Shadows of the Woods

Chapter 22

"I was the one sending you visions."

Androgena's voice echoed around the great room. She was sitting on the floor as she leaned against her pillar. Magenta lay stiffly, her head in the older witch's lap, and her glassy eyes watched me as I pulled at the chains on her wrists as hard as I could. My palms were starting to feel raw from the friction, and I looked up at Androgena at her  voice.

Her face was sorrowful as she looked at me. "I knew Apollo would go looking for answers, but there was no way I could contact him from in here without alerting Castrone. So I tried talking to you, since everyone knows you're his lover. However, I never dreamed - "

"That I didn't have my tattoos yet." My hands dropped to my lap slowly, and my eyes looked at the swirling blue tattoos on my forearms. There was no scar, but the memory of the dull pain there was fresh.

"I'm so sorry, my dear." Androgena's eyes were bright. "I never meant to hurt you. I stopped once I realized what was happening, I swear."

"It's alright, there's nothing to forgive." I shrugged and went back to pulling at the chains. They were delicate, but very strong. "I wouldn't have found you two if you hadn't done what you did. Everything that happened was justified."

Androgena nodded. "I'm glad you got your tattoos, so that didn't have to happen again."

"How were you sending those visions, though?" I looked up at her again, my face curious.

Her hair shone like water in the light that streamed through the windows. "Well, the magic is a little tough to explain - "

"No, I mean, those visions." I thought back to them. "How could you have seen them? You weren't present in any of them, it was just Castrone I saw."

"That's because those are his memories." Androgena explained. "It was easy to see into his head, my dear, it was just sorting through the darkness in there that was hard. There's no way I could send my own thoughts to you; he'd put up barriers so that my magic couldn't move past these walls. He just never prepared for me using his own thoughts to communicate with you."

"So those are his memories." I mused. I looked up again. "He had no idea you were using them?"

"None at all." Androgena reassured me. "He knew you were getting the visions, which infuriated him, but he had no idea that I was the one sending them. He thought it might be Welma communicating with you, or some other witch of our generation. He thought his protective barriers limited me absolutely."

"Soul switch." Magenta said suddenly, looking at Androgena reproachfully.

The older witch sighed, smoothing Magenta's hair tenderly. "He realized only after the body switching spell. I used it when he was away. He rarely ever leaves, and I'd been saving my strength for when he did. When he found out that I used it, he was terribly angry."

She pulled the sleeves of her robes up, and I inhaled sharply at the slowly healing cuts there. They looked deep, and there were many. Androgena smiled sadly at the look on his face. "He wouldn't let me die, though. He told me that once everyone else in the world was dead, he would spend the rest of eternity torturing me to his heart's content."

Magenta whimpered in fear, and Androgena made soothing sounds, returning to smoothing her golden hair."Don't fear, little one." She told her gently. "Lilah is here to save us, so there's nothing to worry about."

I bit my lips at her words, staring down at my hands and the golden chain that sat in them. "Androgena." I said quietly. I felt her eyes on me. "Don't make promises you can't keep. I can't break them, and I certainly can't save you. That was always Apollo's job, his specialty, and now - " I swallowed hard, blinking back my tears. "He's not here, and I have no idea what to do."