Penny’s head was on the pillow, her mind still raking in the day as she pieced the memories together, remembering the time of when it happened and how things had turned out to be. It must have been a week or two before her mother had claimed to fall sick.
“I met an elemental bearer before the water person,” she let Damien know, her head still heavy with sleep which was only leaving her mind right now, “It was a wind element.”
“That’s great. Did he teach you how to use your ability?” he asked, elated by the news. At least there was some good news which wasn’t just hurtful and bad memories that Penny had to go through but when he saw Penny shake her head, he asked, “Why not?”
“He asked me to meet him at a certain place but I couldn’t meet him. I forgot about him,” Damien gave her an understanding look. Penny’s mother sure was a bitch who had misused her own family for her own benefit, “But that wasn’t all. He said I was a water element too.”
“He did? But didn’t the water bearer say you weren’t one?”
“He said it was because of the rain. When he came to meet me it was only about to rain and which was why he felt that I was one,” the last time they had got it checked by the help of Bathsheba but after the witch hunter who had attacked the black witch, they had no clue on where she was. If she was still in Bonelake or if she had found shelter in another land, “If the forbidden magic is not going to affect me, do you think I can test it on myself to see if it works?”
“It is worth a try,” Damien replied to her question. He could tell that even though she had tried tapping into the forbidden magic, somewhere it scared her, to use something which was unholy and wrong in the terms of the witches.
“There is no hurry for you to learn and take in everything right away. You can take your time in learning about finding elements in time. We will have to fish a black witch for that.”
“Fish?” she gave him a confused expression.
“We will need the spells and the potions that are required for the elements to be tested. If the water element came searching for you, which might I add was the ghost the butler was talking about, why didn’t the wind element come looking for you?” he questioned in wonderment.
It was a valid question, thought Penny to herself. The water element had told her that it was because of the ritual she came looking for yet she was disappointed telling she wasn’t one.
“Wait, I saw someone last week here. Shadow like but I didn’t know if it was trees outside because when I went to check there was nothing there-”
“And you’re telling it to me now?” Damien gave her a worried look.
“I think it was just my imagination.”
“Nothing in this world is about imagination and if it is, even the things that you imagine are true and real. What did you see?” he asked her.
She tried remembering it, “It was just shadow-like. Very light. Maybe if it was a dark shadow like an actual person standing, I wouldn’t have gone near. I am safe here,” she reminded him, not wanting to worry him seeing the crease between his forehead. Bringing her hand up, she smoothened his forehead.
“Are you feeling alright?” her mother was a topic which they had gone over enough which made it easier for Penny to speak how she felt.
“Just angry for what she did,” she sighed, “I didn’t know a mother could be vile to this extent. All she wanted was a doll as an alibi to prove that she was a human like the rest. That was what I was to her. I don’t think she ever loved or took me to be her daughter,” and even though the matter was sad, Penny felt blank saying this, unaffected about her dream, “I wonder if she’s looking for me now.”
“She will be tired doing it,” one side of Damien’s lip pulled up, “She might have started from Wovile and then back to Bonelake to only find you and me missing, not knowing where we are.”
Agreeing and shifting the topic as she wasn’t sleepy anymore, she asked, “How is the case going?”
“It is doing okay. We should be done by tomorrow,” he said, playing with her fingers.
“You’re fast,” she complimented and a quick retort was heard from Damien.
“Since I was born, mouse. How was your tea party? How many bottles did you break?” he teased her to receive an awkward smile from her.
“There wasn’t anyone to sing your praises or chase you today, though there was one lady who trying to catch Elliot’s attention while we were playing cards.”
“Did you have fun?” he asked her and she shook her head, “Missed me?” she nodded. A broad grin formed on his lips, “Come here,” he pulled her so that he could hold her tightly in his arms, the flowery fragrance she had applied on her hair wafting over his nose and he breathed it, “I missed you too.”
Penny smiled at his words. The previous dull atmosphere was gone and she felt calm in his arms. She had missed him too. Before she would doze away, she asked him,
“Have you been to the Artemis’ house before?”
“Once I guess. Why do you ask?” It was a human household and Damien very rarely step foot in a human household.
She pursed her lips, “I was walking around the mansion this noon and came in front of a series of portraits on the wall. Where are their four children?”
“Four? If I remember right, the Artemis had only two boys who were found in the well as they died in an unfortunate accident. The other two must be their relatives, but definitely not their children.”
“I see,” Penny responded back in thought, “I don’t know why I feel like I have seen those two before. Not the boys but the other pair of children. The boy and the girl.”
