53 Chapter 53: Women and witches (1/2)

SALEM: We vanished from the street.

For a moment, my body was weightless. Like it had split into infinite parts and only my thoughts remained. I felt myself being lifted up. Then: everything was white. I could breathe again. Something smooth and cold against my face. Elina's hand in mine.

I blinked. My vision cleared.

I wasn't sure what I was looking at. It didn't really make sense.

There were hundreds of tiny rooftops below me. Stretching into the distance, the city walls like a dam that prevented the houses from spilling out into the world beyond.

Then my vision turned white again. I breathed sharply. What was going on?

Elina squeezed my hand. Tightened her grip.

She said, ”Relax, we're just falling through a cloud.”

A moment later I could see again. I gritted my teeth. In shock. In fear. Now I understood: we were high up in the sky. Looking down at Larose. Falling towards the city.

”ELINA? WHAT DID YOU DO?”

Her eyes had turned to silver. They were smiling.

She said, ”I just wanted to look at the city from above. And here we are.”

My heart pounded. But I was starting to understand. Elina had used her magic to break our bodies apart and pulled us into the sky.

She looked at me. She said, ”We'll be fine. Just enjoy the view.”

Something reassuring in the way she said it. The way she looked. Like this was normal for her. And I guess it was.

I looked down at the city. The tiny rooftops. Thousands of tiny black dots moving between them. The market plaza. A pool of humanity. I looked beyond the city walls. The edge of the horizon. The last remainder of the sun. Its orange rays stretching the vast distances.

Elina said, ”It's beautiful.”

”Yes.”

”No woman has taken you up here before, hmm?”

I glanced at her. I wondered what she was trying to imply.

I decided to ask her something stupid. But I had to ask.

”We are falling, right?”

”Yes. But there is no need to worry. We're high enough. We won't hit the ground so soon.”

”You're a witch, right?”

”Mh-hmm.”

”Then why don't you fly on a broom to see the city from above? Why do this?”

For a moment she said nothing. Gazed at the city. The people. Her expression rueful. Maybe she was remembering something. Maybe a regret. Maybe something dear to her.

Eventually she said, ”Because I want to see your reaction.”

She let go of my hand. Let the wind carry her away.

She smiled. An expression that said, ”What will you do now?”

I swallowed. The cold hand of fear reached into my gut. Elina has brought me up here. And without her, I would be keep falling until I hit the ground.

”Hey! Don't let me fall like this!”

Elina vanished. Just like that. Blue sky where she was a moment ago.

Shit.

The rooftops were growing larger. The little black dots grew into tiny bodies.

I kept falling.

”Elina? ELINA?!”