A fanciful arrangement of rocks, shells, bones, crystal fragile glasses, and other strangely assorted objects were intricately used to decorate the grotto.
Beautiful flowers were dutifully planted beside each stool-sized rock, giving the place an enchanting feel.
But, at the center of the grotto, was something more captivating.
It was a delicate white sculpture of a very young and beautiful woman, but she noticed something devastating about the sculpture.
The sculpture had placed her hand on her neck and her face was looking toward the river, like she was seeking to find something.
Audrey walked up slowly to the grotto, and when she was close enough to take in the sculpture’s face, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
It was her! She stood there, shocked. She couldn’t believe she was staring at her sculpture.
What does this mean? Does it mean this place had something to do with her past life hundreds of years ago? Was this the clues she’s even searching for? She moved closer, closer until she stood before the sculpture, she raised her hand and gently caressed the face of the sculpture.
Who would have done this type of thing for her back then?
This whole place felt like someone or people specially built it to acknowledge and worship her and her powers. Was it a lover? She dismissed that thought immediately.
Ever since she discovered her powers, she’s never seen any visions of a man in her life, but still, she’s never really seen any visions at all about Catherine’s previous life.
Even though she had memories from then, it was just about her and her sister, Enissa.
At the thought of Enissa, it was as if the sculpture could hear her thoughts because the eyes turned to bright glowing gold.
“Oh! My god!” Audrey exclaimed frighteningly.
She never expected her sculpture to come to life, but before her eyes, it turned its face to her, and she felt her body being possessed again.
‘So, it was you all along!’ She thought in her head knowing it would hear her.
Since she could no longer use her mouth to speak, and she needed to communicate with the sculpture, the only way to do it was through telepathy.
“Never mention her to us again!” A voice identical to hers sounded from within the status, but the lips didn’t move.
Audrey knew it was from the status, it was angry that she had thought about Enissa In her presence.
“You’ve been swayed for long, it’s time to claim your powers and send her back to where she belongs.” The sculpture said again.
“He’s waited for so long,” The sculpture said sadly.
Audrey wanted to reply through her mind but she noticed that she was unable to even think, the sculpture had taken absolute control of her.
“Go! Find our amulet, and end what you should have ended centuries ago!” The sculpture said.
And just like that, Audrey felt her feet levitate six inches above the ground, and she saw herself slowly float toward the river.
She reached the center of the river and slowly started to descend into the water.
Her feet first dipped into the cold water, then it reached up to her knees.
She thought it would stop there, but she suddenly felt something like a hand pull her into the river.
The last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness was a very bright light she saw above the water before everything turned dark.
~~
Audrey gained consciousness but didn’t bother to open her eyes, she felt herself lying on a soft grass, and she felt the sun rays warming her skin with the soft breeze caressing her skin.
It got her confused because she knew it was still nighttime and everywhere was still supposed to be pitch black.
“Catherine! Catherine!” Audrey heard a teenage girl’s voice from a distance.
“He-he-he!” She heard a familiar voice giggle secretly, not quite far from her.
She slowly opened her eyes to find herself lying under a huge tree that looked familiar to those she had seen in the orchid.
Sunrays were softly streaming through the leaves, shining on the soft green luscious grasses.
Audrey sat up and discovered that she was still in the same place, just, at a different time.
She looked to her left, from where the giggles had come from; and saw a young girl of about, twenty-one years old.
Her hair looked as if it was in flames as the sunrays danced around it, and her long white dress was embroidered with flower patterns on the neck and sleeves. She wore simple brown sandals that exposed her delicate smooth feet.
The girl looked pure and charming with her fair skin glowing with every sunray that touched it.
It was her.
It was her as Catherine.
Audrey didn’t need anyone to spell it out for her; she knew she had traveled to the past.
Catherine was trying to help her understand everything.
Audrey watched as Catherine covered her palms over her mouth to stop herself from giggling and revealing herself self to the voice that was searching for her.
Audrey stood up and walked closer to her.
She was in the orchid part and looking at the whole garden from there in daylight made it look more beautiful, but she noticed there was no grotto present in the garden as she had seen in the present life, it was just trees, flowers, and the river. She wondered about the incident that led to the creation of the grotto.
“Catherine, come on. Mama will be angry!” The voice sounded closer.
Audrey watched as Catherine slowly tiptoed out from behind the tree toward the direction of the voice. She followed her deeper into the orchid until she saw a seventeen-year-old girl with her back to them and looking from left to right.
“Boo!”
“Bloody hell!!!” The girl jumped on her feet with her hands on her chest as she breathed heavily.
She turned to see the culprit bent over and clutching her tummy while laughing hard.
Audrey looked on with surprise as she recognized the young girl.
It was Enissa.
“Catherine!” Enissa called angrily.
“Oh, poor sister. Does mama know that her little baby now swears, her face would be so fun to watch,” Catherine said as she slowly righted herself, still grinning mischievously.
“No, you won’t,” Enissa warned.
“Oh, I will, sister, I will.” Catherine patted Enissa’s hair.
Enissa frowned and faced away from Catherine.
“Come on, don’t be a damper,” Catherine held Enissa’s hand and led her to sit on a huge branch, sitting beside her.
“You’ve come all the way to find me here, what’s so important?” Catherine asked.
Audrey walked to an opposite branch and sat down, she wanted to hear everything they were going to discuss. From the looks of things, the sisters seemed loving together.
Audrey wondered what might have happened to get them to hate themselves so much in the end.
“Seriously?!” Enissa asked with disbelief, staring at Catherine with disappointment in her eyes.
“Yes, if I knew, would I ask you, dear sister?” Catherine nodded.
Enissa exhaled deeply, shaking her head.
“It’s your birthday today,” Enissa said, looking expectantly at Catherine; as if there was an underlying message that she was supposed to dissect out of today not being only her birthday, but something more.
Catherine exclaimed, “Oh, it’s true! Mama is going to be so angry. I left so early and didn’t even let her sing me the song. Wait…” She looked at Enissa, horrified.
“I’m doomed!” She exclaimed.
“You just realized, huh?” Enissa asked.
She thought Catherine had finally understood the implications of her early disappearance, but when she heard what Catherine said next, she lost all hope in her.
“I promised Mother to bake a cake with her this morning, she must be so saddened right now,” Catherine said sadly.
“That’s your worry?” Enissa asked helplessly.
“Shouldn’t I be worried?” Catherine was confused.
She had missed a pastry date with her mother and she knew what that entailed, she was going to be in her mother’s bad book for days, and none of her favorite dishes would be prepared for weeks, how could Enissa tell her not to be worried about that?!
“Don’t you remember…”
“Oh, how about I make her a dress, but I’ll tell her I bought it anyways, you know you can’t tell her about this,” Catherine waved her hand in the air and a beautiful blue flowery dress appeared out of the thin air.
She smiled happily and took the dress from the air, holding it against her length,
“Isn’t it beautiful, Mama will love it so…”
“No!” Enissa shouted angrily.
She angrily sprang up from the branch she was sitting on, snatching the clothes from Catherine.
“By heavens! What’s gotten into you, Nissa?” Catherine was shocked by Enissa’s unexpected outburst.
“This! This is the problem. First, Mama won’t like it, blue is not her favorite color, it’s pink!” Enissa threw the dress to the floor.
“Um, okay, calm…”