Crow Forest

Chapter Thirty One

Today Parker was practising her self-defence skills. She didn't question what Robyn had done to Tom yesterday. She just assumed he had scarred the man away. Robyn seemed to be in a better mood today, anyway. He was joking around and being helpful with her fighting techniques. She was a little excited to practise magic some more today. They had trained a few times with the strange light, but today he promised they'd try something a little new.

Parker was so distracted in thought that Robyn knocked her onto the training mats. "You alright?" He inquired, stretching out his hand. "Yeah, sorry I was distracted" she muttered, grabbing his hand and being heaved onto her feet. "It's alright. You've been training pretty hard. You're bound to have off days," He hummed, throwing her a towel from the side. She gave a nod and then headed for her drink bottle. "How about we give self-defence training a rest and move on to magic when you're ready?" Robyn suggested sitting down in a chair and resting as well.

"I'm ready", Parker stated, tossing her drink bottle to the side. "Are you sure? You've barely had a breather," Robyn hesitated cocking his head to the side. "Yeah, I'm sure" Parker smiled reassuringly. Robyn gave the nod and then tossed his cane over to Parker. She tried to grab it, but it whacked her in the face knocking her to the ground. "Oh goodness!" Robyn helped, standing up in shock. "I'm fine" She reassured, grabbing the cane while pulling herself up. Robyn sat back down and then quietly watched.

Parker tightened her grip on the cane and watched as it changed shape into that lovely staff she so loved. Robyn waved his hand, and an orange light bounced to the pot plant before her. She watched as the plant began shifting and transforming into a new shape. She couldn't help but laugh as the plant resembled a small angry man. "Today's exercise is to defend yourself from the attacks of the plant" Robyn explained. "Attacks?" Parker repeated, surprised at what he had just said. A white light wash was thrown at her from the plant just then. Parker dived out of the way, shocked at what she just witnessed.

"The plant can do magic?" She yelped, scrambling to avoid the subsequent attacks coming straight for her. "Yes, I did say it would attack. You didn't think it would be running after you did you?" Robyn chuckled, sounding very calm. "A little" she admitted waving the staff and summoning a golden light shield. She watched as the tree's magic bounced away. She smiled, feeling amazing that she could even achieve such a feat.

Parker then quickly sprinted to the other side of the room using the staff like a baseball bat and batting the magic away. "That's a cool trick" Robyn admired. Parker smiled while quickly sliding along the ground. "What's the goal here? Do I take it out or something?" She called over to the plague doctor. "Just try to touch it. Once you do that, it'll return to being a tree," Robyn responded. "Alright, easy" Parker muttered to herself.

Parker quickly dodged the attacks, but the closer she got to the plant, the faster and more determined it acquired with its magic to stop her. Quickly Parker dived backwards, almost being hit by the white balls of light. Robyn watched quietly, and sometimes he'd give her a thumbs up of encouragement. She couldn't help but wonder if her life with her Mother would be similar once the illness was gone.

Quickly Parker once again darted towards the plant, trying to tag it. One of the balls of white light slapped down on her hands, and she quickly backed off. It was like being smacked with a handful of stinging nettles. "Careful, Parker!" Robyn called out. She gave a nod and quickly battered away another ball of light. She thought this would be easy, but it seemed more problematic than expected. She couldn't help but think about what if her Mother was here. What would she say to her? She hadn't ever really heard words of encouragement from her Mum before.

It was always because she was too ill. Parker tried to imagine her Mother standing on the side, smiling at her. For some reason, she didn't feel happy at the thought. What was wrong with her? She felt ashamed of feeling these emotions. The light on the cane began to change colour to black. The black light shot back at the white light and destroyed it within seconds.

She watched, and a smile crossed her lips. She was finally getting somewhere, she didn't know why the magic had changed, but it seemed more powerful. Robyn straightened in his chair, trying to process what he'd just seen. Parker thought about it even more. She was always there for her Mother, but it was never the other way around.

What if things didn't change after her Mother got better? What if she continued to live the same old life as before? Was she trying to fool herself? What was going on? Why was she thinking like this? Why was she so angry? Why was she so sad? Parker couldn't understand what was going on. She shot one final dark light that engulfed the plant and watched as it disappeared.

She couldn't help but breathe heavily. Something was pressing down on her like a weight. "Parker..." Robyn hesitated quietly, standing up, looking very cautious. "Put the staff down and take a few steps back", he instructed. She wanted to, yet it was almost as if she couldn't control her body. "Make me", she hesitated, glaring over at Robyn. She felt like a spectator watching in horror from the sidelines.

"You're not thinking straight. Let me help you", Robyn urged, moving forward slowly. Parker felt her arm rise into the air. A black sludgy liquid spewed from the staff aiming directly for Robyn. He dived out of the way, "PARKER!" He yelled out. Parker felt the ends of her feet and hands burning as the skin began to peel away to reveal a dark colour. She was in agony but still not in control of her actions.

"I'm sorry, Parker. I'm guessing you're not in control. I want to apologise if I hurt you anyway," Robyn sighed, snapping his fingers and summoning a golden light. "Shut up, you pathetic old man!" Her body spat at him. Parker felt horrible even though it wasn't her saying it. He threw the golden light towards her, and her body dived out of the way, summoning more of the black sludge. A puddle on the floor shifted into a giant hand reaching for Robyn.

He dived out of the way and grabbed something out of his pocket. He threw a small bottle towards the black sludge of an arm, and the hand exploded into a million slugs. If Parker was in control, she was sure she'd be gagging. Robyn dived towards her, and before Parker's body could react, he knocked the staff out of her hands. Her body managed to throw him off her, and she scrambled for the cane. He grabbed the girl and knocked her back to the ground. She growled in frustration.

The dark colour on her hands and feet was throbbing violently and was changing to a vantablack. It crawled up her like a spider. Robyn quickly summoned a ball of light blue and whacked it against her head. She felt her body going numb. It was like she was falling down a dark well. The room was spinning, and everything was going dark. That pain followed her down into her sleep.