Secret Novel Chapter 43: Sisters (Patreon)

Madeline ran. She ran hard. She didn’t care about the fact that her hood was flapping behind her. Her ears felt free, and so did she. She had done it. Madeline had returned Planter to the Maze. She had snuck her way onto a mage campus. She had a mage help her because she didn’t realize Madeline wasn’t one of them. She had fought a mage and won! Two in fact! And it was so much easier than she expected.

Feeling free and on top of the world, she unclasped the cloak and let it fly away behind her. She knew the path to the closest entrance into the Maze. She knew there were only two buildings she would have to pass right before she disappeared into her home. Even if there were people there, which with the distraction she felt it was unlikely, they would be too stunned at seeing a very tall woman with both large fox ears and tail. Said tail was feeling great blowing in the wind and not tucked between her legs like it had been nearly this entire time.

The dragon’s breath had taken a lot out of her, but running back home reinvigorated her. She was ready to get home. Ready to be as far from the mages as she could get, because they were going to come after her for what she had just done. Not that some of them weren’t already trying to do that. She was just ready to be free from this place.

Soon enough Madeline spotted the two buildings. Both at the edge of the hedge, standing on either side of where Madeline knew there was a large opening into the Maze. Her freedom was at hand. And with that, the witch took a peek back behind herself. No one was chasing after her, but she could see the smoke and fire coming from the laboratory rising high into the sky. With a smile on her face, Madeline pushed herself harder to get to her salvation. As the buildings approached, Madeline kept an eye and ear out for mages, but didn’t see or hear any. Not that she was going to do anything but run straight into the Maze. No time for chats or possible fights.

Finally she ran up to the first building and bolted around the corner. She only got a second’s glimpse at the exit before she slammed hard into someone else. The force of her speed not only knocked her down, but the mage she had run into. Tumbling to the ground, Madeline did her best to cushion her impact, but it still hurt since the ground was cold hard stone.

“Fuck,” Madeline said moving to sit up and rubbed her head.

“You need to watch where you’re going,” a scarily familiar voice said from behind Madeline. If her heart wasn’t already beating up a storm, it would be now as she turned to face the mage. Sitting on the ground, rubbing a sore knee, was Flora. Madeline’s eyes went wide, one far more than the other, as she stared at her sister. “Who the hell are yo—” Flora’s words died as she finally looked up at Madeline. A look of shock and confusion filled Flora’s face. Clearly she was not only taking in Madeline’s face, but also the very noticeable non-human features.

“Really, Flora?” Madeline asked. Her heart was still pounding like a drum, but she was ignoring that. “You really don’t recognize your own sister?” Madeline could see the recognition come over Flora’s face, even though it was also clear she didn’t want to believe it. She might not look how she used to, but it was still obvious who she was.

“That’s not…”

“Possible. Yes, yes I’ve already been over this with Simon. It’s really me, your sister Madeline.” Before another word was said, Flora threw up her arm, and a bolt of lightning shot straight at Madeline. The air sizzled as the bolt lept from one sister to the other, but before it could hit Madeline, she used her magic and redirected it. Doing so was surprisingly easy. Whenever she practiced with Victor it was much harder. The force of the spell was so much stronger than what Flora had used. The bolt redirected right back at Flora, only just a little to the right so that it would zip right past her face.

As Flora’s hair stood on end, some of which was sizzling and burned off, Madeline saw her sister’s face turn to pure fear. The same fear she had felt when Marcus was trying to kill her. The same fear she felt when coming into the maze. The same fear that Madeline had felt when Victor was about to kill her. It felt both satisfying and horrid to see that look on her sister’s face.

“Weren’t expecting me to be able to use magic, were you?” Madeline pushed herself to her feet. “Neither did Simon.”

“You aren’t a mage, you can’t use magic,” Flora said almost angrily before throwing a new spell at her. This time it wasn’t lightning or the stun spell, but a green glob that smelled sharp and putrid to Madeline’s nose.

Using the same technique as she did before, she deflected it, only to send it at the building next to them. Madeline watched as the green blob splattered against the wooden wall and started to sizzle. The wood started to melt away wherever the green hit. The smell got worse and Madeline wrinkled her nose. By the time she looked back over at Flora, she was standing up.

“Really? I’ve deflected two of your spells, and you're going to say I can’t use magic? I thought you were smarter than that.” If there was one thing Madeline knew Flora hated, it was people questioning her intelligence.

“Shut up!” Again another spell sailed her way, but much to the same results as before. “How are you doing that?” Another lightning spell went Madeline’s way, but ended up being fired into the other building.

“I told you, Flora,” Madeline said, starting to circle around to get closer to the hedge. “I can use magic. Is that really hard to believe? I mean look at what I did to my body. That must be proof enough.”

“What? Let the forest folk turn you into a freak?” Madeline could see Flora building up for something again, but this time it was very slow.

“I did this all by myself, thank you very much.” She put her hands on her hips. She was proud of her body, and annoyed that everyone seemed to think sylvins did it.

“You can’t use magic, Mad—Edwin.” That made the Madeline pause. Flora had started to use her real name, but had to stop herself. Maybe there was still some of her sister in there. “Mages are the only human magic users,” Flora went to take a step towards her with a hand glowing. The only problem was that there was now a root sprouting and wrapping around her ankle. “The fuck,” Flora said doing her best to pull herself free.

“You know I’m not a good liar, Flora, and your own schoolbooks say there were magic users before you. Or didn’t you read your history book? I most certainly read the ones I stole.”

Flora looked back up at her with a snarl, but Madeline could see that things were starting to click in her sister’s mind. “That’s not po—” Flora cut herself off, now clearly remembering the mage’s own teachings from the birth of mages.

To help drive the point home, Madeline made another ball of force, only this one was very small and weak. She juggled it between her hands before throwing it at Flora. Her sister managed to block it, but it still made her take a step back. “See? Magic.”

“Fine, maybe you do have magic. Maybe you are a naturalist, even if they're extinct.” The emotions left Flora’s face as she now gave Madeline the same blank stare she had the last time they met. It also appeared she forgot about her tied up leg. For now at least.

“Witch,” Madeline said. “We call ourselves witches, but I wouldn’t expect you to know that. And yes, maybe we were extinct, but I’m the first to come back. At least that's what I’ve been told by lots of people. Bey-demons and hents, mainly.”

“Demons? So you sold your soul for magic?” Flora smirked. “Such a foolish move.”

Madeline crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at her sister. “How do you think I would have been able to summon a demon without magic? It took me weeks of prep and study to be able to summon him. I also didn’t sell my soul. I’m not stupid.”

The smirk on her sister’s face faded into a sneer. “So you summoned a demon to give you this freak of a body that isn’t even fully human?”

“No, like I said, I did all this to myself. Well admittedly, Victor gave me his eye,” she said pointing to her beyonder eye. “I did ask him to do that though. The ears and nose I gave to myself, and I think they look really cute.” She smiled and gave her ears a little wiggle.

“And the tail as well then?” Flora said as if trying to make fun of her.

“Ye—” Madeline cut herself off as her face started to turn red. She was still embarrassed by the tail, at least when not in front of Victor and his family. She could see that Flora was about to say something snarky with a big toothy grin on her face, so before she could, Madeline shyly said, “I lost a wager with the demon and he gave me the tail.”

“Making a wager with a demon you chained is foolish. I’m a little disappointed he didn’t use the chance to get his freedom and kill you.” Now Flora crossed her arms with a smile.

“Why does everyone assume I chained Victor? You, the forest folk, the hents. I wouldn’t chain my friend.”

Now Flora’s smile dropped and her eyes went wide. “You didn’t chain the demon?!”

“Of course not, he’s my friend! He’s free to travel between here and the Beyond and do as he pleases.”

“You gave a demon free passage to our world! Are you stupid?!” Not only did Flora sound flabbergasted, she sounded angry.

“Well, he can also bring anyone he wants from there, too. We even had his whole family over for my birthday celebration.” Were beyonders really that scary? Madeline still had only ever had good interactions with them, fights with Victor excluded.

“What?!” Now the mage started to look scared and she tried to step back, only to have the root hold her in place.

“Yeah,” Madeline rubbed the back of her head nervously. “He did that without telling me first, too, so I can see how that sounds bad. The forest folk are now really scared of me, too. Which is admittedly better than when they tried to enslave me.” Flora just looked at her with horror and confusion. “Still it was a great way to celebrate my first bloodmoon and birthday. Did you know demon’s don’t have bloodmoons?”

“What?”

“Yeah, apparently the go into heat instead, which they were more than happy to talk about in great detai—”

“You’re lying!” Flora now took a step forward as far as she could, anger now returning to her face.

“I’m not, they really were happy to—”

“You don’t have bloodmoons! You’re a man!”

For a second there, Madeline had almost felt like she was just chatting with her sister again. Telling her a fun story about some people she knew. Now her face fell flat as she looked back at her sister. “I’m a woman, Flora. I can promise you that I have all the right things down there. Explored that very thoroughly. Even your magic can give someone the right genitals.”

“No, magic takes away your ability to have children! You’re lying!” The anger was still there, but now there were hints of hurt breaking through.

Madeline looked at her sister with confusion. “No it doesn’t. It gave me the ability to get pregnant. Why would you think…” A few memories made their way into the forefront of her mind. One of the mage books talking about needing offerings otherwise they would all disappear. Victor saying that her being able to have children was far better than the mages. “You can’t have children…” Madeline looked at her sister and almost cried. She could see the hurt clearly now on her sister’s face and even a few stray tears. Though Flora had always wanted to study and go to school, she also wanted to raise a family. Have children. She even told Madeline once that since she couldn’t have children that she would be willing to get pregnant by the man Madeline would eventually fall in love with so that she could give Madeline the child.

“Magic takes that away! So stop lying!” There were more tears now coming from Flora.

“I’m not, Flora… Your magic might take that away, but mine gave it to me. I’m sor—“

“Shut up, you pervert!” For the first time in this interaction, Madeline flinched at her sister. The words came out with such pure hate, and it hurt far more than Madeline would have imagined. “Why don’t you just leave and go back home to mom and show her how much of a freak you are, and how much her grandchildren will be with your ears and tails!” Flora’s words were threatening to turn into sobs.

Madeline stared at her sister, feeling a few tears of her own fall down her cheeks. After a long moment, she said, “Mom passed away last winter. It will be a year in a few days…” Flora’s face dropped at her words. Madeline wiped at her tears. “Before she passed, mom fully accepted me, so I don’t think mom would think of me as a freak now. Even with the ears and tail,” Madeline said with a chuckle, imagining how her mother would have reacted to seeing her now. “I think she would be really happy for me. She would be proud of what I’ve become and what I’ve achieved.” She paused before adding, “I don’t think I can say the same for you.”

Flora threw another bolt of lightning at her, but through the tears in the mage’s eyes she missed entirely. “Proud? You think she would be proud of a murderer of a daughter?”

Madeline felt her heart sink. She was a murderer… “Daughters.” Flora looked at her confused. “Or have you forgotten that you are also a killer, Flora? Do you even remember his name?”

“I’ve never killed any—”

“Fernaldo! His name was Fernaldo! From Mulva. Or don’t you consider him enough of a person to be considered murder?” Madeline could feel the heat in her words and a tremble in her throat.

Flora rolled her eyes at Madeline. “A cripple is barely a man.”

Madeline bared her fangs and growled loudly at her sister, and was only mildly surprised that the sound came out as an actual animalistic growl. Flora on the other hand was very surprised by it, and instinctively took a step back. Not only that, but Madeline had never seen her sister look so afraid. Even when she fired back the lightning bolt at her. Afraid enough that Madeline could smell her fear like she had on Sarah. Madeline probably had Victor to thank for this when he gave her fangs. She also wondered if her growl was on par with what Victor could do.

“But the noble you accepted from the group also had a limp, so I’m guessing you fixed that, like you could have fixed my body! Like you could fix any of the things that make you deem us unworthy of magic! You hypocritical pieces of shit!”

Flora was stunned for a few seconds, but managed to get past the fear. “Well, then I guess by that logic we are both murderers!” Flora threw her arms out wide.

Madeline growled again, and also realized that when she did her tail lifted up and the fur puffed out. Flora flinched hard at the growl and brought her arms back in close as if to protect herself. “No,” Madeline said it so firmly that she could even feel the ‘no’ resonate through her body. It was time she accepted what Victor had been telling her for so long. “Victor’s right. I didn’t murder Marcus. I killed the man trying to kill me. I defended myself and did what I had to do to be here today.” Flora scoffed and crossed her arms again. “You,” Madeline pointed a finger at her sister in the exact way their mom would when they were misbehaving as children. “Killed a defenseless, innocent man. That’s murder. Just like you murdered all the other offerings you didn’t hypocritically accept. I saw your monument to the innocent lives you’ve taken, and I am so incredibly grateful that you didn’t pick me. That I wasn’t chosen to become monsters like you.”

“You call us monster, yet you have fur and fangs,” Flora snarked, but Madeline just growled and ignored her.

She was starting to like that she could growl, but she did stop before continuing to speak. “I am also so grateful to the Maze for believing in me and accepting me, unlike you. It guided me, and has become my home.” If Flora could growl like her, she was sure Flora would be doing so. Madeline looked behind herself at the hedge and found the illusion up behind her. “You mages will never know what it's like to be a friend of the Maze.” Madeline looked back at her sister and smiled. She started walking backwards towards the illusion.

“Who needs to be friends with something that doesn’t have a mind of its own.”

“Oh, the Maze does think. It feels, it wants, it loves. It's alive and a wonderful friend to have. And the best part is that when you’re friends with the Maze,” Madeline felt her foot hit the illusion, “you can do things like this.” Madeline closed her green eye, and walked backwards through the illusion. She saw Flora watching in confusion then shock.

“How…?”

Madeline could see her sister trying to understand how she did that. Madeline smiled and turned to walk away, but then she remembered something. Quickly she popped her head back out of the illusion. “Oh, I almost forgot. This really nice girl named Sarah and the groundskeeper Monet are passed out in his quarters. They will be asleep for at least half a day.” Madeline thought for a second. “Okay, maybe half a day is a little too short. Probably more like a day. Maybe even two. They’ll be fine when they wake up, but Monet might get cold because I stole his cloak. Also stole all his shoes as well. Bye Flora!” With that she pulled herself all the way through and started jogging towards where the Maze led her. She could hear Flora call out to her, but she ignored her sister’s cries.

[We had to see Flora again. How could we not have her see all that Madeline has become. I hope this was a little satisfying!]