Miss Enchanter - Ophelia's Story (7 page)

“Excuse me?” She said
after making sure she was 100% non-feline.

“
Your cat, we
don’t usually allow pets in the store. She sure is a strange
looking little thing.” The sales lady told Ophelia.

Ophelia turned
around and there indeed sat a cat on one of the shelves leveled to
about her waist. The cat was just sitting there watching the two
young ladies, her bushy tail wrapped around herself as if for
warmth.

“
Well, hello
there kitty.” She said, and then turned to the sales lady “She is
very unique looking, but she is not mine.”

“
I’ve never
seen her before and she walked in with you.” The sales lady said,
as if she were insisting that Ophelia was somehow responsible for
the appearance of the animal.

Ophelia just
shrugged and turned her attention back to the various paint colors
and left the saleslady to deal with the unwanted visitor. Ophelia
picked out a few strips of colors and then decided she needed to
get back home since they were meeting with Luna tonight for dinner.
She left the department store and was walking towards the hill when
she heard “meow” and looked down.

“You again?” Ophelia
said, and then picked up the cat and looked it right in the eyes.
“Are you a real cat, or are you someone in hiding? Because you
don’t have to hide from me, I spent a long time as one of you.” She
said.

The orange cat
with the black noes and white tail just looked down.
”Meow.”

“
You sure are a
funny looking
kitty, but go
on. Ophelia said, putting down the cat. “I am going home and you
need to go to your home as well.” The orange cat followed Ophelia
almost all the way up to the hill, but disappeared when Ophelia
rang the bell to summon her wagon ride back to Thelma’s
house.

The big wagon
with the covered roof was a welcome sight for the wind had picked
up and the snow began to fall. Ophelia was familiar with Caramel
the horse that had regularly pulled the wagon, and one of the other
horses had come to get her,
she think that one was named Zippy, but this one she did not
remember seeing before. “Hello, I hope you know the way to Thelma’s
house.” Ophelia said. The miniature pony turned its head and looked
at her with big brown eyes before trotting off after Ophelia had
boarded.

Ophelia could
only imagine how beautiful the area would be in the summer months,
because it was postcard picture perfect today. There was
snow
and ice on the ground and
snow in the trees that looked as if it had been placed there.
Decorated by an expensive designer. Not unlike ice icicles on a
Christmas tree. Ophelia knew she had spent time there as a child,
but why could she not remember? It was a long ride from the hill to
Thelma’s house, but Ophelia did not mind a bit, she was lost in her
own thoughts.

Thelma met Ophelia at
the door. “How was your visit to the Village today?” She asked.

“It was good. I can’t
say I have a very good impression of London, but I also can’t say I
really know her well enough to judge at this point. Has she been
around here very long?” Ophelia asked, walking up to the fireplace
to warm her hands before taking off her coat.

“
London has
been in Enchanted for a while, but she won’t be here permanently.
She does not warm up to people easily, I believe she has had issues
with Janet.
Janet is an
excellent employee and she is here for the long haul. Have you
decided what you want to do with The Spa yet?”

“
Other than
redecorate it, no, not really. What is that delicious smell coming
from the kitchen?
I didn’t
realize how hungry I am until I got a whiff of that.”

“
It is beef
stew. Luna should be here shortly and we can eat
the
n. I also have homemade
bread for us. I picked it up today in the Village. Isabel made the
bread. She still makes the chocolates for the Shop and bakes bread
for the local restaurants and stores as well, even though she lived
a few miles further out now.”

“
And wine?”
Ophelia asked hopefully. “Do we have any wine left?

“Of course, although
you look like you could use something hot about now.”

“That is the plan,
I’m going to take a hot bath, or is Luna coming right away?”

“
Take your
bath, dear, there is no rush.’ Thelma said as Ophelia walked to her
bedroom. She ran a hot bubble bath and soon was enjoying the warmth
of the water and the smell of vanilla and almonds of the bath
salts.

When she
emerged from her bedroom she was wearing pajamas and a robe
although it was just barely dark outside. She felt very comfortable
and was looking forward to some of that stew Thelma had on the
stove. She was happy to see Luna had already arrived. “Hello, Luna,
doesn’t that stew smell wonderful? I can hardly wait to chow
down!”

“
Hello,
Ophelia.” Luna said, putting the butter
and jam on the table and sitting down while Thelma
dished out big bowls of the beef stew. They ate their meal and made
small talk in-between chews. Ophelia could not believe how good
everything tasted. After they were finished, each took a mug of hot
chocolate and sat by the fireplace in the living room.

Ophelia tucked
her feet under her and covered up with a big throw blanket and took
a sip of her hot chocolate. “Tell me more about the old country and
about my mother.” She said to her cousins. “I hadn’t seen my mother
in all the years I was stuck with Mrs. Johnson, I can never be able
to thank you enough for finding me and bringing me here, Thelma. I
just wish my mother could have known that I would have gone back to
her if it
had been
possible.”

“I am sure she knows,
dear.” Luna said and then clarified “The way all mothers know what
is happening with their children, you just feel it in your
heart.”

“Neither you, nor
Thelma had children?” Ophelia asked.

“That is
correct.”

“Didn’t you and Hugo
ever want to have children?” Ophelia asked Luna.

Luna took a
moment to sip on her hot chocolate and appeared to be trying to
choose her words carefully. “It was different with Hugo and me. We
have known each other for a very long time. Do you remember me
mentioning the king’s second cousin who also lived in the Palace?”
Luna asked Ophelia.

“Yes, you said that
she had powers and she married and had a son and that no one knew
that she wasn’t a mortal. I don’t think you mentioned her name
though.”

“
Her name
was
Julia. She married a man
whom she loved, but this man served the King and did his bidding.
The King ordered this man to head the purification of the forest as
the King called it, to rid it of any entities that were not there
to obey and serve the Crown. When he left with the King on his
travels a specialist was called in, he was the Great Evil we told
you about.”

“
You are
speaking of
him trying to get
rid of our family, right?” Ophelia asked.

“
Our family and
others. Up until
then everyone
coexisted without fear of being harmed or persecuted. With the
arrival of the newly formed huntsmen came great harm and changes to
our world. People were afraid of their neighbors and would do
anything to keep suspicion off of their clan. One woman argued with
a peddler over some sort of fasteners and he later had a stroke and
died. That was enough for some people to say that she killed the
peddler and declare her a witch.”

Ophelia
went into the kitchen and came back
with glasses and the bottle of wine. “I think I am ready for wine,
would you ladies like to join me?” Both Thelma and Luna said yes
and Ophelia poured them all a glass of the grape wine. She then
asked what happened to the lady who argued with the
peddler.

“She was put to
death,” Thelma said. “She was stoned.”

“How horrible! I am
so glad that our family was able to leave that awful place.”
Ophelia said.

Thelma put
another log onto the fire and then turned to her younger cousin.
“It was not an awful place, but there were some
powerful and evil people there.”

“
So what
happened to
Julia, the King’s
second cousin?”

She
was happy in her pregnancy and
overlooked a lot of what her husband, his name was Matthew, was
assigned to do. She overlooked or just did not want to know much of
what was taking place outside of the Palace gates. She was good
friends with your mother, but neither of them up until that point
had confided in the other anything regarding their
powers.”

“
You told me
about my mother and the Great Evil and how he attacked her, did my
mother leave the Palace after that happened? Did she at least
tell
Julia about
it?”

“
Your mother
wanted to leave the Palace, but thought it would be safer to stay.
That is not to say that she did not start to formulate a plan
though.
When Julia’s baby was
born, a young man and his wife were brought in to help Julia. The
girl was to help with the baby and her husband was assigned the
duty of driving them to wherever in the kingdom they wished to go.”
Luna explained.

“
I am surprised
they let
Julia go anywhere if
they thought that the people of the forest might harm them.”
Ophelia said.

“
Julia was not
a Queen, she was merely the King’s second cousin and as such did
not warrant the King’s full attention. As for Matthew, her husband,
he was very political and spent most of his time away from the
Palace.” Luna said, taking a drink of her wine.

“
One day when
Julia was in the nursery with her newborn son she saw him trying to
reach for a toy, I believe it was some sort of a rattler, a gift
from someone on their staff. The rattler was out of the little
boy’s reach so the baby sat up and the rattler lifted up and
floated over to the baby.”

“Did his mother see
that happen?” Ophelia asked, her eyes wide.

“Yes, and also a
young woman who was there to gather the soiled crib bedding to be
washed.”

“My mother?”

“
Yes, Ophelia,
it was your mother. Of course
Julia was shocked and was terrified that your mother would
report her and her son to the King and that her own husband would
hear and very possibly put them both to death.”

“Your mother told Julia not to be afraid and
that her son was to be celebrated, not feared. The two young women
bonded that day. They became very close friends and confidants.
There was no queen and no other women of royalty in the Palace. The
King and Julia’s husband Matthew spent months away from the Palace
traveling and Julia had a rather lonely life.”

“Sounds like it was a good thing that her
husband and cousin were not around much. Otherwise they would have
been there to witness the little boy’s powers.” Ophelia said.

“Yes, but little boys grow into toddlers and
Julia was terrified that he would be found out and put to death, as
would she. The Great Evil was still at the Palace and although he
paid no attention to her or to her son, Julia kept her son close to
her.” Luna said.

“Why was the Great Evil there in the first
place if the King and that Matthew were not even there?” Ophelia
asked.

“He was on his mission to seek out and
destroy those who were not like him. He had not known that the King
was traveling. He stayed long enough to ride through the forest and
ask everyone questions about their neighbors. He was a dangerous
man who wanted people to be afraid of him and they were. When he
saw an old woman on the path while he was hunting in the forest, he
ran her over before she could move out of his way.” Thelma told
her.

“Your mother was in a terrible predicament.
She wanted to be there for Julia and protect her and her son, and
yet her mere presence in the Palace put herself in harm’s way. The
young woman and her husband who worked and lived in the palace
became very attached to Julia and her son. They knew that the
little boy was not a mortal and did everything they could to
protect him.”

“Weren’t they afraid of the King or The Great
Evil? What were their names?” Ophelia asked, wanting to make sure
she kept everyone in her mind straight.

“The young lady’s name was Cynthia and her
husband was Ash.” Thelma told her. “And yes, they were worried
about what would happen once the King and Matthew came back.
Keeping the baby away from the Great Evil wasn’t hard with Cynthia
and Ash’s help. The Great Evil had no interest in babies, but they
all knew that they had to leave before the King and Matthew
returned if they wanted to live.”

“Did the Great Evil ever bother my mother
again?” Ophelia was almost afraid to ask.

“Only once more. Your mother, with the help
of Julia, Cynthia and Ash, were mostly successful in keeping her
distance from him. But one day when Julia and her son were in the
garden, the baby was about three months old by then, your mother’s
good luck ran out. Julia had her son on her lap and was singing to
him. The baby started singing the same song that his mother was.
The Great Evil happen to be walking by and heard the baby singing
with his mother.”

“Oh no! How horrible! What did they do?”
Ophelia cried.

“They did not see him approaching, but your
mother, who was nearby, did. She quickly started to sing herself
and that drew The Great Evil’s attention away from the mother and
child and towards your mother. Your mother sacrificed herself that
morning to save Julia and her son, but they all knew the time had
come to leave. They knew that even if The Great Evil left, that the
King and Matthew would be returning soon.” Luna told her.