Reign of Witches Read online

  “Okay then, now that we have that settled, let’s go back to my mom and find something to eat.” Starbeam’s tummy was making gurgling sounds. It was clear he had not eaten in a long while. “Here Anna, this will make our journey quicker.”

  POOF!

  Tailya turned me into a fairy. Apparently, she thought it faster to fly than to walk.

  Gliding through the cool air, I tried to piece together any past pictures of where I’d gone to. But nothing came to mind. Not one shred of evidence passed through my brain. I was at a loss. My thoughts became foggy every time I felt an image try to appear. Nothing. Just blank white slates rummaged through my befuddled mind.

  I wanted to give my brain a break, so I began to focus on the food that was going to fill my belly. I could smell it – all the berries and… wait a sec, what was that? A still, small voice popped into my food dream, but I couldn’t hear anything it was saying.

  “Shh… I know you’re hungry. I’m going to feed you soon.” Tay and Starbeam stopped in midflight. “Who are you talking to, Anna?” Tay’s face looked puzzled and afraid, like she again knew something I didn’t. “My stomach. It’s talking to me, telling me to feed it.” Both of them started laughing hysterically and turning flips in the air. “Come on then! We’re almost there!” Tay said while giggling. All three of us were famished and ready to return to Yurika.

  “Look! The meadow!” “Shh!!” Tay flew up to me, shoving her finger into my lips. “Why all the shushing?” I asked as I swiped her uninvited finger from my mouth. “Huh? Oh…Well…” “Oh, just spit it out already!” I could tell she was keeping something from me. “We just need to be careful around the meadow at sunset, ok?”

  Tay seemed sincere with her warning, so I quieted down to a whisper. “What aren’t you telling me, Tailya?” “Hey guys! I can see my mom!” Starbeam whispered. Tay flew away from me and that was the end of our discussion.

  We reached Yurika as she was kindly preparing our meal. By the time we filled our bellies full, it was time to turn in. Tailya never brought the subject up again, so I decided to leave it alone…for now.

  Nightfall seemed short as I woke up groggy the next morning. “Anna!” Tailya was calling me from somewhere in the tower. But which room was her voice coming from? I went out into the hall and heard Tay call my name again.

  “Anna, come in here.” It was louder this time. My mouth gaped wide open as I realized her voice was coming from the portal room.

  The mirror hovered in front of me and my knees started to shake in fear. What did she have planned? I didn’t see Tay when I entered the room, but apparently, she was there because she answered my mumbling. “This is not just a door to other worlds. It tells your last memories as well. Since you can’t remember anything from yesterday, I thought we could walk through where you went.” I nodded, showing gratitude toward her desire to help. I wanted to know what had happened to me, where I had gone.

  Something was fishy with Tay, though. Did she really want to help me? Or, did she just need to report back to Fawn about where I had been? Ah ha! Excitement of a memory danced in my heart. “I remember!” I said aloud. Tay’s eyes widened and a huge grin formed on her mouth. “You do?!” she yelled. “Yes, you were teaching me spells to be able to save my mother from something that wants to harm me.” A stillness rose over her. She looked down to the floor and sighed. “What’s wrong Tay? Isn’t that right?” I asked. She wouldn’t even look at me. She just nodded in silence.

  Her sigh let me know that she really did want to know where I had gone yesterday. But I still didn’t know if it was because she wanted to help me or not. “Come on, Anna. Let’s see where you went.” Tay grabbed my hand and took me through the gateway.

  I had closed my eyes, not knowing where she was leading me. She still had hold of my hand, thank goodness, because I would have fallen down taking that step out of the portal. My eyes were still squeezed tight.

  “Anna!” Tay screamed as she jerked our clasped hands toward her. “Open your eyes, Anna!” Tay sounded terrified. I found myself wanting to squeeze my eyelids harder so they wouldn’t open. With a deep inhale and a tighter grip on Tay’s hand, I began to peek my eyes open.

  “Where did you take us, Tay?!” She looked at me and shook her head.

  The sky was dark red, and it had traces of smoke in it. There were black rocks at the bottom in a pool of lava. The lava had flames bursting out of it. Then we heard it…

  Both our heads jerked toward one another. “Wha…what was that?” we said in unison. Then we heard it again.

  Screams of agony and torture were all around us. Our eyes widened. Our stares saying what our voices couldn’t. “Let’s get out of here.” “Wait! We have to save them!” I yelled. “No, Anna. We have to get out of here!” Tay yelled back. She seemed worried, so I dropped my head and nodded. She gripped her hand tightly around my arm and tugged me through the portal.

  This time I had my eyes open and it was so strange. Flashes of different worlds and some of my memories were floating all around me. I even saw some of Tay’s. “What?! Tay, you were once a real girl?!” I couldn’t believe it. Tailya had more of a secret than I had thought. What in the world. My eyes met hers. “No more hiding it, Tailya. It’s time to spill it,” I said with my arms crossing my chest.

  Tay took a deep breath, her eyes widened again. Then she looked at me and spoke. “Okay…”

  CHAPTER 21

  “You’re not going to believe this, but yes, I was once like you Anna.” Tears welled up in Tay’s eyes as she continued. “I cannot remember who or where I came from. All I know is my name, if that is even true. I do remember bits and pieces of my mother and father from when I was little, though.” Tears flowed freely down her face, each one welcoming another. Before I knew it, my face was wet also. I wiped my chin and she continued.

  “My mother was blonde and beautiful. Her smile made my father’s blue eyes sparkle every time he was around her. I remember her laugh. It brought me so much joy. But then my heart aches because it disappears. You see, I can’t hold on to it for some reason.”

  My heart sank. I really wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how. My heart was aching for my best friend. I wiped my eyes and let my attention go back to her. Tay’s story was nothing I’d ever imagined. “It’s ok, Tay, we’ll figure this out. And we’ll do it together.” She looked at me with hope in her eyes and gave me a small grin.

  I wrapped my arms around her and said, “Teach me everything you know.” She put both hands on my shoulders and pushed me back, so our eyes locked on to each other. Her gaze was intense. “Are you sure, Anna?” she asked, with wide eyes. “Yes, Tailya, we are both going home.”

  Tailya and I stayed in the tower that evening, training and brainstorming over how to get back home. It seemed the portal would take us anywhere but home. We had to figure out why that was happening.

  Tay was a good teacher. She taught me how to grow things, how to shrink things, how to make objects disappear and how to make them reappear. It was a long night. I looked at Tay and yawned. “I’m tired. Can we pick this up tomorrow?” Tay copied my yawn and nodded her head. We went to our rooms and I found my bed super inviting. I hit the pillow and passed right out.

  Morning came and it was time for us to get to work. We needed a plan to get back home. Tay strolled across my door. “Come on, Anna. Get up. We have tons to do today if we’re ever going to get home.”

  I pulled the covers off myself and slowly rolled out of bed. I guess I didn’t get much sleep, or I slept really hard, because my body wasn’t ready to wake yet. “Okay, let’s do this.” I planted my feet on the floor as I wondered what Tailya had planned for us today.

  I grabbed my wand and shoes and headed downstairs. “Tay…” I called, but there was no answer. “Tailya, what’s for breakfast?” I called again. “I’m up here, Anna. I’m in the portal room.” I shivered a bit when she said that. I didn’t want another encounter like yesterday.

  I felt mysel
f becoming cranky. I was tired and hungry. I didn’t feel like jumping through worlds until I’d eaten something. I opened the door and found Tay sitting on the floor near a basket of berries. It looked like she’d conjured up some pastries as well. I was very pleased.

  After we filled our bellies, we tried coming up with a plan on where we needed to go in order to find our memories of home. The two of us started to draw our fondest memories of home. I remembered my father’s kind eyes and his warm hugs. My heart started to ache, and I felt my eyes starting to burn. I blinked twice to hold back my tears.

  I looked up at Tay, but she was knee deep into sketching her map. Looking back down at my own, I picked up a pencil and got back to drawing. “Okay Anna, think,” I said to myself while tapping the pencil against my forehead. I needed to remember the last place I had gone before I came here. “Ah ha!” Tay dropped her pencil and jerked her head up.

  “What?! What Anna? Do you remember something about where you had gone?” That wasn’t it at all, and why was she still going on about that?

  “No, Tailya, I remembered what made me run away from home.” Her eyes widened and her focus on me was hard. “Okay, go on then.” Tay crossed her arms as she held my gaze.

  “Remember how I told you I was listening in on my mother’s conversation?” Tay nodded. “Okay, well there was no one else in the room with her.” “Who was she talking to then?” “I don’t know. All I know is it wants to harm me, or possibly kill me.” Tay uncrossed her arms and her jaw dropped like she’d never heard this before.

  “Really Tay? I know I’ve already told you all of this. It’s why you brought me here, remember? Tailya, don’t you remember anything?” The shock in my voice began to overwhelm her. “What’s going on?” Tay yelled in anger while slapping her palms against her temples.

  “Come on, Tay, like that’s really going to help.” She frowned. “Well then, Miss Know It All, what do you suggest we do?” I dropped my head and shook it. “I don’t know.”

  We put our heads back down and started sketching again. “Finished.” Tay scooted close to me and began speaking about her last memory. I acted like I was listening by nodding every once in a while, but I couldn’t take my focus off this one place she’d sketched.

  “Wait.” She paused. “I know this place.” I pointed to the same place on my map. Her eyes got big and she looked excited; like I’d found something important. But this was no place to get excited about. It was Ranard’s place.

  “Do you know who owns this place?” I looked her deep in the eyes as I asked. My gaze disturbed her. I could tell because she started twiddling her fingers. Tay lifted her head. “I…I cannot remember who’s there, only who used to take me there.” “Who was that?” I asked with my eyes transfixed on her. She was about to finish when we heard the call.

  “Annalise, Tailya, can you come out to play today?” Starbeam shouted from down below. Tay’s focused thought started to drain, and she froze. “Oh no, you don’t.” I said, while placing both my hands on her face. “This is more important, Tay. Tell me who used to take you there.” “My mother,” she said.

  Tailya rushed down to see Starbeam as I was still on the floor in complete shock. “What in the world?” I said aloud. I sat and thought more about it. My mother also used to take me to Ranard’s. If her mother took her, then that means she lives near me in Bristeria!

  “Yes! I remember!” I jumped up and shouted in excitement. I needed to tell Tay where we were going to go first. But I didn’t know if she was going to like it. I knew I wouldn’t. I hated that place.

  I rushed down the stairs and out the door to tell Tay my plan. She was with Starbeam. She had turned herself back into a human. I was wondering what these two were planning. “Hey guys, what’s going on?” Before either one answered, Tay told me to get my wand. I listened and did what she said. “Okay, now what?” She pointed at my legs and I knew what I had to do.

  I circled my wand above my head and watched my legs shrink before my eyes. I was in the air fluttering above them. She motioned her wand toward Starbeam. “What the…” I dropped my mouth wide. I couldn’t believe it! My unicorn friend was now human!

  Starbeam made Tay and I blush when he winked at us. I giggled a little. He was so handsome! He was tall, blonde and had bright blue eyes. His build wasn’t half bad, either. Broad shoulders, big muscles on each arm, and washboard abs. This definitely wasn’t the little unicorn I once knew.

  “Tay…” She didn’t look away. She was also staring at Starbeam. I chuckled. “Earth to Tailya!” I shouted. “Wha… huh…” “Tailya, snap out of it!” I scowled at her. Apparently, her magic was too much for her. Starbeam burst out laughing. “Now girls, there’s plenty of me to go around.” Tay and I glowered at him.

  Starbeam quieted. “I was only joking, geez, ladies.”

  “Tay, what is all this about, anyway?” She put her hands on her hips. “Anna, I’m going to be you and you’re going to be me. We have to figure out what Fawn wants from you.” “Okay…” I winced, “But why did you change Starbeam?” Tay didn’t get to answer. Starbeam reared his shoulders back pridefully. “I’m going to talk to the ogre on the mountain.” Just how was he going to do that?

  “You know the ogre can’t talk, right?” He pointed to my wand. “With this he can,” he said as he snatched it out of my hand. “Okay, we have a plan, now let’s act on it,” Tay said as she pointed her wand at me.

  I felt a tingle in my face. “What’s going on? What are you doing?” “Shh…I’m turning you into me.” I hadn’t realized I had to actually become her. She circled her wand around her head, and I watched her face change into mine. With anxious thoughts dancing around in my head, all I could hope for was that this would actually work.

  “Wait a second!” I said aloud, which caused both of them to pause and stare at me with curiosity. “Tay, I have your memories. Why do I have your memories and not my own?” I was upset and I didn’t really understand what was going on. Anxiety started to build, and I wondered yet again if Tay was really on my side.

  CHAPTER 22

  Sometimes I would imagine this was all a dream so I wouldn’t completely lose my marbles. I shook my head a couple of times to clear my horrible thoughts. Looking at Tay and Starbeam talking and trying to come up with a plan for Fawn, I said, “Fawn likes me. I’ll show her what I learned and see if she’ll teach me more.” Tay interrupted. “No, Anna. You’re not you, remember?” I popped myself on the head, feeling sheepish. “Oh right, I forgot. Well, what will I do, then?” Tay looked at me with a ‘duh’ glare. “You are me, Anna. You have to report to Fawn like I would.”

  What was I going to say to her? How was I not going to blow the operation? I had no idea what Tay would tell Fawn. I was just a pool of nerves. I wanted to go back to bed and forget about this whole mess. But then I’d never get home. I had to suck it up and get on board.

  “So, what do I report to Fawn?” Tay leaned in and stared eye to eye with me. “Pay very close attention to what I’m about to say, Anna. I need you to remember it word for word.” My knees started to shake suddenly beneath me, and my wings weren’t flapping as fast.

  “What’s going on?” I started to panic, and Tay waved her wand at me. A bubble formed over me, then it sucked me into it. I instantly felt calm. I let out a sigh of relief and Tay started to give me instructions again. I hung on every word as instructed.

  The bubble started to fade as I felt myself calm down. “Okay, Tailya, I will tell Fawn that I have improved tremendously in the last couple of weeks and that I show true promise. I will not speak of what I cannot remember.”

  Starbeam clenched his fists. “Ah, come on already! Can we hurry it up you two?” Tay and I winked at each other. “Okay, we’ve got it,” I said. Starbeam looked relieved. “Finally! Let’s go.” He turned on his heel and headed toward the mountain.

  “Wait Starbeam!” Tay shouted at him to stop so she could remind him that the ogre wasn’t all good. “Be careful, Starbeam,
and remember how to use that wand I gave you.” He nodded. “Also, I expect you back by sundown.” He scowled at Tay. “Okay, okay!” he shouted.

  “Tay, how is he going to make it there and back before sundown?” I was curious because I noticed even when we were all flying it was still a long trip. “I told him how to get there faster on foot.”

  Tay and I headed toward the cottage that was on the other side of the tower. Fawn’s home wasn’t as nice as I remembered. It was now darker and seemed creepier somehow. I started to wonder if these were my thoughts, or Tailya’s. I fluttered up beside Tay and she looked every bit as scared as me. “Are you ok?” I asked, while fluttering in front of her eyes. She shooed me away with cold hands. I knew then that she was terrified. That was exactly what my hands would do when I was afraid.

  We looked at each other and winked, knowing it was go time. Fawn called to Tailya…which was now me. “It’s time. You’ve got this,” Tay said as she gave me a small grin. I knew it was fake, but I also knew she meant well. She was just scared for me.

  “Tailya, I’m in the kitchen.” Fawn’s voice was screechy this time. Not soft at all like I remembered. But then again, I guess this was how she spoke to Tay. Maybe that’s why Tay had been so frightened. “Tailya, come here!” Fawn roared. Now I was scared. I peeked my head around the door of the kitchen and saw Fawn messing with some dough.

  “Treats!” I shouted. Fawn chuckled. “And how is my little fairy? Good news for me, I hope.” My nose betrayed me, and the smell of delicious chocolate cookies floated to me from across the room. I fluttered to the table to grab one and Fawn swatted me away like a fly. “Uh, uh, uh! Don’t you have some explaining to do?” Oh right, the plan. Time to act like Tay. I cleared my throat.

  “What would you like to know, ma’am?” She glared at me. “Don’t you dare patronize me little girl. I’ll turn you into a plant and watch you wither and die.” My eyes widened. Had it been Fawn who had taken Tailya? I gasped, then reported everything Tay had told me to say.