✓ | Girls of a Feather | #OpenNovellaContest2019

| fourteen |

Elke

Elke walked and walked until she was completely alone, save for the wind whispering through the trees. She savored the silence, letting the gusts blow her silky hair around her like a halo. No, not a halo. She was no angel.

"Took you long enough," the witch said, appearing out of the shadows. 

Elke jumped, silently berating her body for betraying her. She lowered her gaze respectfully and twisted her mouth into what she hoped was a polite smile. 

"Stop it with the formalities," the heks sighed, gesturing for Elke to straighten and meet her eyes. "It's a waste of my time, and we wouldn't want that, would we?"

"No, Mam," Elke whispered dully.

"And why don't we want that?" Antsje Pluk asked, sidling closer. Leaves rustled in fear beneath her step. When Elke didn't answer, she snapped, "Why?"

"Because the longer I take, the longer I must wait until you free me from my curse," Elke gritted out. She hated how the witch tormented her. She hated how the witch forced her to betray friends. She hated how she obeyed the witch anyway.

"That's right," Antsje Pluk cooed. "You always were my smartest daughter."

"But not the most obedient," Elke muttered. She winced as the heks' eyes flashed, the wrinkles around her mouth deepening. Elke closed her eyes as the witch stepped even closer. Her breath was warm and earthy, but to the dancer, it reeked of doom.

"You're right again." Antsje Pluk smiled a wicked, crooked smile. "But need I remind you what happens to those who don't obey me?"

"No, Mam," Elke whispered, squeezing her eyes tighter as if she could keep out the tainted memories.

"What was that, meisje?"

"No, Mam!" Elke repeated. She swallowed down the bile rising in her throat. "Girls who don't obey end up like Evelien." Again, her body betrayed her, and tears gathered in her eyes as she spoke her older sister's name. 

It had been years since the witch had mentioned Evelien, the girl who dared to disobey. Antsje Pluk had tasked Evelien with luring a crop of new, young girls into the woods, but Evelien had refused, choosing to escape to the young girls' village instead. She had hoped she could start a new life in hiding with the girls. She even fell in love with a sweet, handsome boy from the village. Although Antsje Pluk ignored them for a while, she never forgot the betrayal. When the witch finally came for Evelien, as she always did, Elke's sister slit her wrists. She would rather be cold in the ground than alive in the witch's thrall. The heks seemed to offer mercy by leaving Evelien behind, allowing her friends from the village to comfort her as the life bled from her veins, but the witch's daughter paid in other ways. Antsje Pluk crept into Evelien's lover's house and killed him before Evelien's corpse had gone cold.

Girls who disobeyed ended up dead. And worse, so did their loved ones.

Elke couldn't risk that. She couldn't risk watching Aleta, Annemie, Sofie, or any of the other girls die. If only there was a way for her alone to die, then she wouldn't be able to hurt her friends anymore. But Antsje Pluk wouldn't even allow her that mercy.

"Dead," the witch hissed, cutting into Elke's wallowing. The heks made a slicing motion across her throat as if her meaning wasn't already clear enough. "Do you understand?"

"Ja," Elke answered bitterly. She returned the witch's icy glare, but she made no further attempts at protesting.

"Now," Antsje Pluk began, finally stepping back and giving Elke space to breathe, "you need to pick up the pace. The girl must reach the flower by dawn tomorrow, or else the deal is off. Begrepen?"

"Ja, Mam," Elke repeated, the witch's words echoing in her thoughts. She and Aleta barely had a day to reach the flower. It could be done, but they would have to sacrifice sleep.

The heks wasted no time on goodbyes. She crooked her finger and shadows broke free from the trees, swirling around her in a whirlwind of wickedness. A few seconds later, she was gone.

Elke sagged against the side of a nearby tree. She wanted to cry, but something hard had lodged itself in her throat. Confronted with Evelien's betrayal and now her own, she felt nothing.

Pain jolted along her spine like a lightning bolt, and she gritted her teeth against its sudden onslaught. Not now. Why did she have to transform now, of all times? But Antsje Pluk's magic was just as impatient as the witch herself, and it quickly spread through her veins until her entire body felt like it had been lit on fire. Even though Elke had had years of experience with transforming, this time was unbearable, as if the heks was punishing her for her failure.

Finally, Elke gave in, letting out a small scream as she collapsed to the ground.

[ a / n ]

6 more chapters to go!! i just finished writing at about 20,035 words lol so now i just have to edit the remaining chapters! we're almost there guys!

as always, thank you all so much for reading! please, feel free to comment feedback, reactions, predictions, etc <3