Chapter Ninteen (Amaya)

What the hell was happening to me? I left the cabin, heading to the trees where I couldn’t hurt anyone. I walked down the path heading into the forest, not really paying attention to where I was going.

Everything was an assault to my senses, and I felt like every nerve in my body was on alert. I came upon a large maple tree, deciding it was a good a place as any. I sat at the base of the tree. Taking deep breaths to calm my ragged breathing.

How was I supposed to control something I have never had before and how did I get this ability to begin with?

While later I heard rustling in the trees and looked over to see Abigail emerge from them, a little winded.

“Well, it took some time to find you.” Abigail announced as she approached me. She sat on the grass in front of me. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know what is happening to me and how to control it. I have never done anything like this before. Everything is so new, and it is a lot to digest, not to mention the witch hunters that are around it all puts me on edge.” I had studied the witch trials and I had no intention of living its history.

“That’s not all that’s bothering you dear, you are quick to adapt to new situations. I know this because you adapted to this time period pretty quickly and the fact Sin is a demon doesn’t seem to eat at you either.”

“I feel drawn to both Sin and Samuel. And in either case, it would never work.” I shared.

“And whys that?” Abigail asked curiously, leaning back against a tree.

“Samuel is from this time, and I am not. I mean, I assume I will go home one day; it doesn’t seem fair to play with their feelings and with Sin I have no idea where he is from, but I assume I can’t go there.”

She nodded, listening to my words before saying, “Who knows what the future will reveal? It may surprise you how big obstacles can become rather small. As for your abilities being a little wonky, we will need to work on that.”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

Abigail smiled and stood up. “Follow me.”

Curious, I stood up and followed as she led me further into the forest and I paused. “Isn’t this the part of the forest you warned Sin about?”
She smiled, “It’s okay, we are welcome here. This is a witch sanctuary and only those the forest approves of can enter. If someone tried to follow us, they would run into a creature so fowl that they would get labelled insane and be sent away or get so turned around they would never be seen again.”
“Why does the forest do that?”

“We witches are children born of nature and are connected to it on a level that humans can’t understand. The forest created this space for us as a protected place where we can commune with its spirits and practice our craft without the prying eyes of suspicious humans and now witch hunters." She frowned then continued, "Their fear is unfounded, witches are taught to heal and communicate with nature and creatures, there is no malice in the craft, of course there are those who stray and become a darker and more chaotic creature, Sorcerers and sorceresses started as witches but because of certain circumstances end up drawn to the dark side of nature hurting and controlling nature and creatures instead.”

“Why would someone want to be a sorceress?” I asked, curious as we continued down the path. Fireflies seemed to light up the path as darkness descended around us.
“A sorceress or sorcerer isn’t born, they are created. If a witch is abused and knows nothing but pain and suffering, her magic changes to protect her, so sorceresses are created out of the need to survive. Nature protects its children, so to hurt a child of nature is frowned upon for this reason. They don’t choose to be dark, but darkness happens to them. In your case, you seem to have both, so my question is, what happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me.” I told her, frowning. “So, I am balanced then?”

“Perfectly so.” She smiled. "But something must've happened to make it so."

I frowned, trying to recall anything that may have happened and came up with little. "To be honest, I remember a little before I was adopted, then again, I was only five."

"We will figure it out. It's good to know why you needed to protect yourself, as it will help to control your ability."

“Great.” I frowned, “Why didn’t you tell me I was a witch and that you were a witch before my abilities slipped?”

“I thought it was obvious. I wasn’t hiding it from you, dear,” she replied as she chuckled. "You have been drawn to the craft since before you came here, have you not?"
"Well, yeah."

"Then you were a witch already, just not one with access to nature's gifts."

It explained a lot. Like she knew I was from the future, and she was a healer and knew about herbs and remedies and those are witch things, right?
We walked up to a cave that seemed to shimmer with energy, as I walked through, I felt as if I walked through a curtain of mist and a feeling of ease and protection washed over me.

Torches lined the walls and instantly lit once we passed through the barrier. Bookshelves were against the wall on one side and a large table was on the other. There was a bonfire pit in the middle of the space. She walked over to the table, which had tools on it, a mortar and pestle, bunches of dried herbs, and jars of liquid and crushed plants labeled with their code names.

“Is this place yours?” I asked as she moved things around, sorting the plants and filling small bottles and returning them to her bag.

“It is ours. There used to be more witches in this area, but unfortunately, some were caught, and the others fled. The Pastor in town is very thorough with screening for witches and is determined to get rid of every single one.”

“So why do you stay?” I asked as I looked at the books on the opposite wall.

“This is my home, after I travelled here from the old country, I was drawn here by an invisible cord, and I am not one to fight fate. Although I have in the past.” She looked at me as her eyes became teary. She shook her head and smiled at me. “Anyway, that is in the past. I brought you here because it is a safe place for you to practice your abilities so they don’t slip around those that would hurt us. I would also like to unlock anything you may have blocked out that could have triggered your sorceress's ability.”

“Thank you, Ab…”

“Grandmother.” She corrected with a frown.

“Grandmother.”

She nodded, “so first things first you need to sort your mind. “

“How?”

“Meditation silly.”

I nodded and sat down cross-legged by the bonfire.”

Abigail lit the fire to warm the space as I got comfortable. She sat across from me. Before you start the meditation, I would like to try something to get you to remember."

"What do you have in mind?" I asked a little leery.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes." I answered honestly as she smiled and leaned forward. She placed her hands one my head, her thumbs pressed lightly on my temple. "Now, try to relax your mind."

"Okay, I'll try."

Doing my best to clear my mind I could feel as if something were trying to enter my skull a dull ache at the sides but slowly got more painful, I steadied my breathing and focused on letting her in hoping that not fighting the sensation would help with the pain. It felt like a damn had burst as memories flooded me; I was at the park with two of the women who worked at the orphanage.

One was Lizzie, she had lived there until she aged out, then she ended up working there. She cared for me more than the other woman at the home. The other woman, Michelle, had just started there and was in training. We were playing on the swings when a strange man appeared. I didn't like him, the way he looked at me gave me chills. I had a bad feeling as I jumped from the swing and ran toward Lizzie, who was walking toward me from her swing.

The man grabbed me around the waist and was trying to leave the park. I was kicking and screaming, and Lizzie tried to come and save me; she grabbed my arms and tried to pull me away from the man. The man pulled out a gun and shot her. Three other moms in the playground saw the incident and quickly grabbed their children, screaming in horror as they fled the park.

When the man realized what happened, he dropped me and ran. I ran to Lizzie and was trying to wake her up, but she wouldn't move. She had died right in front of me. Michelle blamed me for Lizzie's death and quit soon after.

"Well, that explains it, then." Abigail stated as she removed her hands.

"Explains what?" I asked, confused, as tears stung my eyes.

"Your mind is in self-defence mode, so at any sign of danger or what you perceive as danger your mind sends out shock waves to protect you, because those who had tried to protect you in the past had died doing so and you feel guilt and refuse to let it happen again. It's not a bad thing, but at least this will help me teach you to control it."

"So, how do I start to control it?" I asked.

"I want you to first work on clearing your mind, so we will still start with meditation and go from there."

I focused on clearing my mind and feeling the energy that seemed to flow in and out of me and into the space I was in, letting my mind drift off into what I thought would be nothingness. Instead, I saw colors swirling behind my eyelids, rainbows of color rippling around. I focused on a thread of green as it broke away; it morphed and transformed showing me the forest we were sitting in I could feel the creatures scurrying around the forest and as my focus seemed too narrow, I could sense something else, something dark and as I focused the dark creatures' eyes opened and looked at me.

“You shouldn’t be in here.” It scolded me.

“Why?”

“You are not ready, little one. I will find you when you are ready.”

"How will you know when I am ready?"

It chuckled darkly, "You will be where you are destined to be, you should not have been able to come here. I am not on your plane."

I was pulled back to the cave. “Ready for what, what was that thing? What plane was in?” I spoke more to myself.