Amora and Bloom sat in the chambers, waiting for their punishment. The Mistress soon appeared in front of them with a frown on her face. Bloom knew that blue frown, she knew it meant she was exceedingly disappointed in them and she was going to place a heavy punishment on them.
"You broke the rule Bloom Anemone, you aren't to use powers on another learner without the supervision of a mentor" The blue woman said quite sternly with a raised eyebrow.
"But Mistress, they started it. They threw a plate of pie at Bloom and Solana had wanted to burn my face with her fire powers. Bloom only intervened" Amora explained to the woman who was still frowning at them.
The woman was quite aware of Solana and Neyastra's reputation in the learning halls but she hadn't caught them in the act. She knew somehow that Amora was telling the truth but she didn't want to seem weak in their presence. Bloom on the other hand , had noticed a small shiny blue ball on the shelf close to the door and nudged Amora to take a look at it. It was the ball they needed to portal them to the other end of Vadina. Amora glanced at the blue woman who was busy using a quill to write , probably their punishment and then back at Bloom who was trying to say something with her eyes. Amora wasn't sure she got the message, but she knew she had to keep the woman busy while Bloom figured out a way to get the ball.
"Your blue skin is so pretty Mistress" Amora said and the woman looked up to see Amora flashing her a smile.
"Why, thank you Ulanni, my skin is my pride" The lady returned the smile to Amora and continued writing.
Bloom saw a tiny pot of cactus just beside the ball, she urged Amora to keep going with what she was doing to distract the blue skinned woman.
Bloom focused on getting the plant to grow a little longer that it already is. She hadn't manipulated plants from a distance before. The cactus shook but didn't increase in it's size.
"Dang it!" She murmured. The lady looked up and saw the frustrated look on Bloom's face. "Anything the problem?" She asked. "No, not at all Mistress, not all" Bloom replied giving her a stiff smile.
Bloom tried again, her eyes flashing green and back, the cactus wasn't budging and Amora could see that they didn't have much time left as the lady was almost done with the note she was writing. Bloom took a deep breath and tried again. The cactus stretched out and bent to the left, just the way she wanted it to. The cactus tilted the ball and the ball rolled off the shelf , falling into another pot of plant that was below the shelf.
"Now, you two go ahead and do not use your powers again alright?" The lady said.
"Yes Mistress" Bloom and Amora replied in unison. The two girls moved awkwardly and the lady wondered what was wrong with them.
"Anything the problem girls?" She asked. "No mistress, I uh, dropped my bracelet and I'm just stooping to pick it up" Amora quickly answered. She stooped and then picked up the ball, slipping it into her pockets but showing the Mistress her bracelet. The woman nodded and dismissed them with the wave of her finger.
"We got it" Amora said almost shrieking as soon as they stepped out. Bloom looked around to see if anyone was listening and shushed Amora telling her to becareful of how she spoke. "Hey don't say that out loud someone might hear you" Bloom scolded the excited Amora.
"We should probably go now right?" said Amora as she examined the little ball that reflected it's blue light under the sun.
"No we can't go now, we have our next lesson" .
"We can always skip it and sneak off. C'mon Bloomie, don't be such a bore" Amora was trying to cajole the frowning Bloom into skipping class and sneaking off to find the three witches.
"No we shan't be skipping any lessons, especially lady etiquette" Bloom replied Amora quite sternly. Amora thought the lady etiquette lessons to be unnecessary and totally boring.
"Ugh! but it's so boring sitting there and doing silly stuffs like learning how to sip tea properly and take soup. gosh! Who includes such nonsense into a school's curriculum?"
" Whatever you say Mora, I am not skipping the lesson hmmm" Bloom folded her hands in defiance , daring Amora to drag her off.
"Wait a minute, I know what this is about, the tutor for that lesson is Lady Maren Asturias. She is Aenon's eldest sister and you think attending her lessons would earn you a spot, like she'll suggest you as a possible partner for Aenon" Amora's voice was coated with pure mockery. Bloom's face flushed at the truth Amora had just spoken. She had always attended the etiquette lessons , sitting where Lady Maren could see her perfecting her etiquettes well. Bloom had almost died of happiness when Lady Maren had commended her sitting posture during one of the lessons,and she had hoped that the lady would have mentioned it when she got home and perhaps Aenon might fancy her, but the overly handsome water elemental never looked her way. Aenon was always in the company of other females of noble births like Solana, Neyastra, Fiammetta and of course Alena. She had heard that Aenon had kissed all four friends and had caused a major misunderstanding between them once but she didn't know how true it was. Bloom had been surprised when she found Avani kissing Aenon, because Avani, like her wasn't of a noble birth, but just an ordinary earth elemental. Bloom felt betrayed and that was a major problem that caused their separation.
"Of course, that's the reason little Miss hopeless romantic" Amora rolled her eyes at Bloom. They attended the Etiquette lessons, with Amora feeling like the entire thing was an hour of pure suffering. She was not getting anything right and she got a couple scolds from the beautiful tutor and laughter from the other girls in the lesson.
After the lesson, Amora and Bloom walked to a secluded spot and opened a portal with the shiny blue ball.
"Well, here goes nothing" said Amora as they both stepped into the portal.
They stood in front of a beautiful cottage that looked abandoned. The garden was overgrown with thorns and weed and it was eerily silent.
"Are you sure this is the right place? Are you sure the ball took us to the right place?" Amora asked as she examined the rough surroundings.
"Of course this is the right place and this garden is a herb garden, only witches and healers keep herb gardens" Bloom said as she noticed the different rare plants struggling to grow amongst the choking presence of the prickly thorns and overgrown grasses. Amora noticed Bloom's eyes turning green and her fingers turned green. "What are you trying to do?" She asked Bloom who was already stooping to touch the ground where the thorns and grasses grew from.
"I'm trying to help the plants grow properly by killing the thorns" She responded.
"I thought naturites could only make plants grow and talk to animals?" Amora questioned.
"Naturites can manipulate plants Amora, we can kill and also help plants grow" With this statement, Bloom channelled her energy to the thorns which immediately withered and fell to the ground,hence giving the herbs plants room to grow. Bloom's hair had turned from it's original bright pink color to a dusty dirty brown due to the color of the thorns.
They proceeded to knock on the cottage door, but before they knocked, the door opened itself, letting them in.
"Hello?anyone home? Witches three?" said Amora as they stepped into the cottage. The inside of the cottage smelled of incense and a mixture of other things. There was a cauldron bubbling with greenish liquid on a table but no sign of the three witches.
"I don't think anyone's here Bloom" Amora said sounding sad as she looked around the cottage but no sign of the three witches.
"But there's a cauldron bubbling, and the book of shadows is beside it so they couldn't have gone far, probably a nearby bush to get something for whatever potion that is" Bloom pointed at the cauldron. She had tried to touch the large book of shadows but it moved away.
"Do they go everywhere together?" Amora asked. "Yes they do, the are sisters, triplets and they go everywhere together" Bloom replied.
"Ugh! Weird. I wouldn't want to have any sibling going everywhere with me, it's quite annoying and disturbing" she replied as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Anyone here?" Amora asked again,but this time, there was a response. "We are here" came the singsong voice but the two girls didn't see the person who had just spoken.
"Where?" Bloom asked the voice, looking around to see the person who had spoken.
"Right here, behind you" The voice came again and the two girls looked behind them but didn't find anyone,just a huge mirror on the wall with some words inscribed on it.
"We can't see you, come out wherever you are" Amora said.
"Alright,hold on, we are coming now" the voice giggled and then Amora and Bloom could see an arm in the mirror and then the witches began to come out of the mirror one after the other. The two girls were dumbstruck, especially Amora. "I never knew people could enter mirrors" she said finally getting her voice.
"Oh, it's our travel mirror" one of the witches replied. Amora noticed that the three witches looked exactly the same but could be differentiated with their dress expression. One of them wore a long flowing grey gown and had her black silky hair straight to her back and she moved to the cauldron with poise. The middle one had her hair in a large bun and was reading a book with spectacles that she held with her hand and the last one, was not wearing a gown but was dressed completely in male clothing and she had her hair tied into a rough ponytail. Amora decided that they were of different personalities, the lady, the bookworm and the tomboy.
"What do you want?" They all asked at once, sounding alike.
"Uh, my name is Bloom, and this is my friend, Amora" Bloom replied, introducing themselves.
"Ah! Of course I know you Bloom Anemone, Mister Gilly Anemone's daughter" The one with the straight hair said with a warm smile.
The three witches eyes Amora from head to toe, whispering amongst themselves.
"Amora, you look like Lady Aura Daeva, the gods rest her soul" This was the bookworm speaking now.
"Oh,she is indeed Lady Aura's daughter" Bloom quickly chipped in.
"Ah! The lost one, you are welcome, please do have seat. My name is Caissa" The lady-like one said warmly to Amora and Bloom.
"My name is Callandra" The one with the book said. "And I am Calluna" the last one said as she took off her boots, exposing small fragile feet.
"So what do you want?" The three sisters asked at once.
"Uh, you see, Amora here wants to reach her friend in the other realm through dreams and to do the dream walking spell, we'll need the spell to be done by a coven of witches and you three are just the ones we need" Bloom explained.
"What? The dream walking spell? That's too dangerous" Callandra said as she dropped her book and spectacles.
"Everything could go wrong, ain't so Caissa?" Calluna asked Caissa who was also as shocked to hear that they wanted a dream walking spell.
"Please Calluna, Caissa and Callandra, I really need to reach my friend, she's mad at me and I'm all she's got, just this once, please" Amora begged the three young witches. They looked young, although Bloom had told her that they were about twenty-five to twenty six years old but they looked like they were just seventeen.
"I uh, cleared your garden" Bloom said as she saw Caissa peeping out the window. "Oh my! The thorns, they are gone. Calluna, you were supposed to do the clearing some moons ago" Caissa pointed a finger at her sister.
"What? I did it the last time, it was supposed to be Callandra's turn. I keep clearing the bushes, I am nobody's servant girl" Calluna snapped at Caisa and the triplets were about to get into a heated argument but Bloom stopped them.
"It doesn't matter alright,I already took care of it, now you'd help us or I'll make them grow back so tall, tall enough to start creeping into your nice little cottage" Bloom threatened with a smile. The sisters exchanged glances and decided to do the spell.
"This is dangerous lost one, I warned you" Caissa said. "Quick Calluna, a fresh cauldron, water and some myrrh" she added. Calluna clapped her hands thrice and another cauldron appeared right next to the bubbling one. Calluna left to go get water and myrrh ,while Callandra searched the book of shadows for the spell.
"Now, hand me something belonging to your friend and speak her name into the cauldron" Caissa ordered. Amora searched her backpack for the hair clip Lesley had forgotten with her on the night of her birthday. She put the clip into the cauldron that now had water and myrrh, she called Lesley's name into the cauldron.
Callandra found the spell,and the three sisters drew their marking on the ground placing the cauldron on it and forming a triangle around it.
Let the soul gate be opened
Permit the journey, all night followed
Grant entrance to to another's dream
Grant sight through another's eyes
Everything in thy realm be felt within
As we sayeth,mote it be
sintria somria
beatas somria neqre triatis somria
They chanted the spell three times,their hands began to glow a bright red light, so did their eyes and the marking where they had placed the cauldron, which was now bubbling. A red candle emerged from the cauldron floating above it when they chanted the last time. Caissa picked up the red candle and handed it to Amora.
"When it's midnight, light up the candle and think about this friend of yours before falling asleep" Caissa instructed as she handed the candle to Amora who was examining the candle and the markings on it.
"The candle won't go out until you are out of the dream. Don't stay too long, you are permitted to stay half an hour and return otherwise, there would be trouble" Callandra added.
"I'll be out before the time elapses" Amora promised.
"Watch out for Feldar The Wanderer" Callandra said when they walked Amora and Bloom to the door.
"You know that's only a myth" Caissa scolded. "What? Feldar is definitely real, I read it in the books" Callandra argued.
Calluna handed them three portal balls as an appreciation for clearing their gardens and hastening the growth of their herbs.
Amora laid on her bed, waiting for midnight, so she could go see Lesley. She wondered what Lesley would be dreaming about and hoped she wasn't having a nightmare. She heard Aquata's singing but decided to ignore and just go speak with Lesley, as this was her only shot till she discovers what this place holds for her and return back to San Geneva.