A Witch's Confession

18

Alexandria knelt down beside me and held her cold hand over my forehead, brushing the hair from my face.

"Hello, cousin." Her gentle smile felt soft, cozy, and reassuring. I rustled on the floor, still cautious of her motives. Every bone in my body ached, and movement felt like it expended too much of my precious energy. My body grew so tired, I couldn't even whisper a reply.

"The Priestess will heal you, don't worry." A younger woman's voice came from the other side of my body, though I couldn't turn my head to see her face. She was busy healing Kessem to restore his strength. Alexandria passed her a nervous eye before she scanned through a large spell book she pulled from her bag. Her green eyes darted around its pages.

"Drink this," she urged and held a vial up to my lips after many minutes passed by. The cool liquid splashed into my mouth, and I gulped it down within seconds. The potion extinguished the fiery cries shouting from every nerve ending.

I finally mustered enough strength to rest upon my trembling elbows. I scanned the area, noticing how the hotel room was now in shambles. Jacqueline lay unconscious on the other side of the room, and I assumed she was dead.

"She's the lowest concern of our problems," commented Alexandria, noticing my stares. I lifted an eyebrow, recalling how she and her imposter referred to me as her cousin earlier.

"You're my cousin?" I asked, staring again at Jacqueline's still, lifeless body. As far as my memory led, Jacqueline never had any children of her own. Alexandria's potential mother just died, and she seemed unfazed.

"Yes." She slammed the spell book closed before returning it to her bag. "It's shameful to be a half-blood. My father was not involved in magic, and I was raised by him. That person abandoned me when I was a baby. She chose the Blood Coven over her family." She observed Jacqueline a moment longer, before returning to the other side of the room to clean up the mess.

She continued to work around Jacqueline's body like it was nothing to her, but I could tell she processed some dark inner emotions. "I always heard she resented the Unity. A power-hungry god never ends well." She chatted to one of her many assistants. Her words rendered expressionless. The room fell silent, all eyes glued back on me. The other witches began whispering amongst themselves, Alexandria pretending not to hear their gossip.

Alexandria didn't appear to be much older than me, maybe the same age as Kessem. I wondered how we were even related, because the only things we had in common were our striking, green eyes. She had pale, golden blonde hair that fell in deep waves down to her waist. Her skin was very fair, much like Sybil's. Light freckles were etched across her cheeks, unlike the obvious spots than were splattered all over my tan face. She wore a dark green dress underneath the same blue cloak I wore.

"We look nothing alike." I began.

Alexandria cut me off with a scoff. "I do take after my father, but we have more traits in common than you might think. Look! I have freckles, green eyes, and I'm pretty sure this wavy hair came from Sybil." She picked up my warm brown hair that only had a slight wave to it.

"Well, enough about our genes. The werewolf, what is his name?" She neatly braided her hair and tossed the long, thick braid over her shoulder. She scooted to a small cauldron, and another witch rushed to assist her with the spell.

"Wh-why?" I stuttered, shielding his vulnerable, unconscious body. Alexandria rolled her eyes before softening her expression.

"Zoe, I promise we are here to help." She placed her hand over mine. She glanced down at Kessem. "I sense you care a lot about him. I wouldn't ever abuse your trust." She reassured me.