“I can still remember so much about that day.”
“Why couldn’t they fight back?”
“There had been a big celebration the day before,” Tabitha said. “It was my birthday, and the witches and mages were celebrating my graduation and my birthday at the same time. They were all so happy and pleased that I’d finished my training. They knew I was going to be very powerful and very strong.”
“So, they used their energy stores.”
“Yes.”
“And it’s hard to refill.”
“It can be,” Tabitha nodded. “Time helps. Some witches do things like meditate, and they believe that restores their energy.”
“What about kunzite itself?”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Mages
can harvest energy from the gem, but it wasn’t exactly a secret that our island was running low, and kunzite isn’t exactly easy to find. At least, not in the quantities that witches need to recharge.”
“So, she waited until their energy was drained, and then she took advantage.”
“In the night,” Tabitha nodded. She tried not to tear up, but it was impossible. She missed her family. She missed her mom and her dad, and she missed everything they’d stood for. “I was asleep when it started, but I woke to their screams. Everything was on fire. There were shapeshifters everywhere. They were literally tearing mages apart, and despite the magic we had, it was no comparison to Ursula. She was standing in the center of the island, and she was casting fire everywhere.”
“You escaped,” he whispered.
“I escaped.”
That was probably the most horrible thing about it all. She hadn’t planned on living. She hadn’t planned on escaping, yet she had.
“My mother brought me to a canoe and shoved me inside. I tried to fight my way out, but she used the last of her magic to conceal me. She pushed me out to sea, and I was the only one who survived.”
Tabitha had watched from the water as the smoke and flames engulfed Kunzite.
“I’m sorry,” Felix told her.
“Me too.”
“She does deserve to die for that,” he said.
“She used all of her power,” Tabitha said. “There’s no way she had any strength left after that. It would have taken her a long time to heal back and regain her power. I don’t know if she ever would.”
“When did this happen?” A strange look crossed Felix’s face, and Tabitha wondered what he was thinking.
“About six months ago.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve been tracking her down ever since then.”
“It wasn’t easy.”
“Why not? You knew who she was, apparently.”
“Yeah, well, Ursula kept her location pretty well hidden.”
“Tell me more about that.”