Despite the mewing complaints of my partner I managed to stand after several minutes of struggling. Although it probably wasn’t good for my wound, I preferred to be mobile in case something happened. Or I needed to use the bathroom.

  Wandering around the room I found it as simple as it first appeared. A tiny log cabin in the middle of nowhere.

  It had probably been used as a storage shed before I arrived, considering how small it was and the fact it didn’t have a fireplace for the winter. Considering the circumstances, I was lucky they went this far.

  Glancing out the window all I could see were thick woods. There wasn’t a single landmark to let me know where I was, or which direction I’d have to head to get out of here. Without that I’d have to wander blindly and hope I found the edge of the woods before I starved to death. Not something I was willing to attempt, not now anyways.

  Once I’d finished inspecting the area, I wandered over to the small chest at the end of the bed. Carefully crouching down, doing my best to avoid aggravating my wound, I flipped it open. Laying inside was my clothing, removed from my carpet bag, laundered and nicely folded. The bag itself was missing, as was the rest of my gear, but I couldn’t exactly blame them for that. Leaving the weapons, or broom, of a witch you didn’t trust within easy reach was probably the stupidest move anyone could make.

  Grabbing one of my loosest shirts, I stood up and struggled to put the thing on. Raising my arms too high pulled at the gunshot, so I needed to put my right arm through, drape the shirt over my head, then carefully maneuver my left arm through the other side. I somehow managed to do it without aggravating my wound too much.

  With that ordeal dealt with I grabbed the basket Clara had left, brought it over to the table, and slumped into one of the chairs. I regretted not taking it slower when a spike of pain went through my side. I’d have to be more careful going forward.

  Kaylee jumped up on the table as I started digging through the small basket, obviously looking for a treat.

  “Did you explore much while I was out?” I asked quietly as I dug through the basket.

  She quickly poked her head inside, before giving me an answer. “Mow.”

  “Detection charms, huh? Guess they really don’t want us to poke around too much.” Fishing a small piece of some sort of dried meat out of the basket I passed it over to her before grabbing a piece for myself.

  While the two of us sat there, quietly enjoying our snack, there was a disturbance outside. When Clara had arrived, and disappeared, she had done so without disturbing a single leaf. Whoever, or whatever, was coming to visit was nowhere near as subtle.

  Suppressing a groan of pain I pushed down on the table and used it as leverage so I could stagger to my feet. Quietly I crept over to the window and peeked out.

  “Cheyenne, she's dangerous, we should wait until the elders say we can visit,” one voice whispered.

  “She is not! If she wanted to hurt us she would have done it on the train. We should at least say thank you,” a second, younger voice whispered back.

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  I rolled my eyes and leaned out of the window, staring down at the two young girls hiding just a few feet away. “Small tip. If you want to sneak up on someone it’s best to have your arguments before you’re close enough for the target to hear you.”

  The girls jumped, staring at me wide eyed. They looked better than the last time I saw them, which wasn’t surprising since they’d had several days to recover from their imprisonment. As they clutched each other’s hands I noticed they still had the shackle cuffs hanging off their wrists. Now that I had a chance to get a good look at them I realized the younger couldn’t be much older than twelve, and the older around fourteen.

  “Why do you still have those on?” I asked, pointing at the bronze colored restraints.

  “Because the metal disrupts magic, and no one in the coven knows how to pick locks, so we need to wait until they get some tools to cut them off,” the younger, half native girl announced, before the elder shushed her.

  “Well, if you do decide you do want to come in, and thank me for saving you, I can remove them for you. No rush though,” I told them as I slipped back inside. I managed to slowly shuffle over to the table and lower myself back into the chair before the two actually made their decision.

  They knocked politely on the door, and waited for me to respond. “Come in,” I yelled at the closed door.

  “Hello miss,” the younger chirped as she came and stood before the table, she was practically dragging the older girl behind her. “My name is Cheyenne, and this is Dakota, we wanted to come here today and thank you for saving us the other day.”

  I raised an eyebrow, Dakota looked more terrified than thankful, but I didn’t mention it. “You’re welcome. How did you two get captured anyways? You must have been pretty far from the coven for that posse to feel safe enough to snatch you.”

  “That’s a long story,” Dakota said slowly.

  “Well you can tell me while I take off your cuffs,” I said as I used one foot to push the chair opposite me away from the table. “Sit down, and put your arm on the table.”

  Cheyenne slipped right into the chair, and slid both of her hands to the middle of the table. She kicked her legs lightly, and put on a wide smile while she waited for me to go to work.

  “So, the reason you were outside the coven?” I prompted as I leaned forward and grabbed the first restraint between two fingers. Void arced between my fingers for a second, and the metal fell away.

  Dakota licked her lips as she watched me work. “The truth is, we went looking for medicinal ingredients for my grandmother. She’s been sick for a while now, and the coven was starting to run low on her medicine. Cheyenne convinced me that if we went out, we’d be able to gather some, but those assholes grabbed us before we could.”

  Cheyenne’s second shackle popped open, causing the girl to whoop in joy before popping out of the chair and making room for Dakota. “You don’t have to berate us about it, the rest of the coven has been telling us off ever since we got back,” she said dispondantly.

  “I won’t,” I promised her quietly as I severed the first cuff. “Do you know what your grandmother has?”

  “No one does! She just keeps getting worse and we can’t do anything about it,” the girl sniffed.

  “And magic can only create, not destroy,” I said quietly as I removed the final binding. “So using magic to try and cure her will only make her worse.”

  Dakota pulled her hand back the instant I was done and rubbed her wrist. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied, taking the stack of shackles off the table and casually tossing them into one corner. “I appreciate you coming out to visit, but you should probably get back. If someone comes looking for you, and discovers you’ve disappeared so soon after getting back, they’ll panic.”

  “Makes sense! Thanks again, miss,” she said, bobbing her head as she backed towards the door.

  “My name’s Zoey,” I told them. “Come again, but make sure you tell the others where you’re going next time.”

  The younger girl bobbed her head again, before popping out the door. Dakota started following her out, but paused in the door and looked back, “Thank you for rescuing us.”

  “You’re welcome,” I called as she slipped out the door.

  “Mup!” Kaylee declared as she jumped up on the chair the girls were sitting in before putting her front paws on the table.

  “Even if the void could possibly help, I’m not going to tell that girl that,” I hissed at my cat.

  Kaylee squinted her eyes angrily. “Mow!”

  “I’ve never tried anything close to that difficult before, and even if I was willing the coven would never allow me to try. Best to not give her false hope,” I growled. “Besides, we’re probably going to be stuck here for a while, it’s probably best to avoid killing any coven members while we’re here.”

  My cat continued to stare at me angrily, but didn’t complain further.

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