Chapter 120 Pythinissam

Dimitri

"Remember. The island of Pythonissam is cloaked from the rest of the world. No one except witches are allowed there. " Anna asked us. "The cloaking spell I have done on you will hide your werewolf scent and make you seem like..." her eyes narrowed as they flew over our forms. "Like model worthy humans beings who are dressed as spies, ready to go on war," she let out a breath. "Is this really necessary?"

"Absolutely." Nat and I nodded.

I had worn a black T-shirts and army pants to blend in with our surroundings. I had even gone as far as wearing a black cap to cover my blond hair so I don't catch extra attention. Nat had worn a black crop top, army shorts and her signature high heels. She had a belt around her thigh which held multiple knifes and guns. I had a few on me as well. We had our backpacks filled with essentials and weapons, of course.

"If you say so," she replied. "You won't be able to mind-link each other or contact anyone outside of the island once we enter. We should be in and out in one hour. If we aren't back by that time, Max will come along with a search party. He knows the location of the island but it will take him ten hours to get there. We have to hold on till then." We nodded at that. "last and the most important thing-the entire island should be empty. If anyone approaches, I will be the one to speak. You two are be my slave bodyguards."

"Yes Mistress," Nat and I snickered at her bossy tone. She was a five foot woman whose entire arms were thinner than my wrist. Sure, she was feisty and clearly liked to be incharge but it was difficult to consider her our superior. Which she was, on this mission.

Grumbling under her breath at our childishness, she roller her eyes before muttering a chant. A circular portal opened. Anna stepped inside and we followed.

The first thing that came in my mind was that this place looked like it had come straight out of a fairy tale. The trees, plants, fruits, flowers were larger than I anything had ever seen. We stood on the bank of a large river with seemingly nowhere else to go.

Anna muttered another spell and a boat appeared with a man in it.

"Hello. My name is Rory. Where would you like to go today?" The man asked with a smile.

"The school, Rory." Anna replied and jumped into the boat before turning around to look at us,

"Come on." Anna said and got on. We followed. And then the man started rowing at a snail's pace.

We heard the occasional sound of prey animals and a few insects but nothing more than that. On either side of the river were seemingly endless thick woods.

"What is he?" Nat asked, pointing to he man rowing the boat. He didn't smell like a human or any supernatural.

"That's Rory. He provides us with the only mode of transportation in Pythonissam. He is created from magic and arrives almost instantly after a small spell." She explained and we nodded.

In under five minutes, the thicket of trees opened up to a clearing and then Rory stopped the boat by the dock.

"Thank you for riding with Rory. Have a nice day." Rory said with a smile.

We got off and followed Anna as she ventured further inside the open land. There was an old cobbled path leading so somewhere. Anna began jumping on the stones, making a sort of pattern. Once she was done, the entire path started moving like a flat escalator.

That's when a settlement came into view.

I had expected a palace or a building but this was... huts. Shabby, dark huts. There was no sign of life here and I saw mould growing on one of them. Some doors and windows needed serious mending. It looked abandoned and haunted.

This is the witch school?

Anna had tears in her eyes. "It wasn't always like this, you know? This place used to lively and...perfect."

We said nothing but followed her into a hut which was slightly bigger than the rest.

What I saw inside shocked me. The inside was a thousand times larger than what the hut looked from outside. It has to be magic, surely.

The smell of books hit me instantly. We were in the library. There were at least four floors, thousands of floor to ceiling shelves and millions of books. The place didn't look nearly as bad. It was mostly made out of wood. Dark, rich wood carved by gifted artisans.

Now, I believed that this place once used to be lively and perfect, as Anna put it.

An old lady was sitting behind the reception. "Hi, I'm O-O-O-Orga. Wel-wel-wel-wel-wel-welcome to the Li-li-li-li-li-library."

"Another person created by magic," Anna whispered. She seemed really bummed about the fact that things weren't how they used to be.

"I think it's an upgrade. She sounds like a cool DJ." I joked. "But if you prefer the boring librarians then go get the books like one." I told her teasingly. That earned me a smile and I grinned back.

Anna knew exactly where those books would be so she left to go find them and we waited down here, keeping our senses on full alert.

Nat took a seat on top of one of the desks and looked around but here was a sort of melancholy in her eyes. I took a seat besides her and then pushed her off.

She stumbled a bit and them turned around to glare at me. "Fucking dick." There. She looked much better angry than sad. "Why'd you do that for?"

"I was bored." I replied. "And you're fun to push around."

"I am fun to push around?" She gritted and then her fist came flying for my face. I caught it a little too close to my face for my preference. Damn she's gotten even faster.

"Not the face, darling. It's one of the main reasons I get laid." I winked.

The next second, she had my arm in her hold, her back to me. And then she flipped me over her shoulder. My back slammed against the wooden floor hard and I groaned as I looked up at her.

"What are the others?" She raised a single brow. "You're annoying, nosey behaviour and your title?"

"My charming attitude and gentlemanly behaviour, with a dash of mystery and my bad boy vibe. Oh, and my big dick. Want a peak? Not getting enough from Max? Is what why your panties are in a twist?" I grinned a flirty grin and then winked.

Frazzling Natalia was one of my favourite pass times. There were no girls in our circle I could jokingly flirt with. Sof was my fucking sister and Avalyn wasn't that type. There was always a boundary that I never crossed with her.

But the amount of times I had caught Nat and Max in the middle of their kinky fuckery was unreal. I still have no idea how they hid it from Nikolai and Avalyn. There were so many places in the west wing that I avoided sitting on because of blasphemous images that had burned my eyes. And I know for sure that if Nikolai knew they did it outside of their bedroom, where Avalyn could potentially see them and scar her eyes, nose, ears and mind, and most probably her soul, he will throw them out of the palace.

I suddenly felt a bit of pressure on my groin area. I looked up to see Natalia looming over me with a sadistic smile. She had her heel right over my dick. A little pressure of her knife like heels and I'll never be able to be a daddy and a baby daddy. "One word out of your mouth means no baby your of your balls. Got it?"

I had a very awesome retort I wanted to say but judging by the look on her face, my talent wouldn't be appreciated. So instead, I said, "yes."

Sneering at me for the last time, she lifted her foot.

I jumped to my feet and then added with another wink, "Mistress."

She blew out another frustrated breath.

"I got the books." Anna approached us. "Let's go."

She had quite a few books in her hand so I took it from her hands.

"Thanks." She smiled. "We should leave quickly now."

I nodded began following her out. Nat flipped her hair in my face, gave me a smirk and walked in front of me. I simply chuckled. Ya, she was better now. Mission accomplished.

We took the cobbled path escalator thing back to the river bank.

"It's weird." Nat said suddenly, her eyes meeting mine. "It can't be this easy. Why didn't someone show up to kidnap her?"

Crap.

Something is wrong. And then thoughts start popping in my mind.

"Don't jinx it." Anna said. "It's a good thing." And them she saw both our expressions. "Isn't it?"

"No." Nat and I shook our heads.

Anna looked scared to even ask why. She behaved like an adult so it was easy to forget that she was a sixteen year old kid who had never seen things like these, never faced true adversities.

Nat went ahead and told her the answer anyways. "It means that their army is formed. They will attack anytime now."

"We should leave. Call Rory." I said and she took in a deep breath and nodded.

Anna said the spell but Rory didn't appear. She said it again and Rory didn't appear again. She gave us a nervous glance. And then she said the spell again. And again, Rory was a no show.

"What the hell?" Anna muttered under her breath before looking up at us. "I think... um maybe something is wrong."

"No shit Sherlock." Natalia muttered and kicked a rock in frustration.

"I think we should wait. He'll come. Maybe like then librarian, he's stopping again and again. He'll be here in sometime." I said and Anna nodded with hope in her eyes.

I took a seat on the grass and picked up one book. "Let's not waste time and get to work." I said. Anna followed promptly and took a seat. Nat gave me a look but followed as well.

The book in my hand was a book about sacrifices. And the page I ended up opening was about sacrificing three witches. I read the description and amazingly, it matched exactly what had happened to all the witches.

It was a way in which the ancestors could come from the land of dead to Jivan again. The gist of what was written was that three witches had to be sacrificed together. When their souls leave their position in the body, the souls of the ancestors will enter those witches and take the position of power. But in the process, the true soul of that person will be stuck inside the body, forced to watch and unable to do anything.

But this doesn't make sense. The ancestors aren't the ones controlling the bodies. Adrik is. Maybe they did a combination of spells for him to be able to control them.

And it means that those witches are still alive, trapped inside their own bodies. The only way to stop the zombie witches is to kill them. That will automatically send the ancestors back where they came from. But it will also send the trapped souls to the afterlife too. And too many witches will end up loosing their lives.

I can't let that happen. I didn't want so many people to die. We need to find a way to help them.

I told the girls what I read. Anna immediately began searching for another book with an alarming speed. She had tears in her eyes. Rightfully so. There were a few hundred free witches in Jivan, most of whom were in hiding. The survival of her entire race is at stake.

"Got it," she whispered and began leafing through the book.

Natalia and I scooted closer to her from either sides and peeped in. But Anna's reading speed was much faster than ours. She read a page in the time we managed to read a paragraph. She went through a couple of pages before she slammed the book close with a distraught look on her face.

"What did you find?" I asked.

"There is only one way to remove a parasite soul from a body." She whispered. "You set the original body of the parasite soul on holy fire."

"Which means we need to put the the entire graveyards on fire." I said.

"But-but witches gain their powers from the ancestors. That is the only reason we don't burn our dead ones and burry them." She whispered, and then met my eyes. "If we do it, no witch will have powers. Ever."

"Isn't it better than so many people dying?" Nat asked gently.

"Yes..." she looked down at her lap. She herself will never be able to do magic anymore. She jumped to her feet, her eyes cleared and determined now. We got to our feet too. "The second biggest graveyard is in this island, I'm not sure where it is exactly but we will find it ourselves. Fuck Rory. The biggest one is on one of the islands of Bellehaven. That will be our next stop."

I suddenly got a quick sharp feeling in my chest. Right in my heart. I felt like I couldn't breath for a second.

"What is it?" Nat was quick to ask.

"I'm not sure." I breathed through the ache. "Avalyn... something isn't right."

Nat's eyes reflected the same fear in mine. Avalyn and I were tied with blood. And if I was feeling it this much, Nikolai would feel it much more. And Avalyn's pain would be worse.

Please, Moon Goddess, I know we don't talk much but keep them safe.

"Dimitri." Nat was holding her stomach now as she looked at me with a haunted look. "Max...he's hurt."

"It has begun." I whispered.

"We should get going." Anna said and we nodded. The dread was setting in now.

And then suddenly, Rory arrived with the boat. But there were three witches in it too. The male was old and had long white hair and long white beard the other two females with him were a much younger.

"Not so fast."