Sent By The Witches of The West

Esther walked down to Aliyas quarter in search of Aliya who was busy making another potion which would serve as a weapon. She walked into Aliyas bedroom and pushed the door to Aliyas underground laboratory open, before climbing in and it startled Aliyah.

”Who is there? ” Aliyah quickly asked and tried to cover everything she was doing. Esther didn respond because she couldn talk, Aliyah sensed that she was the one and turned around, she saw her near the stairs staring at her with sad eyes.

”Oh my God! What happened to you? ” Aliyah asked as she sensed that everything wasn right. She walked towards her and patted her hair before climbing the stairs and closed the door.

”Whenever you come inside, close the door immediately, okay? I don want people discovering about this underground laboratory, ” Aliyah said, Esther nodded in agreement.

”Have you eaten, you can share some short breads that I stole from the kitchen with me, its delicious, ” Aliyah said and brought some short breads from a wrapped parcel but Esther refused to accept it.

”I guess you ain hungry then, sit down on that chair over there so that you won be endangered, what Im doing is quite dangerous, ” Aliyah said and pointed to a couch far from where she was cooking her new potion, but Esther refused to move, she continued standing at the place she stood.

”Whats the matter? ” Aliyah sensed that everything wasn right with her. Esther looked up at her with dreamy eyes before she started heading to the couch she was asked to sit on. Aliyah heaved a sigh of relief and unveiled everything that she was doing, she took the potion book and continued adding the required ingredients that were needed. Esther came back and tugged on her dress, she looked down and saw her.

”Are you bored? Is the chess and little toys no longer there to play with? ” Aliyah asked, still concentrating on what she was doing. Esther didn react to the question and still tugged on Aliyas dress. Aliyah stopped what she was doing and washed her hand, before looking at Esther. ”Im going to find the toys, you should go sit or lie down as usual on the couch, ” Aliyah said but Esther shook her head in disapproval and showed Aliyah the toys.

”So what is the problem? ” Aliyah asked and squatted down to her height studying Esthers sad expression, Esther looked down.

”Did Mama scold you again? ” Aliyah asked, Esther nodded in agreement.

”Why? ” Aliyah asked, forgetting that Esther couldn explain the reason why.

”Im sorry, ” Aliyah said and hugged her.

After releasing her from the hug, she saw Esthers eyes wet with tears. Esther looked up at her before showing her a used nylon wrap, Aliyah looked at it and noticed it was a candys wrap.

”Do you want candy? ” she asked, finally understanding what Esther wanted, Esther nodded in agreement with a smile on her face.

”Im very busy now, I don know how to steal one from Abigails room, ” Aliyah said.

”Can we do that later after I finish with what Im doing, ” Aliyah said, Esther reluctantly nodded in agreement.

”Don worry, I will get you lots of it when Im done, okay? ” Aliyah said, which added more smile to Esthers face, she quickly hurried off to the couch to sit and started playing with the toys.

”Thats better, ” Aliyah said and heaved a sigh of relief.

______

Eliot walked down the corridor of the Queens quarter with rage.

”Mother! ” he screamed on top of his voice when he got to the Queens room.

”What is it, Elliot? ” the queen asked feeling startled.

”I don know who killed my little fish, I found it dead in the jar with no water, ” Eliot cried.

”What are you talking about? ” the queen asked with rage.

”I don know who killed my fish, and thats not all. The expensive ceramic tea cup Father bought for me has been stolen too, ” Eliot announced.

”I know the only person that would be responsible for it, follow me, ” the queen thundered and started heading out while Eliot followed suit with teary eyes. Abigail met them on the way and joined them.

”Where are you going, Mother, you look angry, ” she said.

”Eliot reported to me earlier that someone drained the water in his fishing jar after killing the fish. His expensive favorite ceramic tea cup father bought him is also missing too, ” the queen said.

”I know who the culprit is, I saw her taking the expensive ceramic tea cup from Eliots room, probably she might also be the one that killed the fish out of jealousy of not owning anything, ” Abigail revealed.

”Who is it? I am going to strangle her, ” Eliot said with rage.

”Aliyah of course, who else were you thinking about? ” Abigail said, which made Elliot stop moving.

”You are making this up right? ” he asked with a surprised face.

”No, Im not, ” Abigail replied with seriousness.

”Aby you can go about accusing people wrongly, are you sure about this? ” the queen asked.

”Yes Mama, Im sure, ” Abigail replied.

”Then lets head to her quarter to confirm, ” the queen said.

”Im not okay with this, I think something is fishy here… Aliyah that I know would never steal nor kill, especially when it comes to my properties, ” Elliot said, still reluctant to move from the spot he was standing.

”Stop trusting people, you don know what they are made of deep down, ” the queen replied.

”But mother_ ”

”Lets head to her quarter and search her house, if we don find the ceramic tea cup there, then we would know that Abigail is accusing her falsely and punish Abigail instead, ” the queen said.

”Okay, ” Elliot agreed and then headed down to Aliyahs quarter.

_____

”Be careful with the candies, ” Aliyah chuckled as she watched Esther hurriedly chewing on the candies lying on the floor in front of her, instead of licking and sucking on it. Esther looked up at her with her eyes full of smiles, before she smiled revealing her dimples and beautiful dentition.

”So cute, ” Aliyah gushed, smiling back at her. Earlier they sneaked towards Abigails quarter to steal some candies from her room after Aliyah finished with the first stage of making her potion before Esther suddenly disappeared on their way, Aliyah had to go look for her. She found her staring at Elliots room in Elliots quarter, it was a bit close to Abigails own.

”What are you looking at? ” Aliyah asked as she came close to Esther which made her look up. She pointed towards a retreating figure that had moved a bit far from Elliots room and was already disappearing in a corner.

”Whos that? ” Aliyah asked with curiosity, Esther looked up at her helplessly knowing fully well she wouldn be able to tell her who the person really is. She looked down with sadness.

”Its okay… I guess that person didn hurt Elliot, he would be in the field now practicing his fighting skills, ” Aliyah said, which Esther nodded in agreement.

”Lets go, ” Aliyah said and dragged her hand to follow her, but Esther reluctantly moved an inch as she felt that something was wrong.

”Please Esther, if you want us to be able to steal the candies successfully without being caught, lets go right now that Abigail is out, so that we won be caught and punished afterwards, ” Aliyah said which made Esther to follow her after remembering the candies they were going to steal. They got to Abigails quarter after some minutes and sneaked into her room. Abigail went to the drawer she usually kept all her candies and didn find any inside it.

”She doesn have any, Mother hasn bought any candies recently for her, ” Aliyah announced but Esther shook her head in disapproval.

”I didn find any, ” Aliyah explained but Esther still nodded in disapproval.

”Did mother buy any recently for her? ” Aliyah asked, Esther nodded in approval.

”Do you think shes hiding it? ” Aliyah asked which Esther nodded to in approval.

”Oh my, do you think she has noticed, ” Aliyah said with wide eyes which made Esther look up too.

”She might have laid a bait for us, lets search for it and quickly leave before she meets us here, ” Aliyah said and started looking around hurriedly while Esther joined them. She searched under the pillow, inside her makeup closet, wardrobe, under the rug and in between the bed and the mattress but found nothing. She felt Esther tugging on her dress when she bent down to look under the bed.

”Have you seen it? ” Aliyah asked, Esther nodded in agreement.

”Okay show me where you saw it, ” Aliyah said and stood up. Esther moved towards Aliyahs shoe rack and pointed to a tiny closet there.

”The closet is locked, how did you know it is inside there? ” Aliyah asked but Esther didn respond, she kept on staring at the closet.

”How would I open it, I don have any keys. She might be carrying it about, ” Aliyah said, giving up.

”Lets go, when we figure out how to open the closet, we will be back, ” Aliyah said and turned around to leave, but Esther refused to follow her.

”Please lets go Esther, Abigail will soon be back, ” Aliyah pleaded but Esther still remained standing at the spot she was looking intently at the closet, it made a crack noise and opened to the surprise of Aliyah.

”How did that happen? ” Aliyah asked and looked at Esther with a surprise filled face, short of words. Esther moved closer to her and pushed her forward slightly, indicating that she should go forward to grab some candies. Aliyah reluctantly went forward with fear, she grabbed some candies with shaky hands and stuffed them in the little bag, before the closet mysteriously closed. Aliyah nearly jumped out of her skin. She stared at Esther weirdly who returned the stare with a charming innocent smile.

”You, you, ” Aliyah stammered but Esther didn react but instead, she looked at the door and started hurrying to the window. Aliyah, sensing that Abigail was already nearby, quickly followed Esther before they climbed out of the window and landed on the ground. Abigail, who came inside immediately, before they jumped out sensed something was off about her room, she felt someones presence and looked around, her eyes caught the open window as her curtain was moving on its own. She walked towards the window and looked outside but saw nothing.

”Candy thieves, ” she scoffed.

”I bet they didn find any this time around, too bad, ” she said aloud and sucked on her teeth.

”Im probably smarter than them, at least this would make them stay away for sometime thinking that mother is no longer buying candies for me, I will catch them red handed someday inside this room when they come searching again, ” She said before shutting her door, heading out.

”That was close, ” Aliyah said, breathing deeply before letting the air out with relief. She looked at Esther again and Esther looked away in return.

”You don want to talk about it? ” She asked, actually talking about how the locked closet mysteriously opened after Esther said that the candies were inside there. Esther shook her head, indicating that she didn want to talk about it.

”Lets go then, ” Aliyah said and held her hand before they hurriedly started heading back to Aliyahs quarter.