Early in the morning, Tabitha was woken up by the creaking of the thick basement door. "Wakey, wakey, time to takey," Gwendolyn sang, holding an empty syringe up to the light. She took her time coming down the stairs, and Tabitha glared at her the whole way. "Aw, don't look at me like that, darling," the witch said as she approached Tabitha. "It will only pinch a little."
Tabitha sat still as her blood trickled into the little vial. Once it was full, Gwendolyn removed the needle and held it up like a prize. Kissing the glass with her painted lips, she said, "Finally. A Timeweaver's blood. A royal's blood. Tabitha, darling, you have no idea how special you are. After I extract the DNA from this sample, I will be able to -" Gwendolyn interrupted herself with an angry shriek. Tabitha braced herself for the pain but the smack still sent her over onto her side.
Stepping between the new shards of glass and fresh blood, Gwendolyn yanked Tabitha's hair and pulled the girl towards her. "You want to make this harder on yourself, go ahead. But remember, you're the one chained to the wall. I'll be back later and then -" Tabitha spat, right in the witch's face. Gwendolyn threw Tabitha's head back. There was a sickening crack as it collided with the wall, and Tabitha felt herself sink into unconsciousness, but not before she watched Gwendolyn tramp up the stairs with a dark smile on her face.
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Tabitha woke suddenly. She could have sworn she felt the needle back in her arm, but she was alone in the darkness. The familiar scent wafted back up to her nostrils. She leaned down to sniff at her shirt, but the smell wasn't coming from her. It wasn't a bad smell. It smelled like... Cat's perfume. The scent was so familiar because it was the perfume her best friend always wore.
Had Catalina been here? What had happened? If that witch did anything to my friend, I swear - "Ready to try again?" Gwendolyn. At the top of the stairs once again, a new syringe likely in hand.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
Gwendolyn approached her for the third time since Tabitha's capture."Third time's a charm," the witch declared, eerily voicing Tabitha's thoughts. As the syringe descended towards her, Tabitha finally unlocked the chain with the thicker end of the first needle. Gwendolyn needs better security. For a witch, she can't seem to handle her prisoners very well.
Tabitha brought the needle out from behind her back in one hand, the tiny pieces of glass in the other. She didn't think about it too much as she stabbed the needle right in Gwendolyn's eye. The witch's scream was even more frightening than her laugh. Blood spurted out of the wound and Tabitha flinched as the droplets landed on her face.
Seizing the moment, Tabitha kicked Gwendolyn hard and she landed on her back, right on the glass Tabitha had thrown. Wanting to chain her to the wall but realizing that it would be too much of a risk, Tabitha ran around the witch's prone body, leaping out of the way of her arms, and up the stairs.
Gwendolyn should really invest in a better security system, Tabitha thought as she pulled down the latch on the basement door. Just for kicks - no pun intended - Tabitha used her foot to push over a table covered in scientific and/or magical instruments, relishing the sound of breaking glass and the witch's muffled screams. Well, that's creepy. I gotta get out of here.
Tabitha shook her head to clear it and ran out into the lightening day. The sun was illuminating one side of the forest, but, oddly enough, the trees weren't reflecting the light. If anything, the trees looked darker on that side of the forest. "Go ahead. The Dark Forest isn't as evil as it looks." Tabitha spun around to see Gwendolyn's mutilated, maniacal face staring at her through the bars of the basement window. Tempted to kick the witch's face in and mess it up some more, Tabitha turned and ran away. Into the Golden Forest. No way was she taking the advice of that evil woman.
Tabitha had no specific destination in mind; she just knew she had to get as far away as possible as fast as possible before the witch escaped.
YOU ARE READING
Timeweaver
Fantasy*COMPLETED...just found this short little book I wrote a few years ago...* When Tabitha, a girl living with her famous parents in the Big Apple, decides to go through a magic portal with her best friend, Catalina (great decision, right?), she enters...
