Chapter 7:
Isabella:
I slid through the walls of the camp’s dining hall. My business here is too urgent and too serious for me to waste time going through the door behind other people. I floated to the top of the room to try to locate Gale to tell him about what happened to Rachael. By order of Rachael’s birth father, I am to tell Gale about what happened to Rachael and then I have to find and tell one of the Seven Dwarfs. Rachael’s father didn’t me much about the Seven Dwarfs, but I do know is that they are supposed to be some sort of super secret organization that’s in charge of Rachael’s protection.
Gale:
I skipped my group’s morning activity of hiking in the morning. As great as it would have been to hike with Rachael again it was too dangerous of a risk. Witches and warlocks thrive from being in woods as it’s where we can absorb the most magic at one time: if I had gone hiking and been filled up with so much magic, I don’t think I would have been able to resist the temptation to use my magic to attack Monroe. He is always watching out for Rachael: every time one of us does a prank, he is always there talking the counselor into believing there’s a reasonable explanation for the outcome of the pranks just so Rachael can speak to him. By skipping out on the hike this morning, Monroe will have to watch himself with Snow there who will notice his looks towards Rachael: although Snow is a non-magic user, I have high respect for her because she is the type that will make sure to put you in your place if she feels you overstepped the boundaries. I had just sat down at a table at lunch to wait for Rachael when instead I felt a spirit enter the dining hall. I knew instantly that it was Isabella. She gives off a particular magical aura. I at first looked at the door to the dining hall to find her and froze when I realized that something was different and not in a good way. Isabella’s aura is the same no doubt about it, but the feeling her aura projected was all wrong. It gave me a really bad feeling. I slowly let some of my magic seep out from me from my feet. My magic thankfully going unnoticed on the floor spread throughout the whole dining hall and found no traces of Isabella magical aura. I then looked up and saw her floating in her long cream nightgown. Her long straight black hair was covering her face as she looked down on everyone as if looking for someone. I picked up my plate of food and dropped in on the floor. The plate broke into little bits of pieces on the floor causing the other people in the room to look at me. I faked an apologetic look and glanced up at Isabella who began to float over to me.
Isabella:
I floated over to where Gale was standing near a table after the little scene he had made to get my attention. I desperately wanted to ask him if he knows about the Seven Dwarfs; however, the rest of his camp group and Rachael’s other two roommates were there too. I settled for revealing myself to them once I touched the floor. Contrarily to what humans believe to be about spirits, we can still touch things when we want to.
“Hey Isabella what’s new?” Gale asked. A seemingly simple question with a shared double meaning if his body language says anything. I blinked twice at Gale borrowing his and Rachael’s little silent language where they talk using body language. The two blinks mean to pay attention. Gale set his left hand on the table, a sign that means he is watching. I turned to Rachael’s other two roommates.
“Hi I’m Isabella, a friend of Rachael,” I said waving at the two girls. Spirit’s natural almost freezing temperature are a sad misfortune that raises too many questions with humans. The girls greeted me back in return. “So Rachael is supposed to come find me this morning to talk,” I started, “but I haven’t seen her for some reason. Has she come back to your cabin from her group activity this morning yet?” By that time Gale, I could tell Gale was alarmed although he tried not to show it. The girls told that she hadn’t and continued on walking to their own usual seats. Snow frowned and Monroe’s face showed that he was intrigued.
“I just woke up ten minutes ago and I haven’t seen her. You and Rachael are really close, Gale. Have you seen her recently?” Snow asked. Gale gave her a questioned look.
“I was sick earlier. Didn’t you hike with her this morning?” Snow shook her head.
“I was sick too. Monroe, you should have though since you had to hike with her this morning right?” Monroe looked down at Snow and nodded. I could feel Gale suck in a gulp of magic from everything around us. I gave Gale a pointed looked whose grip on the table tightened.
“How was she this morning?” I asked him.
“She was fine up the way up, but she changed when we met this old woman.” Typical. Rachael is the type of person who will enjoy being around old people who show their age. “Rachael got an apple from the woman and she ate it on the way down and then she disappeared after we returned our equipment.” Gale cursed under his breath and slammed a fist down on the table. Snow and Monroe both looked confused while Gale and I shared a look. Some of this land that the camp is built on use to be home to a witch cult that didn’t agree with the magic council. The cult had members of some of the strongest witches at the time before they were said to be killed off, but apparently, not all of them had been killed and now they had Rachael, daughter of the most legendary, well-known, and most powerful witch.
“Wait what are you two thinking!?” Snow practically demanded. Gale answered and took a moment to about his words carefully.
“When I became a prince, I heard some bad rumors about how this place was a bad place to be before a camp was built on it.”
“Yea there’s rumors that this use to be haunted by some witches, but it’s all little children stories, though. It’s nothing to really worry about.” Oh, so the stories about this place reached the human world too. I glanced over to see Gale’s form gone completely stiff. He has too much on his plate right then so then I answered Snow.
“Snow I’ve read through all of the records to check about those stories and when the camp was built it said nothing about there being a house anywhere on the mountain. Nobody has recorded there being a woman going up there to live and now Rachael is gone. I think those stories you heard about this place are true because it’s too much of a coincident for two people to meet an old woman in a place where nobody lives and one of them has gone missing,” I explain to her slowly and making eye contact to make sure she heard every word. One of the Seven Dwarfs has to be told this big news about Rachael’s possible kidnapping.
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