Gabriella’s POV
“Why am I not allowed when my daughter’s life is at stake? Do you know the pain of losing a child?” I yelled, driven by my emotions.
“Hey, you! Accepting you into our tribe doesn’t give you the right to barge into our meeting and speak out of turn,” one of the elders rebuked me with disdain.
“I am not just ‘hey,’ and I have a name. It’s Gabriella, and I am the mother of the child you are planning to kill,” I retorted with a sharp edge, showing little regard for their authority. He shook his head in exasperation and scoffed, “We are all aware of that, yet you are not allowed in here. Do you understand? Now leave, or I’ll ensure you’re forced to leave.”
His threat triggered laughter from me. “Is she crazy or what?” someone else questioned, further mocking me. I halted my steps, turning to face Margaret, who intervened with a plea, “Please, Gabby, you need to excuse us. Once we’re finished, I’ll fill you in.”
“No, I’m not leaving, and I apologize for my lack of respect earlier. We’re discussing Estella here-my innocent daughter. Nothing can make me leave, and I don’t care if you attempt to eject me forcibly. I’m telling you, I’ll fight back to defend my daughter, no matter who opposes me.”
“Gabby, I empathize with your feelings, but right now, you need to depart, okay? This meeting is intended for witches, and you are not one. Yes, I know you possess some spellcasting abilities, but that doesn’t grant you witch status,” Margaret reminded me, highlighting my identity as a powerless omega who couldn’t shift into a wolf and wasn’t a true witch. However, the training and spells I had acquired were a source of strength, a means of protecting my daughter and lover.
“I’m going nowhere,” I firmly declared.
“I don’t see why we’re even trying to reason with her. Eloz puz rese…” The bothersome elder began enchanting a spell to expel me from the room. Still reeling from the previous attack by Dedusa, I was in no condition to evade the incoming spell. Yet, even if he hit me with it, I was resolved not to be forced out. Luckily, Margaret countered his spell with one of her own, shielding me from its effects.
“That’s enough! You cannot cast such a spell. It’s only natural for a mother to react this way when she knows her daughter is slated to be killed as a solution. Cease immediately,” Margaret ordered, silencing him. He grew incensed and returned to his seat, angrily stomping his foot on the floor.
“Gabby, I love Estella as if she were my granddaughter, and I will never permit any harm to befall her. Trust me, I’m against the idea of killing her to permanently seal away Dedusa. There must be another way. Just trust me, and I will address this as a mother, okay?” Margaret reassured me, her words resonating with something inside me.
“Fine, I trust you. I’ll withdraw for now, but remember your promise. No harm must come to my daughter,” I emphasized before departing.
“Yes, no harm will come to her, I will protect her with everything I have, When we are done with our meeting, I promise to fill you in on what we concluded on doing as well.” She assured me and I nodded my head, I looked at the annoying elder with anger before taking my leave and I shut the door behind me resting my back as well as I took a deep breath.
“Estella, I will do everything to protect you, even if it costs me my life, I will make sure I keep you safe at all cost,” I vowed again and walked out of the route stepping out thinking of what to do to help the situation since Margaret is trying to settle the other situation in there.
“What do you think I can do to help Estella?” I decided to ask Leah, It seems Leah is speaking to me more often, is it because there is always a problem coming in, or what?
“We wait.” She replied.
“Wait? We just can’t be waiting when Estella has Dedusa inside of her, I should be doing something as her mother, and what do you think?”
“And what exactly do you think you can do at the moment? We have no idea how to get rid of her, Your spells are not working as well and you are yet to recover as well, so I will say, let’s just wait and I believe Margaret will come up with a remedy which does not involve killing Estella.” She said in a cool tone and everything she said was right Still I just can’t sit back and fold my hands waiting for Margret, Usage of powers is not everything at times but knowledge is also a tool that can help defeat Dedusa.
“I think I know what else to do,” I added with a little excitement and I got a glimpse of hope as well.
“Don’t tell me you are going to walk back in there and disturb their meeting again?” Leah questioned and I smiled saying, “Hell no, I am not doing that, I will join the other witches searching for all ancient books to find out things about Dedusa, and just like Nick said to me, you need to study things about your enemy because that’s the only strategy to get rid of them.”
“Yeah, you are right, that should help as well.”
“Okay, got to go now.” I stopped talking to Leah and I joined the other witches to search among the thousands of ancient books and I will say this is so frustrating.
“Any hope yet about Dedusa?” I inquired from the others.
“Not at all.”
“Oh wow, does that mean she is really old? Like she is not related to this modern age at all?” I was forced to ask because I am feeling there is no record of her.
“No, she is from the 60s.”
“OMG, that old, how on earth did she survive that long?” I said with my eyes popped out and they all laughed which made me wonder.
“Why are you all laughing? Did I say something funny here or did I do something funny?” I checked myself again.
“I am just kidding she is not from the 60 and none of us know what year she is from, but cases like that are normally recorded among the ancient book because the spells she used are also from the ancient as well.” She explained to me and I took a deep breath, “I understand now and please can we not make jokes? This is a serious case and I need to make sure I find a solution.”