There are other books in this same world. Do try giving it a read which you will find in my profile. ‘Belle Adams Butler’ is the 5th book in this series~
Penny who was still looking at the house and the windows that were broken heard a creaking sound at first which had the other people’s head-turning to look towards the house as to where the sound was coming from. In less than a few seconds, the house started to collapse and it fell down one after another. Caitlin who had been sitting at the stairs had moved away, taking a couple of steps far away from the house as the wooden structure fell with bangs on top of each other leaving dust to surround it and at the people who were there.
The house had been alright and suddenly it had collapsed making everyone raise their eyebrows in question. Penny, who was curious as the rest, walked towards the collapsed building.
“What happened to the house?” asked one of the councilmen.
Another said, “It must have weakened overtime or the witch’s magic has now been uplifted due to which it wasn’t able to handle to stand straight.”
Alexander ordered the councilmen whom he had gathered, “Get someone to clean this up and exorcise it once it is done. Do it right now. Also, check if there’s something that has been left behind that is of any importance,” the men nodded before giving each other orders on what to do about it.
How strange magic was, thought Penny to herself, one moment the house was like any other and after a few hours the house had broken down by itself. The very day, the bag which Elliot and Sylvia had got hold of from the river was passed to the council for further investigation to see what it was made of.
When most of the councilmen and the family members who had come to pick their kin or relative home, Caitlin didn’t move but stood in front of the broken house, staring at it. Penny had decided to stay back and she came to stand next to her aunt who was quietly watching the house as if it still existed the same way it did before collapsing itself.
“Since I met you, I have often wondered why I helped you,” Penny heard Caitlin speak to her. The sun had risen high in the sky with the arrival of the sun and the birds, “I have stayed in the slave establishment for many years and I have never helped anyone. Not spoken or bothered to interact. Seeing the guardsman beat the slaves which I turned a blind eye too. I could have escaped and maybe I would not be caught right away by your mother or by my fiance or the people who have died today but I stayed.It makes me wonder if I did leave when I found the opportunity. The course of time would have shifted and we would have probably not met.”
Caitlin was right, thought Penny to herself. If the woman wasn’t there in the slave establishment, then she would have never met her nor would she have been able to get out of there to meet Damien or know who or what she was. It would have forever remained as a mystery or she would have been killed by the knowledge of her being a witch.
Fate and destiny had played its part and they had moved it so far by turning things right. Finally, the Artemis didn’t exist except for her and her aunt. The only standing last family of the white witch along with Lord Alexander.
“I wished Walter was still alive…” there was a certain melancholy as Caitlin said looking to her right at something that didn’t exist, “Your father was a very good man, Penelope. He was the brother anyone could have asked for. A good son, a good brother, a good husband to someone who didn’t deserve a grain of his love or kindness and I am sure he was a wonderful father until his time came.”
“I had a glimpse of him,” Penny confessed, a part of her memory which she dearly cherished of him since she had found out.
“You did?” Caitlin turned to look at Penny. For Penny to remember it meant it was after a few years.
The young white witch nodded her head at her aunt’s question, “I was probably five or seven I think. My mother erased every single memory of his and this is the only one that returned back to me,” Penny wished she could remember more but when she tried to link things up, trying to move back or front after the scenes they always hurt her head. As if the spell was restricting her mind from exploring any other memory of hers, “He was a good father. He taught me how to read and write. We even went fishing near the river…” Penny smiled saying this.
Caitlin didn’t have to be told about it because she knew her brother better than anyone else. After all, she had spent years with him under the same roof with their uncle and aunt.
When they had arrived here, she had hoped things would turn better but who knew things were only going to turn worse in time.
“I think it turned out to be a pattern running with us too. To be betrayed by our own relatives that pushed us to the slave establishment,” said the red-haired white witch, “Let’s hope it doesn’t happen to your children,” Penny smiled at her words.
To Penny, having a child felt it was too soon. Though the sound of adding another person as a family sounded good, she was still young and not ready for a child. Both she and Damien were yet to get engaged and married for it. With all the things going around, she believed this wasn’t the right time to have a baby.
Right now, it was only Damien and her and the matter with her mother was yet to be solved. In the past, her mother had already attacked her. If she were to have a child and if something were to happen to it, she didn’t know if Damien and she would be able to digest the loss they would feel over it. It would only be them risking the child.
