The Cursed

Chapter Twenty One

Lilura

The rest of the night goes well. Willa seems to have calmed down, and she makes us a vegetable stew for dinner. Lunch was forgotten in the afternoon's events.

"Willa, can I ask something?" I ask, breaking the silence as we eat.

"Of course dear," she says.

"Well, what did you do with Leroy?"

"Oh, I used a simple spell. It's quite easy, I'll teach you tomorrow," she says while looking up from her bowl of soup.

"Oh." The rest of our meal continues to a comfortable silence, broken only by the fire's crackling. After our meal is finished, I bring my bowl to the sink for washing my a scrub brush moving on its own accord. I bid goodnight to Willa and retreat to my room.

I wake up the next morning, the broke record of  I wasn't hers. I could be free, I could leave right now. I clutch my head in a weak attempt to make it stop. It just gets louder and louder, drowning out the clattering of pans as Willa prepares a breakfast.

"Stop!" I tell, rocking back and forth. I wasn't hers. I could be free, I could leave right now. There's a building pressure behind my eyes before tears start to drip onto the bed.
"Stop it!" Back and forth, my body sways with my sobs. My hands clutch my hair pulling on its roots. Make it stop, make it all stop. I need it to-

"STOP!" The scream that leaves me sounds inhuman, like a wounded animal stuck in a steel trap. The teeth of it digging into them. It's a last call for both of us, a plea to the heavens for some pity, some sympathy. We don't deserve this pain.

"Lilura, Lilura?" Willa's voice breaks through the noise in my mind. I gasp back to reality, and Willa runs to me, scooping me in her arms. I cling to her, sobbing while tears run down my face.

"I'm, I'm sor-, I'm sorry," I wail.

"Hush child, you're going to be alright," she whispers into my hair. She continues to whisper to me, assuring me that I will be okay. And after several more minutes of being rocked in Willa's warm embrace, my breaths start to calm, and my sobs begin to quiet.

"There, you're okay," Willa says, holding me at arms length to look me over. She examines my face, sure to look like rose petals crushed on my cheeks. "Now dear, let us explore further. How long have you woken to these words?"

"Since I woke in Everette's arms."

"Have they changed?" Willa lowers her hands to mine as I think her question over.

"Yes, once. I first heard that I was not his. But it changed to I was not hers." Willa looks at me, my words seeming to roll over in her mind and tongue.

"My dear, I apologize. I had hoped to wait until a few weeks have passed to discuss your past. For your powers have been born from your past, they may be a blessing or curse upon you. But now, we cannot continue without knowing what happened. So now, darling I ask, what do you remember?" Her question falls onto the thick air which crawls down my throat, drying my tongue. I have to remember to get better. For Everette. To gain control of my powers, so I can help others. I let out a sniffle and take a deep breath.

"I remember sitting in a green meadow with Everette, sharing a," I hesitate. The moment felt so special, so sacred, I didn't want to share, but if it's supposed to help, what harm can it do? "We shared a kiss. Then I remember racing horses upon a beach towards an unnatural storm. I remember," once I begin to list out my memories they spill out in a whirlwind. I feel a weigh being lifted from my chest. I can move forward into learning to control my powers and uncover the truth about myself. My memories and visions rush out around Willa and I while I feel the old parts of my past that were holding me back, be let go and fly out of me. "I remember seeing Everette at the docks. I had a vision of butterflies stealing my sight, then a song cake to me after my vision. I had a vision without it being my past. A Queen entered the ship's cafeteria and the crew bowed to her."

Willa contemplates my secrets, my visions of the past weeks. After several silent moments come and go, she speaks.

"Do you remember the song?" I quickly nod.

"
Come little children, come and follow me away.
I will lead you to a garden of shadows, where there lays your fate.
It is entwines in the wicked branches of a hanging tree.
There we will al be swinging in necklaces of rope

Come little children, I will grant your wishes and dreams and hopes.
Follow the beckoning hands into this maze of shadows.
The light chases itself into darkness, as you begin to stumble over roots that crawl into the path.

Come little children, to tie your own necklaces. The fraying pieces will save your death for eternity, but the hope of being lost will haunt you.
The man that hangs there watching us smiles. His jagged skull grinning at our hopes.

Come little children into my garden, my garden of hopes and dreams.
Here everything is broken and shattered on the ground.

Little stories in every dead seed." The last note hangs on my lips. Willa has gone as pale as Everette when he first heard the lyrics. "I sang it every morning." Willa nods, but slowly, as if she were in shock. Suddenly, she stands and beckons me to follow her downstairs.

"Darling, that song is one of a long line of witches. Banished by the Queen many many years ago. The song is outlawed among the lands, for those witches where never known for kindness often practicing dark magic. Knowing that song could be a death sentence. All witches were part of this line except four, three sisters and the fourth the Queen. The eldest killed an Alpha and the King.  All witches were killed and the magic cursed by the Queen to be dark and dangerous." Willa enters the room above her bedroom and begins to take down bottles of dried herbs and a vial of blue liquid.

"Is your magic like this? And what happened to the other witches," I ask her over the clinking of glass bottles while she digs around her cabinets.

"Mind is cursed, but I can keep the darkness at bay as long as the spell isn't too strong. The Queen holds her powers, the witch who killed the king was executed. The other lives alone in the woods. I believe you met her. And the last is me. Here it is," she pulls out a skinny, oblong vial filled with pink stones at the bottom and a pine needles extended to the top of the cork, sealed with wax. She held the vial up to the light, where I saw thin wisps of black smoke curling around the pine needles. She shook the jar, but the smoke did not dissipate.

"Willa, May I ask what that is?"

"Certainly my dear, I shall educate while protecting. This is a protection jar around this house. I cast it before the Queen cursed the witches. It has trapped the evil of the song."

"The song?"

"The song of your family that you brought he from your past to your present. It is the first clue to unraveling what the Queen did to you. For I am certain that a witch like yourself in love with her son could be the reason she feels threatened enough to send butterflies to steal your sight and memories. Butterflies symbolize change, and she has been a Queen prone to changing her kingdom and spells over night. It keeps her subjects on their toes and her enemies constantly one step behind. She should have used anything but butterflies, they give her away."

"What does this mean?" Questions races through my mind. The Queen was the cause to my pain. I could get my revenge. A snake of fury begins to coil in my stomach. I would not only learn magic to protect Everette, but to kill the Queen who cursed me.

"It means we can begin to unravel your past. But never sing that song again. Not unless you wish evil on us all."

_____________________________
Hello!

As I've been writing this story, I got confused with the visions Lilura was having and how they fit in to her present. I always knew I wanted the Queen to be the cause of her memory loss, but to have a moment to clarify everything with Willa-Sage really helped Lilura make sense of everything happening. I hope it helped you too. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll answer them the best to my abilities.

Please vote and comment.

With love,
Butterfly Typewriter