The Garden Witch

Part 13

And so, I become Apollo's lover. He shrinks his body via the aid of a magic mushroom to enter and exit our kingdom. The portal that he uses is within a tree (the same one that I had used) - from which he can go back and forth to the world of witches and wizards. He runs a large, magical library in the world of witches, which requires him to go back every so often to restock with new books.

I come with him sometimes to the World of Magic - near the Plateau of Dreamworld, and am astounded by the beauty. The sky glows a deep purple, orange grass sways in the breeze, the air is visible wisps of strong magic, and everywhere smells like cinnamon apples and / or snowy pine needles. I want to keep exploring this world.

Time goes by in faerie world a little differently than in magic world, let alone human world. A week in the world of witches is a month in faerie world, while a day in the world of witches is a week in fairy world.

In faerie world, time stops as slowly as if you were being seen approach a black hole. Perhaps this is because the faeries are so powerful, and their repressed powers are made up for with a lengthy immortality.

While in human world, it's as if the 2 years I've been gone only equate to two days. While this Apollo is from 7 years into the future.

I can't really explain it, but I think whomever created fairy world knew exactly what they were doing. They were royals that wanted to lounge around while their people slaved away for nothing.

Being half-witch, I've found that being around my fellow witches helps me to improve my skills in herbology. I have jars upon jars of any ailment - of milk baths, hair growth, anti aging lotion, overnight oatmeal, pickled vegetables, and olives. There are also some magical ingredients too: like Henwort, unicorn hair, frog's breath - anti aging properties, lace of spider, phoenix energy, and giant's fungus - a fungus that heals an organ, skin, or tissue injury. I am able to materialize these things via the Magical Express - where a man poses as a normal human and delivers to the mansion where my family still lives. I can't show my family the real magic behind what I send, but that doesn't mean they have to miss out. I love them too much to leave the memories of them behind.

It is because I am expected o be with Alexander that there is less of an eye on me - which allows me to get along in the magic world with more ease. Eventually, however, reality catches up. I will not be able to elude the secret of my affair forever.

What has happened to me doesn't happen to most people in a normal lifetime - magical or not. I wonder, while I stand in the mirror before myself, whether anyone in my family knew of that they feel so strongly within their spirit. Will they ever realize that they are not normal, that they are not of this world, and that there is a parallel one that exists alongside them?

I never want to think this much about Apollo. From the moment I have met him, I knew he would be bad for me, knew he was the kind of guy - a ladies man. I knew that I would go sneaking around my family's back with him, and that the guilt I have for the time I have with him would grow and grow. I never thought of myself being that kind of girl, but the smell of Apollo's energy is incredible and more powerful than cocaine.

I thought distinctly that this had all happened before in another lifetime. Apollo says he doesn't believe in such things. He says that we are born, we live, and we die. "There's not much more than that" he says. He thinks that the memories I am having are simply a case of deja vu.

Sometimes it's all I can do not to die of heart failure as I look into his eyes. My heart pitter patters, my insides are wet, and sweat trickles down my neck.

There's never been such a meeting of minds, such a sharing of opinions. I can talk to him about everything and anything, sometimes forgetting that I am a mother, as well as the situation that I am in. It's almost as if he knows that he's good for me too, or he's just sharing his body and mind with me because he knows he's a drug he can't get anywhere else. We talk for hours and hours, and when we are not doing that we make love.

I can't tell if I'm either blessed, or cursed. One of my childhood friends got upset with me one time because I was single and complained about how men are the same for so long. It got to the point that she did get married, our friendship was severed, and she ended up getting married without telling me. She thought I had been alone for too long, and she felt that, if I gave up on finding the love of my life that I would have a lifetime of sinful desires.. She felt I could be happy if I got involved in church more, but the more she invited me the more I resented it. Our differences became so vast that we are no longer friends like we used to be.

People love my friend, as much as they love my sister Diana. Both of them have a kind-hearted nature, a good smile, lots of friends, and are both full of advice. They have a way about them that is not challenging in nature; rather it is supportive and not filled with fickle moments of imagination and passion.

A lot of my other friends, too, settled down young. I have never known what is wrong with me, why I haven't had a relationship for longer than 3 months while many have had for 2 years. I would tell myself that the people around me were getting into relationships because they were lonely and didn't have anything else to do, but the more time went on that led me to worry that I wasn't on the proper "developmental" highway (I hated reading that in a Psychology textbook one time, but now it feels very true.) I had been continually rejected, over and over, that I just stopped believing that I was the type of person that could ever be in a relationship. If I did take the chance, I would find a way to destroy the relationship like I did to all the other ones.

All of them settled into town around me, while I hid in the foliage. I dug up treasures that I would then dig deeper into the ground again - casting spells and protective shields around me to keep me safe from the outside world. I would retreat for weeks on end, eating game. I was a wild woman. Being me got me got me Apollo - the exhaustion and transformation of his similar wild spirit as he came inside of me.

"We are having a baby" he says, hand over my belly, smiling like the Cheshire Cat.

Everything feels right with this baby. It's as if the both of us are nestled into a cocoon of love, with expectations thrown out the window.

"We must keep it" he says.

...

We are back at the palace, where Alexander is insistent to get me everything I need. We have to play happy couple again, and Apollo is once more thrown back into the shadows.

"What are we going to name her?" he asks, as he traces his fingers along my body.

"Luna" I say, "After my grandmother.

When the child is older, I carry her into the gardens where I teach my toddler about the plants. She repeats in her singsong voice, making my heart want to melt.

Apollo takes us on a week-long getaway to the beach. Apollo loves looking into Luna's green eyes as it reminds him of his mother's - it's as if there were never more kindred spirits then they.

When she goes off to collect more shells, he kisses me along the neck, upon my heart...

"Apollo!" I exclaim, laughing.

"You have made me the most happiest man alive. I could never repay you. I... I..." he murmurs, looking at me with a dark, intense longing.

...

Long after Luna is put to bed, Apollo leads me up to the balcony. Above, a trillion stars glitter within the night sky. The effect is blinding and more beautiful than the Milky Way.

"This is what your universe looked like when galaxies began to form" he says.

He makes love to me then, until his eyes become the stars, and being dizzy, I pass out.