After what had seemed like forever and then some, she had  returned  to the sanctuary of her chamber. Fleeing up the winding marble staircase,  then made it to her beloved comfort zone. Shutting the door with ease she breathed a sigh of relief; once again avoiding Gwen the forest twit once again. Veronica threw her bag on to the bed and grabbed her magical tool box.

 Rummaging through it until she found what she was looking for. With a sinister smile the dark witch pulled out three candles. Two were as black as could be; one was a large blood red candle. She had been working ahead of her lessons, dabbling in extreme dark sorcery. It was known only to her spell books. She had told no living being of her advanced magical talents.

Gathering a few more items she began the incantation ritual. She was suddenly distracted by her aggravation towards the other witch. The air in the room went completely still and the creepy but familiar voice whispered through the darkness.

"The witch is weaker than you; she befriends only to steal your power."

Horror filled her from the soul outward as the color drained from her face. Unsure as to what to do next Veronica grabbed her brand new spell book and immediately wrote in it a section for the whispers. She scribbled down that this had been going on for months, made worse only by Ludwig's relocation to a different realm. It angered her not being able to talk to him again. She could find him with intense dark magic but it wasn't safe if used more than a few times a week. She didn't always follow the rules but with this one, the consequences were unknown to her. That made them more dangerous than before. She went back to her candle magic, hoping to find out some real answers about Gwen bumping into her constantly. It was aggravating seeing the perky wench everywhere.

"I hate her, why won't she leave me alone?" The dark sorceress shouted to the nothingness surrounding her.

 Stopping the brewing rage for a moment she took a long deep breath and began her nocturnal meditation. It took longer to reach the calmed state than usual, but she cleared her mind again. Needing to focus she put reality in to the back of her mind. Soon she was lost in that deep meditative state as if she were in a different reality altogether. Finding her inner haven, she was calm enough to get back to her magic without her emotions getting in the way. It had happened more since the gargoyle's disappearing act.

Gazing over her spell book once more, reading the dream quest chant, committing it to memory. She focused on the blood red candle in between the two smaller black ones before she began chanting.

"Dark guardians of ancient ancestral ways,

I ask to see the truth please.

Show me in the late hour Gwen's true intentions.

Is she after my dark powers?"

Taking a deep breath, she repeated the dream vision chant. Then repeating it once more for proper effectiveness, she then thanked the dark guardians for listening to her request. Once her magical workings had been completed she snuffed out the candles after writing down the spell had been performed in her spell book. Having complete confidence that her spell had already begun to work, the dark sorceress closed her spell book and crawled under her enormous wine colored comforter. She nodded off moments after her head hit the pillow. Soon after falling into a deep restful slumber she began to have the vision she had wanted.

Soon she was standing there, watching herself in the vision. Suddenly she saw the two irritating witches, wondering to what extent Trinity had in all of this mess. She saw her own body back up a little in the midst of a screaming match with her enemies. She watched as the two witches lunged for her ripping the amulet from around her neck. Her fears jerking her awake, she was frozen in fear by what her vision had for told. She tried to scream but the noise refused to leave her vocal chords. Shaking with fear she tied to breathe but it was as if her lungs effused to do their job. She looked around her chamber, realizing she was there and safe for the time being, she crept over to her altar. Lighting the red candle, she grabbed her new spell book and flipped it to the next blank page.

Writing as fast as she could before the memory of the dream vision would fade away, Veronica scribbled down everything she saw, the confrontation with Gwen and her little side kick. She wrote of them stealing her amulet, a rather powerful talisman. Once she scribbled all she could recall, she began drawing a pretty decent sketch of Ludwig. She couldn't stand the fact that he wouldn't be in her presence any longer.

 It pained her a great deal. The only one she had left was the raven and he had not been to see her as often as he used to. She closed the book and snuffed out her candle, going back to bed, this time in hope of a more restful slumber. She fell into a deep sleep just as the sun had risen over the land.