The Hunt of the Grimalkin (Erresuma Book 1) by Dani Swanson (read aloud books txt) 📕

dark purple as the blue light of the bubble engulfed the sky. Her face was stern and fixated ahead. The wall of water that had started to crash towards the chateau hit the force field and fell back onto the blonde witch and Thalia. The mud trolls had started to jump onto the two witches, who were gasping for air. As the water hit the trolls they turned back to mud, partially covering the witches. The blonde haired witch screamed in a high enough pitch it burst out the windows in the chateau, sending shards of glass flying through the air.  She raised her arm and she and Thalia were immersed in a screen of red smoke. When the smoke had cleared, they were gone.

Sorgin lowered her cane and the blue light retreated back into the skull. She walked over to Charles and helped him up.  Thea and Robin were in shock, and panting as they lifted themselves up with their staffs.

“Heal him,” Sorgin demanded as she grab Thea’s hand. Thea nodded as she placed her hand on his face. The blood that was streaked down his cheek became moist and rolled up his face to the socket. The skin around his eye grew over the wound. Thea let out a moan and fell back; panting.

“Are you ready to learn now?” Sorgin questioned as she smoothed down her hair and adjusted her skirt. Thea looked over to Robin and raised her eyebrows, before her eyes rolled back into her head and she gracefully fainted down to the grass. Robin crawled over to her friend and wiped the mud away from Thea’s mouth as she cradled her head.

“You two are weak.” Sorgin said as she turned and started to walk back towards the chateau with Charles in tow. “Still think you can handle this on your own?”

The girls sat out on the lawn of the chateau for a few hours as Thea slowly woke up. The mud and filth had now hardened in the sun and was caked onto them. Fig had emerged from wherever he had disappeared to during their latest encounter with Thalia. Thea opened her eyes and started to blink in the sun. She raised her hand to block the light.

“Only out a few hours this time.” Robin said to Thea as she stroked her hair. Fig was sitting on her chest, looking down on her face.

“Thanks for the help, cat,” Thea said sarcastically as she patted the cat on the head. “What the hell just happened?” she asked.

“Well, Thalia is pissed….at you.” Robin said cynically as she pointed down at her friend. “And we suck at magic, and Sorgin had to save our butts…and”

Thea cut her off. “It was rhetorical, Robin.”

Thea sat up and took a look around the yard. There was a huge oak tree uprooted, laying in the middle of the lawn. There were muddy puddles all over what use to be a well maintained yard.

“I wanted to wait until you woke up to see what you wanted to do. Sorgin has mockingly invited us to stay by telling us how weak we are,” Robin said as she held out her left hand. “On the other hand, I pretty much died and then you had to save me; which means that you weren’t strong enough to take care of yourself. And, there are multiple witches trying to kill you.” She started to lift both her hands up and down like they were the scales of justice.

“So, we either stay locked up in the old witch's house and be protected, or we venture out by ourselves and continue to be stalked by the Crow Witch and her coven.” Thea pushed the cat off of her and pulled herself up with her staff. “Well, I guess we are going to swallow our pride, and ask for help. Come on.” She offered Robin a hand. “Let’s go eat our humble pie.” They limped back to the house and lightly knocked on the front door. After a few minutes of waiting, Charles answered the door sporting a new leather eye patch.

“Charles! Oh, Charles, I am…oh, I am so sorry you got hurt. Thank you for protecting us.” Robin stammered. Thea looked at him with tears in her eyes and touched his shoulder. He solemnly nodded at the girls as he gestured for them to come in.

The girls stood in the hallway and heard Sorgin’s heels clicking on the stone floor as she came around the corner. “I see you have decided to come in from the yard,” Sorgin said with a smirk on her face. She stood with both hands resting on her cane.

Thea swallowed hard. “Sorgin, thank you for your assistance out there,” she started. “I have no idea why she is hunting me; I seriously do not remember anything that has happened up to a few months ago. Can we try training with you….please?” Thea could not meet the glare of Sorgin as she spoke.

“The two of you are weak. I don’t know if you have what it takes to become powerful enough to handle those two witches, let alone a coven and a grimalkin,” Sorgin replied. “You cost Charles his eye and wrecked my yard. That grimalkin tore up my barn and chased off my horses last night, too.”

The girls lowered their chins in surprise as they looked at each other. “The Grimalkin was here last night?” Thea questioned.

“Look at the side of the barn.” Sorgin instructed as she led them to a window. The barn outside had ample swipes taken out of the side wall. Thea had an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she looked at all the destruction that had been caused by the two of them being at the chateau.

“Sorgin, I don’t know what to say,” Thea stated as she looked into the old witch’s face.

“Go up to your rooms, get cleaned