Page 176 of His Blazing Witch

"You must really miss your mom," I whisper gently.

"Yes... and Clarissa too..."

"Mara, is Clarissa really gone? What happened to her?"

"She... she told me not to watch... She was angry, but she said... you would be coming, so I will be alright. The bad men... they were really, really mean, and I was scared."

The bad men? Could it be the... Is she talking about the other corpses they found with our body? Wait, it sounds like Clarissa was attacked? Why? What did they want?

"Mara, those men, what do you know about them? Did they say anything?"

"No, uh... they said she should come with them... and they... called her really mean names. They said all witches are rotten... We are not rotten, right?"

"No, no, of course not," I say, caressing her hair gently.

Wait a minute.

How did these men know anything about Clarissa being a witch? She could only do the most basic witchcraft, and I am sure she stayed discreet at all times. She was desperate to hide her secret, even from her own sister and Kelsi. So how would those men have known? How could they know she was learning about witchcraft?

They had said those bodies were unidentified. Why? Silver City is a big place, very large, but this is the twenty-first century. With three people going missing, someone should have been able to find out who or why by now. Still, there wasn't the slightest clue about the three bodies. No missing person, nothing about someone looking for them. So where the hell did those men come from, and why target Clarissa specifically? And the way they talked... Witch hunters?

"Mara, can you remember more than that?"

She hesitates.

"I... I can show you?"

"Show me?"

Right, we both perfectly handle magic circles now, why didn't I think of this before? Moreover, I have Clarissa's body now. It's just going back in her memories, forcing this body to... rewind. Rewind all my five senses and experience what she experienced back then. It might not be a pleasant journey, but... I nod.

"Good idea, Mara. Can you help me draw it?"

"Yes!"

We both use our fire to create a new circle, adding some specific details to it, making sure we get exactly what we want. I... I'm amazed by everything I can do now. For the outside world, only a few hours have passed, but I feel like I've been in here for days...

We finally come up with a satisfying enough circle, and I turn to Mara.

"Alright, but it will be only me, okay? Clarissa said you shouldn't... watch this. So you wait for me, okay?"

Mara nods obediently.

"Okay, I understand."

She must have trusted Clarissa so much to not even try to insist...

I take a deep breath and step inside the circle. Maybe because we are already in a sort of magic zone, the area is extremely prone to help us. My magic circle starts spinning like crazy under my feet, and the surroundings change.

This is clearly the hangar from before.

I feel a horrible, cold chill... Oh, right, it happened sometime in the winter, right? I haven’t experienced winter in Silver City yet, so I didn't expect so much snow. We are walking, with large burgundy boots digging into the snow, managing a path before us. I guess I'm just a passenger in Clarissa's body. It's a bit odd. I feel everything she's feeling, but I'm... unable to do anything. I feel the little hint of hunger in her stomach, her sore legs, the gentle feel of her scarf around her neck. All of her pain too. She's walking slowly, but it's a fight she's leading against her body. I can feel the throbbing pain in her lungs, her irritated throat that makes me want to cough, and that horrible headache. Moon Goddess, Clarissa, you really did your best until the end... Why is she outside in such weather, in her condition? She shouldn't be; she belongs in a freaking hospital bed at this point! Clarissa, what were you thinking...?

She keeps walking, looking around as if she's searching for something. Her eyes mostly go toward the sea, and she keeps looking for a long time at the waves each time. Her hands and lips shaking, she hurries up. I wish I could hear her thoughts too, but I'm just a passenger trapped in a front row seat.

After a few seconds, she glances at the numbers on the hangars.

"We're almost there, Mara," she whispers. "If I can just warn him... just... just in case..."

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