Chapter 8: The Stregas

The counselor plainly stood up from his seat as a short wooden staff appeared from his cloak. It has a glowing gem on top, inside was what looked like magical dusts—or were those the witches' souls? No, it can't be. Is he that powerful that he can store souls in what looked like his talisman? 

"They will be stored in our prison, I'm sure most of you know about it. It's located somewhere..." He trailed off, "Out of this world."

I gulped, remembering one of my former sisters' telling me of the council's gruesome prison. They say it's an endless pit, where you fall for eternity and have nightmares once you sleep so you'll be unable to or too afraid to even close your eyes. It's forever regret and more painful than any physical violence one can inflict to the other. Looking at the stars of the dark pit, in hopes to give you light, instead makes you reminisce the sins you've done. It was worse than hell and death. One could never. It will only stop once your soul is too tired or your body couldn't take the eternal feeling of falling endlessly. 

Later on, we left the office and travelled home, getting ready for a new mission. 

———

What happened yesterday remained fresh in my mind. It haunted me, how nerve-wrecking it was. The floating axe millimeters form my face were etched in my mind, not going anywhere. I was sure I did it. But how? 

I remember casting a spell, but it was foreign. Like my body took over to save my life. Sighing deeply, I tried looking off outside the plane. We're off to our next mission the very next day we visited the council. Master Zorylle said we need not to waste more time, so here we are, on the earliest flight to Rome—to meet the oldest breed of witches, famously known as the Stregas of the Latin race. 

It'll only be a matter of weeks until one of us gets to the trinket. Krishna and the coven might be a step ahead of us but I know better than to give up. This mission, we're hoping to know even just a clue about its whereabouts, where is it hidden? Who hid it? Probably one of the coven sisters of the Great Witch. We were also informed that Italy was the Great Witch's birthplace, much alike to everyone since witches were bred and nurtured in the soils of Italy. Even my legacy was born and raised in Italy. 

I dozed off by the window seat, admiring the heavenly clouds as the plane dash through them at  a steady pace. Hours later, I failed sleeping and just waited until we land. Nothing out of the box happened, though, which was great. 

"Maze," a whisper woke me up. Slowly, I squinted to look at who disturbed my nap and saw Louise's sheepish smile. She looked like she was about to poke me again but was halted midway when I opened my eyes. 

"Are we there yet?" I queried, my voice hoarse and dry. I re-adjusted my thick blanket as it was freezing cold in the plane, a complete opposite in the warm and tropical weather of the Philippines. 

"We're landing," she replied. I nodded and grabbed my suitcase from the overhead. Speaking frankly, we could've just teleported to Rome but none of us—even when combined—could carry seven celestial bodies and physical bodies to halfway around the world. It'd drain us and we won't be able to either make it alive, or make it with no limb or body part left behind. 

Besides, a witch can't do everything with magic. Magic may seem limitless and over your imaginations, but our physical human bodies have limits. And that's the balance we need. 

Once the plane safely landed, we descended the plane and breathed in the elegant air of Rome. 

"I love it here, so cold! Luckily we went here at winter!" Eve squealed as she hopped towards the airport, excited to explore the lands and suburbs of Rome. I'm smiling gleefully myself, I haven't explored much of the world ever since and it was also my first time going here. 

"Oh, Romeee!" Yelled Macky as he childishly laid on the snow-coated land and wiped his arms and legs, creating a snow angel. I chuckled. 

Snowflakes were falling calmly from outside as snow engulfed the land, a sign of winter. I pulled my suitcase as we briskly walked out of immigration and exited the airport. I smiled upon feeling the breeze of the cold winter air. I inhaled its scent and felt a relaxing buzz go through my body, as I felt myself connect to the land in a deeper understanding. This is one of the things I love about being a witch—this deep connection with nature. 

"Great, isn't it?" His low voice greeted me as he inhaled the smell of Rome. I saw his shoulders relax, and that's when I knew he connected to nature as well. That fast. 

"The ambience here is the best," I whispered, my breath becoming visible because of the cold. 

"Yeah," he agreed. "I could get used to this." 

I chuckled and fixed my thick scarf. I plugged in my ear muffs and wore gloves. I might freeze to death before I experience warmth in Philippines again. We rented a whole van  and luckily fitted inside. 

"Where are we going?" Queried Gabriel as he stuffed his tiny luggage in his pocket. We all discreetly shrunk our baggage for convenience and took out only our wallets. It's really so easy to travel. 

"We're checking in a hotel," Macky curtly replied. 

"Yeah, but after that? Do we know—You know..." Gab paused as he stole a glance on our Greek driver. I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand English. I shrugged. 

"Uhm," Doreen butt in, "I know a couple friends from here. They might be able to help us." 

"Are they friendly to non-demonic magic users?" Asked Eve, unaware of her blatant question. b

"I, uh, think so..." 

I sighed and closed my eyes. "We'll go to her friends later, then." 

"Can we go tomorrow? I'm so tired," complained Eve. 

"We'll go later," spoke Royce from the shotgun seat. "We have no time to waste. We're not here as tourists." 

"Ugh, fine." 

"Eve, we can return here after finding the great witch's trinket. Then we'll capture photos in the coliseum," whispered Louise from beside her. 

"I like that. But  let's hope we make it out alive first."

A small smile curled in my lips. Dozing off, I heard their girly giggles as they plan out their vacation after all of this. After all, we're still young adults. We still want to explore the world, make memories, venture out, eat ice cream, but we were given heavier duties—to save the world. So much for being young adults, huh. 

I woke up when the van halted. We paid the rented van and checked in inside a hotel. We got two rooms and shared two beds. I picked Louise as my bedmate, the safest one out of the three. We had lunch first before deciding to head out to visit Doreen's fellows. 

We rented another van but this time, we didn't ask for a driver. Royce volunteered to drive as Doreen traced the location of her fellows using a gift they gave her. She dropped her blood on the map, as she tightly held the belonging. Slowly, the blood formed a path along the map, and we gave it to Royce to follow. 

A few hours later, we were back on the road. 

"My tummy's turnin' and I'm feelin' kinda home sick
 Too much pressure and I'm nervous,
That's when the taxi man turned on the radio," they sang as we rocked our heads on a Miley Cyrus song. It was a lively roadtrip and I was smiling all through out. 

"And the Jay-Z song was on... And the Jay-Z song was on... And the Jay-Z song was on!" They had their own pitches and notes, some were out of tune—especially Macky but he couldn't care less. 

Only Doreen, Royce and I didn't attempt that high note. It was a light-hearted joyride, and I couldn't ask for more. Laughing, I grabbed a snack and just munched it away. 

As soon as we reached our destination, we were greeted by a deserted oceanside with only one small cobblestone house. It had a chimney letting off smoke, which was a sign that there was someone inside. We parked the van nearby and slowly went inside. 

Doreen was about to knock when the oak door abruptly opened, and in revealed a girl. 

"DorDor?!"