Celia Xenos raised an eyebrow at that. The question should have made him say something like ‘you are muttering nonsense’ but he only looked at me curiously. “Why would you ask that?” I bit my lower lip nervously. What I was about to say could topple the fae kingdom and my friend’s life. I had to be very careful. So, I pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear and asked, “Forget it, just a random thought” However, Xenos saw the hesitation in my eyes and straightened his back. “I am just asking if you know anything about it. There has been no mention of the witch for ages. It is like she disappeared into thin air.” My words sounded lame even to me. “But you asked if she would remarry? Why that?” I let out a sigh, my fingers playing with the tablecloth. “I mean the loss of a child is the greatest grief of a mother. So I thought…she might have wanted another one. It is only natural.” Xenos thought about it for a while. “You could say so. But I have no idea if she ever…remarrie

CeliaMy heart sank when he said that. By now, I was beginning to doubt if a way to break the curse really existed.It was getting annoying to get a ray of hope, only for it to be snatched back from you at the last moment.A soft breeze was flowing and I looked up to see the window pane moving due to the winds carrying the curtains inside.It would have been a pleasant night to gaze at the star studded sky with the moon shining brightly upon the trees, upon all of us.‘Why moon Goddess? Why would you make it so hard for us? Can you not see the efforts I am making? The pain we are going through?’I silently grumbled while staring at the moon. My mother used to say that the Goddess had a palace on the moon and observed all her subjects from above.I was fairly certain she was ignoring me.Jasper saw my sullen face and came forward to close the windows. Suddenly, the winds began to roar and I saw the sky darkening.The stars were soon shadowed by dark clouds and winds began to howl. The

CeliaMy heart pounded in my chest as I took that fateful step into the swirling vortex of darkness. One moment I was standing beside Jasper and the other I was being sucked into a never ending pit.My heart raced, and I felt like I was being sucked into a nightmare. The world around me twisted and contorted, and I was enveloped in an overwhelming sense of foreboding. The very air felt heavy with an oppressive darkness that seemed to seep into my very soul. I could not understand what was happening or how to fight the sudden claustrophobic sensation engulfing me.I could not find ground to put my feet on. Everything around me was moving at a dizzying speed and all I could see was blurred images of something around me.Was it trees? The library walls?It was hard to make sense of it and the effort made my head ache.Hence, I shut my eyes tightly, and pulled my hands closer to my chest, trying to curve into a ball in an attempt to escape the suffocating grip of this place. It felt like

CeliaI was not sure how long I lay on the ground but I had passed out. When I woke up, I expected to see was surrounded by a familiar place, a place too familiar.One I hadn’t seen in years.I was in my childhood home. My mother was in the kitchen, the windows thrown open and soft sunlight peeking through it.Something was sizzling hot on the pan mom had just placed on the stove. And behind her was a big table where a little girl and a toddler was seated.The little girl was playing with the toddler, waving a soft toy in front of him and they were giggling together.“Ma” I cried out upon seeing the face of my mother after all this time. They were all so happy, so content with their lives.But when I tried to reach for them, my hands went through empty air, right through them.That was when I realized I was watching a memory-my memories of my family from childhood.Tears stung at the back of my eyes when I saw the happy family, my family.My mother was making pancakes while me and Lia

CeliaThe words of their message changed but my family asked me to do just one thing- to not associate myself with the race that had caused us so much pain.Then the voices stopped just as abruptly as they had begun. I had shut my eyes tightly when I could not bear it anymore but now that they were suddenly gone, I slowly opened my eyes again.My mother, Liam and father was gone. Only the shadows and the dark witch, Isadora remained.Isadora, the woman, I had stayed with in Ivan’s castle. She had been Ivan’s right hand and always stayed by him through all our interactions. She had been there when there was an attack on the castle, and also when the new fletchings rose.But how?Isadora was the dark witch? She had been hiding in plain eyesight all these years? My brain was reeling due to the avalanche of thoughts it was trying to process.“You…you are…” I tried to speak but the voices of my family were too apparent in my head.“Yes. Me. After all this time. Fooled all of you, didn’t I