CHAPTER ELEVEN
JUDE'S POV
I walked out of our room and made my way to Alan's dorm. Three days had passed since Veronica's sentence and unfortunately, Jo hasn't recovered yet. Today, a witch from one of our branches would be here and she's going to try her best to help out. It's just like inviting another doctor to see a patient.
"Come in" I heard Alan's voice from the other side of the door. "You ready?" I asked and he gave me a nod. He was dressed in a grey oversized tee, grey cargo trousers and a Nike air Jordan1 Mid shoes.
"Alright, let's move" He walked closer to me after he'd locked his doors and wrapped his right arm round my neck.
"So...how are you holding up?" He asked and I let out a sigh before replying
"Not so good actually but I'll be fine"
"Of course you will, you're one of the strongest girls I know" I gave him a smile and we kept walking, drowning ourselves in the comfortable silence.
"I'm still bothered about Anna, you know" I said turning to Alan "It's almost a week now." Alan removed his hand from my neck and tucked his palms into his pocket.
"I'm also scared too but one of us has to pretend to be strong"
"You called me strong a few seconds ago"
"And I meant it" Alan replied while I opened the door to Jo's room in the infirmary. Ryker was there as usual. His jet black hair was messy and not the good type of messy. His eyes were red and had dark circles- probably from tears or sleepless nights or even both.
"Ryker" I said giving him a tight lipped smile "Oh geez, you stink" I said when I got close to him
"How rude" Alan said and walked closer to Ryker "C'mon, let's go out and talk a bit, a little fresh air won't do you harm"
"What if Jo wakes up and I'm not here?"
"You've been saying this for the past three days"
"Exactly, one more day won't hurt." Ryker argued.
I let out a sigh and opened my phone camera then took his picture. "Bro, this is how you look right now. What if Jo wakes up and sees you like this?"
"Geez, I look terrible" Ryker said as he held his cheeks in his palm
"Tell me about it"
"Let's not talk about how you smell" Both Alan and I replied in unison.
Reluctantly. he walked out of the room while Alan and I settled by her bedside.
>>>
Ryker walked into the room looking way better than before. He wasn't as fresh as he was before the onset of this whole incident but he looked better than he was three hours ago. He was dressed in dark grey joggers, an oversized Chicago tee of the same shade alongside a pair of black Nike slides. He still had his silver necklace on and his hair looked nicer now, his usual messy.
"Alright guys, Aiofe is here" I heard Lilith's voice and both Alan and I stood up. Soon enough Lilith and a lady who I assumed to be Aiofe walked in.
She was a pretty woman with chest nut skin and well set white teeth that gave you the feel of seeing real diamonds when she smiled. She had waist long butterfly locs and chocolate orbs as eyes. All in all, she looked naturally gorgeous and the name if I must say is befitting.
"So, can you guys explain everything to me" Aiofe asked and Lilith nodded. She opened the first drawer of Juno's bed side table and pulled out her file.
"This is everything you need to know about her." She replied handing the file to Aiofe. Aiofe nodded her head as she scanned through the file. "This isn't much of a big deal but I need to confirm something. Who is the closest to Juno here?"
"That would be Jude" Alan said and I nodded in agreement.
"Okay, that's fine. Which hand is your dominant hand?"
"Uh, that would be my left" I replied
"Alright, can you do me a favor and roll your sleeve up?"
"All done' I replied after a few seconds.
"Now, use your left hand to hold Juno's dominant palm and use your right to hold my palm"
"okay…"
"You good?"
"Yeah' I replied
"Alright, you know the xxxxxxxxx spell? That's what we're gonna do in 3, 2, 1"
"JUNO BLACK Muros munimenti, quod aedificasti, destruimus, et in locis ignotis quaerimus animam tuam. Praesentiam tuam quaerimus, et de somno te excitamus. Etiam si vis dormire, indica nobis ubi sit anima tua.
'Did you receive it too?" Aiofe asked as she turned to me. "Oh goodness, your nose is bleeding" She said as she sat her on a chair. "Someone get me a tissue or cotton swab"
"Here" Lilith said giving her the tissue. Aiofe expertly wiped my bleeding nose then stopped the bleeding by shoving a rolled up tissue into my nostrils. "That should hold you for a while" Aiofe said with a sigh then as if remembering something, she asked "Jude, you're on what level?"
"Huh?" I inquired in an attempt to scrunch up my nose
"Like you're a witch of what category?"
"Oh that...I'm level four" I admitted suddenly feeling somewhat shy and ashamed
'Oh, I'm really sorry I didn't ask. An average level five witch shouldn't even do it."
"It's fine' I replied shoving the tissue deeper into my nostril
'But, you're pretty talented I must say" Aiofe commended with a smile
"Thanks"
There was a brief moment of silence until Aiofe broke it once again.
"So, back to business." She began walking towards Lilith who was on the other side of Jo's bed. "Jude, did you receive the vision too?"
"Ummm…yes but it wasn't clear"
"That's fine, I saw a clear version of the full vision'
'Ok, do you mind explaining this to us?" Alan inquired and Aiofe nodded
'So, here's the thing-'
'I'm sorry I'm late guys something came up' Lucerne said as she walked into the room 'What did I miss?'
"Nothing much, really" Lilith told her twin "umm, Jude and Aiofe did the xxxxxxxx spell and-"
"Wait what? You let my baby do that?" Lucerne inquired, dropping her bag on the floor
"C'mon, she's fine' Lilith said with an eye roll
"What do you mean? She literally has two tissues shoved into her nostrils like a white man's dick"
"Too explicit' Lilith murmured while I removed the tissues from my nose.
'C'mon mum, I'm fine. It's just a tiny nose bleed."
"Are you sure you're good?" Lucerne asked forcing me into a hug
"Yeah, I am" I replied pulling away in the most subtle way
"Wonder what it feels like to be loved" Alan said, mockery evident in his voice while I gave him that finger.
"Don't make me start with y-'
"You guys should quit your banter, Aiofe is waiting" Lilith cut in
"I'm really sorry Aiofe"
"It's fine" Aiofe replied "So, the vision I saw is somewhat weird. Jo was dressed in this long flowing gown of white colour- just a plain gown if I may add. Although, it had some black hand prints on it like people were trying to drag her. She was following the people of the light side but we- the underworld, people of the dark were pulling her to our side. Basically, she won't wake up until we do capture her soul and she stops following the people of the light." Aiofe concluded.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the air and everyone was quiet as if speaking would attract a very mighty penalty. Aiofe cleared her throat and rubbed her palms together then said.
"I'm still somewhat confused so why don't you kids go while I have a conversation with the adults"
●•●•●•
"Can you recap? I'm lost" Aiofe said with a chuckle. Lilith sighed and began narrating
" Laraine, Jo's mother had a mission on earth to kill Vance, one stupid human from the light side but cliché much, she ended up falling in love with him. After we got sick of her prolonging, our leader at the time- Drex gave her only a week to bring him the head of this guy but instead of doing this, she ran away to a new city with this guy but that was really dumb cause Drex always finds out... you can run but you can't hide from him." Lilith paused and wiped her face.
"Should I continue?" Lucerne asked, concern evident in her features
'No, it's fine. I'm fine" Lilith replied then went on "The next week, Drex came back with Laraine's head instead. it was really hard on all of us cause Raine was such a sweet soul. In order to avenge my sister's death, I decided I'd bring the head of that daughter of hers but due to Raine's psychic ability, she gave Jo the glacora immediately she bore her so no one could mess with her.'
"I think I can try connecting the dots. Are you sure you want to continue?" Aiofe inquired
"Yeah, I'm fine" Lilith said as she wiped her tears with her sleeves. "The one time Jo removed the glacora I summoned her and attacked her. Lucerne tried warning me and stopping me but her words couldn't penetrate into my stone cold heart. After I injured her a bit, I was about to use the portions I'd prepared for this day when Lucerne walked in and snapped the chains I'd used to bind her. That very night, I saw Raine in my dream and she pleaded with me to take Jo back to Vance and let her live as she belongs to the light side but I didn't take heed. This is all my fault"
"It'd be alright Lilith" Aiofe comforted as she wrapped her arms round Lilith while Lucerne gave her a shoulder to cry on...literally until she slept off.
●•●•●•
Ryker walked deeper into the forest. For some reason, this part was really cold and a violent breeze was blowing. For the first time in three weeks, he let his tears fall and the anger overwhelm him. He used his psychokinesis to lift a couple of stones around him and throw them in random directions. He was so focused and even though his head was beginning to ache, he kept on throwing them as he walked deeper into the forest until he was met by an obstacle. He attempted to cross over it but ended up falling into the mud.
Ryker withdrew his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight so as to help himself up. When he finally got up, he pointed the flashlight to the ground and was met by a sight that shook him to the core.
A dead body. Slowly, he bent down to have a better view only to realize the body was Anna's