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

Chapter 13 - Memories

Melinda was back in her room far faster than she thought she'd be. Amanda escorted her quickly, leaving her alone almost immediately after, and after that, Melinda didn't have much issue when it came to entering the room, except for the numbness and pain that she still felt. Expecting this to last for at least a little while more, she let out a deep sigh, trying to ignore the intense ache within her bones, not knowing why she felt it so profoundly when she'd felt pain so many times before in her life. Soon, she noticed that Frank and Agatha were standing like statues in the centre of the room, their eyes widening in horror the moment they saw the state she was in.

"Don't worry about me, my friends," she said with an awkward laugh, unwilling to wait for them to start bombarding her with questions. "Amanda has taught me a new spell, and this one is a little more difficult than I'd expected, but I'll be alright soon. It's just a regular side effect of the spell, nothing more."

Agatha stroked her chin. "Now that you mention it, it seems familiar to me for some reason. What spell did she teach you?"

Melinda shrugged limply. "Oh, nothing special. She just tied a ragdoll to a piece of wood and showed me a negative spell that makes the victim spin in a circle on the ground for a minute. When it was my turn to cast the spell, I caused the ragdoll to burst open on accident, and she seemed rather upset about it for some reason, almost as if she were scared of me. That was ridiculous of her, right? She seems like an insane person who imagines things that aren't there."

"Yes," said Agatha, her voice wavering. "I'm not sure why she acted like that. She doesn't have a reason to as far as I know."

After saying that, she looked at the bloodstains on her coat for a second, making Melinda raise an eyebrow. The blood stains were peculiar from day one, given that Agatha was a peaceful person who lived a mundane life, and the stark contrast never stopped confusing Melinda. Now that she looked at the bloodstains while talking about her, things became a little clearer, even if the possibility of her knowing Amanda unsettled Melinda more than a little bit. 

In these turbulent times, nothing was safe or certain, and she wished more than anything else for it to stop. She didn't seem to know anything anymore. She yearned for simpler times, times when conflict was distant and reality was understandable to her, but she wasn't convinced that they were ever truly there in the first place.

"Are you alright?" Agatha asked softly, waking her up from her thoughts.

Melinda nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I am. I was just thinking about something that isn't important. There's a lot of time left in the day, so I believe that we really should relax while there isn't anyone to visit us. Rest is the only thing that matters at the moment after all."

Agatha smiled brightly at her. "I love your philosophy, my friend. In fact, it reminded me of a lovely discovery I made recently. Patrick's walls don't deflect magic, so we can burst a hole through a wall and visit your parents whenever we want. That's great, isn't it?"

Melinda was overjoyed to hear this news. In hindsight, it seemed rather obvious, but her paranoia, along with her being overwhelmed with so many things to think about, causing her not to remember the possibility that often, never let her test it for herself. It didn't matter, though. All that mattered was that they now had a huge advantage, and she was so rejoiced that she instantly jumped to hug Agatha tightly, despite all the pain it caused her. 

They hugged for quite some time, and they found much comfort within that warm, friendly embrace while Frank watched them awkwardly, ignored as he always was. It was over after a couple of minutes, but the moments they'd spent in the embrace were those of pure bliss that couldn't be replaced, and it immensely soothed them to have engaged in the revelry of friendship as much as they could in these depressing surroundings.