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“Alrighty, gang! That wraps up tonight's session, so you can all leave my house now!” Agatha says in her usual fake cheery voice. At this point, they all knew to just roll their eyes and let her have it. Tonight however, the ensuing remarks went a little differently.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s coming down in buckets outside.” Jen gives a pointed look out the window, the rain coming down so hard it’s impossible to even see the yard. “No way am I going out in that. I just bought this dress.”
“Ugh, always with the drama, Jenny.” She jabs with a playful smile, proud of her school yard insults. “Everyone knows witches don’t actually melt in the rain.”
“Well I, for one, am with Jen on this one.” Lilia interjects. “We may not melt, but we’ll most certainly drown.”
“Or run ourselves off the road.” Alice adds. “Do you know how many rain related accidents I had to respond to during my cop days? The answer is too many, and they were never pretty.”
“My poor roses,” Sharon mutters to herself, looking out the window towards her own lawn.
“Yeah, and I don’t wanna get in another car accident.” Billy says, finally speaking up from his place sitting in one of Agatha’s ornate yet comfy chairs.
“I’m staying here regardless.” Rio comments with a hum and a smirk directed at Agatha but meant for everyone to see. Everyone made varying noises of disgust at the display. “So what's it gonna be, Agatha? Coven sleep over?”
“Oooh, I haven’t been to a sleepover since I was in high school, and that was years and years ago.” Sharon muses, forgetting all about her roses at the idea. Agatha rolls her eyes and gags at the idea, before taking a look at her coven members faces and softening a little. She’ll never admit it, but she’s grown soft on all of them- especially Billy, who she never tries to deny is her favorite out of all of them.
“Oh fine!” She forces her voice back into an overly sarcastic box and tries to hide the smile that creeps onto her face when they all cheer. “But you’re all figuring out pajamas and blankets and all that. Scrounge around, I’m sure Ralph left some stuff here.”
“Ew, I am not getting near your weird fake husband's gross stuff.” Jen shivers and Rio glares. She doesn’t like the whole “fake husband” thing one bit, naturally.
“I still feel kinda bad for him,” Billy says but no one's listening, already scrounging around for things they can use for bedding and pillows.
-
They all set up camp in the living room, a suggestion made by a very excited Sharon, and the lights are all turned off as they settle down. No one seems to notice how Billy tenses as the room fills with darkness.
He sits up and crawls over to his backpack, grabbing a pair of headphones from them and slinking back to his makeshift bed. Alice hasn’t quite fallen asleep yet and notices, lightly tugging at his pant leg.
“You okay, Billy?” She asks when he spooks a little at the contact.
“Fine.” He answers instinctively and offers her a small smile she can’t possibly see in the dark. “I was just grabbing my headphones, for white noise, you know?”
“It’s raining outside, what do you need white noise for?” Jen scoffs and gets shushed by Alice.
“I don’t- never mind, I’m tired so I’m not gonna bother trying to argue.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Everyone shut your traps, I’m trying to sleep!” Agatha exclaims loudly and Jen huffs, crossing her arms and laying back down.
Alice gives Billy another look, but finds that the teenager has already put his headphones on, scrolling through his phone for a moment before clicking on something and setting the phone face down on the rug. When she’s sure he’s actually settled, she lets herself drift off into sleep as well.
-
A loud crash of thunder wakes Alice up hours later, so loud she’s unsure how the rest of the coven sleep through it. Blinking blearily, she looks around the room at the group, all asleep until her eyes land on Billy, or rather where Billy had been when she’d gone to sleep.
This sets off alarm bells in her head and something triggers inside her- police training instincts, sibling instincts, parental instincts, she’s not sure, but it triggers something and she’s kicking off her blankets in an instant, getting up to search the whole house for her baby witch.
He’s not in the living room or the kitchen, and she’s about to go upstairs when she finds him sitting by the front door, knees pulled up to his chest and breathing harsh enough that she can hear it.
“Billy?” She whispers, getting closer to him and kneeling down. “What are you doing all the way over here?”
“The power went out.” He answers and he’s right. Alice looks out the window and sees the street lamps have all gone out, probably a downed wire or something. Whatever had happened, it had plunged the street into darkness and there was no light in the house. She’d been using her magic to guide herself around the house and she hadn’t noticed how dark it was till now. “It’s too dark.” He reads her mind.
“Are you scared of the dark, Billy?” She asks, trying not to sound too condensing. She knows teenagers can be cagey about admitting they’re scared. But Billy isn’t like other teenagers, and he nods, body shuddering clearly.
“I don’t like it.” He hiccups quietly. “It’s too cold and too dark. It reminds me of when I was gone, when I was stuck between being Billy and William. It makes me feel so alone, Alice. I don’t like being alone.”
“You’re not alone, kiddo, not anymore.” She sighs, placing a hand gently on his knee, noting how he’s shivering with fear. “I’m right here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“You promise?” He asks, and Alice tries not to think about how small he sounds. The Billy she’s used to is sweet and kind but also loud and sometimes brash in a good way, but never small.
“I promise.” She nods. “Now let's get back to the other witches in the living room. You’ll feel less alone with more people around, trust me.”
“I trust you.”
“Good.” She smiles, standing up and holding her hand out for him to take. When he does, she gives his hand a gentle squeeze and leads him back to the living room, using her magic as a flashlight.
She makes sure he gets to his makeshift bed again and tucks him in, despite his quiet protests that she doesn’t have to. Quite honestly, she doesn’t know what comes over her at the moment, but she does it anyway and takes his protests as a sign that the fear is wearing off.
“I’ll be just over here, okay?” She gestures with her magic to her place next to Jen and crawls over to it, settling down again.
Sleep almost takes her again when there’s another crash of thunder and she hears Billy make a small noise of fear at the noise. She peaks an eye open and sees him huddled up on his blanket, electric blue magic running up and down his fingers, illuminating the tear tracks on his face. She sighs.
“Billy,” She whispers, and when he doesn’t react, she tries again, a little louder this time. “Hey, Billy?”
“What’s going on, Alice?” Lilia’s voice comes from the couch where she’s half curled up, Sharon on the other half. Before Alice can answer, her eyes are already moving over to Billy, who’s still unresponsive and sparking blue. “Oh, mio bambino. What’s wrong?”
“Dark.” He whimpers. “So dark. I’m all alone.”
“Shh, Billy, you’re not alone.” Alice tries to comfort him, crawling back over to him.
“Wha’s going on?” Jen asks from her pile of blankets, the commotion having woken her up.
“Billy’s upset.” Lilia answers.
“What’s wrong with Billy?” Agatha asks next, sitting up quickly and turning her eyes to her mentee- her adoptive son if you asked anyone besides her.
“He’s panicking.” Alice answers this time, gently rubbing a hand up and down Billy’s back. “He doesn’t like the dark.”
“Most children don’t.” Rio comments from besides Agatha. At this point, the whole coven sans Sharon is awake.
“He’s not a child, he’s a teenager.” Jen retorts.
“Legally that’s a child.” Lilia joins in before catching herself. “But now's not the time for that argument. The boy needs our attention.”
“What should we do?” Alice asks when Billy doesn’t seem to be calming down.
“Well, there’s always a witch pile.” Agatha suggests.
“A witch pile?” Alice questions. “No way that’s a real thing.”
“Okay okay, yes I made that one up, but you get the concept!” The purple witch argues and Alice just sighs.
“For once I agree with Agatha,” Lilia says. “Maybe being closer to everyone will help.”
“I guess it’s worth a shot.” Alice sighs. “I don’t like seeing him like this.”
“No one does.” Agatha mutters, already moving herself over closer to them. Rio’s not far behind, despite her mixed opinions on the boy and his weird soul situation.
Lilia moves herself off the couch, with minor protests about how the floor is going to hurt her back. Jen huffs but drags her blanket pile over as well. The whole coven moves till they’re all pressed together, Alice facing Billy with Agatha at his back and Rio behind her. Jen finds herself besides Alice and Lilia rests near the top of their heads, not so subtly stealing one of Jen’s many blankets.
Billy’s breathing is still harsh, but it starts to slow down as he realizes his coven is all around him. More tears rise in his eyes and he lets them fall.
“Thank you,” He whispers after he’s sure it won’t get lost in a hiccup or a sob.
“Of course,” Alice responds.
“We’re your coven, we’re here for you.” Lilia cuts in to say.
“Yeah, so don’t make a big deal out of it and go back to sleep, Teen.” Agatha huffs, her miffed tone contrasted with the protective arm she’s thrown around him. He smiles softly and doesn’t mention it.
“I’m so glad I found you guys.” He whispers instead and gets a jab to the rib from Agatha.
“What did I just say,” She tries to sound upset but her tone is too soft and after a moment she continues. “You’re not all bad yourself, kid.”
The whole coven falls back asleep like that, in a pile of blankets found around the house and scattered limbs thrown over each other. If they focus on it hard enough, they can all feel their magic moving together in sync, beating in a caring rhythm.
-
The next morning when they wake up, they find Sharon on the floor with them and a photo of them all on the ground together. They all know Sharon took it, judging by the thumb in the corner of the photo, and once they’re all up Lilia announces she’s making breakfast, and they’ll all sit around the table they held their weekly magic session the night before.
No one mentions Billy’s panic attack the night before, but the smile on his face when he looks at all of them is enough for them to know he’s going to be alright for now.