Hexed

10

"There is no magic when one no longer believes."

— Hilda Lewis, The Ship That Flew

☽★☾

"Moonfall?" A voice asked from one side of the cell. The horror in their tone was enough to bring Brynn's previous elation down to misery level. After all, their escape had depended on Joan coming to rescue them. Sure, numbers were great, but none of these people had the raw talent and power that their leader possessed.

Joan barely even raised her head to look at anyone as she was shackled to the wall. Brynn heard nothing but the clink of chains for a moment, then a merry humming as the men who had brought her in left the cell. Sebastian had seemed very intent on finding her; she was sure his crones would be rewarded immensely for managing to capture her.

"What— how did you— What happened?" Brynn blurted, unable to help herself. Joan was one of the most powerful people she knew. She didn't understand how she could have been taken in like this.

The dark-haired young woman lifted her head just enough for the lantern light to glint off of her eyes. "Let's just say I messed with the wrong people, and since I hold more value than other members of this group, I traded in my own freedom for the safety of the others with me." None of the characteristic cockiness that Brynn had grown used to hearing was present in her tone. She just sounded sad. Defeated. "I could have escaped, but... I couldn't handle the thought of so many being killed just to save my own life."

"Oh. So you're... you're going to be executed, then." Brynn didn't phrase the words like a question, but Joan still answered with a wordless nod. She let the words sink into the air of the cell. This is it, then. We're all going to die. Brynn wondered what would happen when she died. This wasn't a dream, so would she just die along with these people? Would she never be able to return to the present, to her family?

Silence settled into the room around them. No one spoke. No one seemed to want to speak. The hopefulness that had filled the air only moments before was gone now, leaving nothing but worry and fear in its place.

"Hey, Vixen?" The words cut through the silent like a newly sharpened knife. Brynn glanced in Joan's direction. The young woman really was a shadow right then, nothing but a silhouette outlined by the lantern light outside the door. "I have something I think I should tell you. Before we all die by noose."

"Okay," Brynn murmured. She wasn't sure what to expect. "Go for it, I guess." Even though there was a part of her chest that fluttered hopefully at Joan's words, she assumed this wasn't going to be something good.

"This is kind of... foggy, if that makes sense. Almost like it's not something that I did. Or, at least, this version of myself," Joan cleared her throat; Brynn watched the silhouette of her hair flip up as she shook her head. "I wasn't sure exactly why you were here, or how you had gotten here. That is, until I felt something. Some sort of... connection, I guess. My magic felt as if it was linked with you from the beginning, but I didn't quite understand that until recently." It was impossible to meet her gaze in the darkness of the cell. Brynn still tried anyway, longing to understand whatever it was that Joan was trying to tell her. 

"I told you that you were hexed," Joan continued. Her voice was much more hesitant than usual; she seemed to be treading in unfamiliar territory. "When I gave you the tarot reading to try and figure out what was going on. But I didn't understand who could have put a hex on you at first." Brynn remained wordless, even while the young woman took a pause to let out a breath. "I figured it was someone from your family, or maybe someone who just didn't like you. Until I felt this... tugging sensation, of sorts. A memory jolt. It all came flooding back."

Brynn opened her mouth to ask her about what exactly had come 'flooding back,' but Joan continued before she could utter a word. "Vixen, I'm the one that put the hex on you."

The words hadn't been what Brynn had expected at all. She figured Joan was going to reveal some terrible secret about the one who had hexed her, or tell her about a friend who had betrayed her. Well, she guessed the latter was technically correct. She had come to trust Joan. But... she had been the one to put the hex on her in the first place?

"How could you?" Brynn hissed breathlessly, shock filling every part of her body. Joan didn't seem like she would be the type to put a hex on someone. She could be trusted to do what was best for people, use her magic to better the lives of others. Why would she do this to me?

"Back in the present," The young woman replied cautiously, hesitantly coming up with the words as she went along. "I remember giving you a tarot reading, just like I did when you first came to the past... Well, to this time period. I remember you talking about how much conflict had been going on in your family, with your new stepfather and stepbrother. I remember you talking about how big of a jerk your brother was, and I remember feeling so angry that you had to deal with that, that you could do nothing to stop it.

"So I decided to come up with a hex for your brother. I wanted to send him back to a time where he would learn to become a better and more understanding person. I wanted to give him a new perspective of sorts." Joan paused for a moment, then laughed softly. "I guess it was your reading that inspired me to give him that kind of punishment. But, um, the point is that... I was trying to hex him, not you. I didn't mean for any of this to happen to you. You... you were the one to open the book. It was supposed to be your stepbrother."

Brynn heard the words as they left Joan's mouth, and yet she couldn't get herself to really listen to them. Blood pounded angrily through her, the drumbeat of her pulse just about the only sound in her head. She still couldn't believe Joan; she was so damn frustrated with her. The others in the cell were completely silent, making her wonder what they thought of this ordeal. It must have been somewhat confusing, with the mentions of past and future and stepfathers and stepbrothers.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Brynn demanded. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, accidentally biting so hard that the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth, making her gag a little.

She listened as Joan took a careful breath, preparing an appropriate answer. "I... I didn't know for sure until a little while ago. Remember when we were looking at the stars together, right before our group went off on the rescue mission? I was consulting the spirits for a moment there, trying to figure out what was going on so that I could give you an honest answer. I didn't know what was true until then, or else I would have told you before. Okay?"

Part of Brynn wanted to nod and accept the words, but the other part of her took control instead. "I... No. You're... You're not who I thought you were, Moonfall." She was surprised by the disappointment in her own voice.

"Vixen—"

"No," Brynn repeated. "What you did wasn't right. I don't care what your excuse is. It was wrong of you to hex me — to hex anyone — in the first place. I don't know if I can forgive you for that."

Joan fell silent after that. Brynn itched to apologize and tell her that she understood her motives, that it was actually all okay and Brynn would get over it. But that seemed like too much effort. It felt easier, somehow, to accept that Joan could never be forgiven. To give up on what could have been before it became difficult. And so Brynn decided that, for the short amount of time she had until she and the others were killed, she was never talking to Joan ever again.