Illusion and Reality

Fate has some plans

We continued our journey the next day. Astrid was sure we were on the right way while I was sure we were walking in circles.

“This is all part of the illusion the forest creates.”

I continued following Astrid through the thick forest. My legs were aching from all the journey we did the previous day. For the first time in many days, I slept like a baby in the cabin with no nightmares.

Sunlight was peeking through the leaves of the trees, and the continuous chirping of the birds might fool someone into thinking it was a normal forest, but the reality was far more dangerous than that.

“We are almost there.”

Hearing those words from Astrid was enough for me to forget about all the aches I was feeling in my body and fill my heart with a new motivation. All the hours we spent walking in the forest, avoiding the supernatural creatures and mysterious plants were worth that moment.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my sleeves and continued walking.

Astrid stopped walking suddenly and stood in front of an old-looking tree staring intently at it. 

“What are you looking at?” I asked, trying to find what she was staring at. I could only find a hollow-looking huge tree with leaves much lighter in color than the others around it.

Finally, Astrid opened her amber stone bracelet from the wrist and started to search for something in that tree again. I stood there observing her moves. 

She then placed her bracelet on a broad pale green leaf and took a step back.

A gust of wind came out of nowhere, I was too busy comparing the tree with the other similar-looking trees. When I looked back, the bracelet was no longer on the branch and Astrid was tapping her foot impatiently on the ground.

Her face held a scowl, unconsciously she was touching the place on the wrist where her bracelet was before she put it on the tree.

This was new for me, Astrid was always confident and gracious, but this Astrid was nervous, she was showing human emotion.

“Are you okay?” I asked, standing beside her. She gave a small smile in return, which confirmed my suspicion of her hiding something.

A hole started forming in the middle of that hollow tree and started spreading in front of our eyes. After a few seconds, what looked like a dark door was in front of us.

“We have to go inside from here.”

Astrid took small steps towards the tree and I followed her slowly. I had no clue about what to expect from the other side of the door, nothing was visible from it, only darkness.

Nervously, I entered the door.

Stepping out I could not believe my eyes. It was a green field with flowers of every color and plants that I had never seen before. Birds were flying happily in the bright blue sky, chirping a melodious song and butterflies filled the sky with their colors. In the middle of flowers, was a grey cottage with silver walls of bricks, colorful wines going around the vines in a beautiful manner.

In front of the cottage stood a plump woman with a wide smile on her face, wrinkles forming near her eyes and mouth due to the smile. Bushy silver hair in a low messy bun, with flowers in between them. 

Her amber eyes held kindness, were shining brightly with joy, “Astrid...my dear Astrid you are finally here,” she said in a soft voice.

I glanced at Astrid for her reaction, and how did the old woman know her exactly. Astrid was standing with a tight smile on her lips. Slowly, she walked towards the old woman. 

The woman threw herself towards Astrid to engulf her in a tight hug before she could reach the woman properly. 

Holding Astrid she closed her eyes and let tears flow out of her eyes.

I stood there awkwardly, confused about the identity of that woman. I felt like a creep watching them. 

The woman after a few minutes opened her eyes and looked at me standing there.

Her eyes widened in surprise, and her jaw dropped open.

Astrid cleared her throat, “Samara, this is my grandmother, Olivia, and grandma this is Samara, she and her friend are not from our world.”

My mouth turned into an ‘o’. 

Looking closely I could see the similarity between the two.

“Come inside, you both must be tired and hungry from the journey,” Olivia said, turning around happily giving me one more look.

The inside of the cottage had a familiar floral fragrance, everything was cozy and comfortable. Only the important necessities were in the cottage. There was a table in the middle with chairs and a couch around it. Medium-sized windows to let the sunlight in. Some shelves with dried flowers and other such things on one corner. A small bed in the other corner.

“Make yourself comfortable, I will be back soon.”

“Grandma but…”

Olivia did not listen to Astrid and went through the door at the end of the room, humming a tone.

We sat on the chairs, waiting for Olivia to come back.

“I didn’t know you have a grandmother.”

“She likes to live alone now,” Astrid replied.

She came back carrying something in both of her hands and a smile on her face, “I got you some ginger tea, Astrid,” she put the teacups on the table, “I hope you like ginger tea dear?” she asked.

“Ginger tea is fine,” I replied with a smile.

“Eat something as well, you both look about to faint.”

“Grandma, we need your help with something,” Astrid started.

“Young lady no talking while eating,” Olivia said with a hard look.

Astrid finished the biscuit and took a sip of her tea. I did not know if I should say anything, taking small bites from the sandwich I sat there quietly.

“Now tell me, why are you here alone? Why is Lucius not here with you?” she asked sternly.

She knew about Lucius as well, I wanted to ask her how but decided to stay silent.

“I am not some weakling grandmother. I do not fear these creatures, I can come here without anyone’s help,” Astrid replied proudly.

Her grandmother gave Astrid a sad smile, “People are more dangerous, Astrid. Enemies could have hurt you, you were lucky I knew you are in the forest and asked the forest to protect you both.”

“You can talk to the forest?” I could not stay silent after hearing that.

She passed me a smile, “Forest has a spirit, it protects and looks after us.”

“Grandma, we are fine but we do not have time, you have to help us,” Astrid started searching for something in her bag. She finally removed the pendant.

Olivia stood up hurriedly from her seat, “It can not be….no...no,” she mumbled, “where did you find that cursed object.”

“Astrid stood up as well and took a step towards her grandmother to comfort her, “Samara and her friend are not from here, they got here because of this. They need to go back and…”

“What happened?” Olivia looked at me.

I took a deep breath and started explaining everything to her, from what happened at the party to waking up in the kingdom. 

She listened to everything with complete concentration, “I thought it was destroyed.”

“When I first saw this, I thought it is one of the original stones but after studying it I noticed the powers were different, maybe it is a replica of the original,” Astrid held the stone in her hand.

Her grandmother held Astrid’s hand closer to her eyes to observe the pendant without touching it, “It is the original stone. It was far away from its home, from its original owner that’s why it feels different, acts differently. The person who had this was not the rightful owner, the stone is losing the powers but it has enough to be used one last time.”

Astrid took her hand away when Olivia sat down again, “But there was no witch there just Samara and Lily.”

Olivia looked at us before answering, “Just because you can not see something, it does not mean it is not there.”

After hearing it, I started thinking about everything one more time, this time focusing on details. We did not go anywhere with the pendant anywhere other than the party, in the party too there were not many people I talked to, but there was someone who kept appearing again and again.

“I think I know who is the witch,” they both looked at me after my sudden announcement, “it was the girl who spilled the drink on my dress, she was with me the most. How much time is needed to activate the spell?”

“With the correct witch just the touch is enough,” Olivia answered.

“Can you do something about it, grandma?”

Olivia inhaled a breath and stared at the almost white pendant, she finally took the pendant in her hand and closed her eyes. White glitters formed around the pendant in her hand and she opened her eyes. 

Her eyes were no longer hazel, they were completely white.

She stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, I stood there holding my breath.

She opened her eyes, “It is too late now,” she replied in a monotone.

My stomach dropped as I heard that sentence, “We can never go back home now?” my voice was barely a whisper.

Astrid looked at me with sympathy in her eyes, “There has to be a way, grandma. Is there anything else we can do?” she asked desperately.

Olivia looked at the stone in her hand, thinking about something, “I can give you a few hours. You need to go back and take a drop of both their blood to complete the ritual.

“That will be enough time,” Astrid smiled.

But it took us hours just to reach there, I was about to ask Astrid when she replied, “Grandma will help us get back before it is too late.”

Olivia left the room with the stone and asked us to wait inside.

“Why doesn’t she live with you?” I asked.

Astrid sighed, “After the incident, she does not like to see people, not even me. She just likes to stay alone with nature and I respect her decision,” she replied in a soft tone.

“She loves you, I saw it in her eyes when she saw you.”

She looked outside the window, “I know.”

We sat there without exchanging another word, “I have to collect some things, herbs here are very powerful and rare.”

I nodded and saw her leave, I started looking at the bracelet on my wrist, I quickly hid it under the sleeves when I heard someone entering.

Her grandmother entered with the pendant in her hand.

“Astrid went to collect some herbs,” I informed.

She answered with a smile and kept staring at me, Awkwardly I looked at my hands in the lap.

“I am sorry dear, I did not mean to make you uncomfortable, it is just that you remind me of someone so much. I thought I would never see that person again.”

“You are talking about the dead queen,” I replied softly.

“I see, you already know about her.”

“Why did you leave Astrid alone?” I asked.

She put the pendant on the table and took a seat in front of me, “Astrid is not alone, she has Lucius. She is a strong witch and I am so proud of her, if I had stayed with her I would have made her weak. It is not easy to lose everyone you cared about, the memories still haunt me in my nightmares,” she replied staring in the distance.

It made me realize she stated away from Astrid, for Astrid, it was her selfless decision, “But you are her family.”

She gave me another kind smile, “Sharing blood does not make someone family, it is more than that.”

She was talking about Lucius, I thought.

“How do you know Lucius?”

“Ah...Lucius, such a sweet guy he was, full of life and curiosity. But it changed him too...he became different….I still remember…”

Before I could ask her the meaning of her words, Astrid came back, “We should leave now grandma,” she said putting some things in her bag.

“Here you go dear,” Olivia put the bracelet back on Astrid’s wrist and pendant in her hand.

She hugged Astrid one more time, not wanting to let go. Astrid hugged her back tightly.

With teary eyes, she whispered something in her ear to which Astrid nodded with a small smile.

Olivia then walked towards me with a smile to give me a hug as well, which shocked me, but I put my arms around her softly, “Be strong dear, trust your heart always. Fate has some plans for you. Do not give power to your nightmares,” she whispered in my ear.

I looked at her with my mouth opening and closing like a fish, unable to think of what to ask, just then Astrid called, “Samara, are you ready to leave?”

“Yes.”