The Witching Hour

Chapter 29 - Gale

I stand frozen, my mind struggling to process the scene before me. The transformation of the inn into the nightmarish hag's lair leaves me breathless, as memories of Auntie Ethel come crawling into my mind. The stench of decay assaults my senses and I fight the urge to retch.

Remeyra's demeanor is commanding, bold and reckless as ever—it's in her nature. But there's something more to her now, something unnervingly calm in the face of this horror. Her voice, the familiarity with which she addresses the hag—everything feels twisted, wrong. Sonya, the way she said her name with such ease, sends a shiver down my spine.

I've encountered hags before, twice even, and I know how dangerous they are. The powers they hold, the way they can play with your mind—it's disturbing to say the least. And yet, Remeyra isn't scared. I can't tell if she's unaware of the danger before her or if there's something more she's not letting me see.

My mind reels. Remeyra's knowledge of this hag, the history between them—it feels like I've stepped into a story I don't understand, a play where I don't know my lines. I try to remember everything I know about hags, their twisted nature, their penchant for deceit and malice. But none of it helps me understand the bond between them.

'Rem, what's going on?' I manage to ask, my voice cracking with anxiety. But she doesn't respond, her focus locked on the hag.

The room's oppressive atmosphere closes in around me, every shadow seeming to mock my ignorance. I can feel the malicious presence of the hut pressing down on me, the twisted branches of the gnarled tree seeming to reach out with skeletal fingers, ready to ensnare us.

I take a step closer to Remeyra, my instinct to protect her overriding my fear. But I don't understand how I can help, not with the weight of this history between them, a history that I am only now becoming aware of.

'Tell me what you want, Sonya' Remeyra spits the name out like a curse, her eyes blazing with hatred and something else—something that looks disturbingly like recognition.

The innkeeper—or rather, the hag—responds with a knowing smile, her eyes glinting with a sinister light. 'You've grown, dearie, but you're still just as reckless.'

I feel a chill run down my spine. Grown? How could a hag know Remeyra from her childhood? And why would she keep her alive? Questions churn in my mind, but before I can voice them, Sonya speaks again.

'Helga never let me get this close to you. Said I'd ruin you, spoil you,' her voice is wretched, filled with hate. 'I've waited for a moment to talk. Is all I need, dearie. Can you give your auntie that?'

'What is she talking about?' I murmur softly, my voice breaking through the heavy silence.

Remeyra's gaze flickers to Sonya, then back to me. There's a flicker of hesitation, a brief moment where I see her struggle with what to reveal. But then her shoulders square, and she meets Sonya's gaze head-on.

'She's my mother's sister.' she says bitterly, the words dripping with resentment and a touch of sorrow.

She's her aunt. My mind loses all sense of logic trying to understand what in the sweet Hells is happening before me. I glance at Remeyra, searching for answers in her expression. She meets my gaze briefly, her eyes haunted by memories I can't begin to comprehend. Her jaw clenches, her resolve hardening, but beneath it all, I sense a vulnerability that cuts through.

Sonya's smile widens, a grotesque parody of warmth. 'So... you've coupled up with a wizard. Momma would be disappointed, dearie, were she alive. After all, a wizard took her useless, boring life,' she smiles.

I watch as Remeyra's muscles tense, her jaw clenching with restrained fury. I can feel the tension radiating from her, the barely contained urge to pounce at the hag and unleash whatever fury she holds back. Yet, she remains composed, her gaze fixed on Sonya with a steely determination.

The hag chuckles softly at the scene, her eyes gleaming with amusement. 'Let me change into something more comfortable, then we can talk,' she says, her voice laced with a hint of mockery.

With a deliberate motion, she begins to transform before our eyes. The air around her shimmers and distorts, as if reality itself twists and wraps to accommodate her change. Her form stretches and contorts, bones cracking and reshaping, flesh morphing into something grotesque.

The sound itself is enough to make my stomach turn, and in just a moment, where the stout woman stood, now looms a towering figure. Her skin is a sickly shade of green, mottled and rough like the bark of an ancient tree. Her hair hands in clumps, oily and tangled, framing a face that is both hideous and eerily mesmerizing. Her eyes glow with malevolence, reflecting years of cunning and malice.

Her limbs elongate and contort, fingers morphing into grotesque claws that twitch with anticipation. Her mouth twists into a wicked grin, exposing jagged teeth stained with remnants of her foul saliva. The room itself seems to shrink in her presence, the very walls echoing with the weight of her dark power.

Her voice cuts through the eerie silence, now a guttural rasp that reverberated off the hag's twisted walls. 'There, isn't this better?' Her words are laced with a dark amusement, her gaze lingering on me before turning back to Remeyra with a knowing glint.

'The wizard's smell lingers all over you girl, what did you do?' Sonya scrunches her long nose in disgust and I watch Remeyra's cheeks flush at the comment.

Remeyra's jaw clenches, her eyes flashing with a mix of anger and defiance. She takes a step forward, her hands balling into fists at her sides. 'What. Do. You. Want?' Her voice cuts through the tension, each word dripping with a poisonous hatred that I never thought was possible.

Sonya's lips curl into a wicked smile, her gaze flickering between Remeyra and me. The hag seems to savor the turmoil she has incited. 'Your help, dearie, of course.' she replies with a twisted sweetness that sends a chill down my spine.