The magic shop Sinikka's place, stood majestically eerie at the end of SouthPrisford. It was a thoughtful place to have a magic shop, Amora had thought. Amora and Louisa dressed alike, wearing black hoodies, black jeans, and shades in a bid to disguise and escape whatever was after them.
The magic shop was quite big, with rows and rows of shelves. The shop smelled of lavender and some other herbs.
"I've never seen a magic shop this big" Louisa was wowed at the size of the shop.
"who invests such a huge amount of money into something like this?" Amora had a tone of mockery in her voice as she adjusted her shades. Louisa shot Amora a glare warning her to reduce her sass and sarcasm.
They approached the lady at the counter who was busy trying to light up an incense candle. The lady had a sharp blue coloured hair and her skin very pale. She didn't look up to see mother and daughter waiting to get attended to. She finally got the candle on and it's scent diffused into every part of the shop. To Amora, the lady shouldn't be more than twenty or s because she looked really young. She had been expecting her to be a weird old lady.
"so how can I help you? What do you seek from the great Sinikka's shop? A charm to get that man fall helplessly in love with you?" The lady's sharp blue eyes carried her smiles. Amora felt like the lady's eyes was piercing into her soul.
"we want protective charms," Louisa said.
"Oh, I have that right here" The lady pointed at a tray that was just on the desk. Amora didn't seem convinced at the sight of the charm that looked like it was made from thorns.
"Look, um, lady, we know you have the real stuff somewhere inside this ridiculously big shop, you only just put up the fake so people can keep coming for more" The lady gasped at the words that had come out of Amora's mouth. She thought of the young lady as rude but didn't want to show her annoyance but instead smiled.
"Amora that was rude" Louisa scolded her and apologized to the lady. "please we want strong protection" She added.
"Very well then, it's on the third shelf by your right" The lady pointed them towards the shelves.
Amora caught glimpse of a rainbow tattoo on the lady's neck. "Nice tats"
The lady only nodded her head in appreciation and proceeded to get another candle.
Amora and Louisa found the shelf and were going through it's contents when Amora found a shelf that had some shiny looking bottles that had the inscription "Love's dust to attract the love of your life". She was fascinated and decided to get one for Lesley who was still unsure about Connor going to prom with her. Just as she was reaching out to get the bottle, she saw an old scrawny woman at the other side of the shelf trying to reach out to something but couldn't. Amora went over and helped her reach the candles that were there.
"here you go ma'am " Amora said as she handed the candle to the woman. The woman gave her a toothless smile which spooked Amora. She extended her hand to receive the candle, Amora saw that there was some veiny upside down dead tree marking on her wrist. She gave Amora the smile again and went on her way.
"Mora, I think I found the right one" That was Louisa drawing Amora's attention away from the old lady who was walking away.
"coming ma"
Amora hoped to see the old lady leaving through the door but she didn't, it was like the lady had disappeared into thin air.
Louisa paid for the amulets and they left the shop. They had already begun packing their bags that morning before leaving for the magic shop.
"I hope this works" Louisa said as she put on her amulet. She noticed that Amora was staring at the book she had given her the day everything went out of hand. The look on Amora's face was that of fear as she continued staring at a particular book page.
"what you looking at baby?" Louisa sat beside her and looked at the book. Of course, she couldn't understand the writings, but she saw an image of an upside down dead tree. "what's that?" Louisa asked.
"mum this is getting really creepy" Amora's voice was breaking into sobs as she spoke, she began hyperventilating and shivering. Louisa held her close to her breasts, trying to get her together. "hush now baby, it's alright, we'll be fine Mora, but I need you to be strong at this point, calm down, take deep breaths and speak to me baby, we'll get through this together I promise"
Louisa's words helped in calming her down. Amora took a really deep breath, wiped her tears and opened the book page again. "what does the book say?" Louisa asked again.
" I saw this same marking on an old lady I helped back at the magic shop" She began. "What old woman?" Louisa asked looking confused as she didn't see any lady walk in or out of the store while they were in.
"She was there mum, she was reaching out to a candle and I helped her get it down. When she reached to get it from me, I saw this mark on her wrist and this book says it's evil. It says here that this is the Civiss, the mark of the dead" Amora's lips trembled as she mentioned the mark of the dead. Louisa was in shock as she heard what Amora had just said.
"we are being chased by shifting demons of death" Amora was about to break down again. "hey Mora! Mora look at me" Louisa held her to face her. " I didn't raise a whimp did I? I know this is scary for you baby, I am also scared but we are fighters Amora, we will get through this together. I don't know how, but we will get through this" Louisa wasn't sure of what to do next but she knew she was going to fight till she takes her last breath, protecting the one blessing she had. They continued packing their things amidst laughter and discussion, temporarily forgetting about what they were facing at the moment. Louisa suggested that they go back to have one last dinner at the inn where they had met the good-looking waiter. Amora talked to Darren for an hour before Louisa called her for departure.
"So is this the end of Amora?"Darren asked with a smile, moving closer to her. Amora flushed and tucked her hair in. "No, it's not the end" Amora's voice was breathy as there was the only thing between them was the air. Darren grabbed her into his arms and his lips came crashing on hers, slowly teasing and she, responded like it was the last kiss she was ever going to have in her lifetime.
Amora was breathless by the time the kiss ended, face flushed and eyes meeting each other, they broke into laughter. "I'll miss you Amora, you should come back sometime" Darren said.
"I will, if that means getting kissed silly by the world's most handsome waiter" Amora joked.
"Call me" Darren gave her a piece of paper that had his number on it, he winked at her and went back inside. Amora smiled to herself and did an internal whooping in happiness.
" That's my baby girl" That was Louisa's voice coming from behind her. "Hey mum, let's move" Amora said to her mother.
They drove back singing along with loud songs blasting from the speakers. For a moment, Louisa let go of her worries of losing Amora to some zombies. Watching Amora laugh and sing without a care in the world, made her decide that she was definitely going to die loving this bundle of sass and happiness. They laughed and talked about Amora's kisses with Darren and the beautiful moments they had in SouthPrisford.
There was a dark cloud just hovering right ahead of them. It looked like it was going to rain but it was just that part of the sky. Suddenly, there was a large black wind hovering right at that spot, looking like a tornado ,twisting and dark lightening coursing through it.
Amora and Louisa didn't notice the sight in front of them early enough. "Mum look out" Amora cried as she saw the black twisting wind ,but it was already too late, as Louisa couldn't swerve quickly. The wind hit their car with so much force that it sent their car tumbling into the woods that was just by the road. Louisa found her way out of the tumbled car and helped Amora who had already passed out. Amora was bleeding from her forehead when Louisa got her out. Louisa threw out their backpacks to the other side, she peered from behind the huge tree where their car had crashed, and saw two beings that had pale skin, long nails and blood smeared all over their bodies. They were looking for them and were coming close to the car.
Amora was still unconscious and Louisa carried her and threw the back packs further. She had seen that the car was leaking, so she reached for her portable butane flame , and threw it at the car which immediately exploded. The two beings jolted and ran back when they saw the fire.
"Mora, baby , you need to wake up now" Louisa was trying to shake Amora back into consciousness. Amora slowly opened her eyes and felt the blood that was trickling down.
"mum what happened ?" She asked Louisa who was putting bullets into her guns. " baby, there are demons out there, and I want you to take your back back and run without looking back" Louisa said as she kept loading her guns. " What about you mum? We are doing this together right? We are figuring it out right?" Amora had tears in her eyes as she spoke. The tears broke Louisa's heart as her own tears ran down freely.
"yeah, we are doing this together baby, which is why I need you to go now and I'll hold them off while you leave, you can text me your location afterwards" The lies slipped out of Louisa's mouth with ease. She reached for her back pack and brought out a necklace with a small crystal pendant. " The pendant came from your mother the night she left you with me and I fastened it to this necklace that I had gotten from Mario" Louisa handed Amora the necklace. Amora took the necklace and swiftly put it on.
"Now go baby, go while I teach these two some lessons at being the boss" Louisa smiled as she spoke. She hugged Amora and motioned for her to get going.
Meanwhile, the two beings kept searching for them after the fire had died down. "Hey suckers!" Louisa popped out from behind the tree, holding her guns. The two beings turned and saw the woman standing right in front of them. Louisa glanced at Amora who was running and then she began to shoot the beings. But as she shot at them, the bullets went through them and fell to the ground. That didn't stop her from shooting, when she ran out of bullets she brought out her knives and threw at them but it wasn't hurting them. One of the beings, the taller one, motioned for the shorter one to go after Louisa. Louisa saw this, she took to her heels , but the being was very swift, hence he caught up with her.
He held her by the neck and her feet left the ground. He growled loudly at her, oozing of decay. "you should consider getting some breath mints big guy" Louisa said as she threw her face to the other side, trying to avoid the stench coming from his mouth.
The being growled again and then with one swift move , he threw Louisa to a tree with spiky branches. Louisa's scream pierced the air and that made Amora stop to look back, only that a tree branch had passed through Louisa's chest and she was bleeding from her mouth.
"Mummmmmmm" Amora yelled as she saw this image. The scream drew the two beings attention .
"Azrael, there she is" One of them said. Amora saw that the beings were about to come after her, she ran off. As she ran, the breeze took off the hoodie, which now exposed her red hair to the demons.
Seeing the red hair, they stopped on their tracks looking confused.
"Red hair? She's not the one we are after ,Xeruel"
"Something is wrong somewhere Azrael" Xeruel replied as they both watched the red head run for her dear life. They glanced at Louisa's dead body and then, a black smoke covered them and they vanished.
Amora kept crying as she ran back towards their house. She couldn't get the scream of agony out of her mind. Getting to the house , she went in and began to grab anything she could find, her last birthday gifts from her mother, which was the digital picture frame and a mini weapon box. She took three combat suits, packed a few clothes in addition to the ones they had gotten, then she saw Lesley's realm detector lying on the floor. She picked the object up and put it in her bag. She didn't know where she was going, she kept walking till she reached Lesley's house. Lesley sat at the veranda crying, her father had abused her again. Lesley got up and ran to hug Amora when she saw her.
"Amora, I'm ready to leave now, I'm ready. He forced his way with me tonight Mora, he raped me" Lesley sobbed. She noticed Amora was bleeding and had two bags with her.
"you are bleeding Mora, what happened? Why are you with bags? Where is ma'am Louisa? Did you two get into a fight?" Lesley asked all at once.
"My mum is dead Lesley, she's gone" Amora sobbed.
"gone? Dead? I don't get it? Jeez! Are you playing?"
"No I'm not Lesley, why would I do that? With something that expensive ?"
Lesley couldn't believe her ears, she just stared at her speechless. "Where are you going then? I want to go with you Mora, I'll go pack my things. I've waited and endured so much, I wanna go with you" Lesley said to her friend.
"I'm sorry Les, I can't take you with me. I don't even know where Les, I don't"
"please let me come with you" Lesley begged with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Les, this journey is for me alone. I'll come back for you when I sort this out, stay strong" Amora picked up her bags and ran off. Lesley called after her but Amora didn't stop, she kept running. Lesley sat back on the chair and burst into tears.
Amora had gotten into Willow woods and wasn't sure of where to go. She had tried activating Lexi but it wasn't working. "not when I need you most Lexi" She lamented. She began to hear something beeping in her bag, it was Lesley's realm detector. She brought it out and it was picking signals from the northern direction. Amora had no choice but to follow what seemed to be her compass at the moment. As she went deeper, she felt an unknown presence and something pulling her forward. She was scared in the darkness and thought of terrible things that could happen as images of Louisa's dying face surfaced in her head.
Amora began to feel weak and dizzy, so she sat underneath a tree to rest. She brought out a fruity bar and munched hungrily on it, after which she drank water. She began to cry again as she felt so alone and scared. She drifted into sleep clutching her necklace- a gift from two mothers; one she never knew, and one she had to lose.