Chapter 45

Chapter 45
Nora's POV

She didn't have many requirements for me to do the ritual. Standing there in the clearing in another deserted alley, I believed that she had easily obliged to the request that I made of her. I would have thought that she would tell me it was already expired, but she seemed pretty happy now that I had agreed to her proposal of getting all my memories back without them being fragmented. Maybe she was just happy because it was a good stepping stone to build up a relationship with each other, and I couldn't object now since it was to help me.

As I looked at her and waited for her to tell me the requirements or for the ritual to start altogether, "Don't worry," she told me simply. "I have everything ready already. It's not going to take much for us to do this," she said.

I nodded, smiling as I waited in anticipation. "All you have to do is to stay here," she told me, pointing to a circle that she had drawn. When she had been drawing the circle, I hadn't really been that interested, but now I decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for me to stay and be a little more watchful. For all I knew, the circle was to do something else entirely. As a witch myself in my own right, I had been through situations like this personally, and in my own time, many crimes and various dangers had been achieved just through pure deceit like this could be right now.

I spent a couple of seconds thinking carefully about what had been happening when she was drawing the circle, looking for any sign that it was dangerous to me. She looked at me, a question in her eyes. "You are so untrusting, you know that?" she asked me.

"I need to see if it's safe," I told her. "It might be unsafe. I can't really know your true intentions yet, not with my memory gaps. So, for all I know, you are simply trying to trap me right now," I told her, my words simple but honest.

"Well then, check all you want," she said simply, not trying to pacify me in any way and doing nothing, I thought, to ensure that I was a little more trusting of her.

I came over to the circle, now having the license to check for danger. I did it without hesitation and did it as much as I could, making sure it passed a couple of tests that I could use to ensure its safety for myself. Finally, I had a smile. "I'm sorry for doubting you," I said, even though I really didn't feel very sorry, not after I felt like she should have known to come with it due to the lack of information I was presented with about her.

"Okay." I entered into the circle as the ritual started. She said a couple of words, chants that I didn't recognize, that made me wonder if I really should be here after all. I closed my eyes as I tried to sense the energy within me, my own personal magic power that I knew I had somewhere. I could use it to protect myself if she had any malicious intentions, but first, I needed to have it ready, and I knew it needed to be already charged.

"It's also going to need another unlocking," she said suddenly. I raised a brow, opening my eyes as I looked at her.

"What?" I questioned.

She smiled at me. "Your magical powers from before—there is going to need to be a ritual at least before you can get everything back just like before," she told me.

I let out a sigh. So much trouble, I thought to myself, but I didn't complain since she was pretty much helping me out right now. During one of the unlockings, I felt a headache, terrible and splitting, coming on. I remained in the circle.

"What's happening to me?" I asked her, my voice a little fearful. I had no idea what was going on, but something told me that it was not something that I could really control, and that I was already deep into the issue with her and there was no coming out anymore.

"Don't worry, your memories are coming back," she told me simply.

I frowned at her, trying to get the feeling of absolute pain and the headache in me to subside, but there seemed to be nothing I could really do about it right now, even as I was trying my absolute best. She continued chanting unknown words to me, but I knew that I would never understand them, and that if I really wanted to understand, then I was going to be forfeiting this ritual if it was actually safe for me. It was a gamble at this point, but one that was necessary, I thought.

So I let the process continue, hoping that it would pay out in the end. It happened—it actually did pay out. I suddenly started seeing faces that I knew I wasn't supposed to be seeing right now, and that I knew I would never have seen before if not for this process that I was undertaking at this moment. I smiled when I opened my eyes, glad for this opportunity and happy that I had taken it while I still had the chance. I remembered everything now, and I felt as if I had been living here all my life.

"Thank you," I told her simply, as it was the only words that could convey my happiness right now. "It really helped me," I continued, smiling as I looked at her.

She nodded. "What's wrong?" I asked her. She lifted her head, and I could tell something was wrong because there was no way she could pretend even if she wanted to.

The footsteps that were coming—they were the type that I recognized to be of enemies. Not just one, several, and all of them were skilled in combat and battle. I frowned as I listened carefully to the sound.

"Danger?" I asked her, wishing she had an answer to this particular question. She shook her head as if she could see them from afar. Well, considering earlier, she had said some things about the gift of prophecy, then maybe she could indeed see them somewhat.

"Can you fight?" I asked her once again, desperately hoping her answer would be positive.

She smiled at me sheepishly. "Do I look like I can fight?" she asked me.

I could hardly believe my ears. "So you can't fight?" I responded, listening for her answer and really wishing it would be the opposite of what I was thinking.

"No," she told me, her words simple but crunching down the reality of my current situation. I knew without a doubt now that I was alone in this, and that with my current abilities, without me being able to even transform into my wolf, I was going to have a lot of difficulty in winning against the opponents that were before us, whoever they were.

She smiled at me as she got a stone, as if that would help her at all against whoever the enemies were. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll do our best, and I really think we are going to survive this one."

I didn't know whether or not to believe her, if I could afford to, as I stared at the powerless woman before me, realizing that I was also just the same—powerless against our assailants.

She looked at me with a frown on her face. "Aren't you going to at least try to fight?" she asked. "Take up a weapon for yourself. We need to do something if we are going to survive this," she said.

"Samuel," I breathed as I looked around me and picked up the strongest piece of wood I could see.

"Who is that?" she asked, before I looked at her sharply. Didn't she know who he was? If she didn't, then she might be a scam after all.