Viridescent Shadows
By Daring D.D. Danger
V: Lies in Lavender
I sailed through the air, at a speed Eunice would make fun of. I couldn't go very fast, and I had to hold my arms out like wings, but I was flying. Mirabel would've loved to see Trolberg from above like this, even if it was too dark to see anything but a large fire burning in the town center, probably another witch trial. I guess they didn't end the trials with Mirabel and me after all. What a waste of resources and lives. Maybe I'd burn the church down. What could they do? Kill me?
Maybe it was best that Mirabel never saw this view. She'd probably be a Marra, too, then. I had to die a horrible death, be reborn, and now traumatize the weak just to be able to fly like this. Maybe it's best if I just kill myself instead of becoming a demon. Either way, Eunice and Alma were right about one thing: I still had unfinished business. I tried to mentally aim myself at the house Maven was staying in. I began accelerating down and the house grew closer at a breakneck speed. I began flapping my arms and slowed down enough that landing flat on the ground didn't hurt. I'm very glad Eunice wasn't watching. Next was the keyhole. Last time I tried this door thing, I went face-first into the door. I focused on the keyhole until all I could think about was the keyhole. Everything turned green, and then suddenly I was in the house. I did it! Then I tried to move... and couldn't. I turned, and noted that I was only halfway through the keyhole. I might be the worst nightmare spirit ever. I focused twice as hard and soon slipped through the door, face-first onto the floor.
I tiptoed to the end of Maven's bed and crawled on her like some sort of insect, but suddenly, something snapped. I was hit, and the world spun until I hit Maven's floor. I was bound to the ground somehow. I tried to break free by transforming, but for some reason, I couldn't. My eyes finally met Maven's.
"Die, nightmare spirit." She pointed her crossbow at me, the tip of the arrow glowing strangely in the moonlit room. "Wait." She lowered the weapon and whispered something I didn't quite understand. Suddenly, all the candles in the room lit at once. "Christabella?" She asked in shock.
"Maven, why is your hair purple?" I asked in shock, myself.
"My black hair is a glamour." she replied.
"A what?" I asked.
"It's magic. Mortals see my hair as black, but you're dead, so the illusion doesn't work on you." she said angrily. A few moments of silence passed.
"You're a witch." I muttered under my breath, as I analyzed the last few weeks, as well as my own death.
"Yes, I'm a witch. What do you want from me, fledgling nightmare spirit?" She was growing more angered by the minute.
"I-I was..."
"Getting revenge for your own death? Maybe Mirabel's?" I nodded in response to her.
"I'm glad you still fear me, I can and will end your afterlife."
"I can't be killed a second time." I interjected.
"As long as that leather belt is around you, you are as weak as a human. It's been a while since I've watched a Marra die. Do you know how that looks? Glowing green cracks spread across your body, like broken pottery. Then you disintegrate into viridescent ash." I was shivering against Maven's floor.
"Christabella… just get out." Maven suddenly looked tired. She snapped her fingers and I was released.
"That's a change of tone." I said.
"I don't want to waste my magic on you. I barely have enough to keep going as it is."
"Keep going? Are you dying or something?"
"I should be dead. I'm 94."
"What!? You don't look over 20!"
"Magic. Dark magic to be specific. Normally witches live about as long as humans, but I keep myself alive by going from witch hunt to witch hunt and draining the life force out of the human victims of these stupid trials."
"That's vile!" I said in horror.
"I don't like it, either! The stupid church thinks witches are bad, so they kill hundreds just to make sure they get the few actual witches in the process. I don't think there are many of us left now, and I have to stay alive to keep magic alive!"
"Isn't there a better way?"
"Such as?"
"End the witch trials in Trolberg and stay here?" I suggest.
"How on Earth would we do that?"
"We just have to run the church and it's loyalists out. Trolberg is surrounded by water and mountains. It's safe."
"How would we turn the people on the mayor and the church?"
"We rightfully pin all the innocent deaths and panic on them, by showing them that I'm still alive."
"Are you sure you want to attack the town in broad daylight? Marra aren't exactly combat ready. People will die, Christabella."
"People have already died." I replied.
"...I guess we can try it. I don't really expect it to work, though. I want you to come back in the morning. I'll have some curses you can use to look more threatening."
"Okay, there is one more thing."
"Oh?" Maven said.
"We also need people to still trust you. You'll have to kill me." I said, locking eyes with the witch. She nodded and I turned to leave for the Huldrawood.
"Ow!" I said as I crashed to the ground by the fire pit. Eunice was cackling uncontrollably.
"So how did the witch hunter go?" She asked.
"Mind-blowing. No luck on the dreams, she had a Marra trap."
"A Marra… trap? Never heard of it."
"It was a leather belt and it wrapped around me, then I couldn't move or anything," I recalled.
"Really? A belt? If people figure that out, we are going to starve." Eunice said. "Speaking of starving, have you seen Alma?"
"No, why?" I asked.
"I haven't seen her since the last fire. It's odd, normally she's bragging about being the superior Marra, or kissing me… or something. We haven't spent more than a few hours apart since she made me a Marra."
"How long have you been a Marra?" I asked.
"Maybe 30 years?"
"Have you been dating Alma for all that time?!"
"Most of it, anyways." Eunice replied, shrugging a little. "I was seventeen when I died. Nothing quite as alarming as your death though, I just got really sick. I remember the doctor saying I wouldn't make it to the morning, and my whole family saying goodbye, then Alma appeared in my window. She said she could allow me to see another sunrise, but at a cost."
"The cost being the giving nightmares thing, I take it?" I interjected.
"She had been the only Marra in Trolberg for a long while, she seemed lonely too. I guess I wasn't ready to go yet, and now I can more or less choose when I'm ready to die."
"I'd actually never thought of it like that. I can choose when to die, just by not eating. Have you ever seen a Marra die?" I asked.
"No, Alma says their skin starts to crack, and green glows from the cracks, then they turn to dust." Eunice said that with an odd calm.
"The Witch Hunter said the same thing to me, she must not be joking about being able to kill a Marra."
"That's horrifying," Eunice added.
"Eunice, do you know anything about how Alma became a Marra?" I asked.
"Now that's a story..." Eunice and I got comfortable.
To Be Continued