Raven and Rose

Chapter 20: Eerie

Rosemary had her mouth covered. She thought of Dottie's 13 year old. How the girl in front of her survived such an ordeal was beyond Rosemary. But she saw at once what was wrong.

"Oh Rose. That is horrible. But I am afraid I have to ask a few more questions."

Rose nodded.

"Okay. Do you ever get sensations from the scar?"

"Well. After the hair removal I got subject to cold. If my temperature drops too much I get a deep chill. It's how the false Queen tried to trap me at the castle.

Anyways, sometimes the scar causes a chill down my back that paralyzes me."

Rosemary sighed,
"I feared as much.
Oh Rose. I hate to make this worse for you. The choker is still apart of you. And if Raven too has it I need you both here to get them removed properly. You see the chokers were created to block all magic. Where are the original necklaces?"

Rose paled,
"With May."

"Oh. I see."

Rose looked meekly at Mark,
"Ethel said Herbert was going to put it on me. May obviously kept them."

Mark rubbed her arm,
"Than we will get them back."

He looked at his grandmother, his intense look reminding her of her own father,
"If we removed the White Magic Blocker from the Kingdom does this mean you and other White Witches can help?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, is there anything else stopping us from going now to stop Ethel?"

Rosemary smiled,
"Nope! I will call for my friends. We will meet here to plan.

You two rest up. Rose, we will work on the chokers. I am afraid for now I need to keep the bracelet on you. My White Magic will just hurt you again. But I am here to protect you."

Rose nodded meekly. She hated not feeling the presence of magic. It made her weak. But for the sake of Rosemary she smiled politely.

Rose directed Rose and Mark to the guest rooms being sure to highlight the seperate rooms for them. She was old fashioned and until her grandson was married she believed in abanence.

Rosemary hustled out the hall to contact her friends. They had already planned on getting into the Kingdom but now she knew exactly who they were really up against.

Mark walked in to the far bedroom with Rose. Mark took in Rose's saddened figure. He could feel her anxiety from the magic block. After years of trying to find a White Witch to get rid of the Black Magic she was right back where she started.

He gathered her into his arms. He knew her story of being cursed by her uncle but he never really considered what the damage was to have something so horrible attached to you. Losing magic was like having a limp cut off.

She hunched into Mark. She hated being vulnerable. She knew she should be happy to know everything else was working out. But she just felt miserable. She touched the scar on her neck. She thought of Raven. She hoped Brent had found her. And that she was ok.

Mark kissed her head. She looked up at him,
"I am sorry for being so weak."

"Rose, you got me here. You have survived things no one else has. You are not weak. Just tired."

He walked over to the bed and sat down leaning against the pillows against the headboard. Rose tucked up beside him and he stroked her hair as the tiredness overtook her. He too soon fell asleep.

Rose felt her bleary eyes struggle to open. The worst part of no magic was tiredness. In the lounge she would sleep at 5am until 3pm. Then she would do dance practice for an hour or two, break for a few hours and then makeup and dance in shifts.