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/Chapter Fourteen/ Questions.

“You mean…you were watching over us?”

“Yes. Seeing you both so unhappy made me so frustrated. I had never wanted anything more but to have a minute or two with you and your father . Though, I found a loop hole in the agreement I made. I found this beautiful horse – Bella – and started to share her body. She was fine about it. Nathaniel then mistook me for one of the stable’s lost horses and took me in and looked after me. Bella shares my…well speaking skills and talks to Nathaniel. I tell her what to say because I she can’t speak the sort of English he would understand but I have not spoken before.”

“A flaw in your agreement? What agreement?”

“When I was burning, I felt so hopeless. I knew I was going to die, I knew that I would never see you or your father again. The only bright side of the whole ideal would be that I’d find peace and pass into heaven. Though, you know what they say – witches go to hell. I was afraid of hell; the thought burned my heart even more than the flames. I felt my body start to disintegrate and my spirit being tugged away from it and seconds before my spirit was almost disconnected from my body…a voice came to me.”

A voice? My eyes grew wider and my stomach churned. Was it the voice? The same voice that’s talks to me?

“But mother I do not understand. You have never done anything worthy of hell in your life! Why would you be afraid of hell?!”

Mother sighed and shook her head. “Alas my child, if you ever stare death in the face you will have that worrying beetle of doubt burrow deep inside of your brain. No one can be sure what the afterlife holds for them. The outcome can be surprising.”

“Oh mother,” I cried, snuggling into her neck.

“I am alright Mercy. I am quite content here.”  A long moment of silence passed and I could hear the other horses devouring their evening meal. “The voice told me I could go to a good place – a place where there is no physical suffering like hell would be – if I agreed to go willingly. I thought it was a good idea, that it would guarantee a peaceful afterlife so I said yes to the voice and allowed it to pull my spirit away from the fire. It did not send me to hell but neither did it send me to Heaven. As soon was away from my body, there was a clap of lightning and I was standing in front of the flames. I watched my burning form unable to move, do any magic or interact with my executers. All I could do was witness the rest of my remains burn.”

Tears were starting to soak the surrounding hay as I wept into my mother’s neck. My poor mother. Although she was not in human form, I didn’t feel the slightest bit awkward being cuddled up by a horse. It was my mother, my beautiful mother in side of a horse. I would not care if she weren’t a horse – she could be a rat or a pig for all I cared. Being here in her presence made me feel so happy; happiness different from being in love or receiving a large amount of money. This was what getting a loved one back felt like.

“Mercy you mustn’t cry. That is all in the past. The important thing is that you are safe and well and I have you again.” She told me and I nodded. She was right. Though my past can’t simply be forgotten, things needed to be set right.

“Do you know what granted you this fate mother?”

“A Daemon.”

“A Daemon? Is that not Greek?”

“Yes but witches use the term differently. It is like a demon, but a thousand times worse. It is a slimy little creature who likes to destroy lives and cause misery. I have seen many at work. They would do things like place an item in your pocket in the market and let you be trialled for theft. They would leave a window or a door open in your bedroom and you would catch the worst diseases. They would place a pair of briefs in a couple’s bed so one would feel betrayed by the other. Daemon’s main goal is to just cause havoc and they receive a sick pleasure from it. There is a handful about in this town. One of the Daemons came to me and gave me that offer.”