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“I thought I smelled trouble.” The witch smiles sweetly, stepping into my view. She looks not much older than my father would have been, though I’m sure not even she knows her true age. Ada pauses when she nears me, absorbing the air between us, reading it as though it were one of her recipes. “Well now, you’re not here for treats, are you, young man?”
Her perception is keen, which I’m hoping will only make this easier. I shake my head.
“So very tense.” Ada runs her hands over my shoulders. “I can feel you fighting it. Why?”
The shadow is something I’ve always struggled to hide. It’s getting stronger, so very close to claiming its perpetual freedom and my eternal hell. The discomforting aches have grown to a pain I so desperately want to release, while at the same time I’m trying so very hard not to. It isn’t the life I choose.
“I want it gone,” I tell her, already on the cusp of falling apart. On the outside, I act like everything is fine, like it doesn’t bother me. On the inside, I feel like I’m rotting. “Is there anything you can do?”
Her palm caresses the underside of my chin, looking far too softly into my lost smoky irises. “It is your birthright.”
“I don’t want it. Please, I’m begging you. There has to be a way to stop it. I’ll do anything. Pay anything.”
“You cannot buy your way out of what is rightfully yours.”
“Ada,” I plea, desperation lacing my worried voice. My knees feel weak and my chest tight. “I can’t.”
Her fingers brush through my hair, too cold against my feverish skin. Everything feels like it’s crumbling, my biggest fear being realized in this moment. Her eyes tell me everything. There is nothing she can do. It is tied to me forever and with no escape. I was born cursed, and it will follow me until my last breath.
Taking a deep breath, I nod, hardening my face as a way to bury the emotions burning inside me. “Very well. How much?” I reach into my pocket, ready to pay the witch for her time.
“No charge.”
I watch her skeptically. Nothing is free. “Why? You owe me no kindness.”
Ada takes my hand, holding it firmly between both of hers. She wears a look of sympathy I imagine only a mother could know. “The world owes you a kindness, dear boy. The burden your shoulders were built to bear is not an easy one. But it is yours to bear.”
Far sooner than I’d like to admit.
“What are we sulking about today?”
I lift my focus, seeing Josten.
Great. I don’t even want to be around friends right now, let alone some panting carrier of fleas. My eyes lower, looking again at the scenery in front of me. “Go away.”
“What’s the matter? All the blood wells dry up?”
“No, but they’re about to become one dog fuller,” I deadpan. It’s a poor excuse for a threat. I just want him to leave.
“Well, in my experience, stewing on your issues never gets the results you’re looking for. Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” The current troubles tormenting my mind aren’t ones I can just talk out, and according to Ada, they’re ones I can’t escape.
I always knew this day was coming. It’s been weighing extra heavy on me lately. Maybe it’s because back then, I didn’t have something to lose. Now… What I need is time to figure a way out. Time I don’t have.
“Suit yourself.” Josten shrugs.
My head falls back, resting against the side of the brick wall. It’s like everything inside me is screaming, and only I can hear the pleas.
“I have less than a year,” I say, looking out to the forest.
“Less than a year until what?” he asks, pausing a moment before adding, “Oh…right.” Josten sits down beside me, keeping his gaze on the horizon. “I’m guessing it’s not something you want?”
Want? I almost have to laugh. “Would you?”
“No,” he answers slowly, “I can’t say that I would.”
Finally, something we have in common. “So, you’re seeing that witch now?” I ask. I don’t actually care what the dog does with his time, I just don’t want the conversation on me. I want to think of anything else.
