"Oh it's all just so annoying, for once I actually forgot that we still had Azazel as a problem, and now here he pops up again, it's just so tiring" said Maddie as she groaned and she fell down flat on her bed as Annie looked at her and she sighed.
"I know right? It's just so tiring truly" said Annie as she sighed.
"Tell me about it" said Maddie as she groaned, thinking about this whole thing was just giving her a horrible headache, all because of that man named Azazel.
"That guy really needs to pay for what he did" said Maddie as Clove walked into the room.
"Who needs to pay for what they did?" asked Clove with a smile as Maddie stood up from her bed to look at her as she looked at Annie, there was no way that they would tell Clove they were talking about Azazel.
Sure she did not remember that he had literally been her husband, and Maddie was sure she had no feelings for him, but she just did not want Clove to worry about nothing, she needed to stay as far away as possible from Azazel.
"No one, Annie and I were just talking about this mutual enemy we have, he's no one important" said Maddie as she looked at Annie and Clove looked at Annie as well.
"Yes, Maddie is right" replied Annie with a smile.
"Okay" said Clove with a smile, she had no reason not to believe what Maddie and Annie told her.
"Yes" replied Maddie with a smile.
"Maddie, do you have a headache?" asked Clove as she looked at Maddie.
"Well yes I do, only a little one, it's no big deal, it should be gone soon" said Maddie with a smile as Clove walked to touch her forehead but Maddie moved back, she believed that she knew how exactly Clove's powers worked, if Clove touched her right now, she would find out everything, since she was trying to hide Azazel from her, she didn't need Clove asking a lot of questions.
"What's wrong Maddie?" asked Clove as she wondered why Maddie was backing away from her.
"Nothing is wrong, I just don't want you touching me" said Maddie as she grimaced internally when she realized how wrong that came out.
"Oh… I see… I'm sorry" said Clove as she turned around and walked away as Maddie looked at Annie to help her, but Annie just shook her head, she wasn't going to interfere.
"No Clove, I didn't mean it like that…" said Maddie as Clove turned to look at her.
"I'm sorry, I thought that we were past that…" said Clove and by that she meant the previous hostility that Maddie had towards her, and what she said made Maddie feel even more guilty.
"No Clove, we are, we really are, I just… I just didn't want you touching me because I was thinking about something embarrassing, and I didn't want your powers to act up and know what I was thinking about" said Maddie as she opted to tell a half truth to save her here.
"You did?" asked Clove.
"Yes I did, I'm sorry, I should have worded my sentence better, I didn't mean to make you feel offended" said Maddie as the sad look on Clove's face disappeared and it was replaced with a warm smile.
"Thank you for being honest with me Maddie, it's fine, I am not offended, or at least not anymore" said Clove as she smiled and Maddie nodded.
"Can I hug you now?" asked Clove with a smile.
"Won't your powers act up?" asked Maddie.
"I don't think so, I will try to control it" said Clove.
"Okay" said Maddie as without warning she walked to Clove and she hugged her as Clove was surprised, this was the first time that Maddie had hugged her out of her own accord, it just warmed Clove's heart.
"Thank you" said Maddie as she broke their hug and Annie smiled, she was happy with the way things were going.
"For what?" asked Clove with a smile.
"For being nice to me" said Maddie with a smile, to be honest, she knew that she was not the most wonderful, sweet and kind person to be around like Annie was, and still yet, Clove didn't seem to care that she was like that.
"Oh you don't need to thank me for that Maddie, we are family" said Clove as she smiled.
"Yes… we are" said Maddie with a smile.
"Anyway, today is my day off, and I am going to the market, do you girls want to come with me?" asked Clove with a smile as she looked at Annie and then Maddie.
"Oh umm we can't" said Maddie.
"Why not?" asked Clove.
"Well actually we aren't allowed to leave the Palace for safety reasons" said Maddie.
"Oh I see" said Clove.
"Yes, but you can go if you want to" said Maddie as she smiled.
"Okay, I'm going to buy something for you, and you too Annie" said Clove as she looked at Annie who just smiled.
"Alright, have fun" said Maddie as she smiled and Clove walked out of the room as Maddie sighed in relief.
"That was a close call" said Maddie as she looked at Annie.
"I don't think that we should keep on lying to her, I mean she deserves to know the truth" said Annie.
"Not in this context Annie, she doesn't need to know anything" said Maddie.
"Well alright Maddie, whatever you say" said Annie as Maddie nodded.
…
The next day.
"This is alarming…" said Stella as she read a report in her hand and she looked at Curtis.
"If this is happening, then it means that Azazel is done with hiding, and he is going to do whatever he wants" said Curtis.
"But this is pure treachery to the realm, he is indirectly drawing a battle line" said Stella as she sighed.
"And I know witch folk as much as they don't want to side with him, they believe that if they get rid of Annie everything would be better, which is a lie" said Stella.
"I fear that Azazel will get an army again" said Stella as she sighed.
"That is highly probable, but the question is if he has all his powers back, why doesn't he just try to attack Annie directly, instead of using this indirect approach?" asked Curtis.
"I don't know why, maybe Selene influenced him to do things like this, or maybe he… of course Selene wants the witch realm all to herself to rule" said Stella.
"So instead of destroying the whole realm in war and having to start from scratch, they want people to be on their side first, fight along with them, and eventually take over, which will never happen" said Stella.
"What I cannot stand is Azazel's glaring taunting by setting his camp right in the heart of the Realm with no fear of opposition at all" said Curtis.
"Because he knows there is no opposition, not directly of course" said Stella.
"You know after what happened in Kadama I can't really order for a full on attack, no one would listen to me, they all still blame me for what happened and some of the major losses" said Stella as she sighed.
"So if I suggest that the High Council agree to support me, they would not do that, instead they would oppose me" said Stella.
"My hands are tied, I believe that the only time they would see what Azazel is doing as a real threat is when he starts to attack innocent witchfolk, but with his new approach on things, I doubt he would do that, after all, he wants to win them to his side" said Stella.
"What do you think the King and Queen will say?" asked Curtis.
"Well they… *sigh*, they have been rather neutral on the matter, after supporting me last time and things not going as they planned, I doubt they would either support me or oppose me" said Stella with a sigh.
"Well that is a huge problem" said Curtis.
"I know Curtis, like I said, my hands are undeniably tied" said Stella with a sigh.
"I do not even know what to do right now…" said Stella.
"I am sure you will think of something Stella" said Curtis.
"But I believe that we should tell Annie, Maddie, and Matt, they need to know about this" said Curtis.
"That I agree with you, but we should not tell them today, it is too early to have their day ruined by horrible news like this, we should tell them tomorrow afternoon" said Stella as she needed time to think about what she would do.
"It is all up to you Stella" said Curtis as he nodded and Stella thanked him.
"I have a meeting right now, will you come with me?" asked Stella.
"No, I have something else to attend to" said Curtis plainly.
"Alright then, I will see you later Curtis" said Stella as she stood up and she walked out of her office, leaving Curtis there to think.