Annie smiled as she looked around, Griselda's house was as cosy and warm on the inside as it looked on the outside.
"What are you thinking about dear?" asked Griselda as she smiled and she looked at Annie.
"Oh nothing much, you have a very nice home" said Annie as she looked at Griselda.
"Oh thank you dear, I do try to make it as comfortable as possible" said Griselda as she smiled and Annie smiled at her as they both took a sip of their teas at the same time.
"Your friends, one of them seems to be very close to you, the other is a half vampire, half witch, the blond male is also the son of the King and Queen of our realm" said Griselda.
"How do you know all that?" asked Annie in surprise, she did not even mention Curtis, Matt or the others at all.
"I told you dear, I am a seer, I see everything and all" said Griselda as she smiled.
"So you can see everything about me just by looking at me?" asked Annie in surprise.
"Well yes, to some extent, my powers don't usually work on hard hearted people, now they… they require much more connectivity from me for me to be able to see anything about them, but you, your heart is so pure that I can see it all" said Griselda as she smiled and Annie smiled awkwardly, she did not know what to think about this, whether to be weirded out or not.
"And the girl you have with you… she is Azazel's daughter is she not?" asked Griselda.
"How did you know? Is it obvious?" asked Annie in shock.
"I can also see things about her, the things that she hides" said Griselda as she smiled.
"Well yes, Maddie can be like that sometimes, but she means well, and the close friend that you are talking about, his name is Curtis, and then we have Matt, and then Prince Oliver" said Annie as she saw no need to hide anything from Griselda, she seemed to know everything already, and if she truly wanted to hurt her, then she would have done so already.
"You trust her?" asked Griselda.
"With my life" said Annie as she nodded.
"You don't mind that her father wants to…" said Griselda as she paused.
"No, Maddie is not like Azazel at all, she is very different, and she is my best friend, I trust her very much, we've been through a lot" said Annie as she sighed.
"Well my dear, I cannot argue with that" said Griselda as she smiled and Annie nodded her head.
"I can see that your mind is overflowing with questions, with uncertainties" said Griselda.
"Oh you don't know the half of it, one day, I wake up, and bam, I'm a witch, who is destined to destroy this one man who has done very horrible things" said Annie as she sighed.
"Questions about what?" asked Griselda.
"Questions about myself, my family, what is expected of me, and about Azazel as well, I don't get it, what sort of hatred can cause a man to hate an entire family and swear to kill them for as long as he lived?" asked Annie as it just made no sense to her at all.
"Well my dear, things are not always as they seem" said Griselda as she smiled.
"What do you mean Griselda?" asked Annie in confusion.
"Well my dear, there is a thin line between sanity and insanity, besides, you can never know people's true intentions now can you?" asked Griselda as she stood up.
"I don't get it Griselda" said Annie as she still did not understand.
"Sometimes, the actions that people play, are not normal at all" said Griselda.
"Are you saying that because of Azazel or someone else?" asked Annie.
"Which do you think it is dear?" asked Griselda.
"I think that you are talking about Azazel" said Annie.
"Is there something you know about him? Did you see something about him?" asked Annie.
"Well I see many things dear, it's hard to sort out through all of them" said Griselda as she turned to look at Annie.
"Well then, please show me, tell me everything that you know" said Annie as she was tired of being left in the dark every single time, she was sick and tired of it, she wanted to know the truth.
"Oh my dear, you are asking for something very difficult from me, it is not easy for me to tell you everything that I know, not at least without an exchange of some sort" said Griselda.
"I don't make the rules dear, that's just how everything is" said Griselda.
"Then fine, what do you need in exchange for you to tell me everything?" asked Annie as she was desperate for some answers.
"I need your blood, and believe me dear, It's not for me, I just need it to seal the deal" said Griselda as Annie took a pause.
"And if you do not trust me, I will give you some of my blood as well, to show that we are even, and I promise not to use your blood for anything else except what you intended it for" said Griselda as Annie was in her thoughts, she knew that if Curtis was here, he would not want her to do anything risky, but right now, she wanted to find out the truth, this had been on her mind for a long while now.
Annie took a deep breath as she quickly made a decision, she did not want to waste anymore time.
"Alright Griselda, I trust you, let's do it" said Annie as she looked at Griselda and she nodded.
"Alright dear, I need to start the preparations then" said Griselda as she smiled and Annie nodded, she was not going to regret anything.
…
"Alright, that is enough learning for today, you all can go now except for Maddie" said Katarina as she looked at all of them.
"Of course, why am I not surprised?" asked Maddie out loud as she sighed.
"See you later Maddie" said Matt as he smiled.
"Whatever see you" said Maddie as she sighed and Ollie, Maddie and Curtis walked away.
"What do you want me to do?" asked Maddie as she turned to look at Katarina and Katarina threw her a cloth.
"Clean the swords, if you want to use the sword, you must be able to clean the sword" said Katarina as Maddie sighed and she caught the cloth.
"Fine" said Maddie as she sighed.
Maddie was busy cleaning the swords when Katarina walked to her.
"You need to apply more pressure if you want that blade to shine" she said as she gave her comment and Maddie sighed as she looked at her reflection in the already shiny sword.
"Well I don't get if you have a problem with me, because if you do, you can just say it to my face without trying to torture me" said Maddie as she was very straightforward.
"I don't have a problem with you Maddie, I just want you to realize that you need to take it slowly, sometimes being a rush doesn't help you with anything, you end up missing out on many life opportunities" said Katarina.
"Whatever you say" said Maddie as she did not really care, and silence reigned between them for a while.
"So what was your relationship with Ivor?" asked Maddie as she placed the sword back and she took another one to start cleaning.
"What do you mean?" asked Katarina as she looked at Maddie.
"Oh come on, you know what I mean" said Maddie.
"You and Ivor, what's your relationship?" asked Maddie.
"Well we are friends" said Katarina.
"Friends?? Mhmm right, just friends and nothing more right?" asked Maddie.
"We are friends" said Katarina.
"Well I don't think that's true, I don't know if you can see it, but the way you talk about him, it's surprising, I doubt that you were only just friends" said Maddie as she smiled and Katarina shook her head, was she that obvious.
"Well we were friends, a long time ago" said Katarina as she did not know why she felt like she had to explain herself to Maddie.
"And what happened?" asked Maddie.
"Well we had different plans, he wanted to travel, go around the mountain, he didn't want to stay with here with me" said Katarina.
"Aww what, that's a shame" said Maddie as Katarina said nothing.
"It's funny how Ivor ended up staying with Alina, I thought that you two were together" said Maddie.
"What do you mean?" asked Katarina in surprise.
"Oops, you don't know about that, sorry, I don't want to be a gossip" said Maddie as she finished cleaning the sword.
"No you won't be a gossip, tell me, who is Alina?" asked Katarina.
"I don't know if I should" said Maddie.
"Please tell me" said Katarina.
"Well okay" said Maddie as she sighed.
"Alina is the girl that Ivor found left in the forest one night, she was just a baby, and he could not find her parents anywhere, he ended up taking her in and raising her as his own, they live together, and he taught Alina everything that she knows" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Oh…" said Katarina.
"You thought that Ivor had moved on didn't you?" asked Maddie as she laughed and Katarina shook her head.
"I was just confused, I never thought that Ivor would want to have a family, he never spoke about it" Katarina.
"Well he does now, you know, you should go and join him, you three would make a very nice family" said Maddie as she smiled.
"You talk too much" said Katarina in annoyance.
"And you run away from your feelings Katarina, anyway, I'm done here, see you later Katarina" said Maddie as she stood up and she smiled as she waved at Katarina and Katarina shook her head as Maddie walked away.