it could fall and the flame winked out, plunging her into darkness. She could feel herself trembling as the footfalls grew nearer.

She won't look in here. She won't find me. She won't look in here. Shewon’tlookinhere. She won't. Calm down. Calmdowncalmdowndontpanic.

Leah vanished the candle and pressed her hands to her ears, closing her eyes as the sharp footfalls grew nearer.

Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. If I panic she'll hear me. Don't panic. If I stay silent she won't look in here. I'll be okay.

I'll never be okay. Everyone hates me. I want Eva. I wish Eva were here.

I'll never be okay.

o0o

Eva strode away from the classroom and wove her way through the crowd of girls that were switching classes. For a while she ignored Hannah and Tansy’s voices calling after her but then they caught up with her and she sighed.

“Eva! Where are you going?” Hannah questioned.

Eva turned sharply. “I have to find Leah and make sure she's okay.”

“We’ll help you.” Tansy offered.

Eva shook her head. “No. Just go to class, okay? I really don't think the extra attention will help right now. In fact, I know it won't.”

With that said, she turned and hurried off. She didn't intentionally mean to come off as rude, she just wasn't very good at dealing with people.

She looked everywhere. Their bedroom, the infirmary, the towers. The secret rooms off the library and the classrooms. Eventually, she found herself standing in the corridor, unsure of where to look next. Leah was brilliant when it came to hiding. If she didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be.

As she rounded a corner, she cursed her bad luck. She had come face to face with Miss Hardbroom, who didn't look any to pleased to see her when she should have been in class.

“Miss Mills. What do you think you are doing outside of class?” She questioned and crossed her arms.

“Please Miss. I'm trying to find Leah. You haven't seen her have you?” Eva answered.

“Perhaps you should check Miss Gimlet’s classroom.”

Eva shook her head. “She's not there Miss. There was an. . .incident in spells. Miss Cackle was acting really strange and it was making her really nervous. She said the spell wrong and blew up the potted plant and Miss Cackle just lost it on her. I've never seen her like that, Miss. It-it got physical.”

Miss Hardbroom eyed her, as if trying to decide whether she was telling the truth.

“She hit her, Miss. And pushed her down. She cut her hands on the broken pottery. She was really scared and transferred off somewhere. I haven't seen her since.” Eva continued. “Why did you lie to us, Miss?”

“I didn't.” She replied. She had relaxed slightly and her expression had softened. She looked around briefly before lowering her voice. “From what you've told me, that's not Miss Cackle.”

Eva frowned. “I'm afraid I don't follow, Miss.”

“You're not the only one around here with an identical twin, Eva.”

Eva's eyes widened in realization. “Miss Cackle has a twin sister?”

Miss Hardbroom nodded. “Agatha Cackle. She's a nasty piece of work, Eva, she believes the school should be hers.”

“You mean she's trying to take over? Without us noticing?”

“Exactly. Now, off to class with you. I'll find your sister.” She said.

“Miss, I really don't think she'll -” Eva started to protest, but Miss Hardbroom silenced her with a glare. “At the double!”

Eva quickly hurried off, secretly hoping her teacher wouldn't find her sister. She feared it would make matters worse. What ‘Miss Cackle’ had done had broken Leah's delicate partial trust and she likely thought that everything they'd come to know and everyone who'd shown them kindness was a lie, including their usually strict form mistress, who had promised to protect them.

Constance cursed herself for dismissing ‘Amelia's’ strange behaviour earlier that day. After all, everyone had off days. They had all thought they'd seen the last of Agatha when they'd banished her from the premises almost two years prior. Apparently they had been mistaken and she'd been busy cooking up another plan to takeover. A plan set to fail. Now, thanks to her earlier false judgment, she had one traumatized witchling and one missing headmistress to find. And one more class to teach as well.

She gave the main floor a once over before heading upstairs to scour the dormitories. As she walked down a corridor on the third floor, she heard a muffled sound from behind a wall. Now, Constance knew every nook and cranny of the castle she called home, so she knew that beyond that wall was a secret room one could access from a storeroom on the floor below. In other words, a perfect hiding place.

She crossed her arms and dematerialized, only to reappear a moment later in the room on the other side of the wall in question. She surveyed the room, noting the flickering candle, which was a telltale sign that someone was - or had been - there. She peered around the boxes until she found the small, trembling girl she'd been searching for.

Leah jumped and shrunk back when she saw the potions mistress. She briefly considered transferring away but her teacher stopped her.

“Don't even think about it, young lady. I have been looking everywhere for you and so has your sister.” She said, as if she had read her mind.

Leah blinked. “You-you were helping Eva look for me?”

“I found her in the corridor and sent her to class after I told her I'd look for you.” She said, before kneeling down to be on eye level with the girl. “I'm going to tell you what I told Eva, okay?”

“What's that, Miss?” Leah questioned, and there was a glimmer of that guarded curiosity in her blue eyes.

“The woman who took your spells class is not Amelia Cackle, but her twin sister, Agatha Cackle.”

“Miss Cackle has a twin?” Leah's jaw dropped.

“That she does, but Agatha is a piece of work. She has always been jealous of her sister and believes the school should be hers.”

“How do I know you're not lying? That Miss Cackle really does have a twin?” Leah questioned, unwilling to believe without actual proof.

“Miss Cackle is the kindest witch I know. She would never hurt anyone, let alone one of her pupils.”

“She hurt me.” Leah whispered as her eyes trained on her hands.

Constance sighed. How could she get this damaged girl to trust her? “Agatha Cackle wears thick, round glasses. She's as blind as a bat without them. If you see ‘Miss Cackle’ with classes like that you'll know I'm telling truth.” She said.

Leah frowned, and her gears turned. “She did suddenly have this weird squint - like she couldn't see properly. She must have taken Miss Cackle’s glasses, but why not just transmogrify her own? For anyone who knows the both of them, the squint would be a dead give away.”

“Agatha never was the quickest witch on the broom.” She replied and gave a small smile.

Leah giggled in response.

“Now. Eva said you cut your hands. Let me have a look.” Constance continued.

Leah obediently held out her hands to show that she'd healed her injuries and Constance nodded her approval. “Did you heal them yourself?”

“Yes, Miss. Eva and I often had to heal each other.” Leah's eyes trained on the floor then.

“Well, I must say, you did a good job. Shall we get out of this dusty old room now? I have ingredients to set out for the third years, and you're going to help me. There's hardly a point in sending you to your class when there's less than 15 minutes left.” Said Constance. Privately, she thought Leah would learn more from helping her with potions ingredients than from jewelry design class.

Leah looked up. “But what about Agatha? Where's our Miss Cackle? What if she tries to hurt me again?”

“I won't let her. As for Miss Cackle, you have last period free, don't you? You can look around and try and find her. Chances are she's still here somewhere.”

Leah nodded tentatively in agreement and stood up. Miss Hardbroom crossed her arms and transported them both to the potions lab.

Chapter Text

As it turned out, Leah was a rather good helper in the potions lab. She knew many of the different ingredients, what they were used for and how to handle them. She didn't mind helping at all, in fact she'd rather be in the potions lab than in jewelry design.

“Miss?” Leah questioned, as she placed a jar of spider’s egg powder on the front table. “What are the third years making with this stuff?”

Constance paused in writing instructions on the blackboard and turned around. “They will be making a potion to turn themselves into trees.” She replied.

Leah frowned. “Trees? Why would you want to be a tree?”

Miss Hardbroom came over to the table to check the ingredients that her pupil had laid out. “How might turning into a tree benefit a witch?”

Leah thought about this. “I suppose if you were being chased by an evil witch, and you turned yourself into a tree, she wouldn't find you.”

Miss Hardbroom nodded her approval. “Precisely, Leah. It's an escape method.”

“I'm not sure I'd want to be a tree though. What if they could tell I wasn't actually a tree? I wouldn't be able to run away because I'd be a tree and I'd have to wait for the potion to wear off. I don't like not being able to run away, Miss Hardbroom.” Said Leah.

“Yes.” The teacher agreed. “That is a rather unfortunate side effect of this potion.”

Before long, the bell went and the third years started to trickle in. Leah insisted she should stay in the lab until Eva came looking for her. She didn't want to run into ‘Miss Cackle’ again. Constance relented. In all honesty, she felt better with Leah in the lab where she could keep her safe from Agatha.

Leah sat herself in a corner and watched curiously as Miss Hardbroom demonstrated the potion, which effectively turned Ellie Feverfew into a small oak tree. There were several gasps from the older girls as they watched.

                                                        o0o

Eva, Leah, Hannah and Tansy had gathered in the twins’ room to draw up an ‘emergency plan of action’, as Tansy put it.

“So you're telling me that the witch we think is Miss Cackle, isn't Miss Cackle at all? That she's Miss Cackle’s identical twin sister who is evil and also trying to take over the school?” Said Tansy incredulously.

“Yes.” Said Eva. “If you don't believe us, go and ask Miss Hardbroom.”

“We believe you.” Hannah assured. “But if that woman is Agatha Cackle, then where is Amelia Cackle, our headmistress?”

Eva shrugged. “Your guess is as good as ours. HB said Agatha likely hid her somewhere in the castle, maybe under a spell of some description. It apparently isn't the first time something of this sort has happened.”

“Alright then. If Miss Hardbroom says to look for her, we better get looking.” Said Hannah as she stood up from where she'd been sitting on Leah's bed. “Where do you suppose we should start?”

“Um.” Tansy hummed. “Maybe she's locked in her bedroom. Or one of the hidden rooms. Or, uh, the staffroom cupboard?”

Leah frowned, finally deciding to speak up. “Surely Miss Bat would have come across her already if she was in there.”

“True.” Said Tansy. It was common knowledge that the eccentric chanting teacher had a tendency to hide in strange places.

So the four girls headed out to start their search. They checked the teachers wing first, with no luck. Then it was onto the secret rooms, which was easier said than done considering the amount of them. They also checked the linen cupboards (one could never be sure), the towers (Tansy suggested that if she was going to kidnap a witch, she'd hide her in one of the towers, as no one went up there that often) and the storeroom under the stairs by the great hall.

“This is hopeless! We've checked everywhere!” Hannah exclaimed, frustrated.

Eva frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe she's not in the castle anymore.” She whispered, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention.

“Maybe.” Said Tansy. “But there's still one place we haven't checked yet.”

“Where?”

Tansy looked towards the stairs that led down to the kitchens. “The dungeons.”

“I thought the dungeons were repurposed into kitchens.” Said Leah.

“Part of them were. But they say there are tons of rooms and passages below the school. They say it's like a labrinth down there.” Tansy explained.

The four girls looked at each other.

“It's off limits. We’ll surely get into trouble.” Hannah reasoned.

“Yes, but it'd be the perfect place to hide someone. And this is an emergency. We can stretch the rules a bit.” Said Eva. She normally wouldn't, though. Stretching the rules always resulted in bad, typically painful things happening as punishment in her experience.

“Fine. But it was your idea.” Hannah warned.

They headed down into the kitchens, where Mrs.Tapioca was in the middle of cooking dinner.

“Mrs.Tapioca!” Tansy called.

The cook turned around and eyed her visitors. “What-a brings you down ‘ere today, bambinos?”

“You've not seen anything strange today have you, Mrs.Tapioca?” Eva questioned.

“That-a depends on your definition of strange-a.”

Eva looked around the room and lowered her voice. “Agatha Cackle is trying to take over the school. She's kidnapped Miss Cackle and hidden her somewhere in the castle.”

“What?” The cook gasped.

“Miss Hardbroom sent us to look for her. We've not found anything yet.”

Mrs.Tapioca was silent for a moment before she spoke. “I saw Miss-a Cackle come down ‘ere and go through that-a door earlier today.” She said, pointing to a door in a rather dark corner of the already dimly lit room. “It leads into the unused part of the dungeons. I don't think-a she saw me.”

“Was she wearing thick, round glasses?” Leah questioned, remembering what her teacher had said earlier.

The cook nodded. “Yes-a”

“It had to have been Agatha then.” Said Leah. “Miss Hardbroom said she wears thick, round glasses.”

“She must have hidden Miss Cackle in there!” Tansy said excitedly.

“Shhh!” Eva hissed. “We don't want her to know we're onto her!”

                                                      o0o

The light from their candle flickered eerily against the damp, stone walls of the ancient tunnels and their footsteps echoed and sloshed in puddles. Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling and the sounds of life continuing on high above them was muted to a barely noticeable degree.

The dungeons had clearing been abandoned for centuries. The air was thick with dust and smelled of mildew. The sound of water dripping from the ceiling was the only audible sound besides their footsteps. Long extinguished torches were mounted on the uneven stone walls. A rat scurried across the ground in front of them, making Eva stop abruptly and Hannah scream.

“Shhh!” Eva hissed. “We don't know if Agatha has allies!”

“Sorry. This place gives me the creeps. No one’s been down here in ages.” Said Hannah.

Tansy nodded. “I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea. What if we get lost?”

Eva stopped again and turned around to face her companions. “We are not going to get lost.” She declared.

“But what if we do?” Leah said nervously.

“Then we transfer back upstairs.” Eva replied. “Now come on, we've not got all day.”

They started walking again and a few moments later, Hannah spoke up. “What if she does have allies, and they're guarding Miss Cackle?”

“Then,” Said Eva, “we deal with them. Does everyone know an animal transformation spell of some description?”

“Yes.” Hannah and Tansy affirmed.

Leah bowed her head. “Of course. You know I do.”

“Good.”

The farther they went the colder it got. Several twists, turns and bypassed doors later, something caught their attention. There was a dull orange glow coming from around the next corner and they could hear voices arguing. Eva doused the flame of their candle and crept forward, carefully peaking around the corner.

Ahead, the tunnel widened into a room lined with prison cells. There were two middle aged witches standing in the centre facing each other and arguing. Their clothes were ragged and their hats were crooked. They looked like they'd climbed out of a sewer into a war zone and flown away only to promptly crash land in a dumpster. Eva wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Well? What do you see?” Leah whispered from behind her.

Eva whispered back. “Agatha definitely has allies. There are two of them. And there are a bunch of prison cells. It's hard to tell from this angle but I think there's somebody in one of them.”

“It must be Miss Cackle!” Tansy whispered excitedly.

“Shhh!” One of the older witches suddenly hissed to her companion.

The other looked at her. “What?”

“I thought I heard voices.”

They both looked into the darkness where the four girls still hid around the corner. Eva ducked out of sight just in time and turned to her companions.

“Alright. I'm going to distract them. Leah, when I say go, transfer across to the mouth of tunnel on the other side of the room. Once they're facing you, we’ll slugify them.”

Leah nodded and peaked around just enough to see her destination. “Okay. I'm ready.”

Eva, with her back pressed against the damp wall, stuck her hand around the corner and fired a bolt of purple magic that flew across the room, missing the two witches by a hair and smashing into the wall by the doorway.

“Go!” She hissed.

Leah vanished in a swirl of blue smoke and reappeared in the aforementioned location, just as both of the older witches whirled around in surprise.

Eva stepped out from behind the wall and together the twins chanted the incantation to the spell.

“Alverix Orcus, Transfrogamorphus, Limax Cochlea, Transformus!”

Eva and Leah both flicked their wrists simultaneously and the two older witches vanished in puffs of smoke, only to reappear on the floor as two rather large, slimy slugs.

Hannah and Tansy peered out from their hiding spot, eyes wide. “That was epic! Nice work you two!” Tansy exclaimed.

“Not bad, I suppose.” Eva smiled proudly as Leah picked up the slugified witches. “Anyone got a jar?”

Eva held out her hands and summoned a jar from thin air, earning gasps from her friends. Leah dropped the slugs inside and took it from her sister. “That'll do.”

All four girls looked around the gloomy chamber when a muffled sound caught their attention. It didn't take them long to spot Miss Cackle, bound and gagged, locked in one of the cells.

“Miss Cackle!”

Eva, Hannah and Tansy all rushed forward and Eva cast a quick spell to unlock the door. It protested loudly as it creaked open on rusted hinges.

As her companions hurried to free their headmistress, Eva stayed back and watched carefully, ready to protect Leah if need be. After all, if Agatha was cruel, what was stopping Amelia?

Leah backed away nervously, what Agatha had done to her a few short hours ago still fresh in her mind. She wasn't going to believe Miss Cackle really had a twin until she saw them standing side by side.

“Miss, are you alright?” Hannah questioned now that they'd freed her and helped her up.

“I am now.” She said. “Thank you girls. How on earth did you find me? I thought I'd be stuck down here forever!”

“Miss Hardbroom sent us to look for you after we discovered Agatha.” Said Eva. “Mrs.Tapioca said she saw Agatha come down here earlier.”

“Ah. Well it's a good thing she did. I think we'd better be getting back before my blasted sister causes too much more trouble though. Come along girls.” Miss Cackle replied as she stepped out of the cell towards the tunnel entrance. “You too Leah.” She added when she saw the fourth girl standing against the wall.

Leah chewed her lip as she watched the headmistress’ every move with the same nervous obsession she'd used in class with Agatha. She didn't fancy being trapped in a narrow tunnel with the woman and having nowhere to run. “I'll meet you up there.” She said quietly, and vanished into thin air.

Miss Cackle still could not get over the fact that the eleven year old twins could transfer. The only other witch she knew who could pull that spell off with such ease was Constance Hardbroom. She watched her pupil disappear before turning questioning eyes on the three who remained.

“Agatha was awful to her, Miss.” Said Tansy, when no one else spoke. “She scared her so bad in spells class that she transferred off somewhere and it took Miss Hardbroom to find her.”  

Amelia was furious with her sister. Leah already had major trust issues, and now she was probably afraid that the headmistress would turn on her as her sister had. “Best not waste time then. Follow me, girls.”

                                                        o0o

Leah materialized outside the potions lab door and peaked in through the small window in the door to see the room in question was empty. She turned and hastened down the corridor, afraid of bumping into Agatha alone. It didn't take her long to get to the staffroom and she pressed her ear to the door to see who was inside. Once she was certain that Agatha wasn't inside, she stepped back and knocked, waiting for the muffled “come in” before pushing open the old wooden door. Miss Drill was sitting at the table with a cup of tea while Miss Hardbroom was in her usual spot in front of the fireplace. They had clearly been discussing the current situation.

“Leah? What is it? Have you found her?” Miss Hardbroom questioned.

Leah nodded as she shut the door. “Yes Miss. They had her locked in the dungeons.”

“They?” Miss Drill inquired. “I thought it was just this Agatha woman.”

“There were two witches down there guarding her. We slugified them.” Said Leah, a note of pride in her voice. She held up the jar in her hands, which still contained the slugified witches in question. Miss Hardbroom took it and eyed the contents. “What did they look like, Leah?”

The girl wrinkled her nose. “Like they'd crawled out of a dumpster.”

“Ah. I see. Betty Bindweed and Millicent Coldstone, no doubt.”  

“What are you going to do with them, Miss?” Leah questioned.

Constance opened her mouth to reply but cut herself off when the door was thrown open and Agatha, still masquerading as her sister, swept in. Leah's eyes widened fearfully as she backed away from the older woman. No, she definitely didn't want to be anywhere near this witch who brought back so many memories of her grandmother.

“Leah Mills. Where have been, girl? You can't just go disappearing from lessons whenever you please.” Agatha addressed the scared young girl.

“I-I-I'm s-sorry Miss.” Leah stuttered as she wiped her sweaty palms on her gymslip.

The woman stepped farther into the room and Leah practically leaped behind Miss Hardbroom, who blinked in surprise.

“What on earth are you doing girl?” The potions mistress twisted to look at her pupil cowering behind her.

Leah’s eyes never left Agatha. “She's going to hurt me again. I don't want her to hurt me again. Please Miss, can't we make her go away?”

Constance turned back to Agatha. “Yes, I think now would be a good time to ‘make her go away’. Don't you agree Agatha?” She placed the slug jar on the table and slid it across to Miss Drill before raising her spell-casting fingers.

“What? How dare you! I am your headmistress!”

At that moment, Miss Cackle, Amelia Cackle, walked in. “Headmistress are you? I think not.”

Agatha spun to face her sister. “No! How did you escape?”

Amelia looked past her to Leah. “With a little help from the first years. Now what do you have to say for yourself, Agatha?”

“You'll not have me today, dear sister! This school will be mine yet!” With that Agatha made a dash for the slug jar and yanked it out of a startled Imogen Drill’s hands. As Constance started chanting a spell under her breath, Agatha pulled a bottle out of her cloak pocket and downed the contents. She cackled manically as she vanished from sight and ran from the room.

Leah looked around nervously, fearing the older witch might appear behind her and huddled a little closer to her teacher.

“It's alright, Leah. She's gone. She won't hurt you again.” Said Amelia.

“What if she comes back?” Leah worried, before loud voices in the courtyard drew the room’s occupants to the window.

Outside, Agatha, who was invisible from the neck down, was running for the gates. Eva, Hannah and Tansy had chased her out. Eva sent a fireball sailing through the air after her but it missed, hitting the stone wall and only making her run faster.

“And stay out!” Eva shouted, already having formed an intense dislike for the woman who had terrified her sister in front of their class.

The scene was quite comical, as all they could see was Agatha’s head bobbing in midair as she fled, while Eva yelled threats at her back.

“Oh Eva.” Sighed Leah. “What would I ever do without you?”

Chapter Text

The first form were sitting quietly in the potions lab. As the warm spring sun filtered through the windows, the only sound that could be heard was the scratching of pencils on paper. They were writing letters to send home to their parents and for some, that was easier said than done.

Eva and Leah did not have parents to send letters to. Their father, a stable boy called Daniel, had died before they were born. Murdered, they knew. Their mother was grandmother’s only daughter. Her name was Regina, and she was made to believe they were dead. They were fine with that. They knew that a connection with their mother would, undoubtedly, result in a re-connection with their grandmother. They had left that life behind and refused to go back. Refused to leave the security of their hiding place for a woman they did not know. The twins knew they were safest here in a world of limited magic, hidden away in the small boarding school, deep in the English countryside. This was home now.

Leah was sitting where she always sat, in the corner seat nearest the door, with Eva beside her. She was trying to write as best she could, but her wrist was giving her trouble, as it often did. Her writing was, as always, messy and childish. She dropped her pencil in frustration and flexed the fingers of her writing hand, which was marred by too many improperly healed injuries to not give her trouble. Her other hand wasn't much better off, her fingers were crooked and her wrist ached. All of these injuries had occurred before they'd learnt to heal with magic, hence why they weren't healed properly. She sighed, wishing the teachers would just let her use the writing spell in class.

She looked down at her paper, which was covered in grey smudges where she'd erased and rewritten bits that had come out unintelligible, and started to read through it.

Dear Mother,

You will not receive this letter, but if you do, know this: Grandmother lied to you. She wanted you to believe we were dead so she took us away and told you we'd died. The truth is, though, that we are very much alive. She spared us when she realized how magically powerful we were, for she could never give up an opportunity for power. Now we wonder if there was more to it than that. We know now that we are a part of something that is bigger than both of us. We are witches born to protect, it's why we were gifted with such great power. Why we survived, against the odds, in her hell.

I'll tell you this: knowing grandmother, you probably grew up believing magic was a dangerous, evil thing. But it's only dangerous if the wielder makes it so. It can not only harm, but also heal. Fix what's been broken. I would know.

You are probably wondering where we've been all these years, who we've been with. Let's just say some things are best left unsaid. All you need to know is that we are safe now, and that's all we've ever wanted. To be safe. We attend a magical school in a place where magic was thought not to exist. It's nothing special, just a droughty old castle with a long history. But it's home.

Do not look for us, for we hide for a reason. Your searching would only lead her back to us. You know she is relentless, but as long as no one looks for us, she has no one to lead her to us.

Do not fear. No one will find us here.

Your daughter,

Leah

Just as she finished reading her letter, Eva nudged her and passed her letter to her. In turn, Leah handed her own letter to Eva. Looking down at the paper, she found that it was for their father.

Dear Daddy,

It's Eva. If your watching over us, then you probably know that we are safe. We finally escaped Grandmother and now we've found a real home. A hiding place. It's a boarding school for witches and they want us. Not to steal our powers, but because they truly care about us. At least I think they do. Miss Hardbroom does, I know that. She's strict and doesn't stand for nonsense, but I know she'd never hurt us. We often have nightmares and sometimes when we wake up screaming, she holds us and we feel safe and warm. We are more alike than we care to admit. I think we have all suffered.

She promised to protect us, that she wouldn't let Grandmother hurt us again. For that we are grateful, but I fear she underestimates Grandmother, and that is a dangerous thing to do.

I've done terrible things, Daddy. It was all to save Leah from the knife at her throat. I couldn't let her die, Daddy. She's all I've got. Can you forgive me?

One more thing. You must understand that we cannot return to mother. We saw her once, and when I looked at her, all I could see was Grandmother. I know that looks can be deceiving, but I can't risk it. I can't allow Leah to be hurt again. We must remain hidden, for as long as we do, we are safe.

Your daughter,

Eva

They exchanged their letters again and as the bell went, they tucked them into their school bags while the rest of their class handed theirs into Miss Hardbroom. It was time for P.E.

                                                      o0o

It was safe to say that P.E was nobody's favorite class. No one liked running through the woods in the rain or playing volleyball in the bitter cold. Witches just didn't do that sort of thing.

Today, Miss Drill announced that they were going to play dodge ball. Most of the first years groaned in response. Eva refused to admit that it was somewhat amusing to target Mariam and imagine she was throwing curses at her instead of dodge balls. After all, it was undignified. A young lady, witch or not, did not run around throwing things at people. She desperately tried not to imagine what Grandmother would do to them if she found out.

Leah on the other hand, hated dodge ball. It terrified her. Having balls thrown at her was far too similar to having curses thrown at her. That was why she was currently cowering behind the broomshed, watching her sister wreak havoc on Mariam from a safe distance away.

Suddenly, the tall form of Penelope Paddock appeared in front of her, blocking her view.

Penelope laughed as she raised her hand. “I've got you now!” She announced gleefully as she whipped the ball at the smaller girl.

Leah, now plastered against the broomshed wall in terror, shrieked.

“Stupid girl!” Grandmother snarled.

Her hand snapped up and she sent a curse - an angry ball of blackened energy - sailing in a collision course towards Leah. Leah screamed in agony as the curse sent electric bolts of dark magic coursing through her. Her knees hit the ground as she failed to uphold her own weight.

Without giving her a chance to recover, Grandmother hurled a red hot fireball at her and she screeched in pain and scrambled away as it scorched her forearm.

Leah slid to her knees against the wall and covered her ears, willing it to end. She sat there, trembling, deaf to the world around her as the scene replayed in her mind. It held her captive and forced her to relive the fear and pain she was once so accustomed too.

Penelope was, undoubtedly, confused by the unexpected reaction. She stood there, having dropped her ball, looking tentative. “Leah? What on earth’s the matter? It's only a  dodge ball. Leah?”

By this point the other girls had stopped to watch. Eva abandoned her duel with Mariam and Miss Drill had come over as well.

“Penelope? What's happened?” The teacher inquired.

“I. . .I don't know Miss. I was only playing the game. She just lost it.”

Miss Drill turned to the trembling heap still crouched against the broomshed. “Leah. It's Miss Drill. Can you tell me what's wrong? Are you hurt?”

Leah didn't answer. Her large blue eyes were wide and unfocused and her breathing was shallow and ragged.

Eva skidded to halt in front of her sister, out of breath from running across the yard. “Leah? It's okay, you're safe. We're at Cackle’s, remember? We're safe.” She took Leah's hand and massaged it comfortingly. “I'm here. You're safe.”

After a moment of calm assurances from her twin, Leah finally seemed to calm down. It only lasted a moment though, before she latched herself onto her sister, who continued to soothe her. Eva always knew how to handle her sister.

“Eva?” Miss Drill turned her attention to the other twin. “What's the matter?”

“I. . . She'll be fine. May I take her up to our room now?” Eva replied. She was at a bit of a loss. She couldn't exactly just say oh yes, she's fine. Just a violent flashback to a time when Grandmother was cursing her. No big deal.

Miss Drill opened her mouth, but Eva didn't wait for a reply. Both twins vanished in a swirl of purple smoke.

                                                     o0o

The sisters reappeared in their room, sitting on Leah's bed. Leah picked up Raven, who was curled up for a snooze on her pillow, and held her against her. The glossy black kitten purred contentedly and the soft rumbling sound calmed Leah.

“I'm sorry, Leah, I should have stayed with you.” Eva said.

“It's not your fault.” Leah mumbled, her face buried in Raven’s soft fur as she worked to get her breathing back to normal.  

Eva shook her head. “I should have known better.”

“You can't know everything.”

Eva looked up then. “What are we going to tell them? They'll ask questions you know.”

                                                      o0o

Hannah and Tansy walked into the locker room after P.E with the rest of form one. The entire class was whispering about what had just gone down.

“What do you think was wrong with her?” Hannah questioned.

Tansy shrugged. “I Don't know. It was. . .like she was remembering something. . .or something.”

The girls grabbed their things from the lockers and went to change out of their sports clothes. Tansy peeked into the locker she knew the twins used (they seemed to share everything) and pulled out their black school bags.

“They left their stuff in here. Let's take it up to them.” She decided.

Hannah nodded her agreement and they headed out into the corridor and up the stairs. As they did, Tansy started rifling through Leah's bag.

“Tansy!” Hannah hissed. “What are you doing?”

“Oh relax. I just wanted to see if she had the latest potions notes.” Tansy replied. “Hey, what's this?” She pulled out a folded piece of white paper.

“Tansy, stop! You know how they are. If they found out you were going through their things -” Hannah protested.

Tansy wasn't listening. “It's her letter for their mom. I wonder why she didn't hand it into HB.”

“It's hardly any of your business, Tansy, put it back!”

It was too late. Tansy was already reading it, her eyes going wide. “What on earth. . . Hannah you have to read this!” She grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her into the bathroom they happened to be passing by. Luckily it was empty.

“What? Why?”

Tansy waved the paper and lowered her voice. “According to this, their Grandmother made their mother believe they're dead. Their Grandmother only kept them because of how magically powerful they are. It says she could never give up an opportunity for power.”

Hannah gasped. “That's sick! What kind of woman would lie to her daughter like that?”

Tansy continued. “And get this. It says that ‘we’re safe now’ and that that's all they've ever wanted. And then she tells their mother not to look for them. She says they ‘hide for a reason’ and that trying to find them would only lead whoever they're hiding from back to them.”

More puzzle pieces were fitting in to place, but it only seemed to serve to confuse them more. Who was the twins’ grandmother? Why were they hiding, and from who? Was it their grandmother? And if so what did she do to them to warrant such measures?

Tansy tucked the letter back into Leah's bag and dug through Eva's next. She pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper and unfolded it. This time, Hannah didn't argue.

She scanned Eva's letter before looking up. “It’s for their father, but I think he's dead. Anyway, it says that - oh, she's talking about HB, it says ‘we are more alike than we care to admit’ and ‘I think we have all suffered’. I think it is their grandmother they're running from. It says that HB promised to protect them and won't let her hurt them again. She says she's done terrible things in order to protect Leah from ‘the knife at her throat’. What should we do, Hannah?”

Hannah had gone pale. “Put it back, Tansy. Let's just pretend we never saw them in the first place, okay?”

“You're joking! We have to - we have to - I don't know, but we have to do something! ”

Chapter Text

Imogen Drill walked briskly down the corridor towards the Headmistress’ office. The incident that had just taken place was rather worrying, to say the least. Imogen shivered subconsciously as she failed to get the image of the haunted look in Leah Mills’ blue eyes out of her head. The girl had gone sheet white and refused to speak to anybody after Penelope Paddock had (in the spirit of the game) hit her with a dodgeball.

After Eva had taken charge of the situation and vanished both her and her sister to their room, Imogen had dismissed the class early and gone up to check on them. She was made even more unnerved when they refused to let her in and insisted they were both fine.

Miss Drill knocked twice on the ancient wood of the office door and waited.

“Come in.” Amelia Cackle’s voice sounded, slightly muffled, through the door.

Imogen wasted no time in pushing open said door and slipping into the room. Miss Cackle was seated behind her desk and she pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up on her nose as she saw the gym mistress enter. She had clearly been discussing something with her deputy, one Constance Hardbroom, as the potions mistress was in her usual spot in the corner.

“do you have a minute, Miss Cackle?” The blond questioned.

Miss Cackle smiled. “Of course, dear. What seems to be the problem?”

“Well.” Said Imogen. “There was an incident in my PE class.”

“Oh?”

“I had the first years playing dodgeball.” She started, ignoring the sound of disapproval from Constance. “Anyway, Leah Mills was hiding behind the broomshed, trying to avoid getting hit I guess. Penelope Paddock cornered her and then threw a ball and hit her, which is part of the game. But Leah just panicked. She was genuinely terrified. She went white, like she was remembering something horrible. She wouldn't say a word to me and didn't calm down until Eva came and spoke to her.” Imogen explained, concern evident in her voice.

Amelia and Constance exchanged a look. When it came down to it, they didn't know much more than that the sisters had been abused. They didn't know exactly what their grandmother had done to them.

“Where are they now?” Miss Cackle asked.

“In their room. I went up to check on them, but they wouldn't let me in. They insisted that they were both okay though. I sent the rest of the class to study. Is there something you're not telling me?”

Amelia looked past her to the door and lowered her voice, not wanting her next words to be caught by any potential eavesdroppers. “Do you remember how they spent the break here, with Constance?”

Imogen nodded, unsure what that had to do with anything.

Miss Hardbroom picked up where her superior left off. “They were taken out of their home just before term started because they were being. . . mistreated.”

Imogen was silent. She couldn't say she was surprised. She had always sensed something was off with those two by the way they acted, as fearful and untrusting as they were. She was upset about being kept in the dark though. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“It's hardly any of your business Miss Drill. They didn't want it to be public knowledge. Miss Bat and Miss Gimlet don't know either.” Said Constance.

“They are as much my students as they are yours!” Imogen exclaimed. “I have a right to know what goes on with the girls as much as you!”

Constance opened her mouth to reply but Amelia cut her off. “Alright, ladies. Let's not get off topic.”

The two teachers fell silent, like a couple of school girls who had just been given detention. Imogen's mind snapped back to the situation at hand and she didn't like the images it was conjuring. “Do you think their parents threw things at her? That's why she reacted the way she did?”

Amelia shook her head. “Their grandmother. Their parents are out of the picture. We don't know the details, only that she. . .abused them.” She sighed. Those poor girls. “It was. . .not pretty.”

“What should we do?” Imogen questioned.

Miss Cackle was thoughtful. “I think we should talk to them. Make sure Leah's alright. Keep an eye on them and make sure they know we're here for them.”

“They wouldn't let me into their room.” Imogen reminded. “I know they won't stay in there forever but -”

“Not you.” Miss Cackle interrupted. “But maybe someone else.” She looked at her deputy, still standing in her corner.

The gym mistress blinked. “Seriously?”

“They've opened up to Constance before, Imogen. It was her who found them in the courtyard that day in August. It was her who healed their injuries and her who was there when they woke up. It would stand to reason that they trust her a little more than the rest of us.”

“Alright then.” Said Imogen. “I won't argue with that.”

                                                         o0o

Hannah and Tansy left the washroom and walked down to the other end of the hall to Eva and Leah’s dorm room. Luckily they were ignored by the couple other girls that were there. Hannah knocked on the door with the plate that read the names of the girls in question.

“Go away.” Came the muffled reply from within.

Tansy rolled her eyes. “It's Tansy and Hannah. We've brought you your things from the locker room.”

“Oh. Thank you. Come in then.” It was clearly Eva who was talking. Her tone was measured and precise.

Hannah pushed open the door and slipped inside, followed by Tansy. They left their friends bags on the desks per Eva's request and turned to face the usual occupants of the room. Leah was sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest as she cuddled her cat, Raven, and Eva was sitting next to her, looking reading to jump to her sister’s defense at any moment.

“Are you okay?” Hannah asked, concerned for her friends.

“Fine.” Leah mumbled into Raven’s black fur.

Hannah and Tansy were not convinced. “Are you sure?” Tansy pressed. “What on earth even happened out there?”

“I'm fine.” Leah repeated, avoiding the question.

Hannah shook her head. “I don't think you are. You never have been, have you?”

“Alright, spit it out.” Eva demanded. She could tell there was something they weren't saying.

Hannah looked at Tansy who sighed. “We, uhm, we saw your letters to your parents.” She said and looked at the ground. “We didn't mean to, honest. I thought I might copy your notes from our latest potions class. It's my fault, Hannah told me not to look and I didn't listen.”

Eva pursed her lips. Leah paled. “If you'd asked I would have let you borrow them.” She said quietly.

“How much did you see?” Eva asked. It took all of her self control not to get angry.

“All of it.” Said Hannah. “What does it mean? What did your grandmother do to you? Why did you run?”

Eva sucked in her breath and closed her eyes for a moment. There was no escaping this now. Part of her had known that they would eventually find out, but the other part had desperately hoped that she wouldn't have to dredge it up again. She just wanted to forget.

“Come and sit down.”

Once Hannah and Tansy had gotten comfortable, Eva continued.

“What we're about to tell you does not leave this room. Under any circumstances. Understood?” She sounded like Miss Hardbroom in that moment.

“You have our word.”

Eva nodded, satisfied, and raised her hands. A shimmering blanket of magic rippled over the room and settled against the walls before fading.

“What was that?” Tansy questioned.

“A privacy spell, to keep flapping ears from listening in.” Said Eva.

“No one outside will be able to hear us now.” Leah added.

There was silence in the room for several moments as the twins chose their words carefully. Finally, Eva began. “Our grandmother. . .she is obsessed with power and status. She married into a wealthy family, but that was not enough. She had a daughter, our mother. But she was just a pawn in grandmother’s game. Grandmother caused the death of a woman and then forced our mother to marry her widowed husband, a powerful businessman and raise his good for nothing daughter.”

“Wait. Your grandmother’s a murderess?” Hannah spoke after a moment of silence, sounding incredulous.

“Yes, well.” Said Eva. “She has a dangerous ambition. A hunger for power that cannot be controlled. Leah, would you like to continue the story?”

Leah nodded. “Before she was married, our mother had an. . .affair with a young man - our father. They loved each other, planned on running away and getting married. But grandmother believed he was below our mother and would never allow that. She killed him. Mother tried to hide her pregnancy but it was discovered. Grandmother was furious. When we were born, she told our mother we'd died and then passed us off to a dark wizard. Things happened and we eventually ended up back with our grandmother, who'd made herself mayor in another town.” She stopped abruptly, staring at her hands. This was where the story changed. Where things got really ugly.

Eva didn't want to dredge up the past she'd tried so hard to forget. She didn't want to tarnish her friends’ innocent minds with their pain and suffering. They didn't deserve to carry those scars. But she had to, or they'd keep asking questions.

“We were toys to her. Her favourite game was seeing how much we could take before we broke. Or seeing how much pain we could handle before we'd scream. And when we put each other back together, she'd break us again. She wanted us broken. Her goal was to make us into monsters.” Eva had given up on keeping her voice steady and it shook as she forced her threatening tears back.

Leah wasn't so successful. She had let her tears fall, running down her cheeks and dripping into Raven’s glossy fur. “She never accepted anything less than perfection. She sees emotion as weakness and Mills women don't show weakness.”

It made sense now. Why the twins acted the way they did. Why they hid

behind masks and never had a hair out of place. Why they said they were fine when they clearly were not. Why they were so secretive. They were products of their twisted childhoods.

There was a long moment of heavy silence before someone finally spoke.

“Merlin’s boots.” Said Tansy. “That's - that's horrible.”

“You escaped her didn't you? You're safe? That's what it said in the letters. That this is your hiding place and you're safe here.” Hannah added.

Eva nodded. “Yes.” She said. “But safe is a relative term. We will never truly be safe as long as she lives.” There was a flicker of fear in her eyes, but it was gone as soon as it appeared, hidden back behind that impenetrable mask.

“Hey.” Said Hannah, as she shifted closer. “You're not alone anymore. You've got us now. Your secrets are safe. Don't worry.”

“Yeah. You've got us.” Tansy agreed.

They sat like that for a long time. Hannah and Tansy taking in what they'd just been told and Eva and Leah hoping their half lies were enough.

                                                         o0o

Constance made her way through the familiar, drafty halls of the castle, her heels clicking sharply on the flagstone floor. A group of first years scuttled hurriedly out of her path and a couple of fourth years made a dash for the library as she went.

The potions mistress was entirely unsure of how to broach the current situation. She'd been sent up to check on the twins, the same twins who were abused, traumatized and who screamed in their sleep. Those were all things she could relate to, not that she would ever admit that to anyone. The more she thought about Eva and Leah Mills, the more unpleasant memories were dredged up from where they'd been banished in the deepest recesses of her mind. But also, the stronger the need to help them, protect them, became. Secretly, she wanted so badly to be there for them, for they didn't deserve to be alone.

She reached up and knocked on their door. “It's Miss Hardbroom. Can I come in?” It was strange to ask. Usually she would have just waited for the standard “come in” or “just a minute, Miss.”

There was a moment of silence before Eva replied. “Come in, Miss.”

The teacher pushed open the door and stepped inside. The girls, all four of them, stood to attention. Constance eyed them. “Hannah Hawkweed, Tansy Toadsworth, I'd like to speak to Eva and Leah alone if you wouldn't mind.” She looked pointedly at the door.

“Okay, Miss. We'll be in my room.” Said Hannah, as she and Tansy got up and left, closing the door behind them.

Once they were gone, Miss Hardbroom sat herself elegantly on Leah's bed. She looked around as she thought up a way to start the conversation. The room was neat and tidy, almost eerily so. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Their book bags hung on the back of their chairs and there was a stack of library books on one of the desks. Constance noted that they were ordered alphabetically according to their titles. Their cat baskets sat one on top of the other in a corner. The nightstand in between their beds was empty aside from a candle and a bottle of dreamless sleep potion. There were no clothes on the floor or papers heaped messily on the desks.

“Miss?” Leah was sitting on her bed, hugging her cat, Raven.

Constance looked to the girls in question to see they were watching her, carefully curious. “I came to see if you were alright.” She softened her voice from her usual cold tones. “Miss Drill told me what happened, from her perspective at least.”

Leah looked away, stroking her cat’s soft fur distractedly. “I'm fine Miss. I-I just I-I know Penelope wasn't trying to hurt me, that it was only a game, but I-I kept seeing Grandm-mother throwing c-curses at me a-and-” When she looked back, her blue eyes were full of tears. She wiped them away quickly. “I'm sorry Miss.”

Constance sighed. Flashbacks. Of course these girls would have flashbacks. How couldn't they? “You have nothing to be sorry for, Leah. It's not your fault.”

“Yes it is!” Leah cried. “I-I know she's not h-here, that we’re s-safe here, b-but I just can't - I can’t -”.

Constance took a deep breath. She needed to be patient with these girls. She needed to remind herself that she understood them, couldn't blame them. “You can't stop thinking about her, remembering . . .expecting. . .” She spoke softly, half to herself. “I know. Believe me, I do. When I first came here, after college, I swore I could still feel my tutor’s eyes on me. Every time I turned around I expected her to be there, watching. It took time, but I eventually realized I was safe. But I was alone, I had no one to protect me. Miss Cackle tried, but she doesn't know what it's like.” She looked at them seriously. “I promise you, I will protect you. If she finds you, I won't let her near you.”

Eva and Leah stared at their teacher wide-eyed. No one had ever done that before. They were always left to protect themselves, even when they were too small, starved and powerless to stand a chance against their grandmother. Everyone else was too afraid of the Queen of Hearts to stand against her, and rightly so. But, evidently, not Constance Hardbroom.

“Do you mean that, Miss?” Leah asked, disbelieving.

Constance did mean it. She knew that if she ever had the displeasure of meeting that disgusting woman, it would be a job not to curse her into oblivion for what she'd done to her girls. Her girls. She didn't know when she'd started referring to the twins specifically as ‘her girls’ but she decided, secretly of course, that she liked it. “Of course I mean it, silly girl.” She paused for a moment before adding, “you're safe with me. I won't let anything happen to either of you.”

Eva and Leah scooted closer to her, comfortable in the presence of their protector. Eva looked up and Constance could see in her eyes how grateful she was. “No one’s ever cared that much about us before. Why do you?”

Constance's eyes softened. It pained her to know that these girls clearly did not believe they deserved to be cared about. “Because you are smart and brave young witches who deserve someone who's willing to risk themselves for you. You never deserved what was done to you and - and if I had been there, I - I'd have given my life to protect you.”

Constance nearly tipped over backward when small arms were thrown around her and a scrawny little body collided with hers. She looked down only to find watery blue eyes staring back at her.

“Grandmother always said it was our fault, that we brought it on ourselves by being the w-worthless daughters of a stable b-boy.” Said Leah tearfully. “You're the first one to tell us otherwise.”

Leah didn't show any signs of letting her go, content as she was to be near her, so Constance wrapped protective arms around her. “Now Leah, and Eva,” she added, motioning for the other girl to join them. “That is absolute rubbish. It was never your fault and I won't have you calling yourselves worthless, because you are worth the world. You're grandmother is the one who is worthless and I am certain that your father was a far better person than she can ever hope to be.”

Eva looked up and brown eyes met brown. “Do you think so?”

“I do. I also think that he must be quite proud of both of you.” She replied.

Eva looked down at her hands as Leah picked at a loose thread on her gymslip. “I doubt it. We're hardly anything to be proud of.” She said quietly.

Constance looked down at them. “Oh, but you are. You are so brave and beautiful and you've been through so much. It would be so easy to just give up, but you still keep fighting everyday. And you're smart. You're so smart despite never attending a junior school. You taught yourself, Leah, but you're still top of my potions class. As did you, Eva, but you still far surpass your class in spells.” Her lips twitched upwards into a fond smile. “I am so proud to call you my pupils.”

The two girls couldn't believe their ears. No one had ever been proud of them before. “Y-you are?”

Constance held them close. “ I am. I have never been so proud of anyone as I am of you two.”

The two little witches leaned into her, arms wrapped around her as she wrapped hers around them. They were quiet for a few minutes, before a small voice broke the silence.

“Are you still afraid of her, Miss?” Leah questioned, carefully. “Your former tutor, I mean.”

Constance didn't answer right away. She didn't like admitting to her fears, but for these precious little witches. . .

“Yes. I am. There are some fears that we will never be rid of, that are too deeply ingrained into us to fully heal. But, I think perhaps you've taught me that it's easier to fight when you've someone to fight for.” She told them honestly. “I think we'll be okay.”

“We've always fought for each other.” Eva agreed, as she looked to her sister. “I'd have given up long ago without you, Leah.” She looked to her teacher then. “Do you have anyone to fight for, Miss?”

Constance smiled fondly. “I have you two.”

                                                 o0o

The old castle was silent as its inhabitants slumbered, though not all peacefully. Eva Mills stirred in her sleep, her eyes flicking back and forth underneath their lids as she witnessed something from a time long passed.

Tiny, four-year-old Eva wrapped her arms tighter around herself as the the heeled footsteps clicked closer. She let out a high pitched whimper as the door was flung open so hard it nearly flew off its hinges. Tears of terror slid down her pale cheeks as the woman drew nearer.

“What are you doing on the floor, girl?! Get up!” Grandmother barked.

Eva didn't move, just hugged herself tighter. “Pwease.” She whispered. “I’s sowy.”

“Get up!” Grandmother barked again, louder this time. “And speak properly!”

She was too afraid to move. She couldn't make her body obey the angry command.

“I said GET UP!” Grandmother grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet and shoved her into the wall behind her. “You useless, disobedient little BRAT!”

Suddenly, there was a silvery knife clasped in her right hand. She ran the flat of the blade along the too pale skin of Eva’s too thin arm before abruptly turning it so the sharp edge dug in, drawing scarlet.

Eva screamed.

The knife disappeared.

A hand flew up and slapped her hard across the face, a sharp edged ring leaving a bloody gash in her cheek. “A princess does not scream!”

In another room on a floor far above, someone else was also remembering, against her will, the horrors of the past. The only witness being a pair of green eyes belonging to a sleek black cat as she leaped up onto a bookshelf, tail lashing crossly. Morgana was used her mistress’ nightmares but that didn't mean she had to like it.

A rough, claw-like hand grabbed a handful of her long hair and yanked her backwards. An angry voice hissed in her ear.

“Useless girl! You can't even tell the difference between a sleeping drought and a coma potion! How do expect to be a potions teacher if you can't do something as simple as that!”

“I-I'm Sorry, M-Mistress Broomhead, I-” young Constance stammered.

Something sharp flashed down her arm, leaving a trail of warm crimson in its wake. Constance swallowed her scream.

“Don't answer me back!” Mistress Broomhead snapped.

The slender girl stumbled back against a desk as her tutor backhanded her hard across her pale face.

“Turn around, girl!” The older witch demanded as she summoned her weapon of choice, an old wooden cane.

Constance's eyes widened. “Please, Mistress. . .not -”

“Now!”

Constance turned, knowing it would only be worse if she didn't. She couldn't suppress her screams as her tutor hit her, over and over again. She couldn't stop her tears from falling.

Chapter Text

The end of the school year was fast approaching and with it, the heat of the summer sun. The temperature was not the only thing that was high, either. The heat was making tempers flare among teachers and pupils alike.

Miss Hardbroom was in no mood to deal with Miss Bat’s less than practical and rather annoying habits. But it seemed that Davina was in no mood to deal with her either.

“Davina Bat, if you don't unlock this door immediately, I'll be forced to use other means!” The deputy warned as she raised her spell-casting fingers.

The chanting mistress had locked herself in the staff room stationery cupboard. Again.

“Why do you care whether I'm in here or not!” Miss Bat snapped back.

Constance gritted her teeth in a annoyance. “Because, Miss Bat, some of us actually need to access the stationery.” Her voice was low, scathing.

Meanwhile, the first years were in PE, halfheartedly playing volleyball in the blistering sun of the courtyard. It was clear no one wanted to be out there in the heat as the girls were continually throwing insults at each other and, seemingly, trying to hit each other with the ball on purpose.

Eva eyed the volleyball as it flew over her head but made no move to go after it. It bounced off the wall and landed at Miss Drill’s feet. The teacher picked it up with a sigh.

“Come on Eva. Aren't you going to at least try?” She asked.

“No.” Eva grumbled. “It's far too hot to be running around chasing volleyballs.”

“Perhaps if you didn't insist on wearing tights and long sleeves with your shorts you wouldn't get so overheated.” Miss Drill reasoned.

Eva blanched. It was none of the teacher’s business why she dressed the way she did.

“Are you sure you aren't just exceptionally bad at it?” Mariam sneered.

Eva flicked her wrist, muttering under her breath. The ball flew out of Miss Drills hands and over the net, hitting the Hallow girl smack in the forehead and sending her sprawling.

“Eva Mills!” Miss Drill exclaimed as she hurried across the yard to Mariam.

Eva crossed her arms. “She was asking for it.”

“That doesn't mean you just start flinging balls at her!” Penelope shouted as she helped her friend up.

“Shut up Penelope. We don't need you stirring the cauldron anymore!” Even mild mannered Leah was getting annoyed.

Miss Drill blew her whistle then. “That's enough girls! Go and change and get some water. Eva, Miss Cackle’s office once you've done that.”

The girls filed inside to the locker room, grumbling and bickering as they went. After changing, they joined the line for the water fountain.

“Ugh. It's about time she let us come back in. It's like an oven out there!” Said Tansy.

“I'll say.” Eva agreed. “Can't say it's much better in here though.”

“Nice work on Mariam. She was really starting to get on my nerves.” Hannah added.

“I second that.” Carolina announced from behind them.

There were mumbled agreements from the other girls. Apart from Penelope, no one really liked their stuck up classmate and today she'd been particularly annoying.

“Hey, move aside!” Penelope ordered as she shoved her way to the front of the line. “Out of my way, losers!” Even without her ringleader she was still a bitch.

Eva, who was now at the front of the line, refused to budge. “Get to the back of the line, Paddock!” She snapped. “We were here first!”

“Yeah, you can wait your turn like the rest of us!” Tansy added.

“Are you deaf, loser? I said move!” Penelope shouted as she shoved Eva out of the way.

Eva was furious. She hated being touched against her wishes. With a flick of her wrist, she sent Penelope flying backwards into the wall. The smaller girl stocked forward until she was directly in front of her enemy.

“You touch me again and I'll turn you into something utterly disgusting.” She threatened.

“Girls!” Miss Drill called. She'd obviously heard the commotion and come to investigate. “What on earth is going on?”

“Penelope thinks she has the right to cut in front of all of us who were in line before her.” Said Leah. “And then she pushed Eva.”

“Yeah and now Eva's threatening to transfrogify me!” Penelope added.

Miss Drill sighed. “For goodness sake girls. Miss Cackle’s office, both of you!”

Eva and Penelope left the room, arguing as they went and the rest of the girls finished up and went on their way.

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the potions lab and reunited with Eva, Mariam and Penelope. The class was, for once, quiet. No one dared stick a toe out of line in the presence of their form mistress. Miss Hardbroom was handing back their graded potions exams and the room filled with quiet muttering as the girls discussed their marks.

“Hey, Mariam what did you get?” Penelope leaned over to look at her friends paper.

Mariam smiled smugly. “A, probably top of the class too.”

Leah smiled as she looked down at her own paper. Her hard work and perfectionist attitude had paid off. She'd received an A+.

“I wouldn't put money on that, Mariam.” Tansy announced. “Check out Leah's!”

“Yeah, well done Leah!” Hannah added.

Eva smiled at her sister. “I knew you could to do it!” She herself had received an A. She was good at potions but not as brilliant as Leah.

Leah blushed, not used to being the center of attention.

Mariam turned around to face them. “What - no!” She exclaimed when she saw her nemesis had scored higher than her. “That’s - that's favoritism! That's not fair!”

“I assure you, Mariam Hallow, it was no such thing.” Said Miss Hardbroom, having overheard the conversation. Constance had been pleasantly surprised by her first years’ potions exams. They were certainly one of the better classes she'd had over the years, if one ignored the constant bickering between the twins and their lot and Mariam and Penelope.

“And just for that little comment, Mariam, you can hand in 300 lines of In future I will not accuse my teachers of favoritism just because someone scored higher than me on an exam, to me this evening. Is that clear?” She added.

“Yes Miss Hardbroom.” Mariam muttered, all the while giving Leah a hard glare.

The day wore on. The heat continued to bake the inhabitants of the castle like biscuits in the oven. After a dinner that resulted in a food fight started by the second years after a supposed nasty insult, Eva and Leah were finally able to escape to their room.

“My gods, what a day.” Eva groaned as she pulled Twilight in for a hug.

“I know.” Leah agreed.

By lights out, seemingly everyone had received their fair share of detentions. Eva had also received five hundred lines of ‘I will not use magic to harm my classmates, even if they are being childish and annoying’ and the second years had been tasked with cleaning the hall ‘until it sparkles’.

                                                      o0o

Summer break had officially begun. The pupils and teachers had bid farewell and headed for home, Miss Cackle being the last to leave a few days after the others.

Eva, Leah and Constance were the last remaining inhabitants in the castle and Constance Hardbroom had made a choice following the last visit from the girls’ social worker, Dinah Foxglove. She had decided to become the twins’ legal guardian and well she had been sorting out the paperwork and what not for the past few months since Miss Foxglove’s last visit at half term, she still had yet to discuss the situation with the girls in question.

She knew she had to do it today, as Miss Foxglove was due later that afternoon with the last forms so her and the girls could make it official. She mulled it over in her head as she went about looking for them, trying to figure out the best way to broach the subject.

She found them out back at the gardens. They had planted all sorts of things that spring during their botany classes and now the plants were well on their way to a plentiful harvest. Constance was pleased to see her girls were making good on their promise to take care of them. She watched for a moment as they levitated watering cans to float around the gardens, emptying their contents over the plants.

When they'd finished, she stepped forward to meet them. “Girls, I have something important to tell you.”

They turned around, the watering cans lighting down behind them. “What is it, Miss?” Eva questioned.

Constance motioned to a nearby bench. “Come here, I'll tell you.”

The girls did and noted that their teacher’s lips had twitched up into that sort of half smile she wore when she was pleased about something. Once they were all settled on the bench, Constance began to explain.

“Do you remember back at half term, when Miss Foxglove came? She'd found a place for you and it took some persuading on our part to get her to let you stay here?”

The girls nodded apprehensively. “Yes. . .” Eva trailed off uneasily.

Leah seemed upset by these words and she wrapped her arms around herself. “You're going to send us away.” Her blue eyes filled with tears. “You don't want us anymore.”

Eva pulled her sister closer to her, clearly hurt as she moved to get up. “We’ll pack our things then. We’ll go away.”

Constance realized right away that they'd gotten the wrong idea and admonished herself for her choice of opening. “No, girls no. That's not what I meant. Quite the contrary in fact.”

They both looked up at her with uncertain eyes. “You're not sending us away?” Leah questioned, voice small.

“No, Leah, I'm not. I'd very much like you both to stay here with me, if you will.”

“You do?” Leah looked up, eyes wide.

Constance nodded. “I do. I've been making arrangements with Miss Foxglove to become your guardian, so you can stay here indefinitely. If you're agreeable. It's your choice.” She didn't want them to think she was forcing it on them as she knew they wouldn't like that.

She was worried, certain she'd upset them when their eyes filled tears. However, she was proved wrong when Eva spoke. “You want us to stay here? Indefinitely?” She wiped at her eyes, frustrated with the show of emotion. “No one’s ever wanted us before.”

“Not for anything good.” Leah added sadly. “Do you really want us for a good reason, Miss?”

Her heart cracked a bit at that, to think they'd only ever been wanted by people with dark intentions for them. “Oh Leah, yes. I'll never hurt you, I promise. I'll always protect you.”

And she would. She would protect them, see that they got the care they needed to heal, that they were left in peace by those who had hurt them. In time, always protect would become always love, Miss would become Mum and the unwanted little girls would become treasured daughters.

                                                    o0o

It was dark. It shouldn't have been dark, but it was. The sun was shining just a moment ago, wasn't it? A strange mist hung in the air, making it feel cold and damp. Shadows shifted along the stone walls and something moved in her peripheral vision. She spun around abruptly but there was nothing there.

“Eva? Is that you?”

Her voice sounded strange, as if someone else was speaking it from far away. She hugged herself nervously. There was more movement on the edge of her vision, closer this time.

“Miss Hardbroom?”

Silence.

She walked forwards tentatively and the shadow in her peripheral vision drew nearer still. She picked up her pace until she was almost running down the corridor. Suddenly, her foot caught in a crack in the stone and she was sent sprawling across the floor. She quickly pulled herself up onto her hands and knees and looked back to see what had tripped her.

She let out a strangled sound somewhere between a gasp and a scream. There was a woman stood in the middle of the corridor, staring at her. In her red and white gown and emotionless mask, she was horrifyingly familiar. Leah scrambled backwards against the wall, breathing heavily.

The figure moved closer. It wasn't a step exactly, it was almost like she was floating. Suddenly, it vanished and reappeared directly in front of her. Leah did the only thing she could do. She dematerialized.

                                                      o0o

She shouldn't have been here. She wasn't supposed to be here. She'd left the hallowed halls of Witch Training College some fourteen years ago and not returned since, yet here she was. Everything was just as she remembered, cold and dark and metaphorically lifeless. Almost. The once grand entrance hall looked older, like time had tarnished it, was claiming it. The tall stone pillars were riddled with cracks and chips and the once glossy wooden floor was dull and scratched.

She was so caught up in her surroundings it took a moment for her to realize her feet were moving of their own accord. The corridor seemed to grow darker and narrower the farther from the entrance hall she went. As she walked, a dark shadow flickered out of the corner of her eye and she flinched subconsciously. Continuing, she rounded a corner to find a windowless door in a nondescript stone wall. A familiar door. She would recognize it anywhere because behind that door was the old basement classroom that Mistress Broomhead used for private tutoring sessions. She had never wanted to see it again. Horrific things happened in there, people were broken, hell, people had probably died in there. It was the room she was taken back to in her nightmares every night. It was hell.

Her hell.

She didn't want to, but something was making her. An invisible force was controlling her. She stepped forward and reached for the door. As she turned the handle and pushed the door open, something shifted in her peripheral vision, directly behind her.

The faceless silhouette of a person.

She spun around so fast she almost tripped over her own feet, only to find the corridor was empty. The door swung on squeaky hinges behind her and she turned back to the room.

Her breath hitched in her throat as her brain failed to remember the life giving function of breathing. Her blood ran ice cold in her veins as her body froze, refusing to move no matter how hard she tried to make it cooperate.

Across the room, behind the front desk, was the woman from her nightmares. Mistress Broomhead hadn't changed. She was still as straight backed and cold as she always had been. Her grey eyes bore straight through her and her red lips were twisted into a sneer. Constance tried to run but her feet were frozen to the ground. She could feel her heart racing, threatening to burst from her chest like an out of control freight train barreling down a hill.

She didn't know how long she'd been standing there, locked in a staring contest with her former tutor, sharp grey boring into terrified brown. What she did know, however, was that all of a sudden something heavy slammed into her from behind, sending her stumbling forward. The instant this contact happened, Mistress Broomhead disappeared and she was suddenly back in Cackle’s staring into her empty potions lab. She stood there, trying desperately to comprehend what had just transpired, until she registered the muffled sobbing of a young girl and turned around to see Leah had latched onto to her, arms wrapped around her waist as she sobbed into her dress. Constance carefully wrapped her own arms around the girl, still shaken from what had just happened.

They stood there, holding each other, acutely aware they were both trembling, for a few moments before Constance reasoned to herself that she should probably inquire why her pupil was so upset.

“Leah.” She gently pried the girl off of her so she could look at her and ensure she wasn't hurt. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

Leah looked up at her, blue eyes wide with terror. “S-she's here, I s-saw her, she's h-here! She's found u-us!”

“Who's here?” Miss Hardbroom questioned. “Who did you see?”

“Grandmother! She-she was in the corridor!” Leah exclaimed frantically.

Constance frowned as her mind worked. They had both seen their tormentors, in the castle, within minutes of each other. Mistress Broomhead had vanished the second Leah had made her presence known. Perhaps the woman hadn't been there at all. But what of Cora Mills?

“Leah.” She addressed the panicked girl before her. “Calm down. I don't think what you saw was real. Something’s not right here.”

It was Leah's turn to frown. “What do you mean, Miss?”

“I mean, I just saw my former tutor. The one I told you about, do you remember?”

Leah nodded. “Of course.”

“She disappeared as soon as you touched me.” Constance finished.

Leah nodded in understanding. “She was in the lab wasn't she? You were staring in there and-and you looked really scared, but then you snapped out of it when I, uh, hugged you.” She looked away awkwardly. “I'm sorry.”

Constance saw this and gave a slight smile. “I'm very glad that you did. Who knows what would have happened if I didn't ‘snap out of it’, as you say. Now. Where is Eva? I think we’d best find her.”

Leah opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by an earth shattering scream. It reverberated off the walls and echoed down the empty corridors, high pitched and horrified. Leah looked up at her teacher, eyes wide. “That was Eva!”

“Come on then. We'd better hurry.”

They both transferred up to the twins’ bedroom, to a spot right outside the door.

                                                   o0o

Eva ran. The corridor seemed to stretch out forever and the things that were chasing her were drawing ever closer. Rough, shadowy outlines of human figures. They were faceless. Practically formless and they moved with an eerie sense of fallen grace. Her boots thumped on worn wood and she wanted to scream for Leah or Miss Hardbroom or somebody.

It wasn't until she reached her bedroom door that she finally stopped running and threw it open, only to stop in her tracks and scream, a sound so haunting it would chill the devil to the bone. Leah was lying motionless on her bed, the covers stained with her own blood. She was far too pale and her blue eyes were hazy and unfocused. Eva scrambled across the room, failing to notice the shadows had disappeared, and grabbed at her sister’s arms.

“Leah!” She screamed as she shook her sister. “Leah, wake up!”

Leah remained unmoving as Eva continued to shake her. She was deathly pale and ice cold to the touch, like someone had frozen her from the inside out. Her lips had a bluish tint about them and her ebony hair was strewn around her head like a black curtain, matted by her own crimson blood. The worst part of it all were her once beautiful blue eyes,

now glazed over and unseeing.

Eva collapsed to floor, tears of shock and horror streaming down her face. “Leah, please. Don't leave me. Don't go.” She sobbed. “I need you. I need you with me.”

                                                     o0o

Eva woke with a start, her sister’s name dying on her lips. She scrambled up, eyes wide and breathing fast, panicked. There was a creak from the neighboring bed and she turned to see Leah facing her, blue eyes sleepy. Eva slumped down onto her pillow with a sigh of relief.

“Nightmare?” Leah blinked at her, sweet and quiet and so very Leah.

Eva nodded against her pillow, still shaken. She tried to control her breathing but found herself gasping when the image of Leah still on her bed, eyes clouded and skin milky white where it wasn't stained scarlet, returned unbidden to her mind. She gripped at her blanket and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Eva?” She felt the bed dip as Leah climbed up beside her. “Breathe, Eva, breathe, it's okay. We're safe.”

Eva reached for her sister, hands tangling in her hair and gripping at her nightdress. She needed to know that Leah was real. That she was there and okay.

Leah laid down next her sister and took her hands in hers. “I'm here. I'm okay.”

Eva's arms found their way around Leah's waist and they held each other close. “I-I thought I'd lost you. You were so still -”

“It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real.” Leah reminded softly, all the while trying to convince herself of the same thing.

Upstairs, Constance Hardbroom was also startled awake, yanked unceremoniously from her nightmare and thrown back into the waking world. She sat up, confused as to what had just happened. It had been one of those dreams that were so vivid you were certain it was real. She hated those dreams. Especially when they involved Mistress Broomhead, which they usually did.

She looked around her room suspiciously, only to find Morgana staring back with wide green eyes.

“What are you looking at?” She questioned the cat, who mewed in response.

She reached over and scratched Morgana behind the ears, eliciting a purr from the cat. “I think perhaps we should go check on the girls, don’t you?”

The cat pawed at her slightly damp pajamas and looked pointedly towards the en suite.

“Hmm.” Said Constance, as she eyed herself with a specific look of distaste. “Perhaps you're right.”

With that, she got up and went to take a shower. When she was finished, she got dressed and headed downstairs. It had become something of a ritual over the past few weeks to check on the girls first thing and then go down for tea and breakfast together.

Outside, the sun was rising, streaming in through the windows in the corridors and promising a warm, dry day. Constance walked said corridors, enjoying the peace of the summer morning. When she got down to the twins’ room, she could tell they were awake by their voices on the other side of the door. She knocked, gentler than usual as she knew they didn't like loud noises, and pushed open the door after they called admittance.

“Good morning girls -” she stopped when she saw the scene that greeted her.

Eva was curled into a ball on her bed with her hands over her ears and her cat on top of her. Her brown eyes were clouded and as she spoke, her words were fast and jumbled and frightened. Constance could tell that while she may have been with them physically, mentally she was trapped in a time long passed.

“What's happened Leah?” She questioned as she crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed.

“She had a nightmare, Miss. She was fine when she first woke up, but then. . .” Leah paused, eyes full of fear. “She won't come back to me! I can always get her back but. . . I - I think she saw me dead or - or something and -”

Constance stopped her, having heard enough. “She'll be okay. We’ll make sure of it, won't we?”

Leah chewed her lip nervously but eventually nodded. “Yes.” She agreed.

Constance turned to Eva then and spoke gently to her. “Eva, It's Miss Hardbroom. You are safe. Leah is safe. It's going to be okay.” Tentatively, she stroked a hand over the girl’s dark hair and brushed it away from her face. “You're okay.” When Eva didn't respond, she continued. “Leah and I are going to cast a spell on you now. It's a nice spell, I promise. It won't hurt you. It'll help you come back to us, okay?”

She looked up to Leah, who was staring back at her worriedly. “What kind of spell, Miss?”

“It's a spell to bring a certain memory to the forefront of her mind. We're going to see if we can block out the bad bit she's remembering now with something good. Does that sound okay?”

Leah nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Now, we're going to have you cast it, because you are better versed in Eva’s memories than I. Right?” Constance waited for Leah to agree again before continuing. “You need to focus on a specific memory, a positive one, one you know Eva has as well. Place your hand on her forehead - that's right - now I'll tell you the words and you can repeat them. Are you ready?”

Leah nodded.

“Praeteritis praesentibus bonis, malisque memoria memor, salvos et Incolumes domi.”

Leah repeated the words, eyes shut as she focused on her chosen memory. There was a blue glow that was emitted from her hand as she channeled her magic. The twins were so accustomed to each other's magic that Eva barely seemed to notice as the spell worked. It did work though. She relaxed slightly as her haunted eyes slid shut and her trembling ceased. She still held her hands over her ears but she was calm now as she slipped into a peaceful slumber.

Leah lifted her hand and leaned back, only to bump into Constance. The teacher turned guardian smiled down at her as she wrapped her arms around her protectively. “Well done, Leah. What did you show her?”

Leah met her eyes, relieved blue on warm brown. “The morning we arrived here. Waking up with - with you, and knowing we were finally safe. Finally home.”

“That sounds like a good choice, little one.” Constance replied.

Leah looked up at her. “How long do you think she'll sleep for, Miss?”

“It shouldn't be too much longer.” She replied.

As if to prove her correct, Eva stirred and her eyes fluttered open. She blinked in the daylight and looked around.

Constance smiled softly at her. “Welcome back, brave girl. We missed you.”

Chapter Text

It was the anniversary of the day they'd arrived. Eva and Leah couldn't quite believe that they'd been free for a whole year. That 365 days had passed since they'd last seen their grandmother. It was clear they'd made the right choice in coming here, that Cackle’s Academy was the perfect place to hide. They didn't need their mother. They never had. Besides, they had someone else now.

Eva didn't know what a mother’s love felt like but she was content to think it was something like how Miss Hardbroom cared. How she smiled at them - that slight lift of her lips - when no one was looking, or how she comforted them when they were afraid or upset and held them safe and warm after an awful nightmare. She and her sister didn't care that everyone else seemed to think Miss Hardbroom was ‘mean’, because they clearly hadn't experienced ‘mean’ for what it truly was, as the twins had. Miss Hardbroom was not mean. She would never dream of hurting them. She was simply strict. Strict but kind. 

Eva thought about the day they'd met, one year ago. She remembered waking up to late summer sunshine in her eyes and someone gently running a brush through her long hair. She remembered Leah watching carefully, her own hair already brushed and discovering that their wounds - the physical ones - were all healed. She hadn't understood the kindness, having only ever experienced cruelty or indifference after having grown up with the belief that they didn't deserve anything more. 

Her mind slipped farther back, into the shadows that came before Cackle’s, into a life she didn't want to remember. Why did grandmother hate them so much? She knew it was because of who their father was, but she didn't understand because they had no control over that. One did not get to choose the people they were born to. However, if they had not been born to Regina Mills and Daniel Colter, they would not have had to run from their grandmother and thus would never have met Constance Hardbroom, who was slowly becoming a mother to them. They had been fated to meet, the twins were sure, drawn together by their similar pasts. 

Eva wondered whether they were still being looked for and if so, how close were they to being found? She shivered. No, they wouldn't be found. Not yet. Sometimes, she deigned to hope that their grandmother had simply forgotten about them. That would be a miracle indeed. 

Eva did not know why she was doing what she was doing. She did not know why she saw fit to write a letter-that-would-not-be-sent to their grandmother, but she did and she was.

Dear Grandmother,

First things first I suppose. You are not dear to us. You never have been and you never will be. Secondly, you will not receive this letter, and if by some mistake you do, it will most certainly not be on purpose. 

Anyway, it's been a year exactly since we ran. You didn't expect us to succeed did you? The truth is, we've been honing our running and hiding skills for eleven long years, in preparation for this. You probably thought we’d go somewhere obvious like to mother. I laugh at that thought. If you raised us to be anything other than broken, you raised us not to be stupid, and that would be a stupid choice indeed. 

I know your goal was to make us into monsters, to raise us in your image, but you failed. We will never be like you. We will never be heartless or power crazed and we will most certainly never harm a child. Most importantly however, we will never relinquish our magic to you, because we know that is the sole reason why you kept us alive. You always planned on taking our magic when the time was right and killing us after that. But with our magic and yours combined, you would be unstoppable and we cannot allow that. 

I hate you. I hate you for what you did to me and for what you did to my sister. I hate you for making her suffer, for forcing her to grow up without parents, because no matter how hard I try I am not her mother, for we are the same age. I hate you for your impossible standards and your inability to get off your high horse and see the damage you've caused. But most of all, I hate you for your belief that you have the right to do such things and cause such damage, because no one has that right, not even the Queen of hearts. Speaking of rights, you have none in regards to us. You do not have the right to take us back or to ever see us again, and you certainly do not have any rights to our magic. We will run and we will hide for as long as it takes for you to give up trying to find us and if we have our way you will never see us again. 

Eva

Eva stopped and stared at the words on her paper. It felt messy and disorganized, her thoughts simply splattered across the page as they came to her. They were thoughts she hadn't dared to voice to her grandmother’s face, but she finally felt safe enough to let them out now and it felt strangely good, like a weight had been lifted off her chest. A small smile formed on her lips. For her entire life she and her sister had been prisoners, but now they were finally free, finally home. 

A knock on the door drew Eva out of her thoughts and she turned around to see Miss Hardbroom open the door. They smiled when they saw each other. 

“Hi Miss. What are you doing up here?” Eva questioned.

Constance closed the door behind her. “Hello Eva. We were wondering where you got to. What are you doing there?” 

Eva shrugged and frowned down at her paper. “I don't really know. Just putting things on paper I guess.” 

“Oh?” 

Eva looked up and brown eyes met brown. “Do you remember what day it is?” 

The teacher nodded. “Of course. It's the anniversary of the day you two arrived here.”

“Yes. It's been exactly a year and I -” she looked down again. “I never thought our freedom would last this long.” 

Constance moved to sit on the edge of one of the beds facing Eva, and took a moment to gather her thoughts. “You know, I felt the same way when I first came here. Every morning I would wake up thinking that day would be the day I was found. It took me a long time to realize I was truly safe.” 

Eva looked up at her. “It did?” 

“Oh yes. Perhaps longer than it should have, but I'm sure you understand how hard it is to trust after such an experience.” Constance explained. She found she was able to open up to the twins and she knew it helped for them to have someone who knew what they were going through, what they'd been through.

“Miss? Can I ask you something?” Eva questioned tentatively.

“Of course you can.” 

“How do you know she looked for you? I mean, she was just your tutor wasn't she?” Said Eva.

Constance remained quiet for a moment, trying to think of the best way to answer that particular question. Eventually, she spoke. “To answer that question we must look back to a time before we magicians were forced into hiding, before the witches’ code was altered to keep us segregated from the mortals. Back then, the existence of our kind was a dangerous one. If we weren't being burnt at the nearest stake, we were being hunted for our coveted powers.”

Eva’s eyes widened as she listened. “Hunted, Miss? By who?” 

“Non magicians are a greedy lot, Eva. They wanted to have what was not theirs to take and had discovered a way to steal magic off of witches and take it for themselves. They became known as magic snatchers. Over time, they integrated themselves into the magical world and gained standing on stolen magic. They targeted the true, powerful magical families and in turn those families grew to fear them, for through their stolen magic they had become too powerful and many witches lost their magic to them. Then, there was a war. The snatchers were outnumbered still and by the time it ended years later, it was mistakenly thought that all the snatchers had been wiped out. They had not however, and centuries went by as they hid behind new names and different faces. They committed their crimes in secret, killing their victims after their magic had been taken to ensure no one was left to tell tales. The magical population began to blame ‘witch-hunters’, mortal people who hunted and killed witches for being witches, but did not take their magic, for the deaths. No-one knew that the victims’ magic had in fact been taken.”

Constance stopped, her story at its end. It was one she had fabricated herself through the research she'd done behind the protective walls of the academy after escaping Mistress Broomhead. She had known about the magic snatching from her history classes, and, after her last confrontation with Broomhead, had needed to know. She had looked through records and censuses to find information that others had seemingly missed, piecing it together to form the answers she needed. 

“Miss? Were - were you hunted? Is your old tutor a snatcher?” Eva questioned carefully. 

“Yes. Eva, she is. She took my parents’ magic and endeavored to take mine. She - she killed them, Eva. Took them to ensure I was left alone. I had no one left to protect me, no one to warn me.” She looked up at Eva, eyes determined. “I will not let the same happen to you, or Leah. I promise.” 

By this time, Eva had moved to sit beside the older witch. She leaned her head against her shoulder in an effort to offer support and wrapped her arms around Constance’s waist. “That's awful, Miss. I'm sorry. About your parents I mean. It must have been so hard.” 

Constance just nodded and they sat in silence for a while before she spoke again. “For a long time, Eva, I wondered why I bothered to free myself from her. I had nothing to live for, not really. But do you know what,  Eva? I've found my reason.” 

Eva looked up at her curiously. “What's that, Miss?” 

Constance smiled and Eva could see a spark of love in her eyes. “To protect you and Leah from that fate. To keep you safe, always.” 

Eva's eyes were wide. “We're your reason?”

She nodded.

“Then you are ours.” Eva stated. “You are the only one who has ever truly cared about us.” 

Constance hugged Eva close to her in an uncharacteristic act of affection. “What did I ever do to deserve such amazing young witches in my life?” 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________                                                         

With the beginning of the new school year looming closer by the day, Constance Hardbroom had decided it was high time they start putting things in order. Not far down the list was restocking the potions cupboard and that particular day had proven a pleasant day to do it. The sun was out, and warm, but not hot. The sky was clear and the forest was lush and green from the recent rains. 

Constance, not one to waste a day as nice as this one, gathered her basket and headed out. Of course, her two favorite helpers were with her and they would get the job done thrice as fast with three sets of hands at it instead of just the one. As they went about searching for what they needed, their cats prowled through the undergrowth around them. 

Leah looked around as she entered a clearing, keeping a close eye out for the wild roses she was currently looking for. She crept further into the clearing and scanned the area, aware of how the breeze suddenly stopped blowing and the forest seemed to fall silent. Then, something caught her eye. It wasn't a wild rose either. This plant was different, dangerous, yet she'd seen it before. It's dark, almost black, jagged leaves were familiar to her. So were the large dagger sharp thorns that seemed to glisten in the sunlight and the deep magenta flowers with their pointed, withered petals. 

Razerflower. The arrival of the name from the catacombs of her mind was immediate, something she could not forget. She hadn't known it was native to this realm but, evidently, it was. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it, even as her breath caught in her throat and the fear from that day overwhelmed her. 

                                                       o0o

Wonderland - in the past

Leah screamed as she came around the corner to find her sister lying still on the ground, a crumpled heap of red fabric and ebony hair and pale skin. She ran forward, stumbling to the ground at Eva's side as her hands wrapped around her sister and shook her gently. 

“Eva, wake up!” 

This had happened before, once when grandmother had made them go too long without food. Eva had woken up then, but she wasn't now. Why not? 

“Eva!”

Small hands brushed dark hair out of her face and blue eyes scanned for any sign of injury, immediately on the alert for whatever had caused this. She ran through a list of symptoms and their respective ailments in her mind: Eva's skin was hot to the touch and she was trembling, Leah realized now. There were red blotches forming along her arms like a sort of rash and her breaths were strained. She thought hard, ruling out everything that didn't fit that particular collection symptoms. She was left with a very short list indeed and panic gripped her as she realized she had no idea what to do or what had caused this. 

Then, as she stared down her elder sister, a thought occurred to her. 

Grandmother had let them join her for tea earlier, because they had a guest and ‘princesses must be present to welcome guests’. It wasn't the first time nor would it be the last, but Eva had mentioned afterward that her tea had tasted funny. Leah hadn't had the same problem. 

She wouldn't, surely. I know she hates us, but . . .

She cut off her spiralling thoughts as her magic came up to whisk them both away to their bedroom. She didn't have time. She needed to figure this out and put it right before it was too late. She couldn't - wouldn't - let her sister die. 

Time was of the essence as she ripped open the door to their wardrobe, unlatched the secret compartment in the bottom and rifled through their supplies. Out came a box of potions ingredients, a mini cauldron and a book. She tossed the book aside, knowing it would be useless and set up the cauldron on the dressing table. 

As she was looking through her ingredients, trying to figure out if she could make an antidote without knowing what it was she was curing, an idea came to her. There had been a bouquet of flowers on the table at teatime, which was not uncommon, but these were different, strange. They'd had huge thorns and jagged, sharp edges. They had looked more like a weapon than an ornament. Because they were. 

On the spot, she vanished again and reappeared in the library. It was empty and she immediately went for the section dedicated to flora. She was in such a hurry as she searched through the books that she stumbled on something lying on the ground. She frowned, because Grandmother would certainly not stand for things left lying around. Picking it up, she found that it was a book on poisonous plants and a page had been left marked. 

                                                    o0o

Present Day

When Constance noticed the forest had gone quiet around her and she couldn't hear the girls nearby, she straightened up from where she'd been bent over a patch of tiny, pale pink twinflowers and brushed herself off. Something told her she should look for her girls, that something was wrong and she needed to find them. 

When she stepped into a clearing a few minutes later, worry - no fear - crept up inside her like constricting vines. She had not felt fear like that before. It was different than Broomhead and different than when her parents had died. She didn't know it then, but it was the fear of a mother who thought she was about to lose her child. 

Leah was sat in the clearing, knees pulled up under her chin and arms wrapped tight around her shins and just past her, mere feet in front of her, was a mass of dark leaves, sharp thorns and rough-edged flowers. She rushed forward, closing the distance between them and kneeling beside her young charge. 

“Leah.” 

She noticed how she trembled, how her blue eyes were glazed and distant. She knew she was unaware of her surroundings, knew her mind was no longer in the present and remembered what that felt like, what it felt like to be pitched back in time to an event she didn't want to remember. 

                                                     o0o

Razerflower. 

That was the name of the plant on the table at teatime, the name of the plant on the marked page. Most importantly, it was the name of the plant that had poisoned Eva. 

The recipe for the antidote was simple enough. That was not the problem. The problem was, she had almost none of the ingredients in her room and no time to go out looking. 

Grandmother’s vault. The one place she was absolutely forbidden from going and certainly not stupid enough to enter. But she had no choice. Eva would surely die if she didn't get that antidote into her and she couldn't allow that. She sucked in a breath and vanished, book clutched to her chest. 

The catacombs of the castle were dark, and damp, and the only part of the place that wasn't impeccably decorated and cleaned. There were cobwebs and cockroaches and big, ugly rats. Leah barely noticed any of it as she slunk down the passage to the door at the end. She pressed her small hand to the tarnished gold handle and felt the magic tickle and poke at her palm as it identified her. The door glowed red as the blood lock admitted her and she slipped inside. 

The red glow and rhythmic beat of hundreds of disembodied hearts did not faze her, she was far too used to it by now. She turned away and went straight to the shelves where grandmother kept her potions ingredients and started shuffling through them. She took only what she  needed and placed it all into a basket she'd conjured before vanishing again. It was time to save her sister. 

Back in their room, Leah pressed a cold cloth to her sister’s forehead as her cauldron simmered. Eva’s breaths were ragged and she was deathly pale as Leah stroked dark hair from her face. 

“Come on, Eva, it's nearly ready. Just - just stay with me. Please.” 

With nothing to do but wait, her traitorous thoughts stole away with her, like thieves in the night. What if it doesn't work? What if it's too late? Hot tears welled up and threatened to fall, even as she tried to hold them back. She couldn't cry, not even in the privacy of her own room. Crying was a sign of weakness and she couldn't be weak. 

“Don't leave me. I n-need you. I know this life is meaningless, that you'd probably rather die if given the chance than stay, but I-I can't - please. Without you, I'm alone. I can't do this alone, Eva.” 

Her hands found her sister’s hands and she squeezed them before getting up and moving back to her cauldron. Minutes passed as she strained the potion and ladled some into a bottle. She turned around, bottle in hand, only to scream as she dropped it. Eva had stopped breathing. Her chest was still and her body was motionless.

“Eva - EVA!” 

                                                     o0o

Present day

Leah’s breathing grew fast and shallow, her eyes glued to the razerflower in front of her. Her nails dug into her skirt and she shook as Constance moved to block the girl’s view of the plant in question. 

“Leah. Did you touch it? Tell me you didn't.” 

Leah didn't answer. All she was aware of was the weight like a boulder on her chest, preventing her from drawing in air and her sister’s life hanging in the balance. 

“She's dying - she's dying!” Her voice rose to a scream in her panic as she all but fell forward into Constance's arms, only to fight against the contact in her effort to see around the older witch and search the clearing for her sister.  

Eva wasn't there. Where was Eva? Was she too late? “Where is she! Where's my sister!”

Constance tried to hold her still and speak calmly. “Eva is fine. I promise.”

“No!” Tears spilled down poor Leah's cheeks as she wrenched herself away from Constance and sprawled herself across the grass. “She's dead isn't she? I failed, I couldn't save her!”

Constance remained still as she knelt, hands frozen in the air halfway between herself and her charge as she tried to decide what to do. Flashbacks were awful, she knew from experience and she hated seeing her girl so upset. Making up her mind, she gathered the small girl back into her arms and held her tight, careful to make sure the razerflower was out of her sight. 

She stroked Leah’s ebony hair and lowered her lips to her ear. “Eva is just fine, I promise. In fact, I dare say she's in a better state than you.”

Leah clutched her dress and her small body trembled as she sobbed. 

“You're safe now. You're both safe. I'll never let her hurt you again.” 

Leah continued to sob, holding tight to Constance in a way that reminded her of a baby monkey holding onto its mother. “Where's Eva! I want Eva!” 

Yes, thought Constance, sometimes the only way to calm one twin was to show them the other was okay. Sometimes, Leah just needed Eva, who knew just how to calm her when no one else could. This was definitely one of those times. “She is collecting herbs. I'm certain she's not gone far. Should we go look for her?” 

“Eva.” Leah sniffled. “Find Eva.” 

She was clearly unwilling, perhaps even unable in the current circumstances, to say more and Constance, deciding it would do her good to get away from that horrid plant, straightened up. She flicked her wrist and the plant in question burst into flames. She watched it burn until it was gone and maneuvered Leah in her arms so as not to drop her. The girl showed no signs of letting go and, really, she was rather too old to be carried, but Constance couldn't bring herself to care when she was clearly so distressed. 

They walked through the woods together, Leah safe in Constance's arms with her head resting on the older witch’s shoulder and handfuls of black fabric held tight in her fists. She was still trembling and frightened and although the older witch felt rather silly for carrying a twelve year as if she were a small child, Constance spoke softly to her, about magic and the old gods that lived in the forest and how a good witch, who was true to herself could sense their presence. Leah listened, soothed by the familiar voice. 

They found Eva near the river, peacefully going about collecting marsh marigold. She didn't hear them right away as she was absorbed in her task, so Constance set Leah down. 

“There she is. See? She's just fine.” She assured gently. 

Eva looked up and frowned when she saw her sister. Her hair had gotten a little messed up during her ordeal and there were dried tear tracks on her face. 

“Leah? What happened?” She looked between them, panicking slightly. “What's wrong? Are you hurt?” 

Leah stumbled forward into her arms. Eva held her tight, whispering soothingly in the way she knew would calm her sister. “Miss, what happened?” 

“We had a bit of an incident with a rather nasty plant.” Constance explained. 

Eva's eyes widened. “Did she touch it?” She was already scanning her sister for any sign of injury. 

Constance shook her head. “No. But it did trigger a very strong flashback. She seemed certain you were dying. Eva, have you ever come across a plant called razerflower?” 

Razerflower. That made sense. She held Leah closer to her. “Yes Miss. We have.” 

                                                      o0o

Wonderland - in the past

Eva didn't like this place - this. . .void. In every direction was an endless expanse of white nothingness. She couldn't tell if she was floating or standing on solid ground and there was no sign of her sister anywhere. 

Where was Leah? She looked around, frantic to find her sister. Instead, she found a young man. He couldn't have been much more than twenty and had brown hair and eyes as blue as Leah’s. She crept forward a few steps towards him. 

“Excuse me, but where am I? Where's my sister?” She questioned. 

The man turned to her and a soft smile graced is lips. “Leah is just fine. You needn't worry about her right now. Do you remember what happened before you came here, daughter?” 

Eva frowned. Her memory was foggy, as if she was looking through steamed up glass and the image of the other side was obscured. “My tea. . .it tasted funny. I drank it anyway because I didn’t want to upset grandmother, but I don't think I should have. I. . .I felt ill afterward. 

When she looked back up at her companion he was watching her with a pained expression. “Your grandmother poisoned you Eva.” 

“W-what? Does that mean - does that mean I'm d-dead?” No. She couldn't be dead. Her breathing picked up and tears formed in her eyes. “I can't be dead! I-I - Leah needs me! I need to protect her! She can't be alone - she'll never survive that place on her own!” 

“I know.” The man placed steadying hands on her shoulders. “You are not dead, not quite. Leah got you the antidote, but with only seconds to spare. She is a very smart little witch, Eva, as are you.” He glanced up then, at something behind her, then looked back down. “The road ahead is long and winding, but you will find home, remember that. You must go now, daughter.” He said. 

And then he was gone, and so was she.

                                                             ~~~

when the world swam back into existence around her, the first thing she became aware of was sound. Somewhere, something shattered, glass on stone. Subsequently, there was shouting and a voice that broke down into angry, broken sobs. 

“Worthless!” 

She flinched, her immediate thought was that grandmother was hurting Leah again and she tried to push herself up, to get to her sister. But she was too weak from her ordeal and her vision was blurred. She saw movement, but that was about it before she felt herself falling. She hit the floor with a thud and a pained whimper and she laid there, too weak to move. 

“I'm worthless! What good am I if I can't fix my own sister!” It was Leah's voice, not grandmother’s, and she remembered her conversation with the man - their father? - in the void and that she'd been poisoned. Leah thought she had failed. Leah was mourning her, blaming herself for her death, didn't know she was alive or that her skills had saved her life.

“Le - ah.” It was barely a whisper, her voice hoarse and throat dry, as if she'd been eating sand.  She tried to move, but her limbs felt like they were made of stone and her body ached. “Lay. . .ah. I-I'm. . .h-here.” 

As her vision cleared she could see her sister on her knees facing the wall, a mess of broken glass and multicolored liquid covering the floor in front of her. Leah turned her head, having heard her voice and her blue eyes widened. 

“Eva!” Fresh tears streamed down her face as she half crawled half stumbled across the room. “Eva, you're - you're alive!”

Eva didn't have the energy to move as Leah gathered her body in her arms and checked her over. “It's been hours since I gave you the antidote. I-I thought I'd lost you, I thought -”

Eva cut her off as she squeezed her hand. “It'll t-take more tha. . .than a lit. . .tle taint-tainted tea to kill m-me - espe. . .especially when I've got y-you to b-br-bring me ba-back.” 

Leah just cried more, leaning her forehead against Eva’s and sobbing out her relief. “I was so scared. I was so scared.” 

                                                    o0o

Present day

“Merlin’s beard.” Constance whispered, her horror obvious on her face. “She - she poisoned you?” 

Leah hugged her sister, burying her face in her chest. “Yes.” She mumbled. 

“Leah saved me.” Eva added quietly as she held her sister close. 

This was not okay. This could never be okay. Who were these people who thought they had the right to do such terrible things, too innocent children no less. Why did they exist and from where did they come? Not for the first time Constance wanted to find that woman, Cora Mills, and make her pay for hurting her precious girls. 

                                                   o0o

The Witch Training College - In The Past

She couldn't concentrate. How could she when her tutor was leaning over her, one clawed hand gripping her shoulder so hard she could feel blood running down over her collarbone in sticky rivulets. 

She peered worriedly into her cauldron, the contents a sickening shade of red that reminded her of blood. That was most certainly wrong. It should have been blue, she was sure. She started to tremble, and she squeezed her eyes shut against forbidden tears. The concoction bubbled and frothed agitatedly and she knew there was nothing she could do to save it now. 

“Well?” Mistress Broomhead snapped impatiently. “Don't just stand there, girl, do something!” 

Constance jumped at the sound of the sharp voice and hugged herself. “I'm sorry, Mistress Broomhead.” She whispered solemnly. 

“I should hope you are!” The older witch walked around to stand facing her on the other side of the table. “What on earth is this, Constance?” 

She stared down into the depths of her cauldron. “It's a mess, Mistress Broomhead.” She said sadly. 

“Yes. Just like you. Do you know what I do with messes, Miss Hardbroom?” Mistress Broomhead hissed. 

Constance opened her mouth, then snapped it shut again. That was a rhetorical question. 

“I clean them up!” She shouted, and Constance flinched. She had half a mind to flee the room then and there, but she knew better. It would only be worse if she tried to run, she'd learned that the hard way. 

“Well girl, what are you waiting for? Taste it!” Mistress Broomhead barked. 

Constance’s eyes widened. One of the first things all magical children were taught was to never taste a botched potion, as you never know what it might do. She looked between her cauldron and her tutor fearfully.   “But -” she started.

Mistress Broomhead slammed her hand down on the table. “Do not answer me back! Taste it, now!” 

Constance jumped. With a shaking hand, she grabbed a spoon off the table and dipped it into the cauldron, before raising it to her lips. The potion, if that's what it still was, tasted bitter as it burned a hot path down her throat and she coughed as she felt sharp pain constrict her stomach. It made her double over as she wrapped her arms around her middle and squeezed her eyes shut. She stumbled back against the desk behind her and fell to her knees on the cold floor. The world was spinning now, the silent room tilting on its axis. Was she dying? Was this finally it? 

The darkness that had formed on the edge of her vision was growing more palpable. Time warped, quickening and then slowing. She did not know how long she'd been like this - minutes? Hours? Days? She felt so heavy, although she was made of stone. Was she? No. She was a person, a witch, wasn't she? Made of flesh and bone and magic? Her mind spun, her head felt although someone had driven a knife into her skull. The darkness intensified. It was everywhere, all consuming until there was nothing else left. 

                                                       o0o

Present day

Constance could see how shaken the girls were, especially Leah. She didn't want to imagine poor, precious Leah faced with having to cure her sister on her own, knowing that if she failed, Eva would certainly die. To think it was their own grandmother, someone who should have cared for them, who had put them in that position to start with only made it that much worse. 

She looked back to her girls when she heard Leah sniffle and saw her wipe tears from her eyes. She quickly crossed to them and knelt down.

“Oh sweetheart. No tears, we don't like tears. Not unless they're happy ones.” She gently wiped away the tears from Leah's cheeks with the soft pads of her thumbs. “You don't have to be afraid anymore. It's over, and it'll never happen again. I won't let it.” 

Leah clung to her, trembling as more tears ran down her cheeks. “I-I c-can't - it almost killed her - she almost died and I-I -” she let out a sob as she shook her head. 

Constance held her and rocked her gently. It was obvious she'd never been able to really deal with that particular incident, had probably packed it away and buried it in the back of her mind, only for it to be dredged back up upon seeing that horrible plant again. “You saved her. You should never have been placed in that position, but you were and you didn't give up. You knew exactly what to do and how to do it. You were a child but you did it by yourself, without help, and you succeeded. Do you know what that tells me?” 

Leah looked up at her, her cheeks pink and eyes wet. Eva was right beside her, a look on her face that suggested she already knew the answer. 

“It tells me that you are a very special little witch, Leah.” She replied. She looked up at Eva then. “And Eva is too, because she fought with everything she had to get back to you.”

Chapter Text

If there was one thing Eva disliked more than anything else about the start of the new school year, it was Sir Walter’s wet week. It had been raining all week and she was quite certain it was worse than it had been last year. The fifth years, who were on the top floor in the corridor next to the teachers’ wing, had started complaining that the roof was leaking and, according to Mrs. Tapioca, the kitchens were sufficiently flooded. In the potions lab, the mini-cauldrons were being used to catch drips and the courtyard had effectively become one giant puddle. 

It was that giant puddle that Eva, Leah and the rest of the now second years had to trudge through to get from the gates to the doors and safely into the castle. It was safe to say that none of them were too impressed as they stood, soaked through and freezing cold, in the entrance hall after being forced to go on a cross-country run with Miss Drill for PE. Nobody moved, not fancying the detention that would likely occur if Miss Hardbroom caught them tracking muddy water all the way up to their rooms. 

Eva raised her hands and, with a flick of her wrists, cast a simple drying spell over herself. Leah followed suit, and soon everyone was casting drying spells on each other. This was all well and good until someone shrieked in alarm and they realized they were standing in a good six inches of water. 

“Now look what you've done!” Mariam Hallow turned to the twins. “You've triggered the foster’s effect!” 

“ Now look what you've done , you foolish girl!” Grandmother snarled.

Eva stifled a cry as the older woman backhanded her hard across the face. 

“Us!” Eva exclaimed, crossing her arms. “It was you lot who started repeating the spell. You should have known better!” 

They had learnt all about the foster’s effect from Miss Cackle in spells class and Eva and Leah made careful note of it. The foster’s effect didn't exist in Wonderland after all. 

“Yes, but it was you who came up with the brilliant idea to start casting drying spells in the first place!” Penelope argued. 

The second years all started arguing with each other after that and Miss Drill was at a loss as to what to do about the fact that the entrance hall had been reduced to a shallow lake. Luckily, Miss Hardbroom appeared on the landing at the top of the stairs, having heard the commotion and come to investigate. 

“What on earth is going on down there?!” She shouted above the din. 

All the girls fell silent at the familiar sound of their form mistress’ less than pleased tones. They all moved, sloshing through the water, to stand to attention. 

“Well?” Miss Hardbroom demanded. “I am waiting.” 

Mariam pointed at Eva and Leah, who sighed inwardly. “It was them Miss. They triggered the foster’s effect.” 

The potions mistress raised an eyebrow at the two sisters, clearly waiting for an explanation. 

“We cast drying spells on ourselves, Miss. Then everybody else started repeating the same spell and caused this.” Eva explained, motioning to the water covering the floor. 

Miss Hardbroom sighed. She raised her spell-casting fingers and muttered a spell that made the water vanish. “I want 300 lines from each and every one of you: I must not be foolish with my magic. On my desk by tonight. Is that clear, year two?” 

“Yes Miss Hardbroom.” They all chorused as one, before heading up to their rooms to change.

                                                       o0o

Undisclosed location - many years ago

It was dark. The young woman could scarcely see where she was going, blinded by the pounding rain and endless night as she was. The wind, tornado strong and unyielding in it’s fury, threatened to throw her off her broom into the blackness below. Thunder crashed, like something breaking in the giant’s kingdom above and when the lightning followed suit, tearing open the sky with it’s blinding, momentary light, it revealed the endless trees of the deep forest below. 

She pushed on. There was no time to stop, no time to rest. The storm was the perfect cover for a runaway witch and she intended to make good use of it. There was very little chance of her tutor being able to track her in this and if she could make it through alive, she'd finally be free. 

She knew she was far from the city, from her prison. She'd traveled pretty far north, but she still feared it wasn't far enough. The dragon would look, after all. She always looked. She'd contemplated leaving the country altogether, but she didn't know where else to go. North was the best option she could come up with. It would be easy enough to find some time-forgotten village to hide in. 

As another flash of lightning lit the world, something in a clearing below caught her eye. She squinted through the ran as the light faded, certain she'd seen a building down there. All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind sent her rolling and she clung to her broom for her life. She felt herself falling, her broom losing altitude as it was battered by the storm. By some miracle, she managed to avoid the trees but failed to steady her broom, which seemed intent on failing her. The last thing she remembered seeing was the outline of a house appear through the rain. 

The next morning dawned grey and wet, though the storm had finally come to an end. A middle aged woman made her way down a dirt path towards her small tearoom, observing the damage done by the storm as she went. She dearly hoped her cafe hadn't been damaged too. 

When she entered the clearing, she gave the building a careful once over. It looked mostly unharmed. The same, however, could not be said for the still form lying in the grass nearby. A black shape, nondescript but stark against the vibrant green grass, lay unmoving just off the path. The woman was so focused on it that she nearly tripped over the broomstick lying haphazardly in her way. She looked from the broom to the shape on the ground, eyes going hide with realization. 

A witch. 

She must have gotten caught in the storm last night. The woman thought as she hurried to the fallen witch’s side. She rolled her over onto her back and brushed long, wet black hair away from her face. She was young, barely twenty and near skeletal. She was breathing - there was a steady rise and fall of her chest, but she was ice cold and soaking wet. 

The woman pulled out a handkerchief and wiped gently at the mud on the witch’s face until she was some semblance of clean. She tried to wake her up, but to no avail. There were no signs of injury aside from some slight bruising and scratches on the young woman’s face, but she wondered, worriedly what she was hiding beneath the high collar and long sleeves of her thick black dress. 

She straightened up and brushed off her knees, before hurrying off towards the front door of her establishment. Not for the first time, Mrs. Gloria Cosy was glad to be friends with a witch. 

Several minutes later, Mrs. Cosy returned with the reassurance that help was on its way. When she knelt down next to the witch, she found the younger woman was stirring slightly. 

“Oh, you're waking up. Can you open your eyes, dear? You're safe.” She spoke, hoping to help the witch back to the land of the living. 

She groaned, lips twitching slightly and eyelids fluttering. She shifted and her eyes cracked open, immediately blinking in the bright daylight. 

“There now.“ Mrs. Cozy said as she saw almond shaped brown eyes fix on her. “Are you hurt? Oh dear.” She worried. “Were you flying in that storm last night? Now, I'm not a witch myself, but that seems like an awfully dangerous thing to do. You could have been killed!” 

She moved to help the witch as she pulled herself up, but the young woman jerked away from her touch. “I'm fine. Please, don't touch me.” There was fear in her eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. 

“I'm sorry, dear. I didn't mean to frighten you.” Mrs. Cosy reassured. “Are you sure you're not hurt, dear?” 

The witch didn't reply as she looked around at their surroundings. “Where am I? Who are you?” 

“I'm Gloria Cosy. Now, you're rather in the middle of nowhere up here. Where are you headed?” Mrs. Cosy frowned. 

“I don't know.” 

The older woman regarded her curiously. “Well. I've just called a friend of mine. She's a witch, you know. The head of a witch school not far from here. She'll help you, don't worry.”  

The witch didn't answer. She looked up when she saw a figure on a broomstick in the distance. Unbidden, she started to tremble, certain she'd already been found. She relaxed slightly when the other witch drew nearer and she saw it was not her tutor. 

“Oh dear.” She said when she landed. She helped the other two up and gave the younger witch an appraisal. “What's your name, dear? I'm Amelia. Amelia Cackle. 

The young woman looked at her apprehensively. “Constance Hardbroom.” 

                                                      o0o

Present day

The last day of Sir Walter’s wet week ended with a bang. The night was dark, a void where the world once stood, and a thick layer of clouds blotted out the moon and hid the stars from view. Hidden in the endless blackness, the trees protested against gale force winds that forced them to bend and break. The same winds whipped around the castle, chilling the already cold corridors and tearing tiles from the aging roof. Rain pelted the sodden earth and flooded the cobbled courtyard. Thunder crashed overhead, shaking the ancient castle to its core, before lightning flashed, ripping open the sky like the claws of a great beast slicing the very fabric of reality. 

Leah Mills stirred in her fitful sleep, snuggling deeper under her thin blanket in an effort to hide from the cold that seeped in under the door and between the shutters. She let out a strangled sound that soon turned into a scream masked by the raging storm. 

Leah screamed as the red hot blade pressed into her delicate, pale skin. She couldn't stop the tears that spilled down her cheeks at the agony of the heated metal. She hadn't meant to cause a storm. It had just happened, a reaction between her magic and her emotions. Eva always said it was best to mask your fear with anger, but Leah always masked her anger with fear. She didn't show anger, because she knew angry little girls only made Grandmother angry. Leah didn't like it at all when Grandmother was angry. 

“Now fix it!” Grandmother barked, as she shoved Leah out onto the balcony, with such force that the tiny girl nearly flew over the railing. It wasn't supposed to storm in Wonderland.

Leah fell to her knees, trembling violently as she wrapped her small hands around the bars of the railing. She closed her eyes against the burn of the fresh cut on her arm, well aware of the blood running from it in scarlet rivers, mixing with the falling rain. Leah focused, reining in that deep set fury, born from the inability to stop her own suffering, and dragging it down into the catacombs of her mind, like a sailor being sucked under the raging seas by the hideous creatures beneath, and locking it away, never to be seen again. 

The rain stopped, the thunder ceased and the trees stood still. The sky cleared, allowing a timid sun to peak from behind the breaking clouds. 

The storm was over. 

Leah may not have visibly shown her anger, but she'd let it slip, escape from its confines to feed and gain control of her magic. She vowed never to let that happen again and from that moment on, she held both her emotions and her magic with an iron fisted control unheard of in a child so young. 

Leah opened her eyes cautiously and gazed upwards at the calm sky. She'd done it, she'd stopped the storm.  

“Good girl.” Grandmother praised, though her voice was bittersweet. “You've finally done something right. Now get out of my sight!” She snapped.

She grabbed Leah by the arm, the same one she'd cut earlier, which caused the small girl to scream in pain before being flung across the room towards the doorway. 

Constance had been roaming the halls, checking up on the girls, who all seemed a bit restless on that particular stormy night. She would never admit it, but checking on her young charges in the dead of night to ensure they were as they should have been always helped to ease her mind when she couldn't sleep.

Her feet landed on the last step and she turned to look down the darkened second year corridor. All was quiet. She stood there for a moment, watching the lightning flash through the window at the end of the hall. It was when the flashing ceased briefly to make way for another rumble of thunder that she heard a scream, masked by the storm, that cut off abruptly.

She knew exactly where it must have come from. Drawing her eyes away from the window, she looked to the door in question in time to see flickering candle light come to life and trickle out from underneath. Constance moved quietly, so as not to disturb the rest of the girls and knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open slightly. 

Leah was sitting up in her bed, clutching a lit candle in her hands. Her breathing was fast and her eyes were wide with fear. Eva was still asleep in her own bed, clearly having not been awoken by her sister’s scream. Leah's eyes snapped up when the door opened and she shrunk back a bit. “Was that you who screamed, Leah?” Miss Hardbroom asked, keeping her voice low. 

The small girl stared back with wide blue eyes. “I-I'm sorry, Miss, I didn't m-mean to.” 

“I know you didn't, Leah.” She came across the room and sat on the edge of the bed. “Was it a nightmare?” 

Leah looked away, toying with a loose thread on her blanket. She hated admitting to her shortcomings. 

Constance sighed and reached out to direct the girl’s face back towards her with careful fingers. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. It's not your fault.” She said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle, kind in a way she only ever saved for the twins. 

Leah flinched at another crash of thunder and scooted closer to the teacher. “Does it ever get better, Miss? Will we ever stop being afraid?” 

Constance sighed and her guarded heart broke. The girl sounded so small and vulnerable in that moment. All she wanted was to make them feel safe, to see that they didn't have to be afraid anymore, but she knew, better than anyone, that deep set fear never faded. “One day it will get easier, I promise. I know from experience that your fear of your. . . abuser will not go away, but I will do everything in my power to keep you, and your sister, safe. I won't ever let her hurt you again.” 

Leah knew those words to be true. She was proud of herself for learning to trust her form mistress. “I know you won't Miss.” Leah said and, albeit tentatively, wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist. 

Constance stiffened, taken by surprise and unsure of how to react. Normally, she would have scolded any pupil who dared to do such a thing as hug her, but Leah was different. Carefully, she wrapped her own arms around the small girl and, a little awkwardly, held her close. It was then that she realized she wanted nothing more than to make her feel safe. She rubbed soft circles on her back as Leah leaned her head on her shoulder. 

“You're safe. You'll always be safe with me.” 

Leah couldn't help it when she let her eyes slide shut. She had never felt so safe and warm in her life. She thought that if Miss Hardbroom was the closest thing she could have to a mother, she'd be okay with that. 

Constance lost track of how long they stayed like that before she realized Leah had fallen back asleep and she smiled softly as she gently stroked a black curl away from the girl’s face. 

In a dark corner of the small room, the translucent outline of a young man smiled. His girls were safe at last, free to try and heal. He need not worry any longer, for he knew that, although she was not their mother and although she may wear a frosty mask, she did love them and he knew she would protect them and care for them. 

Chapter Text

~Many years ago~

Fourteen year old Constance Hardbroom sat on the thin, worn mattress of the rusted metal bed frame in her tiny cell-like dorm room. There was no window. If it hadn't been for the fact that the old building was dead silent, she wouldn't have even realized that it was nearly midnight. No one ever dared to set a toe outside their bedrooms past curfew for fear of incurring Mistress Broomhead’s rage. The only furniture consisted of the old bed, a similarly aged nightstand and matching desk, currently piled high with books containing magic more suited to people twice her age, and a small wardrobe. 

The only light was emitted from a candle on the nightstand and was flickering and dim. Constance pointed her spell casting fingers and brightened it before locking her eyes back onto the envelope in her hands. It was from the guild. What on earth would they want with her? Her hands shook as she broke the seal and slide the neatly folded slip of paper out. She unfolded it and scanned the contents, her brown eyes widening as she did. 

No. It couldn't be true. It wasn't true. The paper slid from her hands and floated gently, innocently, down to the cold floor. She stared at it accusingly as tears blossomed in her beautiful eyes and ran down her pale, porcelain cheeks like rain on a window. A fractured window. She felt her heart tear in two and the remaining pieces constrict painfully as if they were being squeezed by invisible hands. 

Her parents, her beloved parents, the only family she had left, were dead. 

                                                        o0o

~ Present day ~

Constance stared out the staff room window at the young girls out in the courtyard, chattering excitedly about the upcoming parent’s evening and seeing their parents again. Constance dreaded parent’s evening. It was too painful, seeing all the girls reunited with their parents only reminded her of what she'd lost so long ago, that her own parents were stolen from her far too soon and she'd never even gotten to say goodbye. 

Amelia Cackle watched her deputy from her armchair and reflected that she knew very little about her trusted friend and colleague. It was rather unsurprising that she did not know the reason behind the deep sadness that the younger witch seemed to exude every year on the day the school held its parent’s evening. Amelia hoped that one day, Constance would feel confident enough to confide in her. She had waited patiently for many years and would continue to wait for many more if she had to. 

                                                         o0o

Eva turned away as one of her classmates chattered about how excited she was to show her parents the project she'd been working on in potions. She plastered a blank mask onto her face and went back to her seat. Parent’s night was the worst day in the entire school year, as it only reminded the twins of what they'd never have. She sighed as she tried to ignore the endless excited conversations. She tried to shut off her ears and focus solely on the dinner plate in front of her, but the food it contained was hardly appetizing on the best of days and she wasn't very hungry anyway. 

“Eva?” Tansy questioned, noticing the detached look on her friend’s face. “Are you okay? You've hardly touched your food.” She was practically bouncing with excitement. “Aren't you excited?”

“I'm fine.” Eva replied, perhaps more sharply than intended. “I'm just not hungry, that’s all.” 

Leah looked up from her own plate then. “You can't very well be excited when you haven't got anything to be excited about.” She said sadly. 

Eva and Leah vanished their plates and got up. “We’ll be in the library.” Said Eva and they turned and left the hall.

The twins were quiet as they sat at a table in the library, working on homework for spells. The room was empty, save for a couple of older girls, as everyone was busy getting ready for parents’ night. Leah looked up at her sister and watched as she stared down at her book, face blank and emotions well hidden. To anyone else, Eva would seem fine but Leah could tell she was anything but. 

“Eva.” Leah reached out and placed her hand over her sister’s. Eva looked up. “You - we made the right choice in coming here. You know I wouldn't change it, right?” 

Eva sighed. “Yes. I just - l just -” want someone to lean on. “We - you don't deserve to grow up alone and sometimes I wonder if I was wrong in being. . . afraid of our mother. If I should have given her a chance.” 

“Neither do you, Eva, but we have to play the cards we were dealt. We don't need her. If she truly wanted us, she would have looked for us and not just taken Grandmother’s word for it. If we went to her, we would have just gotten caught in the crossfire. Dragged into her quest for vengeance. We're safe and we have a future here! And don't you say I'm alone, because I'm not. I have you.” Said Leah. “Just as you have me.”  

Eva smiled softly. She knew she'd been gifted with a twin for a reason. That reason being that she would never have survived alone. Leah was the rock that kept her grounded. The glue that kept her from coming apart. The one person she had been permitted to love, and who was permitted to love her back. 

“I don't know what I'd do without you Leah.” 

                                                         o0o

Later, Eva and Leah were sitting on the bottom steps of one of the side stairwells, watching. Sometimes they would give directions to parents in search of their daughters or subtly avoid questions about where their own parents were. They looked down at their feet when a girl and her parents would walk by, all smiles. Why they were tormenting themselves this way was anyone's guess, though they themselves knew they were punishing themselves for wanting something they knew they couldn't have. 

It didn't make it hurt any less though. 

They didn't want to be bothered. For the most part they were being left alone. But some people just couldn't resist. 

“What's the matter with you two? Parents don't have time for you?” Mariam sneered. 

Eva gave her a withering glare that would have put Miss Hardbroom to shame. “Go take yourself for a flight Mariam. No one wants you here anyway.” She replied testily.

Mariam scoffed. “That's a laugh, coming from the poor orphaned scholarship girls. You've never been wanted. Your parents left you because you are nothing but disappointments to them. You'll never be anything but unwanted and shouldn't fool yourselves into thinking otherwise.” 

“Nobody wants you and nobody ever will!” Grandmother snarled. “Why do you think your mother never looked for you? You'll never be anything more than an unwanted little brat who was never meant to be born!”

She dropped the belt she'd been using to strap her granddaughter and summoned a dagger to her hand before shoving Eva back down, so she was once again bent over the table with her bare back exposed. Eva squeezed her eyes shut against her tears as her Grandmother pressed the blade into her pale flesh, carving eight jagged letters crudely into her back: 

U.N.W.A.N.T.E.D. Unwanted. 

“Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise, you stupid girl.” Grandmother hissed, before turning on her heal and sweeping out of the room. 

Eva slid onto the floor, trembling against the burning pain in her back, not caring that her blood was staining Grandmother’s precious marble floors and too weak to bother pulling her dress back up. 

Eva had gone pale. Her hands were shaking and before anyone could stop her, she had shot up from her spot on the stairs and shoved Mariam against the wall opposite. 

“Don't speak of things you know nothing about!” She snapped furiously. “You need to get off your bloody high horse and open your damn eyes! I don't care what your surname is you lot of frogspawn! You are no better than the rest of us!” She shouted. 

Mariam shoved her away. “Oh, get over yourselves! We all know it's true anyway! Your parents probably took one look at you and wished they'd used a protection spell!” 

The candles mounted on the walls and in the chandeliers flickered ominously. Eva could feel the iron grip she had on her magic slipping precariously. She didn't want to get physical, she didn't condone it. Whenever she had to hurt someone she saw herself becoming a little more like her grandmother, but she had to do something or she'd lose control. With magic of her caliber, that could very well be catastrophic. 

Just as her hand connected sharply with a shocked Mariam's cheek, the candles in the immediate area blew out, plunging the trio into darkness. 

“What was that?!” Mariam exclaimed, and it was hard to tell whether she meant the sudden darkness or the slap to her face. 

Leah flicked her wrist and relit the candles. “Next time, Mariam, I would suggest you don't antagonize my sister. It could have been a lot worse.” She said from where she was standing behind Eva, ready to intervene if need be. 

Mariam scoffed. “Yeah. Right.” 

“Don't say we didn't warn you.” Eva said through gritted teeth. Privately, she worked on getting her anger under control and thought about where she could transfer to burn off some magic. 

A door down the hall clicked open then and Miss Cackle, followed by a blond couple, stepped out. “What on Earth is going on out here?” The headmistress questioned as they came towards the three girls.

“Mariam, was that you shouting?” The blond woman asked her daughter. 

“No!” Mariam exclaimed indignantly. “It was them two. They were bullying me and insulting our family! They said I was nothing but an unwanted disappointment.” She pointed at the twins and faked a few tears while she was at it for emphasis. 

“Oh for Merlin.” Eva muttered. Of course the brat would try and flip the situation to suit herself.

The blond couple looked up at her and Leah. “ You're the two little brats who have been tormenting our daughter since she started here?” The man spoke, sounding furious as he stepped closer to them. 

Eva instinctively stepped back and positioned herself protectively in front  of Leah. Her eyes darted to Mariam. “Been telling lies have you?” 

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Mariam stuck her nose in the air, knowing her parents would believe her either way. 

“Right, and I'm Morgana herself.” Eva scoffed. Her eyes danced between Mariam and her parents, afraid the older magicians would try to hurt her or her sister if she looked away. 

“I suggest you lay off girl, or I'll see to it myself that you're both expelled.” The blond woman threatened. 

Eva stared back, brown eyes steely. “We've not done anything! She's the one who came up to us and started insulting us!” She argued as she gestured to Mariam. “She was rubbing it in our faces that we have no parents! I wonder how she got ahold of that little tidbit, hmm? Because it sure as hell wasn't us who told her! Maybe you shouldn't be sharing private information you get from the guild with your stuck up daughter! By the time she finished, she was seething. It hadn't taken her long to realize how Mariam knew about their situation. Obviously, being members of the guild, the Hallow parents had heard about it through the grapevine and shared it with their daughter. 

Mrs. Hallow stood there, open mouthed, in shock. Mr. Hallow took over for his stunned wife. “Now you listen here, Missy. You are far too big for your broomstick! I won't have you -”

Miss Cackle cut him off. “If I may remind you, Mr. Hallow, this is my school, and I do not see where you get off reprimanding my students. 

The Hallows opened their mouths to argue but Miss Cackle cut them off with a raised hand. “In this situation, no matter how out of line she was in regards to her delivery of the information, I do believe I agree with Eva here. She has only ever defended herself and her sister. She is not one to start things. Mariam on the other hand. . .well, I believe you both have a meeting with Miss Bat now. You best get on before you're late. I'll sort out the girls.” 

                                                          o0o

Wonderland - 1 year and 3 months ago

Eva and Leah peaked around a patch of the maze wall that was still intact and watched a man and a woman stride down the path the woman had created via a flame throwing spell. 

They knew who this woman was. Grandmother kept a picture of her in her bed chambers. She was their mother, but she wasn't how they'd imagined her. She was dressed in an elaborate black gown with heavy jewelry and dark makeup. When she swept past them, Eva caught a real sense of her magical aura. It was like shards of broken glass spattered with blood and dunked into a barrel of crude oil. There was a deep set fury that hung around her, poisonous and intoxicating. 

Sudden and unwelcome, an image of Grandmother’s face dredged itself up in her mind and pasted itself over top of their mother’s face. The sudden revelation that mother was just like grandmother sent her reeling and she stumbled backwards, dragging Leah with her. Fear overwhelmed her as she held her equally horrified sister against her. 

Their mother was a monster too. 

There were tears in Leah’s blue eyes as she turned to look at her, but she quickly wiped them away. Tears were a sign of weakness.

“Come on.” Eva whispered brokenly. “We shouldn't be here.” 

She took Leah’s hand and led her back through the maze. They knew the way like the back of their hands, where each dead end was located and where each path led, but the woman’s magic had altered the familiar paths. They skidded to a halt when their current path ended abruptly, opening out into the end of the burnt out tunnel. Eva backed away, pulling Leah behind her as they inadvertently came face to face with their mother. 

The woman in question turned around at the sudden footsteps to her left and her eyes widened in shock when she saw them. The anger seemed to melt away as realization dawned on her and tears formed in her brown eyes.

 Eva didn't buy it. She was not in the habit of putting blind trust in people. She let her magic surround herself and Leah and was about to transfer them, when the sound of guards approaching from behind stopped her in her tracks, making her reconsider her next actions. But she knew they were already in trouble for being seen by their mother, she wasn't about to make it worse. She spun sharply on her heel to face the guards, who had stopped behind them. 

“Well?” She snapped. “What are doing standing there like statues? Do as the queen says! Or shall I tell her you're a bunch of incompetent fools?” Her voice was dripping with poison and she sounded much older than her meager eleven years. With that said, both twins vanished. 

Grandmother was, indeed, furious. The two girls had tried to hide upon entering the palace but she'd been waiting for them where they appeared. She didn't bother to wait for an explanation, she seldom did anyway.

“You stupid girls! What was the one thing I told you NEVER to do? Hmm? And what did you do? You disobedient BRATS!” She spat the last word. “It's no wonder she abandoned you!” 

Eva and Leah were trembling with fear at this point. “We're s-sorry, Grandmother. We d-didn't know she w-was here. . .” Eva stammered desperately.

Cora backhanded her hard across the face and her ring left a bloody gash in her pale cheek. “What have I told you about that stutter girl?”

Eva stumbled back from the force of it. “We're sorry. We d-didn't know. . .It's not -” she cut herself off as Cora grabbed Leah by the wrist and dragged her over to the empty table. “Please, Grandmother, don't hurt her, take me instead!” She started forward, but a flick of the woman’s wrist had her feet glued to the floor with her magic bound. “Please!” 

Grandmother didn't listen. She ripped open the zipper of Leah's dress and pulled it down, before shoving her down against the table. Eva paled when she realized just what the woman was about to do. Sure enough, she summoned a leather belt with a metal buckle, the same one she always used, and brought it down hard on the poor girl’s already scarred back. 

Leah tried, she did, to keep her face blank, to not give Grandmother the satisfaction of hearing her scream. But she'd never been as good at doing that as Eva and if it wasn't for the snap of leather against skin, she'd have thought her back was, quite literally, on fire. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her screams or her tears at bay. 

Eva was so busy keeping her eyes squeezed shut against the sight she'd been forced to watch too many times before that she didn't realize it had stopped until she felt an ironclad grip on her arm as she was yanked forward. Her eyes snapped open and locked on Leah, who was laying on the floor stifling her tears. Her back was raw and bloody and she was obviously in agony. She wanted so badly to take that pain away, but she was powerless against the Queen of Hearts. 

She didn't make a sound as Grandmother shoved her against the table. She didn't even whimper as the belt came down on her bare back. Her face remained blank, but on the inside, she still screamed for the mercy she knew would never be granted.

                                                         o0o

One detention assigned and five-hundred lines written of ‘ I must remember my manners when addressing guests and I must try not to argue with my classmates, no matter how infuriating they may become ’ later, Eva and Leah were curled up on Leah's bed in their room with their cats nearby. 

Eva held Leah in her arms, her sister’s head resting on her chest as she played with a curl of Eva’s dark hair. It wasn't yet lights out, but they had decided to retire to their room after the incident with Mariam. They had written their lines and now they lay together in comfortable silence, until Leah spoke. 

“Eva?” 

Eva had been tracing soft circles on Leah's arm, but she paused on hearing her sister’s familiar voice. “What do you need, dear one?” 

Leah was silent for a moment before she replied. “Do you think she ever loved us?” 

Eva frowned. “Who?” 

“Our mother.”

Eva thought long and hard about it. So long, in fact, that Leah continued. “What if she really did take one look at us and wish we'd never been born? What if she hated us so much that she couldn't stand the sight of us and that's why she left us?” 

Eva's heart broke. She couldn't let her sister believe that. “You mustn't believe what Mariam says, sweetheart, she's full of rubbish, like grandmother.” She stroked her sister's satiny hair lovingly. “Do you remember that day in the maze?”

“Yes.”

“When she saw us, she got tears in her eyes. She recognized us. I don't think she gave us up willingly, Leah. I think she was a victim of circumstance.” Or something more.

Leah wasn't sure. “But had she truly loved us, she would have gone after us when we transferred away. Instead, she just left.” 

Eva smirked a little. “We did send our guards after her.” 

“True.” 

Eva continued. “I'm not sure it matters. I would rather never know than find out she really never loved us. And even if she did love us, I would rather be here, safe and cared for, than there, caught in the crossfire of her war with Snow White and constantly wondering if she truly loved us, because if she truly loved us why would she continue the war?” 

“Me too.” Leah said simply. “I like it here. We can do and be what we want without a mold to conform to. We are free and it's worth not knowing if mother loves us.” 

Eva smiled softly. “As long as we have each other we need not worry about what she thinks of us.” 

                                                     o0o

Wonderland - 1 year and 3 months ago

Eva barely heard the clicking of her grandmother's heels as she retreated from the room, barely heard her last words before she disappeared. 

“Clean yourselves up! You are a mess! Princesses never go unkempt!” 

She slid painfully to the cold floor, forcing back tears of pain. She couldn't cry. Instead, she looked around for Leah. When she spotted her, still sprawled out and motionless on the floor, she crawled weakly towards her and forced her own pain to the back of her mind. 

“Leah.” Her voice broke as she collapsed beside her sister. Leah had her eyes squeezed shut and her hands pressed over her ears. She whimpered and tried to move, only to cry in pain. 

Eva reached for her sister’s hand and they both vanished. On reappearance Eva ensured that Leah appeared lying on her belly on her bed. She removed Leah's ruined dress and set it aside, they could do the necessary repairs later via magic. Now, clad only in her underthings, Leah's back was fully exposed and Eva could see the full extent of the damage. 

She turned and limped over to their dressing table and gathered a bottle of healing potion and a fresh washcloth before returning to her sister’s side and conjuring a bowl of clean water. She wet the cloth and wrung it out before turning to Leah. 

“This will hurt.” She whispered. 

Leah turned her head to face her twin, tears in her eyes. “I'm tired of hurting, Eva.” 

“I know, sweetheart.” She replied sadly. 

Eva then set to work. She took the wet cloth and cleaned her sister’s wounds, her touch both practiced and gentle, like a feather grazing Leah's broken skin. She knew too well the pain a cruel hand could cause. 

It still hurt though, as the water seeped into the angry red slashes across her sister’s back and she tensed up, hissing as her fists clenched in the bedding. 

“I know.” Eva soothed. She replaced the cloth in the bowl and stroked her hand through Leah's hair. “I know. I'm going to get some potion on it now and then it'll feel better in no time, I promise.” 

Once she'd applied the potion and it had done its job she allowed Leah to heal her own injuries. Then, they laid together in each other's arms on Leah's bed. Their silence was comfortable as they listened to life continuing on outside their four walls. Eva fixed her eyes on one of the many symbols they'd drawn on the stone bricks. She stroked her sister’s cheek with her thumb. Protection magic, layered on over many years. But it could never be enough. 

“I'm tired of this.” Leah's voice broke the silence and she sounded exhausted in more ways than one. “I'm tired of always being hurt. Of being hungry, and sick because of it.” Hot tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “I'm tired of being hated, Eva, and sitting around waiting for the next beating. I-I'm tired of not sleeping for fear of what she'll do next. I'm tired of being afraid.” 

Eva kissed Leah's forehead. “I know. I am too. I -” her eyes hardened suddenly with determination. “I'll get us out of here. I'll get us out of here, if it's the last thing I do. We’ll be free one day, little princess, I promise.