Three Witches #1: Magnus and Magnolia

Chapter 29 (Magnus): So I Can Say Good Bye

It seemed I'd spent a lot of my time lately coming back to consciousness. That usually came with pain, but I struggled to remember why I might have passed out. Vague images flashed in front of me. Alligators. Sharks. A cage. That blonde asshole. The three little fuckers. Erasing my  memory --

That thought shot me upright in...my bed? I know I hadn't been here when I was last conscious. I searched my memories frantically. Noli laughing. Noli kissing me. Noli serious. Noli's face when I betrayed her. I could remember everything.

"You're awake," Yonaka said, appearing in front of me, and there was no snideness in his tone like I'd come to expect. "How are you feeling?"

"What the hell are you playing at? I can fucking remember Magnolia."

"Calm down, Magnus," Yonaka demanded.

This fucker. 

"Calm down, you little fuck? Last thing I remember is you touching my forehead to make me forget Magnolia, so fuck you and your calm down."

I clapped my hands together as if I was trying to smash an annoying mosquito, but he managed to evade being squished like the bug he was. However, I noticed he stayed out of range after that.

"You can still remember her," he said, pointing out the obvious.

"I know. But I thought you were going to do it."

"I merely touched your head to knock you out," he explained.

Tarek flew up beside him, also keeping his distance. "You weren't in good shape, Magnus," he said.

Sumrak came up on the other side of Yonaka. "You needed time to heal," he said.

"Surprised you didn't leave me to die. It's what you've been hoping for all along." 

I was honestly shocked they hadn't...and then I realized I hadn't been stabbed twice for those two truths. Looking down, expecting to see blood, I just saw the heart of stab scars on my pec. Those two statements hadn't been lies, so I didn't understand why they hadn't stabbed me.

"It is finished," Tarek said, correctly interpreting my look. "No more stabs for the truth. That bit of magic ended when Yonaka knocked you out."

"I don't understand."

"Of course not. It's all a bit of a muddle for you humans who break a witch's heart."

"Why'd you tell me you were going to wipe my memories of Magnolia?"

The three looked at each other.

"Our sole purpose is to conduct the Three Trials on behalf of each witch and to put the man who betrayed her through absolute, sheer hell, not to put too fine a point on it. 

"Excuse my indelicacy, but it's a mind fuck, start to finish. From the very beginning to the bitter end," Tarek said.

"I'm well aware," I said bitterly.

Sumrak jumped in. "You really don't understand. There were two levels going on here. The level you were aware of...and the level you were not."

I felt like I was only getting bits and pieces of the picture.

"Explain," I demanded.

"We told you that the only chance you had to get the witch back was to survive the Three Trials. That is the level you were aware of. The physical side," Sumrak said.

"And the other level?"

"Was the emotional and mental side," Tarek said. "We find many males compete because they can't resist the physical challenge. But they may not be in it fully for the witch. Our job is to weed out those who are serious about the witch and those who are not. In essence, we're making sure you are in it for the witch. The stabbing you endured -- many begin lying to avoid the pain or cease speaking. You did not. You met it head on."

"You didn't take any of the outs we offered you," Yonaka added. "You refused healing, and you ran toward our King and Sceptre instead of running away. Our job is to discourage you in every way, to taunt you, to undermine you, to be as horrible to you as possible, to bring you as low as we can, the way you brought our witch low. We lie to you and we torment you in every way possible. It's what we do in our roles."

Sumrak watched me closely. "The Trial of Endurance and the Trial of Undeserved Pain both tested your staying power in different ways because you didn't have that the first time. We're making sure you'll never fail our witch again if she takes you back."

"And the final trial was the Trial of Love. Would you give your witch her heart's desire or would yours win out?" Yonaka said quietly. "You would be surprised how many fail the third trial after successfully completing the first two. They wish to take the easy way and tie the witch to them without giving her a choice."

"We thought you were going to choose the easy option at first," Tarek said. "You surprised us when you ran for Tahvo. Why did you?"

"You told me she loved him. You told me he was the one whose loss she grieved."

"All the more reason to tie her to you with the first option," Sumrak observed. "It would have been the only way to get her back. Instead, you handed her into Tahvo's keeping forever."

"I'm aware." Don't cry in front of them, Magnus.

Yonaka looked at me. "To understand what we've been doing more...you need to know that we fae can't have children like humans do, but we love babies. Absolutely adore them. And our witches...well, we fae consider them to be our babies. We have our King and his True Queen, we have our Sceptre and his Orb, we have those who are fae-blessed...but the witches are...ours. We claim them more so than our King, even."

"You humans have a saying that a mother acts like a mama bear if someone threatens or hurts her child. Have you heard that?" Sumrak asked.

I nodded because I'd heard of it but couldn't say I'd ever experienced it.

"You just met the fae version of a mama bear," Tarek said. "We know the witch's heartbreak is necessary to gain her powers, but we don't like to see our witches hurt, to know their hearts were broken, to know they experienced agonizing pain." 

"Understandable."

It'd be easier if you just let her go.

I remembered when they had warned me of that at the beginning of the trials. In the end, I had let her go so she could be with the blonde fucker.

"Why have the three trials if it's just going to come down to the third trial? Why not just start there and stop it if he chooses the easy option?"

"It is a process," Tarek told me. "An ancient one we must follow."

"The balance requires it. You were the cause of the witch's unimaginable pain and therefore you must experience unimaginable pain."

"But does it even come close to hers?"

They looked at each other but didn't have an answer for me.

"You also answered Tahvo's taunts with the witch's well-being in mind. Another test many fail. You knew who he was, you saw him with her, and yet you spoke of the witch's happiness to him. He couldn't provoke a reaction from you, as crude as he was being, as hard as he was trying."

"And then you did something that astonished all of us. You gave him knowledge of the witch. We have never seen that before, and we've been through many trials over the centuries."

I hoped he'd use the information about Noli. 

"The hissy fit you threw when we threatened to wipe your mind also rarely happens. Most want the memory of the  witch gone when they realize they've lost her for good."

Lost her for good. That brought up a question.

"Could I see Magnolia one last time?"

"Why do you ask?" Yonaka looked at me suspiciously. 

"So I can say good bye to her."