Chapter Sixteen: Search for a Survivor
Allie's POV
"Have you seen Sasha?" I asked Bernard as I was running trays of food for him in his office. It had been a while since I had seen her, I thought it'd be nice if we did something.
He paused for a moment and then responded, "No, it's been a few days."
"Don't you think that's a little odd?"
"It is, but I'm sure she'll turn back up." Bernard replied, "It wasn't unnatural for her to disappear for days before."
"But it is now." I argued, "People change Bernard and Sasha has never gone off on her own without mentioning it to someone, so we're going to go and find her."
"You do realize how close we are to Christmas Eve?"
"You do realize I don't care?" I returned, "A couple of hours is not going to hurt you. Pick up your sandwich and let's go."
Without another word, he got up and followed me out of the office.
Sasha's POV
"Okay, Togo, we're gonna run this obstacle course one more time and then go back to the cabin, we'll get you some food and I'll practice some potions." I told the little black husky sitting beside me, scratching his ear, "Ready?" He stood, "Good, I'll try to keep as much as I can out of your way." With that, we ran.
Allie's POV
"She left here a couple of days ago with the demon dog from hell." The stable elf told us upon being asked, "They went outside, haven't seen either of them since."
"Demon dog from hell?" I asked for clarification.
"Yeah, picked him up like he was the sweetest thing in the world." The stable elf replied, "And not the monster that had to be locked up in the stables instead of being kept with the other dogs being given for Christmas."
"Any idea where she went?"
"Out that way." He responded, pointing towards the doors, "You walk far enough, there's a forest. She was pretty adamant about heading outside of the village when she was talking to the dog."
"Thank you for the information, Mark." Bernard told him, and then looked down at me, "Know of anything outside of the village that Sasha would want to go to?"
"There's a cabin in the forest that her and Heidi used to go to a lot when they each wanted their alone time." I shrugged, "Sasha would only go there when she wanted to practice magic. There was an obstacle course that she had made that forced her to use her magic to get through each part and the cabin has a well-stocked apothecary. The workshop kitchen used to keep it well stocked with food for a long time too, but I doubt that they do anymore. Not that that's really an issue here, we both know how to survive on our own." I thought for a moment, "You know what I think I have an idea of what she's up to, we don't need to proceed any further. She'll come back when she needs to."
The only reason she'd head out towards the woods would be to head to the cabin and to practice magic, which means best stay out of her way while she does. She had the most power out of the three of us sisters, but a complete lack of control.
"You paraded me all around the workshop looking for Sasha and now you decide we don't need to go get her?" Bernard asked me incredulously, "No we're going to go figure out what she's doing. Show me where the cabin is; we have to bring her back before tomorrow."
"Alright…" I agreed reluctantly and lead him out the doors towards the cabin.
When we got to the cabin, there was Sasha in front of us, 6 ft in the air in meditation.
"I see you finally got a little control over your abilities." I commented. With the break in her concentration, she immediately fell to the ground.
"Why did you do that?" She glared as she brushed herself off.
"To break your concentration." I replied, "Which for someone who usually has a lack of it, that was pretty impressive."
Sasha laughed, "If you thought that was impressive, you should see me and Togo on the obstacle course."
At the mention of the name Togo, the black dog on the porch lifted its head.
"You named him after the sledding dog from the 1925 Nome serum run."
She nodded, "Wanted him to have a strong name, name of a survivor."
"So you're keeping him?"
"I am." She affirmed, "I'll have to have someone keep me company when you go back to the mortal world. I don't know if you've noticed, Bernard's a bit of a workaholic."
"I don't know what to be more perplexed by, the fact that you fact that you think I can go back or the fact that you think I can be replaced by a dog."
"You'll be able to go back." She assured, "I'm still working on it, but you will. I'm on a bit of a deadline, so I'll talk to you guys later." Sasha then headed up the porch steps, "C'mon Togo." She called after him. He stood, followed her into the cabin, and she shut the door behind them.
"Well, I feel a little dismissed." I looked over at Bernard, who had been silent this entire time, "You okay?"
"Has she always been able to do that?"
"With the right concentration." I nodded, "You knew we have abilities."
"I didn't think they were like that."
I suppressed a laugh, "What can I say? The force is strong with us."
"What?"
I patted his shoulder, "When you're less busy, ask Sasha what Star Wars is."
We headed back to the workshop.