Alicia Felkin and the Witch's Wood

Ch. 3: Lady Felkin's Mistake

Alicia tapped her fingers on the kitchen table. Her chin rested next to her empty plate. She was waiting for Maja to text her back, but so far the young werewolf seemed to be busy. Either that, or her phone was dead. Alicia wasn't sure which she would have preferred.

Then, there was a small ping as a text came through. It wasn't from Maja. Sefira had texted to let Alicia know that she was back from wherever she had gone, and to ask if Alicia could hang out. Alicia responded by telling Sefira that she would ask her mother, and that they would have to stop by Maia's house to see if she wanted to come, too.

"Mami, can I go out with Sefira?" Alicia called into the living room.

"I thought she was in Cydro for a coven thing?" Lady Felkin responded.

"She just texted me that she was back. She'll come over here to pick me up."

"I suppose it's all right, as long as you're inside by seven and you don't leave town."

"Thanks, Mami!"

"Of course. Is Maja coming along too?"

"Don't know yet. I texted her but she hadn't answered yet, so we'll probably stop by her house to see if she wants to come."

"All right. Keep me updated on what's going on. And brush your hair before Sefira gets here!"

"Will do!"

Finally, Alicia could leave the house and go do something interesting. The rain had stopped early that morning, although there were still puddles big enough to swim in. Either way, Sefira probably would have come with or without the wetness. It wasn't as though some pesky natural disaster would stop her. At least, that's how she would put it. Alicia would say it was more 'Sefira has no regard for her personal safety' rather than 'Sefira is determined to see her friends no matter what'.

When Sefira arrived, she was dressed like she usually was in threadbare black jeans, a white t-shirt with faded roses printed on it, and a scruffy black hoodie with white swirls embroidered all over it. A set of red high-tops completed the look.

"Morning, Aly," she said.

Alicia pulled on her quilted navy blue coat, adjusting her long burgundy sleeves underneath. "Isn't it past noon though?"

"Afternoon, then. Didja hear that I got a haircut?"

She had indeed. Her choppy black hair now came to just below her chin, although there were too many flyaway spikes to tell whether all of it had actually been cut.

"I can see that," Alicia responded politely. "Should we try and pick up Maja first?"

"Yeah, sure. C'mon, I found another shortcut."

After bidding her mother goodbye, Alicia was pulled through the back alleys by Sefira to get to Maja's house. Sefira was smaller than Alicia, but she had the added advantage of vampire strength. Even during the day when most of them were sleeping, Sefira was strong enough to lift Alicia off the ground. Naturally, pulling her through an alleyway was no trouble at all.

In some of the old stories it had been rumored that vampires would burn up and turn to ash in the sunlight, but that was just silly nonsense. Vampires were nocturnal and much more sensitive to sunlight, but it was crazy to think that they would die from a bit of light. In reality, they just got worse sunburns than everyone else.They wouldn't die from garlic, either. That rumor had started when one of them had such a severe allergy to it, he went into anaphylactic shock. All vampires had some allergy to garlic, but for most of them it was so mild they simply ignored it and dealt with the consequences for the sake of flavor. For, Sefira, she would turn very pink if she ate it, but most of the time she didn't really care.