Gabriella's scream tore through the night.
"No,aunt Jannet! Please, please, I beg you…Not that…don't take that too!" She lurched forward, clawing at the fire, but the heat only seared her palms and forced her back.
The flames crackled, devouring everything they touched. The smell of burning flesh and old leather parchment fused into one suffocating stench.
Her grimoire…the only tether left to her mother…was curling into ash within the same pyre that was consuming her mother's body.
Her knees buckled against the muddy forest floor.
"Mamma, come back.Look what they are doing to me…say something…Mamma! " She pounded the earth relentlessly with her fists until dirt lodged beneath her fingernails and blood welled at her knuckles.
Her voice broke into ragged sobs, torn from the pit of her chest.
Two pairs of hands seized her arms. They tugged and pulled her back, forcing her head up.
Auntie Jade and Jannet, the only ones left who still stood beside her.
"Bella, come on. You have to leave…" Jade's voice cracked but held firm.
"Your mom is gone,child, " Jannet added, breathing erratically with panic. "You must go back to your father before the coven finds you!"
Gabriella thrashed violently, her body writhing like a trapped animal. "No!" Her wail fractured into the night air. "Don't pull me away from her…don't take me from her.Leave me alone! Mama, please wake up now!Enough already…" She bent towards the flames, straining against their grip, hands outstretched reaching for that mother who was no more.
The fire's glow painted her tears, making them shimmer as they streaked down her face.
But then…a flash split the sky.
Not lightning. No thunder followed. The bolt hissed unnaturally, crackling like an untamed ball of energy, tearing its way down from the heavens.Definitely an offensive spell. The scouts from the coven were here.
The trees groaned under its impact.
The women froze. Fear shadowed their faces.
"Bella, get out of here, now!" Jannet's voice turned merciless with command…no more brokering.
She yanked Gabriella from the forest floor, half dragging, half shoving her through the undergrowth until they broke onto a road. Behind them, Jade spun, taking off the groud…levitating mid air…chanting under her breath, hands lifting against the barrage of unseen attacks.
Sparks collided midair, sizzling like stars before burning out.
Once on the road, Jade pushed Gabriella, throwing her meters from her!
She stumbled, knees scraping against the stones of the road, bleeding. But she whirled, reaching back desperately. "Oi! Aunt Jade,please don't leave me!" Her arms stretched towards Jade, fingers clawing at nothing, desperate to anchor onto anything.
Jade's eyes met hers just once…full of pity, full of love, full of sorrow. She pressed her lips together, forming the faintest of smiles. Her voice trembled. "Bella… this is for the best.Go find your father…live with him. With your grimoire gone, the coven will no longer be able to trace you. Live well, my child."
And then her hand carved through the air, sealing an invisible doorway. With a hiss, a portal slammed shut between them like a wall of glass.
Gabriella scurried forward…slamming her body against it. "No!No! Come back!"
The impact rattled her bones, but she hurled herself again. " Please,no! Open up! Please…open up!" Her palms bruised against the barrier, her voice shredding into hoarse screams. "Don't leave me here…don't you dare leave me! Aunt Jade!Aunty Jannet!"
The portal shimmered once, then dulled. The forest's roar fell distant, muffled by the sealed magic.
All that remained was the cold road, Gabriella's pounding fists, and the echo of her own grief tearing holes in the night.
"Open up… open…" Her voice cracked, falling into a whisper."I don't want to find my father…I want to live with you. How…How am I supposed to live without my Mama…without my magic…please come back…come back…"
Gabriella pressed her palms once more against the barrier. This time, it did not shimmer. It did not hum. It no longer breathed with magic.
It was stone. Cold, lifeless...like her mother's body had been.
Her breath hitched as the truth slowly sank into her bones.
The world she knew, the world she grew up in…was gone. Everyone she loved…was gone.
She staggered backward…legs wobbling like they no longer remembered how to hold her.
The world tilted…her body gave out, and she collapsed onto the rough road.
Pebbles bit into her skin, but she hardly noticed. Her limbs were frail and heavy, as though her grief itself had hollowed her from the inside.
Her tears would not stop. They slid in endless rivulets…like warm trails cutting across her dirt smeared cheeks…soaking into the stone beneath her.
She turned her face upwards, desperate for something…anything…that might respond.
The night sky stretched vast above her…indifferent, infinite. Stars glittered faintly, scattered like shards of broken glass. And then…her eyes caught on one.
A single star, brighter than the rest. It pulsed, almost alive, winking down at her.
Gabriella's lips trembled. Her throat tightened with a fresh wave of sobs, but this time they did not come out loud.She gulped it down.
"Mamma… is that you?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
Her chest caved inward…then she wept harder. "Please… don't leave me here all alone."
The star did not answer.
And then…a blinding flash tore across the road. Brilliant white light speeding straight towards her.
She blinked, confusion numbing her grief for just an instant.
Her mind barely registered what it was, her vision blurred with tears…all she saw were two burning eyes cutting through the dark, bearing down on her with terrifying speed.
The roar of an engine shattered the silence,like a beast barreling out of nowhere.
Headlights surged, drowning her vision, swallowing the night in a flood of blinding brilliance.
Gabriella's body jolted, but she had no time to move. No time to scream. No time at all…the light swallowed her whole.
For a heartbeat, she thought it was another spell…one last strike from the coven to finish her off.The car slammed into her with brutal force, her fragile frame lifting from the ground…
For that instant, she seemed weightless…hair whipping around her face, arms flailing, tears scattering like falling stars.
The world spun violently, then everything went black.