THE ELF, AFTER he had been allowed to draw a breath, immediately staggered a great length away from Kynes' still body. As though her magic lingered and might act on its own in that sleeping state.

He should have ran for his life, but he seemed shaken; paralysed. Pain had not yet seemed to register in his body either, since he did not clutch at any part of himself. Thankfully he was not bleeding heavily —the wounds were minor and could be easily healed.

Kynes' magic had done other things, though —it had tinted his skin blue and white with frost, and rendered parts of him immobile. His left foot and both arms were encased in casts of ice. Nothing he tried lessened the effects, but I hoped that he could wait it out.

Not for his sake —but for everyone who cared for him.

It took another minute to process the events. He then looked up from where he had collapsed against the wall, heaving and drenched in sweat. His gaze met mine, hard and confused. I did not blame him.

The last time the magic had surged in such a way, I had made humans sleep. I wondered if Kynes, a Wytch, was as conveniently susceptible.

"What...have you done?" asked the Elf. "I did not think that your borrowed magic extended to stun spells."

I did not have the strength to answer him.

"Has this...has it happened before?" he continued.

I gave him a blank, pained stare.

It was more than spite. Beyond the pain —beyond the fact that if I opened my mouth, nothing but screams would escape from it...I did not want to fuel anything that he might use against me.

He caught on fairly quickly.

"...I will not pretend to be grateful," he said tightly, holding his chin up —even though I did technically save his life. "But since you have provided me with the chance to escape, I will not waste it."

My eyes set, glaring into his.

He saw the side of my silence that was induced by pain and resentment —and he sighed in surrender; or exasperation. He glanced elsewhere —at anything but my lower half. I knew that he was trying desperately to avoid acknowledging my affliction.

Perhaps he realised the effects of his own magic, and understood my lack of verbal response.

The withering was now at my knee, and I could feel the tendrils of it slithering within my thigh. I could no longer move my right leg.

Kynes' arms then twitched slightly.

The Elf stumbled to his feet, still shaky and uncoordinated, and made for the door. Of course the instinct would be to run. I wondered if he really would rely a message to the Dreamcatcher Authority about this incident. I was in no condition to stop him if so.

He would benefit from a walking cane, though. It was quite pitiful —his hobbling. There was no shred of pity in his expression as he turned back to look at me once more on his way out. I had that much strength to narrow my eyes and raise one brow expectantly. To dare him to say something.

He thought better of it.

He departed as silently as he had come in.

When the last trace of him ever being in the Cotton Candy was the magic in my leg, Kynes suddenly shook free from the hold of my spell. Blue and purple and pink shards of crystal flared, as though they had physically bound her all this while.

Swearing and panting, Kynes rose to her feet and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. Her eyes went straight for mine; fierce and demanding.

"Where did that bastard go," she hissed.

Her pointed hat was gone. Her raven hair was tied back in a high ponytail —a detail which I had failed to notice earlier. The blue of her eyes was harshened now that they were outlined in a thick line of kohl. Her features were still feline, but less immature. She now had the face of a warrior —a Valkyrie without wings.

And I practically trembled in reverence.

"He...escaped," I somehow managed to wheeze, with the amount air in my lungs not being sufficient.

I gritted my teeth and tried to haul myself up to a seated position —to no avail, unsurprisingly. Yet...how had I not screamed at the first word? Was Kynes' presence able to subdue the agony?

The Wytch snarled. "You let him go," she accused.

"It was...unforeseen," I rasped truthfully. "My magic..."

"You made me sleep," she grunted, clearly familiar with the magic's signature as it lingered in her system. She brushed the crystals aside, and they melted into nothing before they could hit the floor. "It is a rather pathetic beginner's spell, but I suppose it can be something for you to brag about," she scoffed.

Her words stung in a way that should not be familiar.

She then marched over and crouched down on her haunches before me. Her slender fingers gripped my chin, and there was nothing that I could do to keep her from doing anything that she wished.

"...Kynes," I said. "I am sorry."

My voice was rough and broken. Hesitation flickered in the Wytch's cold eyes, and she took in the extent of the effects of the Elf's shadows on my leg.

"I should get that magic out of your system before it takes over your body," she mused. "It would be a pity to let all of this beauty rot away."

I growled softly. Was that the only reason?

"Do you want my help or not?" she hissed.

"Why...are you...so vexed?" I rasped.

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "You still have my card. Unused. Why did you not summon me?"

I frowned. "I..."

"You could have avoided that," she murmured, pointing at my leg. "I could have offed that Elf before he had so much as formulated a plan to rat on you."

"You cannot...go around killing...whomever you please," I insisted, before wincing. The magic now squeezed my thigh, draining the blood and muscle in it.

Kynes saw. And still waited.

"You would rather have him tattle to the highest authority?" the Wytch snorted. "Now that he is gone, I have no doubt he will find a way to get the Alpha Plane as soon as he has licked his wounds."

I ground my teeth together.

I could not lie and say that I had faith that he would keep quiet and that his loyalty to creatures of magic would shine through. Simply because he had none.

"I had him, you know," Kynes then said tightly, her amusement vanished. "I could have taken care of it. If only you had used my card."

Why was she so insistent on that?

Flashes of the night before played in my mind.

I gasped as I recalled Georgia's comment. She is bound to you. Kynes wanted me to use her card so that she would no longer have an obligation to me. She wanted me to free her. The only question I had though, was why she had given up her freedom in the first place.

And why had she helped me by spreading word about Cotton Candy and my new abilities?

"Please...help me," I asked. We will talk when I can form proper sentences. I cast my pride aside. "Please."

The Wytch looked into my eyes and thought her options over. If she left me to wither completely; left that magic to consume my life force, our contract would be void. She had no reason to let me survive.

If this magic took over me, there would be nothing left —not even my dreamcatcher form. It would eat away at the wood and thread when it had finished off my mortal body. And I would turn to dust.

However, Kynes might have understood my motives behind confronting the Elf. My bravery could be blended with stupidity —and maybe she admired the fact that I had made that attempt.

I knew that she still wondered why I had not used the card. It had made sense to do so. Only...the reason why I had not summoned Kynes had been selfish and possibly foolish as well —as well as why I had planned to go and physically look for her instead.

I was seeking answers that she could provide. After I had gotten them, then I could free her if that was all she wished. I could not have risked losing our binding contract until then. She certainly looked as though she wanted to be released from the bind as her eyes bore into mine, searching for insincerity.

But I hid none.

She let out a breath. I tensed as she leaned in closer. She noted my reaction, but did not withdraw. With a little protest on my part, she carefully rolled me onto my back. I shuddered. My breathing was laboured. Kynes sucked in a breath as she glanced over my right leg —that of a long-mummified skeleton. The top of my thigh was streaked in vines of shadow, all slowly curling higher and higher. The Wytch then gripped my waist and effortlessly lifted me up off of the floor.

The skirt and apron of my dress ruffled as though a gust of wind had blown past them. I was in midair for what felt like eternity. And all I saw was that deep, shimmering blue of her eyes —like that of tanzanite.

It rendered me breathless.

I only dared to exhale when she had sat me on an ottoman, careful to elevate my withered leg. She examined it, turning it from one side to the other. I did not like the way she raised a dark eyebrow and sighed.

"Had you known that the Elf possessed shadow magic?" Kynes asked. "Did you know what it could do?"

"No," I breathed.

"This has no easy remedy," she murmured.

I pressed my lips into a tight line.

"I did not say that it is irreversible," she clarified.

"What...can you do?"

"There are two options. I can either extract the shadows from you and give them an alternative host —or I can use my magic to expel them."

"Ex...pel?" I echoed disjointedly.

"It will be like lightning in your veins —forcing the shadows into a more condensed space like your foot, until...well, until they implode," she explained wearily.

I swallowed uneasily. "I think that...I prefer extraction."

"I had a hunch that you would," she smirked. "So. Do you have any containers large enough?"

I glanced at a pink porcelain vase of fake roses on the counter. "Would that...suffice?" I asked.

After her confirmation that it would indeed, I put my foot inside of the emptied vase —before she sat in front of me and unsolicitedly placed her hands on my thigh. I flinched but truthfully the feeling of her nails grazing my skin was somehow soothing.

I bit my tongue as she began.

Her veins turned luminescent as her magic surged through her, and then to me. The white light pierced my skin and entered my own veins —causing me to yelp. Kynes' hands continued to massage, forcing magic in to counteract the shadows. Indeed the tendrils of darkness began to slither back down my leg —recoil, was a better word. The same way the Elf's magic had refrained from touching Kynes was how it reacted to the light.

And where the shadows left, into the vase they went. It did not take much for the colour to begin to fade and for faint cracks to appear.

When one part of my leg was restored, she moved lower to concentrate the magic there. I was rather mesmerised as I watched her work.

Her delicate and pale hands on my skin resembled the moon against the night sky.

The shadows were just below my knee when I decided to fill the silence. I had wanted to wait, but my tongue was faster than my patience. "If you are so desperate...to rid yourself of me...then why did you...flirt with me?" I asked. "Why did you...help me?"

The Wytch's eyes shimmered as she looked up to meet my gaze. "...I am surprised that you have not already answered that for yourself," she said.

I caught onto the ominousness of that answer.

"I...do not understand," I struggled.

Kynes was then reluctant to respond.

And then a voice came forward, along with its person. "Because she set you up," Georgia accused; her arms folded and her gaze like steel.

I looked at Kynes. Her hands paused.

"...I see that your human is still here," she quipped, smirking. "Did you really choose her over me?"

"Kynes," I hissed.

"She knew that that Elf would come here," Georgia continued. "She needed to tell someone who, once they had seen your magic, would sell that information."

"Then why...did she save me?" I whispered.

"Because she didn't account for him lashing out," said the teenager. "She wanted to aggravate an antagonist, but she hadn't meant for you to get hurt." She then addressed Kynes. "Am I correct?"

The Wytch was silent.

Georgia was right. Every muscle in my body flexed, though the effect made me want to scream.

I wanted to feel betrayal. Hurt; or the sense that I had been an unwitting pawn. Yet I felt none of those things. I did not know her enough to feel as though something between us would never again be the same. All in which I was interested, was why she had chosen me. Why had she singled me out?

I asked her quietly —my voice strained and hoarse.

Kynes glared at the floor.

Georgia clicked her tongue and knelt down beside me, wincing at the sight of my leg. "Don't stop now," she clipped at the Wytch. "Don't you feel guilty about letting this happen?"

"I did not," Kynes snapped, her eyes widening as she bared her teeth. Georgia did not even flinch. "I did not let this happen. This is not my fault."

"You are the one...who told everyone," I rasped. "You let him...come here."

"I had not thought that he would try anything. I did not think that he would be so foolish," Kynes insisted, her grip on my shin tightening. More shadows drained; replenishing the muscles and colour and freckles.

"You overestimated him," Georgia scoffed.

"I miscalculated," growled the Wytch. "I...After I came here yesterday I thought that having a connection with someone Alpha-born would be advantageous. Look —I left my coven. I had nowhere to go. I saw you," she addressed me, "and I felt something different about your aura. I had to find out what made you different from other Dreamcatchers."

"Did you like...what you found?" I deadpanned.

"It was not like that," she insisted, glancing away. "When I kissed you —that was not exactly with romantic intent. It gave me...a glance into your life."

I glanced at the front door. I did not need anyone to tell me that I was blushing this time.

"That's an invasion of privacy!" Georgia cried.

"I know that," Kynes hissed. "But I could not help myself. And when I looked, I realised your trauma. Your fears. Your hopes," she said to me. I would not look at her. "I gave you my summoning card because I wanted to belong somewhere. I knew that you swearing you would never use it would be the best outcome. And then I spread word about your shop. I thought it would help. And it did. Then I bumped into that Elf. We...made a bet. If you truly had the ability that I claimed you did, I would have to pay him to keep his mouth shut about it."

"Why...did you tell him?" I asked.

"He threatened me," she admitted. "He saw...something that I had not wanted him to see. And with that information at his disposal; knowing who was out there and who was against me, he used what I had. And that was information about you. It was not personal."

"You still wilfully put Purple in danger," Georgia seethed. "How could you have possibly thought that you were helping her?"

"It was selfish," she admitted. "But I am a Wytch. It is what we do."

"Well, now he will definitely snitch," Georgia huffed. "He's got the information and the means."

"One thing," I spoke up, "...is still bothering me."

The Wytch and teenage girl then looked up at me simultaneously.

"If you knew...that Elf would come here, why...did you want me...to summon you? Why...would you want to belong...to someone in the...first place?" I wheezed, though the pain was weakening now. The vines of shadow were curling down closer to my ankle.

"Maybe she's got a hero complex," spat Georgia.

"No," Kynes murmured. "I simply had no desire to be contracted with someone anymore. That was why I did not think much of bringing him here. Purple," she said my name for the first time, "no longer interested me."

The Cotton Candy was silent for a lengthly moment.

I could almost sense the anger festering within Georgia —her fingers curling into her palms. I was mildly envious of that feeling. Because I still felt nothing.

The pain was now barely lingering. The vase began to crumble around my foot.

"...I will use your card when you are finished," I breathed, my voice almost normal. My statement was met with unexpected surprise. "Then you will be free. And then you can leave," I added.

There should have been spite there. But there was not.

"You are angry with me," Kynes smiled weakly. "You are blameless for that."

"No," I said. "I am rather disappointed —in myself," I admitted. "For being so naïve. You said so when we met. One should never trust a Wytch."

The vase fell apart completely, and turned to fine dust.

author's note |
oops, kynes wasn't what you thought. or maybe she was, if you had heeded her warning.