I nod, glancing down the black markings on my body.
"To be honest, I didn't know there was any other way..."
"Well, the other way is the way of evil witches, like Nephera. Instead of their own... forces, they use other people to make magic."
"Wait, what? Other people?"
What the heck is he talking about? Ben glances toward Lysandra, but she doesn't react, and when he looks at his twin, Bonnie slowly nods. So she knows about this too. Of course.
"They... I mean, I'm no expert, but they apparently use the life force of other people to do magic..."
I remain quiet for a few seconds. What the heck is that now? Using other people? He means doing... those burns, that pain, and pushing it on someone else? This is...
"That's pretty fucked up..." mutters Kelsi.
It's the first time I’ve heard her swear, but Moon Goddess, I couldn't agree more with what she just said. This would make me want to freaking vomit. How can you inflict this onto someone else to do magic? I mean, it's already painful enough for me whenever I try to do it, I don't wish this on anybody else! No freaking way!
"Okay, when were you guys going to give me that information?" I ask the twins, a bit annoyed.
"I didn't think you'd need it," says Ben with a grimace.
"Of course I don't, but it doesn't mean I shouldn't have freaking known sooner! Bonnie, you too!"
"Hey, I thought you knew! You guys have been doing a bunch of research, and you talked about evil witches a while ago, I really thought this wasn't breaking news for you!"
"Well, it is," I sigh.
That certainly explains a bit better why everyone is so allergic to Nephera's name. Her being a... bad witch does resonate differently with me now that I know this. So whatever her power did to her, she... did it to other people? She probably didn't get burns like me, but it likely wasn't much better... I shake my head.
"Alright, I get it. So they... use other people to deflect the secondary effects? Like my marks?"
"I don't think it was anything like your burns," says Ben. "It just made people sick, like poisoned. They'd cough up blood or vomit, be super, super sick, and die."
Oh shit, it does remind me of someone... I try to think about it, but... Clarissa should have been a Water Witch, right? What if a Cursed One wasn't just about... the lack of power?
"You mentioned that the Cursed Ones tend to be... weaker? How is that?"
"I don't know. That’s all I heard, but apparently, it isn't just the fact that they don't have magic. They often don't live long, either."
I remain silent for a little while, taking all of that information in.
Clarissa was sick, very sick. With her mother being an Earth Witch, she would most likely have been a Water Witch, but no, she was a Cursed One. What if the Cursed Ones weren't just magicless, but unable to handle their amount of magic? If it forcefully... I don't know, attacked them? It was a similar sensation this morning. When Liam woke me up. I didn't realize the amount of pain I was in, my magic was working against me. It's not something that's just a part of me, it sometimes seems to have a will of its own. Maybe Clarissa's powers never came to be because she could never control it. Not only did she not have the necessary training she should have gotten from her mother, but she ended up with a power that was too strong and was consuming her life from the inside.
That's what that witch saw in me, she probably saw the powerless Clarissa, a Cursed One, using the unborn Mara's fire powers. Of course, it wouldn't make sense. Even if she had been a witch, Clarissa wouldn't have been a Fire Witch.
The question is, what happened? That witch implied that I... that Clarissa had stolen Mara's powers. Is that even possible? How did she do that? Mara was never even born! How could Clarissa have found out about an unborn child, whose very existence was concealed, and discovered a way to take her powers when she couldn't even endure her own? Regardless of how she got those fire powers, was Clarissa really able to handle it?
Something just doesn't make sense here. ...Did she get help? Did something happen that I missed? The hatred that Water Witch had was so intense, I felt like she was staring at some murderer, she made me feel like a damn criminal! However, it doesn't add up. If Clarissa stole Mara's fire powers... Why do I feel more like Mara than Clarissa? What really happened in that fire? Damn, I wish I had been able to see more of those memories...
"...Any more questions?" asks Lysandra.
I slowly shake my head. No, I think I'm done. Still with a lot of questions, actually, but those I won't find answers for here. Kelsi and the twins get up with me, and I politely thank Lysandra for all of her help until now.
"No worries. Come back around if you need anything... As I said, the Purple Moon Clan has nothing against witches... good witches, of course."
Just like that, we leave her house, and find the four of us slowly walking around the neighborhood.
The truth is, I'm a bit disappointed and torn inside. I didn't get the answers I really wanted to hear. That Mara wasn't the Black Brothers’ sibling, Liam's half-sister. Instead, what I got was more questions about Mara, Clarissa, and Nephera. I keep thinking something happened, but not as bad as what all the evidence points out. How desperate was Clarissa, and why did she get Mara's powers? The Clarissa I saw in that memory was... ready to die, if I may say so. Her quest was only to prove her mother was a real witch. She had no thirst for power, I felt nothing like that. So how did we get to where we are today? With Clarissa Garnett's body and Mara Jones' powers?
