Chapter 14 - SIREN
853 Words
The chamber underground feels a lot colder. The stone walls echo my footsteps as I pace, my eyes never leaving the figure strapped to the stone bed in the centre. It is odd, how at peace she looks, for a being cursed into an object of mass destruction. I can see her destiny as clear as day – Dreamscape burning, Fairies rushing out, Witches and Human waiting in the edges to s*******r us as our powers are drained out. I would die before I let anything like that happen. I didn’t sacrifice so much to just…
“You want her dead, don’t you?” The voice behind me is reproachful and strangely familiar. The feeling that hit me back in the scared wood comes back again. Something…Something dangerous yet also…
“I want her cleansed.” I grit my teeth and turn around. The expression in the Head Witch’s eyes is cold like she doesn’t believe a word I say. But there is also, in a strange way, disappointment. It feels too much like looking into a mirror and not liking what you see.
“Cleansed.” Her laughter is sweet, like a bell ringing. I feel a jolt in my stomach like a knife had been slashed into it. “Is that what you are calling it now? Getting rid of people who don’t agree with you?”
“Why…” A flash of anger hits me. “Why are you so convinced that I am out to kill anyone and everyone who disagrees with me?”
Her lips curl, just slightly, her green face eerily glowing in the torches on the walls. “It is sad that you ask that question.”
All I can do is stare at her. This is the first time I’m seeing the Head Witch face to face and…there is something about her that I never thought I’d see in a Witch. An air of being wise, of having seen things, of having journeyed to the pit of hell and back.
“What is your name?” The question surprises me the moment it drops from my lips. Of all the things I should be feeling and asking…
Get into her head and find out more!
Mysteriously, I didn’t want to do that at all. It felt…It felt violating, underhanded.
What the -! You did it to Rosa!
“I don’t have one.” She c***s her head to one side, her face pensive. “Do you think I would be what I am if I still had my name?”
“Witches have names!” I say. “You are just trying to get into my head, aren’t you? Trying to get me to feel sorry for you.”
She stares at me for a moment and then laughs. “It is sad that you take me for a fool.”
“What?”
“Only a fool would expect you to feel sorry for anyone other than yourself.”
Again, I feel that stab of recognition I felt back in the Scared Woods.
“Do not insult me.” It is a struggle to keep my voice heated, I find in surprise. As if this strange creature of the dark has cast a spell on me. “Do not take my word that I will not harm you as-“
“Of course, I do not.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “I know what you can do.”
A hot flush of anger rises to my cheeks. “Do not confuse me with who you are, monster.”
I wait, expecting an angry outburst, maybe even an impulsive spell. But her eyes are strangely moist as she looks at me. I feel as if I have lived through this moment before. I have looked deep into those amber eyes and –
“Stop it!” I yell. “Your dark magic won’t earn you any sympathy from me.”
“Dark magic?” Her voice is amused. “Yes…yes…When I listen to the stories, I often wonder what it would be like if my magic was that powerful.”
“Oh, don’t claim that you don’t – “
“Of course I do. It is you who don’t.”
I should feel furious that this creature had dared walk into my land and speak in riddles but…I shake my head. Whatever has taken over me, it’s foolishness. A spell. The darkest kind of magic. I should call my guards and….
“I have not put a spell on you.” She says as if reading my thoughts.
“Do not lie.”
“It’s so easy, isn’t it? To claim that it’s a spell? So easy to push your feelings to the back of your mind.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to say it out loud, Siren. I probably never will. And you probably will never understand.”
With that, she steps out of the room. I hear her tell my guards to escort her to the Vortex as the meeting will not be happening today. I want to follow her, to order my guards to capture her. To ask her who she is but I don’t. A piece of my heart feels like ice and I can sense the answer to my question in there, waiting…
Just get her and yank the answers out of her…
Sudden tears sting my eyes. A flood of emotions crashes over me like a tidal wave.
“Siren?” I hear the voice of one of my guards and walk out of the room, wiping my cheeks.
- Writer
