The witch and the map maker

Chapter 2

Lyra felt herself floating, a strange feeling filled her stomach as she slowly allowed her heavy eyes to open. She flinched as bright white dots filled the dark ceiling. Her eyes finally adjusted before she scanned the rest of her surroundings. It was strange yet ethereal as she sat up slowly, her body in mid air as constellations surrounded her. The strange lady from before was higher in the air than her, her grey eyes were closed as she hovered cross-legged, her breaths were slow as Lyra took note of thick silk like strings attached to her body.

"Excuse me?" her voice was hoarse and it felt as if she hadn't drunk anything in a few days.

The woman above slowly opened her eyes her grey orbs shone for a bit before the light died down. "You're finally awake," her voice was soft but there was a hint of sternness."Here drink this. It will help you feel better." A cup of water appeared in her hands out of nowhere, handing it to her. The younger girl gulped it up without question,

"Thank you. It feels like I haven't drunk anything in -," she started saying before, "in a few days?," the stranger finished, "Well that is to be expected. You were unconscious for a few days after all ,"

"What?" she burst out in a confused state.

"Well it's to be expected. Dimensional travel is hard on humans. You are human right? I mean that brute of a man looked identical to you and he's not -sorry I'm rambling once more," she cleared her throat, "Let's start properly my name is Dahlia Atticus. Welcome to my workshop, Ms?," The Woman hovered above her head, her torso facing the young girl as her legs were held high.

"Lyra, Lyra Ledger," she spoke slowly, trying to process the information that was rambled on before. "What are you?," The words slipped out but Dahlia looked the least bit offended by the question.

"I'm just simply a witch," she simply answered before floating downward to Lyra. Then she lifted her index finger, causing Lyra's leg to lift up, bringing her to an upside down state as she yelped out.

"Hmmm, your ankle healed up well," she said before letting her go the girl floating around the space. "If this were me, my mother would've..." Dahlia's words drifted away as Lyra felt something like a strike to her head.

The memories bombarded throughout her mind as she clasped her hand over her mouth. Her memories were all jumbled up. She pictured her brother turning into something, him hunting her down until finally, she remembered her mother's cold and bloody corpse laying on the floor, her glazed eyes and the living room smelling like pure zinc.

"My... my mom," her voice was barely above a whisper, but Dahlia caught it as her eyebrows rose up in realization. "My mom, was still in the house. She...she," the girl sobbed out as Dahlia came up beside her, wrapping soothing arms around her.

"You poor girl," she said softly as her hands rubbed her back.

"He's going to come after me next isn't he?" she mumbled

"He won't be able to get you here ,"

"Where is here?" Lyra sniffled out as she wiped her red puffy eyes.

"Glad you asked." The witch smiled mischievously as she snapped her fingers, causing the scene to massively change as Lyra landed on the ground with a loud thump. She groaned and got up.

"Come on I'll show you around" The witch grabbed the younger girls arm pulling her towards the door opening up to a long hallway. Many other doors had been closed but Lyra could hear a few chirps through one they passed.

"That is where we keep the magic items ,"

then clanks and clunks in another. "That room is filled with our clock collection," Dahlia said cheerfully skipping along "Clock collection?"

All sorts of other sounds echoed through her ears. She followed closely behind the Dahlia until she suddenly stopped in front of a large door, "And this..." The witch stood still smiling fondly, "This is the room where the magic happens," she finished, Lyra took note of all the intricate details, and two small figures stood in the middle hand in hand. 'Strange,' she thought. The witch knocked three times before hearing a soft groan and opening the door, gesturing for the young girl to enter.

The younger of the two stared at the room, it was bigger on the inside, maps hung around every corner and the room itself gave off a rustic feel. As she looked towards the ceiling shooting stars struck off.

"Did you stay up all night again?" Dahlia spoke exasperated as she picked up the stack of maps,

"No, I was just experimenting and lost track of time," a very familiar male voice spoke out, Lyra looked towards them. Dahlia had the man's cheeks in her hands, moving his face side to side and staring at him with a stern expression.

"It's you, you're the one who told me about Dahlia," Lyra whispered.

"Oh, it's you. Good to see you again, I'm Ezekiel," he stuck out his hand and Lyra shook it, "Lyra ,"

"What is this place? Like really, really,"

"This is a safe haven built by your one and only Dahlia ,"

"Stop flattering me," They smiled at each other. "Jokes aside this place is known as Nightingale Valley, where magic and adventure await...or something like that."