With her heart pounding madly in her chest, Angelique began one of her own, a short, handy little spell that Hecate had taught her early on for protection. Within seconds, a bright light flashed out of her wand and Gaylen’s tongue stopped working. Eyes wide, he clutched his throat and tried to speak, but could only make strangled, wheezing noises.
Furious, King Edward took a step toward her. “Enough! I command you to go back where you came from. You were indefinitely banished from Syracuse and are breaking the law by returning. Leave now or I’ll make sure that you spend your last dying breath in our dungeon.”
“Same old, Edward,” Angelique sneered, disgusted with herself for hating and loving him at the same time. “I see that you’re still brainwashed by this weasel. How pathetic. You’re pathetic.”
“My father is not pathetic!” Mathias cried, racing around his mother his sword raised in the air. “You’re just an evil witch who is only powerful because… because she cheats with magic!”
Angelique had to admit, she was both impressed and amused by the boy’s fearlessness. She imagined Edward was the same way as a child.
“If it weren’t for your father, I wouldn’t have been forced into using magic,” she replied evenly as Edward grabbed his youngest son and took a protective stance in front of him.
“You brought it upon yourself, Angelique. Gaylen. Just don’t stand there, do something,” the king ordered angrily.
The wizard, still muted by her spell, raised his wand again and aimed it at Angelique. Before she could protect herself, a burning, white light hit her in the chest. She flew backward, slamming against the wall so hard, it felt as if her spine had been crushed. She opened her mouth to chant another hex, but the wind had been knocked out of her, making it hard to breathe, let alone talk.
“You… ridiculous… fool,” Gaylen said hoarsely as he moved toward Angelique. “Did you seriously think you had a chance against me?”
Angelique’s head was spinning. The spells she’d been working on, and the courage she had a few seconds before, seemed all at once lost to her. Realizing that she’d underestimated Gaylen’s powers against her own, she became frantic. Clutching her wand, she found her voice and chanted a spell that would send her away from the castle. At the same time, Gaylen spouted off one of his own. As she disappeared, Angelique felt as if her skin was on fire and screamed in pain.
6
MARISELLE’S NEW pets wouldn’t allow her any rest. When they weren’t playing with her hair, the kittens were trying to get under the blanket. Eventually, something distracted them and they rushed off.
She sat up and peered through the darkness, curious. Unable to hear or see them, she began searching the barn; instead of finding her kittens, however, she discovered a hole leading outside. Worried that they were going to become owl prey, she wrapped her blanket tightly around her shoulders and snuck back out into the cool night.
ANGELIQUE WAS ON fire.
Literally.
She cast herself away from the castle to a swimming hole a few miles away. She landed deep in the center and the water immediately gave her relief from the hot flames. When she broke the surface, Angelique was relieved to find her skin uncharred and her clothing still intact. She could only attribute it to the fact that she’d gotten away before Gaylen had finished the spell.
Shivering, she made her way to land and used her wand to heat her clothing and skin. Although the days were still warm, it was the end of summer and the nights could chill one to the bone. As she stood there drying, Angelique cursed herself for allowing the wizard to get the better of her. Admittedly, she’d never actually seen his powers in action and realized that if she were going to defeat him, she needed to be better prepared and a lot more cunning.
She also needed some kind of plan.
But, even more so, she needed to rest. Wands drew energy from their users and hers was no exception, especially when it came to teleporting. Now, Angelique was exhausted and knew that she wouldn’t be able to do anything without getting some sleep first. She didn’t even have the energy to shape-shift and fly to her shelter. This meant finding a new, temporary one.
Sighing, Angelique followed a trail that lead from the swimming hole, past a mossy glen, to a deep part of the woods. As she foraged on, she kept her eyes peeled, just in case Gaylen had managed to follow her. Still cold and weary, she pondered the idea of a fire, but knew it would be too much of a risk. Instead, she decided to try and find a hollowed-out tree, or if she was lucky, a small cave. If it was inhabited, Angelique figured she might just have enough energy to clear out its occupant.
Regardless, she knew she needed to do something, and soon, because she could see some troubling looking storm clouds rolling in. Shortly after her observation, a bolt of lightening shot across the sky. It was followed by a loud clap of thunder and a frightened cry somewhere in the darkness ahead.
Angelique froze.
“Smokey? Frosty? Ebony? Panther? Where are you?” hollered a child’s voice in the distance.
Apprehensive, but curious, Angelique headed toward the sound. It was late. Too late for a young one to be wandering through the woods.
“Please come back! It’s going to rain!” the child called frantically. “Here… kitties!”
Four balls of fur were suddenly at Angelique’s feet. One of them brushed against her ankle and purred.
“Aren’t you sweet?” she whispered, her heart melting.
The kitten stared up at her and let out a high-pitched “meow”.
Angelique picked the adorable creature up and snuggled it against her neck. Hearing the girl cry out again, she cleared her throat, “I found them!” she hollered, praying that it wasn’t a trap. She didn’t think that Gaylen could have located her so quickly, but one never knew.
A small shadow approached hesitantly, stopping several feet away from her. “Who… who are you?” she called through the darkness.
“My name is Anne,” she replied as more lightening lit up the sky. For a brief moment, Angelique caught a glimpse of the girl, who couldn’t have been more than ten. She was very thin, with long hair and large eyes.
Another loud clap of thunder startled them both.
“So, you have my kittens?” the child cried out in a shaky voice.
“Yes. Well, they’re leaving again it appears,” she replied, watching as they scampered away from her and down the path, back toward the pond.
The girl’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Oh, no.”
“I got this!” Angelique hollered, stuffing her wand inside of her cloak. She turned around and hurried after them. When she found the kittens again, Angelique quickly grabbed the two closest to her just as the girl appeared.
“Thank you,” the child said, looking relieved. She leaned down and picked up one of the others.
“You’re welcome. Can you get that last one?” she asked, nodding toward the gray one, which was taking off again.
“Yeah,” she replied, racing toward it.
Knowing that the girl would need something to hold the kittens in, she decided to use her cloak to carry them. “Bring them here when you get the gray one,” she called out.
“Okay,” the little girl replied, picking up the other one.
Angelique set her two kittens down on the ground and quickly removed her cloak. She laid it on a dry patch of dirt and then they both proceeded to herd all of the kittens into the center.
“They may not like this, but they’ll be safe,” Angelique said, gathering up the sides of the cloak and picking the bundle up. The kittens, who were trapped inside, immediately began to struggle and cry.
The child’s eyes widened in alarm.
Angelique smiled. “Don’t worry, they’ll be fine,” she reassured her. “Now, where to?”
MARISELLE DIDN’T KNOW what to make of Anne, but thought she seemed nice enough. Plus, it was about to storm and the stranger was helping her with the kittens, which was a relief.
“This way,” she said, turning around.
“Okay.”