The Crown

Part 4

They walked in a complete silence. No one wanted to start a conversation until they saw a small house in the middle of the woods. The two-storey house was painted with creamy color while the roof was red. The house was so noisy; they could hear two people yelling at each other. When they arrived he opened the door without even knocking.

The warm delicious smell of bread rushed to their noses. Unintentionally, she rubbed her growling stomach. Inside of the house, she saw a man and a woman; the man was holding slice of bread while the woman tiptoed to reach it.

The man were teasing the woman, saying that she Could never take the bread from him because she was too short.The woman had brown hair with black hair and the man shared the same features. They both weren’t aware of Astrid’s and Andrew’s presences.

“Matthew, give it back!” whined the woman with an annoyed expression.

“Try to get it Jessica, if you can. Shorty!” mocked the man whom she called Matthew.

“Ehmm,” Andrew faked a cough while he set her down on a comfortable white sofa.

They stopped and peered at them for a moment then they immediately realized the position they were in.

“Retaw hsalps,” whispered Jessica while focusing her power. Suddenly the faucet was turned on and the water sprayed Matthew’s face also damaging the bread.

“Stop. Stop. Stop, fine I will give it to you,” yelled Matthew as he struggled to protect his face. Jessica stopped her power as she put her hand forward.

“Give it to me,” she declared. Matthew sighed and gave her the bread. As Jessica received the bread, her expression changed from mad into a pleasant smile, but as soon as she realized that the bread was wet. She sighed and threw it away.

“Old hag,” he said under his breath. Unfortunately Jessica heard that, her eyes twitched because of vexation.

“Matthew,” she spoke with dangerously low voice. Then she faced Matthew and intimidated with a sinister smile, “You better start cleaning up the mess, or you better keep your energy for tonight cause you won’t get to eat at all.” She added, “You better start now.”

Astrid tried to hold her laughter as Matthew’s body stiffened because of the threat and he began the work. On Jessica’s face there was a satisfied smile. She turned her head and looked at Astrid.

“Who is she?” she asked Andrew as she handed a glass of water to him. Andrew gulped the water like a thirsty elephant.

“Is she your girlfriend?” squealed Jessica with a grin on her face. Andrew choked.

“What!? No, I save her from Drevil’s subordinates. Her name is Astrid,” he murmured and blushed. Astrid was blushing and stuttered, trying to explain who she was.

“Aww, what a big teddy bear you are,” teased Jessica as she patted Andrew’s back. “By the way, I am Jessica,” she said.

When she looked at Astrid, she realized that she were injured.

“Oh my god, are your knees okay? Let me heal you!” she said urgently as she rushed to her side with a bowl of water and a bandage.

“Laeh pu,” she spoke as the water crawled from the bowl into Astrid’s wound.

‘Amazing, this is my first time seeing a healing magic,’ Astrid thought.

The water crawled back to the bowl. The transpicuous water turned into slop whilst Astrid’s wound were gone easily. Jessica went to the kitchen to throw the water away.

“Thank you very much,” thanked Astrid excitedly with admiration in her eyes.

“It is nothing,” said Jessica.

“You are a witch, are you?” Jessica sat beside Astrid.

“Yes I am,” Astrid replied excitedly.

“So what is your power?” asked Jessica eagerly.

“Mmmm, I don’t have any power,” she murmured inarticulately.

“What? Speak louder, I can’t hear you” responded Jessica.

“I don’t have any power,” Astrid repeated with louder voice this time. They froze, didn’t believe of what they had heard. Matthew was about to ask for more details, but seeing Astrid’s rueful face he undid his intention.

“So, what brought you here? I mean this area is restricted and distal. It isn’t everyday you can see other witches here, let alone a girl,” Jessica said, like the conversation never happened before.

All curious eyes stared at Astrid as she struggled to speak. She explained what had happened to her from the beginning. They only nodded their heads while secretly memorizing the notable details; questions started to form in their heads.

“Wait, so a man from the AOW came and told you that you are going to be their leader?” Matthew asked.

“Yes,” Astrid answered.

“That was crazy!” exclaimed Matthew.

“I know,” Astrid said.

“Wow!” said Matthew. “Aww,” he screamed as Jessica hit his head hard. “Why did you do that?”

“Unless you want to ask question, be quiet! We want to listen to her too!” said Jessica.

“Fine!” Matthew answered while pouting. Astrid continued the story.

“Ow, so that’s what happened. Well if you need a place to stay tonight, you can stay here. We welcome you with open arms,” offered Jessica kindly as she smiled, showing her perfect white teeth.

“That sounds good, I am okay with it,” said Matthew, after he put back the cleaning stuff. The only person who said nothing was Andrew, so Jessica asked him and all he did was nodding his head while staring at Astrid. Astrid felt intimidated. She wanted to be small so she could get away from his stare.

“Decided. You are staying with us,” concluded Jessica excitedly. ‘This house needs more woman touches,’ she thought. Astrid was about to say something but Jessica cut her off by dragging her to the guest’s room and talking about things that they would do together for the night while Astrid smiled happily at her.

When they were sure that Astrid was asleep, Jessica, Matthew and Andrew had a talk about her. Jessica stubbornly stated that she wanted to help her, but Matthew-her twin- said otherwise; he was scared that by helping Astrid, their existence would be revealed to the world and the secret that they had been trying to protect would be uncovered.

Astrid woke up, feeling thirsty. She quietly went downstairs and overheard their conversation. She was confused. ‘What secret? Why do they want their existence to remain unknown? Why do they live in the woods in the first place?’ she asked herself as she hid behind the wall.