Chapter 1

There was snow.

She couln’t believe there was snow.

Not an inch, not a permanent white blanket, but it had snowed. Anyway, it was cold.

Maddie saw the warmth of her breath escape from her mouth like a white vapor. She saw that, on everyone's way to school. Strange sight when she watched it.

‘Hee, Beautiful.’

She looked into Buddy's smiling face.

He wore a knitted cap, in all colors of the rainbow. He had long dark blond hair that stood out in all directions, it even came out from under his cap. He had a reddish beard and a pair of blue eyes with an amused look.

‘I paid attention to what it looks like when people show their breath,’ Maddie shared her thought trail.’It looks weird.’

‘People are weird anyway,’ said Buddy.

She nodded in agreement. Maddie got back on her bicycle, the light of the railway crossing had gone out.

Buddy cycled next to her, his bike creaked and squeaked, as if it might give up at any moment.

‘Today we heave a field trip,’ Buddy's voice was unenthusiastic.

‘Well you're looking forward to it,’ Maddie guessed, laughing.

He winced in a disapproving grimace. ‘I like history, but the eternal museum.’

‘Museums,’ she corrected him.

‘That too,’ he said, nodding.

They laughed together, the cold showing what it looked like with white clouds of vapor.

To the delight of Buddy, the field trip went to an old country house or Stins, namely to the Poptaslot in Marsum.

It was built in 1512 as one of the first stone Stinzen, a stone house. Or as it was also called a habitable tower.

The assignment was to answer questions in groups of four. They then had to give a joint presentation about it later at school.

Buddy had joined Maddie.

Amy and Jacqueline were their forced partners. Buddy was sure it was a match of nothing. Amy and Jacqueline were one of those girls who spent all day using their cell phones, with a life that wasn't there, not seeing the life that was there, according to Buddy.

Maddie laughed at his description, it was just about right.

Buddy grunted. He gestured for Maddie to follow him.

‘Amy and Jacqueline have no idea we're there, nor, by the way, where they are,’ Buddy grumbled.

Maddie laughed. ‘It'll keep you busy, right?’

He grinned.

They walked through the castle in silence.

Maddie felt the energy of people of long ago. She felt the energy of the events in old buildings as if she were or had been part of them.

Fortunately, she had learned to shield herself from this, because it could take over completely at the expense of her own energy.

Certainly, since she had been a portal to the energy of the God of the forest and the Moon Goddess.

She liked knowing more about where she was.

Who had walked around in earlier times? Or what had happened? History took her interest.

‘Look, Red.’ Buddy pointed to an old painting by one of the castle's first owners.

A man sitting at his desk, in the clothes of that time with a huge white collar.

‘Beautiful,’ said Buddy, ‘well painted.’

‘He looks a bit like you,’ said Maddie, ‘brown hair, red beard.’

He laughed and copied the expression of the man in the portrait.

‘Bemmel, of the Firsts,’ Maddie read. She suddenly saw something in Buddy's eyes.

‘Bemmel?’ He asked, frowning between his eyebrows.

‘Do you know a Bemmel?’ asked Maddie and laughed a little at the name.

'Another topic?'

'Why?'

She looked at him curiously, urged him to tell.

‘Has anyone ever told you that you can whine really well?’ Buddy grumbled.

‘Yes, my brother,’ Maddie immediately admitted.

He is right!'

Buddy looked at her seriously.

‘If you tell this further, then I don't know anything about it, I don't know you, I ban you and never speak to you again!’

'Okay.'

‘My legal name is Bemmel.’

‘Of the firsts?’ Maddie could not help teasingly ask.

‘You're bad!’ Buddy determined, but also laughed. ‘I don't know, maybe the tenth.’

‘Or the second, because no one else is called that,’ Maddie roared. ‘Yes, then Buddy is ten times better.’

‘I think so,’ he nodded.

They walked through the dining rooms, bedrooms, a large kitchen, a study, and servants' quarters. Then they came out into a big courtyard.

There was also a guesthouse.

They walked in. Buddy saw a closet built next to a box bed. If he was in it, he could see a shutter above his head. Buddy couldn't help but try to open it. Maddie helped him with that, but it didn't work.

They heard people coming and quickly walked out of the closet.

‘What were you doing there?’ asked Amy curiously. ‘What were you doing in that closet?’

‘Sure enough,’ Buddy grumbled, ‘she never knows anything about what's going on around her and comes in just when we come out a closet.’

‘Well?’ Jacqueline demanded.

‘Nothing you have to worry about, I just came out.’

Jacqueline looked at them both, again suspiciously.

‘You have a boyfriend, don't you?’ she asked Maddie.

‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘but as Buddy said, he just came out. ’

Her eyes sparkled in amusement.

‘Are you gay or something then? ‘Amy asked Buddy.

'How so? Do I fit better in your box, then?‘ he asked. It sounded angry.

Amy gestured defensively.

‘Gosh, I was only ask you a question.’

She sat down at the old dining table with Jacqueline and disappeared back into their mobile world.

Maddie and Buddy walked out.

She suddenly noticed a church at the back of the courtyard.

 She told Buddy, who had seen it too.

He thought it was a good plan to take a look overthere.

They entered the church, of which Maddie could already feel the old energy.

When she touched the door, she was shocked.

Suddenly she saw all kinds of people entering the church. She noticed that they were all women and girls.

It was as if one of the young girls saw her. She stopped tot look at Maddie.

Maddie looked into a pair of sad, pale blue eyes. The blonde hair came out from under the lace cap with the silver earrings. She was wearing a woolen suit with a woven motif. The extra-wide skirt made her waist look superslim. The jacket had slouched, broad shoulders, flared sleeves, and a gathered bodice. She said something to her.

But Maddie only saw her mouth move. She repeated it again and entered the church.

‘Gabh aire do neach sam bith,’ Maddie murmured, only number one, she had said.

‘Maddie?’

She looked up.

'Yes?'

‘Did you fall asleep at the door?’ Buddy asked.

She smiled and walked into the old church.

It was a narrow church, with old floorboards made of heavy stone. Wooden benches, riveted to the floor.

The pulpit sat to the right, elevated above the common seats, of course.

Under the organ, people entered the church, which was made of red cedarwood. The arches in the ceiling were painted sea green.

‘Strange color,’ thought Buddy out loud, sitting on one of the old benches. Then he took the sketchbook out of his backpack.

Drawing was his thing, Maddie knew.

He was very good at it. He liked to draw old things that still contained the soul, according to Buddy.

That is why he had also noticed Bemmel's painting, which looked very real.

‘It's like I can capture the old energy from old buildings like this,’ he said.

Maddie frowned.

She knew that highly sensitive people experienced this more often. Sometimes didn't even know it affected them, but they were on the verge of magic.

Probably that was the reason why Buddy was so good at drawing old buildings.

Maddie walked around the church for a while.

Here and there she put her hands down to feel the energy.

 She could disappear completely in that time.

Suddenly she felt a colder place behind the pulpit.

When she put her hands there, her fingers went freezing.

She knew there were cold spots in old buildings.

It had to do with the deceased, who did not dare or could not leave for whatever reason. Usually out of pure fear, Maddie knew.

There were only two choices you could make in life and death. Fear or love.

Omem had said she shouldn't get involved because it would be too hard for her. Maddie had smiled. It hardly took her any effort.

Sometimes she thought that Omem still didn't really know what powers she actually had.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on that cold spot in the old church. Shreds of images entered her head. She thought she heard a voice.

The images she was allowed to see were very vague. They faded and then became clear again. Maddie felt that it happened out of fear.

‘Spirits hear me, let go of your fears. Is there anything you wish to say to consult with me, after three times three? Show me? ‘

Maddie murmured the spell softly three times. She spun the energy three times in her hand. Then she opened her hands and put the warmer energy on the cold spot.

Immediately she could hear the voice of a young girl. She was very scared. She spoke quickly and in a hurry. Her speech was of the old Frisii, a kind of Celtic, Maddie understood. ‘Cuidich mi, tha eagel orm, help me, I'm scared.’

Maddie looked around for a moment, except for Buddy, there was no one in the church.

‘Innis dhomh brarrachd, tell me more. Thoir dhomh dealbhan. Show me images, ‘Maddie ordered.

She closed her eyes. Immediately a stream of confusing images came through. She couldn't place them right away. She just let it get over her.

Maddie also felt that little girl's emotions, she had been terrified. Suddenly she realized that the girl had seen a fatal fight just outside the church.

She had fled to the church, where she was trapped, terrified, and later died of the consequences. Exactly how the death had happened was not really important, it was about the emotion she had felt then.

The girl, after her death, had not dared to leave her place. She was still in the energy of that fear. She had therefore never gone to the light.

Maddie spoke with her in mind, told her that there was no one left to fear. That she could help her go to the light, to the warmth, the love that was waiting for her.

‘After biodh eagol ort, don't worry. Therig chun ant solas, go to the light, ‘she said softly.

Maddie could see how the little child emerged from under the pulpit. Maddie kept repeating the words until she felt the soul rise to the light. The cold spot got the same temperature as the environment. She knew it was done.

‘Maddie!’

It sounded sarcastic. She turned around.

Amy was filming her with her cellphone.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Jacqueline with a grin. ‘Are you muttering to yourself again?’ She looked over the shoulder of Amy who played the movie. They showed her. There was a kind of ball of light that danced around Maddie. Then it disappeared upstairs.

‘What is that?’ shouted Amy. ‘A ghost or something!’

Buddy came over.

‘Did you know your girlfriend conjures ghosts?’ asked Jacqueline.

‘Yes, she's a witch too, so be careful. Soon you'll be sitting in the tower room like a bat, with the rest of the ghosts, ‘Buddy replied ad rem.

‘Then show him what you filmed?’ Maddie challenged her. ‘I think there is nothing to be seen.’

Amy kept her phone at a distance and played the video for Buddy.

Maddie secretly made a hand gesture. There was suddenly so much interference in the image that it was unclear what she had filmed.

‘As I said,’ Maddie said, amused, ‘nothing!’

The ladies had a discussion about what they did or did not film.

Maddie shrugged uninterested.

Still, she was shocked that she had been filmed. That she hadn't seen it. Once again, in her enthusiasm to help, she had forgotten to make sure her surroundings were safe.

For example, by locking the doors. She sighed.

‘Annoying brats,’ Buddy grumbled. ‘Bet that during the presentation, they also think they can just use our info. Well, I don't think so!’

Maddie laughed at his indignation.

‘Then they'll show the ghost movie,’ he said with a grin.

Maddie looked at her watch. She knew she would have to wait a while before she got home. She couldn't wait to see Raven again.

She was expecting him in the evening because he was on a mission for Omen.

Something with herbs and plants in the Scottish Highlands.

‘Are you coming,’ Buddy repeated his question, ‘the bus is here.’

She walked quickly to the bus with him.

‘Hey.’ Jacqueline blocked her way on the bus before she found a place to sit. ‘What were you doing with Buddy in the closet?’

She spoke loudly so that everyone had to hear her. Everyone looked at Maddie with a grin.

'Oh no? That story again? ‘Buddy grumbled. ‘Get a life! Oh no, you don’t have one, forget that. It's only on your phone.’

He nearly knocked Jacqueline over.

Buddy sat down in the back of the bus with Maddie, a little way away from the brave duo.

Half an hour later, they were back at school.

Amy followed Maddie on the way to the schoolyard.

‘You say you have a boyfriend, but no one has ever seen him. Does he exist or is he also a ghost to summon?’she said teasingly.

‘Well?’ Jacqueline added a little more. 'What's up with that? Are you mumbling something and then he appears in spirit? ‘

More people gathered around them.

Not because they agreed with them, but because they had also been the victim of the brave duo. Then it was secretly nice to experience that someone else was the victim, Maddie understood.

‘I've seen her boyfriend,’ Buddy tried to save the situation, but they laughed at him.

‘Did you look in the mirror then, Bud?’

Maddie felt the negativity increase, but also her anger.

She walked into the school and rushed to the toilet building. In the meantime, she texted Buddy that she was being picked up. That she would see him again the next day.

She picked up her witch school amulet that took her from anywhere in the city to the school under Goat Square in the center. By creating a portal for every door she wanted.

Maddie put her hand on the toilet door. She just disappeared. Then

Amy and Jacqueline came in to look for her.

Maddie appeared in the large room under Goat Square, where the four fireplaces were crackling. The high bookcases with the mobile ladders, the large oval tables, and the easy chairs were very atmospheric.

Several students trickled in, to sit down at the table of herbalism and numerology, or at the table of spells, or history of magic.

The latter remained Maddie's favorite subject. She also found proverbs very interesting. The Gaelic Scottish and Gaelic Irish subjects were very difficult subjects, only not for Maddie, because after the ceremony with the blood moon, she spoke it fluently.

The magic school was not revealed to her, Rodolf, Esmee, and Raven, until after her eighteenth birthday. After all the events with the green tree energy and the red moon magic.

The rule at magic school was that if you couldn't take a class at a certain time, you could catch up somewhere else if you could.

The number of hours of each course was recorded, not when. You could always join later. Because everyone also attended regular education, worked, or did an internship.

Maddie sat at the table where Esmee and Rodolf were already sitting.

‘How was your field trip?’ asked Esmee

‘Great!’ Maddie's voice probably sounded so sarcastic that even Rodolf looked up.

‘A bunch of nasty girls at school,’ explained Maddie.

‘Well, I know that,’ Esmee said with a deep sigh. ‘Once again I had to hear a covert insult about my weight. I know myself that I am fat. When I hear something like that, sometimes I really want to cast a spell! ‘

‘But you are beautiful just the way you are,’ said Rodolf.

‘Exactly!’ Esmee nodded in agreement.

Despite her anger, Maddie had to laugh.

Anke came to teach a lesson, Omem's girlfriend and a member of her coven.

The subject was, how appropriate, spells in everyday life.

Maddie sighed. She regained her concentration.

She preferred to take as many lessons in a row as possible until Raven came back. Because then they could take time for each other and she could skip magicschool.

The table had just been set when Maddie got home.

She wasn't very hungry. She knew her body hadn't fully recovered from the blood moon adventure. That she, therefore, had to take good care of herself. She forced herself to eat something.

She ate as many vegetables as she could eat with a piece of chicken and took a cup of yogurt upstairs for later in the evening.

In her room, she looked in the mirror for a moment. She concluded that her freckles had decreased a lot since the summer. Her red hair shone, her blue eyes sparkled, in her longing for Raven.

She wanted to sleep in his arms again. Waking up in it, resting in it, feeling safe and secure.

The week she had to miss him so much, hurt her almost physically.

She grabbed her robe, some things and went up another floor to Raven's room.

She then felt so much closer to him. It smelled like him. His scent was also in the pillow and the old shirt she wore of him at night.

Omem had expected him to be there in the afternoon. Maddie had no idea whether it would take another day before she saw him again.

She couldn't call him. The strong energy of a magician affected the operation of the mobile.

Then, of course, all kinds of doom scenarios came to mind, which made no sense but made her worried.

Maddie curled up in his bed, deep under his covers. She fell into a restless sleep. She dreamed about him.

She saw his bright blue eyes, felt her hands run through his hair. Felt the strength of his lips on hers, she heard the way he groaned when she went just a little too far and stirred his passion to great heights.

She dreamed of the feel of his hands, his body against hers. It was so real that she was startled to think he was around.

She was deeply disappointed when it all turned out to be a dream. She peered into the darkness of the night and sighed deeply. Turned on the lamp on the bedside table.

She was in Raven's bed, without Raven.

The dream made her miss him even more. She put on her robe, went down the two flights of stairs.

To her surprise, a light was still on in the dining room. She saw her grandmother engaged in deep conversation with the other members of the coven, a group of witches.

It was three in the morning! Then there was another meeting? There was no Sabbath or Esbat. Or another Wiccan celebration. When the coven members noticed her presence, they switched to Gaelic, the Irish variety, not knowing that she could understand everything.

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she said. ‘I couldn't sleep anymore. Just grab some herbal tea.’

Her grandmother nodded absently. She had a worried look in her eyes.

Maddie heard Moon, as her grandmother was called, talk to the others about the turmoil in the magical world. Many magical people, who had found peace long ago, experienced unrest again.

The Prime Minister had decided that new rules would be drawn up about how the various magical creatures were classified. Maddie sighed. She walked on.

The world of magic and the ordinary world were not that different from each other. Well, it would all be better. What could be bothered by such practices at Omem's home? In the town of Tersnake nothing was going on that quickly either, it was quite far from all the big cities, where the first actions always took place.

Maddie walked back to Raven's room, she opened the window. That way the freezing cold could enter. Then she slept better, nice and deep under the covers. The scents of nature would have a better effect on her. It calmed her. She settled into the pillows for a moment, the cup of herbal tea between her hands. This way she could see the stars from the bed. It reminded her of Loch Rannoch in Scotland, she and Raven under the stars.

It cooled down quite a bit in the room. She slid deep under the covers when the tea was finished.

She was almost asleep.

‘What is the purpose of this cold Maddie? Do you want to make sure I get into your bed to warm me up?’ suddenly came Raven's deep voice next to her ear.

'Raven!'

His bright blue eyes looked into hers, his cold lips touched her mouth.

His teeth chattering from the cold. He took off his clothes and slid between the blankets with her.

‘I missed you so much,’ she whispered.

He hid his head in her hair. She felt how cold he was.

‘Shall I close the window?’ she asked.

‘Don't you dare move,’ he grumbled.

She pushed her warm body against the cold of his.

‘I'll warm you,’ she promised.

‘Good for you,’ he whispered into her neck. ‘Do you know how cold it was in the Scottish Highlands?’

‘It's always cold without me, isn't it?’ she teased.

‘You are a witch!’ he said.

He kissed her on a spot on her neck just below her ear.

‘That's not fair,’ she moaned, ‘there is my off button.’

‘Your what?’

‘The button of my self-control,’ she murmured in his hair.

He kissed her, stroked her back and her arms for a moment.

‘Stop Raven,’ she said with a slight gasp, but it didn't sound very convincing.

He couldn't resist kissing the spot on her neck again.

She felt her resistance melt, her hands caressing his cold back as if by themselves. She felt it merge into his muscular buttocks.

She just couldn't get rid of him. She immediately felt how he reacted to her.

With all the strength he could muster, he jumped out of bed again. He stood panting by the open window.

‘Did you drink your elixir?’ she asked, looking up at him.

‘No,’ said Raven. You?'

She shook her head.

‘You weren't there,’ she said apologetically.

‘Maddie, that's stupid, we know that desire is going to take over us!’ he grumbled, but his eyes smiled.

He rummaged in a drawer and handed her a bottle.

She took the dose and so he did. He jumped back into bed with her.

‘It will work in a minute,’ he said comfortingly.

She curled up in his arms. She felt the comforting warmth of his body.

‘Too bad,’ she sighed. But she also knew so well, that a witch was not allowed to have sex before the age of 21, because it could then slow down the development of the growing magic.