Katherine struggled to open her eyes and was greeted by bright sunlight that shined through the skylights above her. She struggled to sit up as a sharp pain shot through her chest that made her stomach lurch. She had been moved to the kitchen table, but how? Katherine hunched over as she investigated her chest where the dagger had been, she could see small lopsided stitches that peaked through the hole in her pajama shirt where someone had sewed her up in a hurry.
She had felt a tickle on her foot, as she realized there was a small card attached to her big toe with twine as if she was a dead body in a morgue. Katherine took a short breath to prepare herself as she pulled her stiff leg toward her to catch hold of the card. She turned it over in her hands before letting out a deep painful sigh.
"That damn man," she whispered with a grimace. She held the card between her two fingers before she flicked the card away from her that read 'Debt Paid<3'.
Katherine felt relieved to be alive and that it was not her bossy sisters who had found her, but she couldn't understand why the man had come back. What game was this human playing by poisoning her only to return to bring her back to life? Katherine twisted her face in distaste, "If I ever see that man again, I swear I'll conjure up some wolves to feed him to."
Katherine balled her fists up, but slowly her anger receded and was replaced by frustration. It'll be okay, she reassured herself, she never has to see him again as long as she puts her salt barrier back up.
As she slid off of the table, Katherine let out a small cry of pain as the stitches that held her skin together tugged at her wound. She made her way to a cabinet in the kitchen that held a variety of different shaped crystal decanters and small circular tins. Katherine took every tin out of the cabinet without a care as some fell to the ground. She set her eyes on the particular tin in back of the cabinet that contained numbing ointment.
Katherine slathered her raised skin with the ointment until she could no longer feel the dull ache. A sense of relief washed over her, as she slid against the cabinets on to the floor. Katherine hugged her knees in close and hoped her life could get back to normal now that she was alive again, but things were rarely that simple. Somewhere in the back of her mind she couldn't quite shake the feeling of impending doom that lurked around the corner.
Katherine was pulled out of her thoughts by the grumble in her stomach. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't eaten anything in the last day, or had it been two? She picked herself up from the floor and made her way outside where the morning sun peaked behind the trees. When the spot where her garden should have been came into view she stopped in her tracks.
Where she should have seen rows of leafy greens and root vegetables, was nothing more than a charred patch of dirt. Over fifty different medicinal herbs and flowers scorched to nonexistence. Her mouth hung in disbelief, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the dark patch where her lush garden used to stand. The only evidence of there ever being a garden was the small portion of weathered wood fencing that was half singed, as if the flames had stopped abruptly.
Katherine willed her legs to keep moving forward. She bent down in front of the charred dirt to brush it with her finger tips. Her face scrunched up in confusion as the dirt should still be warm from the fire but there were no traces of smoke or smoldering embers. In fact the dirt was cold to the touch.
"How?" She whispered in confusion. It should be the morning after the solstice and if her garden was burnt while she was dying, shouldn't it still be warm? Katherine's mind raced as she bolted back to the cabin. Her calendar was tacked to the wall in the kitchen with a pair of scissors next to two wooden clocks, one for the human world and one for The Valley.
All of the days before the summer solstice were crossed out but, what worried Katherine was the day of the solstice had no markings on it. The calendar was spelled to cross off the days that passed, so was today the solstice? Katherine hesitated before she raised her hand to snap her fingers. She stared at the calendar with anticipation but, nothing happened.
Katherine snapped her fingers again with more intensity but with different intentions. She had planned to make the calendar combust into flames but it still hung on the wall as if to taunt her. No matter how much magic Katherine had used during past rituals, she never reached empty to where her house didn't respond to her commands.
This time Katherine set her sights on the extinguished hearth and flicked her wrist to ignite it. She grew more frustrated as she turned in circles flicking her wrist and waving her arms like a manic conductor, but not a single thing in her house budged.
She knelt down on the ground and placed both palms down on the wooden floor.
"Expergefacio," Katherine chanted, sweat rolled down the side of her scrunched-up face. Nothing, nada, zilch. Katherine banged her fists on the ground in frustration and let her forehead bang on the ground with a soft thud. Her fingertips ached at the absence of the electrical hum of magic. Katherine didn't have much magic to begin with compared to her sisters but now that the well was dry, she felt a part of her was missing.
Katherine was out of breath, food, and patience. She needed answers and the only place she knew to go in a pinch was the human town just outside of the forest. She needed another witch. She needed Alice.
Katherine wasted no time as she threw on the uniform of humans, black lounge pants and a hooded sweater. She then undid the calendar on the wall to stuff it in a black backpack she dug out of her closet. As she walked by the table, the jeweled dagger shimmered in the sunlight as if to call out to her. She picked the dagger up with two fingers as she plopped it into the backpack. Katherine hoped it wouldn't shift around and stab her in the back while she walked.
With a last glance at her now dreary cabin, Katherine slung the backpack over her shoulders before she made her way down the steps and past the garden gate into the forest.
Her weathered hiking boots crunched through dry sticks and leaves that laid upon an unnoticeable dirt path that was frequented less and less throughout the years. She hated the way her boots squeezed her feet with every step she took. Katherine avoided shoes like the plague, but she couldn't take any risks cutting her feet without magic. She was lucky a lost hiker had once given her their extra pair of boots as a token of gratitude for leading them out of the forest.
As Katherine approached the end of the path a giant willow tree that towered over all other trees came into view. The tree had a hollow in the middle of the peeling bark big enough for Katherine to climb inside and sit with her back pressed against the inside of the tree.
Katherine tucked her legs inside the hollowed tree and reached her arm straight above her head. Bits of dried tree debris showered over her head as she dug around in its innards. She groped the soft inside of the tree above her head before she felt a hard stick like object. Katherine yanked her arm down hard as she inspected the piece of animal bone that had been carved to resemble a key.
"A skeleton key", Katherine whispered with a dry smile. A memory popped into her mind of a crying little blonde boy in mud covered corduroy overalls and a small blonde girl who smiled from ear to ear with her two front teeth missing. Katherine used her hands to brush away the dirt that covered the inside of the tree. With most of the dirt gone, three names carved into the inside of the tree became more defined; Kat, Alice, and Dorian.
Katherine used her long-pointed fingernail to remove the remaining dirt from the key hole that doubled as the 't' in her name. Dante had made the tree portal to make it easier for Alice and Dorian to travel into the forest, but it hadn't been used in years. She felt a slight pang in her heart at the thought of her late friend. Katherine hesitated before activating the portal tree. She wondered if the Youngbloods even wanted to see her after she had abandoned them so suddenly. On the other hand, she had no choice to face them, after all she needed help to figure out what happened to her magic.
"To Seabright!" Katherine shouted as she stuck the key in and turned. A rush of air surrounded her as the pressure around her increased that ended with an abrupt pop of her ears.