Blood Bone and Secrets

Madeline cradled her newborn daughter tightly against her chest, her arms trembling from the strain of labor that had only just ended minutes ago. Her breaths were still shallow, her body weak, but the fierce instinct to protect surged through her like fire.

Without warning, the heavy wooden door creaked open, and Elder Tina strode into the room with a chilling urgency. Before Madeline could react, the elder reached out and took the baby from her arms.

"Elder Tina, what are you doing?" Madeline cried out, trying to rise despite the pain in her limbs. Her voice was desperate, cracking with fear.

Elder Sonia stepped forward, her expression solemn. "Your child cannot grow amongst us. I'm sorry, Madeline."

Madeline stared at her, heart pounding. "What do you mean?"

"We've made a decision," Elder Sonia continued, her tone steady but heavy. "Someone must carry on our legacy. Your child is the youngest among us and she carries the gift. If we all stay here, we'll perish. You, the baby, every single witch. Yes, we're powerful, but we are too few. One of us must survive... must continue the line."

Elder Tina added, "Leah wasn't blessed with the gift, so we've chosen her to leave this place. To carry on our story. But for that to happen, we must bind your daughter's powers."

Madeline's eyes darted between the elders, each one she'd known for years, faces she trusted yet now they looked like strangers. She knew how much the world hated them for what they were. Witches. Blessed. Feared. Hunted. And it was true there were fewer of them every year.

She didn't want her daughter to die before she even had a chance to live.

"Please... can I have one last moment with her?" Madeline asked, her voice soft and broken.

Elder Tina looked to the others, who silently nodded. With care, she stepped forward and gently handed the baby back into Madeline's arms.

Madeline held her daughter close, tears slipping down her cheeks as she kissed the child's soft forehead. "Her name is Aurelia," she said to Leah voice thick with love and sorrow.

She kissed her again, then slowly, painfully, handed her back to Elder Tina this time, to bind the magic that had marked her from birth.

Elder Tina carried baby Aurelia to the center of a ritual circle outlined with red candles, their flames flickering gently in the dimly lit chamber. The air inside was thick with tension and sorrow. The elders stood in silence, their faces grim, their hearts heavy with what had to be done.

With great care, Tina placed Aurelia in the heart of the circle. The baby cooed softly, unaware of the weight her tiny presence carried. Elder Tina raised her hands and began to chant, her voice low and reverent.

"Oh Madre Naturaleza... at el poder de este joven... al que has bendecido," she intoned, repeating the sacred phrase three times.

As the final words left her lips, a sudden gust of wind howled through the room, fierce and unrelenting. The flames of the red candles danced violently before all of them were extinguished at once, leaving the room in momentary darkness and silence.

The ritual was complete.

Tina stepped into the circle, lifting Aurelia gently from its center. She turned to Leah, her eyes serious but filled with a quiet sorrow.

"The stronger her powers grow, the more the spell that binds them will weaken," Elder Tina warned. "You must protect her, raise her well and when the time is right, let her know she had a wonderful, strong mother."

She placed the swaddled baby into Leah's arms, who received her with a trembling but determined grip. Behind them, Madeline watched, silent and broken, as tears streamed freely down her cheeks. Her arms ached for her daughter, her heart even more so.