4

266 5 0
                                    

Baby Karina's health soon started fading. She became weak day by day and the shine in her eyes were replaced with tiredness.

"I wish that she would be ok. It hurts me to see her this ill." Ana was talking to Henry about the state of their baby. "We will look after her. It is going to be fine." Even when he said the words, Henry couldn't believe it as he thought about his dead wife Petia and his last consoling words to her.

Servants were asked to keep an eye on  baby Karina. Occasionally her mother would take her outside the house for some mother daughter bonding time. The trip would be exhausting to both of them, but it really helped Ana to forget about her problems.

Katerina hated the attention the baby received. At times, she would throw tantrums or sometimes act as if she was hurt, but no one paid any attention to her. Henry who once found Katerina acting as if she was hurt, slapped her right across the face. Although the stinging sensation on her face and her red cheeks were attention grabbers, none of the servants tried to console her. She never tried the act again.

Henry called doctors to look after his ill daughter, but none of them could find the cause of her illness. Katerina all alone in her room went through her father's old journals which she found perfectly hidden beneath her mother's old room. It contained Traveller spells, and she occupied her time by reading the spells and doing magic.

One day, she peeped to Karina's room and saw no one else. She walked to the crib of the baby. The child smiled at her through sleepy eyes. She even holded her big sister's fingers to go to sleep. Katerina felt sick for hating this adorable kid. She said sorry to the baby and kissed her forehead.

When it was midnight, Ana went on her daughter's room to check up on her. The whole house then heard a scream. The baby was dead and her mother was crying uncontrollably by holding the baby close to heart. Henry was devastated after losing another loved one. All the noise brought up young Katerina to the room. She heard two of the maids whispering,"I adored the baby. Why would Lord take away such an innocent soul." "I do think that something evil has fallen this house." Katerina looked at the lifeless body of young Karina and fled the room.

The burial of the baby was done the next day. When Henry came to know about a new witch, he asked her to come home. "The baby didn't die of natural causes. It was pure black magic performed by a Traveller." Everyone were shell shocked to hear this news. Since Henry was the only Traveller in close proximity to the child, he became the suspect. Until, a servant said, "Katerina is also a Traveller." To which Ana said, "she is not a practitioner of magic". "In fact she is , I used to hear her learning and performing spells all through the night. Even yesterday, when young Karina died, she was in the room. I fear that something evil have inhabited Katerina."

Katerina thus became the girl who murdered her own sister. But Henry didn't allow the news to leak to the village. He paid his servants to keep this fact to themselves. He then took Katerina to his sister's house in another village. His sister, Casi, was a Traveller who was against becoming a Passenger in another one's body. She strongly detested using magic for evil purposes. So Casi became the mentor for young Katerina or Katerina was abandoned by her own father.

Katerina became a normal Traveller girl in Casi's village. Casi adored her niece and Katerina loved the company of her aunt. She grew to become a young beautiful girl. It was there she met the love of her life, Mathew.


KATHERINE PIERCE: The Girl You Never Knew Where stories live. Discover now