Wicked Cindy

Chapter 5

A/N:

So if anyone's wondering who I pictured as Maurelle, just see the photo I inserted above!!

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"Maurelle, dear, do you mind if I go out for a while?" my nana asked me while we were having a breakfast of beans, oats, buttered toast and sweet tea.

"I don't mind," I said and took a bite of my toast. "But where will you be going?" I asked.

"I’ll just be going to visit an old friend of mine in Kozire, it’s not that far from here," my nana said without looking at me.

Oh. Is this it? Is this where she’ll be going to meet Drizella and Anastasia?

"Hmm." I nodded, and then we continued to eat in silence. I didn’t know whether I should ask my nana about what I had seen the other night. I didn’t know if I should ask her about who Drizella and Anastasia were. I sighed. "Um, nana? Can I ask you something?" I carefully asked, keeping my gaze fixed on the toast in my hand.

"What is it, dear?"

"I … well ... um ..." I stuttered. I was so nervous that my heart was beating wildly in my chest.

"Stop tearing the toast to shreds, my dear," My nana said sweetly.
I drew my eyebrows together in confusion, but then gasped when I looked down and saw that my plate was full of shredded toast.

"Oh! I'm sorry," I apologized, and embarrassment coloured my face.

"So you were asking me?"

"Uh … yes. About that ... um well, you see I suddenly remembered something," I said almost in a whisper while fidgeting in my chair.

"And what is it you remembered?"

"Do you know who Drizella and Anastasia are? I'm sure I've heard these names somewhere," I asked and looked at my nana to measure her reaction.

Her eyes widened slightly. She took a sip of her tea before answering, "Did your mother ever tell you about the queen's tale?" she asked, placing the teacup down on top of the black wooden table in front of her.

"Yes, of course," I answered, reminiscing the way my mother would speak softly when she told me the queen's tale, how I listened intently to every word that came out of her mouth, how she laughed heartily whenever I frowned when the queen's stepmother and stepsisters —

I jumped out of my chair. "Oh! They are the queen's stepsisters!" I exclaimed. I can't believe I forgot them.

"Yes, they are," my nana said, looking at me with a poker face. "Now, can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Uh, yes. What is it?" I said and returned back to my seat, my excitement dying.

"Why are you asking me if I knew them?" My nana was eyeing me carefully.

I frowned. "I don't know, really. It's just that their names popped up in my head out of the blue," I lied straight to my nana's face. I felt guilty for lying to her but if I had told her the truth I would have been in a lot of trouble.

"Very well. I must go now," my nana said while standing up and headed over to our small living room to fetch her cloak.

"Take care, nana," I said and waved my hand in goodbye as she opened the door and closed it behind her.

I sighed before I picked up the wooden made plates on the table and brought them to the sink. After I had washed the plates I pulled a book out of my nana's floating bookshelf in the small living room called ‘Herbal Grimoire’. These types of books were strictly banned by the queen, along with anything else that had anything to do with magic. Anyone who broke that rule was severely punished, like the woman who had been burned to death in the town square. There had been news spreading like wildfire that the queen was also hunting down magical creatures, like fairies, nymphs, unicorns and such to extinction. I had heard that she hated witches so badly that she had killed some of the most powerful ones from Ashecá herself.