Half of What I Could Be

Chapter 30 and 31

Chapter 30 Jacin

In my arms, she was as light as a doll. I guess the Witch's nickname for her wasn't that far off. She looked lifeless. Her already pale skin was on the border of deathly yellow. A pigment you would only see a few times in your life, if you were lucky. Her eyes were closed, but slight twitches were noted below. Maybe she was trying to wake up? Or maybe she was in the middle of a dream we would never be able to pull her out of.

I was so engrossed in the small woman in my arms that I barely noticed the collage of dead leaves under my feet turned into the brittle fur of a carpet a few decades past its prime. I carefully dragged my eyes away from Mae and took in my surroundings. A small abode: Dirt floors, irregular shaped carpets scattered throughout, shelves with items that arrayed from antiquities to trash. There was one chair that seemed to be more of a bean bag than a lazy boy. In the same room, a kitchen took form. The island and silverware were actually arranged in a semi-normal way. Except dead carcasses hung throughout as well. Pot, pan, skinned carcass, spatula... My sense of smell allowed me to distinguish them as demons. Yum.

"Okay, okay! If I knew I was to have had guests I would have had Ron clean," she mumbled as she frantically moved things around. It looked like the act of cleaning, but instead just moved items in a more unorganized manner, "We have much work to do with your little doll. Put her here," she continued as she motioned to the cluttered island countertop. She must have sensed my hesitation, because she snapped her fingers, and all of the junk disappeared. I still did not put her down.

"What are you going to do to her, Witch?" I asked in a stern voice. I was surprised it came out with as much conviction as it did considering my mind was a jumbled up ball of yarn. The incident that occurred and the incident unfolding was too much to comprehend. The only thought that bore threw was to protect Mae. I just did not know how.

The Witch let out a laugh. A dainty one that made her seem more child than woman, "Well, Wolf-man-boy I am going to try and save her life. If you put her down, I can figure out how the hell she didn't already die from the Hydra bite. Or why she smells deliciously like my little minor demons," she finished as she patted the counter a few more times.

I looked down at Mae and noticed the blisters completely covered her arm and traveled up the side of her neck. There was nothing I could do to stop them, but Mae believed the Witch knew something. I placed her dying body on the table.

The witch quickly started her assessment. I tried to follow everything she was doing, but it proved more difficult than I thought. Maybe it was my lack of sleep or maybe it was the adrenaline still raging in my body, because all I could do was stare at Mae's face.

"She ages fast," the witch stated.

"Huh?" I ask, not understanding the Witch at all. Then again, I haven't since I met her.

"She was a very small girl when I saw her last. Now she is big. Whatever she is, she ages very fast I must say."

"Mae saw you over ten years ago," I responded, not knowing if it would help the witch at all.

"Ten years? Huh, that makes more sense," she trailed off as she started rubbing a lotion over the blisters, "You see this outline," she motioned to the remnants of Maes tattoo, "This is why I saw her ten years ago. Her parents did not know what it was. A lot of other witches probably would not know either. Lucky for them, and you, I am older than most witches. After the late 1700s, witches stopped practicing this particular charm. Apparently some babies had a bad reaction and, well, died," she let out a laugh. She must have noticed the confusion on my face, because she began to back track.

"The spell itself is fairly simple and was used somewhat frequently. It was a spell placed on babies to repress unwanted traits. Most of the time, these traits were those of a father that the mother did not want her husband figuring out about. Oh very scandalous I must say.