Penny didn’t know how to react to it. How could she kill her own sibling? Her very own sister for such petty matters but the woman didn’t stop there. She continued,
“You might think how little problem has been served with revenge,” Mrs. Artemis looked at her, “You would know when the person you love has his affections zeroed on your younger sister,” Mrs. Artemis liked her brother-in-law?
“But you got married first,” Penny pointed to see the woman smile.
“Silly witch, don’t you know how the society works? Even though we are from a witch’s family, to fit into society we need to follow the norms of the society so that we can blend in. Both the man and my sister fell in love while I was betrothed to my husband. As if one thing wasn’t enough I couldn’t have children. I was pregnant with the twins but they didn’t live long…they died right after I birthed them,” her voice came out to be distant right now.
The woman should have known that nothing good comes from the forbidden magic. Every action has an equal reaction and though the woman was promised to have children with a ray full of hope, she was left shattered after the two babies died.
Penny out of curiosity asked her, “The picture in the portrait of yours on the wall, aren’t they your sons?”
Mrs. Artemis smiled, walking towards Penny now while Penny took an equal step back with every step of the woman, “They were the twins who I pulled out from the graveyard. They were dead and I needed to know and make sure that I could bring back my boys,” it was already taken that the taste and touch of the forbidden magic often corrupted the souls of the black witches similar to the corruption of the pureblooded vampires. Only that when it came to the white witches, their mind turned soiled and evil, turning into black witches with no return, thought Penny to herself.
“You will be surprised by the number of things that are there in the forbidden magic. So beautiful that my heartaches at the thought of it.”
“But everything comes at a cost,” Penny reminded the woman, “You are killing people for your own need and gain. You forget there are people with lives who are not your puppets. They have the right to live.”
“Oh dear, I am not harming anyone. I only am using their soul energy to resurrect my children back.”
“The two boys…they came out alive. Why did you kill them?” Penny questioned, moving her feet back as she round the table to maintain a good distance from the older witch.
Sadness fell on Mrs. Artemis’ face, “I didn’t kill them. I tried to keep them alive but they kept trying to kill each other. It was heartbreaking to watch it every day. They kept hurting themselves too until the point where their bodies couldn’t sustain life. I had no other go but to push them to the well,” the woman looked at Penny as if she had done nothing and was the victim here.
If there was one thing she could tell right now, it was that this woman was insane. First she killed her sister, set her niece and nephew as pawns for her own gain and she had gone as far to steal two children from their grave who were dead while trying to resurrect them back with her own babies.
This was more than messed up and she was far worse than her own mother.
The family she was born into was too screwed up that she wished she was never part of it. The only sane people were her father and her aunt. Her hands clenched together in anger.
“You look angry,” the woman said, pulling out a pin and throwing it right at Penny which Penny hadn’t anticipated as her reflex had been slower. The hairpin went to stick to her skin making her flinch before she pulled and threw it on the floor.
Penny’s eyes fell on the floor where the pin laid that looked similar to the kind she had in her pocket. Suddenly her arm started to feel weak and so did her body.
“My father could have had a better life and so did Caitlin. You robbed their happiness. Things would have been different if you had been less selfish,” Penny glared at the woman. She remembered her father smiling down at her, explaining about the fish which had remained in her memory.
Good people like her father, aunt and others had been dragged into things unnecessarily and this woman had no little amount of regret over it. She could tell that the woman would not stop until she was satisfied and the truth was that the satisfaction would never come.
“Both your father and aunt were perfect. The perfect match for the ritual to take place. It is only the beginning that is painful, after that, it is nothing but a path of happiness.”
“You are being delusional,” Penny pointed out, not able to keep her words to herself, “You should know sometimes it is better to let the dead rest than bring them back.”
Mrs. Artemis started to laugh, her laugh starting to echo around the walls of the room and she took a deep air, her expression schooling down to say, “How about I kill that man who has come to accompany you here? Once he’s dead, you will have nothing. One should go through to understand the feeling.”
Penny offered the woman a smile, “You are an insecure woman, Mrs. Artemis. Going as far as to hurt people who have nothing to do anything. You are right. Your family must have not loved you.”
“I will have your tongue steaked in the pot for speaking such beautiful words,” They heard the sound of the footsteps coming from outside, and Mrs. Artemis said, “Look who we have here.”
