Witches' Castle

Atasha’s Point of View

If there was one emotion that I could feel right at this moment, it was none other than fear—a pang of fear as my eyes looked around, seeing no other creatures except for witches who appeared to have gotten life in this place. It was such an entirely different world behind the door we chose, and it left me totally baffled. After all, who would have thought that there was a new world out here, anyway? At first, it didn’t make any sense to me, because at some point I had expected something different behind the door, but as the minutes passed, I came to realize that anything was indeed possible for witches, recalling how a secret place was built for Devon that had kept her sheltered and protected all these years after she had escaped from the Witch Mountain.

As we walked further into this place, the brisk wind brushed over my skin. There was a heaviness in the air as I sucked in a breath and felt as if the weight of the world was here in the secret place we entered. My feet were trembling with each step I took, and my heart raced wildly as the terror engulfed my entire system. If not for Elijah, who held my hand and slightly squeezed it for me to be ripped out of such terrifying thoughts, I’d end up losing my mind in a matter of seconds. The only thing that kept me sane was the warmth his hand gave me. It made me remain calm despite the insane things happening before my eyes.

“Elijah, I am trying to pay attention to their every movement. So far, nothing appears to stand out as particularly noteworthy. There are just a few of them, but everything was deafeningly quiet in this place,” I remarked after a while. It was a good start, thinking that I was able to converse despite how baffled I felt. “Devon is right. They haven’t seemed to notice us with the magic she cast upon us.”

“Believe me, you don’t want to be noticed by them, Atasha.”

“I still don’t have a death wish, El,” I said, my tone serious and deep.

Due to the blue emission given off by microscopic worms, it was possible to see into every crack and crevice of the pathway. I observed some post lights with flying insects inside that emitted warm light. We walked over the small bridge that was carved into the stones. I looked at the ground and noticed that it was a bit damp because of the water that was dripping from the rocks. My eyes wandered above. There were jewel-tipped stalactites hung from the cavern roof, aglow like many little lamps on the ceiling.

This place was comparable in size to the downtown area of the East Land. In addition to a few shops here that were selling bird feathers, tarot cards, crystals, and magic sticks, there were a few modest houses that had the same architectural style as the East Land, which I'd say was a pleasant surprise in my eyes. I came back to reality when a person in front of me stumbled over to his own feet. It was at that moment that I realized what I had done wrong. I didn't pay attention to where I was going.

A strike of fear went through my veins. I froze, torn between extending my hand to help him and fleeing, having just crossed paths with a witch in an instant. I caught my breath.

I thought that it was rude to not help him, seeing that he stumbled in front of me. I was about to extend my hand to reach out to him when Elijah immediately grabbed my hand. With his wayfarer pair of eyes, I saw the danger as he looked at me.

“Didn’t Devon tell us not to make any physical contact with them?” His tone was deep and serious. “What were you doing?”

His words echoed around my head, and that was the moment I recalled Devon’s warnings before we entered the secret door. I remembered her telling us that in order to maintain the magical protection she cast upon us, we had to prevent any physical contact with witches in any manner, whether intentional or not, I guess, or else we would face trouble.

"I’m sorry," I uttered, gulping the lump in my throat. I was lucky enough that Elijah was here to remind me of such things. I couldn’t imagine the possible results if I ended up holding this witch’s hand.

Honestly, he got more protective of me right after unlocking the strong bond we had as mates. It wasn’t the case prior to bathing in the sacred falls, but now I felt a sense of comfort and security, knowing that a male werewolf was with me to keep me safe.

The witch, who happened to be an elderly gentleman, rose to his feet and glanced around as if he wanted to check if someone had caught him tripping on the ground. Then I shifted to the side so he could make his way towards the door that we had used earlier to get in here. My eyes gawked at him as he proceeded to the door and went out of this place. When I heard a piercing scream right after the door shut, I became anxious immediately. The scream was so loud that it banged my chest and sent a lot of shivers down my spine.

"Did you hear it?" I glanced at Elijah, whose attention was pinned on me. His brows were furrowed, and his lips pressed together in a thin line. "I think we have to get out of this place as soon as possible. We can’t stay here for five days. I am worried about what would happen to us if we end up stuck here for a while,” I remarked in a frightened tone.

"I agree." He then looked at his wristwatch. Taking a peek, I observed that the clock hands were not moving. My forehead creased. I could not help but think whether his watch was already damaged or time had just stopped for us the moment we stepped into this world.

Moreover, in order for us to be successful, we needed to ensure that we were aware of the passage of time. It would give us a sense of urgency and we would be able to carry out the plan as expected.

“We should be able to keep track of our time in here, Elijah. What do we do now?” I asked him worriedly.

“I figured out that they had stopped the time over here. That being said, we need to take action as soon as possible. Since we can’t track the time, we need to adjust our pace and accomplish the plan the fastest way we can, Atasha.”

His words brought anxiety through my veins. He was right. The fact that there was no way for us to identify day and night in this place made me feel a huge fear inside my chest. But there was more important than my fear; it was finding the truth here.

“Then we have to hurry, El,” I uttered with sheer determination.

We walked to a little stone bridge, which was only a few steps away from the door of this place. I observed some witches were making their way out of their little houses here, which I found strange. How could they even establish small houses underneath the ground? As my eyes wandered around, I’d say that the place was somehow similar to East Land, though there were still noticeable differences between them, particularly in how the houses were designed. Anyhow, the way this place was built was truly impressive. There were intricate carvings on each of the stones, and there was a flat platform on which the witches might sit and converse.

With my mouth half-open, I was tapped on the shoulder by Elijah. My eyes turned his way, noticing that his wayfarer eyes were looking at something. I followed his gaze and found a massive staircase that would lead us to the giant castle. It was the first thing I saw the moment we stepped inside—the castle that looked like a funnel connected to the ceiling.

"My mind cannot seem to fathom how they managed to build everything here," Elijah remarked. "Witches are truly powerful creatures."

"Everything here is made of magic," I grumbled under my breath when the staircase lit up. It was as if it was encouraging us to go on, step upstairs, and enter the castle to find out the misery.

My eyes looked at the castle. It towered over the city for more than a hundred feet. It had a funnel-like form to it, and it was circular in outline.

“What do you think we can find in the castle once we enter it?” I asked him, my gaze was fixed on the castle.

“A bunch of powerful witches, and I bet their secrets.”

“Can we enter it, Elijah?” I looked at him, determined to follow my instinct to enter the place as I wanted to resolve the misery I lived by.

At this point, I could feel that we were already close to the possible resolution of this curse cast upon me. My palms sweated so much in anticipation. A lot of emotions were filling my chest; fear, excitement, anxiety, and confusion. But all of it made me determined to find out more about this place and seek answers to all the questions I kept having.

“What if it has a magic spell and only witches can enter?” he asked.

“Just like the secret door? I hope not. My gut feeling told me we can find a lot of answers once we enter the castle. What do we do now, Elijah? Our time is too limited to just stalk out here.”

“Let’s wait for a bit, Atasha. We can’t take a risk and you’re clearly aware of that.”

My lips pressed together and formed a thin line. With my fisted hands, I just nodded in defeat. “Alright…”

We waited for a few minutes here, observing both the castle and the witches, who didn’t seem to notice us, as expected. I crossed my arms against my chest, taking a secret glimpse of Elijah, who appeared to be so calm and observant as well. I wondered how he was able to manage to keep his cool in times like this. As for me, my heart and pulse were both pounding wildly every minute that passed. They were like ticking clocks, anticipating a lot of things to happen and hoping for the worst to be far away.

All I could do was sigh, and I lost count of how many times I did it as we waited. Then, someone came up behind us and walked up the staircase. I immediately grabbed Elijah’s hand to get his attention and pointed to the witch, who proceeded to make her way from upstairs all the way to the grand main door.

The witch’s feet didn’t even touch the stone grounds. She floated above every step of the staircase. Another witch-related thing…

“She floated, Elijah,” I said.

“And we can’t do the same. I guess we can’t enter the castle, Atasha. We are not witches who can float in the air whenever we want to," he responded, voicing out his thoughts. "The witch could’ve walked instead if the staircase was safe, to begin with."

"What if Devon's magical protection includes the ability to freely enter the castle?" I said, trying my luck as Elijah appeared to have already decided that we shouldn’t enter the castle knowing it was dangerous.

“I don’t want to depend on mere what-ifs, Atasha. I want to make sure both of us are safe.”

“But you said we have to be fast—”

"Unless a witch walks upstairs barefoot, that’s the only time we can do the same," he said, cutting me off. I completely understood that Elijah was only after my safety as he didn’t want the witches to catch us, but I was getting more impatient with every minute of stalking out here.

"Do we have any better idea than to wait out here?"

"I guess you start by keeping calm and patient, Atasha." He gazed up at the castle. “It only takes one wrong move for them to end our life here. We can’t take any risks without a clear plan. Keep that in your mind.”

My jaw clenched, realizing that he was right. "Fine."