Witch

Chapter Fifteen

The two men disappear without another word into thin air.  My heart is pounding.  I drop whatever's in my hands and say "Amethyst."

The girl looks at me with an expression I can only describe as horrifying.  Her cheek is swollen; her arm is covered in bruises.   Her face is tearstained, and I can see that one of her wings is torn.  She begins heaving heavy sobs, and runs toward me.  I crouch down and offer a hug, which she takes crying.

"What happened while I was gone?"  I hold back tears.  "Who were they?"

"We should have left right away!"  Amethyst cries.  "This is all my fault, Willow!  I led them here!"

I look desperately to Limerick for an answer.  She merely shrugs and puffs out her chest.  Suddenly her wings unfold, and she opens the window.

"Limerick?  What are you-?"

Without saying anything, she scrambles out of the window and takes flight.  I see her ball her hands into fists and bring them to her face, but nothing else until she's gone. 

I sigh and turn my attention to Amethyst.  She fully sobbing now, wetting my shirt with her tears.  I gently smooth down her hair.  "We're okay now,"  I purr.  "The bad people are gone."

Her head snaps up and she says "They'll be back." 

"Who were they?"

"Mama calls them Telfallia.  They're Wizards who think that their God is better than Mama, even though they all share equal power,"  Amethyst drops from her knees onto her bottom and looks down at her dress while she speaks.  "The Telfallia want to find a way to the portal in order to get to Mama, and…and…"

"And what, Amethyst?"

"Destroy everything,"  She heaves another sob followed by a high-pitched whine.  "They want to get rid of all of the beautiful things Mama created.  They want to kill everyone there."

"Kill?"  I ask, petrified.  "So you can kill...Nemiri…?"

"Yes,"  Amethyst wipes her eyes.  "And now that they know how to get to us, they can get to the portal.  What are we going to do?!"

I stoop down and lay my head of the edge of the bottom bunk, lost is thought.  I can't imagine what will happen next.  Yet another wrench has been thrown into my life again.  I close my eyes and think back to the times where life had been simple.  I would wake up, do my chores around the house, go to Basic School, play with friends; that was when life was good and simple.  I wish for those days to be here again, if I could just live one of them. 

I pull my head back up and dreamily say "How old are you, Amethyst?"

She seems puzzled.  "Huh?"

"You know.  I'm seventeen years old.  Limerick is twelve years old…"

"Oh, in mortal years?  Hm, nearly an entire era so… nine thousand fifty three years?  I think that's it."  She murmurs.  She turns to me with a puzzled look.  "Why?"

My mouth gapes open.  "That's pretty old."

"Well, I've pretty much stuck with this age for most of my life, but I can go from being a baby to an old woman.  I prefer six years old."

"Oh."

Silence begins to hang from an invisible string.  Amethyst has begun murmuring to herself, and I pace around the room.  The sun begins to set on the horizon.  Students begin to trickle back into their dormitories. 

I make a small dinner out of bread and ham.  I barely touch mine, and for the first time, neither does Amethyst.  She seems lost in thought all the time, often times drawing imaginary pictures in the air with her fingertips.  Maps, I suppose.  Her face is smooth as stone in concentration.  I let her be; who knows what that girl is coming up with?