The Fifty-Fifth Chapter

“Darling, breakfast is ready!”

It was the second time around that Isla’s mother, Laara, had called her for breakfast. She could smell the fried eggs, Hungarian sausages, pork and beans, and bacon.

But, she didn’t budge—not even a bit.

She just stared at the city of Sydney from her bedroom’s window in deep thoughts. Her eyes and body are fixed wholly onto the city that meets her gaze. Isla felt a little guilty for leaving Eku’s daughter in Ireland. She could’ve at least told her who the Blood Mistress was and the real identity of her stepmother Romaine.

It was already eight in the morning and her bed was still untouched, as if she never had a sleep for days.

“Isla,” her mother knocked twice on her open door. “I said breakfast is ready.”

“I’m not hungry,” Isla said in a soft voice.

“And when will you be?” Her mother sighed and put her two hands on her waist. “You didn’t even eat your dinner last night.”

“I said I am not hungry!” She finally yelled to her mother out of rage and irritation. “Can’t you understand a sentence that simple?!”

Laara just stared at her back and gulped all her doubts down there. She slowly walked to where her daughter was situated.

“Honey…” She patted her daughter in the back while following her gaze: onto the wonderful morning weather and busy streets of Sydney, Australia. “We have to do this. To get out of Ireland as soon as possible. Start a new life here and—”

“You want to start a life here, mother. Not us.” Isla firmly said with utter courage.

“We will, Isla. You know that they—the Creatures of the Night—are at war. And we, healers, should not intercept them.”

“It just proves that you’re a coward, Laara. Finding solace here while our kind is having a bloodbath on that heathens-infested land.”

“We are not like them. We are—” Laara insisted.

“But we are of the same nature as them!” Isla finally stood. “You can see the winning numbers before the explosion while being able to heal any sort of natural and supernatural cause that inflicts someone. I can teleport wherever I want to and send messages through the air wherever in the world but you seemed to cast something that forbade me to teleport,” Isla took a deep breath and resumed.

“You also predicted that explosion which was caused by me since you are an Augury Healer, a healer who can predict what will happen in the next hour or the next few days. The Blood Mistress seemed to steal the Black Peruvian Rose there, that's why I chose to destroy it instead rather than keep it.”

Laara was about to speak but Isla continued. “Tell me then. Tell me what makes us safe here in Australia. For all I know, vampires and werewolves exist anywhere in the world. I am pretty sure there are a coven and a pack here as well.”

Her mother looked at her with a little smile that tugged on her lips. “The Vampire Supreme here has loved me for years. Though obsessively, I am sure he will protect us from the Heathens.”

Isla tears her gaze away and inhales. “So you have a secret boyfriend then. That’s why you choose to hide here.”

“Darling…we’re not here to hide. We’re just here to avoid the chaos that ensues in Shamrock, Ireland.” Laara then stood preparing to leave her only daughter’s room when Isla’s voice reverberated in her ears.

“It’s still hiding, Laara. Just admit the fact that you fear for your life—and mine—as they are extremely powerful compared to our meek gifts.”

“You’re right, Isla. I am afraid.” They looked at each other with their raging eyes, “Sometimes, fearing for your life is the best way to escape a war that, in the first place, we are not a part of.”

“Yet, we being healers made us a part of it already. As long as we are not mortals, we are one of the Creatures of the Night…”

Laara looked at her daughter straight to the eye once more, pushing down all a mother’s mumbling she should be saying rather than explaining a logical reason. “You are right. But Thalia is already taking the healers’ banner for us.”

Then her mother vanished in the doorway.

“Fuck!” She yelled as she stood and went closer to the window. She punched the wall once, then twice. She was angry. Isla was in fact in love with Eku. That’s why seeing Eku’s daughter, Rozelyn, being the target of many enemies seemed to be a failure for her as well. Especially that her mother Laara had told her of Rozelyn’s stepmother's real identity.

Isla sees Rozelyn as the daughter she never had. But, she had only a little access to her life because of two things: fear and not enough power. Compared to vampires, werewolves, and blood witches, healers are just like herbs that grow anywhere but only being paid attention to when one needs them. Healers are just healers, not fighters like werewolves, attackers like vampires, and most especially not enchanters like the blood witches. They are only meant to heal—nothing more and nothing less, amidst the fact that they possess extra gifts. They. Are. Just. Healers.

Her reflection shows her crying, sobbing, and sorrowful. “I am sorry, Rozelyn. I broke your father’s promise. But since I am a Winnower Healer, I will give the smallest help I can extend.”

Isla took a nice, deep breath before gathering her powers and directing it to the green-eyed Thaumaturge thousand of miles away from where she is.

She spoke through her mind via a cryptic poem-message like what all Winnowing Healers do to send messages across oceans and seas.

“She sees the world through the color brown. Her hair is adorned with a luscious red crown. She smiles like a wolf and cries like a sheep. She is the Blood Mistress even if everyone sleeps.”