His witch

Chapter 8

Marianna’s POV

I prepared a guest room for Antonia. We didn’t continue the conversation about granny and my parents, as it wouldn’t do us any good. Without an explanation from granny, it would only be scratching wounds. I just gave her some general information about our life here. We watched tv, drank hot chocolate, and chatted about all sorts of things but those that truly mattered to us. Antonia didn't look like this, with her practical trousers and teeshirt and hair put in a solid bun, but she liked fashion and books in the same genres as I.

I would like to drink something stronger but was afraid that I will get sick. Or that I will have this dream again. I shouldn't be afraid of a dream, but it made me feel strange and want things I wasn't sure I could get.

In the meantime, Antonia found a lawyer for granny. He spoke with granny yesterday evening and told us that there is a chance to bail her out because the evidence is vague, but we would need an expertise on the potion.

It was Monday and I was afraid to open the shop and Antonia agreed with me, so I just put a note ‘closed until further notice’ on the door.

The police station was not far away from our house, so we took a walk. Before leaving, we packed some things for granny, like a toothbrush and some clothes. And chocolate. I was hesitant about packing her some potions and herbs, so Antonia called the lawyer, and he dissuaded doing so. I was glad that I listened to him because the police officer searched the things thoroughly. Well, whatever he expected to find, it wasn’t there.

We followed the guard to a small, greyish room in the cellar. It wasn’t a jail, so there was no glass wall or phone, just a table, and three chairs. And a guard behind the door, that had a viewer, so he could see and hear us.

“You’ve got 30 minutes,” he grunted.

Another policeman brought granny. She looked rumpled and tired, in her housecoat from yesterday. My heart ached to see her like this. When she saw Antonia, something flashed through her face. Antonia stood up.

“Mother,” she said in low voice.

“Antonia.”

I stood there, being a silent witness to their reunion. They were so similar, both tall with a straight back and the same look on their faces - a mix of longing, grudge, tenderness, and pride. Granny broke first.

“My baby girl,” she cried and opened her arms.

“Mommy.”

They held each other for a while. Then Antonia stepped aside and granny and I hugged.

“Now, it’s time for you to explain,” said Antonia in a serious voice. “I need it, but Marianna needs it even more. So we listen.”

“Marianna called you.”

“Yes, she did. She wasn’t aware of my existence.”

“I had my reasons.”

“Elaborate,” I heard some harshness in Antonia’s voice.

“It all started when Marcus met Anna.” Marcus and Anna were my parents. ”He decided that she is the one for him. He presented her as a human girl. We wanted to do a background check on her. As always, when a member of the Sabbath or the potential heir of the seat wants to marry a human. But we couldn’t find anything about Anna. That could mean she wasn’t a human or she had her reasons to stay in hiding.”

“How is that even possible?” I asked. I was a human-witch halfbreed and I was sure that there weren’t any other species involved, if there were, it would be showing when I was about 15.

“It is possible to hide one’s origin. But only a few of us can do it and at a cost,” said Antonia. “It isn’t common knowledge that it is possible, but an apprentice of Ludvica Chant should be aware of it.”

“What is so special about granny? We are just plain green witches.” Antonia started laughing.

“Ludvica Chant a green witch? That was just marvelously hilarious. The Chant family is so respected because we are all Omni witches. And mother always had a thing for chaotic magic.”

That was startling. There are many kinds of witches. Being an Omni witch was like being an aristocracy among werewolves or vampires or a mogul among humans. It was very different from being a green witch. The Omni magic was much more complex and powerful. And crueler for those, who do it. But Chaotic magic was something very close to black magic, available only for those strongest, both magically and psychically, because the line between chaos and evil is very, very thin. And when you trespass, there is no returning. Granny wasn’t strong, she was frail and of rather mediocre powers. Or at least she didn’t ever show any extraordinary powers to me. I lived with her so long, I would notice.

“We can talk about it later, or you will update Marianna at home,” said granny with a voice I never heard from her. “Now we need to focus Anna. I covered for her because I knew Marcus won’t give up and there was something in the girl, that made me think that he is right, she is the only one. So I prepared a decent backstory for her and forced the Sabbath to accept it. But the truth was that she came…”

Something exploded and all alerts at the police station went off. We rushed to the door.

“It’s not explosives, it’s magic,” Antonia screamed. “Put on the shields.”

“I can’t do a strong shield, only a basic,” I shouted back. If only I could be a bit stronger.

“Cover Marianna, I will manage,” yelled granny. "Whatever happens, it's not the right time for them to know."

We tried to get out of the basement. We almost made it but there was another explosion. I could only watch a wall collapsing on granny. I wanted to run to her, but Antonia and the guard drew me away to the exit.

“Don’t worry, miss, the rescue units are here, they will save her,” said the guard.

Antonia ran to the paramedics offering help. They looked at her suspiciously but accepted. A witch can do quick diagnoses and bind a life in the human body to buy them some more time to get help.

I was too shaken up to help that way. But I could do one thing, I searched for granny’s vital signature. It was there, still at the police station, weak, unstable, but present. She must have managed to create some sort of shield, the debris would have killed her without it. I made an effort, furious that I’m so useless, and linked to her elan vital. I sent her an impulse of my own vital forces. It wasn’t a true, strong binding, just reinforcement of elan vital, but it had to do for now.

I sat on the curb, watching the rescue action and I felt like I was outside of it all, only a viewer without a connection to the events around me when the rescuers took granny out on the stretcher. She had an oxygen mask on her face and was unconscious.

Antonia and I rushed to the paramedic who was examining her.

“We will take her to the hospital, we will know the prognosis in the afternoon,” he said. “But I can tell, she is lucky to be still alive.”

“I’m drained, I can’t help anymore. Let’s go. We will shower and go to the hospital.” Antonia really looked as if she was going to faint any second. I supported her and we went home.