The full extent of Tessa’s power had never dawned on me. I imagined Tessa could socialize easier because she could understand how the other person felt, but I had no idea she could be used to rat out conspiracies or crack down on criminals. No wonder the council looked for any excuse to bring her home. Which begs the next question: why send her to the Twisted Cauldron in the first place?
“Tea’s ready,” said Mr. Karrabine. He poured the boiling water on the cup, using a spoon to move the leaves inside. I took a small sip and immediately wished I hadn’t. It tasted like dirty water. If I ever served something like this in the café, I would be shut down within a week.
“It’s… good,” I said, putting it down. “Would you mind answering one more question?”
“Go ahead.”
“If Tessa’s so valuable, why was she allowed to go outside?”
“Because of her power, Tessa was given special attention. She was given extra lessons that lasted three, sometimes four hours. That happened every day for years. She lost what little friends she had and came to hate living here. I fought against it, but the council whipped my ass every time. Progress of the community over individual will is how this place runs. She kept her mouth shut, but it was obvious that the whole thing was taking its toll on her. Well, she befriended one of the few outsiders we ever let in here, a Joe—”
“He’s my uncle,” I said.
“Oh, interesting. Yeah, you kinda look like him… Anyhow, Joe visited every few weeks and Tessa never missed a chance to talk to him about life outside this tiny town. Eventually, she asked him to give her a shot at living outside. After rubbing enough elbows, the council allowed it.”
“I had no idea,” I said. “She usually talked pretty positively about life here.”
“That’s Tessa for you. She’s always looking at the bright side. Knowing that, I’m prepared to help you.”
“Are you sure?” I said. Mr. Karrabine’s smile stood out among his sunken face. I saw the gleam in his eyes and knew he would do anything to help her.
“Absolutely. I may not have been the best father, but I can sure as hell give it my all. I’ll do anything for my daughter.”
“There’s the thing. Even if I manage to find Tessa, the witches will always be able to find her. They’ll try to take her again. Which is why Uncle Joe suggested that we—”
“Destroy her record in the library, right?”
“Exactly, sir.”
“It’s not a bad plan,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “The witches will forget she exists, which means that she’ll be able to live her life on her own terms. I’ll forget her, but that’s a small price to pay for my daughter’s happiness. I’ll help out.”
“Sir, feel free to think about it a little more.”
“No, kid. I’ve made up my mind. I haven’t talked to her so I don’t know how she feels about you, but judging from the letter you showed me, she seemed to think you’re the real deal. Let’s go.”
He put on a robe identical to mine, and together we walked through the lit walkways. Most shops had closed for the night, and there were even less people milling about outside than before. Mr. Karrabine led me to a three-story stone building. We were crouched in an alley several buildings away. In front of the dormitory was a witch, standing with her legs spread apart, eyes trolling the horizon.
“How do we get past her?” I said.
“Let me handle that. You make sure to round the corner so she doesn’t catch you.”
Before I could say anything else, Mr. Karrabine stumbled out. He approached the woman with a drunken slant to his step. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and I didn’t have time to care. She walked to meet him, leaving ample space behind her. I left the alley and, staying low, made it to the door. I pushed inside.
The lobby doubled as a dining room. No lights illuminated the room, making it hard to move around. Sneaking into a private women’s dorm. Witch or not, this was creepy. But there was no other way.
A door to the right led to an alley. There were a series of doors, each with names. No lights came out from under the doors. By my estimates, it should be around 10 PM. Good thing the witches follow whatever curfew is forced upon them. Otherwise, my job here would be a lot harder.
I scanned the nameplates on the doors one by one, but couldn’t find one with a name similar to Tessa’s. A staircase at the end of the hall was my only option. I stepped on the first wooden step, cursing at the noise it made.
“Hold it!” I heard a voice say from behind. She carried a lit torch that lit up her face and mine. She was a young woman, tall and with jet-black hair. Her most striking feature were her red-tipped bangs, covering part of her glasses.
“Hello,” I said, getting off the step.
“What are you doing here? It’s past curfew.”
She put her hands to her narrow hips. The woman wore black pants that stopped just below her calves.
“I got lost,” I said. “My bad.”
“Unlikely. And even if you were, these are the witch-in-training living quarters. If you’re caught here, you’ll be in for a world of hurt.”
“The truth is,” I said, “I’m looking for a woman. Tessa Karrabine.”
“The emotion-reading witch? Regardless, visiting hours are over.” Her face was like stone.
“I know that, but it’s really important that I talk to her as soon as possible.”
She held out her hand. The air around me became frigid in an instant. A light-blue light shone from her palm.
“As I said, visiting hours are over. If you intend to violate our rules, I’ll freeze you in place.”
Crap, there’s no easy way out of this. And any more talking I do increases the odds of them finding me. There’s no other way, though.
“I’m a human… err, outsider. When Tessa left the colony, she spent that time with me. I fell for her, and she left me this emotional letter… And now I came here to set the record straight.”
“Ugh, you too?” she said, shaking her head. “Everyone inside the colony gushes over how great this witch is. If you ask me, she isn’t so great. She’s far too carefree to be considered a proper witch. Wait! Did you say outside? You’re not from inside this colony? Then how did you get in?”
“I got help from an outsider who frequents this place. My Uncle Joe, he knew the door would change locations by midnight, and so we—”
The witch stretched out her hand even further. The temperature around me dropped rapidly. I tried to run but couldn’t move. My feet were frozen in place. I couldn’t move. This was it. It was all over.
She walked up to me, no doubt to freeze my face until it slid off my neck. All my efforts to come back here were wasted. I should’ve waited, come up with a better plan. I was a fool. And now I would die.
“Did you say Joe?” she said.
“That’s right,” I said. Why did that matter?
The woman turned to face away from me. She put the torch on a hoister by the wall, raised her hand to her temple.
“There’s only one Joe that would know how to get in. One with gaudy sunglasses and a loathsome sense of self-confidence?”
“Do you know him?” I said.
“Yes,” she said, turning to face me. “He’s my father.”
Chapter 14
“Come again?” I said. “He’s your father?”
“And that would make you my cousin, right?” she said. There was so much wrong with this picture. I didn’t have time for this right now. I’d ask Joe all the hard questions later. Right now…
“Could you please call off your spell? I’m starting to lose feeling in my legs,” I said.
“Right, sorry.” She waved her hand, making the ice disappear. I stretched them out. It had only been for a few minutes, but I was glad to move around again. Witches and their power continue to impress me.
“Now you have my attention. Explain to me why my father would go to such lengths to help you. His character is quite binary.
He either cares very much for something, or he doesn’t care at all. He must’ve been pretty convinced.”
Any attempts to escape from my part would likely end with me freezing over. I explained my situation to her as quickly as I could, but I avoided telling her about Tessa’s record in the library. She nodded the whole time.
“Interesting,” she said. “So, you fall for this girl and now you want to set the record straight. I must say, though, that coming all the way over here and risking your life. You’re either remarkably brave or remarkably stupid.”
“Neither, actually,” I said. “Ever since I discovered the letter I’ve been running on some sort of high. I don’t think it’s hit me yet, how far I’ve come.”
“Very well, then. The least I could do is take you to Tessa’s room. But we better hurry. The other witches could be here any minute.”
“Mind asking for your name?” I said. “I’m Raul.”
“Call me Luna,” she said.
We went up two flights of stairs to arrive in front of Tessa’s room. I froze reading the nameplate. This is what I came here to do, and yet I was so scared. What if she refused to leave? It was a very real possibility, and I would be forced to walk away and go back home. My last memory of Tessa wouldn’t be the letter, but of her rejecting me. It was a hard pill to swallow.
Still, I had to try. I took a deep breath and knocked.
“Who is it?” said Tessa, rubbing her eyes.
Tessa was here, in the flesh. She had her pajamas on. It had been little more than 24 hours, and yet it felt like I last saw her months ago.
“Tessa…”
“Raul!? Is it really you?”
I nodded.
“I came back for you. I know it might seem like I’m imposing, but—”
Tessa jumped at me and put her lips to mine. I heard Luna gasp loudly, but I didn’t care. To hold Tessa again and kiss her was amazing, even if it was just one more time.
“You talk too much,” she said.
“Yeah, I do. Listen, I came here to get you back.”
“What do you mean, Raul?”
“Uncle Joe helped me get in, then I met your father and he helped me get here, and then I found out Luna is my cousin and she helped me find your room. Now I’m here to ask if you’d be interested in leaving with me.”
“H-Hold on a second! My father helped you?” she said. “You might need to explain this a little more.”
“ATTENTION EVERYONE, AN OUTSIDER HAS BREACHED OUR COLONY. WE HAVE REASONS TO BELIEVE THEY MAY BE DANGEROUS.”
The booming voice resonated off the walls.
“They’ll be here any second,” said Luna.
“There’s not much time,” I said. “Listen, Tessa. If you decide to go with me, the witches can still come and try to take you back against your will. That means that we’d need to destroy your book in the library.”
“What?” said Luna. “That would be unthinkable! A far worse crime than breaking in.”
“Does my father know?” said Tessa.
“Yes. Knowing that, he helped me get this far.”
“It’s a big risk,” said Tessa. “I’d be leaving everything behind, including my teachers and whatever friends I’ve made along the way. I would be alone as a witch, continuing my training on my own. Not even my own father would remember I exist.”
“Exactly,” said Luna. “It’s crazy. You’re better off staying—”
“I’m not done,” said Tessa. “It’s crazy, but it’s what I want. The alternative is to stay here and rot. I could pretend everything is alright, but I’d be no different from a prisoner. I can’t stay here any longer, Luna.”
Tessa took my hand and squeezed it.
“Let’s do this,” she said. There was a fire burning in her eyes. It was bright and beautiful, a look that threatened to swallow everything in its path. It was the look of the most determined witch.
“Before that,” I said, putting my hand on her hip and edging her closer to me. “I love you, Tessa.”
“Me too,” she said. We smiled and shared a quick kiss.
“You two are crazy,” said Luna. “But I’m intrigued. Allow me to accompany you.”
“There’s not much time,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Wait! Let me get dressed,” said Tessa. She came out with the same white blouse and purple skirt I saw her wear so much, along with her hat and Julie’s gift pinned to her chest.
Luna led us out of a back entrance. The three of us pulled on our robes and walked briskly through the outskirts of the town. The message had worked; dozens of townsfolk took up torches and ran through the middle of the town. The night provided us some cover, but it wouldn’t be long until we were found.
“We’re here,” said Luna. She stopped in front of an unassuming stone structure. It wasn’t unlike any of the other buildings in the colony.
The inside had shelves that extended into the ceiling, each one filled to the brim with books.
“Where do we start looking?” I said.
“Not here,” said Luna. “What we want is in the basement.”
Luna put her hand to the floor. A trap door appeared with a circular bronze handle.
“Thanks for all your help, Luna,” said Tessa. “We can take it from here. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“Raul is in league with my father. I can’t just sit idly by…”
“Then let’s hurry down,” I said. I grabbed onto the handle and pulled it with all my strength. After prying it open, I held it open as the two girls descended the stairs.
The basement was pitch black. Luna summoned a small fireball, illuminating a few feet around us. She held it up and I caught a glimpse of hundreds, maybe thousands, of shelves.
“The ‘T’ section should be near the back,” said Tessa. We passed by so many identical-looking shelves that for a second, I thought we were stuck in some sort of loop.
“Are these the records of all the witches in the colony?” I said.
“Every person who was born inside the colony since its inception 500 years ago has a book. Access to this place is forbidden,” said Luna, lowering the tone of her voice.
“Then why is security so lax?” I said.
“Because it’s unthinkable for anyone to come here in the first place,” she said. “An encyclopedic understanding of the lives of every member of the colony, recorded automatically… do you understand why we need something like this, Raul?”
“I don’t,” I said.
“After 500 years, our kind has yet to integrate with the rest of the world. We’ve been a colony for half a millennium. Witches are powerful beings, but we can’t defend themselves when there’s so many more people out there. Our ancestors knew that we our colony could be destroyed any second, so they developed spells that would record the information, in the hopes that those who survive could protect this and use the knowledge of past generations to rebuild.”
“I had no idea…”
“And we’re heading to destroy one of those records right now,” said Tessa.
“Is that really alright?” I said.
We kept our fast pace down the line of shelves. Whenever a new letter started, the first shelf of that letter had the same letter in big letters. After a few minute of walking, we were barely past ‘M’.
“It is,” said Tessa. “Fear of the future is what created this library, but it’s also what got us into this in the first place. A place with no connection to the rest of the world might as well not exist,” said Tessa.
“Those are strong words,” said Luna.
“Our memory… what we pass on to future generations is a product of the people we interact with. Hiding here isn’t going to make things better! If we want to progress as witches, then we need to share with the rest of the world.”
“I had never thought of it like that,” said Luna. “I see your point. To be honest, I find some of our witch ways antiquated. But, even so…”
“This is the aisle,” said
Tessa. We slipped inside, carefully checking the name on the spine of each book. We were a few minutes away from ending this thing. I could picture ourselves back in the Twisted Cauldron, as happy as ever.
“Teana’s here,” said Tessa. “We’re close.”
“Is this what you’re looking for?” said a high-pitched voice. Luna’s flame illuminated the space in front of us, revealing an aging witch. The black hair made her snow-like complexion stand out even more. Nestled under her arm was Tessa’s volume.
Were we too late? No, there was still a chance we could grab it from her. I looked back to find both Tessa and Luna with their mouths ajar.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
“That’s Minerva, the Lionhearted,” said Tessa.
“The most powerful witch in the colony,” said Luna, “and my mother.”
“Your little adventure ends now, children,” she said. Purple orbs flickered over her head.
“What do we do?” I said.
“We run,” said Tessa. “Let’s go!”
We turned the other way, but three more witches appeared and blocked our escape. The next thing I knew, my face hit the stone floor.
When I came to, I was in a dark room strapped to a chair.
“What the…?”
Luna and Tessa were next to me, also bound. Their eyes flickered open, and they quickly found themselves asking the same questions I was asking. Behind us was Mr. Karrabine and, shockingly, Uncle Joe himself.
“Uncle Joe! How did they get you?”
“Silence!” said Minerva. Surrounding us was a circular table. Thirteen pointy-haired witches sat in them, Minerva included. The room was too dark to make out any details, but I got the feeling they were none too pleased to see us there.
“The five of you have made a mockery of our community. Never in my entire time as Head Councilwoman have we had a night as disastrous as this one. To you, Karrabine, you have been a drunken fool for a long time, but a criminal you were not. Assisting in this embarrassment… people have been executed for less.”
“Yes, Councilwoman. I’m sorry,” he said, bowing his head. His face had blotches of blood on it.
A Witch's Guide to a Good Brew Page 14
