ALICE

CHAPTER 20- LOYALTY

"She did what?" Asked Cora calmly.

Maria, floating across from her, flinched a little. She knew how much anger lay beneath the witch's calmness. "Alice freed a ghost, Cora!" Maria said again.

Right now, Cora had hidden herself within smoke. Maria wondered why she took the effort. Not like Maria had not seen her face before. She knew her well. Too well.

Maria glanced around. There was no one to be seen. Cora always saw to it that no one lurked around when she wanted to talk. She usually met Maria outside Alice's house, where Maria unwillingly told the witch all about Alice's day.

"I had heard you the first time, Maria. I am surprised to see that you still have the guts to repeat your failure again!" The witch said. This time a little acid had crept into her voice.

The witch always spoke in a silvery voice. She rarely showed anger, or any other emotions in her voice or expressions. Though when she did, it was best to calm her down as soon as possible.

Maria supposed if she still had a heartbeat, it would've been running so fast, that it would've choked her. It was these few encounters with her owner, that made Maria appreciate being a ghost. 

Maria tried the truth. "I... I tried but..," 

"In that case Maria," The witch began, cutting her off. "I could try to save your sister but...," She did not need to complete her sentence.

"No!" Maria cried out, shaking her head.

"No? Then tell me why have you failed?" The witch demanded. "You had one job. To make sure that Alice did not discover what she is truly capable of! And what have you done? You let her meet that wretched boy, who I took care of long ago, and he comes back, eventually making Alice discover her powers!"

Maria shook her head. "I did not know she had met the boy! She never..,"

"SILENCE!" The witch shouted.

The wind started blowing a little more harshly now, which meant the witch was getting really angry.

"Three thousand and sixty-eight years," Cora began. Maria did not dare open her mouth, as Cora continued, "I have been doing this for so many years. Why is this one girl, who is a pain I tell you, causing me so many problems?" The witch seemed to question herself.

Before Maria could even blink, the smoke suddenly vanished, and the witch appeared in her true form. Maria stifled a scream. Standing in front of her, was a wreck of a woman. Maria had never seen the witch's true form before. She decided she had preferred it that way.

The doubts Maria had about whether or not the witch had lived a thousand years, vanished. She could see just how old the witch was. Her skin looked like it would fall off at any second. Bones protruded from all over her thin body. Maria wondered how she remained standing.

 The witch's eyes, sockets of black, looked dead. Her grey hair looked like a rat's nest. The only thing worth looking at was Cora's long black coat, which she always wore.

The witch's lips seemed to be quivering. When she spoke again, all her controlled, honeyed, and silvery voice, was replaced with a grating and shaky one. "Do you know how many girls I have used before Alice?" The witch asked.

Maria could not bring herself to reply. The witch's appearance made her forget the ability to form words. Still, she could not help but dwell on the word, 'used.'

"As many as you could possibly imagine!" Continued the witch, without waiting for a response. "Each one has contributed a hundred years to my life span, helping me to transform myself from this cursed old body to..," She snapped her fingers, the effort making it look as if her fingers would fall out.