Illusion and Reality

An invitation

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Every second passed with an agonizing wait, but there was no news about the pendant or any other way for us to home. 

Cooped up in the house, I learned two things, witches were real in fact we were living with one. Second thing, they all had writings on their entrance to keep someone or something away, but who were they trying to stop from entering inside their homes?

There was only one rule for us to live here, never leave the house.

“This is boring,” yawned Lily who was sprawling on her bed.

“You can read a book.”

“I said I am bored not I want to die of boredom,” she rolled her eyes, “what are you reading anyway?”

I picked up the book in both of my hands and showed it to her, she squinted her eyes to get a better look at it. A small laugh escaped my lips, “It’s about the witches, it says they use a source to channel their powers.”

“Who cares, I just want to go home.”

I left the book on the table and looked at her, The light passing through the blue curtains illuminated the room with a light shade of blue.

“Do you think we would ever be able to go home?” I whispered in a small voice.

She opened her eyes and sat on the bed, “Of course we will go back. Astrid is working on the pendant and I will kidnap the queen witch if I have to.”

“Queen witch seriously? I added with a laugh.

“Shut up,” she replied with a laugh and threw a pillow in my direction. 

At least I was not alone in that foreign land.

Just then a tiny red tornado formed on the table and a note appeared Dinner is ready.

 “Of course the almighty witch is too good to have a proper conversation with us mere humans,” she scoffed and crumpled the note.

“They are letting us stay here Lily and they are our only hope to go home, please don’t say or anything,” I pleaded.

“Fine.”

We went to the dining room, which consisted of a large table in the middle hiding underneath different cuisines and 10 chairs around it.

I always wondered who prepared the food but I was sure Astrid would rather talk to a wall than answering my questions. 

Lucius was hardly at home, I was not sure about his work but must be something important considering the size of their house. Astrid always stayed in her room, doing who knows what and I was fine with that.

Lucius was sitting at one end of the table, Astrid was sitting to his right side. I took a seat next to Lucius, who greeted me with a nod, ignoring everyone Lily sat next to me.

Taking small bites, I decided to break the silence and ask the question which was keeping me awake at night, “did you find anything yet?”

Astrid decided to ignore the question.

Lucius gave her a look and was about to say something but Lily already took the opportunity, “The great witch doesn’t have anything to say? It’s been two days and I think you’re the one who said ‘I can do it’ very proudly.”

Astrid put the spoon back in her bowl, “I was wrong, this is not an ordinary stone,” her voice was calm as usual.

Lucius raised an eyebrow at her.

“I thought it was one of the original 4 stones but I am not sure anymore,” she replied in a soft yet confident voice to Lucius.

“Who do you think made it?”

We sat there listening to everything like a fool, with no idea about what they were talking about.

“Excuse me? Remember us? Not from here. No idea what you’re talking about,” I suppressed the urge to facepalm after hearing Lily’s words.

Astrid took a huge gulp of water, “A long time ago elder witches from two powerful covens collected 4 rare stones and put a spell on them. The spell made it possible to open a portal from our Kingdom to another Kingdom, but something happened 30 years ago. Someone stole a stone, I was almost sure it was that stone but I was wrong.”

“Any ordinary witch can not open a portal from the stone,” Lucius said after thinking about something.

We didn’t know a witch. There were just Lily and me in the room and no one else, “So, the old woman is a witch?”

Astrid shook her head, “A witch would never give up the stone easily, either she was working for a witch or the poor lady did not know what she was doing.”

Silence engulfed the room after that, and we had the rest of our dinner without exchanging any other words. 

The clicking sound of insects was the only noise filling the silence of the night.

Wandering mindlessly I came across the garden, where the light of the moon was falling gently on the trees and flowers giving them a soft glow. Taking a deep breath to inhale the sweet aroma, I closed my eyes.

“Can’t sleep?”

My cheeks flushed slightly after hearing his voice. I turned to look at Lucius, the moonlight falling on his face intensified his sharp features. 

“Not really.”

“You do not have to worry, Astrid is a powerful witch I am sure she will find a way to send you home,” he replied gazing at the moon.

“These flowers are beautiful,” was my dumb try to start a conversation.

“Hmm...Astrid loved her garden.”

“I don’t think she likes me very much,” I said quietly.

For a brief second, he remained quiet, I turned towards him only to find him staring at me.

“Astrid is a very compassionate person once she lets someone in but the thing is she does not trust people easily.”

I didn’t ask any more questions even though I had tons of them running around in my head, waiting to be free. The last thing I wanted was to annoy the person who saved us.

“You are staring. If there is a question you can ask, I know this is new for you.”

I looked away as fast as I could, trying my best to hide my embarrassment.

I cleared my throat slightly, “are you also a witch?”

“No.”

It was his brief answer.

I was about to ask another question but the sight of a shining butterfly flying towards us made the words disappear from my mouth. As it came closer, I realized it was not a butterfly but a tiny scroll with wings, which Lucius caught effortlessly.

He opened the pale parchment in which the words were glowing. I tried to read the words but it was all in vain.

His jaw tensed slightly while reading the letter but soon he went back to his inexpressive face.

After reading the letter, he folded it again and threw it on the ground. My eyes turned wide open as I looked at the letter turning into ash.

“To secure the privacy it turns into ash after we are done reading,” Lucius pointed towards the letter.

“What was it?”

I heard him sigh, “An invitation.”