A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 12 - Lesson Two

The following day, Melinda woke up with much difficulty. She always tried her best to adjust to her new surroundings, constantly reminding herself that she'd already gone through many hard times and that this surely wouldn't last forever, but it seemed that the technique would never work. At night, while everyone else was asleep, she was left with nothing but silence, in which she often thought dark thoughts as rats rose from the floor to climb her body. She hardly wanted to wake up in an environment that encouraged such a state of mind so strongly, but there was no other choice, so she used all of her willpower to stand up from the floor, eagerly awaiting whatever came next that day.

She was startled when she heard the creak of the door, and thankfully the others were startled enough to wake up on their own. It looked like any other morning, but this time it was different because she could hear that it wasn't Patrick who opened the door, and she was proven right merely seconds later. With thick locks of dark red hair and sorrowful brown eyes, Amanda Collins stood out among the many people Melinda knew, particularly due to the latter. The sorrow in her eyes was constant, and Melinda couldn't help but wonder why it was so.

"Good morning, everyone," Amanda said sternly, harshly waking her up from her thoughts and breaking the silence. "I have an announcement to make. Patrick went away last night because of an important business trip, which is supposed to last for two weeks. Everything will continue as normal, especially in regards to Miss Grey. She can't afford to miss a lesson at any cost. In fact, she'll have one right now in the courtyard, and you two will sit here and wait until we return. Understood?"

Frank and Agatha nodded solemnly.

"Great," said Amanda, smiling brightly. "Let's go now, Miss Grey. There's no time to waste, after all."

As Amanda yanked her right hand, Melinda wondered many things. How could she not? In this place, there were countless things to ask for which she couldn't find an answer, especially when it came to Amanda. The woman, obviously, was an enigma, just waving at her and waiting to be solved. She seemed so out of place in a house like this, Melinda never having expected to be this close with a person who possessed such kindness and charisma here. Something clearly wasn't right. Deciding to take her chances, Melinda let out a deep sigh, alerting her just in time to ask her question.

"What's your secret?" she asked nonchalantly, causing the other woman's eyes to bulge.

"My secret?" the woman gasped, tilting her head in various directions as if she were watched. "What do you mean by that?"

Melinda laughed darkly. "Don't try to fool me, dear. We all have secrets, and you most of all. Your aura of mystery hasn't gone unnoticed. But don't worry. I have no reason to be personally angry with you, primarily because you seem like a friend. So, I ask you again, what's your secret?"

"Hm..." Amanda said, stroking her chin as she thought of the best response. "What's your secret? Please don't think you can hide any in this place. It'll be found out soon, and I know that there's something dark lurking deep inside your heart, begging to be released. What is it then? I think it's only fair for me to know, considering that you're the one who always asks all the questions and never tells anything to anyone."

Melinda flinched like someone'd slapped her in the face. She truly had no words to say. It was absolutely fair, but it didn't feel that way. She didn't want to stand there without an answer, but it was the only thing she believed she could do. 

"So, no answer then?" Amanda said, shrugging limply. "That means I won't bother to answer you either."

Melinda wanted to answer affirmatively and explain everything, but her paranoia made her incapable of doing anything but remaining silent.

"I don't feel the need to," she grumbled a few seconds later as they approached the courtyard. "I'll find out your secret myself."

The conversation was over after that. As Amanda opened the front door, the winds of cold blew heavily in both of their faces, fitting perfectly with the thick layer of fog that obscured almost everything in sight. The only things that could be seen were the thin trees decaying from the outside frost, whose branches didn't like the weather at all, and a ragdoll that was strongly rammed into a tall piece of wood with a dozen nails. Directing Melinda to stand right in front of the ragdoll, Amanda stood opposite her, wasting no time at all when it came to the start of the lesson.

"Let us begin," she said quickly. "The new spell you're going to learn is pretty brutal, yet also effective, so the instructions are rather simple. In fact, there are only three steps. Just follow me and you'll get the hang of it in the nick of time. Here, I'll show you."

Amanda pulled a dagger out of a pocket on her dress shortly after, confusing her.

"The first step," she said, wrapping her fingers tightly around the hilt, "is to clench your hand into a fist with thoughts of hatred on your mind."

She proceeded to do so until both her face and palm went red in a matter of seconds, rendering Melinda impressed.

"The second step," she said, walking towards the ragdoll, "is to draw a circle in the air and swing the dagger in your target's general direction."

She demonstrated that as well, causing the pinned ragdoll to drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"The third and final step," she said, stabbing the blade painfully into the ragdoll's shoulder, "is this. Be assured that the victim will feel much suffering should the spell be cast successfully."

Upon the end of her demonstration, the ragdoll spun helplessly on the ground for a minute, and Melinda couldn't even imagine how much this would hurt a real person. However, she didn't have much time to imagine it anyway, for her turn to cast the spell came soon.

"Good luck," Amanda said, smiling brightly. "I'm sure you'll cast it well."

Clearing her mind of all thoughts, Melinda focused on casting the spell precisely, which was hard for her until she remembered Hemingway. Everything came smoothly after that. The steps were easy, therefore she didn't have to put in much effort and mostly focused on hating him. She had no words to describe the hatred she felt towards him at that moment. It seared her heart with a might so profound, she couldn't have imagined it. 

He was the root of so much evil and suffering, and he'd already done countless despicable things to her and her country, and he was going to do far more than that in the near future, and everything she loved and cared for could be obliterated by his hand, and he knew that very well and was unendingly smug about it and she wanted for him to hurt and die oh so badly! There were so many things she would give for that! She hated him, she hated him, she hated him... It consumed her mind, and it wouldn't stop.

Her hatred had consumed her so thoroughly that, within a minute, the ragdoll had spun like a windmill, bursting into cloth and feathers suddenly after the spell was done, leaving only the piece of wood intact.

"I don't think I want to know your secret anymore..." Amanda said sadly before turning to leave, causing Melinda to realise that the spell wasn't supposed to be performed that intensely at all.

"Wait!" Melinda shouted, trying to move only to realise that the spell had paralysed her for an uncertain amount of time. "You can't just leave without me."

"I'm sorry. I forgot," Amanda said as she returned to her side, carrying her back to her room as swiftly as she could, wanting it all to be over as soon as possible. Melinda felt much the same way. She didn't know quite what it was, but something told her that things wouldn't be the same again.