Rebecca lay awake in the Padureani guest room. Lucille was sound asleep on the other bed and only the gentle rustling of leaves came from their slightly opened window. They have formed their battle plan earlier, after dinner, and Rebecca felt uneasy because of it.
We must use Rebecca's powers... She thought of the words Kaven said earlier. They have been training for days now and everyone regarded Rebecca as a full-fledged witch. Everyone except herself.
She thought about her other life, her real life as Rebecca, and not as this confusing girl that was a magical mix-up of different people. She remembered her mother, her father, her little brother. Where are you? How are you doing? She thought. A blanket of sadness enveloped her heart and soon, twin drops of tears rolled down the sides of her head. "I miss you," she whispered to the night.
Lucille stirred in her sleep and Rebecca quickly closed her eyes to pretend to be in slumber. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again and glanced at the mother witch. She was still sleeping. Rebecca turned to lay on her side, she clutched an extra pillow between her arms and held it tighter to her chest. I mustn't lose hope, she steeled herself, I must be strong so I can find them.
She decided sleep wasn't coming anytime soon so she recalled the battle plan outlined by Kaven and Lucille and tried to brainstorm points she'd like to discuss with them tomorrow.
It was simple. They would play with the Necromancer's ignorance about Lillian and Rebecca's mixed-up souls. They'll set a magical trap to capture him, using Rebecca's astral projection as bait – she has perfected being in two places at once – and once he's trapped, they'll hex him with a compulsion spell to make him release his hold on Masilda's soul, as well as correct the Resurrection Spell mishap. It was direct and fuss-free but there were a lot of obvious loopholes.
They didn't know how weak – or strong – the Necromancer was now. Even if the entrapment part of the plan worked, Compulsion Spells were difficult to control. If he was too weak, the spell could fry his brain and leave him in a useless heap of flesh. If he was too strong, not only would he be able to defend himself from the spell, he would also be able to reverse the effect and compel Lucille or any one of them to act against the others. Lucille and Grandma Vai have explained it to them clearly. They would all be sitting ducks if The Necromancer gets the upper hand.
Rebecca suggested using the Vision Room to find him and spy on The Necromancer for them to learn more about him and about how to defeat him.
"We can't do that, honey," Grandma Vai told her earlier. "Right now we are protected by the magick of the enchanted oak trees in the perimeter of the SoothSayer Town. That's why we can go about with our business here; that's why you can go out to the fields to train and practice, without fear of being found out by the Necromancer's Evil Eye."
"Think of it as being in a glass dome of magick," Kaven put in. "The magick that protects us goes both ways. He can't see us in here, and we can't see him out there, too. If we seek him out, though, we'd be opening up a window from that magick and he might be able to find us out here, too."
Rebecca understood how complicated things were for them right now. It didn't help that the next new moon was in three days, and if their theory of The Necromancer's powers being at its peak were right, then then they could no longer wait for him to get even stronger. They had to act now.
Are we ready? Rebecca couldn't help but wonder. Echoes of her past made her remember a quote about never being ready and still going head-on for the win, but those were for soccer matches, for sports. If they carelessly marched towards their enemy now they wouldn't only lose the battle, they'd get killed.
Rebecca shut her eyes tight to wipe away the thoughts of dying. She willed herself to be more positive, to clear her mind of worry so she could focus on their plan, on what they needed to do to win. She turned to her back and stared at the ceiling again.
After a moment of tranquility, she heard noises coming from outside. She didn't mind them at first, but the noise only grew louder as if begging for her attention. Rebecca propped her elbow to try to hear the noise better. The noise sounded like faint meows and some sort of scratching on wood and metal.
It was Mr. Gainsboro.
Rebeca sat up, careful not to wake Lucille, and glanced at the ornate wall clock in the room. It was almost three am, why on earth would the cat still be outside?
She slowly stood up, wore her slippers and went out into the hallway. The night casted shadows on the hall but Rebecca felt no fear. She has come to accept that this was her home and that she was safe in here. Still the cat's meows cut through the wee hours' silence.
When she went down to the kitchen, she saw that the kitty door wasn't open. After Mr. Gainsboro went missing the last time, Jili made it her personal responsibility to always lock the kitty door before bed. Rebecca glanced at the empty cat bed and listened more intently. The cat's meowing were at two or three time intervals followed by some odd scratching sounds. She didn't have to know how cats normally behave to realize the noises were unnatural.
She tried to peer out the windows to see where the cat was but every time she seemed to have come nearer to it, the cat ran off somewhere else. It was like it was begging her to follow. Rebecca thought about waking the others, but getting the cat back in seemed too trivial to wake someone up over. After a short while, Rebecca carefully opened the door to the back porch.
"Mr. Gainsboro," she called out. "Come on and come back in."
The cat appeared from behind some bushes and meowed back to her. He didn't make a move to come closer, though.
Rebecca looked at her surroundings. There was nothing different about the night but something nagged at her. Her instincts were telling her to shut the door and let the cat wander where it wanted. But another part of her feared that Mr. Gainsboro might go missing again.
She thought about it for a second and then heaved a deep sigh. "If you aren't coming back here, I'm gonna come out and make you." Mr. Gainsboro just stared at her.
Rebecca took off her home slippers and put on her shoes. She wasn't gonna bring dirt and mud inside the pristine floors of the Manor. The moment she stepped a foot on the soft ground, the cat retreated back to the bush and ran farther.
"Mr. Gainsboro, no!" Rebecca called out and ran after it. "Come back here, please!"
The cat was fast, but it occasionally stopped to look back at Rebecca. Once, she almost caught up to it, but as she reached out her hand to grab at the cat's collar, Mr. Gainsboro leapt out of the spot and sprinted farther out to the field.
"This is ridiculous!" she grunted to herself, "I'm only going to chase after you until the end of the clearing. If you don't want to go back in, then suit yourself."
Rebecca glanced back at the Manor. She was a few yards away from it but still quite near and safe. She looked ahead to where the cat had run off to. Mr. Gainsboro was standing on all fours, looking straight at her. I'm trapped, he seemed to be telling her.
Rebecca didn't know how she understood the cat's expression. It isn't magic, more of a...feeling, an instinct. In the dim of the night, she held the cat's gaze. Help me, I'm trapped!
Her lips pursed to a tight line, Rebecca ran towards the cat. She was still within the trees' protection – she told herself she was safe. She needed to get to Mr. Gainsboro, grab him by the collar and get him back inside.
The distance between her and the cat closed up and once again, when it was within her reach, the cat jumped to the side and instead of running away, it ran past Rebecca's legs, making her lose her balance. "Mr. Gainsboro!" she screamed at the cat as she fell forward.
Instead of solid ground, Rebecca's outstretched arms didn't land as she expected. The place Mr. Gainsboro had been standing on a moment ago was the end of a small elevation, and Rebecca fell downhill. She remembered some of her training so she just let her body roll on its side while she held her arms close to her chest. Flailing to try to stop her momentum could break her arm. The slope didn't seem too steep so she knew she would eventually stop rolling when she reached a more level ground. Unless she comes across trees or hard stones that could break her bones, she needed to stop.
Fortunately, the ground did level down and she landed on her back. "Ugh, stupid cat." She muttered. Slowly, she held her arms to her sides and pushed herself up so she was sitting on grass. Nothing hurt so much, she was glad to note, but her clothes were now muddy, and leaves and twigs were tangled in her hair. She was sure bruises were gonna show up on her arms tomorrow, but at least nothing seemed broken.
Meow...
Rebecca gritted her teeth in frustration as she stood up and stomped her feet. "You don't want to go home? Then don't! You're such a troublemaker!" She wasn't really mad at the cat, it was her own decision to chase it, after all. But this was frustrating.
She bent down to shake off the dirt that clung to her pajama pants.
Meow...
"Oh shut up - " Only when Rebecca raised her gaze to where the sounds came from did she realize where she had landed to. She was at the edge of the line of trees, the skirting of their protected space. Beyond the trees, she saw a dark figure that appeared to be looking right back at her.
The cloaking magick the oak trees provided kept the soothsayers and the witches from the Necromancer's Evil Eye but it didn't offer invisibility. The Necromancer could not take a step closer, but his gaze pierced through Rebecca's very core anyway.
"Hello there, my dear," he said. Rebecca stood frozen; her knees didn't even shake although she wanted to faint. Rebecca saw Mr Gainsboro balancing on one of The Necromancer's open palm. Pure fear shot up from her spine.
"L-leave the cat alone!" she shouted.
The grin spread wider in The Necromancer's face. He lifted the cat and abruptly closed his fist. Mr. Gainsboro fizzled into purple mist. "Oh he won't bother us anymore. Not when he's dead." Rebecca realized it was the cat's spirit that she had been following. The Necromancer's eyes shifted to something on the ground, something to Rebecca's left, and the girl trailed her eyes to it. There lay the lifeless body of the poor Maine Coon.
"No!" Rebecca's feet pounded on the ground as she ran towards their pet. Her trembling hands ran through its soft fur, and from her eyes fell continuous tears. "No, no, Mr. Gainsboro!" He was still warm to the touch. Anger filled Rebecca and though tear-streaked, she faced the enemy and shouted, "How could you do this to us!?"
"I could do more, you know..." The Necromancer raised his arms and directed them at the girl. "COME HERE!"
As The Necromancer let the words out of his mouth, Rebecca felt a strong force hit her from the back. "Oof!" She stumbled to the ground, dropping the cat's corpse in front of her. She glanced at The Necromancer and saw the strain of concentration on his face.
"I said...COME HERE!" He screamed again and this time the invisible force behind Rebecca came out like a series of strong punches to her back.
"Agh!" she grimaced in pain as her whole body dropped to the ground and started to roll towards the edge of the protected space – nearer to The Necromancer.
"No!" She screamed, her hands grasping at roots and grass and ground. "No! Lucille...help me!" she screamed over and over, but the blows to her body were getting tougher to fight. "LUCILLE!"
Before Rebecca could scream again, she was already just a step away from the end of the magical barrier. She could now hear The Necromancer muttering incantations under his breath. Rebecca would've fought him and his magic with her own, but she was now beat-up and her fear of The Necromancer gripped her, making her powerless to protect herself.
The Necromancer's arms were shaking as he spent enormous amount of magic to draw the girl closer to himself. She was still inside the barrier, now only a thin line of magic stood between them, but she was still protected nonetheless. With one final gesture, The Necromancer growled and Rebecca felt her entire body close in on itself, like she was being fitted into an invisible container that grew tighter and tighter around her.
She let out a scream as she was jolted out of protection and into the ground beside the enemy. Her hands were constricted and her eyes widened as the Necromancer hovered above her.
"Gotcha." He said between huffs. Rebecca willed herself to scream but nothing came out of her open mouth.
In a swift motion, The Necromancer swiped a hand in front of Rebecca's face and it took all of her strength not to succumb to the heavy feeling his spell had induced. It was too strong to fight. Rebecca's last vision before passing out was that of The Necromancer standing in front of her, seemingly talking to a shadowy figure beside him.
"Not bad," the shadow said to The Necromancer, sounding unimpressed.
"I told you I could get her if she was close to the edge," The Necromancer replied. "She's still my creation; I still have influences over her."
The Necromancer lifted the young girl in his arms. He would've levitated her as he usually did but he had already used up a lot of power to draw her outside the oaks' enchantment. He would need to use a bit more to shimmer back to his lair, so his physical strength would have to do.
"The new moon isn't in three days, how do you suppose to maintain the girl until then?" the shadow quipped.
"I wouldn't need to wait for the moonlight to go away," replied The Necromancer, his voice hoarse and rough. "I just need enough power to replace my daughter's soul, and then her magic will be mine."
The Necromancer spared a toothy grin at no one in particular before he shimmered away. The shadow took a moment longer. It seemed to glance at the direction of the Padureani Manor although the house was too far to be seen from the line of oaks. A hoot of an owl broke out somewhere and then the shadow vanished, following The Necromancer back into their darkness.
Author's Note:
Happy Super Blood Blue Moon!
I wanted to celebrate this once in a lifetime astronomical event in some Wiccan way, but I had no time to prepare for any ritual or spell, whatever, so I'm updating this fantasy story instead. :)
This is still a rough draft from a few months ago, edited for grammar inconsistencies only so content and themes may be wonky, but hey! All of the chapters in this story are wonky so what's one more wonky chapter right?
I'll get to developmental edits once i posted ALL chapters, I swear. For the meantime, here's Rebecca and a cat rescue mission gone wrong. Enjoy!