Sinatus

✨Chapter Eighteen✨

Lily almost sobbed in relief when she finally caught sight of the path. She and Kieran had been traipsing around for what felt like hours, though Kieran informed her with a glance at his battered old watch that it had only been around twenty minutes. 

"We need to hurry." Lily urged. "I was supposed to be out of here forever ago..."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Kieran grumbled as he shuffled along behind, huffing when he occasionally got his foot tangled in a bush. 

Once she was back on the path, Lily picked up her pace slightly, her heart jumping around anxiously in her chest. The trees started becoming sparser, and sparser, until--

"Lily!"

That was Kaia. She'd finally made it. Kaia and Ivy looked relieved, though each and every one of the judges looked furious. 

Lily, Kaia, Ivy, and the others stood in a heavy silence for a few moments until Aella spoke.

"So, Lily, we've had a bit of an...accident."

"That wasn't supposed to happen." Alethea agreed.

"You mean Kilith, right?" Lily asked. "Please tell me you mean Kilith."

"Yes, we do." Deianira snapped. "We'd actually placed a dragon on the path, in front of the spikes, but someone carted it off and set Kilith into the woods."

"A dragon?" Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "That would've been so much easier!"

"Well, you only would've had to calm it down a bit."

"So what happens?" Lily asked. "If that wasn't supposed to happen, do I pass?"

"No." Eliphas said. "You fail; you didn't bring Kieran with you."

"Kieran?" Lily frowned. He'd been part of the challenge? "But... I did bring him. He's just slow, but he was following right behind me."

"Here, I'm here!" Kieran's voice came from down the path. Eliphas frowned. 

"Very well, then. Well, I believe we still need some time to discuss the circumstances nonetheless. We will head back to the village now. Cassiopeia, get Kieran into the carriage."

Alethea motioned for Lily to follow her, and so she did, Ivy and Kaia trailing behind. Alethea led them to another smaller carriage and told them to climb in. After they sat down, she tossed Lily a dry cloth and a bandage, sitting down as well as the carriage began to move.

"My apologies. That wasn't supposed to happen--we will be investigating the matter in order to find out who was been interfering. Clean yourself up with that cloth, Lily."

"But...why is anyone interfering in the first place?" Lily asked, scrubbing at her face with the cloth, which seemed to be doing little to rid her of the dirt clinging to her skin.

"I don't know." Alethea admitted. "Even if I did, it wouldn't be very helpful, since we'd still have no idea who is behind it."

Lily sighed, giving up on scrubbing the dirt from her face and pressing the cloth against the throbbing wound on her arm instead. So someone had interfered with the challenges, but no one knew who had done it or how. "Well, we'll have to figure that out, then."

"Who would do that?" Kaia asked. "I mean, why would anyone want to harm Lily?"

"I don't know that, either." Alethea shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I'll have to talk with the others, and that's the end of this conversation."

"But..." Lily trailed off, meeting Kaia's warning gaze. "Alright. But will there be another challenge? Before everything's figured out, I mean."

Alethea sighed. "I think Eliphas will demand that, yes. But if someone interferes again, we should have to postpone the Testamenti until the culprit is caught."

Lily, Kaia, and Ivy exchanged glances. Lily sighed, watching the blood on her arm slowly seep into the cloth. Why was someone interfering in the challenges? Did someone not want her to become a witch? If so, why? Why would it be so wrong of she became a witch? 

Before she knew it, Lily was jolted from her thoughts as the carriage stopped smoothly in front of Ivy's house and Alethea sent them off. The three of them entered the house in a heavy silence, before Kaia suggested Lily go clean herself up and then go get help for her arm. 

So once Lily had scrubbed herself free of the dirt and blood, she followed Ivy into a small sitting room towards Elora, who got up from her armchair immediately when she saw them. 

"Oh, how was it?" she asked, bustling towards them. Her gaze fell on Lily's arm. "Oh dear. Let's see what I can do about that. Magic won't heal it completely, but it will help for a start."

"Oh--thanks," Lily said as Elora muttered something and the pain in her arm started to become fainter. "That's so cool..."

"That's all I can do with magic, unfortunately, but we can bandage that up and it should be better soon." Elora informed as she swiftly wrapped some bandaging around Lily's arm.

"Thank you." Lily told her earnestly. 

"Of course, of course." Elora waved her hand dismissively. "Now go get some rest."

Lily and Ivy headed back to Ivy's room, where Kaia was waiting for them with two letters clutched in her hands. 

"Here!" she told Lily, handing them over. "These are for you."

"Thanks!" Lily grinned, sitting down on her mattress and opening the first letter, which said it was from Sam. 

Dear Lily, 

I'm glad Sammy is keeping you company. ☺ I also hope the next challenge is a little better...Tell me if it is. Or if it's not. I want to know either way! Yup, I'm doing fine. And it is different without you, but at least I'm not finding juice in my bathtub and Ben isn't complaining about there being glue in his hat. Okay, fine, I'll admit that was just a tiny bit funny. 

Well, actually...Maybe Ben is complaining. See, I did consider what you asked me to do...but I wasn't working alone. Kati helped me, you know her, right? Yeah, you do. Anyway, we filled his jackets with soap and told Elisa (who was working a shift at the pastry shop) to put salt on whatever pastry she gave him. So here's what happened after that: Ben thought you put the soap in his jackets right before you left, and that he just hadn't noticed! He just didn't think of the fact that you might write instructions for me. I mean, it did feel a little mean, but it didn't anymore after I saw him throwing moldy apples into your room. Got those out, by the way. And then, when he got the pastry, he actually thought he'd just ordered the wrong thing or something, and asked Elisa which pastry this was. She told him it was the same one he ordered every time, and Ben just stared at it for a couple seconds before turning and leaving, he was so confused. 

Miss you too...Hope you'll be back here soon. Good luck! Oh--Elisa gave me a candy to give you, but her brother ate it. Sorry! 

Your friend, 

Sam

Lily smiled as she read Sam's letter. She really had missed her friend, and it was a relief to hear from her. She was also glad Ben hadn't been let off the hook just because she'd left. She put Sam's letter aside, planning to write back later, and grabbed the letter from her parents.