The Princess Guard

Chapter Seventy-One

The Witch

5 hours after leaving the castle we reached our..destination?
I stretched, it felt good to be out of the car finally.  My nerves had my stomach in a knot.

Alyce parked on a narrow street. I don't even know if you could call it that. We were surrounded by a deep forest. It was more like a grass path leading up to a home. It had been a very long bumpy ride once we got off the main highway. Trusting Alyce in this was proving to be difficult.

"So what do we do? Just go knock on a witches door and expect her to let us in?" I whispered as Alyce walked over to my side, shivering. She nodded confidently with a determined look.

"That's exactly what we're doing" she grabbed my hand and we began trudging through the snow towards the home. There was smoke coming out of the chimney. Other than that, there were no signs of life. I held my breath as Alyce knocked on the door. This was crazy. This was so crazy.

"Do you think she would know we were coming?" I whispered, scooting closer to alyce. She shrugged and knocked again.

"I don't know if they can see the future Daya, I know as much about you as I do." She grumbled back and I sighed. Our knowledge of witches was nothing but stories and folklore. They'd been wiped out completely about a hundred years ago. We got our gifts from them. They were supposed to be the middle man between the wolves and vampires. They were both of the species weakness. That's why they were wiped out.

We both jumped when the door opened and my eyes widened.

"Hello?" A woman stood before us, staring at us with piercing green eyes. Her golden skin practically glowed when the sunlight hit her face.

"Alesia" Alyce spoke firmly, clearing her throat.

"My name is Alyce, this is Dayanara" she nudged me and I forced a smile. I was terrified. If this was a witch, she could kill us easily.

"Maria's daughters." The woman spoke, smiling warmly all of a sudden. My eyes widened and Alyce nodded. She hadn't wavered once.

Alesia stepped back, motioning for us to come in.
We walked in cautiously but both stopped in the foyer. I felt like all of my energy drained, I was suddenly exhausted. I looked at Alyce in panic and she gave me the same look.

"This house is protected against your kind. You'll feel like a human until you walk out. No speed, no fangs, no gifts." Alesia spoke as she walked towards what looked like a living room. She beckoned for us to follow but my feet stayed. Were we seriously doing this!? Alyce grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, leading me further into the house. Alesia led us to the kitchen where she sat down at the dining table and sighed, motioning for us to sit.

"I imagine you had a long journey. Can I get you both anything?" She look at us expectedly as we both declined and sat down slowly across from her.

She let out a small laugh suddenly, shaking her head.

"You're both much more quiet than I expected. I'm going to start some tea." She laughed to herself and I mustered up my courage.

"Did you know we were coming?" I blurt out and froze when her eyes hit mine. Her energy was so... powerful. It was unnerving. She shook her head slowly and got up, going to make the tea.

"Not exactly - I did know you would both come at some point though. It was a matter of when. Does the king know where you are?" She glanced back and we both shook our head.

"We came on a whim, we took one of the castle cars without telling anyone" Alyce spoke up and I nodded along. Alesia laughed and shook her head again.

"So you two vampires stole a castle car, left 5 hours away without notifying your father or anyone for that matter, to visit a witch?" She spoke in disbelief and we nodded. It was as crazy as it sounded.

"So you are a witch?" I asked slowly and she spun around with wide eyes.

"You didn't even know for certain if I was a witch!?" She gasped and we nodded again.

"Goodness, you two really are Maria's daughters. Only she would do something so wild." She laughed quietly and walked back to the table with 3 teas.

"I'd been reading our moms journals because we are dealing with an issue that we have no idea how to solve, and I remembered her telling me where you live. Your name was mentioned in the journals vaguely but.. I figured out what mom was trying to say. So I thought it would be worth a shot." Alyce sipped her tea now as I nodded along. Alesia looked at her in interest.

"Your gift?" She asked slowly and Alyce nodded. She looked to me now and I held my breath.

"And you? Has your gift awakened?" She sipped her tea and I nodded.

"And what makes you think I can even help solve your problem? Or if I'm even willing to?" She raised an eyebrow and Alyce cleared her throat nervously.

"We don't know. I can't answer either of those questions. This was a shot in the dark, and I apologize for our unannounced visit. It was rude of us, but we are desperate." Alyce tried to keep her voice level and I nodded along.

"Yes we really are sorry for the intrusion.. it's just that.. well like Alyce said, we are desperate." I whispered, forcing myself to meet her gaze.

"So why couldn't you go to the king?" She asked slowly and I fiddled with my hands nervously.

"It involves something he doesn't know about, and can never know about" I whispered and she leaned back, crossing her arms.

"Is it Salem?" Her question took us both by surprise. My eyes widened and I leaned forward in shock. She let out a small laugh. I had no words. 

"Yes, I know all about Salem. I know he is your mate. That's why I know your mother." She almost had an endearing look now, sadness crossed her face suddenly. I had so many questions now.

"Maria sought me out. I have absolutely no clue how she found me, I just know she saw me in one of her visions.  She thought I might be able to do something about Salem and Lydia. Obviously, I couldn't." She sighed at the end, frowning.

"So if you're here to ask me to do something about him being a hybrid, I can't."

I shook my head quickly, stumbling over my words.

"N-no it's not that. Salem died" I blurt out and her eyes widened.

"But he came back..but he seems to be split between his werewolf and vampire side somehow? His werewolf side is still in the after life. I saw him, and his current living self has no recollection of coming to work at the castle" I rambled, trying to make it make sense. My mind was a mess. She stayed quiet as I fumbled over my words. It was so much to explain. I told her about Amelia, and about Salem's interaction with her in the afterlife.. her even bringing him back. Alesia nodded along, looking very confused but focused.

"That is .. a lot" she spoke finally and drummed her fingers on the table.

"Do you have any experience with uhh..I guess the afterlife?.. technically?..." Alyce trailed off as the witch sighed.

"Here and there.. I've studied some things pertaining to it. I can do some digging in my spell books.. it's just nothing in them will have anything on this type of situation." She ran her hand through her hair now and looked like she was deep in thought.

"Truthfully, no." She spoke suddenly and my eyebrows went together in confusion.

"No? You won't try?" Alyce spoke up and I stared silently. My mind began racing.

"You are lucky I was even able to bring Salem back. Messing with his memories can be deadly or cause irreparable damage." Her tone was sharp and serious, my eyes widened.

"Wait, you brought him back?" I gasped and she nodded.

"I'm the one who meddled and gave Amelia the ability to push his spirit back into his body. I don't know why the split happened."

"Why did you do that?" I whispered, my bottom lip trembled. The gratitude I felt for her now was immense.

"Because Dayanara, you are meant to be with Salem. You are meant to be Queen, you are meant to change the world. You will change things for the better. You're meant to bear Salems children so that they can continue on the changes you'll make. I tasked myself with making sure the future plays out the way your mother saw it. You and Salem are much bigger than you know and you have much more power than you know."