Chapter 65: The Invisible Hand
The witch was startled by our sudden entrance, her head snapping up, her eyes wide with alarm. For a moment, she must have thought we were her pursuers. Then, seeing that we were only two children, her expression shifted into a slow, ghastly smile, a predator's smile that held no warmth, only a chilling amusement.
“Parula, run!” Jared hissed, reacting with the lightning-fast instincts of a cornered animal. He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back, but the witch simply raised a hand, her fingers crooked in a casual gesture.
I felt it before I saw it—or rather, didn't see it. An invisible force, cold and strong as an iron collar, snapped shut around my throat. Air ceased to exist. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't scream. I turned my head, my eyes bulging, and saw Jared in the same predicament. His face was turning a deep, mottled purple, his eyes wide with terror, his mouth opening and closing like a fish on a line. An identical, unseen hand was choking the life from him.
“Come here,” the witch said, her voice a soft, bored whisper. She made a casual, grasping motion in the air, and we were yanked from our feet, dragged into the alcove as if by an invisible rope, utterly powerless to resist.
“Ugh!” I flew across the small space and slammed hard against the far wall. Jared landed beside me with a sickening thud.
“Tsk,” the witch clicked her tongue in annoyance, looking at her own empty hands as if they had betrayed her. “My control is still a bit clumsy without my wand. I pulled too hard.”
As she lowered her hands, the crushing pressure on my throat vanished. I gasped for air, my lungs burning. Beside me, Jared opened his mouth to scream for help.
“Oh, no you don’t,” the witch said, a flicker of amusement in her eyes. She pointed a finger at us. And then I felt it. The horrifying, intimate violation of fingers—cold, slender, and impossibly strong—forcing their way into my mouth, prying my jaw open and clamping down on my tongue like a vice. Jared’s shout died before it was born, choked into a strangled gurgle. He hadn't given up. Feeling the phantom fingers, he began to bite down, trying to sever the invisible intrusion. I tried to do the same, but it was useless. Though it felt exactly like flesh, my teeth met with no resistance. My tongue remained pinned. Then, with a cruel, deliberate pressure, the invisible fingers pulled my tongue forward, positioning it between my own teeth. I froze, a new wave of terror washing over me. If I bit down now, if the fingers were to suddenly disappear…
“Struggle again, and I’ll let you bite your own tongue off,” the witch said, her voice now devoid of all amusement. “Make another sound, and you die. Do you understand?” Jared, his eyes wide with terror, immediately went limp. The witch was too powerful. We were like two small, helpless infants in her grasp, to be played with, to be broken. A profound, hopeless despair settled over me.
“I’m going to let you go now,” the witch said, her gaze fixed on Jared. “But if I even think you’re about to call for help, I will kill you. And her.” She gestured towards me with her chin. “Is she your little sister? Or your sweetheart?”
“Nn-nn!” Jared shook his head frantically, tears of sheer terror now streaming down his face, cutting clean paths through the grime. Was he truly this afraid? The witch released him. He didn’t even take a moment to gasp for air. He scrambled forward, falling to his knees before her, his body trembling uncontrollably. He pressed his forehead to the filthy floor.
“Mercy, my lady,” he whimpered, his voice a terrified squeak. “Please, don’t kill us. I’ll do whatever you say. Anything!” He was so afraid he didn’t even dare to look at her.
“Oh?” The witch seemed pleased by his immediate, groveling submission. Her tone softened slightly. “Tell me, then. Why are you here? And don’t even think of lying. My arts can discern any falsehood.”
“We… we live here, my lady,” Jared stammered, his voice muffled by the floor. “This is our home.”
“You live here?” she asked, a new, sharper note in her voice. “Then where is Ash?” Seeing our blank, uncomprehending expressions, she added, a hint of impatience in her tone, “The man who lived here before you.” My blood ran cold. She hadn't stumbled upon this place by accident. She hadn't been looking for a random hiding place. She had come here on purpose. She had been looking for someone.
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