Abe Sapien and the Witch

Chapter 27

Chapter twenty-seven

Abe delighted in watching her rediscover her taste for magic, and once she had become comfortable speaking out loud with him, she was soon talking out loud to everyone at the BP that crossed her path. Liz was especially pleased and, on most mornings, the two ladies would meet for a very early cup of coffee in the cafeteria, to start the day off with chatter.

The four of them, with Johann along on occasion, would take picnics out in the gardens as the days were getting longer so the sun shone its bright rays down on them later into the evening. Abe would often take her to the lake where they had first kissed one another, to swim together.

Sometimes, she would wear her own set of black shorts and top that matched his to hop into the tank in the library with him so that she could practice holding her breath underwater alongside Abe while he read aloud to her from his books. With the help of her magic, she could stay under for almost twenty minutes at a time without resurfacing, and she was getting better at it every day.

Time has a habit of both dulling fears and healing wounds, and as days turned in to weeks, thoughts of Laufey began to stagnate in the back of their minds as the delights of summertime took precedence. Of course, once she was fully healed, she was back on missions with the team- not only to help with research this time, but as a valuable combatant with her plethora of magical spells.

*****

"Tithe!" she yelled, her arms spreading to create a circular torrent of flame that churned, charring the air as she flung her blazing maelstrom towards the oncoming creature. "Well, fire doesn't work..." she mumbled into her headpiece, smiling a little to hear Abe stifling his amusement on the other end.

"Demons, sweetheart..." "I know, I know..." she said, laughing at herself as the Demon clawed its way along the ground towards her, much angrier at her now. "Alright, let's see how some ice works on you then...Oighir!" As she spoke, she pressed her hands together in a prayer like pose then pulled them apart, creating a long spike of solid ice between them as she moved.

Like a spear, she held it aloft and hurled it towards the Demon, jumping on the spot with excitement as the icicle hit the target square in the chest and had a definite impact. "Ice works!" she said into the headpiece, confident now as she whipped up a literal storm around herself which coated the underground sewers dank walls with thick layers of ice that froze the demon and two of its minions to the spot.

Nothing moved, the ice had done its job of finishing off the soul-eating Demon, and she tucked her hair behind her ear. "That wasn't so bad!" "Well done, honey," came Abes gentle reply and she smiled, pleased.

"Who uses fire on a demon?" Reds voice chimed in over the feed, and she could hear Abe mumbling something to him off-line. "I know I know, I'm still getting used to all of this, remember? Besides, you were pretty glad of my fires when we ended up in that infested barn last week..."

"Gotta say, that was pretty cool!" Red replied, in a good mood and she could hear his deep intake from the other end of the line that indicated that he was smoking a cigar- that was usually the sign that their job was done. She turned back the way she had come. "I'm heading back towards you guys now, there's nothing else here."

She found it strange that there was no reply, no almost-sarcastic comment from Red or a request to walk back quick from Abe, nada. It took her a few minutes of stepping her way through the winding tunnels to make her way back to the waypoint, a wider intersection underground where the mouths of a few tunnels met.

"Abe? Red?" she called out, confused now as this was the place they were supposed to be based at. She could see footprints in the slime underfoot and knew this was the right area. Her eyes widened, the colour draining from her cheeks as she spotted one black-petaled rose, trampled in the gloop near her shoe.