“Now come on, I wasn’t being serious, really. The closest thing to a punishment you’ll get is the tightest hug ever.” she thought, “Just jump out of that drawer.”
The cat didn’t move.
It took her a moment to realize that the cat wasn’t going to obey, and she gave up trying. She felt so clueless; she had no idea what to do next.
The cat purred.
She glanced around. Really, Apricot wasn’t worthy of that hug she was about to give him. He'd managed to throw all the ointments all around the room. How could he be so messy? He’d thrown all the ointments on the floor. Except for the one which was sitting next to him.
She grabbed hold of it. Ointment that can cure petrification, was written in front of the container. What? Like, how?
He jumped down and rubbed his head against her legs.
“Smart catty.” She said and glanced happily at the ointment.
That was a start. She could now hop onto the next step on her plan—but she didn’t actually have a plan.
She had to find her friends and get home, hopefully.
She gathered her belongings—the phone, the brush and her pet, and rushed to the door, hoping that she would never have to come here again.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you before,” she apologized.
The cat walked unconcernedly.
“I know I overreacted, but I was freaking out. But you’re gonna be rewarded for this.”
He turned his head up.
“As soon as we get home, you’ll get the biggest portion of food you’ve ever had.”
He blinked.
“If we ever make it home,” she said desperately.
After getting out of the chamber, Anwen started climbing the stairs down. She had no idea as to where her friends could be right now, but she’d start with the cage. After all, that was the only place she knew at that palace.
Walking towards the destination, she tried to remember the coordinates and kept walking towards it. Smelling the fungus, she knew she was close.
“Brayden, Eudora…” she whispered and then she felt some hands upon her shoulders.
Chapter Fourteen
When Anwen came back to consciousness it took her a moment to adjust to the new place in which she found herself. She was confounded. When she came back to her senses, she realized that her friends were standing next to her.
“Why did you bring yourself into this?”
“Shut it, Brayden, she’s still confused.”
“Meow.” Apricot rubbed his head against her arm.
Still lost and baffled, Anwen tried to come to her senses. She realized where she was just because her friends were causing such a fuss about it. It had to be like that, didn’t it? They had to be noisy and messy. Well, it didn’t bother her anymore—and what’s more, she sort of needed their arguing.
“I knew I’d find you here,” Anwen finally managed to say.
“Why would you get yourself locked up again?" Eudora gave her a hug as soon as Anwen was trying to get up.
"We were having it all under control," Brayden added.
“I can see how.” Anwen mocked him. “You’re hostages. There’s no way out of this.”
"Wait a second." Eudora squinted and got up on her feet as if the most brilliant idea came to her. "We've been here before. And we've managed to get out. Who says we can't do it again? So silly of them to lock us in the same place.” She said ironically.
“Do you still have your brush?”
“I guess,” Anwen shrugged and rummaged through the pockets of her parka.
“Awesome,” he said in deliberation.
Apricot lingered against his feet now. The cat seemingly liked the guy.
“Aww, he likes you.”
Eudora rolled her eyes.
Brayden inserted the polyline inside the latch and this time it seemed to take him a little longer.
“Is it weird that I find you hot in that very position?” Eudora tried to be flirtatious.
There must have been something about that place—the fungus probably—that made her act like this. As soon as she was out of there, of course, she was going to distaste him like always. Anwen swayed her head at the thought.
Brayden ignored her comment and kept up with it.
“What’s taking you so long? You were so fast the first time.”
“I don’t know,” he responded.
Eudora approached him, bending down to take a look at the polyline.
“There must be something wrong with it.” She offered. “Maybe they charmed it or something.”
That made them silent.
“We’re stuck.” Brayden came to the conclusion, finally.
“No, there’s got to be a way outta here,” Eudora shouted.
“I’m sorry,” he frowned.
They were unable to figure a way out of the cage. This experience had been more complex and troubling than they could have ever imagined. All this had exceeded all their expectations. They had managed to enter the forest, and they had been caught twice since then.
Now, who would’ve thought?
“What is that?”
“What?” Anwen trembled.
“In your hand?”
“Oh,” she frowned. “With all the situation being complicated, I forgot to tell you, I found the antidote.”
“You did what?” Eudora yelled.
“How did this happen?” he was just as befuddled by that very fact.
“Actually, it wasn’t me. Apricot did find it…”
“Meow,” the cat walked around with pride.
“Oh…” Eudora frowned.
Their excitement stopped when they heard steps wandering towards the cage. The sounds came actually from outside, and it was enough to make them cringe in horror and expectation.
Three guards made an appearance and blocked the entrance to the cage.
"What is happening?" Eudora asked her friends slowly.
Horrified, they looked at each other.
The guards of the palace created a green enchanted membrane that surrounded the three of them and pushed forth a burden that integrated itself into the student’s minds. Now the two witches and the necromancer couldn't take control of themselves anymore since the contagious spell had already captivated them all. They couldn’t strike or disobey.
Apricot managed to waddle away, without being noticed.
The guards were dragging them towards a certain destination.
That membrane protected them from the infectious moles they’d spread in the halls since none of them was getting affected now.
Of course, this place was strange and scary, but Anwen could recognize the path that they were heading. The guards were getting them out of the palace.
What for? she thought.
Maybe they were being sent home. Like, how amazing would that be?
Anwen tried to imagine what would happen when they got home. She might be expelled from the academy, since there were strict rules which she had overridden.
But no, after they got out of the palace, she couldn’t recognize the path that they were heading anymore.
Her friends were silent. Anwen tried to look at Eudora and Brayden and figure out how they were handling it.
'Cause she, most certainly, was terrified.
Apricot.
She’d lost him again.
How did that cat manage to escape again?
Anyway.
She could tell they were about to stop at some certain spot. The place was inundated with desiccated trees of all colors and shapes possible. That place was horrific.
Horrific.
Just like the very spot where they stopped.
Now the membrane seemed to melt off, but still, the three of them must've been under another spell, since they couldn’t move or say anything.
Had she known she’d go through all this, Anwen would have never entered the forest.
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But she had known that it wouldn’t be easy, in the first place, though when we visualize something difficult, in no way can we percept the entire reality exactly as it is.
“This is illegal,” Eudora yelled at the guards harshly as soon as her ability to talk was relinquished.
The men didn’t talk, though she was certain she saw a smirk on their face.
That event proceeded soundlessly until someone else joined them.
“Asterix?" Anwen murmured.
“What the heck?” Eudora’s eyes opened in shock and abasement. She’d been blaming everything on the elf, but as it turned out, not only did Asterix not tell them off, but he was being punished for it.
That was too much, even for her.
The elf looked scared. They all did. He made eye contact with Anwen for a moment. She could notice the blame in his eyes. And that hurt her. He had done nothing but help them. Look what that had gotten him into.
She couldn’t handle having another person’s life weighing upon her.
Was it selfish?
Probably.
Anyway, that was beside the point. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to him because of her.
“Stop it,” she finally managed to say. She managed to gather all that force to say just a couple of words—which, considering the current circumstances, was quite an achievement.
The guards ignored her.
This was starting to annoy her. She couldn’t handle all this ditching anymore, first by the guy she had a crush on, and then by these stiff men, who seemed totally unaffected by her presence as if she didn't even exist.
She meant, hostages deserved at least a bit of respect, didn’t they?
But clearly, these men had not even the slightest clue about it.
“He didn’t do anything,” she holloed, more angrily this time.
If her roommate read her thoughts, she would definitely think that Anwen was selfish.
No response whatsoever.
But they kept moving. And she observed their every move. First, they had Asterix under some spell where he couldn't move or say a word. It was just the same as the spell the three of them were under. And then he was affixed to some kind of an anchor and the guards moved away and started to perform a spell on him.
She was scared. This thing reminded her of something.
Soon enough, just by pointing their open palms towards him, they turned Asterix to stone without even the slightest hesitation. Soon enough there was a statue materialized in front of them.
This scene left them all speechless.
Since they possessed the ability to petrify the valet de chamber of the forest, Anwen couldn’t really imagine what might happen to the three of them, since they were just outsiders, and what’s more, they had broken so many rules until now.
Apricot approached her and rubbed his body against her legs while she was in the middle of her contemplation.
Stupid cat.
Did he even realize how insane it was to participate in that occasion?
She’d do anything to be anywhere else but there.
To her surprise, the spell that made them unable to move disappeared instantly and she was able to walk away. She could do anything she wanted.
The cat jumped on her arms.
What was wrong with that cat?
The jump made her cringe, because she didn’t see it coming, and the brush she'd tucked in the pocket of her parka hunched down. She bent to pick it up. Augh, was that important anyway? It was just an old, unusual piece of metal that didn’t come in handy for anything…ever.
The guards were terrified when they noticed that she could move.
Boy, she was in trouble.
By the look in their eyes, she could notice that they needed to cast a spell on her immediately.
The nearest guy came forward and pointed his palm towards her.
“No,” she could hear herself cry and she put her hands in front of her face.
At the moment she was waiting to turn to stone, as the vortex of magic embraced the atmosphere, she felt the magic coming across, tangling her, and then drawing back like a boomerang.
In no time he turned to stone.
She was shocked. As were the two other guards.
One of them came forward and tried, irritably, to cast the same spell on her, doing the same exact thing the first guard did.
Whatever it was, it worked again. She didn’t even move a smidge since she liked to believe that it was because of her coordinates that this thing was occurring.
Soon, the second guy turned to stone. The magic boomeranged back to him again.
Now the third guard, stricken in horror, ran away.
Such a coward, she thought.
“Oh, my God, what did you do?” Eudora’s eyes opened horrifyingly. “You go, you stone-cold, flagitious witchy scoffer.”
Anwen gave her the once-over.
“What are you waiting for? Come on, release us…” Brayden looked at his hands.
“I don’t know how…” she shrugged.
“You could touch the membrane."
She ran towards them. The enchanted membrane that seemed to keep them under control shattered.
“Finally,” she growled, “I couldn’t handle it anymore.”
“What do we do now?” Brayden asked.
“I don’t know,” Anwen said, uncertainly.
“You should,” Eudora intruded. “You managed to save all our asses and yours in the first place. What did you do to them?”
“I wish I knew.”
“You and me both.” Brayden said. “But the last one managed to escape.”
“Yeah, such a coward.”
“No…I mean, yeah, but he could tell us off.”
“Come to mention it, are you now convinced Asterix didn’t betray us?”
"How was I supposed to know?" she shrugged defensively. "The guy assured us no one was to see us when we drank the ointment he gave us.”
“Other than the guards.”
“Still, it’s strange how we got caught right off the bat,” he offered, his face wrinkled in uncertainty.
“What have you got in your mind?”
“I mean, there are people who know we’re here. It’s a possibility.”
“I hate to say I agree with you.” Eudora scoffed.
“We do not have time for that. Now that I’ve got the ointment which we came here for, we should find a way to leave this place…immediately.”
“And what do you suggest? Choose the main gate or the upper one…Now that you left the guard leave, they’ll be looking for us everywhere.”
“I couldn’t turn him to stone too.”
“Do you know what this tells about you?”
“That I’m compassionate?” she clenched her shoulders.
“That you’re irremissibly egoistic.”
“Why do you keep calling me that? You know it’s not true.”
“Guys,” he interfered in the middle of the girls’ irresolution. “We don’t have time for that. We better hurry.”
“As to where?” Anwen asked him.
“Home…”
"We’ll get caught in the blink of an eye. They might be waiting for us everywhere. We need to come up with a plan." Eudora said finally.
Soundlessness captured the three of them, as they were trying to figure out how to get out of that place. They were not real witches so they could not transmigrate themselves to the desired destination.
“Meow,” the cat purred for attention.
Eudora growled.
“What is that in your hand?” Brayden interfered.
“Hmm, my phone?” she frowned.
“No, on the other hand?”
“My hairbrush.”
“Now give me a reason why I shouldn’t believe you’re completely cuckoo with that freakish piece of metal in your hand,” Eudora asked.
“That’s
it,” he ignored the previous comment.
“Hmm?” Anwen was lost.
“That’s how you managed to protect yourself from the guards. The metal must’ve refracted the magic and turned it back around.”
She looked with amusement at the object in her hand.
“Now, you can complement each other after we get out of this place. If we ever will,” Eudora murmured.
“Have you got any plans?” he asked.
The glitter in her eyes suggested she did.
"They must be everywhere right?" she asked both of them. "We should go to the place they'll never think to find us."
“We don’t know this forest. Not a part of it,” she said disappointedly.
“Just when I thought there really was something to it,” he felt the same way.
“I know just the place.” She said self-assuredly. "We go hide in the cage."
“Hmm?”
“Are you crazy? We cannot go back there again.”
"Think." She ordered firmly. "They must think we want to protect ourselves and get out of the place. They must be looking for us everywhere. They wouldn’t think that we’ll be inside the only place we’re trying to escape from.”
“And that is the cage,” Eudora's eyes now glittered.
"That's genius," he augured her. "Though I still can't believe we’ll go back there. It stinks."
“That we can handle. We have bigger problems here.” She shushed him.
He obeyed.
The cat meowed and purred. Anwen got hold of him and rubbed his fur endearingly.
As soon as they tried to walk away, a strange sound came along and it echoed away.
“Stop!”
Chapter Fifteen
The three of them cringed. Apricot jumped into the arms of his owner. It was crazy how none of them was able to move any further. They had to look in the direction where the voice came from so they could see what was going on.
“You’ll get caught,” a woman’s voice could be heard.
There were two strangers in front of them.
“Who are you?” Eudora asked.
“We’re just dwellers of the forest.”
“Oh, my God, they’ll tell us off,” Anwen freaked out. “We better run.”
Before they followed her plan, the voice echoed again, this time in a demanding note.
An Academy for Witches (A Witch in Progress Book 1) Page 9
