APPLE WITCH (girlxgirlxgirl)

19. A witch's choice

🍎

"I'm the spring witch"

"Are you the witch we are looking for?"

Suddenly someone else snaps Hilda out of her trance.

"Get back Hilda! What are you doing!?"

The loud and terrifying voice of Vallin echoes through the forest. Hilda stops in her tracks. It's like she completely forgot about him. She shouldn't be scared of him, but right now she is. His voice, powerful like a bear's roar, is the echo of his and everybody else's emotions. Hilda knows that she's in the wrong, and that's why it's scary. Had she been yelled at for no reason, she would've felt angry and not scared. But this is definitely her fault.

Her fault for stepping forwards.

Her fault for acknowledging the existence of the other seasonal witch.

Her fault for coming here in the first place.

It's funny. Every time they told her to stay away from the border, she thought it was just a useless precaution. Vampires don't roam the borders like animals do, nor do other werewolves. The roads are almost always empty, for travelling through this forest is a dangerous thing to do. Not all packs are as welcoming as one would hope them to be. Each one follows their own set of laws, and it's hard to foresee how the werewolves of a certain pack might react to you stepping in their territory. Vampires are uncommon here, witches are uncommon and werewolves keep mostly within their own pack. So whenever the pack leader or Vallin talked to her about being careful and not coming near the border, she laughed at them on the inside.

And yet the first time she does come near the border, this happens. If he wasn't so angry, Vallin would probably be celebrating right now. At least he should be. He was right, about everything. Her coming here was a mistake. Vampires do in fact, roam the forest in the search for her. Vallin must've known that he's a member of the patrol. He must've met many vampires during his time as territory guard, all of which were looking for her. And must've laughed at her too, when she asked his father to become a patrol member just like him. How could she be one, when she's the one they are protecting? It's ridiculous. Hilda feels ridiculous.

And yet she isn't scared of the one thing they want her to be scared of. Despite knowing that she is in the wrong. Despite knowing that this is the thing they were trying to protect her from, these vampires, Hilda isn't scared of them. She doesn't feel like this was a mistake, even though she was in the wrong.

So despite him yelling, she answers the spring witch.

"I'm Hilda, the autumn witch"

Who is she to ignore the spring witch anyway? Out of the four of them that exist, the spring witch is the most important one. She who comes first, she who wields the strongest magic, and she who is the most sought after in the empire. Who is she to ignore her?

However, the shock on the vampires and witches faces is surprising to her. She thought that the spring witch already knew, from the way she approached her like some sort of all knowing being. Or maybe she did know. Maybe it was just surprising to have it all confirmed. But the vampires seem more shocked than the two witches, now suddenly interested in her. Hilda, who sees their eyes move up to her forehead, removes her hood completely. And there it is, plain as day, her orange half-crescent moon. Once they have had it confirmed, the vampires look at each other in a happy shock. Hilda guesses that they had no actual hopes about finding her, considering that nobody else ever has.

"Come back here"

Vallin, realising that she won't listen to him, takes another harsh grip around her wrist and drags her away from the scene. But at this point, the vampires are already aware of her existence. There are only two ways out of this, Hilda realises. Either she goes with the vampires and does whatever they want her to do, or they have to kill the vampires and the witches. They can't let them go now, because they know of her location, and that's assuming that they would leave willingly in the first place. Hilda knows that she's made a mistake by stepping forwards and exposing her identity. A reckless mistake. But she still doesn't feel bad, nor does she feel like it's wrong. The spring witch is here, and whoever is with her must be another seasonal witch. This is who she wants to be with, and she should have the freedom to choose.