Chapter 13: Seek and Ye Shall Find (Katherine)

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Katherine stood frozen before the all powerful wizard, grinning stupidly, "How d'you know I was looking for you...? And why were you looking for me...?"

"Firstly, EVERYONE comes to find me," she said almost exasperated, tipping her head to the sky and throwing her arms in the air, "and when I say EVERYONE. I mean EVERYONE."

"Secondly, you are harbouring a dangerous kind of curse,"

Katherine fiddled with her fingers, "About that..."

"Your looking for the Enchanted Grove,"

"How-?"

"Because EVERYONE looks for the Enchanted Grove," the great wizard sighed shaking her head, exsasperated.

An awkward silence floated over them, before Katherine found a way to break it.

"...do you know where the Enchanted Grove is...?"

"Uh... How should I know? It's the one who finds people not me,"

"What-?"

The wizard spotted the unicorn grazing a little way off from them, nibbling carefully at the grass, "Ooo, hello fella!"

She skipped over to the unicorn who lifted and cocked its head as the wizard patted its neck.

The unicorn shook its head and extended its neck, allowing the wizard to scratch the underside of his head.

Katherine noticed the wizard hesitate when she spotted the exposed bone which she bent down to examine, knees cracking as she squatted.

"This is bad,"

Those three words alone were enough to carve a hole in her heart. Was she really that far gone?

"I need to know about this curse," Katherine pleaded the wizard, "Please, I came all this way to find you,"

The wizard stopped scratching the underside of the unicorn's head and looked up at Katherine, her face contorted with thought.

"I suppose your girlfriend has everything under control," the wizard left the unicorn’s side and came to stand in front of Katherine.

"How do you know all this stuff?!" She exclaimed, slightly concerned.

The wizard's eyes twinkled. The same twinkle that appears in Shelby's grandmother's eye when she is having fun, "Let's just say that I have friends in higher places,"

"What? Like Gods?"

The wizard ignored this question, snapping her fingers. Instantly a staff fell from the sky. The wizard caught it and set the tip of it on the ground, the cluster of amethyst pointing towards the sky.

"Take my hand,"

"Where are you taking me?" Katherine hesitated, glancing back at the unicorn.

"Take my hand,"

"What are you doing?"

"Take my hand, please,"

Katherine regarded the wizard's outstretched hand with carefulness, before eventually taking it.

"Now do me a favour and don't let go," the wizard said solemnly, "I can't do anything when people get lost in different universes."

"Hang on- wait what-?"

She just smirked at me, muttering words under her breath.

Katherine felt herself leaving the ground and her grip tightened on the wizards arm, afraid of falling and meeting the ground with a splat.

The unicorn watched with amusement as the two disappeared with a bang and a flash of bright light, snorting and going back to munching on the grass.

As hard as it was for Katherine to refrain from screaming as flashes of purple and white whizzed past her as she blinked, leaving shadowy imprints in the back of her eyes, Katherine held in her breath for as long as she could.

And soon enough, they were falling from the sky.

Katherine let out a light scream as they approached a cloud, glueing her eyes tight as she expected herself to go straight through said cloud.

Instead, she landed with a soft poof, sending wisps of cloud into the air as she lay face-flat on the unexpectedly firm surface.

"When will you stop bringing guests round?" A voice interrupted Katherine's groan when she attempted to sit up, leaning against her hands.

"Don't be grumpy," the wizard retorted, "Plus we haven't had an actual guest in ages,"

"Yeah, and the last one was evil," Katherine looked puzzled to where the voice was coming from, expecting a talking owl or something, but instead it was another human, wielding a screwdriver.

"This one isn't evil just-"

This one. Katherine looked back and forth between them, eyeing their painfully similar ginger hair.

"Just what?"

"Cursed," the wizard replied sheepishly.

"Great. Ok. Cool," he muttered sliding his red-tinted goggles over his face, "I'll be in the workshop and don't moan to me when something goes wrong."

"When have I ever moaned to you about something going wrong-?"

The man, presumably her brother, cut her off with a pointed look.

"Just go already,"

Grumbling, her brother obeyed, going back into the basement of a large stone tower.

"Sorry about him," the wizard apologised, "My brother can be a bit... overprotective,"

"No, it's ok," Katherine brushed herself down as she stepped up onto her feet, looking around, "I really appreciate you bringing me here and all, but I'm on a really tight schedule to cure my curse so if you could just tell me where the Enchanted magical grove is-,"

"The Grove will find you. You won't find it," the wizard dismissed waving Katherine towards the tower, "Plus, you never know

I might have something to help you,"

I Will Always Love You - Empires SMP S2 AU: Nature WivesWhere stories live. Discover now