She opened her eyes and bright daylight blurred her sight.
"Eliza! Thank the Moon Bunny you're back!"
Even though Rose was raised in a Christian family, Eliza thought it was pretty funny how quickly her friend had taken over her Moon Bunny replacement.
After a few more blinks of her eyes, Eliza could see the room she was in. It looked like a bedroom, with light pink walls and many shiny decorations. The bed she occupied had matching pink sheets and a canopy. The bed's curtains were tied to the bedposts. Eliza sat up, causing the pain in her arm to resurface. She grabbed her arm and waited a few seconds to compose herself.
"I bandaged your arm for you." It was Belle. She had ditched her magenta dress and was now wearing a comfy pink lounge dress.
"Thank you." Eliza looked around. "Where's Ino? How is she doing?"
"She's in the room next door," Belle put down a cup of tea on the bedside table. It was just as sugary pink as the rest of the room. "Ino looks like she's sleeping but we can't wake her up no matter what. She might be in a coma, but with that pentagram on her forehead we obviously couldn't bring her to the hospital. They would ask too many questions."
Eliza understood. Nobody would ever believe what had happened if they hadn't witnessed it with their own eyes.
"Rest up a bit, okay? I'll go check up on Ino."
The brunette nodded and thanked Belle. Then she looked at Rose who had sat down at the end of the bed. She had changed into a dark blue sweater and a long black skirt. A questioning look appeared on her face.
"Don't say anything, I can guess what you want to ask." Eliza sighed, Rose had to know eventually. "I don't know Wicca just a bit, I know a lot. My mom taught me all those spells since my childhood, including the ones I used on Violette. Never imagined I would ever have to use them though."
Rose fumbled with her hands in her lap. "At least you knew those spells. Without you we would definitely have been dead."
Eliza nodded. If she hadn't met Rose, if she hadn't been dragged to the ritual, if she hadn't bound the demon goddess back to the ground, who knew what would have happened. She reached over to the teacup and took a sip. Sakura.
"Hey, did your mom ever teach you healing spells?"
"She did. Though they never worked when I tried. I've always been better at summonings and binding spells. Why you ask?" She put the now empty cup back on it's matching saucer.
"Well, I was thinking that we might be able to get Ino back with a spell."
Rose seemed to really care about the girl, even though she acted like a spoiled brat against the demon goddess.
"I could try asking my mom. Maybe she can help."
Her friend jumped up from the bed and locked her in a hug.
"Really?! Thank you Eliza!"
Eliza smiled and then winced when Rose accidently touched the scar.
"Oh oops."
The two friends laughed and then said their goodbyes as Rose went on her way to find Belle to tell the news.
----
"How does it look, Ms. Falton?"
A woman in her late forties removed her hand from Ino's bandaged forhead. Her long chestnut brown hair was braided and tied off with red ribbons. The red linen dress she wore moved gracefully with her when she turned around to face the blonde girl.
"I'm afraid I can't do much. I can wake her up but as her soul isn't with her anymore, she'll be in a catatonic state if I do."
Belle couldn't hide the disappointment from her face. "So she won't get any better?"
"Not unless her soul returns."
A knock on the doorframe made Belle look up.
"Hey mom. Hey Belle." Eliza saw a glimpse of sadness on the other girl's face before she put on a more neutral expression. "How is she?"
Eliza's mother shook her head. "Her soul is lost."
"Her soul is lost?" She watched Ino in the bed, surrounded by several comfortable pillows, "How?"
"That demon goddess you girls summoned might have stolen it. Did the President do anything to anger her?"
Eliza and Belle nodded.
"Oh dear, I figured so much." Ms. Falton sat down in a Victorian style armchair, propping one of the many white cushions behind her back.
"What can we do?"
Eliza's mother took a few moments to reply. "There's a witch in Salem that might know more about stolen souls. A similar thing happened to her daughter."
"We should visit her." Eliza was determined to try anything to help get Ino back.
Ms. Falton shook her head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Eliza. She is pretty much a recluse and after the whole ordeal with her daughter she doesn't want to have anything to do with witchcraft anymore. It might be very hard to get her to talk about it."
Eliza sighed. Damn it.
"We can at least try. I'll go with you, Eliza." Rose popped into the room, having heard the last bit of the conversation.
Eliza's face lit up. "You're right. We should go as soon as possible."
Rose nodded. "Though what should we do about school? It's not the holidays yet."
That was true. Exams were coming up, and Rose and Eliza couldn't really afford to miss them if they wanted to survive next year.
"I'll handle that," Belle said while she changed the bandage on Ino, "There's a reason why I'm Vice-President."
"You're Vice-President?!" Rose almost yelled, "Since when?"
The blonde grinned, showing a glint of her happy self again.
"Ino appointed me the day before Halloween."
"Congrats!"
Rose and Eliza hugged her. When they release her, Belle shifted her attention to Ms. Falton who smiled at her. Even in the darkness there was a glimmer of light if you looked hard enough.
"Ms. Falton, would you do the honour to wake up Ino?"
The older woman nodded and stood up from the chair.
"Could you girls fetch me a candle and some rose water?"
---------
Ino had her eyes open and her breathing was more stable. Belle and Eliza had positioned her body in a more upright posture. Her face however didn't show any emotion and her eyes seemed to stare into nothingness.
"I got you something, Ino," Rose knew she wouldn't be able to answer, but it felt wrong not to talk to her. In her hands she held a wire crown, delicately woven with small black and dark blue beads throughout. She placed it on the girl's head and straightened any unruly strands of long black hair. The pendant, in which a black obsidian stone resided, was just the right size to cover the pentagram scar.
"We'll get your soul back soon enough, you'll see."
Comments (0)
See all