Follow The Light, Come To Me

Chapter 15: Book of Shadows

*Cordelia's P.O.V*
As of now, a solid three days had passed since the frightful incident with the witch-hunters. The silence of the organization had left me in a state of concealed yet frenzied panic ever since. Misty seemed to feel this too, I just knew that she did. No means of getting back to the academy safely was established - not any that wouldn't have us burned at the stake at least. It was selfish for me to long for the academy as badly as I did, especially since neither of us had completely healed from the incident. A glowing warmth had radiated onto me, I must have expressed my worry through my face because Misty stared at me quite observantly. 

"What's troublin' you Delia?" She inquired, her brows raising slightly as if she knew every thought within my mind.

"Oh nothing dear, i'm just a bit worried for the girls...the academy could be in tyranny because of my absence and-"
Misty curled around me quietly like a harmless serpent, watching my every move. She then struck, pursing her silk lips onto the nape of my neck, no doubt she didn't intend it to be as captivating as it felt. For a moment, pain was overcome by a burning desire. 

"Delia you're the supreme. Ain' you got some sort of mind signal you can send to them? Or just somethin' to show that you're alive? "Misty interrupted dreamily, planting another kiss for my thoughts to break formation. 

"I'm unsure, but as I was saying-" I stuttered, losing track of what I was about to say until I was stopped by the weak constriction of Misty's arms.

"Things will be fine, you're stressing over nothin'" Misty reassured me, moving away and patting my head gently.

"Perhaps they will" I concluded, giving her a secure smile, noticing that her eyes were still full of suspicion. 

Upon observing Misty in her natural environment I had noticed that despite our predicament, she was in her element. She would regularly pick up old items around the house — usually small things that seemed meaningless— and would express a joy in being back with them. Her skin radiated a more intense warmth, one which I had only felt here. It almost made me feel guilty that we soon would have to depart from here ,the one place she seemed the happiest. My thoughts were then interrupted, she was placed across from me and had frozen herself stiff. 

"Mist...what is I-" 

"Can you sense it? I don' like this, someone is here" Misty whispered, the colour drawing from her face.
I couldn't sense it but I was determined to seek it, so I darted to Misty and pulled her underneath the table. All I could feel was that I had to protect her, no,  I needed to protect her.

"I'm scared— I know they're back— oh Delia I don' wanna die again" Misty whispered sadly, microscopic tears gliding down her cheeks. 

I wanted to fully console her, to fight away her fear, but i needed to eliminate the fear first. Fear had no time to take over me, like it would when my mother was alive. Swiftly, I ventured to the side of the door and with a flick of my finger I summoned a large chopping knife to my hand. The presence was now felt, it was a mixture of pure evil and corporate sleaze, my senses were on high alert and I could hear every footstep and murmur they made. All of a sudden, slow-motion images flashed through my mind. Three men in black,holding large beasts of gunpowder and steel, stealthing through the trees outside of the swamp. They were close, but not close enough to see us. 

"Misty we have to leave now - we're taking the front door" I asserted, pulling her up and grabbing us each a shawl.
" Delia, the front is all open, we're goners for sure" Misty panicked, however I reassured her and pulled her through the door with me. We ran manically for five minutes before we found the nearest road and when we stopped, the exhaustion crept back into my body. 

"W-where d'ya think they are now?" Misty panted, her eyes wincing and her wild hair savage.

"They're near the swamp...i'd say a minute from the house. We need to move, they'll soon realise that we have escaped and with those weopans, pyrokinesis could not stop them" I replied, hauling the two of us into a brisk walk along the isolated road. 

Then the most glorious sight appeared in the distance,  a moving car with  two blinding beams of light. I ran towards the car and waved my arms furiously, Misty staggered forwards trying to keep up but then fell to gravity's grasp. The car approached and stopped,revealing a man and his wife who glared at us suspiciously. 

"We have escaped some dangerous men, you must help, just drive as far as you can- I assure you I can pay you a large amount of money" i spoke in a pleading tone for authenticity, however I had already made up their minds. Swiftly, I collected Misty in my arms and placed her into the back seat, lunging in myself before the car made a hasty retreat. 

" Misty, they know we have escaped, but they aren't going to pursue us" I whispered, she nodded weakly in her poor state. A few moments later, Misty's voice rose to a whisper and spoke uncharacteristically with urgency. 

"Delia... Page 67, quick... you must hex them" burned Misty, pulling out an unfamiliar Book of Shadows from her shawl. Her eyes were dark and  the words almost hissed from her mouth, for a moment I mistook the tone for exhaustion and the words she spoke escaped my mind. 
Instead, I embraced her softly but she pulled away sharply, this time her whisper took on a pleading tone. 

"Delia help me... I have been too close to death again and I cannot regenerate my energy without it, for the spirits tell me so ". I took her seriously this time and pushed my stance against dark magic and its repercussions to one side— for Misty's sake. 

With that, I reluctantly took the book and flicked to page 67, whispering a hex against the unknown villains - all of this was drowned out by the country music coming  from the radio. The saviour-drivers did not so much as glance at us in the mirrors. Misty stared distantly into the passing darkness, as I tried to place the swamp and the witch-hunters in my mind.  What was odd was that usually they would appear instantly or even after a minute, however five minutes later I still felt and saw nothing. It was an energetic and physical void until the darkness broke into a tarred sludginess . There I saw our perpetrators, smothered by vines that cut through the swamp-mud and consigned them to the earth. Their screams had been filled with Misty's swamp and its inhabitants —  they were dead.  Misty turned around and fixed a contented glare onto the floor.