Chapter 32 Face to Face

Mizpah did not go to the palace but made a detour just at the entrance leading to the forest. The beast said not a word to Angela who seemed lost in her thoughts, she felt woozy and detached from her thoughts and feelings. The incident from a moment ago seemed far oft, she wanted to go back, and revisit how she felt about the whole challenge thing, but it seemed as if an invisible barrier in her mind prevented her from accessing the whole incident. She felt frustrated but could not churn the kind of feelings that a frustrated person leit, she wanted to ask her friend Mizpah, but words would not form in her mind and mouth.

They headed west without stopping, Mizpah seemed to have a destination in mind, but his rider stayed zombie like on his back, reacting neither to the beauty surrounding her nor to the darkening sky above her. She sat stiffly, holding on to Mizpah's neck, her eyes straight ahead but unfocused. Just before dark, they arrived at the edge of a forest with thick cedar trees that grew in uniformity; there were neither tall trees than the rest or thicker than the last tree one saw. They were all ot the same size, the forest did not look natural even though It looked and felt like any other forest, there was an eerie atmosphere surrounding the place.

Mizpah stopped and nudged Angela to get down from his back but she was still unfocused. The beast turned its huge head and breathed towards Angela; the misty air surrounded Angela who snapped out of the bubble she had been put in by Mizpah. She exclaimed; surprised to find herself in an unfamiliar place without any Idea of how she just got there.

"What are we doing here?" she asked looking around.

"Waiting for you to get down from my back," Mizpah replied through the mind channel.

"No, that's not what I'm asking and you know it. Stop being sassy with me and tell me why we are here," the real Angela was back.

"Would you stop asking questions and move from where you are so we can go forth," Khisa her wolf spoke in a commanding voice.

Angela was not in a mood for arguments, she moved from where she sat and jumped to the ground in one swift move, landing on her feet beside Mizpah.

"Show-off"

"Show-off," both Khisa and Mizpah said simultaneously.

"I'm not in the mood for arguments or idle talk, can someone tell me why the heck we are in this place?" she was getting irritated, a sign that she was distressed.

"What an honor it is to have you visit the Bennett coven, Welcome princess," there were two women dressed in long black expensive looking gowns and black, lacy, veils that hid their faces. Angela jumped surprised, she had not seen anyone approaching and could not tell where these two women had come from.

'"Ha, you surprise me," she had exclaimed.

"Forgive our stealth princess, it is a necessity given the nature of your visit and the urgency of the matter at hand. Please follow us, the taller of the two women spoke and then turned to go towards a trail that led them deeper into the forest. When they passed the first line of trees, the terrain immediately changed into a beautiful city with cottages that were fenced with all sorts of flowers.

"The cedar trees are a portal to the witch realm which cannot be seen by a naked eye, only witches with a high magical aptitude like yourself can see the trees. Other people only see a menacing looking cliff that they avoid at all costs because if they were to come any nearer, they would be swallowed into the void by mistake or if they ventured towards it out of curiosity," the woman said trying to explain the phenomena of the cedar trees to Angela.

"Thank you for the explanation but I also need to know why I am here," her irritation was visible in the way she spoke.

"Do not be in a hurry Princess, all will be made clear in no time," the woman said without stopping to look at Angela or Mizpah. She was so stiff when she spoke that she would be mistaken for a mother superior in a convent.

Angela did not speak a word after that and only followed silently, thoughts of the many compromises she kept making for the sake of survival and that of her loved ones. Grundolf was a place where danger was as normal as a working day where Angela grew up, it also seemed like killing was accepted as a way of life and it bothered her conscience. Most of the people she met had magic, as she herself realized only recently that she was one of them, and those that weren't magical were werewolves, or vampires or fairies. Had she been told a month ago that she would be living next door to a vampire; she would have thought the person crazy. Now here she was; moving from one realm to the other like it was normal.

They kept walking until they arrived at a coltage that much better than the rest, it was bigger and looked more elegant. More women dressed in similar manner met them at the entrance to the cottage and bowed at Angela. She looked behind her to check who it was they were bowing to, only to realize there was no one there except her and the two women who brought her here and Mizpah.

"Welcome to the Bennet Coven princess," they said in unison.

"Uhm, ah…… thank you I guess?" she said unsure of what to say.

"You are here to watch and learn, you are among the most powerful witches of our time.

They will teach you how to embrace your true nature after it has been suppressed for long. By the time you leave this place tomorrow, you will no longer recognize yourself as Angela hut as Kharisi Adolfo, the royal princess of Grundolf kingdom," one of the two women spoke. Angela was not sure whether it was the same woman as before or it was the other one, they both looked identical.

Mizpah was left with one of the two women; it was rare sight to behold. One thing Angela also noticed was that Mizpah was not feared here; rather he was treated like a part of this family. In Grundolf, people were terrorized by him and he too seemed to loathe them with a passion but in the Bennett Coven, he felt like a big brother to the ladies. As Angela looked, three young girls came running to where Mizpah lay on the grass and climbed on top of his back Angela was about to go rescue them from his back because she knew of his temper and did not want any harm to come to them because of their innocent curiosity but was stopped by one of the two women; the taller one.

"Hello there, my name is Sandra, this here with me is Arielle Bennett, blood sister to CaAlice Bennett," she said and smiled when she saw the surprise on Angela's face when she saw her Camilla's sister.

"Camilla has a sister?" she asked surprised.

"Yes, actually she is my twin," Arielle said and removed her veil for Angela to see. She looked identical to Carita Bennett, Angela gasped and without thinking went and hugged her tightly.

"You look so much like Camilla," she said.

"And you look so much like your mother," she replied

Angela extricated herself from the hug she had initiated and looked at Arielle, "You know my mother?"

'Better, come with me." she told her and took her hand to lead her inside.

Angela was taken towards the end of a corridor, they took so many turns that she thought if she were to be left alone, she would be lost. Finally, they came to a dark mahogany door that was locked using magic; Arielle snapped her fingers and mumbled a few words and the door opened by itself. Inside the room was completely white, the bed was made with white linen bed sheets and bedspread, the rug by the bed was white and on the bed lay a woman who was dressed in white. As she slept she looked so peaceful, Angela was thinking it would sure be a crime to wake her from such a peaceful sleep.

Something caught her eye, the hair that fell all over the pillows was familiar and that was when Angela realized that she was standing by the bed where her mother; Celestine lay. She rushed towards the bed and stopped when she got there not knowing what to do. She wanted to do so many things at once but could not bring herself to touch her slightly; she was frozen in place.

Finally, she was face to face with her own mother!