Chapter 25 #2
“Home.” The old woman waved her hand, and the golden light shimmered, warped, and changed into a scene that Jessamine desperately wanted to walk into.
Her mother sat on a bench with her back to Jessamine.
She’d recognize that hair anywhere. It was definitely her mother, seated in her garden as she always loved to be.
Jessamine could smell the rose blossoms in the air, just like her mother always smelled because she spent so much time here. It was a scene right from her memories.
A strong, capable woman sitting in a garden, contemplating all the choices she would soon make to bring her kingdom into an era of prosperity and peace.
“Mother?” she choked, stepping forward as her entire body curved in on itself.
Suddenly, she was grief. Tears burned in her eyes, acknowledging all the loss that had happened in her life. Her mother was right there, within reach. All she had to do was stumble into that garden and she could finally, finally, see the only person she still mourned.
Her mother.
Some part of her wanted to lay her head in her mother’s lap and let her run her fingers through Jessamine’s hair like she had done so many times when she was little.
She wanted to hear her mother say everything was going to be all right.
That no matter how hard life had gotten, now she was going to be okay.
But then the woman in that garden tilted her head, just enough for the visage of her to flicker, just like the old woman’s had done.
Her mother’s greatest beauty had been the hawklike nose that she stared down to intimidate people, but this woman’s nose was pert and tilted up at the end.
Pretty and perky and not at all like the queen who had come before Jessamine.
Stumbling back, she felt her world tilt on its axis.
She had the realization that she wasn’t safe here. This wasn’t death, or if it was, then she was being chased through this realm by someone who wanted to convince her that she was safe.
But she wasn’t.
Jessamine turned her attention to the old woman at her side. “Who are you?”
“I am you.”
“No, you’re not.” Again, that flash of fear that she wasn’t safe. “I don’t know who you are, but you are not me. That much I am very certain of.”
“Jessamine, why would I be anything other than what you see? You are meant to see all versions of yourself before you pass into the afterlife. It is how the afterlife works. Come with me. Allow me to make this easier on you.”
She shook her head and took another step away from the woman who was not her mother, and the woman who was not her. “I don’t trust you. I don’t think a word of what you said is true either.”
A wrinkle of anger creased the old woman’s face as she backed away, farther and farther.
And then the woman in the garden stood and turned, revealing that she wasn’t the queen after all.
She stood far taller, stronger than her mother.
And when the visage finally fell, she recognized a strong goddess who had been the one supposed to take over her body.
Then the old woman melted before her eyes, revealing the same Huntress standing in front of her. The two images shimmered and merged, the entire realm seeming to tilt in front of her.
“You caught me,” the Huntress said. “It’s a shame, really. This would have been so much easier if you’d just come quietly.”
“What would have been easier?”
The Huntress lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Ajax has never been very good at finishing what he starts. But a spell is a spell, and your body is still something I can take if I can catch it. This is the best way to do so. I didn’t think you would die and leave it vacant.”
Jessamine’s mind whirled. “Why would you need to control me, then?”
“Because you can return to it,” the Huntress spat, stepping closer in an obviously aggressive move. “A pity, really. You could have made this easy for both of us.”
Finally, she caught up. All the pieces of herself flooded into her mind, and she knew that she was in grave danger. Whatever this place was, the Huntress had trapped her here. She was not quite dead yet, which meant she still had a chance. She could still beat this.
Jessamine wasn’t sure she could fight a goddess, though. In fact, she knew that she couldn’t. The Huntress had centuries of experience fighting, and she would destroy Jessamine easily.
Unless Jessamine made it difficult.
This golden realm, whatever it was, was linked to her death. All she had to do was push and she could control it. Just like Elric’s realm.
A rumble started at her feet as she gathered what was left of her magic, what she hadn’t already given to the other witches. But this time it was golden, dripping from her fingertips, and it made everything all that much easier.
“Fine, then,” Jessamine said. “But you’ll have to catch me first.”
She released all her magic, turning the world nearly upside down. Buildings and forests bloomed out of the golden light. Deep lakes, endless plains, weaving wheat that blew in the wind, every bit of landscape she could think of until there were countless places for her to hide.
The Huntress merely grinned. “I have hunted far more difficult prey than you.”
“But it’s not just me you hunt.”
Jessamine sent a prayer to Elric, hoping that in some way, he might be able to find her. Maybe he could save her one last time, if only he could hear her wherever he was.
Then she splintered herself into every version she had ever been: sad, rageful, guilty, fearful, protective. She scattered the pieces of herself throughout the entire world and told them all to hide.
And if they couldn’t hide, then they needed to run.