Night Witch

Chapter 29

Baba Yaga led Karina down a long, narrow flight of stairs, all the way to a dark, stone room beneath the house. She felt her skin prickle as the air turned colder and colder and the place turned darker and darker, until all of a sudden--

there was no light.

The darkness wasn't quiet this time. It wasn't soft. This darkness was a monster waiting to kill her, a bird circling above ready to rip her throat out. This darkness was a predator lurking in the shadows, and Karina was the prey.

She felt the urge to scream emerge from deep within her chest to her lips, a shout into the void about to sound. The darkness was going to swallow her whole, but she wouldn't go down without a fight, without a scream.

"Eee!"

Was that all there was? A squeak? Was she not strong enough for this? Could she not even scream?

She felt weak. Small. Like the world was the world and she was only a tiny thing in it--a blade of grass, an abnormal seed that wouldn't bear fruit.

When she blinked, she could see the past flicker in between her eyelashes. A pyre on a hill by the Forest of the Dead, a  noose around her father's purple-and-blue neck, Helga's sneer and Olga's palm flying towards her face, a wooden bowl that fell on the floor. And Hans. He was there in every vision...that....that traitor. That murderer.

Was this like the time Nyx turned the world to Night once she had been sucked from the past? She tried to pull her arm back like she was shooting an arrow, tried to feel the weight of the bow in her hands. Nothing. 

She felt empty. There was nothing left in her now, no power. Karina couldn't feel safe or summon the Night or even scream. She was the weakest she had ever been. 

She closed her eyes, only to feel a hand on her shoulder a moment later. "You're holding up remarkably well. Most don't." A tongue click. Karina shivered as Baba Yaga continued to speak. "They're dead now."

She didn't say anything in response. Would she be killed if she did? The darkness coiled around her body, tightened around her chest. 

"You're good, girl. You're a yaga. You have power." Baba Yaga's voice was tremulous in the last sentence, like she was on a precipice. Then there was the sound of stomping, boots on wood, and then a door swung open. Shafts of light fell onto the two women, highlighting their faces in bars. Karina let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, wiped away a tear that had fallen across her cheeks. The light.  There was light. There was something to hold onto, something less slippery than dolls or revenge or a boy with blue eyes. One step at a time into the light. She could do that, at least.

"You will clean out the magick room. We'll need it for your training." Baba Yaga's eyes glittered. Karina placed two hands on her stomach, trying to ease the knots that came with the discomfort that lingered with darkness. Baba Yaga raised a gray brow. "Make a pile of the things you think are unnecessary in the corner of the room. I'll be back in an hour exactly."

And then, with a sweep of her ratty dress, the crone was gone.

Hesitant, Karina stepped into the room. It was cluttered and small, with a grungy stone floor and shelves covered with strange looking objects--bottles filled with different colored liquids, cloaks and dresses heaped in a pile, wooden boxes, and too much more for Karina to take in. She stepped back. How was she going to be able to get through all of this?

One step at a time. This is where you are from, Karina. This is what you belong to. You can do this.

She went pile by pile, shelf by shelf, box by box, starting at the far end of the room where all clothing was. Most cloaks and robes were riddled with holes, and smelled strongly of dust. A few had ragged hems, or had marks of slashes or burns on them. One sole robe was covered in symbols that she couldn't understand. Useless.

They all went into the corner.

Karina wondered about them as she sorted through everything else. How had Baba Yaga had the chance to wear forty cloaks? Was she really that old?

Maybe they had belonged to those others, the ones who hadn't held up as well as Karina in the dark. Karina shivered and got back to work.

The boxes all were filled with strange things, necklaces, jars, and books Karina couldn't read. They all looked important at the very least, so they stayed. The potions were all in ripply glass bottles or clay pots. Most of them stayed, too.

Eventually, the room was as tidy as Karina was going to get it. She dusted off her hands and sang random songs, trying not to think too much about her surroundings. She was not going to focus on everything strange in this room, not going to focus on the memories that they brought up, not going to focus on--on--on anything. 

She would just keep singing. That was all. "Hey diddle diddle..."

The door slammed open and Karina's mouth slammed shut. "What have you got for me, girl?" Baba Yaga picked up a cloak in the pile. "Acceptable. Yes, this can go." It slipped through her fingers and she picked up another one. "Fine." She repeated this process with each cloak until the pale robe with symbols on it surfaced. Baba Yaga ran her fingers across it, her hand like a lover's caress. "What's this, girl?"

Karina's heart skittered, and her hands started twisting the dress of her skirt. "A--a robe. The symbols are unreadable."

"To you, maybe. But to me--to me this is a work of art." She looked back up at Karina. "You should have felt something. A tremor, a shock, a pulse, something. Were you--" She stepped closer to Karina, peering into the girl's face. "Yes. Yes. You were blocking." Baba Yaga stepped back and handed the robe to Karina. "Open up. Cry. Think of something that makes you sad, happy, something that makes you feel."

Her mother. The way her mother held her when she couldn't sleep, the smell of herbs put to boil over fire. Her mother's fingers darting through threads on a look, the sound of her voice she sang.

Nothing. She felt nothing. Which was strange because she had been sobbing by the fence just a little while ago.

"Feel...anything?"

Karina shook her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered, wondering if this was where Baba Yaga killed students. Baba Yaga moved towards her, and Karina flinched. "Please don't hurt me."

"I won't hurt you, child." Baba Yaga's voice was softer than expected. "That's not my way."

"I--alright." She breathed in deep. "What about--what about everything else?"

The witch looked down at the pile. "Good enough." She scanned the room. "You missed a box, over there. I'll be back once it's done."

"I--"

Baba Yaga slammed the door, and Karina got to work--trying to feel something, anything.

Hi, everyone! Kind of an uneventful chapter, but some very important setup here! What do you think of Karina not being able to feel anything with that robe? And does anyone remember that robe? ;) I'll be back with chapter 30 as soon as I possibly can, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the chapter if you have any! Feel free to leave a vote if you enjoyed, too! Thanks, and I'll see you all soon!