The Enchantress (Wicked Book 1) (10 page)

Laura
stood stone still in the dark musky alley way. It was well into the night, and the
sky was a blanket of bright stars. The moon was full, beaming down over her,
lighting up the cracked concrete footpath. Then she was moving. She was
following two people dressed from head to toe in black. She couldn’t see their
faces, but assumed from their bulky and thin figures that the one on the left
was male, and the other female.
  As she followed these people, she took in her surroundings. On each side of
the alley were large brick walls. Behind her was the main street, but in front
of her, she couldn’t see a thing. Seemingly out of nowhere a door appeared along
the brick wall and Laura hid in the shadows as she watched the male knock, then
step back, waiting patiently. Slowly the door creaked open and a thin, white hand
appeared, beckoning them in. Quickly, Laura hurried forward to the door as it
swung shut.
  She stopped, forced herself to count to sixty, than slowly turned the handle.
The door wasn’t locked. She pushed it open, peeking inside.
  She was in an empty hallway, dully lit by one single light hanging from the
ceiling. On her left was the sitting room, on her right, three closed doors
lined the wall.  Laura entered the house, carefully closing the door behind
her. Muffled voices floated down the hallway, and Laura crept to the last of
the three doors. She could hear their voices clearly now. An older sounding man
with a stern voice was speaking.
  ‘I don’t know what I can tell you. With all the research I have done, I have
not come across anything quite like this. And unless I know what it is I am
dealing with I cannot formulate a Charm strong enough to protect her.’
‘  There must be a way to speak with the Gods and to have them examine her. I
fear that she is in more danger every day.’
  Laura sucked in her breath. That voice was one she had heard thousands of
times as a child, scolding her when she left the house without telling anyone,
or wandered off in the supermarket. It was her mothers.
  ‘Cara, you know how incredibly difficult it is to summon the Gods. We need at
least fifteen people who all agree upon the purpose of the summoning. I doubt
we will even find ten,’ the man said.
  ‘Kane, please. You have been a dear friend to us. You have watched her grow
up. Please, there has to be
something
you can do.’
  There was a long pause. ‘There is one thing I can think of. But I don’t think
you will like it,’ Kane replied grimly.
  Her mother whispered so quietly, Laura nearly didn’t hear her, ‘anything.
Just tell us.’
  ‘Sacrifice. If you sacrifice your mortality to the Gods, they will in turn
protect your daughter.’
  Laura gasped, ‘No!’
  ‘What was that?’ Kane inhaled, ‘were you followed?’
  Laura stumbled back down the hall. She had been much louder then she had
anticipated. Throwing the door open, she jumped out into the alleyway and took
off sprinting down the path. Her mother was too fast for her though, and
clamped her hand around her daughter’s wrist.
  ‘Laura stop. Laura, look at me.’
  ‘No mum, please don’t!’
  ‘Laura, look at me.’ Her mother said more sternly this time.
  Reluctantly, she turned to her mother.
  ‘Memorias,’ Cara whispered, and the night disappeared around her as Laura
felt the familiar feeling of being hauled backwards.
  ‘Mum, please!’ Laura yelled as she reached for her mother, but the blackness
consumed her.

Laura awoke
startled, gasping and sweaty, mouth dry. Twisting the cap off her drink bottle,
she gulped down some water. As she was screwing the lid back on, the memory of
her parents last conversation flashed through her mind. Was this what they had
been discussing? Sacrifice? Laura was confused, unable to piece it all
together. She had absolutely no clue what these dreams all meant. Her mind was
struggling to keep up with all the new information she had been fed in such a
short time, let alone being able to process anything else on top of that.
  Incapable of shaking the eerie remnants of her dream, she sat up and glanced
around. Grace and Gemma were sound asleep and the room was dark, save a small peep
of moonlight seeping through the curtains beside her. Looking at her watch
under that light, she managed to make out the time. It was nearly 4.30am.
  Holding back a groan, she climbed from the warmth of her bed, pulled her
training gear from her bag, and made her way to the bathroom. The jetlag had
set in and her eyes were glues shut as she changed. She was pleased when she
pealed back the bandage on her arm to find that her cut was sealed and the stitches
dissolved. A purple-red jagged line covered the length of her forearm, and
yellow bruising was still visible, but she was surprised at how quickly she had
healed. Only a matter of days.
  As she stood there, her thoughts turned to her mother, and her stomach
churned with worry. Where was she? Was she okay? Was she even still alive? Did
she know that her husband was…gone?
  And then Laura was back by her father’s side. He was gripping onto her hands,
pleading for her to stay with him. The memory was tearing her heart apart as
she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She was crying, and she hadn’t even
realised.
  She looked down and yelped. Blood covered her hands. His blood. Blinking, she
realised that her hands were clean. She whimpered as she allowed the tears to
fall. She had wanted to do as he had asked, keep strong, but how could she? Her
father was gone. Forever. And there was not a single thing in the world she
could do to bring him back.
  She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, staring at her hands, but eventually
the tears dried up, and she managed to compose herself enough to leave the
bathroom. She heard Grace stir, and considered waking her up, but decided
against it. Maybe training with Drew would do her some good. Putting on a brave
face, she left the room, quietly sealing the door shut behind her. 

Drew sat
lazily upon the reception desk, munching on an apple. Laura glared at him as he
grinned back, and tossed another apple across the room to her. She caught it out
of sheer luck and took a bite.
  ‘You know, part of me had hoped that kid had come back for you. Then I
wouldn’t be up at this ungodly hour. Remind me again, why
are
we up this
early?’
  ‘Because unless you want everyone to see you train, this is the safest time
to do so. I’ve picked our location, I suggest we get going,’ he said, jumping
down from the desk and sitting the core of his apple on the bench.
  ‘Won’t people see that?’ Laura asked.
  ‘Exactly.’
He crossed the foyer, holding the door open for her. ‘I disabled the alarms for
the next three hours, so let’s hope no robbers decide now is the perfect time
to attack.’
  ‘Well, with my brilliant defence skills I have now acquired I’ll be able to
hold them off.’
  ‘Doubt it,’ Drew said as he led her across the lawn.
  Laura wondered why the forest he led her too would be ideal, until they broke
through it into a clearing.
  ‘You know, your wit is going to get you in serious trouble one day,’ Laura
said.
  ‘Who says I’m joking?’
  ‘Well you’re just rude then. Which I hope does get you in trouble.’
  He flashed her his familiar charming smile, ‘all right, defence for the next
hour. Then I’ll show you the basics of attack.’
  So, for the next hour Laura defended herself against Drew’s attacks, learning
new techniques from him as they went. He showed her the right positions to
stand in, and reminded her to keep her feet grounded.
  ‘Balance is the key. If your attacker unbalances you, recovering is difficult
and they can easily finish you off,’ Drew repeatedly told her.
  He showed her how to avoid receiving a heavy blow from a fist or weapon and taught
her how to block other possible attacks. He then showed her the best methods of
ducking or jumping kicks.
  ‘Okay,’ Drew said as Laura brushed the grass from her clothes after being
tackled yet again. ‘You are getting better.’
  ‘You just decked me.’
  ‘But it took me a good 2 minutes to do so, which can make the world of
difference during a fight,’ Drew said. ‘Now, time to show you attack. You know
how to block a punch, but after you block it, you need to know how to attack
them during that split second they are off guard. Now, throw a punch at me.’
  ‘What I’ve been waiting for all morning,’ Laura muttered, doing exactly what
Drew asked and putting in much more force than she should have.
  Within a second Drew had blocked the punch as he had shown her, gripped her
wrist tight, and twisted her arm behind her back. Once again, he was using her own
strength against her, for the more she tensed or tugged at her arm, the more it
hurt.
  ‘This position is one of the best to get an attacker into. If you are quick
enough and don’t allow them to head-butt or kick you, you can proceed to tackle
or draw a weapon on them. But there is another one move I want to show you that
is just as good.’
  He released Laura from her position and again she threw a punch at him, fist
formed as he had told her. He blocked the punch with his forearm and drove his
knee towards her stomach, stopping just as it came in contact with her.
  ‘Now this move will cause much pain to them, and if you are quick enough, you
can then knock their feet out from under them. Okay? Try with me.’
  Laura nodded, and waited as Drew positioned himself then pretended to hit
her. She blocked the blow, pushed his fist away, rendering him off guard, and
thrust her knee up into his stomach with all her might. She had planned on
pulling back like he had, but she was too late.
  Drew doubled over with pain.
  ‘My God, I’m so sorry!’ She gasped, reaching out for him.
  He stood up, holding his stomach with one hand and waving it off with the
other, ‘it’s fine,’ he wheezed, despite not needing the air, ‘good job.’
  ‘Are you okay?’ Laura asked, attempting to hold back her giggles.
  ‘Just fine.’
  Laura covered her mouth with her hands to smother the laughs that were
erupting from her lips.
  Drew gave her a thumbs up, ‘top marks.’

Half an hour
later, Laura was sure she was finally getting the hang of fighting. Drew had
shown her several different moves, all in which she had managed to perform well
enough to earn his approval.
  Drew flicked the hair from his eyes as Laura brushed the grass and dirt from
her clothes from yet another fall. She was getting better, yes, but she was
still nowhere near Drew’s level.
  ‘Now,’ Drew said, ‘time for one of my favourite moves. Hit me.’
  Laura did. In an instant he’d raised his arm, blocked the fist, and
unbalanced her. Pushed her backwards, sending her sprawling over his
outstretched leg. At the last minute before she hit the earth, he darted
around, arms going beneath her, lowering her softly to the ground. His face was
close. Very close.
  Her eyes found his deep green ones, and she sucked in a breath, butterflies
fluttering wildly in her stomach.
  Then Drew broke away, a frown on his face, ‘uh, we better keep training.’
   He pushed up from the ground, tugging her to her feet with him. He held her
hand for a moment longer than was necessary, before quickly backing away and
continuing on with the lesson.
  ‘So, usually I would kick you then sweep my leg around underneath you, not
push and trip you, but I thought that would probably hurt too much. You can try
kicking me instead.’
  Laura’s thoughts were jumbled and she wondered what had happened. Blinking
hard, she shook the thoughts from her mind. This was no for her time to be
daydreaming about boys. No, this was a time for her to fight.

‘You two
were up early,’ Stella mused, joining Laura and Drew for breakfast.
  The ‘incident’ as Laura decided to called it, seemed to be long forgotten by
Drew, but certainly not by her. She couldn’t help but watch him a little closer
now. She seemed to notice his movements, the sound of his voice and the look in
his eyes as they locked with hers every so often.
  ‘Yeah, thought we would get some training in this morning,’ Drew said.
  ‘Oh, good. How is it going?’
  ‘She is learning quickly. We are certainly on our way,’ Drew answered,
avoiding Laura’s gaze.
  ‘I feel much more confident now that I know I can fend off any raging lunatic
that comes at me,’ Laura added in all seriousness.
  Drew shook his head, ‘she’s psycho. Nearly killed me with her knee.’
  Laura raised her eyes to his to find that this time, he was watching her,
clearly amused.
  ‘Serves you right for leaving that apple core on the bench! Not to mention
the alarm system!’ Drew had re-activated the alarm system while Laura kept
watch, and they were almost caught more than four times.
  ‘Uh… what?’ Stella asked glancing from Laura to Drew.
They both trained their eyes on their menu, refusing to say anything else on
the matter.
  Leo joined them at that moment, closely followed by Caspian and Logan, then
Gemma and Grace not long after. They settled around the table and ordered their
breakfast, gossiping about the latest news in the human world.
  ‘What so people just… make out in public?’ Grace squeaked, ‘what happened to
romance and chivalry?’
  ‘That was thrown out the window years ago. Now it’s all about PDA. Apparently
it’s cute,’ Laura muttered.
  ‘PDA?’ Caspian frowned.
  ‘Public Display of Affection,’ Leo informed him.
  Everyone paused.
  ‘And how do you know that Leo?’ Stella inquired.
  ‘Uh, well, you know…’ he was red in the face as he shrugged.
  ‘No I do not know, please inform me.’
  ‘Look, sometimes I enjoy reading a good human magazine okay.’
  ‘And when in the world do you have time to do that?’
Laura could see the amusement on Stella’s face, but she wasn’t going to give in
so easily.
  ‘I don’t know. Here and there I have some free time.’
  ‘Ahhh, I think I know what he is trying to say,’ Logan said, settling back in
his seat, sending a wink Leo’s way.
  Leo’s eyes narrowed.
  ‘Please Logan, do tell.’ Stella pressed.
  ‘They are his toilet magazines,’ Logan remarked smugly.
  ‘Oh I was wondering what Woman’s Weekly was!’ Grace exclaimed.
  Leo’s face had surpassed the colour of beetroot. ‘So I like to buy Woman’s Weekly,
okay? It’s no big deal!’
  Laura couldn’t control her giggles as Stella patted Leo’s shoulder, ‘whatever
you say dear.’

‘Did you
sleep well?’ Caspian inquired. He and Laura lingered by the Hotels front steps,
the rest of their group deep in their own discussions while they waited for
their taxi to arrive.
  ‘I slept okay. I did have another strange dream, though. How about you?’ Laura
caught Drew’s eyes on them and gave a little smile before turning back to
Caspian.
  ‘Nope, no strange dreams for me. What was your dream?’
  Laura launched into a quick explanation, ensuring to add that it ended the
same way her other one had. As if it was the return of a memory.
  ‘What was it your mother said before the dream ended?’ Caspian asked, his
full attention now on her.
  ‘Memorias,’ Laura answered.
  A flash of shock crossed his expression and he answered in a whisper, ‘that
is the name given to the Memory Charm.’
  ‘So my mother
is
able to wipe my memories?’ Laura asked. She wasn’t
surprised, like she thought she should be. She had begun to suspect as much.
  ‘By the sound of it, yes, although there is no way of knowing how until we
find her and ask.’
  ‘What about Kane? And the charm he was talking about trying to find?’
  Caspian hesitated for a moment, glanced quickly at Gemma, then pulled Laura
to the side and out of earshot before explaining that there was such thing as a
‘Black Market’ in their world.
  ‘There are people of our world who are placed in between evil and good,
claiming to take no side. They are known as the Sorcerers, and they hold the
black light. We told you of Dark Magic? This is where it’s illegally produced. They
trade objects the Gods crave and in return they receive the power to access
their desirable Charm. From there, the trade extends to Enchanted or Wicked.
Any Enchanted caught dealing in the Black Market are sentenced to Hell without
trial.’
  Laura was horrified that her mother had been dealing in such ways.
  There was a flash of light as the taxi Stella had ordered crawled down the
drive way, the sunlight catching on the glass windows. It came to a stop out
the front of the hotel and Stella met the car by the curb.
  ‘All aboard,’ she called out.

As they
entered the city Stella informed everyone that they would be making their first
stop at Bran’s National Park. ‘I have a friend who will be meeting us there and
will hopefully be able to shed some light on where the Istha Map is located.’
  ‘I can take you to the information centre to collect a map,’ the taxi driver
offered.
  Stella looked at the driver and laughed, ‘oh, no that won’t be necessary. We
are searching for a special historical map for… research. To see what has
changed.’
  The cab driver gave a nod of understanding, and Laura gazed out the window,
watching the streets of Bran pass by. She was vaguely aware of Stella reading
from another brochure in the background.
  As they arrived, Laura took in the beauty of the Park. Lush green grass surrounded
a huge water fountain and stone paths weaved their way through the park and
around the perfectly pruned trees. The place bustled with life, people were out
running, watching their children play, having morning tea, and walking their
pets.
  Stella led them through the grass and into the shade of the trees. A Wizard was
draped across a seat, reading a Bran newspaper and smoking a cigarette. His face
was young, with high cheekbones, and brown hair falling down over his eyes. As
he heard Stella approach, he lifted his face and his lips broadened into a
smile, showing a set of slightly yellowed teeth. He folded the newspaper
placing it under his arm and dropped his cigarette, stepping on it and drilling
it into the earth. Laura looked around nervously, expecting security to come
running.
  ‘Stella! Long-time no see!’ He exclaimed and pulled her in for a hug.
  Laura chanced a look at Leo and almost laughed at the expression that was on
his face. His glasses had slid down his nose and his face was crumpled into a
dirty glare as he watched his wife pull away from the man.
  ‘Leo, good to see you man,’ he said, extending his hand, which Leo took.
  ‘Leo is adorable when he is jealous,’ Grace whispered to Laura and she
stifled a laugh.
  ‘Tom, these are my students, but they have certainly become like my children
after watching them grow up. Makes me feel old!’ Stella laughed.
  ‘Stell, you are much too beautiful to even be a day over twenty-one.’
  Laura and Grace giggled as they watched Leo’s face further contort. Stella
waved his compliment off as she stood aside and introduced everyone.
  ‘It is nice to meet you all,’ Tom smiled, shaking hands with each and every
one of the students.
  ‘Now, we are in search of something special, Tom, and we are sincerely hoping
you will be able to help us. Although when we ask we must beg of you to keep
this visit secret, as it is not public knowledge,’ Stella said.
  ‘Of course Stell! We have been friends for years, you know you can count on
me.’
  Stella launched into a brief overview of the situation, not venturing into
too much detail. She explained that Laura’s mother was missing and they were
helping Laura locate her and in order to do that they required access to Istha’s
Map to see if she was nearby.
  ‘Ah, the map. I will tell you the location of the riddle that will lead you
to the map, but I’m afraid you will have to collect it alone,’ Tom said
regrettably.
  Leo sighed with relief.
  ‘Of course Tom, we don’t expect any more of you!’ Estella insisted.
  ‘The clue is carved into the stone wall of the library in a deserted house
outside of the city. I have gone over the riddle numerous times and I cannot
for the life of me figure out its meaning. I have to be honest though, each
time I seek out the riddle, it seems to change. That’s why it is best you find
it for yourself, for I believe the map changes locations often, thus changing
the riddle.’ Tom said, removing a pen from his pocket, hastily scribbling down
the address on the corner of his newspaper and tearing it off. ‘But I will tell
you this, it is not as obvious as it first seems.’
  ‘Thank you Tom! This information is very helpful and much appreciated,’
Stella said, taking the paper.
  ‘You are welcome Stell. I guess we best part ways as you continue on your
quest. I wish you luck. It was nice meeting you all!’ Tom said as he turned to
leave, ‘Stell, don’t stay a stranger.’
  ‘I won’t Tom,’ Stella nodded, and with that, he left.