W.I.T.C.H

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Wendella ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't care about the sharp stones digging into the soles of her well-worn shoes. She had to get to mama Marigold's house. It was a moonless night and the sky was as dark as coal, sprinkled with ominous stars. Branches of trees clawed at her arms, leaving behind stinging cuts as she ran through the woods. Out of nervousness, she bit her lower lip and tasted bitter metallic blood, it tasted like rusted iron.

The woods, which had always seemed welcoming to her, seemed dangerous and cruel at that moment. She had to reach Mama Marigold's house before he got to her because he would have done much worse things to her in comparison to the woods. The wild animals of the forest and the creatures of the night seemed tame next to him.

Due to the relentless running and fear, her heart was beating so fast that it seemed to her, it was going to jump out of her chest. This was a punishment she had to bear...her mother had warned her about the bad things which happened to people who played with the laws of nature. The three fold law was constant and unchanging.

Ever mind the rule of three,

three times what thou givest returns to thee,

this lesson well, thou must learn,

thee only gets what thou dost earn!

Wendella had broken the basic law of nature and now she had to pay the price. A little flame of hope lit up inside her wildly beating heart. She could see a dim yellow light overflowing out of mama Marigold's cottage.

She pounded on the door with her fists, "MAMA!"

After a minute the door was flung open. At door, stood an attractive black woman who was wearing a shawl with intricate embroidery paired with cotton pants and bunny slippers.

"Wendy? What in the world? What are you doing in the woods at this hour? And look at you! You are in absolute shambles!" Mama Marigold cried out after taking a look at the pale white girl standing at her door. "Come inside and make yourself comfortable. I'll make some special herbal tea for you...you look like you need it right now."

"There is no time for that mama," Wendella uttered helplessly as mama ushered her inside the cottage.

"Oh dear...your arms...what happened to you?" mama shook her head after seeing Wendella's scratched arms and swollen lip.

"I need to reverse it mama! I have to undo what I did!" tears sprouted out of Wendella's puffy eyes. She didn't think she was capable of shedding any more tears but she was wrong.

"Sit down dear," mama said while calmly sitting down on the cosy couch in her drawing room.

"But you have to help me..." Wendella's incoherent voice spilled out of her lips.

"Take a deep breath child."

"There is no way to reverse it right?"

"Wendy..."

"Is there?" she asked bitterly.

Mama closed her eyes for a minute and then opened them back. "You cannot reverse it."