Chapter 484

121 – Ben

Eliza pulls away from him shouting “No!” She turns to her mother and falls over her still body. Her crying gets more hysterical and the glow increases. When she looks back at Silas, her eyes are flames of gold.

“What!?” He shouts. “She had one under her own roof! Kept you hidden. YOU are an abomination, girl!” He points at her. Then his fire magic starts, aiming blast after blast at her. I don’t know if he’s using the distant fire as a source or if he has something hidden to provide him with the flame, but he’s using hostile magic – on a child! I can’t take it anymore, I react on instinct and step in front of the flames. Before anything can hit me, I’m engluffed in darkness again. A sense of calm washes over me, maybe this time I really am dead. .

“There you go, just like that!” An excited raspy voice interrupts my peace and calm. It’s too low to tell if it’s male or female. “You’re almost there, yes!”

Umm…wherever I am, I do not want or need to hear this. How do I get out of this f*cking blackness? My arms are moving, I think. Feels like it anyway. I’m standing on a hard surface, I simply have no eyesight.

Just as I decide to kneel down and start crawling around, a blaze shocks my sight and knocks me on my ass. “What the…?”

“Yes, yes! You did it! And with no source.” The raspy voice praises with a taste of awe in the air as I blink my eyes to focus.

“Yeah! I can’t wait to see what else that magic does!” An excitable squeaky voice adds. Female for sure. I can make out shapes around the huge fire. Two taller standing on either side of a smaller figure.

Focusing, I see the little girl’s face, and what I see scares me more than anything else I have been shown so far. She is enamoured with what she just did and what more she can do. The waspy male has a predatory look in his eye. She is a tool for him to exploit. And I think I know where I am now.

“What am I supposed to do with this information?” I ask the Rift. It’s the only thing that explains this situation the longer I am – wherever this is. A press to my shoulder is the only answer I receive.

“But, who’s going to teach me? Mama’s gone and I couldn’t find Sissy.” I hear tears in her thick voice as she stares into the fire.

“We can show you everything they were hiding from you.” Waspy says. There’s an air about him I immediately distrust. Eliza looks up at him with confusion.

“They weren’t hiding, I didn’t have my magic yet. I was waiting, but I started to feel tingles and the plants would turn to me!” /she sounds excited at the memory. “Mama said this festival was going to be my festival.” Her excitement fades like a light as she goes quiet, looking back at the fire. “I guess she was right.”

“No, noooo. She was suppressing your magic. Keeping it from you.” The woman wheezes. “She knew how powerful you were going to be and hid your magic. You are special. Her spell on you broke when she died.”

Everyone is quiet while she processes the information and I expect Eliza to argue and defend her mother again. But the gleam in her eyes as she looks back at the fire tells me that’s what she wanted to hear. She wants to be special, different.

The blackness closes in again.

When I get my sight back I see a larger group of people in a circle in the clearing of a forest. They all have cloak on now covering their faces. A low hum of chanting is in sync with the pulsing of the air around me. It’s so strange that can feel emotions in these – memories. guess that’s what they have to be. I’m not sure whose memories, but someone watched Eliza closely.

A movement in the circle catches my attention. A hooded figure, slight and graceful moves to the center as if floating. The person is carrying something in their arms. They set their bundle in the center of the circle and return to their place. Nothing happens for a long moment, but the chanting continues. Then two teenagers are thrust through the line. They look grubby and terrified…and they both have silver collars on. These are wolf teens. My blood boils instantly. I don’t know these kids and I probably never will, but they are obviously being used against their will. I can’t move, I can’t help them, but I am forced to sit here and watch whatever is done to them. I’m angry with the magic again.

The chanting changes and both teens turn, trance-like, towards the thing in the center. They both walk robotically, under some kind of spell. As soon as they get within three feet of the object, both drop to the ground convulsing, foaming at the mouth. It’s the way I felt when I got near the shadow markers. I don’t think I ever foamed at the mouth though.

“NO!” a voice shouts. I can’t tell who. There is no movement from the cloaked figures. “It cannot be conspicuous.” I know this voice. “They cannot know of the spell. Remove it!” she shouts and the little witch shuffles forward to take her bundle, hood slipping in her rush.

I watch this process five more times. All with the same result and Eliza getting more angry as the time goes on. “I need a Chaos witch. We have tried all Elementals, Green, Metal, Sun and Moon magics.” I still can’t see her, but her voice carries clearly over the crowd.

“Why not set the spell yourself mistress?” A brave person speaks up. “Your magic would certainly do the job you want.” Logical, but even I know this person is going to be punished for being so flippant.

“I can’t set the spell. My sister would recognize it in a heartbeat. SHe can’t know what we are doing. Not until the last moment.” The response is tired, bored almost, but the mood around the circle has changed. Then a cloaked figure drops to their knees and flops forward. No sound or acknowledgement from the rest of the crowd tells me this is normal and the back talker should have ̈ predicted it and kept their mouth shut.

My world goes dark again.