"So if you concentrate enough, you can keep a small barrier around you," Lucious explained, showing Ina his palm that was illuminated in dark blues.

The sun was setting by now. All three of them had left after a small blessing from Agatha, and a nice hearty meal.

"I see. I mean, I don't even know how I would...is there like a specific word or words I can use?"

"As you grow accustomed to the words and spells, the less you need to say them. Just thinking about them should create what you want. I think if you both get used to just, thinking it, you can progress when it comes to magic, much faster," Lucious added.

The three of them had been walking for several hours, Lucious sitting down on Yoongi's shoulder like a parrot would on a pirate, only after being asked by both of them to stay in his animal form. They were not hungry yet, but as the sun continued to set, the wind only grew stronger and so did the lingering feeling of wanting another meal.

"Why didn't you try that method of teaching with me?" Yoongi scoffed angrily, the crow chuckling to itself.

"We were in less rush to learn before and I could take my time to make sure your magic was stable. Unstable magic leads to easy mistakes. If the foundation of a spell is strong, there is no way in Igna any counterspell could break it," Lucious excused, Yoongi shaking his head.

"Anyhow, Yoongi, I was going to tell you earlier that I think I have figured out some of the ingredients for the antidote already. However, when we get back I will absolutely need help figuring out the rest," Ina chimed in.

She felt like it was easier to talk to him now, more than before. Knowing more about his past made him vulnerable in her eyes, and with his vulnerability, Ina was able to speak to him like she would her brother.

He was a gentle soul, that boy named Yoongi. His face was full of despair, and every time he gazed at the sky, Ina could tell he longed for something.

"So, what do you know so far?" he asked innocently.

Ina blushed when looking at his face, the way he pouted ever so endearing.

"I-"

Ina cleared her throat before pulling out a piece of paper from her backpack that she had been writing on prior to leaving for the swamp.

"So we have the pair of toad eyes which we are on the way to get, then there is the matter of the warlock's lock, which could either mean a lock as in something that cannot be open, or a piece of hair, and I'm willing to bet on the hair," Ina murmured.

Yoongi, who had been standing further in front of the dirt path, and took a step back to look at the paper Ina was holding.

"So, my hair?" Yoongi asked, reading Ina's scribbled notes.

"I don't think I am a warlock so I wouldn't count, now would I?"

"Hm, you might be right but we have to try, no?" Ina replied.

"But then there is the question of the water from the Magic Tree," Lucious pointed out.

"My brother had a vial left of the water. We were using it to keep ourselves from the pain that comes with awakening our powers but, since he had volunteered earlier, knowing him, he will insist on letting you have it."

"But what if I reject it?" Yoongi spoke to himself.

"He would force you to take it. Trust me, it's better if you don't argue with him," Ina chuckled.

"That's all I have been able to figure out for now. And I-" 

Ina paused.

Her body had begun to feel pain, her bones aching to the point they made her fall to her knees.

"You okay?" both Yoongi and Lucious asked, going down to help her up, their eyes full of worry.

"Yeah, it's just the whole magic thingy. My body feels like it's burning." 

"Want me to carry you?" Lucious asked.

"No, I'm fine. Just give me a second, it'll go away on its own," Ina said through her teeth, using her hand to shoo him away.

Yoongi felt bad.

It reminded him of when he awoke his own powers.

He had gone on a hunting trip with his brother when it happened, getting sick away from home. It was a tad more like a common cold, but it was comparable to how the witches went through "magical puberty" which would have caused a commotion. He remembers his brother taking care of him, keeping his head cold, or dipping him in ice-cold water from the riverbeds below.

"I know it hurts but please, don't let it take over," Jungi had whispered night after agonizing night. He begged, Jungi had begged that when it was all over, his brother would become like him, unable to hear the damn crow that followed them everywhere.

Just as much as Jungi pleaded for him to not give in to the magic, Lucious would also fly near him whenever Jungi went to gather food and would tell Yoongi, urge Yoongi to let the pain consume him, for it was in this pain that the magic lay. 

"Here," Yoongi smiled sadly, pulling Ina onto her feet and resting one of her arms on his shoulder.

"Lean on me."

Ina didn't say a word, resting her arm on him. She didn't want to seem useless, even though she felt like a burden, but she needed to rely on him. Even if it was embarrassing to her.

Ina had never felt so helpless. It had been a while since she had last felt that way, and now it felt like something that happened often, especially when he was involved.

They walked for half an hour more, arriving at the foot of the swamp, the trees a lot taller and with water beginning to hit their ankles. It was darker now, the cold air of the night clashing with the pooling of the water and hitting Ina's ankles in a much lovelier way than she cared to admit. Nearby, and off to one side, was a small cottage Agatha had mentioned she had built. It was a place she used to rest, and also somewhere Ina and Yoongi had planned to stay the night. Although Lucious looked to be at 100% functionality, they both knew he was still in some pain. Adding to it Ina's situation and you had two reasons to call it a night. 

Advancing towards the path that led to the cottage, Ina's legs finally gave out. Away from the cold water that had appeared to soothe them, Ina's last bit of energy faded when away from it.

The pain had spread, and although she had attempted to be strong, the fire that consumed her ankles made it impossible to stay on her feet.

Yoongi, unfortunately, had no warning of this, Ina pulling him down with her as both of them faceplanted into the dirt.

"Pfft!! Woman, please give me a heads up that you're going to just go on and become jelly!!" he shouted, spitting out the bit of dirt that had gotten into his mouth.

"My bad. I thought I would make it inside," Ina said tiredly, her arms just able to get her face off of the mud.

Yoongi grumbled under his breath.

Between curses and murmurs of "It's fine just let me know" and "For fucks sake," Yoongi stood up and pulled Ina with him.

He gave her not a second to react, grabbing her bridal style and continuing to walk, Lucious having opened the door of the cottage, flying off in front of them and using his bird legs to pull at the door handle.

"Sorry," Ina whispered, her arms laying on her stomach.

"Just- don't be reckless. If it hurts, say something. Holding it in only makes it harder on others," Yoongi huffed, setting her down on a couch that sat in the middle of the hut.

Although it appeared rather spacious from the outside, there was little room inside. A kitchen connected to the living room, a couch and hammock sitting across from each other, and a miniature garden outback. Yoongi ran up the short set of stairs behind the couch to a singular room with a large bed and window that looked outward onto the swamp.

He sighed.

"Should I cook us up something?" Lucious asked, walking over to the fridge.

"Nope, leave that to me," Yoongi insisted as he made his way down.

Walking over to the kitchen, Yoongi started opening things, commencing with the fridge, and ending at the stove.

It all looked electrical to Ina, but while scanning around, she realized there were no switches anywhere.

"Lucious...is there a spell for light?"

Lucious, who had been exploring the fridge with Yoongi, glanced back at Ina. Following her gaze to some of the areas that had lamp-like bulbs hanging from the ceiling, Lucious nodded at her and walked over to her side.

"Naimilu," Lucious mumbled, large white bursts of light leaving his hands, some of the bursts hitting the unlit areas and slowly landing on the top of what appeared to be torch handles.

Walking away, Ina noticed one unlit area and raised her hand. Concentrating on the spot, she took a deep breath before repeating the word in her head.

It was red, a large red blast escaping her palm and hitting the space, lighting it up before bouncing off the spot and heading straight toward her.

Without thinking, Lucious threw himself in front of her and opened his mouth, the beam going inside and disappearing as he closed it. After a couple of seconds of staring blankly at Ina, Lucious let a slight amount of steam leave his beak.

"Fire...pretty strong but thankfully I'm a water demon," he smiled.

Yoongi was oblivious, humming to himself while opening and closing the fridge, fascinated by how cold it was inside while warm outside.

"Is he...Okay?"

"He is just learning new things. He'll be back to normal in a bit. No matter how old he gets, he still acts like a child," Lucious chuckled to himself.

"Tell me, Ina, how is the pain now?"

"The pain?" Ina questioned while staring at the crow.

She hadn't realized it, but the pain had mellowed down, Ina's body feeling less enflamed than it did before.

"Although temporary, some outbursts help with the pain," Yoongi muttered from the kitchen.

"That so?"

"Would know. I went through what you're going through a while back. Mushrooms are the best remedy, and potatoes make a nice soft way to sink your teeth. Soup sounds like a fine choice, doesn't it?" Yoongi suggested, his hands moving from left to right, his hair sticking to the nape of his neck.

Lucious sat down on the hammock, transforming into his human form, his face different from Jimin's, a face Ina had seen at the beach when spying on him and Yoongi.

"Soup. Sounds fine to me. However, I was wanting to ask, how come your brother isn't...you know...like you?"

"Pretty sure you've figured out by now that he decided not to become what I am because of our rules. Your world sure is peculiar," Yoongi replied.

"Tell me, did you always know you were a witch's daughter?"

The words coming out of Yoongi's mouth made Ina flinch back onto the couch. Taking off her shoes and socks, she discarded them to one side before bringing her feet up, removing her backpack, and leaving it near her shoes.

"No. I didn't even know my mother wasn't my mother. Go figures, Jungha and I barely resemble each other," she sighed.

"Your brother? He somewhat looks like you. I mean the same overwhelming personality and all," Yoongi added.

By now, Lucious had fallen asleep on the hammock, Yoongi cleaning some of the ingredients he had found in the fridge and cupboard, and beginning to cut them. He had changed into a fluffy sweater and sweatpants, using magic to mimic clothes he had seen Jungha wear but a bit lighter in color.

"He's a good kid. He's always been a good kid. He behaves, listens to my parents, and never gets in trouble. Mother- I thought my mother and his mother were the same. She raised me, cared for me, and loved me just as much as she loved him. I never realized we weren't family," Ina reminisced, her arms around her shins, her knees pulled up as close to her chest as she could. 

"Is she not your family? Then what is she?"

"I-"

Ina hesitated, unable to answer.

"The way I see it, she's more of a mother than the other women you haven't met, I assume. More of a mother than the other ever was, no?"

Ina leaned to her side, letting her body fall onto the couch while she continued to hold her knees. She was still in a bit of discomfort, but she was distracted enough by the question to not even feel her body heating up again.

"Tell me Yoongi, what is your mother like?"

Yoongi slowly skimmed around and placed a large pot on one of the stove hobs, filling it with water before seasoning it and going back to cutting ingredients. He wasn't the best cook, and the mushrooms and potatoes were all different sizes, but they would make do for what he was trying to make.

"Well, she is kind, smart, and strong. My mother is a gentle woman with a heart of gold, and someone who cares about me and my brother, a lot. She was always on our side when someone hurt us, and when we came home hurt or bruised she'd heal us. She is what I assume most mothers are like."

Ina thought back on her mother.

Bell, the woman her father married, the woman whom she knew only as a mother up till the day it was revealed she was not, was just like Yoongi's mother.

She was a beautiful woman, she was a generous mother, with a sweet smile and a sympathetic aura. She was everything she thought a mother was like, kind, generous, and with a heart of gold.

Ina recalled the times that woman hugged her to sleep when she was afraid of the dark, or the time that woman cried when she was in the hospital after Jungha had been bullied. She cried for her just as if she was really her daughter.

"My little Ina, pumpkin please wake up," she remembered her delicate voice saying.

"How could someone love someone who isn't their kin?" Ina murmured into the room.

Yoongi didn't reply, putting the vegetables into the pot and placing the lid on it. It was dark outside, the cool air seeping into the hut from underneath the door and through the windows. Ina rubbed her arms in hopes of warming them up.

"I guess, when someone raises, begins to cherish, and respect someone they have essentially adopted as their own, there isn't another possible outcome than to love them with all your heart. Jimin was my friend, someone I saw as a brother.  He was a pure soul, uncorrupted by the system in the village and his smile was unchanging. I became attached to him up until his adoptive parents let him study in the human world since they began to worry he might be a warlock. Unlike them, I saw him as family, so I could look past it, without worry for my own safety. Those he called parents, were selfish, only looking out for themselves.  His real mother had died from grief when he turned 13 or at least that is what people said, and he was left in the care of adoptive parents who did not deserve to be called parents," Yoongi began to say.

He had made his way over to where a fireplace was, staring into the ash and connecting it to be from wood. Glancing around for a bit, he found a pile of wood and began placing it in the area where the ash was. Ina studies his face, her own questions beginning to form.

"He was later brought back to the village because Elder Merla's followers forced his family to keep him in the village. They were keeping a close eye on him."

Yoongi hovered his hand over the wood, making it slowly catch on fire before going back to the kitchen.

"I did care about him. A lot. He was family, regardless of blood relation. He was a friend... A brother."

Ina nodded slowly, eyeing Yoongi from the couch, barely able to sit upright.

His shoulders were stiff, his body just as rigid. He didn't look comfortable when talking about Jimin, but Ina wasn't either. She understood what he was trying to get at, what he was hinting at with his words.

She wondered if maybe she could have done more for the boy named Jimin, but now, all she could do was sigh. Her real mother, that woman he called Elder Merla, sounded scary, like the evil witches in books.

"I guess what I'm trying to say, is that love is subjective. We all see it differently, and feel it differently, and only our hearts can choose who we love. Tell me, what word describes that woman who raised you? Is she just a woman, or is she special to you?"

Ina thought to herself, saying nothing, but knowing the answer.

"Are you unable to eat anything in particular, by the way? Any food that makes you feel sick?"

"Nope. I'm not allergic to anything," Ina replied, her eyes staring at the ceiling of the cottage in contemplation.

"Good. I put whatever I could find in that cold compartment in here. Will keep us full till tomorrow morning," he added.

"I see. It's called a refrigerator by the way. Keeps food cold," Ina informed him, Yoongi nodding uncaringly at her.

"Thank you. For helping me earlier. You really didn't have to."

"It's okay. It's the least I could do to help me find a way to help my mother," he answered sadly.

"Food!" Lucious chirped as the smell in the pot began to waft into the air.

The smell of potatoes and mushrooms had woken Lucious up, Ina sat up as straight as possible to let Lucious sit next to her, a small coffee table in front of the couch. Yoongi looked around for a set of bowls, filling three up and walking over to hand one to Lucious and one to Ina.

"Eat. After we do, let us sleep. The rest will do your body well," Yoongi said.

"Alright, let us dig in," Ina meekly added.

◇

The sun started rising slowly, the light trickling into the room Ina was in, her body feeling the warmth of it. The sun's rays began to hit Ina's eyes, making her wake up, her body aching with every movement she made.

They had finished dinner quickly the night before, Yoongi asking her to sleep upstairs while giving the couch to Lucious to sleep on. He had chosen the hammock for himself, citing 

Ina had hardly been able to make it up the steps to the room, Yoongi having to help her get into the bed, placing her things near the end of the bed for when she woke up. Small tears had formed at the edge of her eyes, Ina quickly cleaned them off.

She had dreamt of Jimin, she had dreamt of her mother. Her mind hadn't rested even while asleep. Her heart ached her thoughts on the fact that she had doubted her mother's love and that her mother's feelings didn't come to mind while talking to Yoongi. She was still uneasy, but to her, Bell was her mother, and Jimin....he was someone she would never forget. It was like a mantra that she continued to repeat in her head, the idea that she would make up for her confusion by loving her Mother more than she had before, and that Jimin would become her reason for pushing through with all the madness of the Witch's world.

Ina rolled her shoulders back, taking off the cover she had used as a blanket the previous night. The room was cozy and small with a lived-in feel that made her feel at home. Ina grabbed her backpack, pulled out her socks, and searched for a change of clothes. She still had mud on her from the previous day, hardened on her chest. She found nothing, Ina wishing she knew how Yoongi was able to keep himself so clean. Walking down the steps, Ina swung her back on her shoulder and made her way towards the living area.

Staring at the scene before her, she scanned Yoongi's face, noticing that his expression was different. He looked like he was in deep slumber, unlike the light sleep she had witnessed the day before.  This time, he looked genuinely asleep, unaware of her peeping eyes scanning at his sleeping form.

She wondered if he had always been that kind. He was a bit standoff-ish when they had first met, but now, in her eyes, he was a friend, someone who had helped her reason a bit through her troubles.

Lucious had returned to his bird form throughout the night, the bird a fluff ball in the middle of the couch. Walking towards the kitchen, Ina placed her hand out and began thinking, thinking of the heat of a fire, thinking of a small flame appearing on one of the hobs of the stove.

"The least I could do is warm up breakfast," she mumbled to herself.

Continuing to stare, nothing came of it, Ina still concentrated on the hob of the stove.

"If you're trying to create fire, I will say, it takes a bit more than wishful thinking to get it started, however, with your powers, I wouldn't be so sure," a voice startled her, Ina jumping a bit.

She looked around, her eyes falling on Lucious's body which was transforming. This voice was different, and his face, his face reflected that of Jimin's, his eyes dark brown and his hair ashy coffee-colored.

"Lucious?" she asked timidly.

"Hmm, you can call me Jimin. I'm guessing you're a companion of these two. I say, you really do remind me of her, the same fearful eyes," the man smirked.

"The word fire in witch is ogefu by the way. Ogefu is one of the basics of all the elements of magic. Light, darkness, fire, water, air, flora, and fauna. A witch masters all these at a young age, but I'm surprised you haven't. Your body seems full of magic, but your mind is empty. Strange but we can work with it. If you'd like, I could show you one of the most basic ways of conjuring fire," he offered, walking past Ina and opening the door to the backyard area.

Ina followed, curious of who this man was if not Luscious, and curious as to what his words meant.

The man proceeded towards a small clearing, sitting down before patting an area in front of himself.

Ina sat down, looking at him shyly while he opened his hands in front of him like opening a book.

"Ogefu, or fire, was one of the first elements that came after the discovery of light and darkness. It is a strong element and one that takes many forms. "Ogefu nerefet ed mi" are the words used for a simple spell to conjure it. Try saying them, once said, concentrate on where you want that spell to go, and focus on it. Try placing it on the palm of your hand without burning yourself."

Ina looked at her palm, slowly repeating the words, the man named Jimin helping her when she tripped up with one or two.

Just as a large spark of magic began forming on her palm, Yoongi interrupted them, examining the man before shaking his head and going back inside.

"He's grown up to be troublesome. I wish I had done more. Well, I guess this is where we stop the lesson for today. We can return to it later, right?" The man winked, his body turning back to a crow, Lucious shaking before slowly hopping back into the cottage.

With a quiet sigh, Ina stood up, going back inside to prepare for the journey ahead.

"I'm sure getting two toad eyes will be easier than dealing with these two."

°˖✧♡✧˖° 

🐨This chapter is dedicated to my two most faithful readers:

Cooky_Seagull

And

whutzgood

The songs for this chapter should be on Spotify:

•Jamais Vu - by Bts Piano version by SMYang

•Zero O'Clock- by Bts Piano Version by SM Yang

•Shinkai - by Eve

•Ao No Waltz - by Eve

•Gameboy - Takayan

Thank you again for your comments and votes. They are what keep this book running!!

I'm excited for the next chapter and would love to hear your thoughts!!

Enjoy.

Mama KoalaBeaw
~♔~