The Girl Who Cried Wolf

Chapter 32

The rustling of wings was what made me skid to a halt. A dusty door to my left held the rustling. Curious, I walked over to it. It was obvious that it had used to be white, but most of the paint had peeled off. The doorknob was rather old too and had a strange pattern over it. Marks had been scratched all over the wood of the door. I had no idea what they meant, but they were covered in bloody hand marks.

The doorknob too, was covered in blood, which had gone crusty and was peeling off.

I went to open it when something seized my shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that, Jessica" Estelle's quiet voice whispered in my ear "you won't like what's inside".

Quickly, I turned around and slammed her against the wall. It wasn't hard enough that her bones would smash, but it was hard enough to knock her out.

I picked up the seemingly lifeless crow and opened the bloody door. It was fairly empty, the walls were covered in the same marks as well as blood stains, which also covered the floor. Some of the marks were in English and said things like "DIE" and "BLOOD". Obviously whoever had been the last occupant here had gone mad.

Other than the walls and floor, an old wooden chair similar to the one in my room, sat in one corner and a broken stone fireplace in another. There was a very tiny, dirty window covered in mould, hardly big enough for a baby to fit through. It lit the room with a dim glow which was probably more from the burning barrels and bonfires outside.

I pulled the chair out from the corner and placed the bird there, putting two bricks from the broken stone fireplace, on her outstretched wings. I'd never been one to hurt animals and I secretly hoped it wasn't crushing her, but I had nothing else to hold her down with.

Then I sat there, facing her and waited for her to stir.

It took around 5 minutes before she awoke. I knelt in front of her.

"w-what have you" she glanced at her wings "that hurts! Those are heavy!". I felt a small pang of guilt, but I masked it the best I could.

"give me back my powers" I hissed at her.

She stared at me, almost in surprise.

"your-your powers?" she shook her head "why would you want them?"

"oh, just so I can entertain people who look in my window" I said sarcastically "life's too boring without those little perks. My powers, NOW!".

She flinched.

"I can't" she squeaked in fright even if I could, you wouldn't get everything back. Scarlett put a lock on the curse, she doesn't trust me completely"

I sat in silence for a few moments, thinking about this.

"let me up and I promise on witches honor-" she began, buy I held up my hand.

"witches honor?!" i raised my eyebrow.

She nodded at me.

"I'm a witch. If I swear to this and break it then I lose my own powers" she explained "and it's very hard to get your powers back once you've lost them, for witches of course. But I may want something in return".

I eyed her suspiciously.

"what?" I asked.

"I'm an immortal girl trapped in the body of a crow, I was only 13 when Scarlett did this to me" she explained.

"Scarlett's a witch?" I raised my eyebrow.

"and a damn good one" Estelle added "she masked her own scent so she smelled like a wolf. She created two WEREWOLVES out of thin air to be her 'parents'. She gave herself the power to shift into a wolf. She cursed ME into being this THING".

"why?" I asked, confused "if she wanted parents so badly, why not bring back her own?"

Estelle shook her head.

"there is no spell in existence that can do that" she said "even if there was, nobody would really be the same once they were brought back. They would already have visited the other world and probably would've been scarred forever if they were to be brought back".

"so what is it you want me to do, anyway?" I asked.

"lift the bricks for starters" she said "but in general, I want you to bring me back to my original state, my WITCH state"

"what?" now I really was confused.

"I want to get out of this shell" Estelle explained "I want to leave all this behind me. Go to the mountains, maybe a human city. Live a normal life. I can't become human, but I can pretend to be one"

"I can't do magic" I whispered "I never have. How can I help you?"

"there is a wizard in the mountains" Estelle whispered " my great grandfather. Take me to him and he will bring me back. All I've ever wanted was my body back! I've been like this for ten years!"

"Scarlett did this to you when she was six?" I raised my eyebrows.

"like I said, a damn good witch" Estelle said impatiently "now hurry up and get these bricks off me, or I won't have any wings to fly with.

"fine" I snapped and lifted the bricks.

She sighed in relief and hopped up to the top of the chair. She inspected each wing closely and waved them a bit. I stood up.

"what do I need to do first?" I asked, a touch of impatience in my voice.

"ashes" she said, looking around, her feathery black head stopping in one corner of the room "the fireplace over there should have a few scraps left. Sprinkle them in a fairly large circle, like the one the night you were captured"

I walked overtone fireplace and knelt beside it. There was hardly any ashes left, meaning that the fireplace hadn't been used in a long long time.

But I managed to get a small amount into a pile and scoop them into my hands. A huge puff of ashes mixed with dust blew up in my face.

I coughed and hacked, trying not to be too loud in case I drew unwanted attention.

I stood up, my already dirty nightgown now covered in ashes.

I began to sprinkle the ashes on the floorboards, making a fairly large circle.

"now all you need to do is step into the center of the circle and stand still" Estelle instructed, hopping along the seat.

I nodded and stepped in and stood as still as possible. She watched me for a few seconds.

"now I have to recite the ritual. Try not to cough or sneeze or itch, in fact, don't move at all. Any movement could alter the outcome of this spell" she explained.

I wanted so badly to both cough and raise my eyebrow. My right shoulder was itching so badly it wasn't funny.

"ready?" she asked. I knew if she had eyebrows, at least one of them would be raised.

I took a deep breath, nodded and stood as still as possible.

"ok, here goes" then she began.

She flew around the circle three times, chanting some strange words i couldn't understand.

Then she said "Spirits do my will, and a double life she shall fulfill".

The ashes glowed a gold color and the room got warm. Then, suddenly, a golden smoke exploded all around me and time seemed to stand still. The golden dust in the air froze. Then, a streak of light burst out of the smoke and took the form of a wolf. The wolf was beautiful, made of the golden dust that hung in the air. It's light rays shone off the walls. It walked towards me, the leapt. It went through my chest and disappeared.

A wind rushed past me and I felt like a piece of my soul was reconnected. It was a feeling between relaxation, relief and happiness.

"there now" she fluttered down to the chair "I look forward to seeing you and your sister again some time".

My heart stopped in my chest.

"my-my sister?" I stared at her.

"well yes" she cawed "she's right behind you".