Amethyst

"No!" she cried. Standing up to lift her arms in the hopes of catching the bird and putting out the fire. The closer it got the more the flames rained down on her along with the waterfall.

"You're awake I see," Simon smiled standing behind her in the shadow of an overhanging ledge. "It seems the mother hen is not ready to let her chick fly." He looked up at the diving bird.

"Mum?" Amy asked confused.

"I don't imagine Patrick would ever be altruistic enough to set himself on fire to help you," Simon laughed. "They don't realise that you never believed as they did in the power of the coven. They are trying to save you with their silly little spells and non-existent magic."

"I hated being different. I let you mock them because I didn't like being teased. I was always trying to prove I was different to them. I closed myself off from their earth magic despite having seen it at work. I just wanted to be normal," she admitted sadly.

"Let me mock them? You were worse than I ever was. You gave the old warlock his name not me," Simon said pointedly.

"I guess I never appreciated the gifts they gave me until now," Amy admitted. She bent and took off her shoes holding them in each hand. I never understood the joys of dancing on the earth barefoot in the crisp night air as they did," she twirled around laughing.

Simon watched her in bafflement daring to hope that she had accepted her place here with him. She seemed younger and carefree as she danced and laughed on the edge of the ledge that jutted from the side of the waterfall. He saw the girl he had been in love with his whole life for the first time in years, and he relaxed his guard the waterfall slowing from the flooding rainswept torrent to an easier fall.

"I loved you Simon and could have remembered you given time, fondly but to do this? To imprison me here and curse me to a life I didn't deserve. It's too much, and no matter how much you want it otherwise, I don't want to be here with you. I want to dance in the sunshine with my family and friends," Amy said trying one last time to make him understand while keeping a keen eye on the shoes she held in her hands as they filled with flaming feathers that sputtered and reignited as the next one fell. She danced around trying to catch them all.

"You will learn to love me or die," he said the malicious sneer returning to his voice.

"I have other plans I'm afraid and they involve marrying Greg and starting a family. Things you can't offer me here," she said knowing it would hurt Simon.

He stepped out of the shadows enraged by her words and advanced on her. His skeletal face showing all his rage and frustration with her. She waited until he was close, enough to be standing on the muddy ledge with her and the cool spray of the water coating him in the same sheen of moisture she wore.

"If spirits threaten me in this place," Amy began to chant the spell she had been taught as a child to rid herself of monsters under the bed. "I will fight water by water," the waterfall thundered deafeningly around them. "Earth by earth," the mud appeared to trap Simon's feet and his advance on her stalled. "Air by air," a warm breeze seem to eddy around them tugging at their hair and clothes.

"No!" Simon cried out pulling his clothes tighter and crouching down as if to protect himself.

She could see Simon struggling to hold his form as the warm wind stripped away the icy coldness of his death. "Fire with Fire!" she threw her shoes at him hoping there was enough flame to do the damage required.

"Stop!" Simon groaned holding up his hand to protect himself from the flame and keeping it suspended for a few moments longer. She could see he was losing his battle as he glared at her and stood. "You are not a witch. You do not believe in this hocus pocus. Stop this now!" He roared. His lips were beginning to peel back from his teeth, and his translucent skin seemed ashen and turned a strange colour. He lost his battle with the elements, and the fire leapt toward him.

"Banish Simon's soul to nothingness and remove his powers over me until the last trace. Let his evil flee through time and space. Let me return to my rightful place.

She watched dispassionately as Simon melted before her eyes into a sticky puddle of goo. She stood transfixed for a long time watching the water wash him from the ledge and the landscape of her life. She felt free. She felt powerful. She felt strong, and she looked up hoping to see the white bird. It flew high above the falls now, and she smiled. "I'm coming home mother," she said knowing she meant it in more ways than one. Then she stepped from the ledge.

*****