7. Chapter 7 #2
The second that the group was outside, Hestia shoved the door shut as quickly as she could, hands shaking all the while. Delia looked like she was about to collapse, and Regina was looking around the cemetery, a desperate expression on her face.
“We need to get inside.” Regina’s voice was strained, but clear and authoritative. With no other direction, Amelie simply nodded and took Delia’s hand in her free one and set them all in motion up the cobblestone path and back toward the cathedral.
Once they made their way into the kitchen through the side door, Amelie locked the deadbolt and, for good measure, shut the curtains that framed the window on the upper half of the door.
Silence pervaded the space as all four witches stood perfectly still, as though any movement would attract the creature again despite it being locked in the mausoleum.
Feeling the comforting embrace of the cathedral’s energy and the fire flickering from her Hearth, Amelie came back to her senses first.
“Regina.” Amelie cleared her throat as she made her way over to the cabinets. “I am going to make us all some tea, but in the meantime, I think there was a prophecy you needed to tell us about.”
Snapping back to reality, Regina took a deep breath and shook her head. “Yes… of course. You’re right.”
Making her way over to the other two, still standing frozen in the middle of the kitchen, Regina gently led them to seats at the kitchen table.
“I had an incredibly disturbing vision earlier today.” Regina started, settling in herself.
“Amelie walked in on me while I was having it, and normally I wouldn’t say anything about my visions, shortly after Hestia registered some abnormalities with the town’s illusory cloak.
I couldn’t be sure that the two were connected, but I was concerned enough that I reached out to the Council of Seers. ”
Amelie scooped some chamomile tea into the teapot, before quickly filling it up with a heated water spell. As it steeped, she summoned four teacups out of the cabinets and floated them over to the table as she carried the pot before settling into her own seat, placing the teapot on the table.
“They agreed that the vision was concerning.” Regina continued. “And considering it put the safety of Pumpkin Hollow at risk, particularly our potential exposure to the outside world, they gave me permission to share with the three of you.”
“And what was it… exactly that you saw?” Delia asked, voice low.
Regina bit her cheek and took a deep breath. “I saw… hordes of zombies, roaming the hills around the cathedral. I… don’t have any way of knowing if any of them made it to town, but the primary concern of the Council was that since the cathedral is so close to the town border…”
“I see…” Hestia slumped back in her chair. “Hordes, you say?”
Regina shrugged, lips pursed, then nodded.
Brain running a mile a minute, Amelie picked up the pot again and began pouring tea into each of the other witches’ cups.
“It’s chamomile.” Amelie mumbled. “It will help calm our nerves.”
Hestia nodded confidently, picking up her cup as though she was just happy to have some sort of direction in the chaos. Regina wrapped her black hands around the porcelain, running a single finger around the edge, and Delia just seemed to stare at her reflection in the liquid.
“So…” Amelie continued. “What’s the plan?”
“There are two major concerns that need to be dealt with,” Regina responded, her voice steadier. “First, we need to contain the threat to the property. The mausoleum is working effectively for the one that’s already awoken, but there are thousands of bodies in the cemetery… it won’t hold them all.”
Hestia’s grip tightened on her cup as she took a sip.
“There should be protocols for this level of emergency…” Regina continued.
“A spell that can potentially erect a barrier on the property line, but it’s going to take two of us.
Since none of us specialize in abjuration, we will need to work together to provide the juice to power a barrier that large. ”
Amelie nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “Okay… and what about the second thing?”
Regina sighed deeply. “We are going to need to figure out how to deal with the zombies themselves. Eventually they’re going to become too numerous for us to handle, so we need to take care of them before that happens.”
The silence around the table was all-encompassing, implications lying heavily in the air like a fog.
Amelie glanced over to Delia, who was still staring into her tea, genuine fear stricken across her face. Thinking back to Delia and Hestia’s spat in the mausoleum, Amelie made an executive decision.
“Alright.” Amelie placed her cup down on the table. “Hestia, you go with Regina and see if you can find and enact that barrier spell. I’ll stay here with Delia, and we will brainstorm about the zombie problem.”
Regina reached over under the table and gently squeezed Amelie’s hand with a grateful expression.
“Amelie’s right.” Releasing Amelie’s hand and standing from the table, Regina nodded, offering a hand to Hestia. “Let’s go, Hes.”
Hestia looked like she was about to cry as she took Regina’s hand, but willingly allowed herself to be led from the room, leaving Amelie behind with a catatonic Delia.