Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 3.6

Addy's worried. "Maybe I should've stayed with her."

"She'll be fine," I tell her. "She's been alone for years."

I cringe. That was definitely the wrong thing to say. "I mean, look. She chose to send you away when you were a kid. She wouldn't have done that if she needed you with her all the time."

"She thought I'd come back, Lily. The idea was for me to get an education, then return to Ta-mamau. She didn't expect me to apply to Witch Doctors Inc."

But you did, because it was your calling. I believe your mother is healing. She does not hide your sister's memory away any longer.

Addy brightens at that. "That's true. It was such a wonderful surprise. I haven't seen a picture of Lima in years. There was a time when we weren't even allowed to say her name."

I think of the girl in the picture. Lima was so bright and happy and...alive. I imagine the same girl with her eyes closed and her skin swollen and rubbery. It must've been hell for Queen Irine.

I don't like talking about Addy's sister, to be honest. It's hard to hate Queen Irine when I think of what she's been through. I find myself forgiving her, and it feels wrong. We're supposed to be enemies.

What do you think of the queen's plans for the quartz mine?

Addy shakes her head."Hami can go overboard sometimes. We can't mine for fire quartz so close to another tribe's settlement. And we've never been a people who embraced commerce."

It could make the tribe very rich.

"It's not our way, Onyx. I don't know what Hami was thinking even suggesting it."

The process of healing is a kind of metamorphosis. Queen Irine is being reborn.

I wish he wouldn't put it quite like that. I've been stuck in a cycle of rebirth for a thousand years. For a thousand years, Onyx has tried to change my fate. But the First Witch's story always ends up repeating itself.

They decide to brew some soup for Addy. I guess I have to be the one to go out into the wilderness to find five-leafed clovers. I don't even know how they think the soup is going to help. They aren't putting any fire quartz in it. Soup isn't magic.

I almost bit Bronna's head off when she ordered me to go search for the clovers. I know, I know - I'm being grumpy. But it's not easy being in a place you just don't want to be. It sucks all the good feeling out of you. You're left with a bunch of crankiness and a bone to pick.

It's a while before I find a clover with the right number of leaves. It's hiding behind a clump of mean-looking wild acanthines. Those things bite. I should've worn gloves.

There's a rustle in the bushes.

"Onyx?"

No reply.

Probably just a slug.

I reach a cautious hand over the acanthines. One of them rears back.

There's a gasp behind me. "Watch out!"

I whip my head around. That was definitely not a slug.

It's the owner of the burning auburn hair that I caught sight of at the party. She's about my age with tumbles of red curls and wide green eyes. She wears a simple black smock.

"Who are you?" I ask. "I saw you at the party last night."

She shrinks back. "I was only looking." Her voice is faint, as if it's coming from far away.

"I'm Lily. Addy's friend from Witch Doctors Inc."

She regards me with timid curiosity. "I am Bethany."

"Are you from Queen Irine's tribe?"

Bethany blinks. "I do not know."

"Are you from the village?"

Bethany's eyes light up with recognition. "Yes. I am from the village."

"Isn't it a bit far to be out on your own?"

Bethany fiddles with her wrists. "I am not supposed to be here. Rikamu will be angry. But I had to see." She peers at me with those big green eyes of hers. "I thought you were her, but you are not. But you are not not her either. You are almost her."

I wonder if all the people from the village are this strange. Maybe she's eaten a magic flower of some sort, and she's delirious. "Do you want me to walk you back to the village, Bethany?"

She shakes her head. "Rikamu says I cannot go back there." She fiddles with her wrists again. "Could you tell me...is everyone in the village alright? Has anything bad happened?"

"I don't know," I reply, a little worried now. This girl clearly needs help.

"There you are." An old woman's voice, from somewhere in the forest shadows. "Come back, young heart. You must not bother the ones who are whole."

I don't even hear Bethany leave. When I turn back around, she's already gone. But she clearly has someone looking after her, so it's fine. As long as she isn't wandering around the forest alone.