Night Witch

Chapter 35

Sleep came to her later that night, when thoughts of Mara Hedge hadn't shoved their way to the front of her mind and caused any notion of rest to disappear. Karina woke later than usual, after the Day Bird had already gotten through part of its flight, but when she did, her objectives were pure and simple: check on the beast downstairs, finish her chores, and learn more from her mysterious mentor.

She hurried through her daily tasks, checking the skull lights with an unnatural swiftness and devouring Baba Yaga's remaining food so fast that it was rendered tasteless in her mouth. There wasn't much left, so she hoped that the older woman had some magick trick up her wide sleeves.

After getting what needed to be done in the day out of the way, she walked down the stairs to the monster's lair, careful to keep her wits about her as the Darkness took hold. It felt familiar, like slipping into a favorite blanket to drink tea. All the same, it was powerful, and she knew that power was more of a drug than anything else she'd ever tasted. It called to her in that very moment to retain power over herself.

She opened the door. He sat in the corner, furry back pressed against the stone. When he saw her, his bony legs pressed a little harder against his chest. He let out a small whimper. 

She constantly kept the flask of the river water strapped to her shoulder, but now she took it off. "Open your mouth," she commanded, her voice a slithery hiss. He did as complied, and she uncapped the bottle and let it run in a clear stream onto his tongue for a good long time until his thirst appeared to be quenched.

Then she watched him. He wasn't that different, he wasn't a--

He's a...monster.

Who obeyed her wishes and sat complacent in a room, probably with the notion that they were going to slay him. He was a--

threat.

She rubbed her fingers together, toying with the idea of sitting beside him. Not to say anything, of course--just to sit there and be silent. Sometimes silence was all a person needed to say. 

But he was a monster, so he didn't deserve even that. She spun on her heel out of the room, marching upstairs. She would spend her time with someone who deserved it, or no one. Not a silent monster.

Baba Yaga--back as an old woman--was sitting on one of the log seats, looking at the pot from yesterday. It didn't smell quite as strong as it had earlier, but still, the scent of it twisted past her nose in too many different scents to count. "Girl," she said, her voice harsh, "get the book and read from it."

The book, which was already open to one crinkled page, was lying atop on of the stumps. The younger woman picked it up and began to read, not quite understanding the meaning behind the symbols as well as how to pronounce them. They were the same runes that had consumed her learnings as before, but they seemed to have different meanings, as the sentences she haltingly formed didn't make any sense. The text was even less understandable than the monster she kept in the basement.

But she did understand that the more she spoke, the more the contents of the pot bubbled and the more her vision blurred with white at the edges. She understood that the strange new steam rising from the pot was flavored the way her words sounded--slightly sweet, slightly subtle, and more bitter than anything else. 

Her core clenched and was shot through with sharp pains, her feet ached, she couldn't hear what she was saying--what was she saying--what was she saying?

There was a white ring against a dark canvas.  The pain, the thin ring above her head, the words she couldn't understand but had to keep speaking, the dryness that coated her tongue, the taut muscles that wracked her body--

and then the words stopped, and she was sitting in Baba Yaga's hut with tears sliding down her cheeks. "What is this for?" Karina asked, her voice trembling almost more than she was. She shoved the book off her lap. It fell onto the floor with a thud that seemed to shake the whole house. Baba Yaga laughed--not meanly, but not kindly either. "What is it for?"

"To save you." The crone stood. "You will be consumed by a Darkness Magnet soon enough, unless I can stop it." Baba Yaga shoved a white piece of cloth at her, which Karina used to dab at her wet eyes. "The reason you haven't been able to feel anything is because a Magnet has been sucking all of the Darkness out of you. If you spend a long enough time living with a creature that manipulates you like that, you won't be you. Your soul will die, girl."

"I...don't...want...it." She was twisting the handkerchief into knots, occasionally wincing when a knew needle of pain sliced through her. "I...don't...need...it."

Baba Yaga's eyes flashed, and two claw-like hands gripped Karina's upper arms. "But you need it. If your soul dies, you die, and...Vasilisa? Are you in there?" 

"I...don't...need it!" She wrenched herself free. "Bring...Nyx...to me. Bring...Mara...home."

"This isn't your home, girl! Moracia, that lost village, is your home. You said you'd never leave it. You would never mess around with a Darkness Magnet, especially after Mara..." Baba Yaga's face drained of color. "Who are you?" she whispered. "What have you done to Vasilisa Hedge?"