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"Look at me Nobi! I'm so high up!" Piper called down from the top of the jungle gym. She clung sideways from the thick black cord as it bit into the skin of her palms.
"Slow down, you little athlete! I can't follow you up and carry Wren!" Raine called up to her. Her little sibling was fast asleep in their arms after crying themselves to sleep over a bruise.
Piper wasn't listening. She had turned back around and was beginning to make the final trek towards the top of the gym under Raine's watchful eye. She was almost to the very top. Just a little bit more, and she could see the whole wide world! She pulled her new cherry sundress up over her knees and kept going. Raine's voice started getting fainter and fainter until she could barely hear them anymore. She turned around.
Raine and Wren were nowhere to be found. The playground was completely empty.
"Nobi?"
The cord she held onto snapped away from the pole behind her and she fell. She screamed out for someone, anyone, but no one would hear.
"Hello? Earth to dingus!"
Piper snapped up out of her mid-class nap.
"Hm? Is class over?"
Her twin, Wren doinked her on the head lightly with the spine of their potions textbook.
"Uh, yeah ya dork. Class ended like, 10 minutes ago. We're on break."
"Thank Titan," Piper groaned. "I thought that class would never end." She got up, stretched, and walked around the empty classroom. She discreetly wiped away a tear as it bit the corner of her eyes.
"You say that every single class, Piper."
"Because every single class is boring. Why even bother? I already know everything."
"Alright then, smartass," her sibling snarked as she unzipped his backpack. "If you're so intelligent, you can probably skip school for the rest of the day."
That caught Piper's attention. She backpedaled towards Wren’s desk.
"I like where this is heading. Carry on?"
Wren shoved their potions textbook back into her backpack and pulled out his crystal ball. They placed it on her desk and booted it up.
"Luckily for you, we just might've gotten another client due for a breakout from the Conformitorium." He opened up their site. "One Finn Devonshire."
They pulled up the mugshot of a tawny-skinned freckled witch. They had curly chestnut hair that was packed up in a messy bun. One bright amber cat eye burned through their screen in an ever present stare. Piper beamed with excitement.
"Excellent," Piper cooed as she burned the image of the witch into her mind. "I'll go and get ready." She turned to leave.
"Not so fast, hot shot," Wren grabbed the back of her hood before she got too far. "Remember, you can't draw any unnecessary attention towards yourself."
"Yea Mom, I know," Piper mocked.
"I'm serious, Piper. You've been getting into one too many close calls lately. Promise me you'll be careful and not get into any fights with witches that you know damn well are more powerful than yourself."
She paused and looked towards the classroom door, which was slightly ajar. A swift flick of their wrist and the door shut. He continued.
"Especially any coven heads."
Piper let out a snort.
"What coven head would be caught dead prowling around the Conformatorium? They're much too busy kissing the Emperor's ass."
"Hush! Keep your voice down!" Wren hissed. "The wrong person just might hear you!"
"Do you think I give a flying hoot?"
"I know you don't, but some people do," She shook her head. "That's not important right now. Just...promise me you'll be careful."
He looked up at Piper with a pitiful gaze. Piper looked away.
"Wren, don't give me that look."
It reminded her too much of them .
"Say it."
"Wre-"
"Say. It.
Piper let out a drawn out dramatic sigh.
"I promise not to get into any unnecessary fights with any witches I know are more powerful than me."
"Especially?"
Piper gritted her teeth.
"Especially any coven heads," she grumbled.
"Great!" Wren said. They let go of Piper's hood. She nearly fell over.
“Just get in, get our client, and get out. Simple as that. I’ll cover for you as long as I can.”
Wren flicked their wrist and an illusion version of Piper appeared in the chair next to her. She waved at the real Piper and. Piper nervously waved back.
"You know this just never gets any less weird," Piper said as her clone started picking up her things and getting ready to go to their next class.
“Eh, you’ll get used to it. Make sure you’re back before we have to go home. While I’m not opposed to keeping her going for longer, my impression of you is starting to rub Mimi and Nonna the wrong way.”
“If you are making me do stupid shit in from of Mimi and Nonna, I swear to Titan-”
“Relax, it's just a couple voice cracks here and there. Nothing too grandiose. Give me your hand.”
Piper reached out and Wren placed a green stone into her hand. He closed her hand tightly around it.
“I’ve tried to tweak the stone so that your real voice doesn’t glitch in as much. Keep it safe. If it gets damaged, I’ll have your head. These things take forever to make just right.”
“Gotcha!” She turned to leave again.
“Piper Avaline, I swear to Titan-”
“Not the full name, Willows? What did I do now?”
Illusion Piper held up her communicator. Piper snatched it from her and made a beeline for the door.
Wren looked after her as she left, trying to swallow the sinking worry growing in their gut. Everything would be fine. She doesn’t need to know.
…
Piper huddled behind the empty bleachers of the grudgby field. She trembled slightly as the wind blew about her. She held her fingers to her lips.
A shrill whistle broke the tranquil silence of the vacant field.
Her thick coily hair spilled out from her high ponytail and individual strands began to twist themselves around one another until they formed short thick twists. She whistled again and her grudgby jacket began to warp into a long crimson cloak. She whistled one last time and her Hexside uniform transformed into a short dress.
She took off her glasses and they reshaped into a mask with two holes in the back. She placed the stones in the holes and put the mask back on.
The Owl Bard was ready.
She whistled and held out her hand. Her palisman blew straight past her and flew straight into one of the metal bars that held up the stands. The metal gong of the impact resonated throughout the field.
“Pixie!” Piper cried.
The tiny robin fell to the ground, dazed. He shook his head and flew to his owner.
Piper let out a laugh of relief. She cupped Pixie in her hands and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
“You scared me! Just be more careful next time, okay?”
Pixie chirped. He hopped out of her hands and materialized into a staff.
“Alright,” Piper said. “Let’s go!”
…
It was a rather lazy, sluggish day at the scout’s post. The scout sighed and turned to her partner, who was already fast asleep on their seat. She grumbled and fidgeted with the reins.
When she had graduated early from Glandus and signed up to be in the Emperor’s Coven, she had been hoping to serve the emperor more directly. She hoped she would go on missions to apprehend wild witches and help to prepare the Isles for the Day of Unity and beyond. Instead, she had been promoted to a simple watchdog.
She bit her lip. What did she have to do to prove her worth to the Emperor?
The answer came crashing down in front of the prison wagon. Her partner woke up with a start and fell from the wagon seat.
The guard’s eyes widened underneath her mask as their disruptor arose from the impact crater and dusted off their cloak. The Owl Bard.
It was truly the will of the Titan. The most infamous wild witch after the fall of the Owl Lady had just fallen right into her lap! She lept off her seat on the wagon, grabbed her spear, and shoved the blade close to the wild witch’s face.
“Halt!” the scout declared, her voice trembling with excitement. “Put your hands up where I can see them!”
This was it, this was her chance to prove herself! She tried to steady her breath as the witch slowly raised her hands in defeat.
If she could bring in The Owl Bard, the witch who had been a thorn in the Emperor’s side for months, the coven would have to see her worth then!
“You win,” the bard professed solemnly. “I’m turning myself in. I’m tired of constantly running from the law. I’ve realized the error of my ways.”
The guard could hardly believe her ears. Neither could her partner.
They pulled her aside.
“Isn’t this the slightest bit suspicious to you?” her partner questioned in a hushed whisper.
“What’s suspicious about it? She’s turning herself in!”
“Exactly! Why would she want to do that after months of effortlessly being able to avoid capture? She’s up to something!”
“Oh, will you relax?” the guard chastised. “Even if she is planning something, we have the upper hand. She has no palisman or other means of escape. Her palisman likely ditched her when it had the chance.”
She eyed the witch again, who let out a bored yawn. The scout flicked her wrist and summoned a pair of cuffs.
“I’ll take my chances. Ready the wagon. We’re headed for the Conformatorium.”
Piper was cuffed and thrown violently into the back of the wagon. She winced at the impact of her head hitting the wooden floor as the doors slammed shut behind her.
“Yeesh! Could’ve been a bit kinder with the arrest? I didn’t even do anything!”
“Silence, wild witch!” one of her captors barked.
“I suppose that’s a no,” Piper grumbled under her breath.
Pixie unestled himself from Piper’s twists and hopped out of her hood, the keys to the cuffs in his beak. Piper’s eyes lit up as she felt the cuffs loosen from her wrists and fall off.
“Pixie!” She cupped the bird in her hands and held him close.
“Oh you wonderful beast, you! I was even thinking of picking it myself!”
The wagon jostled as it began to move. Piper steadied herself and focused on her breath.
Her mind began to drift as the journey continued to stretch on.
Piper was awoken by a light switching off in the kitchen. Slowly, and very carefully she got out of bed and slipped her house slippers on to meet the intruder. She wandered through the halls, hoping desperately the floorboards wouldn’t creak underneath her weight, so as not to wake her nobi.
Although it seemed more like they really didn't need much awakening at all.
“Nobi?”
The darkened outline of the witch froze at the door.
“Piper?” Raine asked. “What are you doing up this late? Go back to bed, you have school tomorrow.”
“Where are you going?”
“I…I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Where? I wanna come with you!”
“No, Piper… sweet baby, you can’t come with Nobi.”
“But, I wanna go with you!” She grabbed onto their arm and dug her bitten nails deep into their skin.
“Piper, I said no!” they hissed in a whisper. They pulled their arm from her too quickly. She hit the floor.
Piper looked up at Raine, tears welling up in her eyes. A look of regret flashed across their face, but their face went flat and calm in an instant.
“Go back to bed, Piper.”
The sudden stop of the wagon roused her. She cursed her apnea and wiped away her tears.
Pixie materialized into his staff form. She clutched him to her chest and watched the doors of the jail wagon with bated breath. The scout’s muffled voices drew closer and closer, and then stopped.
The doors swung open.
Piper launched herself headfirst at the first scout she saw and knocked them off balance. She put them in their own cuffs, gave them a swift kick to the back of the head, and sent them barrelling into the back of the wagon. Their partner tried to get her bearings, but she was quickly swept off her feet by a sweep kick and chucked alongside her partner. The lock to the jail wagon fell from her hand. Piper grabbed it, locked the door behind them with her and reinforced it with a knot of vines.
“There!” she said, dusting off her hands. “That should hold them for some time. Now let’s see…”
She took off her mask and picked out the concealment stone. It’s magic activated on touch and cloaked her in a beam of magic. The cloak had given her the appearance of the older female scout. She put her mask back on and gave her palisman a little twirl.
“How do I look?” she asked.
Pixie gave an anxious chirp. He hid himself away in her hood once more.
“I guess it does look a little weird, doesn’t it? Hang in there buddy, we’ll be done here in a cinch!” she comforted.
Suddenly Piper's communicator spluttered to life.
"I sure hope you're done playing prisoner," Wren crooned over the microphone. They watched her sister from the comfort of his bedroom on their crystal ball.
"How much of that were you watching?"
"More than enough," he teased. "Now hurry to the client's cell, Owl Bard."
Piper grumbled and stormed towards the entrance.
"You forgot your prisoners and your wagon, scout."
Piper groaned.
After parking the wagon in a safe place secluded from view, Piper made her way into the Comformatorium. She stiffened as the prisoners reeled and backed away from the bars of their cells, eyeing her with distrust and fear.
Pixie let out a soft sorrowful chirp. He hung close to his witch.
"Yeah, I feel awful about having to leave all these people here too," Piper whispered. "But you know we can't try another jailbreak. The last one ended with a disaster. We barely made it out unscathed."
"Piper's right, for once," Wren chimed in. "Trying something like that again won't help anyone. Even if a few happen to get away in the chaos, most of them are just going to get recaptured again and punished for trying to escape. It'll cause way more harm than good,”
“Still, I can’t help but feel guilty about it. I should be able to do something to help them.”
“...Just… focus on getting to the target."
Piper scowled and continued forward, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with any of the prisoners.
"Which cell is the client in again?"
"Cell 451. Just keep going straight ahead."
- 447. 448. She tried to still her mind as she drew closer and closer to the target cell. She could feel her heart pounding as terrified eyes followed her as she walked. It was nauseating.
- 450. 451.
She stopped in her tracks. Her heart sank.
Shit.
The cell was empty.
"Uh, Wren?"
"Hm?"
"The cell's empty. No one is in here."
A sickening silence stuck in the air.
“Turn back.”
“What? But the client might still be here!”
“I said turn back now Piper.” Wren stated as she tried to hide the tremor in his voice. “Abort the mission now!”
“What-but why? We can still save them!”
“Fall back now!”
The false calm had shattered. But Piper wouldn’t let up.
She shut off her communicator and started barreling past the rest of the cells.
- 453. 454. 456. 457. 45-
She paused and turned. Movement on the ground floor caught the corner of her eye.
The client, along with several other prisoners, was being led away out the doors of the Conformatorium by two higher ranked guards.
Without thinking, she leapt from the fourth floor and landed squarely behind the line of prisoners. The prisoners She rushed to the front of the line, ignoring the hushed murmurs of fear as she pushed past the prisoners. She nearly ran over the head guard as she tried to state her case.
“I can …take the prisoners…off your hands,” she stammered, completely out of breath. She hunched over and tried to catch her breath.
“Woah there, soldier,” one of the guards cautioned. They took a better look at Piper as she regained her composure and scoffed.
“Listen…Keila, was it? I know that you're eager to rise through the ranks of the Emperor’s Coven and whatever, but this is the third time this week you’ve caused a disturbance in procedure because you keep trying to show everyone up. Now look at what you’ve done to my line.”
They gestured to the small line of prisoners, which was now in complete disarray. The older guard turned back to Piper and sighed.
“Alright, I will give you one, and let me make this abundantly clear, one chance to impress me. All of the prisoners here need to go down to the castle prisons, but I will only give you one to take, since we’ve been told they’re running low on capacity there anyways. You will take them with the rest of the guards to the prisons.”
The prisoners behind her shuddered. Piper ignored them.
“Which one do you want me to take?”
The older guard motioned at their partner. He shoved a tawny-haired witch forward, who scowled upon contact. It was the client.
“This one. He’s been getting a little too mouthy in his cell lately and I’m sick of it.” The guard snicked. “Maybe what they’ll do to him at the castle will shut him up for good.”
Piper stiffened.
The older guard laughed.
“Ah, well you know these types.” They turned back to Piper. “If you can get him to the castle with little to no incident, I will consider putting in a good word for you to a higher up. Alright?”
They shoved the witch towards Piper.
“Yes zir.”
“Excellent. Now be off now, the guards at the castle can be rather impatient.”
Piper paused.
“One last question. What exactly is going to happen at the castle?”
The guard eyed Piper with suspicion.
“You aren’t high enough clearance to know that just yet, but with time you will learn. Now be off before I change my mind.”
Piper shoved Finn forward as they walked towards the Conformatorium gates. They struggled with Piper as she forced them through the gates.
“Unhand me, you pig!” they screamed.
They tried to stamp her boots.
“Will you stop that?!” Piper cried. “I’m trying to help you!”
“Not much help comes from the wicked, does it?”
They finally got a hit on her with their heel. She bit her tongue as she tried to stifle a scream. She could’ve sworn she saw the older guards laughing at the both of them out of the corner of her eye.
“Stop it!” She shoved them both out of the eyeshot of the older guards and ripped off her mask.
Finn’s scowl softened at the sight of her face and then shifted to a face of concern.
“..You, you’re-“
“The Owl Bard, yes we’ve got to move no-“
“A child. You’re a child.”
Piper stiffend. It certainly was the truth, but it stung like a thousand fire hornets in her throat. It felt like an insult.
She took a deep breath and continued.
“Yes, I know. But right now, we have to leave.”
“How old are you even?”
Piper opened her mouth to speak but they started again before she could answer.
“Listen, kid. I appreciate this, I really do. But there’s no way I’m letting a child take the fall for my actions. I’d rather die.”
They were interrupted by the castle sergeant. Piper managed to pull her mask back on in record time.
“This is the prisoner we’re taking right?” they asked. Piper nodded.
“Excellent. Follow me to the wagons.”
Pixie poked out of Piper’s hood.
“Hiya, Pix,” Piper whispered as they followed. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen here, but I think this could be getting dangerous. Please, can you check up on Wren for me?”
Pixie tweeted in protest.
“Please?”
The bird hesitated, and then when the scout’s back was turned, he flew out into the forest and disappeared.
Once they reached the castle jailwagons, Finn was thrown roughly into the back of the wagon. The scout beckoned to Piper and signaled her to sit on the riding bench next to them. She gulped and sat beside them.
…
It was a long, silent walk down into the dimly lit corridors of the castle dungeons. They were dark, damp, and smelled strongly of mulch mold. Piper walked cautiously behind Finn with bated breath as they walked through the dungeon corridor. She tried to steady her mind. Suddenly the line of coven scouts stopped. Piper almost tripped over herself trying to prevent herself from falling.
The sergeant knocked the large twin doors, and almost immediately they swung open.
The doors led to a large circular room and the scouts filled in one by one until they completely circled a small pillar at the center of the room.
A much older witch stepped to the front of the crowd of scouts. The crowd of scouts fell silent as they watched her pass. Piper almost immediately recognized her as head witch of the plant coven, Terra Snapdragon. She stiffened as Terra began to speak.
“Fellow children of the Titan,” she began in a husky tone. “We gather here tonight to continue to preserve the will of the Titan by eliminating those who refuse to bow graciously to his grand purpose for us all.”
Another scout shoved Finn forward forcefully and Piper lost her grip on their arm. Terra forcefully grabbed their hair and forced them on the pedestal in front of the crowd.
“This…witch has repeatedly sullied the name of the Titan by continuing their wicked ways in wild magic.” Terra spat with a scowl. “For that, they must be punished.”
Thorny vines sprung out from the foot of the pedestal and fixed Finn to the spot. They struggled against them, but they dug into their thighs and arms.
Terra fell back within the crowd and stood next to a shorter, mint haired witch. A group of scouts began to circle the pedestal, but Piper had been too distracted by the shorter witch next to Terra.
Piper’s blood ran cold.
“Nobi?”
“Shhhh!” the sergeant hissed at her.
She ignored them and watched Raine’s unmoving face as Terra stooped down to whisper something in their ear. Her stomach twisted as Terra put a hand on their shoulder. They refused to make eye contact with her and stared directly at Finn tied on the pedestal. Piper couldn’t read the expression on their face. Was it anger? Disgust? Pity?
Her breath came out in sharp, jagged puffs. The room suddenly felt much smaller as the crying faces of the statues bore into her head. She remembered the statues from somewhere, but she couldn’t remember where. Maybe she simply didn’t want to. Feathers pricked through her skin underneath the illusion stone. She tried to pick them away discreetly, but as one feather was plucked, three feathers would come in its place.
She had to get out of here.
“Begin.”
Piper’s attention was snapped back to the pedestal as a scream of agony pierced the air. The scouts now completely surrounded the pedestal and drew their spell circles. The eyes on the statues began to shine.
Finn’s feet had begun to turn to stone. They thrashed harder against their restraints, but the thorns continued to bite further and further into them. Their robes began to darken with their blood and solidify as the petrification moved up to their ankles.
Piper was frozen to the spot. She wanted to say something, scream anything, but her throat was dry. At the end of the day, she was still the same scared little girl who had watched her mother nearly get petrified all those months ago. She still couldn't do anything.
Instead her eyes darted desperately between Finn wailing on the pedestal and Raine staring coldly up at them.
Do something! Anything!
But Raine stared on blankly as the stone worked its way up to Finn’s chest. They started to sputter and choke.
“How disgraceful,” Terra cooed mockingly. “If you must die, at least do so gracefully.”
Finn’s eyes went blank and they stopped struggling. They were already dead before the stone completely encompassed their head.
“Pitiful. I thought we would get more of a show out of this one, but I suppose not.”
Terra flicked her wrist and the vines around Finn’s statue shrunk away.
“Figure out what to do with it.” Terra waved dismissively at the two scouts closest to her. The scouts moved to lift the statue.
Piper felt lightheaded. That was her nobi, the one who had tucked her into bed and sang her sweet lullabies countless times. Her nobi, the one who had hummed away many a booboo and broken up many a fight with Wren. Her nobi, who despite everything, she loved with all her heart.
That was her nobi watching on mindlessly as a fellow witch was killed.
She couldn’t even bring herself to cry. She was a fool for expecting anything different from them.
She tried to stumble away but the illusion stone had finally run its course. It finally fizzled out and left Piper in her full Owl Bard regalia. She squeaked and froze in fear.
Okay. Don’t panic. As long as she could make her way to the doors without alerting anyone, she would be fine.
She took a step backward, and tripped over her own cloak.
Fuck.
She fell backwards and crashed into a couple of scouts behind her. She tried to get up and run before they regained their senses, but it was too late. The guards in front of her had turned around and recognized her almost immediately.
“You! You’re that bard that keeps causing a mess down at the Conformatorium!” the sergeant screamed.
“W-whoops!” she stammered, trying desperately to feign confidence. “Guilty as charged!”
“Get her!”
A fight ensued. Piper tried to quickly get back up on her feet, but it was no use. The scouts tackled her to the ground.
“What’s all this noise?” Terra questioned.
The scouts pinned Piper’s arms to her back and hoisted her to her feet. She couldn’t stop shaking as they forced her to the front of the crowd.
“We found another wild witch snooping around.”
“How did she- nevermind.” Terra grumbled. As she drew closer to Piper she tried to turn away from her, but Terra grabbed her face and forced her to look at her.
“Oh, this must be that little rebel the Conformatorium sergeants have been complaining about,” she sneered. “This should be entertaining. Maybe we’ll finally get a real show won’t we Sprout?”
Piper tried to make one last bid to Raine’s emotion, but Raine looked at Piper dismissively.
“Do whatever you want. I don’t care.”
Something in Piper snapped.
There was a swirl of feathers, a scream, and a crash through several layers of concrete and brick. Piper barely knew what she was doing but when she came to, she was holding Raine in a chokehold against the and preparing to strike them with her heavily feathered claw. Somehow, they yanked away one of her fingers and spluttered out a feeble whistle. A burst of lightning magic blasted her from behind. She howled in pain as Raine rolled out of her grasp. They summoned their viola and stood their ground.
So it would be then. A fight to the death.
“Stand down, Owl Bard.” Raine warned. Their bow sparked with magic.
“Never!” Piper growled. Her voice came out distorted and pained. She lunged but Raine was quick. They lept out of her way as she tried to stop herself from smashing into a pillar. She crashed headfirst into the pillar. The impact put a nasty crack in her mask, but she didn’t care. She shook off the pain and lunged again.They tried to dodge again but this time she was quicker. She swiped at their leg and they went down with a thud. They lost grip on their bow and viola as they clattered on the cobblestone.
She tried to pin them again but they elbowed her face.
Her mask completely fell to bits under the impact, leaving her face bare to Raine’s horrified gaze.
“…Piper?”
The world stopped for a split second. She barely had any time to register what was said before a giant vine slammed her off of Raine and into the wall.
The last thing she saw was Raine trying desperately to reach her as the world faded to black.
…
Piper woke up to the sound of two voices she vaguely recognized arguing. She tried to get up but a gentle hand pushed her shoulder down and held her hand.
“She. Is. A. Child.” a voice next to her hissed.
“A child who committed several crimes over the span of several months. She’ll be lucky to get thrown in the Confomatorium, however I’d imagine she already knows it from the back of her hand. No, no that simply won’t do.” another voice chimed in.
Piper felt her headache worsen as the voices got more aggressive. She reckoned it would be best just to keep listening.
“So petrification is the answer?”
“Well I don’t see a better alternative. Besides, it would be quite the show in the dungeons don’t you think?” the second voice crooned.
“I-“
“I should’ve known by the way that she just happened to be so skilled with bard magic that the Owl Bard was your daughter,” the second voice interrupted as it drew closer to the first. Piper squeezed her eyes shut.
“I mean the red hair was truly a give away but her eyes…oh they really are just like yours, aren’t they Sprout?”
Raine fell silent. Piper felt the grip they had on her hand tighten.
“It would be such a terrible shame if Emperor Belos were to find out that yet again, the head of the bard coven was caught rebelling against his will, this time through their own daughter, hm? ”
“She wasn’t-“
“I don’t think it’ll matter to him,” Terra chuckled. “He views treachery from anyone all the same.”
“…”
“Ah, don’t dwell on it too much my dear. Children are quite sickening and time consuming anyway-”
Raine held Piper’s hand tight.
“Leave.”
“…Very well.”
Piper heard the shuffle of movement and the creak of a door opening then a slam. There was a brief moment of silence, and then Raine spoke again.
“How much of that did you hear?”
Piper opened her eyes and started to get up, but winced as a searing pain erupted in her chest. Raine pushed her back down again.
“Shhh bebe it’s alright,” They pressed a solemn kiss to her forehead. “You need to rest, she…she hurt you pretty bad.”
“Nobi?”
“Yes mija?”
“Why…why were you there in the dungeons? Why didn’t you do anything when Finn was getting petrified?”
“Who’s Finn? Oh…you mean…mija I’m so sorry you were never meant to see that,” Tears began to well up in Raine eyes and they held Piper as close as they possibly could without hurting her. “Listen, I can’t explain it all now, but I promise I…it’ll all make sense soon. Just…please, trust me.”
“I…I don’t know if I can.”
A flash of pain crossed Raine’s face, but they hid it in an instant with a painfully weak smile.
“That’s fine. After everything I didn’t expect you to anyways. I-“
A knock at the door interrupted them.
“Head Witch Whispers? The Emperor wishes to meet with you now.”
“I’ll be with him in a minute!” Raine called to the door. They turned back to Piper in bed and whispered into her ear.
“Listen very carefully. In about an hour or so I’ve arranged for your mother to come and get you. Stay here and don’t try to leave without her. Please.”
“What about you? What’s going to happen to you Nobi? What does Emperor Belos want with you?”
“I…I don’t know.”
The knocks at the door intensified.
The warmth of their calloused hand slowly left her own. She tried to continue to hold onto them, but they slipped out of her grasp.
“Please don’t go Nobi!” she cried hoarsely.
“Listen, I love you Piper. Stay safe, okay?”
They disappeared into the darkness of the healing ward hall, followed by two scouts.
Piper wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Clearly, Raine had some sort of plan that she had ruined completely.
And now, she was going to lose her nobi all over again. For good this time.
She finally allowed herself to cry.