The Witch from The Human Realm

11 Maddie's Choice

Once the group had reached the outskirts, they stopped to catch their breaths. The mad dash that they did to escape the Penitentiary, including the short battle they fought, had exhausted them.

And the distance between the facility and the outskirts of the forest wasn't that short either. Adding another reason why they were so tired.

Reina had stabbed her staff onto the ground and gripped onto it. Kitty somehow got up on a tree branch. Lizzie fell on all fours.

Darling had leaned against the tree and removed her helmet from her head, making Maddie wonder why her platinum hair stayed untangled underneath the headwear.

And speaking of Maddie, she had stumbled when they came to a halt, and face-planted onto the grassy ground. With Crow flying down to comfortably perch on her back.

After a few minutes, they all stood up straight, whilst Kitty disappeared from her perch and reappeared beside Lizzie. However, Maddie did something really different.

The tri-colored haired girl jumped up from her position cheering, "That. Was. AWESOME!!", sending Crow tumbling off from her back.

She really does not think that being almost shoved into a holding cell was awesome, but the escape they did was.

She then proceeded to brush off the dirt on her clothes and face. Only to notice the strange looks given to her by her fellow teens midway through.

"And by that, I meant the escape," she added, putting a finger up.

The other teens only nodded, confusion can still be traced from their faces. Reina, however, had a smile on her face.

Lizzie then stepped over to Maddie and reached up on the girl's hair. "You got a…" She then pulled her hand back, now holding a twig with a leaf on it.

"Oh, thanks." Maddie beamed as Lizzie threw the twig to the side.

Lizzie returned the smile.

Kitty then cleared her throat, getting the others' attention. They all turned their gaze towards her.

"Liz, we need to get going," she said, eyeing and nodding her head towards the direction of a nearby village. "It's getting dark," she added.

Lizzie nodded before turning to Maddie again. "Thanks again for saving us, uh…?"

"Oh," Madeline caught on. "Maddie," she said with a smile.

Lizzie returned the smile and nodded. "Thank you, Maddie." She then turned to Kitty and nodded before they headed off to the village.

Darling put her helmet on and began to follow the two.

"Oh! Darling!" Maddie called, rushing over to the platinum haired girl's side.

The armor-clad girl stopped on her tracks and turned to her, pushing up her visor.

"You may want to have this back," Maddie said, handing the borrowed sword to Darling.

"Oh," Darling spoke. She then put up a hand in front of the sword. "You can keep it. I have plenty anyway." She smiled before walking away, pulling down her visor in the process.

Maddie held the sword tightly as she stared at the three departing figures before her.

"Ahem," Reina cleared her throat from behind, getting the girl's attention. "We should get going if we want to get back to the castle before the sun completely sets."

Maddie nodded as she stepped back to the woman's side as Reina put down her staff and sat on it, with the raven end unfolding its wings.

"By the way," Maddie said as she sat behind the woman, gripping onto the staff with one hand. "Why didn't we just fly over to the forest earlier?"