Chapter 3: The fortune teller

In the dark woods

Grace had been running like crazy on the trail for almost an hour. She couldn't help it though. What she saw was truly terrifying. At last she was able to slow down and skid to a stop after she felt low on breath. Deep in her chest, her heart beat faster than a normal rate which made her collapse on the ground in an instant. Dragging herself over to a thick thorny bush, she coughed up that intense nauseated feeling from which still swelled inside her stomach. Being able to do so had made her recover from the terrible feelings, but now she wished for some fresh cold water to wash away the rancid taste.

"I…need some…water," she panted heavily while still near the bush. This situation was too much for her to handle on her own. Now she wondered if leaving Maggie and Mrs. Calloway behind at Pumpkin Hollow was maybe not a bright idea. What if the pumpkins might have gotten to them? She didn't want to think about what would happen if that were true. Well there was no turning back now at this point and who knows how far she came from running at a fast pace; might as well take a rest. Because she was so exhausted and worn out, she didn't notice or hear anyone approaching her.

Inside a tent

Grace opened her eyes slightly and raised her head a bit. She had not yet regained her vision because of her exhaustion. She did however feel herself lying on something soft and silky.

"Eh, my throat hurts," she moaned before closing her eyes again. A mysterious shadow walked past her sleeping position a moment later. The figure carried a crystal like vial in her left hand filled with an unknown substance. She treaded slowly next to Grace and gently opened her mouth to drop the substance onto her pink tongue. Since most cows were known to be heavy sleepers, she could not feel anything touch her.

"That should cure her illness," the figure placed the file in a cabinet to go sit back on her small round table, in which a crystal ball was placed in the center.

Several hours had passed before Grace opened her eyes again. She could no longer feel nausea or that rancid taste in her mouth. Moving her head to take a look at her surroundings, she found herself on top of colorful silken and cotton pillows of different shapes and sizes. Then she saw a human sitting close to a small table flipping a deck of cards. Could this human have brought her in here? She didn't want to wait and find out what would happen next if she didn't leave right away. She was preparing to rise up until her back left hoof slipped on one of the smaller pillows.

"Oof!" she yelped as she slipped back on the pile. The figure stopped flipping the cards to notice that the bovine had already awakened.

"Awake young one?" The figure turned out to be a thin woman with long curly black hair, green eyes, and a slender nose, a mark under her right eye, tanned skin, and red lips. She wore a white cotton blouse, a long flowing olive dress, gold earrings, black slippers, and a wooly Tuscan red shawl over her shoulders. She even wore a few brass rings on her fingers.

"You're not going to eat me are you?" Grace asked worriedly.

"Eat you; now why would I want to do that? I don't eat meat. It's bad for my health and it taste raw." She joked, chuckling lightly. Grace could only stare at her blankly.

"My name is Madame Minerva. But you can just call me Minerva if you wish. I am a fortune teller. I tell fortunes, read palms, and have the ability to sense upcoming danger."

"Huh?" the bovine was confused but still suspicious of this stranger.

"I brought you into my tent after hearing someone becoming sick near the bushes. Luckily I had my antidote to cure all symptoms of serious illnesses. Right now, I'm inventing another for serious injuries," She pointed her finger to a set of glass tubes, bottles, and vials.

"But how…?"

"I just added one drop of the antidote in your mouth while you were still resting and now you're free to go if you wish."

Grace smiled graciously. But Minerva had something more to say as Grace was halfway out the entrance of the tent.

"However…," Grace froze in her spot.

"…there is something else I should warn you about before you continue on your journey."

"Warn me about what?"

"Please, come closer."

Grace turned off from the entrance and did as she was requested.

"I sense you're wondering how you were cast upon this world, am I right?" Grace nodded her head. "If you haven't already known, I was the mysterious voice who called your name out in the pumpkin field. You're very lucky to be alive and well. Although I'm afraid your friends have been bewitched by the sleep spell."

"What does bewitched mean?"

"It is the ability to cast a spell over anything by whatever magic anyone can possess." Minerva's answer to her concerned question made a chill run down the young heifer's spine, because it reminded her of the day when her two friends had fallen under Alameda Slim's hypnotic yodeling spell and how she couldn't snap them out of it at first. But she managed to save them through sheer dumb luck. No wonder she couldn't wake them in the first place.

"But how did I end up in this place?"

"Witchcraft I presume," Minerva answered, taking her hands off and then gazing at her crystal ball. "There is a dangerous witch in our world whom you should avoid encountering. Deep within her lair, she conjures up a spell to bring forth mortals from other realms whether human or animal. Those who are filled with the deepest fears in their hearts soon become her pawns the moment she lays eyes on them." The crystal ball showed a shadowy image of a figure with red glowing eyes cackling atop a mountaintop. Grace bent over the crystal ball and stared, stared as hard as she could. It didn't seem to be standing on twos but rather on fours. Could this be the witch Minerva was warning her about?

"Who is she?" Grace asked. But now Minerva was shaking like a volcano ready to erupt at anytime. She had gone rigid in her chair; with her eyes rolling and her mouth crooked. Then she spoke in a harsh tone:

Tonight…you will be hunted down by her evil minions…and become a prisoner in her lair. She lies there alone…waiting for you to appear. Do not allow her to take control over you…"

Her head fell forward to her chest. Grace stood there, staring at her fearfully. Quite suddenly, Minerva's head snapped up once again.

"Don't let the witch take control over you!" she blurted out slapping her thin hands on the shuddering bovines cheeks. "She feeds off of fear in those who give in to her."

"What do I do?" Grace hadn't felt this panicked since the day she and her other two companions had experienced a big fright from those loud bangs in Chugwater town.

"I can only help by giving you a special light crystal. Her powers are too great for me to handle. Now where is that blasted thing? I know I put it in here somewhere." She murmured rummaging through her cabinet.

"Aha, here it is!" Minerva pulled out a sapphire crystalline hanging from a soft leather string. "This will help spark up the deepest darkest areas wherever you wind up at. So whatever happens, don't lose it, or you'll never find your way out." The fortune teller swung the necklace around the heifer's neck. To Grace, it was the most exquisite mineral she had ever set eyes upon. But even though she would be having no trouble finding her way in the darkness, she still wondered about the fate of her two friends.

"What about my friends?"

"There is nothing neither I nor you can do to awaken them. Only the witch who cast the spell in the first place can undo it. She lives in the tallest mansion over the silent ghost town. A town forgotten by time," Minerva waved a hand over the crystal ball to reveal the image of the mansions shadow towering over the boomtown. Hardly anybody or anything seemed to be strolling down the dusty streets of this forbidden place.

But Grace was not about to let this situation get the best of her, even if it meant coming into a close encounter with that witch who started all this. If she and her friends can handle the meanest outlaws, then why not take on a coven of witches? But her biggest challenge would have to be going through it alone while using her inner strength to fight the fear growing inside of her. She gazed up at Minerva with a serious expression.

"I'm going to that old mansion to have a talk with this witch," she replied, making Minerva gasp at her foolish decision. "I'll ask her to release Maggie and Mrs. Calloway and send us back home."

"Young one, haven't you wondered what you might be up against? This isn't just any ordinary witch; she rules this world with malice, tyranny, and power! Many have tried to reason with her, but she never gives in to a bargain."

"What is her name?"

"We do not speak of her name in public. But since there is only the two of us, I'll let you in on a little secret." She whispered in the heifer's ear.

"Beware of Callie."

"Callie!" Grace gasped at the mention of that name causing her to utter a little scream. Her fear level began arising in her body. Not the witch whom Lucky Jack had mentioned in the campfire tales. It can't be true.

"Do not let fear overtake you!" Minerva shouted enough to snap Grace out of her shivering state. Grace was now silent and still. This was the witch who she would have to negotiate with.

"Like I said, she'll feed off of your own fear until you are left paralyzed. But if you still intend to meet with her, then I'm afraid I cannot force you to change your mind. Your will may be stronger than I thought it would."

"How do I get there?" Grace had a strong will indeed as Minerva predicted. She wasn't about to give up too soon, despite her grown fear of the witch.

"You must travel alone through the dark forest and into the forbidden mine. Stay on the track and NEVER…ever tread through the trees. Most of them are harmless and quiet, but…" Grace stepped back as Minerva leaned forward from the other side of the table. "…there are those who have ears, listening for trespassers in their path. What becomes of them, I do not dare to say, nor should you intend to find out." Minerva went back rummaging in her cabinet and pulled out a rolled up paper sheet.

"Can you read young one?" she asked wisely before handing her the paper.

"A little, I think," Grace answered briefly.

"Then perhaps this map shall guide you on your way," Minerva unrolled the paper which revealed a few lists and pictures of areas. The mansion of the witch was located on the top left beside a marked area labeled Shadow Cemetery. Grace gulped when she read that dreadful name. It certainly wasn't her idea of traveling alone in a dark unknown territory. She looked up at Minerva.

"You're not coming with me?" she asked. Minerva shook her head.

"I dare not leave my tent unprotected. It is my duty to stay here and help guide newcomers who enter this world, just like I helped you." Minerva walked with Grace to the entrance. The orange silhouettes above the sky were becoming darker by the minute.

"Dusk is coming. And any moment the restless spirits will be prowling upon the earth, " the fortune teller gazed upward at the darkening cloudy sky.

"Um…uh thank you for helping me," was all Grace could say to her as she prepared to make her way through the dark forest. No matter how eerie this world may seem, she just couldn't sit still and do nothing while her friends were still bewitched back out in the midst of the pumpkin field.

"Remember, stay on the track!" Minerva called out to her a moment before Grace used her tail to wave a sign of thanks. Unbeknownst to Grace however, she failed to witness the wicked smile that crossed the fortune tellers red lips.