Grace stared at Rose. Her mouth suddenly dry. Then her eyes flickered to the men who were all staring at her like she was piece of meat. Back to Rose.
"You're so low you're beating up helpless witches?" Grace asked, her gaze looking over at the head man. She stood up from the ground, brushing her knees.
"Oh, this?" The boss man glanced over at the bloodied mess of Rose's face. "This wasn't us. We put her in the cell with our other little witch. I didn't know that your kind was so bloodthirsty."
"Trust me." Grace made eye contact with the man. He had black eyes, no pupil. "It's just her."
"Oh. Good." He tilted his head to the side, and one of the men came at her. Grace didn't break eye contact as she sent the man flying backwards and hitting the window. Even from where she was standing, Grace could hear cracks forming in the window.
"Oh, Tyler, are you alright?" The man asked politely, and the Warlock -Tyler- groaned. He had black hair with little bits of white in his hair, making him scraggy and unfortunately young. "Oh, that's too bad."
"Give me her wand." Grace wasn't about to let her friends wand be used for other, darker, uses. "You're going to let us leave, or else I'll tear this mountain down over your head."
The man laughed, a full on laugh. He tilted his head back, and it was a rich sound. He was almost in tears. The other Warlocks were also laughing as well. Grace clenched her jaw, but staying still.
"Oh," he breathed at what seemed a few hours later, "you're all the same, aren't you?"
Grace cocked an eyebrow. "Do explain."
"You witches are all the same." He flung his arms up to the ceiling. "You think that you can just come in and demand things? That's what you did to the humans. Sure, you might've helped them in the war and all that, became war heroes. But that was only after. I know," he tapped the side of his head. "Your kind threatened humanity before."
Grace was silent as the man paced. He was getting emotional, and the other Warlock's stepped away from him, clearly afraid.
"Tell me, Witch?" He asked, "do you ever think what the Germans felt when all hell was brought to them? How dragons flew into the sky and burned them into ashes? Or when the Vampires would come out in the night and they would take down camps in a single minute?"
"Thankful." Grace spoke up, and he paused. He looked over, then his face broke out in a smile.
"That's right. There is a rumor that you were also captured by the Germans."
"Natzi's." Grace corrected. "The Germans are pretty cool now."
"Now, please, enlighten me your story."
"I was living with a Jew family when the war broke out. I was actually living in Germany itself. I had heard how bad things were over there, their economy suffering from the last war. Children were playing with cash that was practically worthless. So I went over there and I sent down roots of gold, as far as I could then. Then the Jew's would find the strain of gold, and it would go to their debt. Some of them even traded it with France for food and building supplies." Grace shrugged, "at the moment, Hitler was a great guy. He took charge, things changed as well. More food, better conditions, everybody's really liked him. Then..." Grace let her head fall to the side, her eyes focusing past his head. "War. You know the story. Natzi's did their thing, and within a single month I was in Auschwitz. You can imagine what happened, I won't go into detail."
"Really?" The man actually looked interested. "How did you get out?"
"It was the last year of the war, after surviving for so long I was finally pointed out to the doctors. They experimented on me, nothing much that I can remember. It was a bit of a blur. But after so much fear and pain, my magic came out. It was during the final year, and I was drugged up and taken to Hitler himself." Grace softly smiled to herself, "I made him shoot his wife in the head, and then him after."
"Wow." He blinked, "I didn't think you'd have anything to do with that."
"I regret it." Grace looked out the bright window and into the swirling snow falling in sheets.
"You do? You regret killing Hitler?"
"No, I don't regret killing him." Grace looked back at him, a smile forming on her face. "I regret not making him experience a death camp, just like all of those Jews that suffered. I regret not locking him up in a gas chamber. Throughout my entire stay, I was gassed five times. Do you even know what chlorine gas can do to your body? I regret not making him feel every person pain."
"Too bad you don't have the power to do that." The man pointed out, "at least I don't think you have the power to do that."
"Oh, yeah. I don't. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't find a Day Witch or something."
"Anyways," the man said loudly, "back to my monologue! You have it better. You have riches of the world and dragons waiting on you every second!"
"Uh, excuse me?" Grace scoffed, "the one dragon I have ever contracted with killed my husband."
"It doeSN'T MATTER!" The man screamed in anger, his fist landing a table. "WILL YOu just shut up." He hissed, giving Grace a glare. "Anyways." He smoothed his hair down. "Witches have everything. So, we are going to take everything from you." He finished, looking down at Grace. He then motioned for her to talk.
"And how are you going to do that?" She asked, slowly.
"Great question!" He said, "but I'm not the idiot who gives it all away during a stupid monologue." Grace felt like she should speak up, but didn't. "Anyways, you have that little stick in your hair I'd like. I think it would be a better deal than this," he pulled out a wand from his breast pocket. It was made out of cherry wood, Rose's. "Men?"
Grace was suddenly aware of the men coming in closer to her. She plucked her wand from her hair, and then none too elegantly shoved it down her shirt. The man scoffed at the action, but she had her hands free.
The first man lunged at her, and she ducked. The second man wasn't after that, and she grabbed his greasy black rope and used his momentum to shove him past her. The third went down low, and Grace simply lifted her knee up and it hit his face. He stumbled away, his hands to his face, groaning. The first man was back, and he also tried to down low as well, but he managed to get his hands around her waist. Grace grabbed his shoulders and brought her knee up, but it hit a soft place that no man didn't want hit. He groaned painfully and dropped to the floor. Second and fourth came at her at the same time, and she dropped to her knees and their heads collided. Grace stood up, surveying the men at her feet. Then the fifth came and shoved her off her balance. She stumbled into a table, and he crowded at her. She braced herself against the table and brought her legs up, kicking him away. He collided against the window, and cracks furthered across it's surface.
"Use your magic, you idiots!" Head man sighed, and it finally seemed like the men got a clue. Grace clenched her hands, throwing up a barrier. One man, the tallest of them all, took a wand out of his robe. Tabatha's.
Rather than waiting for them to attack her, Grace forced the air from the ceiling to slam into the ground. A shockwave blew everything except her against the walls, as the air placement reformed.
Then the sound of glass breaking, and a cold wind encircled Grace. She turned to see the head man holding Rose's wand in one hand, and the witch herself halfway out the window.
"You see that little necklace?" He shouted over the wind, "it negates any magic up to three feet away. You do anything, I push out the window. You won't be able to save her. Give up!"
Grace glanced from Rose, the wand, and the window. If she was fast enough-
"Opps." The man said, as he let Rose go. Grace gasped, and barely hesitated this time as she darted to the open window. Wind rushed past her and knocked the man away, and took the wand from his hand and into hers. She dove into the white storm after Rose.
"Rose!" She tried to shout but the frigid air stole her breath away as she fell, and the wind pushed her even faster. She need to get to Rose before she went splat. They might be witches, but they can easily get scarred. There were numerous scars all over Grace's body, and she feared what might happen to Rose if she hit something at this speed.
Pink.
Pink hair caught her eye in the battle of snow and sleet. She drifted over to Rose's unconscious figure, and sure enough when she got too close all of her powers deserted her. Grace's fingers were so numb as they tried to grab the pendant from Rose's neck. She managed to catch it, but knew there wasn't much time left as she ripped it off and tried to slow their descent.
Crack.
Thick blocks of ice floated past Grace's head, and it took her three solid seconds to realise that they landed in water. Rose was sinking to the bottom, still tied to her chair. Grace didn't waste any more time as she swam towards Rose, her body getting increasingly numb as she went. She couldn't even feel her eyes anymore.
Time seemed to slow as Grace grabbed at the ropes, and pulled. Sparks of gold came out of her fingers, and the ropes snapped. Rose sunk, limp in her arms. Blood trailed away from her face in ribbons.
Grace closed her eyes and called her magic, desperate for anything. This was not another witch who was going to die. This was not another friend who will leave her. This is not Gia, this is Rose.
The water turned golden, as it came forward and gave her its energy. Grace watched as her broken nose straightened, the gash on her forehead closed up. The angry purple color across her cheekbones faded away. Her jaw to correctly form.
Then she was tired. So tired. Grace wasn't even cold anymore. That was a bad sign, a very bad one. But she'd just get colder if she went up to the air. It would freeze on her. And flying out wouldn't work either.
Grace closed her eyes. Just a small nap. That's all. A nap. She'll be up and running in fifteen. The light across her face darkened, and a shape came down to her.
And the last thing that Grace saw before slipping into oblivion were red and yellow eyes.
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Epilogue will be up by the end of the week, but don't expect it too soon.