"Thank you… thank you…", Cassandra chanted while prostrating herself in front of Talia.
"Don't make a scene", Talia said. She wanted to sound stern, but her voice was shaking. She couldn't imagine the amount of torture Cassandra went through and Talia was conflicted about feeling pity for the woman who tried to harm Damon.
"Go back quickly. Aren't you worried that Serena and Feya will find you here?", Talia asked while waving impatiently.
Cassandra scrambled to her feet, breathed another 'thank you', and then disappeared among the bushes.
Talia covered her face with her palms. The image of Cassandra's horrid flesh was etched into her mind, and she wished to erase it. Or maybe not… maybe it should stay there as a reminder of what witches are capable of. And not just witches, many others would cause harm indiscriminately. People shouldn't be trusted. No one should.
"Talia", Yasmin called. "About Cassandra, let me explain…"
"Can you heal her?", Talia interrupted Yasmin.
Yasmin paused for a long second before responding, "It won't be easy, but yes."
Talia nodded curtly and resumed moving among bushes with her palms glowing. "If we hurry, we can be back in time for dinner."
Talia didn't want to hear explanations for Cassandra's wounds because nothing could justify torturing a person like that. Maybe witches had their own way of doing things, but the fact that Cassandra was being watched by Serena and Freya told Talia how witches knew that what they did was wrong.
Talia looked at Yasmin who was visibly troubled, and she didn't know if she wanted to hug and comfort her or hate her.
Talia reminded herself that no matter what, Yasmin was nice toward her, and she should focus on that.
On the clearing…
'Damon', Talia's voice sounded in his mind and Damon jolted to look around.
'Did something happen?', Damon asked with urgency. He felt that Talia was not happy.
'No, no. Things are fine.', Talia responded quickly. 'Ask Keith to stick to Cassandra. I don't want him to leave her out of his sight.'
'Did she do something?' Damon now suspected that the Oracle did something bad. It wouldn't be the first time.
'Witches are harming her, and I fear they will do it again if none of us is nearby. I will also need your help to get Cassandra to leave with us. Let's discuss details later.'
'Alright', Damon agreed. 'When will you finish what you are doing?'
'Almost done…'
…
After the group returned to the Silver Flame Coven, and things settled down, Axel called Talia to the side to discuss something.
Talia and Axel went into one room and Talia closed the door before asking, "Did Yasmin tell you we are planning to leave tomorrow?"
Damon and Talia were still waiting to disclose this to Evanora, but people who were supposed to leave the realm of witches were notified.
"Yes, I know.", Axel said. "We will come with you."
Talia didn't think that Axel and Yasmin will also leave. Won't this make Evanora hate them more?
Talia was aware that there could be many benefits if they stayed longer. Other than investigating the disappearance of Yasmin's father, Damon and Talia could learn more about portals, their abilities, Guardians, and many other things. But Talia was unsettled as her instincts told her to leave, and no matter how much knowledge was in the Silver Flame Coven, there were also many traps. Cassandra's wretched condition was proof of it.
Would witches do something so vile to her and Damon if they could? Talia didn't want to think about it.
But no matter what they would do to Talia and Damon, Yasmin and Axel were safe. After all, Yasmin was Evanora's daughter, and Axel was her mate. Considering how protective Evanora was of Yasmin, Talia was confident that no harm will come to Axel because harming Axel meant harming Yasmin.
"Are you sure you want to leave with us?", Talia asked. "Don't you want to stay here and bond with your mother-in-law while researching the phenomenon we observed? I'm sure that Yasmin would like to investigate it more."
Axel waved his hand dismissively. "We don't need to be here to figure out what it means."
Talia eyed him suspiciously. "It seems you know more than you are telling me. Is that why you called me here?"
"I don't know much about what we observed, but…" He told her that his ability evolved and how he used it to mentally devour thousands of books. Serena was keeping an eye on him when they went to the archives in the afternoon, but then he returned on his own after dinner, and he spent the night reading anything his hands could reach.
"Wait, wait…", Talia said. "Are you telling me that you just need to touch a book and you know its contents?"
Axel was surprised by Talia's excitement. "Yes."
"Woah! Can you go through a few textbooks and then explain them to me quickly?"
Axel was not sure where she was going with it. "Textbooks?"
Talia was embarrassed to admit her situation, but if Axel was about to help, she needed to tell him. "I am taking online courses to get my high school degree. With Damon's help, I'm making good progress, but I still need at least a year to complete everything. With your help, that can go down to months."
Axel couldn't believe this. "You want to use my ability to cheat?"
"That's not cheating. It's not like I'm asking you to take exams in my place." Even though, that would be a good idea. Did she really need calculus in order to be a good Luna and Alpha? Does anyone need those things?
Axel chuckled. She was adorable and he couldn't refuse her. Besides, it will give him more time with Talia, and he wanted to get to know her better.
Talia was happy that Axel agreed, and he even said how she can bring books to the Midnight Guardians pack, and even if it takes her a week of studying (with Axel's help) to prepare for an exam, that would just be hours in the human realm. Talia liked this.
Thinking that they were done, Talia was ready to leave the room and join Damon. Only when he was in her visual range, she was at peace.
But Axel stopped her, saying that there was one more thing he wanted to discuss.
"Now that I've had time to think about everything I've read, I noticed one oddity. As much as witches' archives have a lot of information, there are gaps in data, like someone purposely removed specific records."
"And you are telling me that because…?" Talia waited for him to finish that thought.
"Because I noticed a similar pattern in the Midnight Guardians pack."
Talia could sense the concern behind his serious tone. "Can you explain that?"
"I will need to double-check when we get back, but I am fairly confident that specific documents were removed."
"Like?" Talia could see that he was not talking randomly.
"Like information related to the portals. There might be other gaps but without knowing what should be there, I can't guess what was taken."
"Didn't Evanora say how witches who went to investigate portals took that information with them?"
Axel looked at Talia like she said something silly. "Do you really believe that? Witches treat their archives like a treasure. If it's a book or two, maybe they would allow it. However, how was it possible for them to take ALL information about portals to the field?"
