She suddenly coughed out substance that was black in color and gripping Christopher's mother's hand tightly, she uttered with fear clear in her eyes, "you have to warn Lily, she is in grave danger."
Christopher's mother was shocked at what she just witnessed. She mostly did not understand why Tabitha would make that kind of a statement. Before she could get the chance to question her, Tabitha heavily fell back onto her bed and this time shutting her eyes.
Christopher's mother immediately tended to her vigilantly and as she did that she contemplated if at all it would be right to use the crystal on Tabitha again. After thinking carefully about it, she decided against it. The power of the crystal was very strong and it had dark magic in it.
And because of this, if at all Christopher's mother decided to use the crystal on Tabitha again to force her to wake up, it would end up draining her already drained energy and that would be fatal to her.
Outside of the room, Lily and Chris were waiting restlessly to know the condition in which Tabitha was in and if at all she had an improvement even if it was a little bit. Lily suddenly got up from her seat as if she had seen something.
Her eyes darted around within the room as if she was looking for something. Chris saw her sudden movements and was confused by her actions. He also stood up and started searching the room with his eyes looking both alert and confused.
"What is it Lily?" Chris asked in a concerned and alert manner. Lily realizing what just happened, decided to act quick about it, "oh I misplaced something, let me go and look for it." Lily left the room knowing very well that that was a close shave.
She then decided to go up in her room. Immediately she was there, she heard it again. They were whispers, faint whispers that she could not quite understand the words they formed or uttered.
Lily closed her eyes and concentrated keenly, the same whispers kept coming in intervals of a minute until they stopped. Lily felt her chest getting slightly warm and looked down on the pendant and to her surprise, the ruby stone was pulsing deamly.
'What could that be', Lily thought to herself as she wondered at the same time what the whispers could be. Maybe they were the source of her grandmother's illness or perhaps they they were a warning.
She quickly rushed to her grandmother's room and knocked on the door. Christopher's mother opened and allowed her to get in. Lily walked in to the sight of her grandmother laying on the bed with her eyes shut.
"Did you get it out or find out what it was?" Lily inquired impatiently waiting on what Christopher's mother had to say. She went straight to her grandmother's bedside and sat on the age touching her hand sofltly.
"It came out, I managed to force it out,"
Christopher's mother whispered to Lily. Lily was surprised at what she was hearing. Of course she had hopes that her grandmother would be able to get out of that state, she however did not imagine that Christopher's mother would be able to do it that fast.
"Here, this came out of her," Christopher's mother held a small old glass bottle with black slimy liquid towards Lily. Lily took the bottle and keenly inspected it. She sure did not know what it was but she could sense the same old darkness in it.
Christopher's mother looked at Lily and went on the bedside table to collect something, "that is not the most interesting thing, this is..." Christopher's mother spoke again quietly, holding a small old wooden bowl and handed it to Lily.
In the bowl were small leaf-like plants that were very dark green in color, almost black, and they were also slimy. Lily looked at it keenly and was about to touch it when she wasn't abruptly stopped by Christopher's mother.
"Do not touch it," she eyed Lily stopping her midway. "Those are weeds, they look like see weeds but they are not. They are called the beetle weeds and they paralyzed the brain when they invade it, leaving the victim in a never ending trance."
Lily listen with disbelief and she could not help but wonder how that had happened to her grandmother. "But who or what could have done this to my grandmother, because she never left this place at all or eat any weeds, at least not that I know of."
Christopher's mother took the bowl from Lily hand and put it back on the table. She then pulled out a matchbox from her bag and took out one much stick and lit it. "Watch this," she said looking at Lily who was keenly following up.
Christopher's mother then dropped the lighted matchstick into the bowl with the beetle weeds and immediately a flame that was pale green in color erupted burning the weeds in a sizzling sounds. The flame then slowly turned to black sooty smoke that slowly rose in the air in a thin line.
Lily looked at that smoke as it disappeared and realized that it was exactly as the one that she felt and saw in her grandmother. Lily got even more shocked after Christopher's mother showed her the bowl with the burnt weeds.
The fire had burned our but the weeds were not burnt even a little bit. She then repeated the whole process and burned the weeds again but the same thing happened, the weeds did not get burnt at all.
"It is a witch's weed, your grandmother was under a very strong spell." Lily wondered how this could have happened and why it had to be just her grandmother. She soon figured that however that was, was targeting her through her grandmother.
"So how is my grandmother doing?" Lily asked with suppressed anger in her. "All I can say is that the difficult part is done, she is out of danger for now. All that is remaining is for her to wake up." Lily looked at her grandmother and noticed that she was breathing well and just looking like somebody who was asleep.
"So when will she wake up?" Lily inquired still looking at her grandmother. "We will have to find the flowers of the beetle weed, that is the only way that your grandmother will be able to wake up and recover completely.
The liquid from the squeezed beetle weed flowers will help your grandmother wake up and immediately she does so, the weeds in the bowl will burn out by themselves and disappear. Then and only then will the spell be broken."
Lily was furious after hearing all she had to go through all because of a secret enemy she had that she was not aware of. She could not think of stumbling upon any witches in the town or being in touch with any at the moment.
"Where will I find this weed?" Lily asked, determined to go whichever place that she had to inorder to help her grandmother recover and feel better again. Her grandmother was the only family she had left here, so she was ready to do whatever it took to make sure she was well again.
Christopher's mother reached inside her bag and took out a small half shell, " you have to travel south of the town, deep into furthest side of the woods. You however have to be very careful, those woods are not safe. They are not like the forest here in Umbra. They harbor many magical creatures, both good and bad."
She handed the shell to Lily and continued, " when you get to the wooden bridge, you will find the keeper. You must give him this shell as a gate pass, only then will he let you cross the bridge. You however need to be very careful after you cross the bridge because it only gets more dangerous.
The shell is the closest thing to magic that will be in your possession. And once you trade it for you safe passage, you will be on your own because you need magic to blend in those woods. There, magic do not attack magic unless provoked."
Before she could continue, Chris opened the door and interrupted, " let me go with you, it will not be safe out there all alone." Lily looked at Chris and was grateful for his offer but she turned it down. "This I must do alone, your mother needs you her and I also need to find someone to look after my grandmother, and the only person who can help me find someone to take care of her is you."
Chris wanted to insist further but he couldn't after his mother peered back at him. "Do not have so much worry dear Lily, once you get that flower, coming back will be easy since the flower is magical, just make sure you keep it safe and get back as fast as you can. You shouldn't be gone more than three nights."
Christopher's mother after giving Lily instructions, left her with a few herbal medications that had to be given to her grandmother until the spell would be broken. Before she left she assured Lily that her grandmother would be alright and to call her if she needed any help.
Christopher stayed back because he had to arrange with Lily on how he would be able to get someone to help take care of Lily's grandmother since he wouldn't be able to look after her well enough. He then decided to go and give words across the neighborhood to trusted friends if they could find anyone to look after Tabitha when Lily would be gone.
After a few hours, almost mid-day, Christopher went to Lily's house and informed her that everything was set and that the helper would be in her house in two hours. Lily however had to leave as fast as she could since the task she had wasn't simple and it needed her to be fast about it.
And because of this, Lily had to leave without seeing the person that would be taking care of her grandmother and instead left everything in Christopher's hands she trusted him and he was like family.
A few minutes after Lily had headed out, Christopher was showing a woman around Lily's house and the things she needed to look after Tabitha. She was very attentive and Chris noticed that she would perfectly do the job.
"Alright I'll leave you to it, find me if you need anything else," Chris told the lady as he left. "I sure will, nothing to worry about," the lady replied flushing a smile that reached to her green eyes back at Chris who was leaving. She then sofly felt her bracelet and chuckled.