LAMIAE

CHAPTER FIFTY SIX: WITCHES' SABBATH

They were the first to arrive at Stone Run. Unfortunately, they didn't fly in on brooms, as Dagmara initially thought, but simply went up the mountain on foot, leaving Casper's car in a clearing near the forest. It wasn't steep. Dagmara has explored a lot in her life, so climbing such a small mountain wouldn't normally pose any difficulties for her. However, after going through the tunnels, she was still sore and she still couldn't see her injuries, because her grandmother didn't agree to reimburse her, claiming that she would have to explain them at school tomorrow. Arleta also had problems with entering, moaning every now and then.

"You won't age the next time," Casper mocked her. Dagmara slowed down to grab the suffering friend's arm and help her.

"Yes, I'll remember," the girl said weakly. She sat down on one of the larger stones, clutching her back.

Dagmara looked around. She was standing on the slope of Łysa Góra, on the rocky rubble, and above her there was an exceptionally beautiful sky, with the setting sun disappearing below the horizon. The trees clustered close together gave them shadow, and she didn't see a single person nearby. It was before 4 p.m. and there was no indication that several dozen people would arrive here in fifteen minutes.

As soon as she thought this, she saw some two old women behind Arleta's back. At first she didn't know who they were. One of them had jet black hair, the other dark blonde. Taller, she must have been younger because she had normal body parts. The shorter one, had decay in almost every black tooth, and some of them swayed when the "girl" smiled. She noticed large scars on the old woman's face, stretching several centimeters and drawing the observer's attention. Even her clothes, that is, a dress with a tattered bottom, looked terrible, covered in some black goo, not to mention her fingernails, with dirt sticking out from under them. The girl smelled like she hadn't washed herself for two weeks.

"Sandra, you look ghastly," said Casper with a grimace.

"It was supposed to be this way," the shorter woman growled. The voice was nothing like Sandra's - it was squeaky and low.

After a while, Sandra realized that she hadn't introduced the girl next to her, so pointing to the woman on her right, she said:

"It's Laura," no one seemed to know her, because everyone started shaking her hands and introducing themselves. "She's your age, Arleta."

Laura smiled faintly. Everyone present knew what this fact meant. In less than three weeks, the New Year would come and more couples would have to face their destiny.

"Where did you move from?" Casper asked.

Dagmara didn't understand. She thought the girl was new, but the more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. After all, aspiring witches must always learn the truth no later than their seventeenth birthday. Laura was under eighteen, which meant she was new, but only to this town.

"From Łomża, from aunt Jadwiga," she replied.

No one discussed why and who decided to change their place of residence. Was it her parents or her and did she like this decision? Apparently, such topics weren't discussed, so Dagmara was silent as well.

"There's no one except us," Arleta expressed her doubts aloud.

"Isn't there?" Sandra snorted. "After all, everyone is already there, I even saw Alan and Nikolai on the spot," as she said this, she pointed higher with her finger, where thick smoke was rising above the forest. Surprisingly, Dagmara didn't see any smoke in the sky before, so she thought that someone had probably built it that way on purpose. The smoke could attract unwanted people, for example the fire brigade, who wanted to extinguish the fire, so it was only visible to those who were within a mile of the feast.