CHAPTER 12

When Esther opened her eyes, rays of light from somewhere in the room nearly blinded her eyes and she closed her eyes against the assault. Slowly, she opened her eyes again and looked around angrily for the source of the light. When she saw that it came from the window, she got up to close the window and winced from the pain she felt from the little exercise.
She checked the source of the pain and saw a healing wound on her right arm and her thigh. She sat back on the bed as the memories of what happened from the tree came back to her. She shook her head to clear the thought away and she focused on the room she was in. Esther could see that the room she was in was quite shabby given how scanty the room was and she wondered how she got to the place
She heard the door opening and she looked up. When no one entered through the door, she got apprehensive and centered her thoughts on her power to protect herself. When the leader of the witches' coven popped her head into the room, Esther relaxed and got up to meet the women. The leader signaled for her to remain seated and she gladly obeyed considering how much pain she was in. When the leader got to where she was, she smiled at Esther.
"How do you feel now?" The leader asked her.
"Still feel some pain in my body," Esther answered.
"That's expected since you were severely injured. I had to use some magic to revive you," Alicia explained to her.
"How long have I been out?" Esther asked, feeling hunger pangs taking hold of her.
"Three days but you were lucky. We lost six out of the thirteen elders of the witches." The leader explained to her.
Esther felt very sad when we heard that. When she had discovered the magical tree, all she had wanted was just for the people of her clan and the werewolves tribe to accept her and love her. Never had she wanted anyone to get hurt from her discovery, talk more, about the death of the people from her clan. Now that all that had happened, she was sure that the leader of the witches would send her away from the clan. Simply put, she would be lonely and have no one to even seek her attention like these people still do most of the time. Well, she brought it upon herself, so she would deal with the consequences.
"What's my punishment, coven leader?" Esther asked.
"You're not getting punished. At least not for now." The coven leader assured her.
"Why?" Esther asked in suspicion.
"Because you are hurt enough.'' The leader said.
Esther doubted what the woman said. She knew for sure that the leader of the witches' coven was a callous woman, so she knew that the care and kindness that the woman was showing to her were all fake. The fact that she was also telling her that she wouldn't be punished is also making her feel like something was fishy somewhere. While she didn't want to be punished though, she still needed to know what was the case with the coven leader.
"Why am I not being punished?" Esther asked her.
"Don't irritate me," Alicia barked at her.
Esther whimpered in a little voice at the tone the leader had used with her. Now, that was the woman she knew about in all her years of existence as a witch. Esther wondered why the leader had tried to behave like she cared about her or even about her injuries. When the leader got up and turned around to leave, Esther looked at her expectantly. The leader was already halfway through the room before she stopped. Without turning to look at Esther, she spoke.
"Get some rest for today, Esther. Tomorrow will be such a long day for either of us." She spoke.
"What's happening tomorrow?" Esther asked in a baffled tone.
Without bothering to answer her, the leader turned and left the room.
"What's happening tomorrow?" Esther shouted at her disappearing figure. The slamming of the door was however the only answer she got.
When she saw that there would be no answer forthcoming for the question she asked, she went back to the little bed she had woken up from earlier and sat down. Her mind began to roam through the different courses that would be responsible for the behavior of the leader. After thinking about it without finding any reasons, she sighed and held her head in her hand.
One thing she knows about the whole incident going on around is the fact that whatever the leader said would be happening tomorrow was associated with her. Otherwise, she knew for certain that the leader and the elders of the coven would have punished her for her reckless behavior. Or perhaps they were letting her go because she had at least tried to help the clan during the heat of the crises.
Or maybe the leader had just thought to let her go for the moment because she was injured. Perhaps the leader was waiting for her pains and injury to subside before she punished Esther for her mishap. Esther sighed and rested back in the bed.
If she was thinking about the whole thing, then she didn't deserve to be punished. After all, the only thing she had done was inform the leader about the supernatural tree and its fruit. It wasn't her that had informed the werewolves tribe to start a war with the witches. If anything, she had tried to make peace between the two parties before the war broke out.
Ironic, she knows since she had killed her real parents who were even vampires. But she had done it to escape from the terrible things they did to her. She wondered why no one had ever truly loved her ever since she had existed for almost eighteen years now. Was it something about her existence itself? Or was it something she was doing wrong? She thought as she wrapped her arms around herself. It was with the thoughts of those things that she slept off again, her eyes bugged from the hours of tears she had shed.
She was still sleeping when a loud knock from the door woke her up. By the time she would get up and stretch her body, the knock sounded again. Esther got up from the bed, noticing somewhere in her subconscious that her pain had receded a little more than earlier. When the knock sounded again, this time a lot louder than the first two ones, when grilled and went straight to the door.
Esther opened the door and found the elder that she had helped with the shield during the war between the witches and the werewolves standing in front of her. Her stand at the door gave Esther the thought that the woman who was there meant business with her which made Esther wonder if the woman was going to bring her trouble.
"May I come in?" The woman asked her.
That was when Esther realized that she had been standing by the door the whole time opposing the intrusion of the older woman. She apologized immediately and made way for the woman to enter the shabby room. After the woman got into the room, Esther got in too and closed the door. She waited to see if the woman would state her purpose for coming to the place but nothing came out of the elder's mouth.
"Maybe I ask why you are here?" Esther asked the elder.
Her voice seemed to snap the woman out of whatever she had been thinking about. The elder sighed out loud and shook her head a little before she responded to Esther's question.
"I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought over what had happened." The elder answered.
"Okay?" Esther asked with a concerned voice. Even though she had saved the woman, Esther couldn't tell if she was a friend or a foe that she should be wary of. The fact that the woman was even in the same room with her was making her feel wary about the reason for the visit was.
It could just be a fragment of her subconscious that was active for the fear that she felt or it was the disappointment she had faced in the back whenever she had helped anyone or perhaps it was the fact that she was so used to people not reciprocating her good deeds and she had learned not to expect anything from any of her people around her.
She didn't know and while she said that she could tell herself that she didn't care about what was going on with her, she knew that she would be lying to herself every step of the way. She cared about such things and each time she experienced the effects of the type of life she had been subjected to, it hurt her to the very core of her soul. She yawned and rubbed the sleep away from her eyes so that she could fully focus her attention on the elder who was with her.
"Elder Victoria, why did you say you were here again?" She asked the woman.
Instead of replying to her question, the elder went over to her bed and sat down. When she was settled on the bed, she looked at Esther and sighed in a very dramatic way.
"Elder Esther." The woman finally acknowledged her. "First, I'm here to thank you for your help three days ago when we had that battle with the greedy werewolves." She finished and sighed again.
Esther opened her mouth to answer but only a yawn came out. When she was done yawning, she didn't bother to answer the woman with words again since she felt another yawning hazard impending itself from her mouth, she merely nodded. Elder Victoria looked at her and smiled.
"I know you are tired and I won't take much of your time but I feel like I must warn you." The elder said.
Her voice sounded with fear as she spoke the words and in turn, Esther shivered at the only meaning she knew that the words could mean. Something was going on in the coven that was secret to only Esther. Something that the leader didn't want her to know about, but yet, it has a lot to do with her.
"What is it that you wanted to warn me about?" Esther gritted out when the elder refused to say a word after putting her mind in an apprehensive stage.
"It's about the leader." Elder Victoria said.
"What is it with her?" Esther asked in a cautious voice. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She became so afraid that the heart might burst into a million different pieces, so she held her chest area firmly to secure the heart.
"I don't know if I should tell you this but she's keeping you because she wants to use you." The woman explained to her.
Esther relaxed her tensed body and grinned at the words the elder had spoken. That was no news to her, she thought. For as long as she could remember, she knew that the leader had wanted nothing to do with her other than to use her and her power for her gains and benefits. The only reason Esther hadn't protested against such a despicable act was that she didn't want to disappoint the witch that had risked her life to ensure that Esther lived.
"Well, that's no news," Esther told the elder with her.
She watched in silence as the elder got up and walked to the door. Elder Victoria opened the door, then she turned back to look at Esther. Genuine concern radiated all over the woman's face and Esther became suddenly afraid again.
"Your dark power is much more powerful than you can ever imagine. Anyone who owns that power can become Her holiness and I think you know that that is the overall commander of all the entire witnesses clan that ever existed and will ever exist," Victoria said.
"But, I won't be her puppet, so don't worry." She assured the woman.
"Oh, if that was her plan, I wouldn't bother since I know you are a fighter. She's thinking about transferring the power from your body to hers." The elder said with a shrug.
"What?" Esther screamed.
"Think about it, Esther. Why did she try to protect you during the fight three days ago? Think about it and you will get your answer." Elder Victoria said and walked away from the door, leaving Esther in confusion.