When It Breaks

| SEVEN |

We walked around from store to store, house to house, asking for Helen but no one seemed to know her.

It was quite strange that in a town of mages, no one knew a single mage. We walked downtown for some time, asking everyone and anyone.

On reaching the end of the road, we decided to turn back and take another route when we saw a house by the side of the road.

"Why is there a house this far away from other houses?" I theought aloud, staring at the only house for miles.

"Perhaps the person enjoys being alone. Let's check it out," Ray responded and walked off.

Without a word, I followed him.

He knocked at the small wooden door which looked like it wouldn't withstand the next winter.

The house itself looked like it had seen better days but I knew it was a lot stronger than it looked. Soon a young woman came out of the house.

"Are you lost?" Was the first thing she asked.

"No, ma'm, we are looking for a mage called Helen. We've asked around but no one seems to know her," I responded curtly and she rolled her eyes.

"Of course, they would pretend not know since they banished her," she replied venomously.

Ray and I glanced at each other then turned back to the brown haired woman. She was what I could call pretty but only if she took better care of her hair.

"Do you know where we can find her?" Ray implored.

"Where are my manners? My name is Helen, the town's outcast," she introduced in a bitter tone.

Instant relief washed over me. "I am Felicity, a woman instructed me to find you.

"I know who you are. Your mother, Lilian brought you to me at a young age.

"What I don't know is why you would come back here after everything?" She asked, giving me a genuinely confused look.

It was my turn to be confused. "Who is Lilian?"

"Your mo… oh, the mind block," she said in realisation, making me even more confused.

"You lost me, ma'm," I confessed, not bothering to pretend I knew what she meant.

"Good," she appraised.

"What do you mean?"

"There is no need for you to know anything else.

"If you value your life and want to live longer than your mother did, go home now and forget everything that ever happened," she instructed, sending my mind into a frenzy.

Outraged, I exclaimed, "It's not something I can just forget that easily. You have no idea what I have been through."

She glared at me. "This is the exact same kind of hardheadedness that got your mother killed! Go home, you stubborn child!"

My eyes widened at her sudden anger, and I felt my own temper flare. Fisting the ends of my sweatshirt in my hands, I began to take it off revealing my tattoos.

"Look at me! Look and me and tell me if I can go back home looking like this."

Helen studied the tattoo patterns, her eyes glazing through the intricate patterns. The longer she studied, the more her eyes darkened until she growled, "Luciana!"

"The woman from the bar? What has Lucia got to do with anything?"

Helen chuckled dryly. "It looks like you already met the witch."