Chapter 35 You set my heart ablaze
Izabella closed her eyes and fell down to her knees. She was coughing violently now, her eyes burning, tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt the urge to vomit. She tried, but nothing came out, only some more of that sickly sweet air.
“Recognize it…”
“Momma!!!!” Izabella screamed loudly with the pain.
The moment she said that, the scent dispersed, there was nothing but air inside her mouth and her nose. She was coughing less violently now, able to take a deep breath. A few seconds later, she was breathing properly again.
She got back up to her feet, feeling how the air got much colder. As she exhaled, silvery clouds formed in front of her mouth. Bells jingled somewhere in the distance. The same wolf howled again, closer this time.
“Momma?” Izabella whispered, looking at Rose.
Rose’s face was blank, just like the faces of all the other girls who were still facing upwards, humming the same tune over and over again. Her mouth was in the shape of an O, but the words that came out of it were clearly audible. Izabella realized that Rose was just a vessel for a witch who wanted to talk to them, to someone special who was present. This time, it was her.
Izabella was still unsure whether this was really happening. It was all still a big blur inside her mind, and she had no idea whether she could believe her own eyes. Was her cover blown? Was this whole thing just a set up? But, Reeba didn’t know anything about her. She couldn’t have known. Could she?
Izabella wasn’t sure anymore. She took special care never to mention anything regarding her real identity to anyone here. Could it be that everything she’d heard so far about her mother, was complete and unadulterated truth?
“Izabella?”
Izabella heard her real name being spoken again, and now, she was sure that the voice really belonged to her mother. There was no doubt about it. A mother’s voice could never be mistaken for someone else’s.
“Momma?” she whispered again, her voice on the verge of cracking.
“I know you’re confused, Minnie…” the voice spoke softly, and when Izabella heard her nickname, she felt like she would break down and cry right then and there.
But, she couldn’t do that. She needed to be strong. Her mother had something important to tell her, otherwise she wouldn’t be here.
“Momma, can you come here?” Izabella whimpered, her voice full of hope that she could hug her mom just one last time.
“You know that’s not possible, Minnie,” the voice spoke.
At that moment, smoke arose from the fire and wrapped Rose’s face, giving her the appearance of Izabella’s mother. This time, Rose’s lips moved, and it looked like Izabella’s mother was speaking.
“I just want to hug you,” Izabella bit her lip, in a futile effort to displace the pain and prevent herself from crying.
“There’s nothing I’d like to do more than that, my sweet child but we cannot do that, not yet.”
These words made Izabella hopeful.
“You are here for a reason,” Izabella’s mother continued, “and one of them is to find out the truth about me. About yourself.”
“Myself?” Izabella wondered, looking at the foggy figure.
“Yes, Minnie,” her mother’s voice was as gentle as always and Izabella remembered bed time stories, kisses on rainy days, and hot cups of cocoa before bed. “You are like me, a witch.”
“I’m a witch?” Izabella repeated.
It seemed so incredible and, yet, on second thought, it made perfect sense.
“You are so much more, my sweet Minnie,” her mother told her, “you are the keeper of the book.”
“But…” Izabella lowered her head. “I lost the book. Brandon and I lost it…”
A foggy finger lowered itself to her chin and she felt a cool chill on her skin.
“You didn’t lose it,” the voice revealed.
“What do you mean?” Izabella asked, confused.
“There is no time,” her mother spoke, “your brother will explain everything when he finds you.”
“But, he’s the one who’s lost!” Izabella shouted, much louder than she’d intended. “I’m looking for him!”
Izabella didn’t care that the other girls would hear what she was saying, and that they might figure out that she’d been lying to them all this time. All that was irrelevant right now. She was talking to her mother and her mother obviously knew something about Brandon, something Izabella herself didn’t know.
“Where is he?” Izabella pleaded. “Do you know? Please, tell me!”
“I can’t,” her mother spoke kindly, “but he is closer than you think. The book is safe, for now. But, he doesn’t have the power that you have. He can only keep it safe for a while, but they’ll find him and take it from him. You must keep it safe. You are the only one who can do it.”
“Me?” Izabella was shocked. “I… I don’t even know what to do with it…”
“It doesn’t matter,” her mother spoke so softly that Izabella knew she was smiling, “the moment the book is in your hands, you’ll know what to do.”
“Momma?” Izabella cried. “Help me…”
“My sweet child… you don’t need my help, you never did. You are braver than you think, just believe in yourself, and let your heart guide you…”
The cold, cloudy hand caressed her cheek one last time, then the figure dispersed all around her. Izabella lifted her hand and pressed it against that same spot. Her cheek was still chilled, a little wet to the touch. She smiled. Her heart was full.
Rose’s body magically lowered itself to the ground, but instead of standing on her feet, she slumped down like a rag doll without any control over her body. The humming slowly subsided, until only silence remained. The fire now flickered gently, the flames a strange mixture of red, orange and occasionally blue. It crackled softly, telling its story. The girls let go of one another’s hands, and opened their eyes. When they saw that Rose was on the ground, they rushed over to her, helping her up.
Izabella watched all this with interest, not sure when it was allowed for her to interfere and offer her help. Rose hid her face with her palms, then rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again, she gazed at Izabella.
“She spoke to you, didn’t she?” Rose asked.
The others turned to Izabella. She couldn’t tell if any of them was aware of what just happened.
“I…”
That was all Izabella was able to utter. She didn’t know if she could trust any of them.
“Did someone speak to you?” Reeba asked, repeating the question.
Obviously, only Rose was aware, though partly. The others weren’t.