Chapter 12
The person that Alexandria was taking us to didn’t live in the city. In order to remain “safe” the witch lived far away from any civilization. Apparently we can only drive to a certain point and then after we were to walk. The witch lived near no roads that a car could drive on.
“So, maybe I will just remain in the car when we have to stop driving,” Liz suggested. Alexandria didn’t bother replying. I turned to look at Liz in the back seat.
“You decided to go, you can’t exactly back out now,” I told her.
“Fine,” Liz sighed.
“Plus, I don’t think I want you in my car alone, I don’t trust you,” Alexandria muttered. Liz rolled her eyes. “Alexandria pulled into a empty parking lot and parked. “The walking portion of this trip is about to begin. Get out of the car.”
I got out of the car but Liz decided to be stubborn. She crossed her arms and remained seated in the car. Alexandria’s eyes narrowed and she opened the door to the back. Liz scooted over to the other side of the car and I opened the door on my side. Liz looked up at me and I gestured for her to get out.
Liz sighed and got out of the car. I got the feeling she didn’t appreciate that I had sided with Alexandria for her to get out of the car. I shut the door after her then looked around.
“So…where to now?” I asked. There was a small convenience store that didn’t look as if it ever was busy, dirt track though a field and a forest. Alexandria pointed to the forest.
“I should have known,” Liz complained. “Maybe you should have told me so I could get dressed in something more appropriate for hiking. Is this going to be a long hike?”
“Suck it up,” Alexandria replied. “We’ll get there when we get there. Don’t you want Erik to wake up?” Liz glared at her. She hated that Alexandria would even say that. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we find out a solution and get to leave.”
Alexandria started walking towards the forest. She didn’t look dressed for a hike. She was wearing a short jean skirt and some flats. At least Liz was wearing black converse.
I shrugged and followed with Liz. “Anything we need to know about this witch before we get there?”
Alexandria considered my question. “Be careful what you say to her. She’s sensitive and will kick us out before getting the help you need.”
“That’s it? You don’t have any more information about her?” Liz asked.
“Of course I do, it’s just not relevant,” Alexandria said.
“Why do you get to choose if it’s relevant or not, it’s not fair?” Liz demanded. I wonder if I will have to step in and stop this argument like all the others they had.
“Next time we go somewhere,” Alexandria told her, “you’re not coming along. You just need to be patient. I know I’m asking a lot of you but just try to be patient and not annoyingly curious.”
There wasn’t much talking during the rest of the hike. We were mostly focusing on getting there and hoping that this witch would know what to do.
I don’t know where I was expecting this witch to live but I was thinking it was maybe after we got out of the forest. Instead we came across a small cabin in the forest. No wonder no one could drive right to this place.
Alexandria stepped up to the door but it swung open before she could knock. She nodded for Liz and I to go in before. I stepped into the cabin and looked around. We were in a small room with a table and bookshelves. There were doors leading to other rooms but they were shut.
“This is where she meets the people that come to her for help,” Alexandria explained seeing that I was confused. Now, where was this witch?
“Sorry,” an elderly female voice said. I spun around and saw the witch entering from the front door. She had short white hair and was wearing a black cloak. She represented the image that witches were thought to look like. “I was out. I tend to not be at home when people come searching in case they have ill intent. Now what can I do for you?” She walked past and sat down at the table.
I looked at Alexandria. “Don’t look at me. This concerns you more. You two have to be the one that talks to her.”
I nodded. “We have a friend that is a witch. He was doing this dangerous spell and the repercussion was that he fell into a magically induced coma. We’ve tried a lot of things but none of them seem to work.”
The witch nodded. “What kind of spell was this?” Liz and I stared at her blankly. “Was he trying to improve himself someway, find out something, heal someone or see something?”
“He was trying to see something,” Liz answered.
“And you said it was one of the dangerous ones? What was he doing trying to do a spell like that? Was he an inexperience magic practiser? Did he know the consequences?”
“He said that he believed he could do it,” I replied.
“He recently began to use magic,” Liz clarified.
She looked up at us. Her wise, knowing look let me know that she understood what we weren’t saying. Liz and I didn’t exactly want to talk to about what he was specifically doing in front of Alexandria.
“I know a remedy that might work. Might, being the key word but it’s the thing that has the most chance of working. I can give you the recipe and instructions but I’m not allowed to make it.”
I frowned. “Why not?” I asked. It didn’t make sense that we came all this way for her help, only to be told that we basically have to do this ourselves.
“I’ve learned not to question the things she says,” Alexandria interrupted while giving me a warning look. “Most of the things she says are true so in the end it doesn’t matter.”
“Do you want my help or not?” the witch asked getting impatient.
“What’s the catch?” Liz inquired suspiciously. “What do you get in exchange? What’s the price for this help?”
“Don’t worry about it. The price has already been arranged,” the witch said. “Now listen, I’m going to tell you what you need to do.” I nodded and started committing what she said to memory. It was a lot of work. There were specific ingredients that we had to get fresh and tracking them down wouldn’t be easy. I didn’t see us completing everything that we needed to soon. It would be a while more before we could wake up Erik with this, if it did work.
“Okay, we understand,” I assured the witch.
She nodded. “One more thing, you need to be the one that gives your friend the mixture. There’s some quality you posses that is needed to wake him up.”
“What quality?” I laughed.
“I know you think that I’m crazy for suggesting you have something different than others that is needed in a spell remedy but I’m correct. You can save him. I can’t explain exactly what you posses that makes you capable of carrying out this job.”
I was about to protest, to make her tell me when Alexandria stepped in front of me. “We should probably get going. It’s probably best for you humans to get back to my car before it gets dark.”
“Why do you always underestimate us?” Liz complained. “I know that we’d be fine.” She walked to the door all the same. I turned to the witch and smiled my thanks but she was staring at Alexandria with an unreadable expression.
I went outside and soon Alexandria was right beside Liz and I. “To answer your question, you might be able to get though the forest in the dark but it will be much slower. I’ll be the only one with the good eyesight and so would likely end up having to tell you guys to watch out before you tripped over a tree root. You know? On second thought, I see no reason why I have to protect her from tripping,” she said looking at Liz.
I rolled my eyes. “We’ll make it to the car with plenty of daylight to spare,” I told Alexandria.
“Maybe,” she replied. “All depends on how fast you walk.”
“What did you give her in exchange for her helping us?”
“It’s not important,” Alexandria said before speeding up so she could walk ahead of us. The distance between us told me she didn’t want to answer, but that only made me more curious.