"The rain!" I yell.
I'm such an idiot! This isn't just about me burning some damn leaves! Fire, earth, water, this is just like some weird witchy riddle! I look around for water, but Liam got it before me. He grabs an empty pot lying in a corner and opens a window to fill it with rainwater. After a few seconds, he comes back and splashes it on the burning ivy on the wall.
Finally, we see it. The leaves disappear in a new wave of ashes, thankfully taking the smoke with them as well. We can finally breathe some fresh air, even more so with Liam opening all the windows. I'm getting nervous all of a sudden, wondering what I will uncover this time. Liam grabs more water, as only the wet and burnt leaves have burned away. Meanwhile, I'm trying to decipher the image that is left behind. It's a drawing on the wall. Not just a childish drawing, something done with water paint. A very large tree? There is stuff written, some have even faded and disappeared over time. It takes me a little while to get it. It’s a family tree.
I remain in front of that wall, baffled. Liam is still filling the pot with rainwater to put out the fire on the remaining leaves, but I'm mesmerized by what we uncovered. A very, very large and complicated tree. I didn't expect something like this, but now that I'm seeing it, I have this strange feeling in my heart. Like I just found something epic, something really, really important. Why was it hidden underneath that ivy wall? Why was Sylviana trying to hide this...?
Once he's done splattering the water, Liam stands next to me to stare at the tree, still looking shaken. He seems just as lost as I am. We are both scrutinizing that tree. The branches go in all directions on the wall, and it takes me a while to understand how to read it properly. The leaves are going toward the floor, while for some reason, the older branches, closer to the roots, are almost on the ceiling. It's like a waterfall of leaves, but not just leaves. The little figures painted on that wall are symbols, three different ones: a leaf, a flame, and a water droplet. They definitely represent each sign the witch was born under. It's really... pretty. It's a simple painting on a wall, with nothing complicated about it, but the repetition of those three elements, over and over again, going in all different directions on the wall has something beautiful about it, like a mosaic.
Moreover, there are names on there. Lots of names, one per symbol. It's written so small because there is a lot, so many that it covers a full wall. Hundreds, at least... I gasp.
"Are we supposed to look for someone specific?" I wonder. "It's going to take ages..."
Shall I search for the name Mara? Or Clarissa? I glance sideways, and Liam's ice-blue eye is already going around, most likely looking for Sylviana's. I take a deep breath. Oh, well, I should start looking now...
The most ancient witches are probably the ones whose names are closer to the roots. I even recognize a few famous names, some I have seen in the book about witches that Kelsi brought. Medea, Circe. I thought those were only tales... What part is true? Curious, I try to look up the oldest names of all, the ones that are on the ceiling. Strangely, they are almost faded. As if they had been written there for ages, and been erased by time. Didn't Sylviana supposedly write them all at once? Or could it be, this house is much older than we thought? I find the oldest names and take a few minutes to decipher the old handwriting. ...Lilith... Hecate, Cybele, and... Luna? For real? Or is that some coincidence? Could the oldest witch have been a Luna? A werewolf as well?
"Mara."
I turn my head, and Liam is frowning in front of one end of the tree. I walk up to him and look at what he is showing me. Oh, of course.
Sylviana.
Her name looks freshly painted, adorned with an ivy leaf. I feel a strange heart-warming feeling, seeing that name there. Why is that? I never knew her, but I still feel... happy that she is here. As if I was seeing a friend I know, a picture of somebody I recognize. Now that I think of it, I have no idea what that woman looked like. Could there be a picture or something somewhere?
"Wait a second..."
"What?"
Liam is frowning and looking around, confused. I look at Sylviana's branch. The name above hers is Danica. A Fire Witch, according to that little flame symbol behind her name. Her name follows a long list of what are probably her ancestors, just like any end of the tree. The branch stops with Sylviana's name, though...
"Liam, what's wrong?" I ask, annoyed to see him squinting all around.
"Nephera. Her name isn't... with Sylviana's."
I suddenly realize. Weren't those two supposedly sisters? Yet, the branch doesn't split in two ways. According to this tree, Sylviana was Danica's only daughter, nothing comes after her, or between those two... no one.
"Maybe Nephera was born after?"
"No, no," says Liam. "Sylviana was years younger, Nephera was... the older sister, that's what they said... They were half-sisters, but still."
Half-sisters? With the same mother? But if she was the oldest, Nephera should have appeared above Sylviana's name! I don't get it either. Or could it be because she turned bad, they removed her name? I look around. Actually, some names are indeed erased. A few branches further, a witch's name was burnt by something and is unreadable. Somewhere else, some mold has taken over to erase a witch's name too. They are either replaced with a new witch after, probably a second child, or the branch ends there. Liam notices too.
"Maybe because she was a Dark Witch? Are those all the Dark Witches that are erased?"
"Dark Witches?" I repeat.
"Yeah... Sylviana told us about them. Witches that used their magic... in a bad way, to do bad deeds, were deemed as Dark Witches."
This is getting very fairytale-like... The good and bad witches, Light and Dark Magic... I don't think those were bad witches, though. It doesn't make sense. All those names end their branch. Why would no bad witch have children, ever? I keep staring at the tree, thinking there's something I've missed.
Suddenly, I recall Kelsi's words.
"The cycle!" I exclaim.
"What?"
"The witches' cycle. My friend Kelsi found out about it. The three elements are essential to witches."
