Alone: My Cursed Fate

Witches and Friends

*Matteo*

The inside of the house was not at all what I expected of a witch's home. Although, I guess I have never actually known a witch well enough to see her house. I was expecting dimly lit rooms, creepy jars filled with eyeballs and claws, and foaming cauldrons. I was not expecting to find a beautiful kitchen with white cabinets, dark wood countertops and plants hanging from the ceiling by the window. Moira seems lovely- she smiles warmly at us and welcomes us inside. She has sleek raven-black hair plaited in a single long braid and silver eyes. She wears a navy blue sweater dress and leggings.

"Hi Moira, nice to see you as always.", Julia says as she gives her a hug, "This is Matteo, Jensen, and Henrik. They are from Diamond Willow Pack and have some questions for you. I will give you guys some privacy but will see you later".

"Thanks dear, good to see you", Moira waves Julia goodbye and turns to us. "Hello, Alpha told me that you boys would be stopping by", she says as she ushers us into the living room and we take a seat on plush leather couches.

"Yes, thank you for meeting with us. We have some questions about magic that we were hoping to ask you."

"Of course, ask away."

I fill her in on what happened to Vienna including the run in I had with the witch in the woods after the rogue attack, a description of the witch, and the curse..."So, we were wondering if you know anything about curse reversals or if any witches from your coven would know something?"

"Oh, that poor girl. I would love to help, but I don't know if there is anything I can do. My coven specializes in earth magic. We brew potions and heal. Curse casting is more in the realms of dark magic", she thinks for a moment then continues, "I do have a book lying around here somewhere on curses that belonged to my late mother. Let me go grab it."

As she leaves the room to go find the book, I turn to Jensen and Henrik, "Well, what do you think guys?"

"I think we might be s**t out of luck", Jensen says.

"Maybe this book will help. It is probably more accurate than anything we would have in our library", Henrik responds.

"That's true. It's better than nothing."

She returns with a large, dusty book in hand. It's cover a worn, dark red leather with its title in an intricate gold lettering that I can't decipher. She sets it on the coffee table and starts to shuffle through the yellowing pages. She stops on a page with a drawing of a person with half of their body missing, the other half seeming to have disappeared. She skims through the passage written in a different language. "Hmmm... this section is on disappearance and teleportation spells. It says that a teleportation spell can only be cast by a witch who has the power of teleportation herself. To cast the spell, she transfers a very small portion of her power to the person, but she can alter that power in a variety of ways. This must be how she crafted the spell to make Vienna teleport every day at a specific time."

"Does it say anything about reversing the teleportation spell?"

"No, unfortunately. It says that the spell cannot be reversed once the power is transferred."

"Oh...", I say, immediately disappointed. Henrik places a reassuring hand on my shoulder, "We will find another way, Matteo. We will get her back. Maybe we can try to find the witch that did this?"

"And piss her off even more? No thank you", Jensen quips back.

"There is one thing in here that may be of use to you", Moira says, still reading. "It says here that witches with the power of teleportation usually rely on a tether. Something that keeps them bound to somewhere or something. It helps them to find their way back when teleporting across time and space. Maybe you could find a way to bind or tether Vienna, not in a physical sense but rather magically, to a place of significance. Maybe that will be enough to keep her grounded and stop her from teleporting? It's not been done before, as far as I am aware, but it may be your only shot."

"Thank you, Moira. That is helpful. Any ideas on how this magical tether would be done?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps you could find a witch that specializes in spellcasting to help you. There aren't many in this area, but there are several covens out east that may be able to help you."

"Perfect, thank you again. We really appreciate your help."

"No problem, I just hope that you are able to help that girl. I don't know what I would do if something like that happened to my Margot."

...

Later that evening, we attend dinner at the Pike Stone packhouse. We sit by Julia and meet her friend, Margot. Margot has the same raven-black hair as her mother, but it is chopped short just above her shoulders. Her eyes are a silvery-blue, not quite as silver as her mothers, probably because she is a hybrid witch-wolf. Margot is kind with a very sarcastic sense of humor. Her and Jensen really get along, their combined sass is almost too much to handle.

It is so good to see Julia again. Her, Vienna, and I used to go on adventures together while our parents drank and chit-chatted. We would pretend to be spies in the packhouse and play hide and seek in the pack forest. Vienna and her would try to convince me to play dress up with them, but I, of course, would promptly get out of there and later attack their tea party with nerf guns.

Margot is animatedly telling a story about how Julia and her had gone to a concert together only to find that they had forgotten their tickets at home, so they snuck in and got busted by security. "So, there we were sitting in a tiny room backstage when Alpha comes to pick us up because the security guard called our parents. Alpha Aronson was pissed because we had snuck out to go to that concert, and his Alpha aura was going crazy. I think the human security guard almost s**t his pants." Everybody at the table is laughing at her story. As Julia is laughing, Margot briefly places her hand on hers at the table and smiles at her. I raise my eyebrows at Julia when no one is looking and she blushes, bashfully looking down at the table. Well that's interesting... I will have to ask Julia about that later.

At the end of the meal, I invite the two of them to come to our pack next month for Jensen's 17th birthday. I think that they will really get along with Lydia and Cass too. I pull Julia aside to say our goodbyes.

"So, Margot is nice", I start.

"Yes, she is a good friend", she says.

"Just a friend?", I boldly ask.

"You caught onto that, huh? Yes, me and Margot have been dating for a few months now."

"I am happy for you, Julia. She seems great."

"Thanks, Matteo. I haven't told anyone yet. I am worried what my Dad will think. He expects me to meet some big tough Alpha to protect me. I think he secretly hopes that you will be my mate."

"Your secret is safe with me. For the record though, I think wolf or not, Margot will do just fine protecting you. She seems like a force to be reckoned with. Not that you need protecting in the first place." I laugh.

"You're not wrong. She is really great.", Julia smiles.

I bid my farewells to Julia, Margot, Alpha Aronson, and Luna Sarah. By now it is already dark, so we decide we better start the drive back. This time, Henrik calls shotgun, so I am stuck in the back. Jensen plays some 2000's hiphop throwbacks. I feel content. We got a lead today on how to help Vienna, I had a fun day out with the boys, I caught up with an old friend, and made a new friend. Today was a good day. As Henrik and Jensen jam out in the front seat, I am lost in these thoughts, looking out the car window into the darkness.

As I look into the treeline of the surrounding forest, I see something familiar. Something that I previously thought wasn't even real. A beautiful golden blonde wolf walking between the trees. I think it is the same wolf that has been visiting me in my dreams almost every night. The same wolf with golden fur, white feet, and amber eyes. "Stop!", I yell. Jensen slams on the brakes and the car comes to a screeching halt. "What?!", he yells back in a panic, but I am already throwing my door open and running down the road, back in the direction of the wolf. Searching the tree line, but finding nothing. Damnit, I say as I venture out into the dark woods.