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Chapter Fifteen
Ideas and Soup
When the young girl was taken back to her bed by a very annoyed nurse it was clear she was feeling brighter than before. She wasn't fussing as much and did not have a moody face on her and Ethel, whose eyes were bloodshot from all her crying, looked at her confused. It had taken ages to calm the middle blonde.
"Why are you happy? "she asked not understanding how her sister could possibly feel better after the last few months events.
"I spent so much time feeling sorry for myself and doing that is giving Agatha what she wants, the woman is still winning" Esmerelda explained to her sisters.
"She has won anyway, she has your powers" Ethel said sadly but Esmerelda shook her head.
"She only wins if we let her Ethie, she took my powers but I still have so much more, like you two" Esmerelda said as she smiled.
"She can't change our relationship" Sybil commented and her elder sister smiled.
"Exactly Sybil, we have things she can't take, I will learn to live without magic" Esmerelda replied as she realised something for the first time. She loved being a witch, doing spells, making potions, flying and having powers was amazing but she didn't need them to survive, she could learn to get by without them, it was a luxury to have powers but she would rather be powerless and have her two sisters with her. She couldn't survive without Ethel and Sybil, that was the difference.
"What if you don't have to?" Ethel replied "I know a way you can get your powers back" Ethel told her and Esmerelda remembered then she was about to tell her a way before their parents arrived.
"How?" Sybil asked curiously
"The founding stone" Ethel replied looking at the youngest who stared at her shocked.
"Ethel! That stone is what keeps the school magical, besides if you are caught with it you will be expelled!" Sybil told her shocked at her sisters idea.
"Well I have had it for weeks and none of the teachers have even noticed so I don't think that will happen now" Ethel told her sisters who both wore identical shocked expressions.
"I am not saying to take it all, just take some of the power" Ethel said as she smiled, clearly she had been thinking a lot about this.
"You took the founding stone?" Sybil asked to shocked by that piece of information to think about anything else. "But Mildred found it" Sybil said not understanding how Ethel had taken it when Mildred had found it in the storeroom.
"No Mildred found the clone I made, I cloned the stone and hid the fake in the storeroom, Mildred found it not realising it was fake" Ethel explained.
"Ethel! What on earth have you done?" Esmerelda asked shocked and upset. She was worried because when people found out about this Ethel would be in more trouble than she has ever being in before.
"You can get your powers back Esmie, no-one else bothered to think of a solution but I did, we have being focusing to much on Agatha, we don't have to get your powers back from Agatha, you can get a new set of powers" Ethel replied trying to convince her sisters this was a good idea.
"No way Ethel" Esmerelda replied shaking her head.
"Why not?" Ethel asked confused
"So many things could go wrong, plus my principles are more important than my powers Ethel, you should know that" Esmerelda told her.
"But you can have magic again Esmie!" Ethel said still not seeing anything wrong with her plan.
"I know Ethel but it is to dangerous, I am grateful, I appreciate what you did for me but I can't do it Ethel" Esmerelda told her. Ethel looked down sadly at the rejection to her idea.
"I was just trying to help" Ethel said looking at her lap
"I know you were Ethie, and I am so grateful but you know as well as I do it is not as easy as you say, with them type of things you have to be to precise, one wrong word and I could end up to overpowered" Esmerelda told Ethel and the girl nodded, knowing she was right.
"What are we going to do?" Sybil asked panicking now she knew the stone was hidden.
"Maybe I should return it?" Ethel asked as she shrugged.
"If you get caught they will expel you!" Sybil replied as tears fell out of her eyes. She didn't want to lose another of her sisters. She wanted at least one of her sisters at school with her.
"I know, but Esmerelda is right my idea is crazy, we have to return it before someone finds it" Ethel said only then realising how stupid and careless she had been.
"But how?" Sybil asked looking at both her sisters worried. Esmerelda though put an arm around each of them.
"Let us not worry about that right now, first we need to focus on me getting better" Esmerelda told them.
"You will stop self-harming?" Ethel asked her curiously
"You are going to eat again?" Sybil said looking hopeful.
Just then they were interrupted by a nurse bringing a bowl of soup over to Esmerelda. Despite the fact she was in the hospital for starving herself she was given some easy food to eat so the nurses could assess just how much she was eating, she was expected to try and eat it herself. The three sisters looked at each other and the tomato soup, neither knowing what to do or say. Esmerelda knew she had to eat, but the hardest part was taking that first bite. She did not find it appetising anymore. Ethel therefore took her spoon and dipped it in the soup before eating it herself.
"That is good" Ethel said trying to encourage her sister. Sybil realised what she was doing and also took a bite of the food, trying to reassure their sister it was okay to eat it.
"It is nice Esmie, come on you are missing out" Sybil said enjoying the taste of it.
Esmerelda looked at her sisters eating and somehow felt stronger, she could do it, she knew she could. She got a third spoon and dipped it into the soup before just looking at it on the spoon, she had not eaten in so long it felt alien now.
"Come on Esmie, just a little bit, it is warm" Ethel told her knowing it was not as easy as her saying she would do it, she needed to know it wouldn't harm her.
"Your favourite Esmie, you love tomato soup, don't you want to eat it again?" Sybil said and Esmerelda looked at her little sisters before taking a breath and bringing the spoon closer to her mouth, she opened it and then put the spoon in, putting the soup into her mouth.
As soon as the food entered her mouth she felt sick and, she had not eaten in so long her body was treating it as something foreign, it was hard to eat it because she felt sick but she swallowed the liquid, gagging a little.
"Well done sis!" Ethel and Sybil said in unison, both beaming as they knew that was the hardest part. Soup was great as she couldn't hide it in her mouth, she had to swallow it and they saw her throat move as she swallowed.
"See if you can manage another spoon" Sybil said. Esmerelda dipped the spoon in the soup again and then put it to her mouth, it was still hard to swallow but she managed it.
"I feel sick" the girl complained after the second spoon. She had not felt so bad after the first spoon but now she felt queasy.
"Your stomach is not used to food anymore, you have to get used to it again, it will get easier" Ethel explained and Esmerelda sighed, knowing it was going to be harder than she thought to eat but she was determined. She had to get better, She had to for her sisters and herself. This time she pulled some bread apart and dipped it in the soup before eating that, more solid and more like real food. It was still hard to eat it but she held back the sick feeling and forced it down her throat. A milestone was hit.