Eudora hushed.
“Oh, no. They must’ve figured out that he helped us.”
They remained silent in order to hear what the guards had to say.
“So tell us where they are.” A deep man’s voice broke through.
“I swear I have no idea.”
Anwen recognized Asterix’s voice.
“You are in so much trouble. You realize that, don’t you?”
No response.
Anwen could feel the guilt burning inside her. That was enough. The urge to come forward and take responsibility, not only for him, but for Harvey and everything illegal they’ve done till now, captivated her whole creature.
“What are you doing?” Eudora clutched her arm.
“I can’t let this happen.”
“Are you crazy?” Brayden added. “You’re gonna get us all killed.”
“You know, this is all our fault.”
“God, Anwen. Does it always have to be about you? Never mind we’re hiding in this fungus-infested hole; you have to go forward and take the blame and be the hero of the day?”
Anwen was shocked by the most demented explanation she’d ever heard her roommate say—and there was an endless series of them.
But considering Eudora’s explanation, there was some truth in it. If she came out of the little hole, the guards would take notice and they’d probably catch her friends too. Now, trying to take responsibility for your own actions is one thing, but bringing harm to others is a different thing.
The guards walked down the stairs and the three of them watched the whole scene silently. When the guards were basically out of the way, they brought themselves out of the hole and stood there quietly just for a second.
“What would they do to him?” Anwen asked worriedly.
“Anything.”
Eudora was so cruel, Anwen had noticed.
"And they'll do it to us too if we don't hurry." She added.
Chapter Twelve
“Is that it?”
“That’s what my book says.”
“But where’s the door? Isn’t there supposed to be a room here?” Brayden intruded.
“I know.” She seemed bothered by all the questions. “I’m as confused as you are.”
The distress had captured all of them because there was more to it, just at the moment they thought they had it all figured out.
Eudora focused on her book for quite some time but nothing seemed to bring a solution along. They couldn’t just go back to where they started, could they? All this trouble wasn’t worth nothing—it just didn’t make sense.
“I’ve got something,” as soon as she came up with that exciting news, the two of them focused on her expectantly. “It says here, there’s a door at this very spot as a matter of fact.”
“That’s what you’ve been telling us all along.” Anwen subsumed in disappointment. They’d gotten themselves in quite some trouble. All for nothing.
“No, you don’t get it.”
“Shed some light then.”
“We’re sure the door is right here, so it just means that it might be charmed for people like us to not find it.”
“That’s brilliant.” All the distress turned into joy.
“And how are we supposed to get in?” Brayden made their happiness stop.
That was enough to create a soundless moment for a second, drenching them into a moment of thoughtfulness, trying to bring a solution out of nothing.
“The spell might be anything. It’d require an eternity to go into all that.”
“Yeah.” Anwen sighed.
Now that was too much to take in. And in a blur, she recalled everything. First, she’d managed to turn her lifelong crush into a statue, and then she’d taken off on this crazy journey with her vicarious roommate, she’d met a classmate along the way, and then an elf, and next thing she knew, she was locked up in a cage and finally after having gone through all this trouble, they’d found out that the room they’d been looking for was under some kind of impenetrable charm.
This story was completely crazy.
Her parents must be so proud, huh?
“I cannot believe it,” she said. “We’re screwed.” Her tone turned into a yell eventually. I cannot go back to the academy. Like, it’s crazy. Not only will we be punished for what we’ve done, but it could be worse. I’ll consider spending the rest of my life holed up in the Osage Orange Forest.”
They both were listening carefully to their friend as she was eventually going nuts and they were witnessing just the first phase of her craziness.
“Hey, I still got your brush here,” he handed her the old piece of metal
“Why would anyone want to have anything to do with that rusty thing? That’s creepy.” Eudora noted.
“That’s a birthday gift,” Anwen added, making Eudora remain speechless.
But they all got distracted when Anwen fell off on her back and she must have hit her head so hard, her yelling echoed through the walls for quite so long.
They gathered around her, one on each side.
“Are you okay?”
“What happened?” Eudora’s curiosity arose.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled, completely befuddled by the hit.
“Hey, look.” Brayden’s noted. “It’s as though you’re in the other part of the wall.”
“What?”
“Wow.” Eudora’s eyes sparkled up.
“How did this happen?” Anwen added.
“I have no clue. But whatever you did, it was awesome. Look, you opened us a door…and in a completely not metaphorical way.” She smiled in delusion.
“I did?”
“That’s strange,” he slid his arm through the illusive wall, his hand penetrated right through it and it could move freely as if all the barrier was just a bunch of beams of light.
Eudora followed him and brought herself to the other part of the wall.
“Guys, you have got to see this.”
They decided to walk through the wall and bring themselves inside that very chamber.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“To me, it looks like a cluster,” Eudora said.
"That must be the most beautiful cluster you've ever seen, then." He added.
It was just like a decoupage, filled with magical colors all splashed together making you dream of the most invigorating desires you’d ever owned. It was beautiful. But then again, all that was an illusion, because the chamber consisted of a myriad of flasks and souvenirs that could cure all sorts of charms.
“How could we find what we need, this place is endless?” asked Eudora.
“It’d take us forever to look at each section at a time.”
“Then we separate,” Anwen offered.
“Still,” he added again. “It’d take quite some time until one of us finds something, and we don’t have enough time.”
“But what do you suggest, do nothing?” she almost yelled.
“I don’t know,” he seemed confused by all the set of circumstances that had decided to bemuse each of them again and again.
This place was a mess, but also enchanting. You could find yourself appreciating the artful semblance that a genius must’ve created. Anwen realized that this was the most eminent spot of the entire forest, though it was supposed to be a chamber of healing and recovery; so why would anyone put this much effort into this pleasing decoration when no one was ever supposed to come here, except for the guru of magic?
"We have to start looking," Anwen added. "Brayden you should look at this section." She pointed at the last sideboard to the corner. Boy, there were a whole lot of chests to search. She was starting to worry a little.
“I’ve got this covered,” Eudora was already preoccupied with a section in the center of the chamber.
Anwen couldn’t help but stick to that choice. Her plan was to start looking at the chests accordingly.
<
br /> "Brayden," she whispered while noticing that the boy didn’t pay attention. “Brayden,” she holloed lastly.
“God, Anwen, someone across the academy didn’t hear you. Do you have to be such a freaking cornball sometimes; I keep wondering?”
"He's not listening," Anwen said mildly and worriedly at the same time.
Eudora took a gander at her new friend.
“Brayden,” she yelled quite angrily.
No response whatsoever.
“What the heck is wrong with him?” she asked herself loudly.
“I think something’s not okay,” Anwen offered.
“Duh…”
“No, I mean, I don’t think he’s alright. He wouldn’t do this purposefully, would he?”
“People do a whole lot of crap for attention. Look at your cat already rubbing your legs.”
Anwen was entirely focused on what was going on with Brayden right now, she didn’t even realize that Apricot was standing next to her all of a sudden.
“He’s just trying to console me.”
“Look at you,” she squinted, offended. “You’re so obsessed with your cat.”
“Eudora, I’m serious.”
“Me too.”
Anwen realized how worthless it was to put up with her roommate’s insanity sometimes, and that’s why she decided to take this matter into her own hands. Approaching him, she realized how peaceful and astonished his face looked.
“Brayden,” she mumbled.
He kept glancing at the charming display, enchanted.
"Hey," she nudged him as though trying to wake him up from the prettiest dream.
“Look at how awesome it is,” he whispered.
“I think he’s enchanted.”
“Or just befuddled.” Eudora mocked, ironically. “I cannot believe I found myself attracted to this shmuck for a moment.”
Anwen kept looking at her friend, and tried to realize what was happening to him.
“I got it,” she yelled excitedly. “The place is becharmed. They’ve cast a lot of spells to the place for people like us.” Anwen said proudly and looked at her friend. “You shouldn’t pay attention to the display or it can charm you just as well. Eudora…” she yelled in horror when she noticed that her friend was already getting enchanted.
Running, Anwen approached her and tried to shake her off that illusion.
“Eudora, leave it off,” she kept nudging her whole body. “Come back, please.”
This place was horrifying enough for Anwen to be there all alone. One of them being already enchanted was one thing, but she couldn't afford to have Eudora giving up to the charm since Anwen would be the only one left to find the ointment among millions of flasks. Now, only thinking about it was terrifying, she couldn’t have that be real.
“Hey,” trying to get her friend disenchanted, accidentally, throughout the horror and distress, Anwen managed to hit Eudora on the head on the corner of the shelf.
Great, she thought, as if Eudora being charmed wasn’t enough.
Just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse.
Awesome!
It seemed like she was left with no choice but to give up. Now without their help, or the book’s, which had proved itself to come in handy, she was screwed. Leaning back to the drawers she put both hands on her head, trying to deal with the stress.
Maybe it was just the perplexity, but she thought she lost it when she heard the cat meowing through the room.
“Apricot?” she said in awe. “How did you get in here?”
A cough interrupted her from totally losing it.
“Augh,” she coughed again.
Anwen looked down. Her friend was starting to come to her senses. Not only did Anwen manage to hit her roommate's head so hard, but she'd brought her back to her senses too. Now that was something to take pride in.
“What happened?” Eudora rubbed her forehead with her hand, obviously feeling the pain.
“You got stuck in the drawer."
“How did this happen?”
Anwen weighted her thought for a while before proceeding.
“You were ranging aimlessly and somehow managed to hit yourself.” Anwen frowned. "But that's good."
“How?” Eudora squinted, befuddled.
“Before you got hit, you were letting yourself be charmed by the spell. It is bad enough we have one attendant becharmed. I can’t handle you too.”
“So, even though I get hit hard on the head, you only care about yourself anyway. You’re such an egoistic brat.”
Now Anwen knew her friend was feeling better. Actually no, she must be perfect; her snarky comments indicated so.
While trying to find the antidote, they could hear shouts from across the room. It seemed like the guards were doing their normal, routine checking, or they just knew somebody had broken into the chamber of ointments and was trying to steal the glorified flasks. Whatever it was, it was just the same horrifying.
"Come on, we gotta hide," Anwen said skittishly.
“Are you crazy? There’s no place to hide here.”
“Brayden,” she thought.
“Hmm?”
“He’s still becharmed.”
Anwen hurried and tried to wake him. For a moment she thought about hitting him on the head. Considering it for a moment, Anwen realized how unhinged this idea was.
“Come on,” Anwen mumbled in distress, having both her arms wrapped around him.
“It’s worthless. He won’t wake up.” Eudora interfered. “Come on now, I think they’re coming this way. We better hurry.”
“I can’t leave him here.”
"If you don't, they'll catch us all. They might be cruel Anwen. We don’t know them. We’ll come back for Brayden.”
Before giving Anwen as much as a second to weigh her options, the guards rushed in, taking stock of the chamber.
“We have visitors,” the man’s voice broke through.
The other man nodded.
They were wearing their guard suits and seemed as if they'd do anything to protect the chamber. A shiver ran through Anwen’s spine. For a moment she wished to be Brayden. Look at how calm he was.
“Get them all cuffed.” The biggest man ordered the three others while he waited quietly there, observing the whole thing.
Chapter Thirteen
“How dare they ditch us like that? Just like we’re ghosts or something that don’t deserve the slightest respect to be cuffed like the others?” she said in the culmination of the anger.
No response.
“Now I cannot put up with this nonsense. Are they trying to get at me? Because if they are, I think it’s worked.”
Soundlessness.
“How come they disregarded us when I’m almost six-foot-tall, all things considered?”
Still nothing.
“I think it might’ve been the big guy.” She scoffed. “How can I explain why they left us both here and took Brayden and Eudora with them?”
“Meow,” the cat finally responded.
“Finally,” she whined. “For a moment I thought you weren’t paying attention. Now with everything going on, that’d be too much to handle.”
All alone she leaned against the shelves in the middle section, where Eudora had been trying to look for the antidote. It was crazy how the guards walked past her as though she didn’t exist, like she wasn’t there at all.
The cat got off of Anwen’s arms and wandered around the shelves.
“Apricot,” she called out.
The cat didn’t respond.
She could hear some weird sounds, as her pet was causing more mess for her to fix.
“Apricot, you’re gonna get us in trouble. I’m serious. I demand you to come here. Now.” She ordered.
But the cat ignored her.
She probably shouldn’t have endeared that ungrateful cat so much.
“Now come here, you spoiled litt
le cat.” He was her pet, he was supposed to obey her, not the other way around. She had to show him who was in charge.
She was.
Augh, like she didn’t already have a lot to deal with. The cat needed to show her that he could disobey…
After all, wasn’t she running after him, all concerned? He really could do as he pleased. Anyway. Looking at the flasks and containers on the shelves, she realized that it’d take them an eternity to find the right antidote.
She put these thoughts aside for a second.
Like, what was she supposed to do alone?
She didn't know how to find the ointment or where to look for it. She wasn't able to control herself and had no clue as to how to get away from this place. But, what about Brayden and Eudora? They needed to be saved.
But she wasn’t some kind of hero.
She’d never been.
“Meow…”
“Apricot?” that sound disconnected her from her contemplation. Finally. All those thoughts were driving her insane. “Where are you?”
“Meow!”
She followed the sound from where the meowing echoed. She stepped on something weird. Ah! It was a glassware. What was it doing there on the floor after all?
Apricot!
It didn’t take long to notice the clutter around her. Laboratory containers, souvenirs, flasks, ointments…the cat had thrown them on the ground. She could only imagine the face of the guru of ointments when he found out that a cat had destroyed his temple. But he didn’t have to know that, did he?
Apricot was standing upon one of the shelves all cute as if none of this mess had ever happened…as if he didn’t have anything to do with it.
That cat should be punished…yelled at, at least…
Augh, he was in so much trouble!
But she had to find a way to pick him up, didn’t she?
It was so hard to walk through the clutter.
She had enough time to think of the best punishment the cat deserved.
“Come here, you dear little fuzzy piece of fur,” he was standing there in an untroubled way.
Augh, she was such a soft pet owner. No wonder the cat had taken control. She’d given him the control.
“Meow,” he stood there all quiet.
An Academy for Witches (A Witch in Progress Book 1) Page 8
