The Five Cursed Witches: Volume 3 - Morana, the Witch of Life

Chapter 18 Witch bank

Morana

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All too sudden the spinning stopped. I lost my balance and was about to fall. But before I could, two arms wrapped around me, steadied me, and pulled me to Alejo's chest.

"You alright?" he asked and I could hear the worry.

I closed my eyes and nodded. Held onto him. The truth was that I wasn't alright. I felt like if I opened my mouth, I would throw up.

"I puked the first time," Alejo said, as if he had read my mind. "Most do, so it's nothing embarrassing if you need to."

I shook my head and leaned it against his shoulder. The last thing I wanted was to puke. Not because it would be embarrassing in itself, but because it would be embarrassing to do it in front of Alejo. I didn't want him to see me do something that disgusting.

He held me steady for a few minutes. Until I felt that everything had stopped spinning and then some more because it was just comfortable being held by him. His shoulders really were in a perfect height for me to lean on, and his arms felt strong and protective around me. When had someone ever protected me?

When I felt I couldn't stay like that any longer, I pulled away. He placed a hand on my cheek and looked over my face, seemingly searching for something.

"Feeling better?" he asked and stroked under my eye with his thumb.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Good." He gave me a weak smile and then moved so he stood beside me. He stretched out his arm in a sweeping motion. "Then welcome to the east coast witches' bank."

I looked at the house in front of me and my jaw dropped. I had spent some of the previous evening imagining what it would look like, and Harry Potter and Gringotts had been my inspiration. Well, it was safe to say that it looked nothing like Gringotts.

Apart from the fact that it stood in the middle of nowhere, it looked like any office building. A gray five-story tall building with large windows. There was nothing unusual about it at all.

"Not what you expected?" Alejo smirked at me.

"It's... ordinary," I said.

He laughed and took my hand. "Did you expect a medieval castle or something?" he asked as he pulled me towards the entrance.

I just shot him an annoyed look as an answer, which made him laugh a bit more.

As we walked in, I saw that the inside looked as ordinary as the outside. It could have been any bank. Even the people in there looked normal. That maybe wasn't that weird and something I should have expected. Alejo didn't exactly dress in robes or wore a witch's hat, but I had anyway expected something else than the office clothes everyone working there wore.

There were nine people in total in there, apart from me and Alejo. Three women stood behind counters. It was only possible to see their upper bodies, but they all had black suit jackets over white blouses. The six customers all wore normal, everyday clothes. Nothing which would make them stand out if they walked down the street.

Alejo took a queue number, just like you would in a normal bank, and we sat down to wait. One of the people being served finished and two young women walked up next.

"We're here to open up an account for Melissa here. She's finally old enough for her own account," one of the two gushed and looked at the other with pride.

"Stop it, Mom. You're embarrassing me," the other said and my jaw fell again.

At my side, Alejo sniggered.