Witch's Bell Book One

on child, isn't there something you want to say to me?' Avery Bell leaned against the banister, her face angling down, her long, sleek black hair slipping over her shoulders with a swoosh. She was in an elegant blue, flowing robe, its cuffs and collar embroidered with various symbols and runes. Her eyes glittered an inviting, but treacherous, gold, and her skin glowed a faint blue.
    'Ah, darling,' Ebony's father said from the base of the stairs, 'maybe now isn't the time.'
    'There isn't any other time, only the time we have now,' her mother replied cryptically.
    'Fine,' Ebony's lips seemed to smack together too loudly, as if she was making a verbal exclamation mark. And her mother was absolutely right; there was no time like the present. And while ordinary humans usually took that saying to mean one should always seize the moment, to a witch it meant something different. It literally meant that there was no time other than what could be found at the present. Time wasn't stretched between the past, present, and future, like some would have you believe. Time never divided itself into sections, leaving some behind, or in front of it. It always stayed together, in one whole piece, and always in the now. It was alike a moth, in that fashion, always holding fast to the light of the moment.
    There was only ever one time you could do things, and that was now.
    'You're angry because you were punished,' her mother blinked long, dark lashes, her eyes suddenly changing to a shimmering green.
    'Angry? Why would I be angry?' Ebony's cheeks were starting to grow hot and itchy, and gradually she was becoming less and less aware of the three other men in the room. For now it was just her and her mother. She lifted up both her hands, showing off her shackles. 'What kind of a punishment is this?' she spat, words punctuated with emotion. 'It doesn't match what I did – and you know that.'
    Her mother raised an eyebrow, cocked her head to the side, and waited.
    'I did whatever I could to save that woman,' Ebony licked her lips. 'I fought that guy off with all I had. I saved that woman. And you punished me for revealing myself to a human? I don't get it! It's just not fair! I did the best I could-'
    'It is forbidden to openly admit that you are a witch in the presence of a mundane,' her mother automatically replied, as if she were reading an entry from the rule book – which, in a way, she was. It was a fundamental tenet of witch-law, after all.
    Ebony just shook her head, her cheeks and face now as hot and ruddy as a boiling tomato sauce. 'There was something strange about that woman, really strange,' she repeated, her voice high. 'Has she been investigated? Has she been looked into? Or have you just concentrated on disproportionately punishing your own daughter for a crime you know she didn't really commit?' Ebony's voice was getting louder and louder.
    'And yet, the punishment stands,' Avery leaned back, pulling herself into a ramrod straight, but elegant position. 'You can argue all you want, you can throw around as many excuses as you can find. But you cannot change the fact you were punished.'
    'Why?' Ebony's mouth formed around the word, pushing it out with a great rush of air. 'It doesn't make any sense. Rather than look into the real situation, you're distracting yourselves with me. Well fine, see if I care.'
    Her father swallowed heavily behind her, but didn't for a second admonish her for swearing at her mother. He wouldn't dare. This had now become a full-blown witch-domestic. As such, it was considerably lucky for everyone involved that Ebony didn't have any magic at the moment, or fireballs and lightning-strikes would be bouncing off the walls.
    'You're a foolish child,' her mother's eyes flashed a deep purple, the hand that clutched the banister tightening visibly. 'You have no idea what you've walked into, and now you are looking around for someone to blame, while you ignore the real cause – you.'
    'Hold on,' Nate said from down the stairs, voice laden with the usual authority and righteousness. It seemed that it didn't matter who he was talking to – lowly criminal, or super powerful mega-witch – Nate always spoke in the same tone. He obviously stood for one thing, a thing he repeated over and over again - "right" - and he wasn't ever going to let anything stand in his way.
    But Ebony heard Ben shout a quick and desperate: 'shut up!! Leave it to them".
    'No,' Nate said with greater force this time. 'This isn't