The Prince's Songbird Slave ✔️

The Witch

Thoughts around time of publishing - *watching the uni a-cappella society preform* That girl in the middle looks so much like Evelyn... Would it be creepy to go up and talk to her...
Yes.... Very...
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Srn' told me that the witch he'd found to restore my memories would probably ask me for a tithe, a payment of some sort, before he hung up abruptly, leaving me sat in my room with no idea what it was she might ask for. I researched witches, and gathered a range of items that might hold some appeal to one – stones, metal ores, talismans, books, and money. She set a date when 'the conditions will be right', and I had worked like crazy trying to make a space for that night.

I carefully packed the items into a large duffle bag, wrapping some of the more fragile things up in cloth to protect them. I checked my watch impatiently and paced back and forth, desperate for time to speed up so I could find Evelyn quicker.

I had to set things right.

I snatched the bag up and threw it over my shoulder, took a deep breath, then hurried out of my room, along the corridor, and down stairs towards the front door. Just as I was about to grab the handle and pull the oak doors open, they jerked towards me giving me a shock, and making me jump back in alarm. My dad looked as startled as I felt when he nearly collided with me on his way in.

"Nate!" he said, clutching a hand over his heart and bending forward. "You shocked me." He straightened up and looked at me slowly, his eyes searched my face, and noted the large bag thrown over my shoulder.

I felt like a deer in the headlights, and I knew my father could see right through me and any lies I might think up.

"Are you..." he paused, as if trying to find the right way to word something but failing. "Are you going out tonight son?"

I nodded tersely. Part of me knew that I didn't have time for this, and the other part knew that I couldn't avoid my father now that he'd caught me. A little voice in my head asked me 'what would Freya do if someone stood in the way of something important to her?', and I could easily imagine the sort of thing she would do - send them flying across the room. But I wasn't Freya, and I planed to find my own solution to my problems... Even if no ideas were coming to mind right now.

My father seemed to be struggling for words again, every time he seemed to settle for something and open his mouth to speak he would close it again.
He ran a hand through his hair in agitation and looked at me, then he looked away.

"It's cold out there tonight," he said, gesturing slightly towards the door. "You'll freeze with just that hoodie on."
I looked down at my clothes. Srn' had told me to dress inconspicuously, so after I'd finished working I changed my suit for jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, in an attempt to standout less. I hadn't thought about the weather at all, and now that I was by the door the chill blowing in from outside was noticeable.
When I looked up I saw my father was shrugging out of his long, thick, brown leather coat. He offered it to me somewhat awkwardly and I took it, amazed by the comfort and warmth it provided the moment I put it on.
I patted his shoulder twice before slipping through the doorway, down the steps, and out into the cool night air.

"You are coming back... Right Nate?" my father said softly.

I stopped realizing that he though I was leaving permanently, a thought that had never occurred to me, eloping with Evelyn without even saying goodbye. It was an idea, but first I had to find her.
I gave him a small smile, "I'm not leaving just now, there's things I have to do first."

He nodded solemnly and I started down the steps again.

"Nate... Bring her back safe," he called to me from the doorway with a genuine look of concern, and I could tell he really did care for her. My father though, thought that was enough of the nice guy act, cleared his throat, and looked away, quickly trying to change the topic. "Your mother, you see, she's been worried sick about her, crying every night... And, well, I guess..." he let out a sigh. "I guess I also miss her. Didn't realize how used to seeing her about I was - only after she left..."

He looked down at the floor with a small, sad smile. "She was something of a daughter to me, and it took her leaving for me to really see that."

As nice as it was for my father to open up and try to have a heart to heart I didn't have the time. My father nodded, seeming to understand without me saying it.

"Go, just do what it is you have to do, and be careful."

I gave him one last nod and finally made it to the car, quickly telling the driver the address that Srn' had told me. The drive was painstakingly long, it took several hours to get there, yet too soon I found myself standing on the corner of a somewhat shady street corner being stared down by the straight-faced Srn'.

"Of course you would come in a fancy car like that, and you still stand out a mile - good thing I took precautions," he muttered. He shook his head and his dark untidy hair as he turned on his heal, leading the way through the dark streets.

I struggled to keep up with him as he lead me into dirtier and darker parts of the city. The speed with which he moved didn't seem natural, and sometimes he vanished - hid dark clothes blending in with the shadows. Even after I tapped into the monster inside of me I still was unable to match his speed.

"Here," Srn' said, stopping outside a beaten-down wooden shack. The wooden planks looked as if they were held together with symbols that were drawn on with thick paint, and it had a velvet curtain in place of a door. I frowned as Srn' pulled the current and stood aside for me.

"Aren't you coming in?" I asked when he made no move to enter the dwelling.
Srn' bright green eyes weren't looking at me, but rather out into the darkness we'd come from.

"Later. I have to deal with the people who followed us from the car first," he said, his eyes trained on something I could not see, and he let the heavy, well worn, velvet curtain fall between us with a muffled thud.

()()()()()()()()()()()
Hi! I'm back again for the time being ^_^
Sorry about my repeated disappearances, but my studies got really hard, and I had to compete in various things, and my dad got sick for a while too, though he's back to his crazy mountain-marathon-running-/-London-to-Paris-in-24-hours self now...
So what do you think of Srn' - Goodie? Badie? Or does he have his own agenda? What did you think when Nate bumped into his father... And is the witch good or bad?

Is Evelyn even still alive???

^_^ See you soon, and hopefully more updates to come!