Damien and Penny laid next to each other on the bed with their fingers intertwined together.
Remembering Damien had been in the village to catch a witch, she asked, “Were you able to catch the witch?”
“Hmm, she ran away,” Damien said unbothered with it, “She’s one of the good ones so it should be alright unless she gets killed by someone. I asked Kreme to follow up to see where she is right now. Did you have fun in the fair today?” he asked her.
“It was good. It was my first time attending a fair.”
“You have never been to one before?” Damien appeared surprised by it. It was usually the rich children who belonged to the higher society who didn’t get to see it. Of course, his case was different as sneaked out of the mansion quite regularly when he was young.
Penny shook her head, “I just saw them afar but never stepped into the circle,” she replied back to him.
‘What do you think you are doing here?’
‘Go back to where you came from!’
‘My father said not to talk to her.’
‘Don’t touch her or you will be infected.’
“I didn’t have money to buy anything to go there,” Penny said, a small smile on her lips. Her heart ached less at the distant memory she had forgotten. She felt Damien squeeze her fingers.
“How are you feeling right now?” she heard Damien ask her.
“Happy to be next to you,” she replied back before asking, “How do you feel?”
“I feel amazing,” he answered her, “Do you want to go out for a walk later.”
“At night?” Penny turned her head to look at him.
“Mhmm. Me and you, under the clouds.”
“There are chances of rain,” she said to him.
He suggested, “Let’s carry an umbrella along. Just here after the bridge. Not too far.”
“Okay.”
After their lunch, both Penny and Damien stepped out of the mansion. Penny held the purple umbrella in one of her hands as they made their way outside the gates and towards the stoney bridge that hung up in the air, connecting the mansion and the land that came after the bridge. This part of the land was much more secluded in comparison to the other mansions.
The atmosphere was cold and both of them had worn their coats before heading out.
They made their way towards the forest, hearing the crickets chirping loudly throughout the forest for the rain that was going to arrive later. Though the mud below their boots and shoes were wet, some of the dried leaves had come to fall down on the ground that crunched when they stepped one after another.
“I received news on someone earlier when I was in the black market,” Damien said as they continued to walk slowly.
“What is it about?” Penny had to hold back her hair from it falling on her face.
“One of the people there said that Bathsheba passed away,” hearing this Penny didn’t comment as she hadn’t expected to hear her death, “The person didn’t know where to find her and placed a spell in doubt to receive the news of her death.”
Penny asked, “How did she die?”
Damien shook his head over this, “Don’t know. Unfortunately, you can only find if the person is still alive or not but not how the death took place. It must be the witch hunters, she was too smart to fall into the hands of humans.”
“She was a good black witch,” Penny commented in her memory.
“She was. Wonder how she got caught,” he exhaled the air through his mouth, “I also heard that your mother was spotted somewhere in the land of Bonelake. Many times in the South and some in the West.”
“Do you think she is here for some work that needed to be completed?” Penny asked him, after all, with the movements of the black witches which were heavy on breaking the chains that were on the black magic, and with the way she now knew she was involved in it, she could only guess that she was on to something.
“It is possible. It is one of the reasons why I put her picture up. We don’t know who else is involved but if there’s one person we know, it is your mother. The best would be to corner her. Another reason so that she doesn’t come to harm you,” he said pausing his footsteps and turning to her, “There are some people in the elder community of the council who must still be clinging with what Creed left them.”
“Because the exam was held on the day of the golden moon…”
“Hmm,” Damien’s eyebrows was slightly furrowed, “It is too much of a coincidence to think that they would hold it there and in the forest. You think you have taken the weeds out successfully to only find out that there are still some unwanted weeds. It is also possible that this how the witch hunters are not getting questioned. I looked into the reports two days ago in the council and there has been an increase in the death of the witches. Both black and white. Some might think it is their diligence but that is a load of crap.”
“Was there any talk about the exam?”
“There are some who are probing, Evelyn is interested in how you survived with a white witch and it comes as a debate once in a while with what I heard from Reuben.”
“You have so many admirers that it is going to be difficult I think,” Penny commented to see a quick smile form on his lips.
“I know. Sometimes I get tired of people admiring me this much but that comes with being popular I think,” on Damien’s words Penny laughed, “Evelyn is harmless. It is the others that we need to look at right now.”
“How are you going to find out if they are involved?”
“Get them followed to see what they do every day, but people in the elder’s council are all low profile who don’t stand out much. They are smart enough to not let people know what they do. Worse case is to test them all and see which one reacts the most.”
