If We Could Make it There

A Big Finally

Ashlyn POV

My eyes snap open and I whirl around, trying to see where I am and what's just happened. As I try to stand up from the chair I'm in, I realize that my hands are all tied up. I yank the ropes, but nothing happens. I notice the others surrounding me having the same dilemma. Caylie sits next to me, her hands tied to her chair. She was right this whole time, yet I didn't believe her until I could read her mind. I feel terrible. Grace and Seth are next on the line, and on my other side is Kate. Jack is after her, but I don't see Alexandra anywhere. I don't know why, but for some reason I feel bad for her. She brought us to enslavement. She brought us to harm us. Yet I feel bad for her. It must take a lot of pain in order to want to hurt your friends. Were we ever even friends though, really? Or was this her plan from the beginning?

"We had a deal!" I hear Grace blurt out. "Where's Amalie?" I hear a squeak from the corner of the room and a, "Sorry dear, but not all promises can be kept. You didn't keep yours though, did you? You gave Miss Cinders up in the dream. You destroyed the entire operation." I hear a sound come out of Grace's mouth- something in between a growl and a scream. Then I hear her struggle to get out of her chair, just to fall back into it.

"Now, now," I hear a voice cackle- one of the Bruxa, "Thank you Miss Cinders. Without you... They would have gotten here." This is really annoying me. They lured us here on purpose. What've we ever done to them?

Seth seems to be thinking along the same lines as me. "Why are you doing this? What did we do?" his voice echoes across the room, and one of the Bruxa snarls. "What have you done? You little-" but another voice, a softer one, calls, "Halt, Es. The boy asks a fair question. We owe them an explanation." The first one starts to murmur in disagreement, but a third, sharper voice mutters, "Owe is right. We must explain. They will be enslaved here anyway, will they not?" I'm not liking that word too much: enslaved. I guess that this is our fate. But all of us? Only one of us was going to stay behind, me. This is insanely wrong.

"Right you are, I suppose," the first voice mumbles, "Carry on, Em." When my closed eyes open, I see three woman are now standing in front of us, the three Bruxa. I swear I have never hated anyone more than the three witches standing in front of me. Each of them are in cloaks, one in a deep purple, another in a pine green, and the last in a navy blue. The hoods cover their faces, and I'm not quite sure I want to see what's underneath them. What abnormalities could these three be hiding?

"You eight," the one called Em says, "Were brought here to be punished. For the abhorrent crimes which you have committed."

Seth looks around at us angrily, before staring back at Em. "What crime? We haven't done anything!" Em looks towards the other Bruxa.

"Owe? Es?" she says, and they nod. Em clears her throat and starts, "Your friend here, Alexandra, is on what we call... Dose. We inject it into the upper arm, and say the thing needed to be carried out. It lasts a week before it needs to be re-given. Her plea to you all was honest. When you all parted your ways to prepare for your journey, her mother injected it into her." Jack stares at Em like she's crazy. Mrs. Cinders would not do that. But how do I know, really?

"Mom wouldn't do that," Jack says certainly, shaking his head, "She would not." Es cackles.

"You know already, Mister Cinders, your mother came to us years ago, but returned safely back." I think back to when I heard Jack and Alexandra talking in the woods. "What if not all people disappear when they see the Bruxa?You and I of all people should know that not everyone does." Not everyone as in... their own mother.

"In-er- return for the service we granted her, she became a Herder. She helps us when we need it, no matter the circumstance," Es continues, "She told Alexandra what needed to be done and... Viola." Jack looks at his feet. I feel terrible for him.