The Five Cursed Witches: Volume 1 - Zoe, the Witch of Innocence

Chapter 9 Roses and Pines

Zoe

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I left the hotel way too early and after only having slept for maybe three hours. I hadn't been able to make my brain go quiet. Felix hadn't left my mind. I knew it was a dangerous thing that I was embarking on. Not only because of the risk of killing Felix, but I knew the coven would know that something probably wasn't right.

Never on a mission before had I booked a room at a hotel. I was often finished in one day, and if I wasn't, I just didn't sleep until I was. The last thing I needed was for them to also come asking questions. Maybe they would figure out about Felix and they would be the ones killing him. Those thoughts had plagued me during the early hours of the morning.

I was actually surprised that I managed to get three hours of sleep. It had happened between three and six while exhausted from crying as well as having been up for too long.

I got to the café at half past ten. Ordered a large coffee and sat down to wait.

The café was nice. Very different from Oak's Tea Room, though. It was open and white compared to the rustic décor in Oak's Tea Room. But as the name suggested, there were a lot of plants inside. Pots that hung on the walls with vines that dangled underneath and vases with roses at every table. It was pretty and had I come there during different circumstances, I would likely have enjoyed the environment. But as it stood, I was barely able to register it.

Instead, my eyes were fixated on the clock with no numbers, only arms, which was on one of the walls. Time had never moved slower.

Maybe he wouldn't show up. That would be the best thing for him really. But the thought of never seeing him again had my heart aching. He had to show up. Maybe I should hug him? Just a quick hug to get to feel his strong arms around me. It would be nice to lean my head on his shoulder.

And then my cheek would brush against his neck.

And then he dies.

I loosened my hold on the cup when I realized that my knuckles had gone white and in my head, two sentences repeated like a mantra.

Please come.

Don't come.

I glanced at the door before my eyes returned to the excruciatingly slow clock. It felt like every second took a minute. Twenty minutes to eleven. Eighteen. Seventeen.

A quarter to eleven. Then he was there.

Goddess, I couldn't have appreciated his beauty properly the day before. He wore a white shirt, the top two buttons open, and black pants. Both items showed off his muscles in a way that made me bit my lip. He had an elegance in his movements and in the features of his face. The only thing that didn't look ordered to perfection was his messy brown hair. But just like the day before, it was his eyes that I got lost in. Green as grass. His eyes pulled me out of my seat to take two steps closer to him while he walked towards me with the most dazzling smile I had ever seen.

"Hi," he said and, just like the day before, his voice reminded me of reality.

"Hi," I answered as I put up one arm to hold the other by the elbow, creating a barrier between us.

I saw the smile on his face falter. I assumed it was in response to my movement and I assumed he would comment on it. So his next words took me by surprise.

"You look tired. Like you didn't sleep."

Then came what I fear most. The beginning of a movement of his hand, upwards. I spun around and got back to my seat.

"Sleeping in a new place is just always hard," I waved away his question.

"Ah okay." The smile he had had upon entering was now completely gone, replaced with sadness. "I'll just get myself something to drink." He looked down at my cup. "And it looks like you need another one. Regular black?"

"You don't have to..."

"Please let me," he cut my protest off.

Once he was back with a cup for himself and a new for me, we endured what felt like forever of awkward silence.

"So what of Hartford have you seen so far?" he broke the awkwardness.

"I only got here yesterday, so only the university so far."

"Oh, really?" And he then jumped into telling me about places I had to see. I smiled and nodded and laughed easily as he talked. "Is there anything particular you want to see, though? Like why Hartford of all places?"

"The witch hunting." I cursed myself as the somewhat true answer came out of my mouth before I had time to stop it. The issue was that I wanted him to know me, the actual me. I didn't want to have to keep on lying to him over and over again.

If I hadn't expected it, I would have missed the short widening of his eyes before they returned to normal.

"Really?" He grinned a bit.

"Yeah," I answered, and as I kept on talking, my voice became harder and harder. "It's such a shameful part of our history, but most people know nothing about it or just the essentials. They brutally murdered women just because of their intellect. And it's also sad that a lot of people don't know at all that they murdered men as well. And all of this was spurred on by people feeding in to other's irrational fears. So many innocent people died, and it's barely remembered. Like take here, for instance. There is no really monument to honor those who were wrongfully killed."

"But how can you know they actually were wrongfully killed and innocent? Like maybe they were witches of some sort." He smiled playfully at me.

I snorted at his words. "And just because they were witches that makes them evil? No one is innately evil. Some witches probably do bad things, just like some people do. But I'm sure a majority of them are good and decent."

"Do you believe witches actually exist?"

He smirked at me, and a blush came over me.

"I mean. Who knows? Maybe," I answered, backtracked and remembered where I was and who I was talking to.

"Well, if you ever meet my dad, don't express these opinions to him," Felix said and took a sip of his coffee.

"Why?"

He shook his head. "Just don't."