Priscilla's eyes danced across the room, Lucia had left the room close to an hour ago leaving her alone with nothing to do. Chilling winds batted from beyond the open window, Autumn had crept in swiftly. Streets were filled with children departing from school, heading out to hang out with friends and enjoy their youth. An envy-filled Priscilla, her time to make friends ran out, her youth being robbed by the incident half a year ago. Her fist shaking in anger she-
The door flew open with a kick from Lucia's high heels, she marched in followed by three tired-looking individuals, Priscilla couldn't help but get anxious over meeting even more new people so quickly. However, she didn't know if the Vaundrs would be considered people.
'Hello, it is a pleasure meeting you.' Priscilla tried getting up from her bed but was quickly stopped by a jarring pain in her chest. Between the three of them, his shrill voice carried him towards her. 'I think I speak on behalf of all four of us when I say that what you accomplished will leave massive steps in history books.'
A short blue-haired woman with lips decorated in a loud hot pink shot forward wanting to make her presence noticed. 'We are here to discuss what will happen to you now.'
'What do you mean?' Priscilla sat up a little confused, she had a vague idea that they were planning to take her away, the worst of which would be to experiment on her body. That made her visibly shudder.
The woman, Diana was her name whispered by Lucia, reassured her it was nothing scary. 'What you have done is beyond bizarre, and as witches, we deal with the strangest cases. Knowing your abilities are this powerful with no prior experience led us to the decision of wanting to offer you a chance to enrol into our new facility.'
Priscilla nodded her head slowly, pretending to understand their motive. While it sounded like a sweet opportunity to escape her situation her instincts screamed otherwise. 'If you don't mind I would like some time to think about it. Its all just...so sudden.'
Lucia nodded her head, taking the lead of the situation she dragged the trio out of the room. 'Let's get some coffee and leave our sweet little saviour to ponder over this decision.' The door closed behind them letting the room sink into silence only broken by the swaying blinds, a small cactus with a lamp was her only company, or so she thought.
'Meoww' The cat crawled from underneath the bed, stretching as if it had hibernated through winter. Priscilla's hand ran across her warm fur, soft purring vibrating into the palm of her hand, it made her feel a little less anxious. From the table, the cat retrieved a large packet, inside hiding a lovely homemade apple pie. The scent of cinnamon scratched at her nose, beckoning her to take a bite. Who was she to resist this call?
She squealed at the delicious pie, the plastic fork screaming for help as it kept being dug for more and more bites. However, its tears seemed to add a nice subtle salty taste to the sweet pie. Since she was young, she had loved pies from a small bakery across the country when they used to live in Virginia; however, that has since closed down.
Priscilla broke a little piece off and put it on a napkin beside her for the kitten to eat. Like a flower, pain bloomed in her chest as she chugged half of the plastic bottle by her side. This normality was something that was very much needed after recent events.
Her mind instantly conjured up the memories of that night, a cabin hidden in the woods with a woman who claimed to be a witch...the purple potion.
'The purple potion! That is how I can prove to my family what happened before, it's the perfect plan! Ouch-' She leapt in the air but fell back into the bed as she recoiled from the pain. She continued stuffing her face with pie, trying to forget about everything temporarily until-
'-And that's how Mika won the beauty pageant!' The four returned with coffees in hand, witnessing the full glory of Priscilla stuffing her face with a pie like there was no tomorrow. 'Someone is clearly feeling better! Time to talk, tell us everything.' The last woman who had yet to announce her name stepped forward.
'Calm down Valerie, let her rest another day at least, I don't need you exhausting my lovely pupil.' Lucia hugged her head, making a mean face to Valerie just out of view from Priscilla.
'It's fine Lucia, I can do this.' She adjusted herself slightly, sitting to face them properly. She placed the package away on the armchair previously occupied by Lucia.
'So, this Vaundr, a bulky man with half a brain. He only focused on taunting and attacking, outsmarting him was pretty easy. But I couldn't have done it without a bit of luck.'
'What do you mean by luck? Did he trip over a root or something?'
'No no, it was more like I took a gamble with my last two feathers. I launched myself into the air before he could slice me up, then I shot him with a feather combined with a whisker hair from the little kitty.'
The four started talking amongst themselves seemingly forgetting about Priscilla who just wanted to finish her apple pie. Minutes passed before their eyes met hers again.
'You may continue.' Lucia motioned with her hand.
'After that, I was pierced through the chest with a blue sickle, I cracked the vial and created a small pocket of fog where I could heal.' Lucia wondered about something but chose to keep her mouth shut for now, there was plenty of time for her to ask questions after the others left.
'I talked to the other Vaundr-'
'What do you mean by other Vaundr? There is only one!' The three seemed shaken to the core, Lucia however abstained from speaking, things starting to unfold in her mind.
'I encountered five total that night..'
A look of horror spread across the room, even Lucia's concern could no longer hide itself, but one emotion trumped the fear they felt. It was awe. How a girl completely new to magic managed to capture a Vaundr and even live after an encounter with five, that's what the four couldn't get enough of.
'Your capture of the Vaundr will skyrocket our progress on the analysis of the Vaundrs and their immortality-'
'They aren't immortal!' Priscilla raised her voice silencing the adults, they looked at her curiously, at this point they could even begin to fathom what would come out of her mouth next.
Priscilla's voice started shaking, hands drenched in sweat and a looming feeling of dread gnawing at her from the inside. Her eyes grew dark as she set her sight on Lucia who tried to hide her unease.
'I...'
The four sat forward and looked straight at the little girl.
'I killed one..'
Lucia walked to her side, placing a hand on the trembling Priscilla, she had realised what had actually happened that night. She killed someone, her eyes looked down at her blood-soaked hands, tears welling up in her eyes as she frantically wiped them against the bed covers. No matter how much she struggled the blood wouldn't come off, the three stared in confusion but only Lucia understood how Priscilla was feeling.
'Enough questions, for now, she needs to rest. If you desperately need to know something then you can write me an email outlining what your questions are. Leave now.' The older man wanted to protest but was stopped by the other two, between the three, the women knew Lucia for a lot longer and knew she meant what she said.
The door clicked closed and dampened footsteps faded into the ambient noise of the hospital halls. Lucia's eyes wandered to the bed where Priscilla had disappeared from, she had shifted to the sink still trying to remove her sin-stained skin. If she had tugged at her skin any longer it would have ripped off exposing her delicate flesh.
She pulled the little girl to her chest, coddling her like a crying baby, reassuring her that it was the only way. In a way, Lucia felt it was her fault this all happened, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the Vaundrs were changing their hunting style. In all of the records, there had never been an appearance of two Vaundrs, let alone five.
'Priscilla, I know it's hard, but I need you to please tell me every single detail. And about that flash of light I saw through the forest.' Priscilla's eyes widened at her words, a sense of relief washed over her as the idea that Lucia would have come to save her if she was in mortal danger, that however was the wrong thing to assume.
'It would be easier to show you.' She walked to the table where the fork was stuck like a candle into the half eaten apple pie. 'Aghh-' She let out a small scream as she jammed the fork into her wrist drawing blood. She splashed the blood in the air and thought about the burgundy scissor, her vision grew blurry as the form in her mind materialised in the air. Lucia ran to grab it but was repelled by a searing heat, it was meant only for Priscilla to use, she clicked the two pieces together and allowed Lucia to inspect from a distance.
'So what does it do?'
Priscilla walked to a metal stool in the corner and placed the blades against the leg, a metallic thud rang through the room as the stool fell from the imbalance of losing a leg. Lucia was fascinated but held back, the last thing Priscilla needed was being flooded with more questions about that night.
'How about you take a nap and Aunty Lucia will bring you something to get changed into.
She quickly left the room in a hurry, Priscilla stared at the open window with dark thoughts....