Hexed

3

"A witch stands comfortably within her mystery and allure."

― Dacha Avelin

☽★☾

The young woman's eyes flickered with recognition as the name was spoken. As Brynn studied her for a moment longer, she became even more sure that her guess was correct. This was Joan. It had to be. She had the same tousled brown bob of hair, same dark eyes, same intimidating gaze...

"Joan," Brynn continued when the young woman still didn't reply. "Don't play dumb. I know it's you. Where am I? How the hell..." She shook her head, focusing only on the demand that was most important. "You have to get me out of here."

 When Joan remained silent, another voice called out from just behind her. "Moonfall? Who's this?" Another young woman stepped out from behind Joan, blue eyes holding Brynn's gaze in a challenging stare. Her brown hair framed her face, providing enough of a shadow that it made her look like a creature of the night. Brynn knew immediately that she shouldn't mess with this young woman, whoever she was.

"I'm not sure." Joan replied to the young woman with a curious tilt of her head. "She seems familiar somehow, but I'm not sure where I might have seen her before." She eyed the air behind Brynn, eyebrows furrowing with a panicked concern as her expression grew serious. "Were you followed?"

Brynn shook her head uneasily. "No, not as far as I know."

"Good," Joan muttered, still studying her for a moment. "I guess you'd better come in; we can't risk Sebastian or one of his cronies discovering this place." When Brynn didn't move right away, Joan took her arm in a firm grip and tugged her inside. She stumbled as she was led into what appeared to be a small common room made out of an abandoned wooden building. Padded rugs made out of burlap sacks lined the ground, lanterns flickered with small flames at the edge of the space, and empty crates and boxes were being used as seats. Most surprising of all were the people inside; what Brynn had thought was just a small crevice was actually a living space for what seemed to be a dozen people. All appeared to be women, mostly wearing dresses similar to the one Brynn currently had on. Others had appeared to have made their own simple outfits  — loose pants and baggy shirts  — out of rough black fabric. Murmurs filled the room as Brynn followed Joan inside. She instantly felt out of place, insides coiling with apprehension as Joan pulled her further into the space. They stopped near an empty wooden beer barrel in the back of the room which appeared to have been made into a makeshift table. Joan pulled up a crate and sat down on top of it, legs splayed to the sides as she straddled one of the crate's corners. Brynn wished she could do the same, if only to appear more confident than she felt in the strange space, but it wouldn't be as appropriate since she was wearing a dress. She settled for crossing her legs as she sat down on another crate across from Joan.

"Listen here, outsider," Joan murmured, leaning close so that this was a private conversation between Brynn and herself. "I don't know who you are, or where you came from, or how you know my real name..." At this she turned her head to the side to ensure no one was eavesdropping, before finding that their privacy was secure and turning back to continue talking. "So I'll give you thirty seconds to explain why I shouldn't just throw you out of here."

Brynn sucked in a breath. She had expected Joan to recognize her right away, welcome her with open arms, and immediately offer to help her find her way back to the present. This Joan clearly didn't work like that. "Wow, that's a lot of pressure. I, um... I don't think my explanation's going to make much sense, but I can give it a shot." She bit the inside of her lip, raising her gaze to meet Joan's, before shutting her eyes and continuing. "I was visiting Salem with my family. Well, Salem's what it's called in the future. Or... present day? I honestly don't know how this whole time thing works. But anyway, we stopped in this touristy witch shop of some kind where you worked. Or... work, present tense? You gave me a tarot reading and whatnot, but before I could leave the shop, I was — literally — sucked into a book. And now I'm here. But it's the past, if that makes any sense at all."