I woke up in a room already bathed in light and didn’t feel a second of panic at being late. I closed my eyes to drift back asleep for a little while.

Trissa stumbling down the hallway woke me up again and I got out of bed. She had replaced the sign of first light as my reason to get up. My mind felt empty, quiet, and peaceful. My days were mostly planned out already, no nasty surprises, or changing of minds. Breakfast, gardening, sewing, lunch, games, wash up, dinner, and then talk with Trissa until bed.

There had been a few breaks in the routine throughout the past week. One of the days we had gone to stay over with Katlyn and Eyla. Their parents were just as sweet as Trissa’s. I resented them for a moment, but I tried my best to let it go.

Yesterday I had worked up the courage to go down to the kitchen earlier. Cragar was there preparing breakfast for everyone before he went out to check on his snares. He hummed softly while scooping out scrambled eggs from a pot. I offered to help, but he said he preferred doing everything himself.

He did offer to take me out with him instead of going to Pilim’s store. I wanted to agree since it would be nice to spend time with him, but for his sake, I declined. While I didn’t mind him hunting animals and being a butcher, I would have tried to teach every animal in that area of the forest how to avoid his traps if I had gone along.

They had asked why I didn’t eat meat and I had told them I hadn’t grown up eating it—which was somewhat true—and found the texture weird. I assured them it was fine to leave it in the stews since I did not want to be a nuisance. When I cooked for Mother, I could get away with making myself a separate portion, not here though.

Tomorrow would break up my daily routine, however, I was looking forward to my second day of class. I did hope Mister Salica would talk about something more interesting than wood types.

Tonight was a slight hiccup in that the Hasting family would be going out to dinner with the mayor and ducal representative, who was meant to be arriving later today. The conclusion they had reached was it had something to do with the witch.

It worried me slightly, but I felt far removed from that life already. There was no reason this should drag me back in, as long as I went to get the last of the items from the cottage. While they were all occupied I would go back out to the forest and remove everything—maybe even finish burning it down.

Cragar wasn’t going out, so they could all get ready for the event which meant all of us sat in the kitchen to eat breakfast. The usual humming was absent and I was sure the two silently chomping at their meal were to blame. Pilim’s only contribution to the conversation was to try to convince us my cheeks had gotten more plump.

I ate and looked forward to using the tea leaves to dry out in the morning sun. The family drank tea occasionally but luckily didn’t understand how extraordinary it was for the plant to grow within the span of a week. Maybe they were just used to watching the plants in the fields visibly grow from day to day due to the baby treants.

When I was little Mother had gone through considerable effort forcing the tea plants to grow through rituals to drain the life of other plants. I had started taking care of them when she had me take over all the chores since I wasn’t training anymore. Looking back, she might have thought it was the treant’s doing as well.

I poked around the garden for a bit and found nothing that would benefit from my magic. Most needed to ripen which I found best to let happen on its own. I had been given more of the back garden to use and was waiting until after I went out that night to bring back other cuttings.

The store was closed for the day, but Pilim looked more stressed as she tried to bring in Cragar’s slacks. The poor man could barely look down at her with the collar of his shirt digging into his chin when he tried.

“You’re the one who called me squishy, so I cut back on the bread,” Cragar said defensively.

“You are squishy and I like you squishy, stop making more work for me,” Pilim said.

“I was happy to wear my other suit. You wanted us to match.”

Cragar looked pointedly away from the glare she gave him.

Trissa stood in front of a mirror in a long flowy green dress that showed off her shoulders. She was pulling her hair about into different positions and then fluffing it out again.

“Val, hair up or down?”

“Down.”

“But what's the point of wearing a sleeveless dress if my hair is going to cover it all?”

“Up?”

“Then I’d have to spend ages styling it and worry about it staying together all day.”

Without another answer to give I shrugged from my perch on the stool behind the counter. When that response didn’t impress her I decided to copy Cragar and look away from her.

In the end, after a long while, she left it down.

It was only noon after all of the excitement, but they were preparing to leave down the road to the mayor's estate. He was having some kind of get-together to discuss the arrival of the representative with influential people in the town, which included the Hastings. I waved them off and assured them they didn’t need to worry about me when they asked if it bothered me that I wasn’t going.

I waited for them to be out of view before heading towards the gates. It had sounded like they assumed I’d stay inside and while I’m sure it would be fine to go to the afternoon games, I hadn't felt the need to bring it up.

As I started getting into the more crowded streets two large beasts in horse’s skin came trotting down the cobblestone. The pitch-black one had white socks and a tail dirtied by mud. Their rider wore a cloak that draped over them and the saddle. Glimmering, but scratched, steel covered their exposed arms and legs. The only part of skin I could see was their bare hands holding the reins.

Long black hair peeking out of the pulled-up cloak suggested they were a woman. Their presence felt strong, but didn’t pull my eyes to them like everyone else's. It was muted, or murky.

The second rider felt the same as Jaqalin. He had his hood down and his brown hair flopping about in the wind.

He didn't have the same armour as the woman, but still had his hands bare.

Both of the large animals didn’t show a shred of the weariness I felt radiating off them. It had been a long journey and the one with white socks was miffed about the rain yesterday turning the ground into mud. I almost started laughing when the brown one whinnied and told her she was being a vein foal.

I didn’t because I was too shocked that the feelings almost sounded like actual words in my head. Not as solid as the treant, but more than anything else I had encountered. Neither rider nor animal, gave me so much as a look as their powerful legs took them down the path. I wanted to interact with them, yet didn't because I had a feeling those two were connected to the duke's representative.

Now that they had arrived I needed to get to the cottage, get everything I wanted, get rid of everything that made it seem like I lived there, and get out before the mayor informed them where it was.

I quickened my pace to the gate.

People outside sat in groups, no one seemed to be trying to organise a game. Jacob or Greyson would have, but were at the gathering and no one else had stepped up. I didn’t pay them much attention as I walked down the path then off it, to head into the forest.

Mud squelched as my boots sunk in. My pants were some of Trissa’s sister’s which had recently been altered, they sat high enough not to get muddy. It had started to drizzle again though most of the mud was leftover from yesterday. Pilim had not been impressed with the state Trissa and I had been in after Greyson had decided it would be fun to throw clumps of mud at each other.

We had tried to avoid it, but a few stray throws managed to hit us.

No one had mentioned me having a presence like those with mana, and I hadn't used magic in front of anyone. I didn't want to start because of a bit of mud.

The clouds were sparse enough to let some light through. However, the rays shining through the trees from my clearing were not from the sun.

There were three sets of mana moving about ahead. I crouched down behind some of the leaves I'd helped grow back that were as big as I, and peered into the clearing.

Two orbs of light floated above the clearing. My vision was stuck on the second storey of the cottage.

The invisibility was gone.

A large sheet of cloth that water ran off of in droplets lay spread out on the floor near the cottage. A circle of heat haze floated above it and blocked the light rain from falling directly onto most of it. A young man in the same type of cloak and uncovered hands as the two riders moved across the cloth carrying the alchemy set from the cottage.

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“Daral? What was that? Did you break it?” a female voice asked from inside.

“Fuck off, Alisa.” Daral picked up the large beaker that had knocked into a condensing tube.

“Stop messing around and come help me with this chest, this thing is fucking nasty. Maybe we should wait for Annalise?”

“She gave us this task knowing what was on it, so I think she expects us to do it ourselves,” Daral said as he trudged back over to the cottage.

Something gripped my heart with both hands and squeezed down on it.

They had the chest. They could get the doll.

What would they do with it? Burn it? Leave it to the elements? Dissect it…

I felt sick. Mother had only ever held it above the fire to get me to cooperate when I was being especially horrid.

These people wouldn’t know what it was. They wouldn’t know that whatever happened to the doll, I would feel.

The money came to mind for a second, but it didn’t matter compared to getting that doll from them before they took it too far away from me or damaged it. I had only tested the first hint of pain from exceeding its distance allowance and didn’t want to find out what would happen if they rode away with it.

A loud set of snapping sounds made me jump. Muffled curses and grumbling were followed by Daral and Alisa waddling out of the door, holding the heavy chest between them.

“I despise whoever made this thing,” Alisa said. She was in identical clothing to the others and had her long blonde hair neatly tied back.

“I think that was the point. Did you find the key? Otherwise, this is going to be shitty to try open without spells.”

“Yes, and the blasted thing is cursed to Andraka and back.”

“Maybe we try a dispel?”

“You think I didn’t try that? Iron will make it take all night.”

“Maybe that’s why Annalise left to see the Mayor, leaving us to do all the work.”

“Kinda what we signed up for being knight’s apprentices and all.”

“I guess,” Daral said with a sigh. “I’ll start on the dispelling, you drag Barick back here.”

“Why do you get to stay here under the shield?”

“Cause all you have to do is tilt your head, smile a little and he’ll do whatever you say.”

“Awe, I’m sure if he also liked men he’d do the same to you,” she said and patted Daral’s shoulder before leaving.

Daral made a mocking high-pitched whine as she left before kneeling next to the chest.

Mana moved from his chest and down his arm to gather near his bare palm. Like with the farmer who was making it rain above the crops it gathered and shot out towards the chest. The mana disappeared into the iron lock.

Daral waited, and I waited, but nothing happened. He repeated the same process a few more times without any effect. I scolded myself for wasting time. Daral was looking somewhat in my direction, so I slowly went around the clearing. I checked the other two were still not close before running low to the ground, into the cottage.

I tiptoed around the creaky planks of wood and saw the ladder for the first time. The rungs had faded and thinned where we stepped the most, the top few cracked in half.

There was a small crack in the wall that I leaned and shifted myself to see out of. Daral was still throwing mana at the lock.

I climbed up and struggled to pull myself up the last bit where the rungs couldn't support me.

The key wasn’t where I left it on the edge of the desk. I got on my hands and knees to search through books that had fallen off of a broken shelf. They were some of the cursed ones, so I doubted they had sifted through them. My hand brushed against cold iron.

I grabbed the key and was back into the surrounding brush before Daral completed another spell.

“Alisa! I’m almost out of mana! Get your butt over here,” Daral shouted over his shoulder. I couldn’t tell if the other two were moving closer until they were already in the clearing on the other side.

With Alisa was another man with pale skin, he didn’t wear the cloak the others did or the steel armour pieces, except for a large piece on his shoulder. Strapped to his back was what I assumed a sword looked like. One of his hands had dull and rough iron pieces plating his hands and fingers while the other was bare like the others.

“Really Daral? Brute force on curses laid in iron? How did you pass third year?”

“By kicking everyone’s ass on the ladder. Are you going to help, Barick?”

“I suppose I can lend you my expertise. I know I spoke against brute force, but have we tried breaking the lock?”

“I did,” Alisa raised her hand. “It hit back, wouldn’t recommend.”

“Well let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Barick said and knelt in Daral’s place. He used his iron covered hand to carefully poke the lock. He flinched back.

“Well that’s nasty, almost broke the enchantment on my glove.”

Barick repeated what Daral had done and brought mana to his palm, but he held it for longer while moving it about in a knot.

It launched at the lock and sank in, but didn’t vanish like Daral’s. A wave of hatred washed over me and for a second I was looking down at my younger self with my head hung low.

“I fucking hate witches man,” Daral said with a shake of his body. “I weakened that for you, you know.”

“Your waste of effort is appreciated,” Alisa said and gestured at the man’s back. “Well go ahead and hit it, Barick.”

“You think I’m going to chip Katarina on some rusty piece of iron? I’d never get a repair spell to work the same again. Nah, let's go de-curse that key you found.”

“Daral knows where it is,” Alisa said. It earned her an unamused look from him. He led Barick back to the cottage anyway.

My heart was still pounding in my chest as I watched two of them go back inside. Alisa stayed on the cloth and looked through the alchemy set. I was worried I wouldn’t get another chance. Worried about all the painful things that could befall that doll.

I stepped out of the brush as the two men climbed up the ladder with much less grace than me. Alisa had her back mostly turned to me.

I took slow, careful steps. The mud wasn’t as bad in the lush clearing I had created. I thanked my past self.

I was on the mat, next to the chest, key in hand. Alisa hummed and I froze but carried on when she did nothing else. The key slid slowly into the lock, careful not to hit the edges. All the experience I had opening the chest went into placing it correctly and slowly turning.

The lock clicked.

I looked back and met Alisa’s bright green eyes. She was confused, yet still reaching for something under her cloak and raising her other hand to me. In panic I flung out my own hand and a solid gust of wind made her stumble off the cloth and fall into the mud.

I stared, stunned for a moment before she shouted for help. The chest’s lid was flung open. I lifted up the doll without touching it and tried to move quickly back into the brush. Running straight back to the town seemed like a bad idea, the stream wasn’t far enough away, so I started to curve around to head towards the treants.

Maybe I could leave it there. Lock it away forever.

I turned, feeling the mana behind me. I expected to see a person. Instead, a ball of flame flew over my head to splash against a tree in front of me. Embers danced and sizzled off of the wet grass.

“In the name of Duke Riker stop, that property has been seized and this is theft.”

It was one of the men shouting. I carried on running.

I was gaining more and more speed as I got comfortable holding up the doll with air. Someone was still gaining on me, I could hear them trampling through the foliage behind me.

As the mana got close I turned to see Daral jump over a bush. I strained my arm to scoop up more dirt than I had when trying to put out the fire. The ground before his landing lifted up and turned over to smash into him. A heat haze like the circle keeping out the rain appeared in front of him. The dirt still pushed both it, and him, to the ground.

Using each arm to use different magics at the same time left me dizzy and nauseous.

Another blast of fire curved over the plant and hit near my boot, vaporising the water around it. I winced at the searing pain on my bare shin.

It wasn’t that bad, so I turned to keep running.

I could hear the stream up ahead and couldn’t keep up with where the three people were amongst all the forest inhabitants. Three horses lay or drank near the stream with saddles and packs strewn out around them. I slowed and begged any of the horses to help me. One wanted a basket of apples in exchange, another was worried his rider would be mad. and the last said it was improper for anyone but her handler to ride.

A few deep breaths helped me convince myself I could keep running. My arms were sore from throwing around the dirt and keeping the doll afloat. The burns on my shin were red and lumpy.

As I was looking down a haze wrapped around my waist. I could feel it both physically and with my senses as it yanked me to the side.

I watched the doll drop out of the air while the horses neighed. I only hoped they didn’t try to eat it.

The ground where I landed was muddy and I slid towards the other end of the rope of mana. Alisa was there, moving towards me while keeping the rope taught. It hadn’t got my arms, so I was able to slowly stand. She was close and I tried to fling another gust of wind at her. Her entire body shimmered as a haze formed in front of her for the air to hit. The rope around me disappeared.

I was too panicked to pull the doll out of the mud without touching it. After the third attempt I gave up and reached for it, I could stand the pain until I could get out.

An arm wrapped around my throat and squeezed enough for my breath to hitch. Another hand appeared, I grabbed it and brought it to my mouth. My teeth chomped down with all the strength I could muster.

Alisa screamed at me to stop.

When I didn’t listen she let go and shoved me away. I stumbled and whirled around to throw another blast of air. It was blocked and my arms fell limply at my side.

I was using too much magic

Blood dripped off Alisa’s finger as she approached. I expected another spell as I watched her hand for the build up of tangled mana. Her fist clenched and lashed out to strike me across the cheek.

I had started to raise my arms to block but was too slow. The muddy forest floor came up to meet me as I crashed to the ground. Something heavy sat on my back and pressed my head into the mud.

“Stop. Fucking! Struggling,” Alisa screamed into my one ear not buried in dirt.

I kicked my legs out and squirmed underneath her, but found nowhere to go. There was no plan, I just wanted to keep my mouth above the mud to suck in the small breath the weight on top of me allowed.

“What are you doing?” a man asked. “Put her to sleep already.”

“I’m trying!” Alisa shouted. “The spell’s not working on her.”

“Move.”

Alisa pushed off me and the weight vanished, I sat up with my arm still wrist deep in the mud. As I took my first real breath of air in forever the gleaming flat side of a blade swung into my head.