We walked around from store to store, house to house, asking for Helen but no one seemed to know her.
It was quite strange that in a town of mages, no one knew a single mage. We walked downtown for some time, asking everyone and anyone.
On reaching the end of the road, we decided to turn back and take another route when we saw a house by the side of the road.
"Why is there a house this far away from other houses?" I theought aloud, staring at the only house for miles.
"Perhaps the person enjoys being alone. Let's check it out," Ray responded and walked off.
Without a word, I followed him.
He knocked at the small wooden door which looked like it wouldn't withstand the next winter.
The house itself looked like it had seen better days but I knew it was a lot stronger than it looked. Soon a young woman came out of the house.
"Are you lost?" Was the first thing she asked.
"No, ma'm, we are looking for a mage called Helen. We've asked around but no one seems to know her," I responded curtly and she rolled her eyes.
"Of course, they would pretend not know since they banished her," she replied venomously.
Ray and I glanced at each other then turned back to the brown haired woman. She was what I could call pretty but only if she took better care of her hair.
"Do you know where we can find her?" Ray implored.
"Where are my manners? My name is Helen, the town's outcast," she introduced in a bitter tone.
Instant relief washed over me. "I am Felicity, a woman instructed me to find you.
"I know who you are. Your mother, Lilian brought you to me at a young age.
"What I don't know is why you would come back here after everything?" She asked, giving me a genuinely confused look.
It was my turn to be confused. "Who is Lilian?"
"Your mo… oh, the mind block," she said in realisation, making me even more confused.
"You lost me, ma'm," I confessed, not bothering to pretend I knew what she meant.
"Good," she appraised.
"What do you mean?"
"There is no need for you to know anything else.
"If you value your life and want to live longer than your mother did, go home now and forget everything that ever happened," she instructed, sending my mind into a frenzy.
Outraged, I exclaimed, "It's not something I can just forget that easily. You have no idea what I have been through."
She glared at me. "This is the exact same kind of hardheadedness that got your mother killed! Go home, you stubborn child!"
My eyes widened at her sudden anger, and I felt my own temper flare. Fisting the ends of my sweatshirt in my hands, I began to take it off revealing my tattoos.
"Look at me! Look and me and tell me if I can go back home looking like this."
Helen studied the tattoo patterns, her eyes glazing through the intricate patterns. The longer she studied, the more her eyes darkened until she growled, "Luciana!"
"The woman from the bar? What has Lucia got to do with anything?"
Helen chuckled dryly. "It looks like you already met the witch."
(•)
Helen invited us into her small yet well kept home. The only furniture seen in the house were two worn out brown couches one of which Ray and I were sitting on, an old television set, a small standing fan and a little table.
She seemed to be alone out her and I couldn't help but wonder why she was exiled in the first place..
"One thing I don't understand is what the witch would want with Felicity," Ray said all of a sudden, stopping my inspection of the room.
"That is one thing cannot tell her. Look at this." She raised the left sleeve of her sweater to reveal the tattoo of a piece of flower with two thorns.
"I promised your mother I won't tell you until it is absolutely necessary and I intend to do just that.
"The last thing I want is for you to make the same mistake she did when she found out the truth."
I almost yanked my hair out in frustration at her vagueness. It was not enough that she told me that my parents are not my real parents, now she said she wouldn't tell me what happened to my real mother.
I didn't know why I believed her and know I could trust her, I just dif. Why are mages so confusing?
"Ma'm-"
"Call me Helen. I might be old in years but I don't look anywhere close to thirty," she cut in.
"Helen, I need to know why this-" I pointed to the tattoo on my arm. "-happened to me and how I can get rid of it."
I should have gone with my instinct and not spoken to Lucia when I sensed there was something wrong.
One thing I didn't understand is how everything happened afterwards. This is what trusting strangers gets me, a full body tattoo, two murders and a case to solve.
Helen thought for a while before replying. "I can't tell you what she must have made you promise her but one thing I can tell you is that no matter what you can not fulfil it."
My wide eyes found Ray who grimaced on realising my thoughts.
"She may have already killed two people, causing two tattoos to disappear."
At Ray's words, she groaned. "I don't even want to know how those people died."
I wasn't going to tell her.
"So what do we do? You won't tell us why all these things are happening and how to get rid of the tattoos."
"About the tattoo, I might be able to do something about that but you have to stay here. It's the only way I can protect you and besides, I wouldn't want you killing another person."
"Why do you want to protect me so much? I mean, you don't even know me."
For a moment, pain flashes through her hazel eyes as she looks at me. It almost looks as if she is pleading with her gaze.
"I couldn't save your mother before. She warned me about Luciana but I didn't believe her until it was too late."
A sharp pain in my jaws compelled me to realize that I have been clenching them. The need to blow off on her gripped me and I took a deep breath. I had no right.
"What was she like?" I asked instead. "My mother."
"Strong, brave, stubborn and she knew how to get herself in trouble. She was like you in every way."
"You got that one right," Ray muttered from beside me but I couldnt find it in myself at that moment to glare at him for it.
Dreading the answer, I hesitated beforer asking the next question. "How did she die?"
Helen kept mum.
"At least give me that," I pleaded, my hands moving to grab her skinny hands.
"She was drained of all blood."
My mind immediately went to the man in my room and I gasped. "That was the same way the hunter in my room was killed. Does this mean that the witch killed him?"
"I thought she didn't know about you being a hunter, what happened to the hunter's code?" Helen asked Ray, in a disapproving tone.
Ray frowned. "She was in trouble, I needed to save her life."
Helen shook her head as a knowing look appeared on her face. "Trouble always seems to find you just like your mother."
"Hey!" I exclaimed, offended and she chuckled.
"You still haven't answered my question. Is it possible that it was Lucia who killed the hunter in my room?"
She nodded. "If he was drained of all the blood in his body then yes. That move is indeed Luciana's trademark."
Ray shut up instantly. "Why are we here instead of hunting down that wench?" He growled.
Helen glanced at me with a raised brow, her lips turned down in an annoyed frown. "Why do women from your family attract the most hot headed hunters?"