The morning dew dripped from the needles of the pine trees. Frogs from the night were silent, the day breaking, while the birds chirped at one another. I pulled up my dress, my bare feet stepping in the wet grass, and I raced alongside the edge of the town to the backside of Arian's cottage.

Gripping the brick, I peeked around to see Cecily knocking on the door. The purple smoke from our cabin slowly drifted in the gray clouds. She pulled at her braids with a nervous expression until Arian opened the door, and she melted her anxiety away.

"Arian," Cecily cried, bowing her head as concern washed over her face. "High Priestess, I need your help." A tear escaped her eye while her bottom lip trembled. "I was experimenting with a spell and think I messed up."

Cecily pointed toward the purple smoke and fell to her knees. She wrapped her arms around Arian's legs, wailing. Her cries filled the silent streets between the homes.

A neighbor exited their cabin, watching the chaos, and another stepped from their home. Arian pulled Cecily up while the covenant watched the drama unfold.

"Girl, no need to cry." Arian huffed, waving to the witches with a fake smile. "Show me your cauldron."

Arian stepped from the door frame and walked toward our cottage. Cecily smiled at me with two thumbs up and curtsied for her acting. I shook my head, holding in a grin.

"What are you doing?" His voice was smooth to the soul, causing my grin to widen with excitement.

I turned and placed my face into his bare chest, and he hugged me tight. "What are you doing here?" I asked, still in his arms. "I told you I would meet you today by the river."

"Yes, but I don't listen very well."

I giggled and pulled away. "I will see you later."

Stepping around Hiro, I climbed onto a wooden barrel and adjusted the window until I slid it open. Hiro touched my back, and I turned to glance at him.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he murmured, clenching his jaw and looking into the dark cabin.

"I will be okay," I whispered, climbing through the window.

I turned to pull the window down, watching Hiro's eyes of uneasiness. He shook his head in disbelief before running off into the forest.

The tint of blue from the morning sky barely shined into the kitchen through the tiny window. I tiptoed around, seeing a pot of water on an open fire, the flame blaring a bright blue with a witch's spell of eternal. The steam floated from the top of the teapot, and a high whistle blared.

Rushing to the tiny pot, I removed it from the heat and snapped my fingers over the flame. The blue slowly died out, a scream from the blaze like a child in pain followed by stillness.

The calmness raced to my heart, a silence bare to the bone. No words, no critters, no noise. My blood rushed to my ears with the eerie feeling of darkness as I stepped out of the barely lit kitchen into a pitched-black hall.

On each side, doors lined with light leaking from under the panels. The maroon color painted the air with Arian's fog floating at my feet as I slowly drifted down the hallway. I brushed my fingers against the wall. The dust caking on my skin, layers of grime covering the framed drawings of past High Priest and High Priestess.

I stopped at one. Her drawing beamed to the touch like someone had cleaned it moments earlier. The unfaded ink with details of her round eyes and high cheekbones. A ring on her finger as they captured her with her hand on her chest, over her heart.

Reaching, I touched the drawing, the ring, a warm pinch shocking my pointer as if I brushed fire, a sting lingering from the tip of my finger to the solid red ring on my skin.

"Ouch," I whispered, shaking my hand in discomfort until the heat faded.

A glow beamed down the hallway, a red with a slight yellow tint, a pulsing glow signaling me to enter. I stepped closer, and the ray faded to gloom, my eyes blurry with the sudden dark. The creaking of the floorboards echoed in the silence as I entered the next area of Arian's cottage.

The darkness shadowed the room as I scanned and saw the table with tiny items lined up. A red crystal glowed brighter as I stepped closer, crouching, my face only inches away, and saw a yellow sprite trapped inside. The fairy flipped me off, her aggressive gesture showing her temper. The sprite's hair floating like water filled the gemstone, and she sat with a huff. I gripped the stone and placed it in my pocket, the bells of the yellow wings fluttering to escape the stone.

The floors creaked below me as I walked into the next room, fog lingering at my feet. A cauldron sat on a wee table with a blanket-covered mirror above. My fingers brushed the chalk drawings, the thin lines forming Cyrus and his smile. Each sketch was a different angle to him, with a half-burnt one in the center of the pot.

I reached into the cauldron and removed the picture, the plant-based paper dissolving into ash between my fingers. The fairy in my pocket chimed, and I jumped, kneeing the table. A raddle shook the pot, revealing more sketches.

Pulling the papers out, I see chalk drawings of me, the same style as Cyrus. I dropped the art, stepping back and hitting another vast table hidden in the dark. A violet ball rolled to the edge and dropped off with a bang.

I froze, watching the ball loudly tumble from the darkness into another space. Quickly, I raced after the stone, crawling on my knees until it stopped. The gloom blinded my recovery as I crept with only concern. As I reached, I felt the cold, stiff texture of a human leg.

Stumbling back, I cupped my mouth, a muffled scream as I watched Henry slumped in a wooden chair. His eyes were open as he focused on the emptiness.

"High Priest," I whispered, standing and leaving the rock at his feet. "Are you okay?"

He didn't move, but the fairy in my pocket rang loudly. Leaning closer, I could feel the warmth of Henry's breath on my face as his chest rose and fell. Unblinking, a fly buzzed around his face, landing on his open eye. I quickly gripped the rock near his feet, holding it tight. The sprite screamed, shaking in the trapped crystal within my pocket.

"Stop," I whispered, pulling her out and walking away from Henry. "What?" I asked her, lifting the gemstone inches from my face.

She danced in the crystal, acting out a death scene before falling to the ground with a squeal. Leaping, she raised her arms, threw them down, and repeated the action. I glared, putting her back in my pocket.

"Not helping." I raced back to the room.

The fairy chimed louder, shaking my pocket. I pulled the crystal out again, watching the sprite act like a wolf and play dead repeatedly. Her wings chimed powerfully, vibrating the gemstone cage. The maroon crystal now glowing a bright yellow within.

"Just say it," I said, angry with her games.

She paused, placing her hand on her hip. The yellow brightened before she opened her mouth. I leaned closer and saw her tongue missing. She crossed her arms and sat crisscrossed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, exhaling. "Don't worry. I will bring you to Lilac." I tucked her in my pocket. "She would free you from the crystal."

Shifting the cool, smooth violet rock back to its original place, I saw the burn marks etched into the old wood of the table, a testament to forgotten candles. About to turn around, the fairy in my pocket would give Lilac her answer, but I stopped, thinking about her petite dance. The wolf she had acted out and died.

A chill ran down my spine, raising goosebumps on my arms as I lit the candle, its flickering light dancing across the vibrant drawings of Hiro on the table. The cauldron lit with a black fog, and a witch's book opened before it.

"No," I said, touching the book and seeing the words in bold on the top. "Death."

Arian had a black magic book. She planned to kill Hiro slowly and painfully. I flipped the pages to another drawing, marking a spot. The words faded from generations of use, a curse of evil that controlled the High Priestess and Priest of the Rosa Covenant.

I glanced at the cauldron, with Cyrus's drawings and mine hidden. Arian had been controlling Cyrus and plans to possess me. Generations of evil within the Rosa Covenant, but why would an elder who had passed want to continue?

Did this suggest that Arian was under a curse, too, or did she choose to keep spreading the toxicity? If Cyrus had a curse on him, that meant he declined the path his mother had explained to him, right? There were so many questions on why the Rosa Covenant even needed the dark magic.

My heart pounded in my chest, and my breath hitched with a thick retch. A tear escaped with fear and dread. The ring on my finger stung with heat. I glanced at the red stone and black band. Had the Sun Goddess been evil all along? Had I been praying to a goddess of darkness?

I pulled at the ring, wanting to rip the object from my finger, not wanting the touch on my skin, the heat stinging my digit like the sun burning my body. I dropped to the floor, my knees collapsing under me.

"Why?" I cried into my palms. "All the lies. And you picked me to be cursed next." Glancing up, I looked at the cauldron spell driven to kill Hiro. "Your sister's saving me, but you never cared."

I stood, gripping the table with anger. The glittering crystals, each one catching the light, surrounded the drawings as I picked them up one by one and smashed them against the hardwood floor, the sound echoing in the room. I heard the crunch of glass-like stones shattering near my feet as the sharp edges bit into my skin, but I ignored the pain. With my hands stretched, I pulled the flame from the candle and lit all the chalk drawings in a blue fire.

"You will not take him away from me!" I yelled, feeling the witch within me boil and the cauldron bubbling with my magic near.

Kicking at the table's leg, I snapped it in half before flipping the table and letting the flame mix with the fog. The cauldron rolled across the floor and stopped before the other table.

I stomped over and booted the cauldron across the room into the space with Henry. Yelling with the chime of the fairy, I flipped the other table and watched the pot spill black spiky oil. The oil prickled at the air and quickly consumed the drawings of Cyrus.

Stepping back, I readied my escape, but the black oil surged forward, its needle-like edges glinting menacingly, mere inches from my face. I could smell its acrid stench. A wave of icy terror washed over me as the toxic spell, a reek of poisonous fumes and crackling energy, hunted for its prey, the air thick with its murderous intent. My bottom lip trembled, a silent tremor mirroring the unsettling movements of the creature within the slick, dark oil that seemed to watch my every move.

"Please," I whispered with a cry. "Hiro," I choked, my voice trembling with a desperate plea as I held the icy grip of fear constricted my chest, desiring him to save me.

The oil, thick and viscous, enveloped me, its scent sharp and its tiny needles pricking my soft skin. The opaque magic bleeding into my blood, soul-stealing, love-killing. But all I imagined was his smile before the darkness took over my vision and the sprite's chime silenced into the shadows, far away.

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