The Cursed

Chapter Twenty Two

Lilura

Willa rummages in the cupboards pulling out several other jars filled with black smoke. All of them Willa tells me are protection spells, spoiled with evil. After she pulls out the seventh jar, filled with black smoke, she collapses into a chair. Her face is pale and breathing labored.

"Lilura, I require sustenance. A simple draft of strength. We need to renew our protections. Your song has spoiled them all. With the protections down, and your power growing, the Queen may be aware of your presence and you need to learn much." I nod and make to leave the room, but pause by the door.

"How do I make a strengthening draft?"

"Oh course darling, there is a journal above the sink downstairs. The third page has the recipe." I hurry downstairs to the kitchen, the floating flame already lit and two bowls waiting by a simmering pot of oats. I push them aside and reach up to take the blue, leather journal down from the shelf. Opening the first page, my heart races. The feeling of electricity dances in my hands and up through my arms to my chest. It feels as though lightning struck me. The first page of the journal has a symbol of some kind. It has a triangle with a swirl then it loops down into a circle with three line through it. I gently touch the symbol and light flashes over it, the ink turning gold.

"Lilura, I'm going to find you. You can't hide forever. I know you will try. But I will find you and burn your safe haven down."

I drop the book and stumble backwards and fall into the fire. I screech like an owl and roll onto the ground in an attempt to kill the flames.

"Lilura dear, are you alright?" Will says upstairs. Her voice is weaker. I jump to my feet and turn to the correct page to begin making the strengthening draft.

I brew and boil herbs together, and I finish the draft. I pour it into a chopped yellow mug for Willa and walk upstairs. She is in an armchair by the window, fanning herself with a few loose papers.

"Thank you dear," she says, beckoning me closer. I give her the cup and she takes a long gulp, finishing half of the draft.

"Is it alright?"

"Yes it is, thank you my child. Lilura, what if on your arm?" I twist to see where Willa was pointing to find angry, red burns twisted around my upper arm. They spiral and loop as if a snake had carved them into my skin while it crawled up my body.

"I had another vision, but I think it was present day."

"Go on child." Willa leans forward and stares at me.

"I opened the journal and saw the symbol, when I touched it, the ink shone like gold, and I heard a voice. It was surely a woman's. She said that she would find me and burn my home down. I fear she knows that I am here."

"The symbol was protective, so no unwanted attention would come to my journal. Without training your magic will reach out to other spells, enchantments, and so forth, interacting with them."

"What does that mean?" I ask twisting my hands together. Will last gaze drops to them, and she beckons me closer. I sit my her chair on the ground. She sets down the now empty mug and the papers, grasping my hands in her leathery ones.

"Your magic does not know how to create, to create is difficult, and to destroy is Magic's natural instinct. Many witches are born knowing destruction, but with proper learning and care all magic can be used for good, as it has been for centuries. By the time a witch is ten they can control their powers and have the ability to use it for good, never fearing it will be harmful."

"But is there magic weaker when they are younger?"

"Yes, which is why it is so crucial to learn from a young age. Without the opportunity to develop food from a young age, your magic has strength in destruction. It has undone many magic it has come into contact with."

"Could it harm people if I tried to use it to help?" I whisper. Of what Willa says is true, and my magic enjoys destruction, Everette's newest wounds caused by me could be worse. They could never heal.

"Yes, I believe that is what may have happened to Everette." She looks at me and the feeling of cold water drips over me, starting at my head.
"And now I think you may have undone many protections I have placed over this house. Your magic is powerful and does not know control. The battle is no longer about control and learning, but not letting you succumb to it."

"What happens if I do?"

"You will never be the sweet soul you are. Your magic will spread into your spirit and poison you from the inside until you and your magic bond, but rather than you having good intentions as children do when they have this process, you will be greedy, cruel, heartless."

I gulp. If that happens, Everette will never be safe. In this moment, sitting on the floor by a hidden witch, with the fear of being discovered by the Queen and a bodiless voice, I decide I will learn everything about my past this day, and tomorrow I will control my magic. The third day I will learn how to use my magic. The fourth, I will go to Everette, heal him, then leave. He cannot be near me anymore. It is safer for him this way. Willa says I may be able to keep my magic at bay, but I know I cannot. If I learn and control it enough, when I do become absorbed, perhaps I will be like the witch children and still be myself. But if I'm not, Everette cannot be around to witness it. I will live as Willa does, secluded, alone, and protected from the world and the world from her.

Perhaps, later, I might be able to return to Everette after my magic and I merge.