Bound| Fantasmical 2023

WattpadWitches: Rescue

I'm in a cell, again. Look, I didn't even bother trying to save myself. They strapped me to that rack and I confessed to every single goddamn crime in the book. Magical murder, yeah, did that. Killing crops with droughts? Yeah, that too. Sleeping with the Devil? I said, Honey, I wish.

It doesn't help that I have horns. Small ones that I can hide in my nest of black hair, but I was damned from the beginning. So it's night and I'm in a cell that reeks of fetid meat. All I can do is pace, hearing moans and screams from the distance. There's a small barred window that moonlight pours through; I should've stayed with Hades. I should've never opened the box.

But would I have come to that realization and tried to escape without the box? My heart aches when I think about it. I just stare up at the moonlight.

"Hey. Psst."

It's coming from the other side of the wall.

"Sorry about earlier. You can come through."

I back up, every hair standing on end.

"You're the one who got me arrested!"

"Shssh! And you're the one who asked for help!"

"You just wanted to pawn off that stupid artifact!"

"Okay, maybe. Something tells me you're not from around here. But it's okay! I'm here now to save you!"

I cross my arms. "I don't trust you."

"I take care of my witches. And anyway, do you want to burn alive tomorrow?"

I try to keep my brow furrowed and my arms crossed. I shouldn't trust her. She's probably gonna take me to some crime scene and put the murder weapon in my hand. But she does have a point. Burning alive sounds like maybe not the best way to go out.

"Okay, fine. I'll go with you. How?"

"Just walk through the wall. You know, not a single witch has burned here in years. You can thank me and my coven for that."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. You're definitely not from here."

"I meant about the wall, but that too." I take a deep breath and reach out toward the wall, and my hand passes through it. it looks like it's being eaten my solid stone. My heart skips, and then I peek my head through that illusion. 

The witch is looking at me, her strawberry blonde hair falling over dark eyes. With the hood of her cloak down, she looks so much younger than I thought she'd be. And she's surrounded by other young women in green cloaks, some of them holding brooms, all of them eyeing me with crinkled noses or raised eyebrows.

I have to ask."Do you fly?"

She casts me a small smile. "How do you think we'll get out of here before the guards see us?"

Now I've done and seen a lot. Like multiple dimensions, a lot. And yes, I have kind of flown when the Devil temporarily killed me. But never on a broomstick, and it looks awesome. 

She tucks hers between her legs like it's a stick horse and whispers something to the bristles. It lifts, going full vertical underneath her. She pats it. "Get on and hold on tight."

I straddle it and wrap my arms around her lightly. Without warning, the broom shoots up and I'm squeezing the witch for dear life. I've never felt so close to the stars, even when I sort of died. The trees are small green shapes, the air is cold, and the sky crackles with laughter. Witches peel in front of us, doing flips and circles on their brooms. They chase each other and tell bad jokes in the light of the full moon.

"From up here," the woman I'm squeezing says, "that town looks as small as the minds of the people living in it."

But I don't engage with her on that front. I jerk the conversation in an entirely different direction. "For saving me, you know, I never got a name."

"Name, pfft. That doesn't matter. What matters is working on a spell to get you home."

"I want to know."

There's silence. And then she turns my arm over on her stomach, revealing the tattoo of my best friend's name on my wrist. She looks at me with eyes full of moonlight.

"It's Cassiopeia, but you can just call me Cassy."

I look down at my tattoo of 'Cassiopeia Barnes' name, and never before have I felt so full of light and love.