Penny was still trying to find someone she knew than be attacked when the light she had been using through the hidden incantation fell upon the elderly woman who had been standing in the middle of the corridor, waiting for her.
Deep in her mind, she had hoped to meet Damien or Lord Alexander, hoping to not meet the couple first but here she was a few distance away from the woman.
“How interesting for you to make use of light like that. You must be a fire elemental bearer,” said Mrs. Artemis with a soft voice which was audible to her only because the corridor was quiet right now, “Why don’t you come inside and let’s talk,” seeing Penny give her a skeptical look, the woman said, “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you.”
“It is hard to trust someone who added something in my tea during the last visit,” Penny commented, her eyes flickering in the light that her own hand created as she hadn’t put her hand down.
“You found out,” a small smile appeared on the witch’s face but her expression still continued to be constant.
“It wasn’t too hard with the way you kept making me drink,” Penny responded back to the woman, seeing the woman who stared at her as she appeared to be interested in the light Penny was emitting through the spells which the witch wasn’t aware of.
She hadn’t noticed it before as Penny had been concentrating on where she was walking instead of noticing that the house wasn’t the same as before. The floor which had carpet on the floor was missing. She was sure she had seen the carpet but right now the flooring looked old. The corners covered in dust and the walls looked nothing less dusty to it. When she looked at the window, the windowpane was broken.
It was as if in a blink of an eye everything had changed. Gone were the decorative items along with the other furniture leaving an empty path of the corridor ahead of her.
It must be a spell, thought Penny to herself. Had the spell broken and the house was showing its true form right now?
She didn’t know what to make of it. She remembered what Alexander had told them before leaving Delcrov’s mansion. This house belonged to the Carrington’s where Mr. and Mrs. Artemis once worked for the family. It didn’t seem like they were rich but came from a poor family who needed hiding and work. To kill people who have given them roof and food, Penny wasn’t sure how much despicable the Artemis couple were.
The woman went inside the room, speaking loud enough for Penny to hear, “I was hoping to add you to one of my prized collections in the mansion. Would you be kind enough to tell me what went wrong?” her voice came out distant and she followed carefully while not letting her hand down even though the moonlight fell at the front of the room right now.
Her foot moved heavily as if two weights of shackles were tied around her ankles, making her way into the empty room with broken windows. She lowered her hand down.
Right now Penny wondered if she had walked past this room to never notice its true self.The room was empty except for a table and chairs that were placed unevenly around it.
“Please sit down,” the woman looked at her intrigued.Penny took a seat on the opposite side of the table where the woman sat. Before the woman could ask her anything Penny fired her question,
“Why are you harming the villagers and the people in here?”
“Why? I think you already know the answer if you have come here with people to investigate,” the woman reached for the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Penny, pushing the cup towards the young girl who didn’t bother to touch it, “Drink up. If you don’t drink now you will feel very thirsty after a few minutes,” the woman folded her hands across her lap.
You must have lost your mind to ask me to drink it, it is what Penny wanted to tell the woman but she decided not to rile a person unnecessarily.
“You don’t have to be this hospitable, Mrs. Artemis. I will be fine without the drink. Thank you,” Penny refused to drink the tea politely, “You are a white witch, how can you betray the line of witches who have done nothing to you or the humans.”
The woman humped, a scornful smile on her face to say, “What do you know how it feels to be isolated? Go call yourself to be a witch in the midst of the village and you will see how many will be ready to torch and burn you up.”
“Not everyone is like that but you think everyone is like you,” Penny’s statement received a raised eyebrow from Mrs. Artemis. The woman made herself comfortable, staring at the young witch she had not noticed before.
Mrs. Artemis had thought she was a human and it made her question how she had failed to notice it before. If the girl wasn’t using her elemental ability, she would have never known, “You remind me of someone.”
Penny responded back, “Is that so?”
“Yes. It makes me wonder who it reminds me of,” Mrs. Artemis murmured to herself, looking at Penny’s green eyes.
She couldn’t help but smile when the woman finally figured it out, “You are Walter’s daughter. How strange to meet you like this. If I knew it I would have welcomed you properly,” Penny doubted the woman would have welcomed her nicely, “I thought your mother would have killed you by now. Oh, you don’t know? You poor little child,” Mrs. Artemis shook her head with a sigh when Penny didn’t respond to her.
Penny didn’t respond because her mother’s intentions were already known by the Artemis family.
“Don’t worry, I will complete your mother’s job that way you will feel less bad about it,” Mrs. Artemis was still sitting at the table without any much movement while Penny was making sure she didn’t look away from the woman.
Mrs. Artemis stared back at the same intensity and Penny saw how her eyes narrowed as if she was talking right now only to distract her.
“You look slightly troubled. Is everything alright?” the side of Penny’s lips lifted up as she asked Mrs. Artemis.
