Witch

Chapter Eighteen

The reality of the situation begins to sink in as the four of us begin down the empty road.  I hike my pack up and adjust the straps, wiping the sweat from my brow.
Semma and Amethyst walk side by side.  Amethyst is obviously attracted to the more motherly person.  “So you’re a bit more powerful than you let on, hm?”
“What do you mean?”  Amethyst asks.
“My first impression of you was that you were just a young little girl, being protected by her sister.  But now... you seem immortal.”
“I am something like that.  Nobody is immortal, not even your human god, um...”
“Palo,”  Semma says.  “Palo is his name.”
“I don’t know a lot about humans and Wizards.  Sorry,”  She smiles awkwardly.  “Anyway, I am second in command.  Wait,”  She steals a glance at me.  “Third in command.”
“Are you as powerful as your sister?”  Semma asks.  
“Not at all,” I answer.  “I grew up in Algemnia just like everyone else.  I actually just learned recently that I’m Nemiri’s daughter.”  I explain to here everything I know and everything Amethyst has explained to me.
“That’s amazing really.  To be honest, I wouldn’t believe Amethyst.”
“I didn’t either, at first.  I actually still can’t believe I’m giving up my entire life to go on this journey,”  I smile at Amethyst.  “I’m actually growing to love her.”
Amethyst grins in return.  
The street is empty as we walk awhile in silence, keeping our energy up.  We have a short lunch under the canopy of tree tops, but get up and go quickly after that.  
I twirl a piece of thin blue hair around my finger then redo my ponytail.  I hear a rustling in the trees, then quickly turn around.  
“What is it Willow?”  Amethyst is alarmed by my sudden movement.
“Didn’t you hear that?”
“Maybe is was a bird or something.”  My sister says.  She waves me off and hikes up her bag.  I fall behind even further and keep my ears out for the rustling.  After what happened at the bus, I don’t want to take any chances.  
I take the long walk to think about my future.  What’s it going to be like going through that portal?  Painful?  Terrifying?  What will happen to my body here in Algemnia, while my spirit goes to the Garden?  Or will my body go with me?  I wish I could ask these questions to Amethyst, but I want to do it without Semma around.  
I hear the rustling noise again, but don’t make a sound.  Except, I turn around.  What I see is strange.
A girl, probably around Limerick’s age, or perhaps a year or two older is standing in the bushes outlining the straight and narrow trail.  Of course there would be other people taking this road, we’ve even seen a car or two, but I never expected a lone girl to be walking the trail alone.
Her bright pink hair was pulled into two pigtails, which curled erratically in every direction, each about the size of her head.  From what little I could see, she had a massive amount of makeup on.  Long long lashes, pearly white face, pink cheeks, and dark red lips.  He looked almost like a china doll.  
I turn back around, hoping she was a figment of my imagination.  But alas, about two minutes later, I hear it again.  I say in my deepest, lowest voice to the two of them: “We’re being watched.”
“Tellfallia?”  Semma appears worried.
“No, she’s a witch...should I call out to her?”
“Well, if she’s one of us, sure!”  Amethyst convinces me.  But before I could do it, she turns around and yells.  “Miss witch!  You can come out!”  Dropping her hands from her mouth, she makes fists and screams.  “Don’t worry about us!”
Out from in front of us, the girl steps out.  “Hello?”  She’s stunning.  Her clothes are finely made, and don’t even look like she’s been walking.  I look down to my old shorts and shirt, which are covered in filth.  “I’m sorry I was following you.”
We all stop facing the girl.  “What’s your name?”  I ask her.
“Darla, Darla Emery,”  She seems reserved.  “What about you?”
“I’m Willow Mire, this is my sister Amethyst, our friend Semma, and her grandson Ezera.”
“Do you mind if I walk with you?  It’s been just me for a couple of days,”  She adjust her bright blue skirt and looks down.  I notice that her hair has been neatly parted into a zig-zag stripe.  Black lines outline her blue eyes, and swoop away like wings.  Each wing is studded with multiple rhinestones.  Her face is painted with tiny stars on her cheeks.  Why would one go to such an extreme with style?  I’d never worn makeup, but I can only imagine it being a bother.  “Where are you headed?”
“To the monastery.  You?”  
“Anywhere this trail takes me.”  
I sigh.  This girl is very strange, but I agree to let her tag along.  The weird thing is though is her accent.  I’ve never heard of anything like it, from any region in Algemnia.  If anything, she could help in case of another attack, depending on what type of magic she uses.  I ask her this.
When she doesn’t respond, I ask again.  She continues walking in front of me.  I then tap her in the shoulder.  She quickly turns.  “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“Yeah...?”  I turn my eyes to slits.  “Didn’t you hear me?”  I see her scrutinizing my lips as I speak.  Strange.  
After a few moments she gives her reply.  “Sorry.”
“Darla...are you deaf?”  Semma notices the interaction as well.  Darla doesn’t reply, as she’s looking at me.  
“Are you?”  I ask as well.
“Am I what?”
“Semma asked if you were...”  I form my mouth into a tight line.  “...deaf.”
“Um,”  She looks down quickly.  “I am.  But please!  Don’t abandon me!  I’ve worked for years learning how to read lips and talk!”
I place a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not gonna abandon you.”
“Well everyone else did.  My mom thought she made a mistake in her potion, she was never very skilled at potions, so she abandoned me.”
“That’s terrible!”  Amethyst pipes up.
“She left me in a human city, a nasty terrible place.  I was placed in a house where the people didn’t really care for me.  I wasn’t like the others.  I’m a witch.  I have a shock of bright pink hair, and I’ m deaf.
“I grew up from place to place.  Sometimes in a well-off family, and sometimes on the street.  When I turned thirteen, I was offered housing, but declined.  I ran away, and here I am now.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Make a life somewhere I’m accepted. Where I belong.  I want to live in an Abbey!”  She grins for the first time.
“So where did you learn to talk so good?”  Amethyst turns to her and asks.  
“I practiced for a long time.  I had to learn all kinds of inflections and crazy things, all from the vibrations my throat.”
I raised my eyebrows, thoroughly impressed.  “Wow.”  I return back to my original question.  “So what is your prefered type of magic?”  And how can it help us in combat? I want to add.
“I never grew up around other magical people, but I picked up a few things about morphing and shape-shifting from the peddlers and nomads who came through my village every so often.”  She adds.  “I can turn anything into something else, but with a time constraint.  I can also turn my body into different things.  That’s about it.”
“That’s still pretty good for someone who wasn’t raised with magic.” Semma smiles at her.
So , this new witch doesn’t know of our current situation, or the potential danger she could be putting herself in.  Hopefully we’ll be able to reach the town soon, for our connection bus to the city.
As the sun slips down, painting the sky a brilliant orange, streaked with reds and violets, I see a small sign, indicating where the road branches off toward the town.  We veer to the right and spy a quaint little village, much like the one we left back by the College.  The sign on the inn says that for room it costs 20 gold pieces a night, per person.  
“That’s was more than I was planning,” I sigh.  And with the added passengers, it will be even more.  I slip my pocketbook from out of my bag and pop it open.
“No need for that,”  Darla says with a sly grin.  She scoops a handful of pebbles from the gravel beneath us.  She closes her fist around them.  She closes her eyes and opens her hand, and tiny little gold pieces have replaced the pebbles.
“No,” Amethyst says.  “Isn’t that wrong?”
“And didn’t you say that the morph isn’t permanent?”
Darla laughs with a tiny snort.  “I’ve been getting around like this since I was a kid.  Plus, this is a human town, nobody would know.”
We sit in silence for a few moments.  
“We could afford to save some money.  I don’t have very much myself,”  Semma says quietly.  I notice Ezera sleeping peacefully on her back, though his face is red, and he seems to be covered in a sheen of sweat.
“We need to get the baby some shelter,” I say in a commanding voice, then turn to Darla.  “Just this once.”
She squeezes the gold pieces again in her hands to make a flat bill.  We make our way to the Inn, hand the man our ‘money’ and take a room key.
The room is somewhat cramped, with one double bed, which we give to Semma and the baby.  “He’s got a slight fever,” She says while changing his diaper.  “And he’s burned by the sun.”
I touch my own cheeks, which are hot and sore, then look at Amethyst.  Her face is flustered as well.  Same goes for Darla.  “I think I brought some cream for sunburns.”  I rummage through my bag and take out a small bottle of lotion.  I toss it to Darla, who has a fairly good reaction time.  
Once, we’ve all been lotioned, we begin to get settled for bed.  Amethyst and I make a pallet out of some blankets from the closet, while Darla tells us she prefers to sleep on hard ground.  Semma makes a makeshift cradle for Ezera.  
“Thanks for letting me stay with you all,”  Darla whispers after a few minutes in the darkness.



We’re awoken the next morning by a small knock on the door.  I pry Amethyst off of me (after quite a bit of her complaining) and answer it.  
“Breakfast is ready in the main room,”  A stout woman with broad shoulders tells me.  “Come and get some before it gets cold.”  
I tell her thank you and close the door.  “Who’s hungry?”
“Me!”  Amethyst pops onto her feet.  “Starving!”
We go about packing our gear and changing into some clean clothes.  I brush Amethyst’s hair and my own hair, then put it back up into a ponytail.  Darla puts her dress back on (she has worn only her undergarments to sleep in), and buttons it back up.  She touches up her makeup with supplies from her small purse.  
Ezera babbles as his diaper gets changed and gets re-clothed into something fresh.  “He seems happier.”  Semma smiles and pats his back.  
We leave the musty room with all of our belongings, cross the courtyard and into a cafeteria.  Surprisingly, we’re the only one’s here.  The rest of the place is deserted.  
Eggs, toast, oatmeal and all of the fixings are laid out in the front of the room buffet-style.  Amethyst grins and runs to get her share.  The rest of us happily take a plate to eat, and fill them to the brim with the delicious breakfast foods.