Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 1.13

I tear myself from the flames. I'm me again - I'm Lily. But Amarat's rage howls around me in a torrent of searing heat.

How I enjoyed seeing them suffer. Pitiful, repulsive creatures. Do you not agree? Amarat, the First Witch, laughs.

She has melted into me. The connection has been made. Now I need to leave.

Amarat gasps with mock surprise. So soon, little one? I think not. We have only just become acquainted.

"You can't keep me here," I say.

Oh? She draws out the word, like it's something delicious to savour. Her hatred is seething in my blood. I want to let the rage roar. I want to snuff out the rodents who dared to question me.

But...I shouldn't.

Why not?

I don't know. I don't remember.

Let it out.

It's wrong somehow.

It is who you are. Let it out. You will adore it.

There are different noises now. People shouting, alarms shrieking. I know this place, with its glass walls. It's burning too. Delight is singing in my veins. I am giddy with anger, ecstatic with hatred.

Doesn't it feel wonderful, little one? To see them go up in smoke? The great Witch Doctors Incorporated...

Witch Doctors? Something tickles the back of my mind. A memory - a bounce of butter-yellow curls, and a laugh glimmering with sunshine.

Addy.

Something worms through my anger. It's cool and blue, like a freshwater stream. This kind of happiness feels different. It's the kind of happiness me and Addy and Onyx share during our cupcake sessions.

Oh no.

Addy.

Addy is injured.

Witch Doctors Inc is burning,

I search for Addy through the smoke. I'm flying through the hallways, searching for her essence. Onyx will have escaped, I'm sure of it. But Addy's too badly hurt. I can't let Addy die.

Addy. It seems I will breathe her pain after all.

"No you won't!" I push against her wall of fire, but it's too strong.

How will you stop me? I have power you have never even imagined.

I strain with all my might. Amarat's rage is too strong. I can't stop her.

I find the sick bay. Smoke seeps in under the door. Addy is inside, asleep. Her arm is raised in a sling.

Amarat's laughter echoes across the room. The carpet starts to burn.

I try to soothe the flames. I wrap them in my energy, like I did with the glass horse in my room. Their heat sears through me. I'm not strong enough.

The fire creeps toward Addy.

The First Witch laughs with glee.

I can't let this happen. I can't let Addy die. She's my best friend.

Flames lick at her bed.

No.

They tower over her as Amarat laughs.

NO.

Goodbye, Adamantine.

NOT ADDY!!!

My breath comes out as a howl. It batters Amarat's wall of fire with blistering force. The flames rear back.

I keep howling. I think of all the times we spent in my room, me mulling over spells while Addy pondered the moon and the stars and all the things that were out of our reach.

The fire sputters.

I remember all the times Addy has turned up at my door with treats to cheer me up. She never told the medics that I was the one who injured her. She talked to them, but she never said a word about me being a witch.

The flames die down. The smoke disperses. Amarat's rage, once as solid as stone, is now a watercolour wash over my own relief.

How? she gasps.

I'm already pulling away from her.

Don't be a fool, little one. They will betray you in the end.

The wall of fire begins to fade. The First Witch stands inside the unravelled smoke. She is a miasma of dark energy, formless and seething. But she, too, is fading.

I look back at her one last time.

"Goodbye, Amarat."