AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When she stood up, she looked around for the others. They were all right next to her, thankfully in one piece and also getting to their feet. Aiden looked a little green but other than that, no one was worse for wear.
Though, Sorcha’s hair was a windblown mess, which made her nervous about what hers looked like. She patted her hair only to feel a huge pile of tangles and knots. Well shoot, that was going to take forever to fix. Her curls were practically untamable as it was, this was going to take a whole bottle of conditioner to fix.
Sighing, she looked back to the others, “So what now? I thought it was supposed to take us right to her?”
Marshall pointed to a large tree about ten feet from them, then started walking toward it. He was about to walk right into the tree when suddenly, he completely disappeared.
She had started to follow him, but now stopped with Aiden and Sorcha right beside her. Sorcha glanced over to her and asked, “Are we really expected to just walk through whatever that is?”
Before she could respond, Marshall’s head poked back out of whatever gap he had walked through, “Are you coming or not?”
She could feel his amusement, like he thought scaring them was funny. She took Sorcha’s hand, “Come on. We’ll go together.”
She nodded and squeezed Kenzie’s hand, then they walked toward Marshall’s floating head which disappeared again as they got closer. She glanced behind them to make sure Aiden was following. He gave her a small smile for reassurance and motioned with his hand for them to go forward.
When they reached the tree, she and Sorcha looked at each other for just a second, then Kenzie walked through first with Sorcha following behind.
They stepped out into a fairytale clearing.
It was beautiful and sunny, and there were plants and flowers everywhere. There was so much color that it didn’t look real.
She felt like Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole, looking around in wonder and awe. There were birds, butterflies, rabbits, foxes and all kinds of other animals just wandering around as if that were completely normal.
She could hear frogs croaking from the little fountain and cicadas chirping their song. It felt like a dream.
Finally, after several minutes of staring at everything, she realized Marshall and Aiden were standing next to another woman. Sorcha was still holding her hand, just as mesmerized by their surroundings.
Kenzie squeezed her hand gently to get her attention, “I think they are waiting for us.”
Together, they walked over to where the others were standing.
The woman beside Marshall was tall, almost as tall as the men. She had short spiky blonde hair that had pink stripes all through it, a tiny nose, full lips, and blue eyes that seemed a bit odd from this distance, but she didn’t want to seem rude by staring. Then she took in the rest of her. She was wearing a black fishnet shirt with a hot pink tank top underneath, ripped blue jeans and huge platform boots with steel toes. So that was why she was so tall.
She had a mix of the nineties punk rock and goth look going on. Kenzie honestly wasn’t sure what to think of her.
Marshall smiled, “Incredible, isn’t it?” She stopped staring at the woman and nodded at Marshall, “Sorcha, Kenzie, this is Raven La Rosa. She is a good friend and has agreed to help us.”
Sorcha stepped a little closer, “I’m Sorcha, it’s nice to meet you.”
Kenzie followed her lead, reaching out to shake Raven’s hand, “I’m Kenzie, nice to meet you. So… You’re a witch?”
Way to be subtle, she shook her head a little, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to just blurt it out like that.”
Raven grinned at her, after letting her hand go, she said, “No worries. I’m not much for ceremony and honestly, I can be very blunt. You won’t offend me. Yes, I’m a witch, I’m much older than I look and yes, all of the animals are real.”
She also had a British accent. Kenzie wasn’t sure why, but she’d expected her to have a southern accent like they all had, but they had just travelled around the world to see her. So, she was thinking any of her expectations should probably be thrown out.
She didn’t know how Raven knew what she had been thinking about the animals, but she had so many more questions. For right now, she asked, “How are they all just hanging out here?”
Everyone chuckled a little, then Raven answered, “I inadvertently draw animals to me. It’s part of my magic. I’m a water witch, and part of that is healing and calming. Animals like to be around that kind of energy. And this place, is a big magical bubble that I created so it draws them here.”
“Wait so does that mean my magic is like yours since I can heal?” She was intrigued and wanted to know everything.
Raven indicated toward a small hut that she hadn’t yet noticed, “Let’s go inside and we’ll talk about everything.”
As she led them to her home, Sorcha sidled up close to Kenzie, “I think I like her.”
She smiled, “Me too.”
