Pushing up Daisies

Chapter Ten

to be dead and buried.

Deep in a valley surrounded by dead trees, thorns and boulders—blocking everyone who dares trespass and if you did manage to get through that there is this purple mist keeping the ruined castle, filled with debris and moss, safe from anything from the outside world. Inside wasn't so pretty much like how it is from the outside, though there was this one room that was filled with magic and light...

"Maxine dear, won't you go to bed?" Maxine looked up, braids untangling as she yanked on the flower stems that held them together.

"But don't I need to study some spells tonight?" the girl asked, getting up to face her "Aunt". Her eyes glowed a slight purple and her hair had grown a few inches, and she grew taller too.

"Not tonight, my dear. We can do that in the morning." The woman approached her gingerly, she softly caressed her hair then planted a kiss on the girl's forehead. "One day you'll be as powerful as me, and we can finally rule this world."

"Yes." Maxine answered almost robotically.

The woman smirked, moving away, and bowing. "Until then my dear, get some rest."

It's been a year since her capture. It's been a year since the last time her sister had seen her, it's been a year since... she held her sister. it's been so long that she seemed to have forgotten why she was here, why she was so obedient. Who was this woman to her? She looked down at her bare feet then shifted and moved towards her bed. She sat down and pulled out a drawer and inside was the strawberry keychain someone had given her. It was well taken care of, and she was proud of it. she didn't know—forgotten­­—who gave it to her. She always took it anywhere she went, either she was training or running errands for the woman or if she was just doing some light reading on spells and curses, the keychain was always near... she was scared that if she lost it, she would finally drift off into insanity. To her, it was the only thing keeping her sane.

"Don't worry little buddy, we'll be okay." She whispered to the keychain, kissing it then falling on her back on the bed. She sighed out loud, staring at the keychain that now dangled above her, playing around with the very few spells she's studied. She thought she should be getting better but all she can do are basic spells—­­and nothing big. She wanted the excitement, but the woman wouldn't let her read any of her strictly forbidden books that were rotting away in her room down in the dungeon.

"How I wish I could remember who gave you." She whispered as the keychain slowly floated down and her eyes forcing themselves closed and soon... she had fallen asleep.

†††

She jolted awake when she heard a commotion just outside. She got up and pinned the keychain to her dress while she ran outside with nothing to protect her feet, but she didn't care—she felt as if the earth was going to swallow the whole place into the ground. She ran and ran until she saw the woman, forming a forcefield around the place so she rushed to her side to help her.

"W- What's happening?" she asked in a panic while she tried to focus on forming the barrier.

"They're trying to get in." was her only answer and Maxine knew exactly what she meant. She knew that this woman had siblings and that they would come around every other month to destroy the place, and she told her that they were looking for something, but the woman refused to tell Maxine what they were trying to take... so she's been training hard to help her with the barrier. To keep them safe. Right?

There was this nagging feeling in her brain each time she tried to help protect the place. They were venomous but still she tried to understand them, she tried but these voices were buried so deep inside her mind that not even she can comb and search it.