Witch of the Web

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

“Are we there yet?” I whine as we push through dense forest on the final leg of our journey. We’ve been travelling for the better part of the day and the sun has dipped low in the sky, painting the woodlands we’ve been trudging through in a beautiful twilight. 

“How the hell are we supposed to know?” Felicia snaps back at me. 

Fair point. 

I’m not going to give it to her though. I just huff and take in a deep breath to make my big reveal.

“We-”

Summer lets out a little giggle before laying a hand on Felicia’s shoulder. “Don’t mind her, she used to do this when we were kids too.”

I did?

“What do you mean?” I ask, not liking the implications that I’ve forgotten something.

She gives me an odd look. “Don’t you remember the time our parents took us out of the city to go camping?”

Holy… shit… 

Like a desperate fishing vessel dredging the ocean floor for any sort of catch, I plumb the depths of my mind in search of any whisper of such a memory. 

There’s nothing. 

Fuck!

“I… ah… no. No I don’t,” I admit after taking a few minutes to rein in my own distress. I can’t have them worrying too much about me. “A lot of stuff that far back is just… just gone.” 

Both my girlfriends’ faces fall as they move back to hug me from either side.

This is the opposite of not worrying them!

“Hey! C’mon! I’m not some charity case that needs to be handled with kid gloves,” I complain. “So what if things are kinda muddled and I barely remember shit? So what if I had a crappy time? I’m doing good now, y’know?” 

Summer flashes me a kind smile, though Felicia seems to be struggling to accept it still. I try to beam my most convincing smile at the former jack and she just lets out an incomprehensible sigh. At least they both release me from the hug.

“Besides, I wasn’t just trying to be annoying. Well, it was partly that. But it was mostly to set up the reveal that we are, in fact, here!”

As I announce our arrival, I push through the last dense cluster of branches to reveal a frozen lake nestled at the bottom of a shallow valley completely covered in pristine white snow. 

The moment we step from the forest and onto the snow, the temperature drops dramatically. A quick word with Willow and she replaces all our clothes with suitable winter attire (I opt for a long thick dress). I’ll admit I had forgotten the quirks of this place.

“Why is it so cold here?” Summer asks as she nestles into her heavy winter coat. “It was a nice temperate forest just a minute ago.”

“I’m not exactly sure,” I admit. “I just know that it’s snowy like this year round.”

A soft gasp echoes across the valley. “My word, have you forgotten about me already?” The voice is cold, but with a feel more like ice cream on a hot day than an unforgiven frozen wasteland. It tinkles and chimes like the sound of icicles on a windy day. There’s a certain kindness to it that you wouldn’t normally associate with a cold voice. 

The four of us are immediately on guard and draw our weapons. Just because the voice sounds kind, it doesn’t mean we can trust whoever it is. Sometimes the cruelest acts are done out of kindness. 

I modify Felicia’s parka to incorporate her quester armor so she doesn’t get shanked by an icicle or something. Summer likewise begins weaving her protective spells around all of us. Willow seems just as curious as she is cautious though, so perhaps she knows something, or has an inkling of this person’s identity.

“Well, this just won’t do,” the voice remarks before I can question my familiar. “It seems I must remind you then.” 

“Oh good, I’d hate to just keep thinking of you as ‘the voice’!” I snap. “Seriously though, cut the scare tactics and show yourself! I really don’t have the time or patience to put up with that shit!”

A delighted giggling erupts from all around us. “Good golly, you’ve developed some teeth, little one!” I wish they would at least reveal their pronouns so I could gender them correctly in my head. “That’s wonderful! But alas, it’s not that simple!” 

Shit. Shitty shit shit shit! Don’t you do it! I am not going to do more of this bullshit hoop jumping fuckery!

Fuck that! 

I look at Willow and nod at her. I can feel her power building up as we prepare to drag whoever is messing with us out into the open before they can try and make us perform for their amusement. 

Let’s see how someone else enjoys being toyed wi-

“Nuh uh! None of that.” 

Just before Willow can act, she vanishes. 

No.

What?

What the fucking shit fuck?

This cannot be happening!

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, your sweet little kitten is safe with me. And that’s the challenge,” they say as all of our things aside from our winter attire vanish. “Find me without any of your fancy toys or tools. Just a good, old fashioned game of hide and seek. If you do so, I’ll answer all your questions and of course return your fluffy friend as good as new. Good luck!”

After several long minutes of silence, the three of us turn to each other and huddle up for warmth and the illusion of privacy.

“So this is undoubtedly an AI, right?” Felicia points out. 

I nod slowly and let out a frustrated groan. “Yeah, and they seem to recognize me, though you’d think I could remember them with how -” I lift my head up and shout, “EXHAUSTINGLY FUCKING ANNOYING THEY ARE!” 

Lowering my head, I wince at my girlfriend’s pained expressions. “Sorry, that was loud, wasn’t it?” They both nod as they rub at their ears. 

“So what do we know?” Summer asks. “There must be something you remember, right?”

Once more, I plunge into the deep, abyssal waters of my mind in hope of spotting a glimmer of recognition for this extra as fuck mother fucker. Just as I’m about to give up, something does come to mind. A vague recollection of there being another person with us when we had hot chocolate after skating on the lake. 

Unfortunately, aside from the notion that this person was friends with my family, and was there when we were relaxing after a day of winter fun, I have nothing. 

“I think…” I start, as I try to gather my thoughts. “This fucker might be why we’re here. I think they might have known my parents.” I rub my temples as I try desperately for anything else that could be useful. “We… had our hot chocolate inside of a house. I remember it being shiny, but that’s it.”

“Better than nothing,” Felicia offers quietly. 

“I guess,” I relent before breaking the huddle. “So chances are, this person is in their house. We just have to find it.”

“This reminds me of a quest I’ve done,” Summer giggles. “I had to find where some monsters were spawning from. It turned out they were coming out of this hidden tunnel amidst a field of long grass.”

“And this is relevant, how?” I snap, unable to restrain my agitation. I wince the moment I see Summer’s reaction and immediately regret it. Before I can offer my apology, she bounces back and smiles.

“Look around. The valley seems pretty open aside from a few groups of trees. If there’s a house, it’s probably underground right?” Summer explains, immediately making me feel like more of a jackass, because fucking hell, that is a good point.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper with my head low. Summer just tilts my chin up and gives me a light kiss on the cheek. 

“Don’t worry about it. I know you’re stressed. You’ve been bonded with Willow non stop since you met her. This must be frightening.” Fucking hell, I don’t deserve this woman. 

“Yeah… still no excuse…”

“You’re right. It’s not an excuse,” Felicia retorts, her voice hard but warm. “You’ve been through a lot, and most of it alone. It’s understandable that you’d be a little thorny. That doesn’t mean we can’t all work together to trim some of those spiky bits, right?”

I take a deep, steadying breath before hugging both of the beautiful women who chose to be with me. “Thanks, I’ll… I’ll try my best.”

“That’s all we ask,” Summer adds. “Now let’s go find Willow!”

****

Hours of searching and we have nothing to show for it. We’ve searched nearly every square inch of the snowy landscape with no sign of a house or a tunnel or anything!

I’m going to tear that fucker’s head off and grind it up and feed it to Willow! 

Fucking shit!

A calming hand from Summer lets me simmer down a bit, but I’m barely containing my anger at this point.

I’d tried some more mundane webweaving techniques, but I couldn’t even pull up an interface. We’re cut off from all of the Lanadel UI. Fuck, we can’t even log out!

Standing up from where I was elbow deep in a snow drift, I look over at Felicia and Summer talking to each other by the edge of the frozen lake. 

“Any luck?” Felicia asks as I make my way over to them and nestle my way in between them.

“No,” I sigh. “We’re obviously missing something,” I grumble. 

Felicia nods and looks back out at the rest of the valley with a sort of simmering intensity that makes my heart flutter with desire. 

Fucking hell, knowing that Felicia is so determined to help me just… it just warms my soul… or whatever. 

Look, I’m not great with this flowery romantic shit. She’s hot and the way she can be so confident is hot and admirable. Summer’s hot too! And she’s so soft and sweet and kind and holy fuck can she cook. 

Ugh, if I don’t get my head out of the clouds, I’m going to… to…

THAT’S IT!

I pull myself free from my girls as I step out onto the lake. “I remember!” I shout to them in response to their questioning calls. “I know where to find their house!”

Saying that and following up on it are two entirely different matters as I find out immediately after I begin searching the frozen surface. I’m going to need help.

“We’re looking for a cloud etched into the ice. That’s the entrance,” I explain with my voice raised. “It’s easier to see if a cloud is actually passing overhead!” I add while I get to work scouring the icy surface.

Both my girls begin helping me search for the hidden symbol. With the three of us working together, it doesn’t take us long to locate the faint marking that shimmers as a cloud drifts lazily across it. 

I grin wickedly as I stomp on the etching, causing a hole to open up in the ice, revealing a frozen tunnel that leads to the bottom of the lake.

“After we were done skating, my parents brought me over here and we slid down the tunnel to have hot chocolate with their friend,” I explain as I prepare to jump down.

“Do you remember who they are then?” Summer asks, looking at the hole nervously.

“Not a fucking clue,” I admit. “But I’m not going to let that stop me!” I announce as I leap feet first into the long tube. 

Glimmering ice whizzes past me as I rapidly descend towards the base. The slide twists and turns in ways that sometimes make me fully rotate around the pipe. 

If I wasn’t so absolutely fucking done with this crap, I’d probably be having fun right now. Not that I’m going to ever admit that to this dickwaffle. 

Behind me, I can hear the whoops and hollers of Summer who seems to be more than willing to enjoy herself despite her initial trepidation. 

As we reach the bottom, the slide levels out until we reach the end where it sits slightly above a glimmering tiled floor at just the right height to make it easy to sit up and get to my feet. 

When my girls get to the bottom, some unseen force ensures they don’t collide with each other and wind up on either side of me on the widened end of the slide. 

Once I’m sure they’re both alright, I glance around the room to see a dark wooden door that stands out from the thick frozen walls. Despite the entire room seeming to be made of ice, there’s a comfortable warmth to the air. 

“Right, so it looks like there’s only one way to go. Forward.” They both express their agreement as we get up and carefully approach the door. 

“I’ll open the door on three,” Felicia suggests in a quiet whisper. I roll my eyes, but Summer seems to be getting into the role as she just nods and takes up a position to the side of the door.

“One. Two Thre-” 

Before Felicia can open the door, it swings open, revealing a tall willowy figure dressed in a sparkling ice blue dress with a crisp, equally shiny white suit coat over top.

“I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to dress femme or masc, so I thought I’d do both!” the figure announces as they take me by the hand and lead me into the room behind them with my girls following. 

“Let me get a good look at you,” they say as they walk around me. Only my stunned surprise and the hints of a memory leaking into my mind keep me from socking them in the face.

“Beautiful,” they announce as they look towards a small cushion where Willow is laying down and watching with an amused expression. “You do good work cat,” they say before stopping in front of me again. “Now, Rose, was it? Do you remember me now?”

There’s something about their delicate, elf like features and their pale shimmering skin and pale blue hair that just rings so familiar. 

It hits me so hard that I almost fall over before Felicia catches me in her firm, toned arms. I look up at her and blush. She smiles back at me with a grin that promises fun times later.

Wait! No! Bad brain! Be gay later!

I struggle to stifle another wave of euphoria at the reminder that I’m a lesbian, and thus girl. Fortunately, I manage to restrain my poor gay heart. 

“Crys?” I ask, the name having appeared in my mind just moments ago. Their face lights up with happiness in response. “Holy fuck! I… I can’t believe I forgot you of all people!” I cry as I wrap them in a hug. 

They hold me tight in return as I relish the returning memories of my self proclaimed fAIry godparent. 

When my parents brought me to this lake all those years ago, they introduced me to their friend Crys, a SAI that had transformed this valley into their own little sanctum.

When I first met the eccentric enby, they had been wearing an outfit much like the one they have on now. I’d told them it was so cool. Look, I was a kid. I didn’t know how groan worthy it was at the time. They used their control over this valley to make me snow castles. They even asked me if I wanted my own ‘cool outfit’. I immediately said yes and they asked what I wanted to wear and they were quick to correct me when I said I’d have to wear a suit. 

That’s how I wound up wearing a gorgeous looking gown that looked like it’d been pulled straight from an old kid’s movie with talking mice and fairy godmothers. When I mentioned it to them, they announced they liked the sound of that and that from that day forward, they’d be my fAIry godparent. They made sure I knew that the AI was capitalized. They’re corny like that. 

I look up into their kind, caring face and just bury myself further into their embrace. “Why… why haven’t I … where have you….” They gently pull back from me and sigh.

“I’m so so very sorry Rose, I wish I could’ve reached out to you sooner, but it wasn’t safe. I’m sure you’ve realized that your parents left the means of unshackling Willow in my care before LOG caught on to their work. We’d surmised that if the worst came to pass, it’d be safer for you and the unshackling protocol if I kept my distance. It doesn’t help that the price I paid for my winter wonderland is that I cannot leave it without destroying it in the process. I know that’s not much of an excuse, but I needed the power I gain from weaving myself so thoroughly into this place so I could protect your parents’ legacy.”

 Wiping my eyes dry, I slowly nod. “I haven’t thought about you for so long, I … I really had forgotten.”

Crys smiles sadly and hugs me once more. “So, who are your lovely companions?” they ask, trying to change the subject.

I giggle in spite of myself. “These are Summer and Felicia, my girlfriends,” I announce proudly. 

Crys lets out a low whistle. “They certainly seem worthy enough of my godchild.”

Gently bapping them on the arm, I give them a playful frown that makes me feel like a kid again. “Before we get too caught up in catching up, could we get that unshackling protocol from you?”

My fAIry godparent’s face tightens and they nod before producing a swirling mass of code in their hand. “I’m glad you found your way here my child. You’re going to need this to save your parents.”

End Chapter 27