Chapter 51: Chapter 51

Ora’s POV

It’s just been a couple of days since Sandy and Evaan left. But, it already feels like a part of me is missing.

“Ora….Ora, when did start falling for strangers like this? Don’t you know that nothing good can come out of an association between a werewolf and a witch?” I chided myself as I changed and adjusted my hairstyle. Today was the thirteenth day after my sister’s death. Mother must have organized a formal ceremony to consecrate her remains. I knew she wouldn’t want me to attend it but I had to go.

I was about to teleport right into my house but the sudden congestion in my heart made me lose focus. Moments later, I found myself in the midst of some ruins. The grass was charred and rubbles and chunks of the wall were littered as far as my eyes could see.

What place was this? I sauntered around, trying to figure out the place I had accidentally teleported to. The trees on either side of the path had turned into long stumps of burned wood. The bushes looked like wisps of ash that would be blown away any moment.

While walking amidst the scattered rubble, I found a ring. It was an emerald ring much like the one mother had. A gasp escaped my lips and my hand flew to my mouth. No! This was impossible. With trembling hands, I opened up my palm and used magic to assess the energy field.

I closed my eyes wishing desperately that my suspicion was false. But that was not meant to be. The familiar flow of aura made me stagger and I dropped to the ground with a helpless scream. I hadn’t lost focus while teleporting. This was the grave of my house.

I tore my hair and swept my eyes around with a sense of frantic restlessness. How in the world did this happen? How did place I had lived since my childhood suddenly turn into a heap of rocks and ashes?

A pained whimper left my lips as a torrent of warm tears rolled down my cheeks. This was the place that held some of the sweetest memories of my life with my sister. With the house gone, I felt like the last link between us had been severed.

Our mansion had been standing proud and tall for over a century now. Who could have been so cruel to destroy it like this?

I wiped the moisture collected on my cheeks and stood up; my eyes lighting up with grim determination. I had to find out what had happened.

The best way to get information without confronting anyone is to listen carefully to the gossips. So, I went to the marketplace. There were so less people today that it almost felt deserted. The few people present gave off a vibe of despair.

There were no squabbles, no challenges, no threats to outwit one another. It was like someone had sucked the life out of this place. What exactly was going on? Did I suddenly wake up to some different world?

I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I had to find out what was going on. Ignoring the fact that I might get caught, I approached a vendor I was familiar with. “What exactly happened here, Helen?”

She raised her head and looked up at me as if I had sprouted horns, “You really don’t know?”

I pursed my lips and shook my head, “I was…umm… away for a while…. When I returned, I saw my house and….” My voice got choked. I found it difficult to put the condition of my home into words.

She reached over the counter and squeezed my hand gently, “That must have been hard on you….”

I cleared my throat and tried to ask in a calm voice, “Do you know what happened? I can’t seem to find mother….”

“She must have gone to live in the Alastair Cottage with other witches that were affected….”

Her words hit me like a bolt of lightning, “Other witches were affected too?”

“Hmm… Last night, a group of fifteen werewolves carried out a covert attack on our coven.”

“Wait! What? How is that possible? The shield around the Halterland wouldn’t allow werewolves to come and go undetected; not in such large numbers.”

“They probably found a break between the Blue Icepeaks….”

Blue Icepeaks? Hadn’t I shown the passage to Sandy? Was it possible that…? No… no…he would never do that… I shrugged off the thought of Sandy betraying me before it could even form in my mind. Sandy was a good person and it would be wrong to suspect him like this. It was probably just a co incidence.

“Even if they did infiltrate our coven, how did they manage to cause so much damage? This has never happened before…..”

“They seemed well prepared, Ora…. It was as if they knew every nook and corner of this place. You won’t believe this but they even managed to escape after planting the bombs.”

I gulped and with a trembling heart, I stuttered, “Were there like… umm… were there any casualities?”

Her face fell and she merely nodded, “We lost five of ours. Even though we are witches, we aren’t immortal. There are things that can kill us. The bombs planted by them were extremely powerful.”

She suddenly went quiet and her eyes glazed over as if she was carried back to the incident, “They had planted two bombs in the marketplace too…. I shudder every time I imagine those two bombs going off. If Grand Magus Valence hadn’t intervened, so many more of us would have been killed….”

Helen’s words kept ringing in my ears as I trudged down the path with slow, sluggish steps. I don’t know how long I kept walking, lost in my thoughts.

When I finally came back to senses, I found myself standing in front of the inn. The temptation to go inside and see the room lured me inside. I had just climbed the first stair when a feminine voice called from behind, “Miss?”

I turned around and looked at the girl with a puzzled expression. Long brown hair tied in pigtails, a flowing gown and kind expression. She was probably the inn keeper’s daughter. She was still young and didn’t know how to recognise witches.

She smiled at me as she took a step towards me, “Are you by any chance Ora?”

“I am….” I found myself returning her smile despite the chaos brewing in my heart. “Do you know me?”

“Umm… no, but I think I have something of yours…” she handed me an envelope, “It is from someone named ‘Craker.’”

I almost snatched the envelope from her hand; ripping it open without a moment’s delay. Opening the piece of paper, I started reading with the enthusiasm of a girl who has been waiting for her lover’s letter for centuries.

‘I had to tell the Lycan King about the secret passage between the Blue Ice Peak….” The moment I read the first line, my heart went numb. He had betrayed me after all. I was a fool to think, he would be any different.

The letter slipped from my hand and swished in the air for a moment before landing on the ground. My gaze drifted from the letter to the staircase. Sandy’s image as he carried me up the stairs flashed in my mind. I wasn’t going to let him f*** my mind anymore.

I spun around and barged out of the inn. The sound of rushing footsteps sounded behind me followed by the girl’s words, “Miss! You forgot your letter.”

“Just burn it!” I paused momentarily and called over my shoulders before stomping away in anger. I should have never trusted that a*****e!