+Chapter 29+

Mari sat on a log to catch her breath, taking a much-needed drink from the bottle of water she had been carrying around but hadn’t gotten a chance to drink from yet.

She went silent when her breathing calmed down, the sounds of the forest surrounding her. Although she had spent the better part of the afternoon spitting fire from her hands, it still shocked Mari every time that she was truly a witch.

It made her think, she had been so righteously angry because she thought she was being falsely accused but now that it turned out to be the truth, how did it make her feel?

She didn’t know how to feel about the fact that she was a witch… well, half-witch. Were there other cases of half-and-half werewolves and witches too? Seeing how she had blended into society without even knowing about her origin, was it possible that would be the case for others out there? Were her parents hybrids too? How would that even work?

Mari didn’t know how to feel about bringing up her fears with King Kade, would he immediately go on the hunt for hybrids? Would they all be killed? It was difficult to decide which side she should pledge her allegiance to. She was a werewolf so she understood and related to all of the dangers witches had caused but she would never be treated like a werewolf.

She was a victim who was being treated like a villain.

But maybe there was a way to salvage things, to try to atone for the crimes some of her ancestors committed. She would devote herself to getting rid of the Shadows and when they were all defeated, she would ask for permission to leave the West Continent. To do that, she would have to get better at using her powers.

Mari looked down at her right hand, the other still holding onto the water bottle, and snapped her thumb and middle finger together. Her hazel eyes widened in pleasant surprise when both fingers caught on fire, she lifted them up to her face to see them better. Her fingers looked like lit candles, it was surreal.

To put them out, she clenched her fingers into a fist, smiling brighter when they went out with ease. Now that she was on a roll, she decided to keep practicing, putting her abilities on and out until she got bored.

It got easier every time and she planned to practice till it came naturally to her. Momentarily bored, she lit up her witch fire with a single finger and bent to touch it to a small leaf. She didn’t expect it to catch on fire because it was very green so her eyes widened in horror when it did.

Mari immediately tried to pluck the leaf so that the fire didn’t spread which was a huge mistake because she forgot to put out the fire on her hands, causing the entire little plant to catch on fire.

In a panic, she uncapped her water bottle and tried to douse the growing fire, another in the series of huge mistakes she would make. Because the water merely acted like gasoline, catching on fire as well as it spread.

The bottle of water dropped from her hands in her panic as the little fire from a leaf somehow spread to several shrubberies and flowers, it was only a matter of time before the trees caught on fire as well. As the red-hued flames of her bloodline spread and rose higher, Mari couldn’t help but think what King Kade would think if he returned to find that she had burnt down his favorite training spot.

Was this the case with every other witch? Did they mean well but their powers were just too dangerous?

Seeing as the water didn’t put it out, Mari tried flailing her wrists but all that did was put out the fire on her hands and make her wrist pain flare up again. Tears blurred her vision as the first tree caught on fire, panic eating through her like the bloody red flames swallowing up green vegetation.

“Marion?!” King Kade’s voice brought her out of the despair that she was steadily falling into.

Mari spun around, her braid swaying, her hands clutched to her chest as she looked at the North King with guilt in her hazel eyes. She wanted to defend herself, wanted to say that it wasn’t her fault but her voice wasn’t working.

Kade sighed under his breath when he noted that she wasn’t about to have another breakdown. He had been on his way back from his brief run when he saw the flames so he sped up. He hadn’t been expecting what he came to see but then again, the witch managed to surpass all of his expectations.

He just walked over to where he had kept his water bottle before he went on a run, his steps measured. “Isn’t it already hot enough?” He asked dryly.

His flat tone and words made Mari completely snap out of the mental head space she had fallen into, she blinked away tears, a frown on her face. “What?”

Kade had immediately figured out that Marion was panicking too hard to notice that although the trees and plants were on fire, they weren’t burning down. He walked over to her and pointed at the flaming tree in front of them, “If you and the tree can’t feel the heat, I can, turn it down.”

Mari focused her gaze on the tree at King Kade’s words and noticed that the tree was perfectly healthy although it was completely engulfed in flames. “Right, sorry about that.” She muttered, holding out a hand and closing it into a fist.

The fire went out with a whoosh, and everything returned to normal.

“I…um… I…” Mari tried to speak.

“I see you were practicing hard although you were supposed to be resting,” Kade interrupted her, “Do you want to go back?”

Mari sucked in a deep breath and nodded. *Yeah, she needed a breather - a long one*.