MARBLE & SALT (Lesbian)

Chapter 13 LET'S BORROW THIS EPEE

"They seem to have calmed down. Let's find Lada. Look, I know you're exhausted, and talking with my pa must have tired you. You look pale even through your tan." Hebe tries to kiss me, but I don't respond to it. I don't even open my lips. My whole body is trembling: I can feel cold sweat breaking through my body. I'm so dumbfounded that I cannot understand where I am and what I should do.

"You're right!" laughs Hebe, misinterpreting my behaviour. "Any meeting with my parents discourages any sexual desire! Maybe I can make it right," she whispers in my ear, trying to lick my neck. The touch of her wet tongue brings me to my senses.

"We have to go! Flame... Quick, quick, quick," I squeeze out some hoarse words.

"Velia, what flame? Stop being stubborn," she says smiling, but then her smile slips off her face very quickly. Hebe grabs my wrist and dashes to the nearest entrance.

I don't understand what is happening being pulled by her strong hand. The disgusting heat still boils in my body, though the room has normal temperature. The feeling of burning skin is still filling my nostrils, but I understand that there's no smell. I understand that her skin is not charred when it comes into contact with my skin, but I feel sick, and my legs do not obey me, as if I had been injected with a tranquilizer for a bear.

I come to my senses only when Hebe slams the door and starts running her hands against its uneven surface.

"We must warn the others! People are still there!" I try to open the door again, but Hebe grabs me roughly throwing me over her shoulder. Her another shoulder still hurts for sure, as she moans softly in pain.

"What are you doing! We need to help them!" I scream, jerking my legs and arms.

Hebe doesn't seem to notice my attempts to escape even when I accidentally hit her in the ear. She touches the door one last time; the wiggly snakes on her hand go berserk.

And then everything repeats again.

The wild howl floods our ears, and, probably, our souls too. We feel heat and vibration even through the wall, the door, and Hebe's spell.

The witch takes off and runs along the hall that has not yet had time to warm up, and I, as always, limply surrender to her decisions, hanging on her sharp shoulder.

When we find ourselves on the street, she gently lowers me onto the hot cobblestones. I cover my face with my hands. My shoulders are shaking, but I'm not crying: I believe a terrible fire has dried everything in me.

"I knew it!" Hebe is thundering. "They put a sealing spell on this street. Now we won't be able to use any portal until it's over. Damn them! Father knew that a terrorist attack was planned. Good Samaritan! Devil take him... 'don't stay here too long, daughter, otherwise my friends will make a barbecue out of you!'" She closes her eyes, leaning powerlessly against the wall, but then she opens them again. Her gaze is serious, and her body is tense as before a jump. The witch is deciding what to do next. "This way, follow me." She pulls my hand.

"What does the sealing spell mean? Where are all the people?!" The street is unusually forlorn and silent.

"You've both asked and answered that question. There is such an unbreakable rule, if magical skirmishes occur on the territory of mere people, no matter what kind of villain you are, do not forget to cast a sealing spell where you want to sort your magical relationships out," she says. We go from a quick step to a run, keeping closer to the houses. "People without magical abilities can't enter the sealed territory, and these who, by some accident, find themselves in the thick of events, will not remember anything if they stay alive, of course." On this not-at-all-encouraging note, Hebe opens a glass door with a beautiful monogram saying "Antikvarijat".