With the last breath of spring, the littlest flower will fall, for what has always been sweet, sour will turn out.
No. This couldn’t possibly be real.
I stood still and forced myself to breathe and reread the message again. And again. Because this couldn’t be right. I thought it over, trying to rationalize it, make sense of the words… but there was nothing more to them.
The curse previously thought to be dormant was once more plaguing witches’ lives.
I struggled with the weight of my own body, reaching my hand out and touching the walls of my chambers to minimize the shaking that started to consume me. My mind rushed to the aftermath of the message I had in hands, and at that moment, I could not longer keep myself from mourning.
A child was going to die today.
Amidst the tears and the all encompassing feeling of hopelessness, I thought about what this meant for the rest of the witches of the coven, who were about to begin living their lives certain that death would knock on their door sooner or later, at any moment, but what sparked an even deeper sense of hopelessness inside me was the fact that even before the curses were numbed, they had never targeted a witch’s life so soon.
I couldn’t help but feel my heart ache thinking about Evvy’s mother, that didn’t know about her daughter’s fate yet. Would she have chosen to have her if she had known it would end so soon? How am I to face her and tell her what is about to happen? Will she even tell Evvy?
After lingering on those thoughts, I dried my face and made my way out of my room abruptly, deeming myself too weak to face the youngest witch’s mother, to tell her about the resurrected prophecy and proceed to watch it unfurl.
Even though my weakness was usually a reason for embarrassment, I couldn’t help but reconsider what this trait meant for the rest of coven. Because it was the lack of courage that I felt right now that propelled my mind to make a decision: I was going to try to defy the odds of this destiny happening through the use of magic. Well, the scraps left of it. It was ill-advised, and sure to come at an unknowing cost, based on the ancestor’s writings, but if the prize were to be Evvy’s life, I could deal with the cost of it later.
“A young witch is going to live today” - I muttered to myself as I made my way to the cavernous basement of our compound, and as the repeated words echoed in the dim hallways, I hoped that the mere fact of affirming them over and over again had the power to materialize it into existence.
As soon as I arrived, my heartbeat quickened, as my mind wondered about the witch inside, and her current wants. Kronak was the oldest witch that remained alive, which meant that she took advantage of all the knowledge accumulated throughout decades of living and used it to her favor. The downside to that was that what benefited her didn’t necessarily benefit me, and that worried me when it came to what I was about to ask of her.
I knocked twice, wishing silently for an unusual good-humored Kronak to answer, and was met with silence… then, the creaking sound of the rusty door opening ever so slightly, daring me to push it further and step inside. After taking a long breath, I entered and made sure to close the door behind me, taking in the unlit room in front of me, and furrowing my brows at the ungodly mess all around… and amongst it, no sign of the one I was looking for.
I took a step forward and heard glass shattering beneath me, and when I dared to lower my body to pick it up, I was suddenly pinned against the wall by a dagger that met my loose cape and kept me unmoving for a brief second, gasping at the sudden attack until I took it off me.
“If you’re not fit for replacing broken potions, which I know you are not, do not dare to break them”, hissed a raspy voice, and that’s when I spotted Kronak, on all fours behind a counter, picking some other potions left on the floor.
“If only I could see them on the floor… this room is in desperate need of some lighting”, I said, making my discomfort clear through the intonation of my voice.
“You have no say in this matter. These are not your quarters, not a place to dictate stupid rules. Now… what could you possibly want right this moment? - Kronak
uttered the words with wolf-like curiosity, while gazing at me with clear impatience.
I made my way to the counter in front of her, looking at the floor to make sure I didn’t break anything else, and considered sitting on a little chair facing the witch, but decided against it when I noticed one of its legs broken.
“Would you happen to have a potion to change what cannot be changed? - I tried to ask as casually as possible to not make her suspicious of me, but by the way her gaze sharpened, I realized it hadn’t worked.
“Perhaps… would you happen to have three strands of hair to spare along with one page of the oracle’s book?” - she had a vicious look as she said that, and frustration started to grow deep inside me, because I didn’t know what she planned to do with that, and at the same time, I certainly knew that she wouldn’t give me what I needed if I didn’t give her what she asked for.
“Just hand me the potion, and I’ll send someone to bring you what was requested” - I replied reluctantly, focusing on the greater good ahead, and forcing my mind not to linger on what would be the old witch’s next steps.
I watched her roam around the room, hitting a few things on her way, and then finally picking one tiny potion on the floor, but before handing it to me, she said:
“I know better than to ask, so I’ll just warn you instead, there is no place for stupidity when it comes to this, you can use it only once, so make the most of it”.
With the last breath of spring, the littlest flower will fall, for what has always been sweet, sour will turn out.
Potion in hand, I tried to come up with what the message could mean, searching for clues related to the cause of death of Evvy, but ultimately, I realized that the only thing that would lead me to that discovery… was following Evvy until it finally happened. And then revert it.
So, I started by waking up before her the next day and standing outside of her room.
When the door finally opened, she walked out and immediately ran inside once more upon seeing me, and before I had an opportunity to wonder why, she came back with a spider covering her whole hand.
“Would you look at that! I had thought this Mrs. was getting a little fatter because I had been heavy-handed with the insects, but she is actually expecting… don’t tell my mom, this will not please her, I promised her this would be the last one”
“I won’t… though I’m not sure how you can hide them from her once they’re out in the world”
“Well…. We always have your room!”
“Don’t even consider it an option”, I said as fast as possible, so as to not entertain her idea.
“Alright then… I’ll think of something.” - upon hearing Evvy say that, I suddenly felt a pull at my heart, really hoping that she could be here to actually see her plans come to fruition. This had to work.
“I’m planning on avoiding all of my darling subjects today… would you help me by allowing me to keep you company?”- the lie slipped out of me so easily, partly because the avoiding bit was a true sentiment, and as Evvy’s eyes lit up at the request, I knew her joy overcame any possible suspicions that she might have had.
And so our day began. I tried my best to not seem like a crazy-minded person analyzing every possible threat, but sometimes Evvy would squint her eyes at me throwing weary looks at the breakfast food, desintegrating stairs, rusty door that was falling apart, way too windy weather and trees that looked way too much like the perfect hiding spot.
“You’re acting a little bit… different today. Are you not finding this enjoyable? Hynee told me today is the last day of spring, so I thought this would be pleasant!”, she told me, picking up her crown of flowers and placing it on my head.
“It is indeed nice. I’m the same as always, my thoughts are just focused on the fact that I don’t think we’ll still be able to avoid others once dinner comes around” - I tried to keep calm as I said, but something felt eerily wrong. Everything looked too… normal. Unalarming. Harmless.
Evvy started ranting about her mother’s sleeping issues while I roamed around picking up some different kinds of flowers, while she made another crown of blue ones, because they were the rarest to find.
“… and I’m not usually bothered by that, but sometimes I wake up and she’s sitting on my bed, with the saddest look on her face, and that scares me at first but then I find it…”
“Upsetting?”, I tried to help her fully express that thought, because even with my back turned, I could feel her voice failing due to tears threatening to come out.
“Yes… it saddens me and also… she insists on not telling me why she’s feeling like that, and it’s so…”
“Frustrating?”, I said, picking up some white flowers.
Suddenly, there was a long moment of silence, and I did my best to give her some space, to try to put herself together in case she didn’t want to cry right now.
But the moment started to stretch… and then… I heard a sharp breath…
“… Liri…. I can’t…”
I turned to her at once and ran to her side, resting her face on my lap. Her hands were deep blue, and she was gulping air with a lot of difficulty. My pulse rushed and I felt a deep sense of desperation.
“Evvy, what in the bleeding hells happened? Was it the flower? How could it do that?”- I noticed her eyelids about to close, and with shaky hands, grabbed the potion and dropped it into her mouth.
I stood in front of Evvy’s room, making it clear to her that no , she couldn’t hide her huge pregnant spider in my room, and yes, I was indeed very thankful for her generosity of agreeing to hide me from my duties for a day.
That was when I realized… changing what cannot be changed meant a potion that took you back in time. That was what Kronak meant when she said this could only be used once. I had to do it right this time.
“Evvy… why don’t you finish feeding Mrs. and wait for me in your room, I’ll grab my cape in my room and then I’ll pick you up here.”
After she closed the door, I rushed down the stairs, out the door and went to work. As gloves adorned my hands, I picked every single blue flower in sight and hid them in my room to study them later, then, to be extra cautious, I convinced Evvy that it would be way nicer if we prepared a cozy nest for her spider during the whole day.
Just to be sure.
When her mom, Sansa, showed up in their room to call her daughter for dinner, I couldn’t contain my relief, she was in good hands now, she was alive and well. I thanked her for spending the day with me, assured her that even though I wasn’t too fond of spiders, today had been fun, and promised to meet her downstairs for dinner.
As we were all sitting around the table, drinking our tea before dinner started, I had the urge to just stop for a moment and feel grateful, even though witches didn’t have any prayers, I just felt the need to close my eyes for a split second and thank whatever made it possible for this destiny to be reverted.
That’s when I heard it.
A sharp breath, followed by consecutive little ones, trying to capture air that seemed impossible to let inside.
I looked around and ran to Evvy, catching her before she hit the ground, holding her in silent dread and misunderstanding. Denial. This can’t be happening.
Amongst the commotion of all the witches gathering around us and a screaming mother seeing her child unable to say anything whilst her final breath was taken, I froze in place, and a chill took over my body as I looked at the blue skin around her lips, and then felt Evvy’s body turn limp in my arms.
No longer alive.
A scream threatened to erupt from my throat, but was stopped by-
“You knew about this, didn’t you? How could you do this to me?” - said Sansa, in a chilling voice I didn’t recognize, while holding a knife to my throat.