According to the dictionary, obsession is when 'an idea or thought continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind'. She guessed you could call what is happening to her right now that… obsession. It boggled her mind, being a Bennet and all, she just could not accept that there was no way to reverse a dark witch's spell - or was it a curse? Regardless, there has to be a way to reverse the spell without being swallowed by the dark as well or needing to sacrifice yourself. She thought of her cousin again and felt a strong pang in her heart. It's been more than a year since the last time she saw him, since he….. God! She couldn't even say to herself what happened to him.
She sighed. There was really no point wallowing over it. At least the witch council allowed his family to mourn him, to bury him with his family. If for nothing else, at least Sam could rest peacefully beside his mom. She rubbed her temple and looked at the grimoire in front of her. It was ancient and as she read through it there were spells inside that she could not even fathom. She felt an ache in her index finger and looked at it to massage it a little, the tip of it a little blackened as if burned. She tsked and mentally smacked herself for not being careful. The grimoire in front of her may not be a dark witch's grimoire but it was still a grimoire of a very powerful witch, steps were taken to protect it from being touched by others who are not its master. Being a Bennet she should have known that.
Bennets are not as knowledgeable of the texts and history of the magical world as the Browns were but because of their ability to quickly learn magic and spells, it was just a natural tendency to want to learn more about the history of things that they were very proficient with. She should've known that there would be protection with the grimoire. Grimoires were like a very personal journal of each individual who owns it. It was unique, special and very powerful. It contained not just the basic magic spells to help the individual witch to remember, but as witches grow their power, they learn to come up and experiment with different potions and spells. It could, depending on the witch, also contained information about spells and potions that could harm and secrets about how to harness the powers of the dark. It was, of course, written in this particular grimoire not to be used but as a warning to her descendants. The owner was the first Brown witch, one of the 5 ancients, the first witches who mastered the forces of nature.
Before dark witches became a thing, there were no boundaries with witches. What stopped them from becoming consumed by evil was their beliefs and their morals. The ancients made a pact with each other that they would cherish the power that nature has given them but never use it beyond what its intentions were. Slowly, each of the 5 developed proficiency in different areas. The witch that hailed from the Browns showed great wisdom and knowledge. She wasn't the most powerful but her ability to understand how magic worked was beyond anyone's understanding.
The Bennet witch, where her coven came from, found that it was very easy for them to learn and harness the magic. Insidio was the first magic learned and it was only the Bradford witch that was able to harness fire almost at the same time as the Bennet witch did. It was a friendly competition between the 2 witches, if you asked one they would always stand firm in their response that they were the first to get the fire going. In reality there was really no competition, both Bradfords and Bennets were very proficient with magic. What takes others awhile to learn is something almost instant to them.
There was no question about the friendship of the 5, the Winston witch would've known if there was anything to be worried about. She found an affinity with emotional magic, she is known in the current world, as an empath but really she is more than that. She can not only feel what you feel but she can also manipulate you so that you feel things that you otherwise would not feel. This has proven to be very useful multiple times in battle as it can sway the unfortunate soul to make a decision that they would otherwise make. At that time, the Winston witch was their north star, their rock. She was very reliable and she became like the mother that the other 4 never had the chance to know. War could take away what you love the most and deprive you of the love that you should've been given. It also pushes people together to form a sometimes very odd kind of friendship. For the Winston witch, it was just very natural for her to take care of her friends, her sisters. The one odd witch in the group was the Carmichael witch. It wasn't that she wasn't good, but she was shy. And if you compare her ability to the others, there was really nothing special to her. But no one really noticed that except her.
And so as is the case with anything that was powerful, it can be abused. The first dark witch abused her knowledge and used it to hurt others rather than help them. And it was done because of jealousy. Agnes was the first dark witch and she was the first Carmichael witch. She saw the abilities of others and compared it to her own. It triggered a jealousy that, although unwanted, she just could not control. She knew the weakness of the 4, it was not in their abilities but rather their morals, their beliefs, their unwillingness to explore powerful magic that, in their mind, could harm rather than help. What choice did she have really? She had to prove that she was worthy of being called their sister. And really, it wasn't like she was going to hurt someone. She just wanted to try it out, see what the fuss was about. Maybe she could find her gift by pushing the magic that they all knew past its limits. What was the harm?
So she did, she looked at the Grimoire of the Brown witch and at night, when no one was watching, after they have helped everyone who needed help and taught magic to those who wanted to learn, she practiced what the 5 of them have agreed to never try. Magic that pushed the boundaries of what nature was willing to give.
She rubbed her eyes and hissed as she felt pain on her finger again. Sleep.. she needed to sleep, to recharge, to be able to think about this. There was so much in here, and sometimes it was even written in a language that she could not understand. Damn it, she needed a Brown to help interpret, and the only Brown who could and was willing to help was just banned from ever assisting her. There was no proof that she communicated or helped Sam at all when he was running away from the law. There were of course gossips, talks here and there that you can never stop. But you are, at the bottom of it, innocent until proven guilty and the keepers of Magic had no concrete evidence against here except circumstantial. But this did not stop other clans from isolating her from their world, which was what happened with her bestfriend. She sighed. She was on her own in this. She closed the book and stored it away. She could feel exhaustion in every cell of her body. She stood up, went to bed and felt herself drift towards dream land the instant she closed her eyes.