Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

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"I have come too far to go back now. I will do anything to make sure I get want I want" Cora announced, looking at the sisters who were looking back at her in awe.

"Now I see what Alpha Creed saw in you. You are a strong-willed wolf" Hazel said with a smug smile.

Azura paced up and down restlessly, shaking her head sideways.

"As much as I hate the wolves, I wouldn't support you going into the human realm" she spat out. 

Hazel rolled her eyes and walked to the fireplace and started stirring what was in the big pot on the hearth.

"Today is day one, she has 6 more days left" she said and dropped the big spoon and turned to face Cora, who was breathing scarcely.

"Let's do it" Cora said with gritted teeth and clenched her fist.

Azura glanced at Hazel, who held a tight grin, then at Nora, who shrugged. She looked at a determined Cora and sighed.

"Why not? Let's begin the spell" she declared and Cora quickly let out the breath she has been holding in.

She watched as the three sisters started working instantly. Hazel walked outside the cottage and retrieved the basket of herbs Azura had left outside. She moved to the windows and brought down the veils while Nora was busy taking the bottles of portions from the rims. 

Azura walked to the shelves and brought out a big spell book which started flipping through its pages.

These acts astonished Cora but she remained mute and watched like a mesmerized being.

Nora opened the bottles and poured their contents into the big pot on the fire, which produced different lights and sounds. Hazel started by stirring the contents of the pot with the big spoon which Cora felt was too big for her.

"What can I do to help? I have unimaginable strength and__"

"Shh..." Azura rebuked her as she frowned.

"You are not helping by distracting us" Nora pointed out.

"Always remember to stay out of witches' business!" Hazel let out, Cora nodded and tried to hide the fact that their words hurt her feelings.

"Do it your way then"

Nora walked to where Hazel plopped the basket of herbs in the cottage and carefully selected what was needed. She squeezed them slightly and hurled them into the pot Hazel was still mixing.

"I've gotten the spell!" She said, looking at the big spell book as her sisters stopped when they were doing and gathered around her, looking at the book on the table.

Cora felt the urge to peek at what they were staring at but recollected they implored her not to interfere in witches' businesses.

"Shall we then? Let's get on with it" she said with a grim smile spread across her face.

"Not so fast, wolfie" Hazel mumbled,  Cora quickly darted her gaze at Azura, who nodded.

"What? Why?'

"You made a vow to us__"

"To you, Azura" Cora corrected as Hazel scoffed and screwed her eyes upward.

"No, Wolfie. My sisters are involved in it as much as I am. It is not just me now" Azura said as Cora was not relishing how things were changing positions.

"Fishy, right?" Cree asserted to her for the first time since the drama all started.

"Yeah, and I am not liking the looks of it" she replied to her wolf's side while the sister's kept staring at her.

"What are you thinking?" Hazel asked as Cora managed to clear her throat and kept a hard front.

"Does that... Does that mean I would have to grant three wishes?"

"Is that why you looked so worked up?" Hazel laughed as Azura's voice stopped her.

"No, Cora. Not really"

"So, well..."

"There was no way I was going to ask something from the Luna of Mountain Howl Pack that wouldn't be beneficial to my sisters" She spoke in a hard note.

"And whatever she wants is what we want too" Nora said as Cora nodded.

"So, what wish am I to grant?"

"Not now, Luna. That's for us to decide and we are not in a hurry to have it granted" Azura spoke again with that steel in her voice that bothered Cora.

"It's a trap" Cee was quick to point out.

"Do I have a choice?" Cora replied bitterly to her wolf's side.

"Don't do it, Cora" Cee warned as Cora suppressed her.

"Alright, let's get on with it" Cora said to the sisters as they finally let out the breath they had been holding in and a smug smile evaded Hazel's lips.

"You made the right choice, Cora" Nora said with her eyes watery as she smiled and turned to look at her sisters, who returned the smile with delighted faces. 

Cora could not fathom what they were so enthusiastic about. Her mind was too troubled to think of the red flags that were apparent for her to see.

"So, let's get on with it then" 

"Not so fast, Wolfie. We need to sign a deal" Azura said and mumbled some words to herself as a scroll appeared in her right hand.

She placed it and unwrapped it carefully on the table as Cora looked at the old golden scroll and read through it and it was stated just like they had agreed.

"Alright, so where's the quill?" Cora looked at the sisters who were not making a move to provide one as Azura nodded at Nora, who walked away and returned shortly with a dagger.

"Okay, what am I supposed to do with a dagger?" Cora questioned and eyed the dagger suspiciously as Hazel scoffed.

"Witches don't sign deals with quill pens. We do so with blood" she coached as Nora sliced her left palm with the dagger and handed it over to Azura, who did the same and gave it to Hazel too.

Cora watched as the sisters moved their palms to the middle of the scroll and let their blood drop on it. The drops of blood gathered and formed their names in a corner of the scroll. 

Hazel looked up at Cora, whose face had lost color, and grinned.

"Your turn" Hazel was enjoying the look of torment on her face as she looked at the dagger being handed to her without touching it.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Cee asked Cora, who gulped down hard.

"I'm doing this for Creed" she replied and took the dagger from Hazel and fiercely sliced her left palm without wincing a bit.

"Strong Wolfie," Hazel whispered while Cora placed her palm in the middle of the scroll, just like the sisters had done and the drops of blood moved and formed her name at a corner while she watched, flabbergasted. 

A great light emerged from the scroll that Cora had to block the view by looking away and shading her face with her hands.

"It's done!" Azura stated when the light went off.

Cora returned her gaze to the sisters and looked at the table, only to find the scroll missing.

"Where is it?"

"Where it is supposed to be and you don't need to know" Hazel snapped.

"Now listen, Wolfie. When you get to the human realm, you have to report back to us with the human for the cloaking spell" Azura started.

"And he must volunteer, not forced" Hazel pointed out.

Cora concluded she didn't like Hazel, and Cee concurred.

"Azura told me that"

"So, when I get there, how would I find my way back here with the human?" She added, giving the sisters questioning looks.

Azura moved to the rims that had their witch collections and returned with an antique necklace with a seashell as its pendant. She clenched her fists and drops of blood from the cut on her left palm plummeted on the shell, and her sisters did the same.

They intonated some words while Cora kept gawking at them.

"Here" Azura handed the necklace to her, which she wore around her neck.

"So, how am I supposed to use this weird thing?"

"It's not something weird but the only artifact we can transfer some of our magic into" Hazel schooled her.

"When you want to return with the human, you have to slam it on a wall or something hard enough to crack it, say the magic words, and the portal would be opened" Nora said.

Cora, in a confused state, looked at the seashell and back at them with a puzzled expression.

"And how am I supposed to know the magic words?"

"When the time comes, you could tell" Hazel spoke in her shrill hard tone.

"Sisters, shall we?" Azura proclaimed and moved to the big pot and her sisters followed.

Cora stared as they held their hands and started chanting words that were bizarre to her, repeatedly.

"Sanguis alteri mundo ligat, portio e terra et trium sororum notissima, aliam hodie viam quam ad interitum et regnum supernaturalem eefficit

Cora listened to the strange words recited continuously as an odd arid wind, more like a hurricane, erupted and jerked things In the cottage in different directions.

 Her hand clung to one leg of the gigantic table as she glanced toward the sisters.

Their hair was floating in the air and a great light shone from the big pot as they struggled to hold on to each other.

Hazel and Nora continued the spell as a portal opened. Blood dripped down Azura's nose as she turned to look at Cora, who was terrified while watching what was going on.

"Your nose! You are bleeding!" Cora had to yell before they could hear her, due to the strong wind.

"Sanguis alteri mundo ligat, portio e terra et trium sororum notissima, aliam hodie viam quam ad interitum et regnum supernaturalem efficit."

"Cora, now!! We can't hold on much longer! The spell is draining us!" She cried out as Cora stood and struggled to reach the portal which was in the fireplace.

The wind was too strong for her as it kept pushing her backward. By this time, Azura had joined in the chanting, and her sisters' noses were also bleeding.

"I can't make it! The wind is too strong!" She said, but the sisters were focused on reopening the portal, which was threatening to close up now.

"Let me loose!" Cee growled and howled.

"I can beat the wind!" She yelled as Cora screamed out and her bones started making cracking sounds. She went on her knees and went through the excruciating pain of shape shifting until Cee emerged.

Cee instantly raced toward the hearth, she beat the hurricane and dived into the portal. The wind and light went in with her as the sisters fell backward in the cottage, hitting against some stuff as the place went dead silent.