It wasn’t until six months ago, when he’d killed the witch who “owned” him, that he’d started wandering out of the castle tower he’d grown up in. It hadn’t been nearly as difficult as he thought it would be to leave the confines of the castle. He’d been a prisoner there, and now he was free, but he mourned the years she’d stolen from him.
How sad was that?
There he was, a fully grown man, and he’d been locked up by someone who had kidnapped him when he’d been only a child.
That was something Felix knew with certainty.
There wasn’t a lot that he knew when it came to his own past, but he knew that Ursula wasn’t his mother. She had demanded that he call her “Mother.” His entire life, he’d been forced to use that term with her.
What she didn’t know was that his birth mother had been his mama. That had been the name he’d used when he’d met her. He hadn’t cared about Ursula’s stupid “Mother” title. That didn’t make her a mother anymore than sprouting wings would make Felix a bird.
He wasn’t a bird.
He was just...himself.
And now he was alone.
He didn’t like knowing that he was alone now. That wasn’t how his life was supposed to turn out. Was it? No, he didn’t think so. What Felix truly wanted more than anything else in his life was to know that he wasn’t worthless or isolated, but he feared that he was.
He was trapped now on an island he had no recollection of arriving at.
An island he didn’t belong on.
He spent his days walking around the island with Maple Sugar, his cat. “Mother,” whom Felix now knew was actually called “Ursula,” had gifted him with the cat five years ago. She’d known he was lonely, and it was obvious that she wasn’t about to let him leave of his own accord.
She’d finally gotten him the cat, and it had been quite wonderful to Felix.
Maple Sugar was everything he’d wanted in a companion, but then Ursula had started to realize that Felix loved the cat. He adored the cat. He liked the cat more than he liked Ursula, and she couldn’t have that.
Their entire relationship was based on destruction and chaos. Ursula made him do things – powerful things – or she would hurt him. Most of the time, she made him do things like build her furniture. Sometimes, she made him hunt.
She was a witch, Felix knew, so he thought she should be doing those things herself, but her powers had dwindled with age, and she hadn’t been able to replenish them. She’d tried to hide that fact, but Felix had seen the obvious shift in her in different ways.
Finally, about six months ago, she’d been weaker than she’d ever been. He could tell because the magical chains she bound him in when he wasn’t studying, doing chores, or appearing to island visitors as her dutiful son, had weakened. He hadn’t told her or shared this fact with her.
Instead, he’d hidden that information from her, tucking it away like a little secret.
He didn’t want her to know that he had been paying attention.
He definitely didn’t want her to know that he was completely aware of what he would need to do in order to claim his freedom.
Killing wasn’t something the witch had taught him. It wasn’t something she would approve of. Who would? Still, he knew it would be the only way he would ever get free of her, so he’d done it.
Now he was free.
But he carried a burden with him, and he was stuck on the island.
Felix didn’t know what she’d done, but she’d managed, somehow, to trap him on the island, and he didn’t know how he was going to break free.
He walked, making his way along the outside of the island the way that he always did. He could see the water. He could even touch it, but the moment he tried to swim away, and invisible barrier blocked him, keeping him firmly on land.
He was bound to the island, and he hated that fact.
Maple Sugar ran over toward the water and touched it with her paw before running back. She disappeared into a group of trees, but Felix knew she’d be back. Maple Sugar always came back to him. She was wildly good at locating him no matter where he might be.
Felix sighed as he looked at the water. He wanted his freedom. He wanted to leave this place once and for all, but he couldn’t. He held onto the hope that as time passed, the spell Ursula had cast on him would be gone for good and that he’d find a way to escape.
Even if he never got off of the island, though, he was glad that he’d killed her.