19 Rite of Passage 2

The headwitch had just finished her tea when she felt a presence by her door. Usually, her two familiars-wolves, Dusk and Shadow would take care of the nuisance but surprisingly the pair did nothing.

Confused the witch sauntered to her wooden door and opened it. A headache assaulted her as the young princess appeared and greeted her.

"A pleasant morning, Madam Hallows!" the girl beamed. Her reddish eyes glowed with anticipation.

Heather was about to close the door in annoyance but Lily used her foot to block it. "Wait! Wait please!"

The headwitch huffed in aggravation. It had been a fortnight since her visit in Sorrel's house. It had been two weeks that she had met Lily.

After her rejection, the kid suddenly appeared on her doorstep with Sorrel.

Both the younger caster and the child implored her again with the offer, but she had rejected the idea. However, the girl refused to give up.

Lily couldn't take no for an answer. Unfortunately, her constant presence had become an annoyance and it was already getting on the headwitch's nerves.

"Please Madam... please reconsider...allow me to train and become a witch." The girl begged which made Heather snapped out of her reverie.

She turned to the side and saw the two wolves on one corner. They were both lying down with their heads on their paws.

'Those idiots are not doing their job! They allowed her to set foot on my territory again!' She seethed. They seemed to have developed a soft spot for that child.

Although she wouldn't admit it, Heather had admired the child's determination. She was persistent in doing things that would get whatever she wants.

Heather took in the girl's appearance.

Unlike a fortnight ago, Lily seemed to have bounced back to life. Although she was still considerably weak in Heather's standard, there was this confidence and vitality radiating from the girl.

'Maybe... just maybe... This child can do it.' A part of her wanted to give the child a chance.

'No! You can't be thinking of such a thing! She is just a plain human...a non-caster!' another argued.

'A plain human, a non caster who had your daughter's blood in her veins...'

Finally with her inner turmoil and patience growing thin, she gave the child a shot.

"I will consider your proposal." She began. In response to her statement, Lily's face brightened. "However, you have to do something as a rite of passage."

With that said, Heather noticed that the girl's face contorted with worry. The witch hid a smile before continuing.

"If you can do the task I will ask you, then consider your request done. But if not, you will leave us alone. I will have Sorrel or Zeke delivered you to a human village. You won't be allowed to set foot in Nightshade's Grove nor learn any magic."

Lily seemed to have thought about the condition before blurting out. "What will be my task?"

"You have to retrieve Hazel's body. I want it delivered here before the sunsets tomorrow. You have approximately twenty-four hours to do the task. However, you have to do it without help from anyone."

"It had been a fortnight; her body must have been decomposing by now." The girl protested.

"I don't care. That's the task. Get on with it if you want your wish to come true."

With a wave of her hand, Heather transported the Lily back to Sorrel's place.

~~~

Lily was a bit unsure of what to do. She needed to find Hazel's body and bring it back. "How am I supposed to do that without any help?"

Zeke walked in the door with a few items in hand.

"What's the matter, Your Highness?" the wizard asked as he set his things down on the coffee table.

Lily relayed all of the things that Heather asked her to do. Zeke's brows knot. He really wanted to help the princess but with that certain condition, he knew that he mustn't.

After she finished talking, Sorrel sauntered inside the room. "Zeke, the invisibility powder is in here. I also included the book of spells that you have lent me."

"I had put on a new cloak I made, a flask of self-refilling water and a few pieces of ginger bread. She motioned to the satchel and asked. "Did I forget anything else?"

The wizard just raised his brows, not really getting what the witch was trying to do. But he was able to put two and two together after the witch dropped the satchel on the coffee table near the princess.

"Zeke, have you seen my broom?" Sorrel asked the wizard while allowing her gaze to roam the room.

"I think you left it outside." he answered before adding a few more essential items in the satchel.

"Right." The witch said but made no move getting the item. Instead, she said cryptically. "I think those were that things that are needed. Just use your head and everything will work out fine."

Clueless of what was going on, Lily just eyed the satchel with interest. If given the chance, she could use that satchel for her solo mission.

Lily just snapped out of her musing, when the witch grabbed the wizard's collar and pulled him towards the kitchen.

"I am quite famished. I want to have some enchanted tea, so you have to make me some before you go." The witch said as she dragged the protesting wizard to the kitchen.

All the while, Lily was confused with how the two had acted. Sorrel had ignored her and Zeke seemed to have left her out.

Her eyes went back to the satchel. 'Maybe, I could borrow it for a while.'

She took a glance at the two casters before they disappear on the doorway. Zeke gave her a thumbs up. Sorrel winked at her before inclining her head at the satchel.

When the two were out of sight, Lily did not think twice. Taking the satchel and grabbing the broom on her way out, she ran towards the edge of the grove.

As soon as the house was nowhere to be seen, Lily opened the satchel and took the cloak. Before putting it on, she had sprinkled the invisibility dust for extra measure.

The staying hidden part was a breeze for her. She had a few years of experience in sneaking out of the castle without getting caught because of the invisibility dust.

The main problem lies with the flying part. Hazel was not able to teach her how to fly a broomstick.

Remembering that a spell book was included inside the satchel, she tried researching about flying broomstick.

"How to ride a broom?" she muttered as she flipped through the pages of the book. Then she stopped at a certain page. "Ah, found it!"

"One, you have sit on the broom. It should be side-saddle." She read the first one.

"Weird, I though you need to straddle the broom." She couldn't help commenting but decided to shrug it off.

"Two, grip the broom and channel your mana into it." her brows creased. "I only know that basics of channeling, but I haven't done it with a broomstick. This is going to be challenging."

"Three, kick off the ground to make it rise. Four, guide the broom towards your destination."

After reading the instructions, Lily decided to give flying a try. She straddled the broom instead of side-saddling it and balanced herself.

However, even before she kicked, the broom rose from the ground. "Kyaaah!" she screamed as the broom zoomed off to nowhere.

Lily's eyes widened as she was approaching a huge elm tree quite fast.

"Stop! Stop!" she screamed as she gripped the handle with as much force she could muster.

She was able to evade crashing on the huge trunk with just a hairsbreadth. Unfortunately, she got tangled up on the branches, receiving a lot of scratches on the process.

"This is going to be a long journey." She groaned as she held on a thick branch for dear life.