14. Dive into memories

I quietly followed her while the others walked behind. We climbed over broken twigs and huge leaves. We finally got to a big rock, the rock was old and ugly.

"Come on," the one I had come to know as Mimi said before she disappeared into the rock. Thumbelina held my hand and pulled me along with her into the rock. It was the second thing I was walking through that night.

"Oh…me…gosh," I gasped slowly, it was like I was in a movie.

"Welcome to the enchanted office, you have to hurry before your time runs out, come on quick now," Thumbelina urged. She led me to a rose. The pink rose spread it petals down, she pulled me into the flower which closed up on us. It was like an elevator made of petals.

The flower rose up, lifting us up to wherever it was leading to. The rose shook to an abrupt stop and slowly opened again. She jumped into the floor we ought to be, a wooden floorboard with small flower tables, books made of leaves and other tree materials and two tall firefly lamps.

"What exactly am I looking for?" I asked Thumbelina in hope that she knew what I ought to look for. She shrugged her shoulders.

"All I know is that you can get whatever here, all the books in the library are sealed and only the one you are meant to open will open, I'll be downstairs." She said with a beam. I walked to the biggest table with the lamps.

I pulled the chair back and sat down, then scooted closer. The biggest book on the table suddenly flipped open. The book turned for three seconds and stopped. The perfect drawing of four girls was on the page. They were dressed in old style, all smiling at each other as they shared their meal under a tree. The page flipped, another picture of them playing at a stream. The page turned again, this time they looked like they were singing under the oak tree. One of them was Victoria.

"Show me what I need to know, who is Victoria?" I asked the book. The page flipped open fast and stopped at another page. This time, it was written words. I drew the book closer and began reading.

"Dear journal, it's me again. I'm afraid I have once again seen that odd dream, I am haunted by that dream. This time it is different, I didn't just see the spirits in the hall, they saw me too and tried to kill me. Journal, I am afraid, I don't know if I should speak to mother about my dream, she is more advance in her magic than I am, but I fear she would wave it off as mere imagination again. Oh journal, please tell me what to do."

The page flip again to the next one.

"Oh journal! My dream has come to pass! The spirits in my dream has risen and are slaying students, ending their lives. I cannot handle this alone, my magic isn't strong enough and mother still won't listen to me. I tried to report this to the council of witches, but mother caught and bind me for weeks, I just got out. Journal, I am so confuse, I have to stop this before more gets hurt."

The page flipped again.

"Journal, I finally told the girls, they were shocked at first but agreed to help me. Maybe together, we will have enough powers to put an end to it. We leave for the oak tree that brought us together, the spirit of the oak would know what to do… Hopefully that is."

"Journal, we now know what to do, we also know who is doing this to the town. We are going to the school tomorrow to finish it up, I hope we would return safely. Journal, I also have a bad feeling about this, I still feel like something bad would happen but I'm not sure to who. I'm terrified, I hope we are sake. But I will take precaution and go to the tree myself, I need to make sure I am well prepared."

I didn't understand what I was reading, she had three friends. Is that why she picked us? To make us four?

"They are gone! They are all gone! How did this happen?! How did we end up like this?! All we did was save them and we have been punished for that. How am I her daughter? How did I end up with that witch as my mother! I will stop her, I will stop her before she completely ruins this town even if it claims my life!"

I tapped my nose, they died? I still needed to find out what was going on but the book wasn't explaining well.

"Goddammit, Victoria! Just tell me already! I can't keep living like this!" I yelled, slamming my hands on the table. The book flipped to the final page.

"See through my eyes, see my memories. Pass through like a dream, know who I am." Immediately the last word left my mouth, a light from the book zapped my eyes. I screamed, pushing myself back. The chair tumbled over, throwing me down.

I groaned in pain, my head throbbing from the pain. I opened my eyes, I was in a quiet and dark forest. The trees were pure black, not a single leaf on the trees. I looked at myself on the ground, the sand was grey and filled with stones. I stood up and dusted my dress. I wonder how I could see with the darkness.

"There she is! Shoot her!" I looked at the set of men holding bows and arrows. They were looking at me with so much hate.

"Please, I didn't do anything, please don't…" I heard myself saying. One shot an arrow. I found myself disappearing far away. My feet took off, tears in my eyes and heart racing.

I ran, they were going to shoot me, they were hot on my tail. I kept running blindly, crying convulsively. I couldn't hear them any more, I was far ahead of them. I slowed my pace down to calm my heart. I backed a tall bush, my hands on my chest as I breathe heavily.

"I'm safe, I just hope Victoria is safe," the words were words of whosever memory I was viewing. "I bet I can conjure her up, summon Tori to make sure she is okay…" I heard a rustle in the bush behind me. I turned around to look but screamed in panic.

Flying in the air towards me was a huge beast with lots of fur, one I had never seen before but I am sure those gigantic teeth could do me damage. I wanted to run, I could run, but I couldn't move. It was as if I was momentarily stricken by fear, too stunned to move a muscle.

Move! You'll get killed!

My inner shout was of no use, my voice was lost. More tears rolled down my cheeks, I saw death coming to me and I was too scared to do anything. Imagine standing and a lion jumping to bite your head off, imagine being in that position. That was the very one I was in.

The creature landed on me, it teeth sinking into my head as he rolled over with us. I felt intense pain, my head was ripped off but I was still alive. All I did was screamed inwardly and cried at the pain of my flesh being ripped out and devoured by the beast. I wanted it to stop, I wanted it all to end but it wasn't ending, it wasn't seizing. It was like being awake when having an operation, only worse. The beast ripped off my flesh piece by piece, gorged my flesh down to my bone.

"You'll all pay." A voice echoed in my head. I opened my eyes with a gasp, jumping up from the floorboard. I was drenched in sweat, I could still feel the pain allover my body.

"This is why I don't want you to see what happened, to see it, you must feel it. Juno, be patient." Victoria's voice echoed in my head. I was still crying, fear had seized my heart.

"Then why did you bring me here? Why?! To imprint a permanent scar!"

"Open the book to the middle, reach your hand for the cane and take it. The power of the cane would become yours at midnight."

I stood up with quivering body, my heart still racing. The face of the beast remained at the front of my mind. I opened the book to the middle and saw the drawing of a cane. I dipped my hand into the book and felt the structure of the cane. I grabbed and pulled it out, ignoring the burning sensation. I dragged the cane out of the book, staggering back with the force I used in pulling it out. I fell on the floor, hitting my butt on the floor.

I raised the cane up and scrutinised it, there was a lot of strange writing and markings on it, but the one thing I understood was my name written boldly on the cane. This cane belonged to me.