AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter twenty-three
‘Tough Justice’ Blues Saraceno
JAZ MONROE
We make our way through the woods surrounding the school grounds. Roman leading us to the Fairy's secluded home. I'm not exactly sure what it is Zatrina thinks she'll accomplish with the flowers, but I trust her judgement. To anyone else, that would seem like a stupid thing to do, but I don't get any bad vibes from Zatrina. I did however get them from Sara, and I never felt like I could say anything about it. That is a mistake that I'll never make again.
"Tell me how you plan on giving Sara this concoction." Atticus' deep voice sounds from behind me.
"Don't worry about your precious little Witch, I won't hurt her." My sister's sarcasm is familiar; it seems we're as alike on the inside as we seem to be on the outside. She's a woman after my own heart.
Atticus lets out a string of very colorful words and phrases in Latin, and I have to bite my cheek as giggles threaten to spill from me. It seems the silent and brooding asshole becomes an ill-tempered man with a short fuse around my sister. If they do try and keep the bond the Ancients saw fit to give them, I'm pretty sure there are only two outcomes. One, they kill each other within the first month. Two, they become pudding in each other's hands.
Roman stops when we get to what looks like a giant ass boulder covered in moss, but if you move the vines and greenery aside, the boulder is an oddly shaped stone hut. A quaint little hovel if you will. It almost looks as if a giant took a bunch of flat stones and piled them together without really following a design. The door frame sits at an odd angle, leaning to the left while the two windows on either side are mismatched. One is vertical and the other is horizontal.
"This looks like it was designed by a child," I say under my breath before slapping a hand over my mouth and hoping like hell the homeowner doesn't have super hearing, "it's very, erm, quirky."
Smooth,Roman's amused voice echoes in my head before he turns to my sister, "We need to know how you plan on getting the truth from Sara. If she is the one who hexed Jaz, then she'll no doubt have planned to be questioned."
"Don't be so sure, Witches are cocky little fucks, she probably thinks she got away with it," Zatrina says before looking at me, "but just in case I'm wrong, I have this and can knock her out in one second flat."
She lifts a piece of her hair, it's dreaded and dyed bright red. On it, she has little rings and jewelry including a tiny clam shell which she pinches between her fingers.
"This is a poppy mixture. I stole it from the Witches who held me. I could never do anything with it because right after I snagged it, they cursed me with the demon."
"You mean you've had that this entire time?" Atticus growls. He's no doubt realizing just how little 'control' Cutthroat had over her. She could have used it on the ol' ladies who were tending to her in the bedroom. Hell, she could have used it anyone and possibly escaped.
"Yeah, I also have lock picks," She winks at me before smiling at Atticus. He grimaces in return, "anyway, I'll knock her out, pour the mixture down her throat and slap her awake."
Roman nods before banging on the door of the home. I don't know much about Fairies, they were never discussed nor were they allowed in Raider pack, but from what I've managed to learn since I've been on the run and now a Cutthroat, is that the creatures are vivacious and flirty. They're social butterflies, but for some reason, this one and her family are called hermits,recluses. I can't help but wonder why.
The door opens, and since it's weirdly diagonal, the door swings almost upward. How gravity doesn't take over and slam it on the woman standing at the doorway is beyond me.
Magic, my wolf rumbles inside me. Yes, magic, I can feel the tendrils of it all over us. Like wisps of energy caressing our skin and letting us know we are in the presence of someone well-crafted in its art.
"Alpha," The gorgeous dark-skinned woman says as her light grey, almost white eyes take us in, "is there a problem?"
"No, there's no problem, Aster," Roman says, "we just need a couple of flowers from you. My ol' lady has been hexed and we'd like to cleanse her."
Way to just toss that out there casually, Roam. Why don't we tell her about Sara while we're at it?I grumble through our link.
"We believe Sara is the caster." He says like an asshole, ignoring my sharp pinch to the inside of his arm.
The scent of freshly baked cookies reaches my nose, and my stomach gives a terrible growl which makes everyone, including Aster chuckle.
"Why don't you all come in and have a seat. I can grab what I need while you all eat some snacks my children just made." Aster, a beautiful name for a stunning woman, steps back and motions for us to enter.
At first, I'm afraid my vertigo will fail me, and I'll go tumbling like a fool, but as we step through the threshold, it's as if the world changes around us. We're in what looks like a mid-afternoon garden with the sun sitting low on the west; a real shock to my senses when it was just nighttime in the woods. The sun's rays give everything a buttery glow. The dew on each blade of grass and leaf gives the whole place an ethereal look, as if the Ancients spilled diamonds all over this gorgeous place.
I'm busy basking in the storybook garden around me when I hear my sister's gasp. I turn quickly, falling into a battle stance but quickly relax when I see what has her gasping. Aster no longer resembles a human, though she still has the body shape and bone structure of one, her beautiful dark chocolate skin has changed to dark forest green, her long hair is long vines pulled into a braid down her back with little colorful flowers all throughout. She looks like the embodiment of mother nature. A damn goddess.
A little girl comes running out from somewhere, "Mama! TheZiphler isback! Oh, hello Alphas," The girl stills her body and bows her head softly before jumping up and down. "I almost caught it too, but it's too fast for me."
"Oh, Dafi, if you would just follow my instructions, you'll be able to capture the little creature. Until you learn to use your patience, you'll never be able to learn your powers. Now, see to the Alphas while I grab my bag."
"Yes mama," The little crestfallen girl says before tossing her long vines over her shoulder. She leads us into a little screened-in room where a table sits with seven mismatched chairs around it. I'm guessing they're home is the garden. There is no house inside here, just open skies and beautiful plants. I wonder what their beds are made of, do they sleep inside roses?
Dafi drops into a chair, her little legs swinging as she eyes the scrumptious food spread out before us. She looks just like Aster, but you can see subtle differences. Dafi, as her mother called her, has translucent wings on her back. Her little dress is made of a large pink petal, and it’s styled to look like a ballerina's tutu.
