Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 33

Hey!

I don't know what it is about weekends, but they're always over too soon. Okay, time for another chapter. More secrets, more truths and lies, and Anna has trouble telling them apart. I hope you enjoy this one!

Lara

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Chapter 33

I heard there was an old witch at the end of the village, close to the forest. Rumor had it she was senile and not quite there, most of the time - which was just what I was looking for. I suspected no one else in the village would willingly answer questions about me or my parents' past. At least not without telling Vincenzo - a risk I couldn't afford.

The ring of trees thinned out, opened up to a wide path that wound up to a small hut-like house. The building had a different scent to it, looked different than any other in the village. Not built of stone, but a solitary wooden soldier in a silent crowd of trees.

Forest soil smothered the sound of my footsteps as I made my way to the door, conscious of the cuff - a weight on my wrist that, for some reason, comforted me. Going anywhere without it was no longer an option. I raised my arm, ready to knock.

"Come in." The voice was raspy, but I heard her loud and clear.

I pushed the door open, stepping into a barely lit, Spartan room. The smell of wood and grass, that fresh, natural scent you can only get in the forest, hit my nose, where it mixed with the smell of candlewax and ink. A table with goblets, vials, and an assortment of half-burnt candle stumps to my left. A small hearth with a dying fire to my right. A ring of shadows in the back. The hut looked as plain as it did from the outside, with handfuls of darkness wherever daylight didn't hit.

A scrap of sound and I turned. My eyes zeroed in on the spot in the right corner, behind the hearth. An old woman sitting in a rocking chair, long white hair in a low bun, dressed in a long red velvet robe. If the room would have had more light, I might have been sure she was looking at me. But from where I was standing I could barely see the outlines of her face.

I took another tentative step into the room. "Are you Giada?"

"Of course I am. You know that. What brings you here? I thought you left."

I frowned. "I ... left?"

Shock rippled through me and I froze. Did this woman know things she couldn't possibly know? Did she somehow sense that part of me wanted to leave this place? That part of me that was wondering if I had to leave the Lumenis for my own good?

I cleared my throat. "I mean, I didn't. I came here because I have a few questions."

The rocking chair moved back and forth, a perpetuum mobile of another sort. The creaking reminded me of incessant breathing, the ebb and flow of currents in the air. It made me wonder what kind of witch she was.

"How is Fabio? I thought you'd bring him. You always do," she said.

Crap. Giada thought I was my mother. Elisabetta. Did she see the same eyes, the long, brown hair? Were we so much alike?

I hesitated, caught up in indecision. Should I keep up the charade just to gain the information I'd come for?

I licked my lips. "I'm not-"

"I told him he should make up his mind last time. I believed Fabian did. I didn't think you'd come back," she said. "Dangerous to remain any longer. I told you."