His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 155

#Chapter 155: The Mother Witch

Edrick

While Moana slept, I secretly snipped off a small lock of her hair and stashed it away in my sock drawer. It was only a small piece, and I made sure to take it from a spot where it wouldn’t be noticed easily. Once I stashed it away, I was so exhausted from two days of no sleep that I couldn’t do anything else except climb into bed and pass out immediately.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than Moana. I made sure to quickly get dressed and slip out of the room without waking her up, her lock of hair in a little plastic baggie in my pocket. On second thought, I turned back around and cautiously took the Alpha tooth out of its box, hoping that I would be home in time to put it back before she ever noticed it was missing.

I didn’t need Moana, or anyone else for that matter, asking where I was going; if they found out that I was going to see the Mother Witch, then they would soon discover that I was investigating Moana’s lineage when they discovered that I had taken both the Alpha tooth and a lock of Moana’s hair. Eventually, the truth would come out; but I needed to keep everything secret for now. If Moana really was the Golden Wolf, then no one could know until she had the baby; not even Moana. I felt bad keeping it from her, but it was the only way to keep her completely safe. If she found out that she was the Golden Wolf, then she might try to shift too soon and would cause all sorts of people, like my father, to sense her presence and try to hunt her down. That was why I slipped out that morning before anyone else woke up. I couldn’t be seen.

The Mother Witch lived directly at the center of the city. Her services were highly sought after, and her incredible age had allowed her to become a pillar in our society. People from all over flocked to see her, seeking her services from placing blessings on their babies and their marriages to finding lost loved ones or even communicating with the dead.

I had always been somewhat of a skeptic when it came to magic. My mother hired all sorts of witches and fortune tellers when I was growing up in the hopes of having a happy marriage with my father, but it never worked. My father was still a bastard, and he treated my mother terribly. That alone was enough to make me not believe in magic.

However, there was no denying the Mother Witch’s wisdom. She was over a hundred years old; if anyone knew about the Golden Wolf, it was her. And right now, I was willing to put aside my skepticism if it meant potentially protecting Moana.

I pulled up in front of the Mother Witch’s home. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as luxurious as people would imagine; it was a simple little house smack dab in the center of the city, with a pagoda roof and a tall fence all around. There was a sign on the gate telling visitors to just walk in, which was also surprising; but, I supposed that if she really was as wise and powerful as she claimed, then maybe she didn’t need to be afraid of being attacked. Either that, or she assumed that no one would attack her out of the fear that she could easily fight back with her own abilities.

When I walked through the gate, I walked up a stone path lined on either side by perfectly manicured hedges and red maple trees, then ascended the steps to the porch. There was a bamboo wind chime on the porch that made a pleasant sound in the breeze, and I could hear the sound of trickling water from the fountains in the yard. It was an incredibly relaxing atmosphere.

I raised my fist to knock on the door, but before I could, the door slid open.

My eyes widened. And incredibly old woman, her back hunched so much that she was practically bent at a ninety-degree angle, stood in front of me. She had white hair that was pulled back into a neat bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore traditional clothes. Despite her frail appearance as she leaned on a cane, she looked up at me with bright, youthful eyes.

“Hello, Edrick,” she said with a smile. “I was expecting you.”

“You were?” I asked. The Mother Witch simply nodded and pointed at my shoes. I hastily removed them, leaving them on the porch, and then stepped inside when she moved out of the way. The inside of her house was sparse and surprisingly small, but it smelled like patchouli and felt comfortable. At my tall height, however, I had to bend over a bit as I walked in.

“I made tea,” she said, hobbling over to a small kitchen. “Take a seat.” She gestured over to a little table that sat beneath a window. I hesitantly walked over and sat down, and within a few moments she was setting a tray of tea in the middle of the table. I realized that she barely even used her cane to walk as it swung loosely in her knotted old hand.

“Well?” she said, sitting down across from me. “You have the tooth, correct?”

I nodded. I was still too stunned to speak; how did she know that I was coming? How did she know that I would bring a tooth?

Either way, I pulled the tooth out of my pocket along with the lock of Moana’s hair and set them both down on the table. The Mother Witch sucked her teeth as she peered down at the two things over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses and nodded thoughtfully.

“Hmm…” She picked up the tooth first, holding it up to the light, and mumbled something incoherent under her breath. I sipped my tea politely as she then set down the tooth and picked up the lock of hair. She pulled the hair out of the bag and rubbed it between her fingers, then smelled it.