Chapter 2 Priestess Hut

“What have you done to her?!” Sabrina panicked, rushing toward her mother’s bed, her heart hammering wildly in her chest.

“She is fine,” Priestess Huruna said, rolling her eyes with mild annoyance. “She is having the nicest sleep of her life.”

Sabrina stared at her mother and saw that she was indeed smiling peacefully, as if lost in a beautiful dream. Yet a deep, instinctive fear still gripped her heart like icy fingers.

“Why… why are you here?” Sabrina asked, her voice trembling.

Huruna smiled and gently took Sabrina’s hand. Her touch was cool, almost soothing. “Let’s go for a stroll, dear. The night is too lovely to waste.”

Before Sabrina could refuse, the priestess led her out into the moonlit forest. They walked and chatted about Sabrina’s powers, her love for animals, and how much she admired the priestess. For a brief, dangerous moment, a warm feeling of being truly seen filled Sabrina’s chest. She felt special.

Eventually, Huruna brought her to a hidden hut deep in the woods. Inside, the place was filled with beautiful flowers and many animals locked in cages or tied down. Sabrina looked around in wonder.

“Wow! This place is beautiful.”

“Do not touch anything,” Huruna warned, her voice suddenly sharp and dangerous.

Sabrina paced around in fascination, but an uneasy feeling slowly crept into her stomach. Something felt deeply wrong here.

“They don’t speak,” Sabrina whispered, her brows furrowing.

“Yes, they do,” Huruna replied smoothly. “But in this place, you cannot understand them.”

Sabrina nodded, still amazed. “Wow…”

Then a soft voice reached her ear.

“We can speak. But you must not let her know.”

Sabrina sharply turned toward a white dove perched on a table, shaking. The priestess noticed her reaction immediately.

“What is wrong?” Huruna asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

The dove went still. Sabrina quickly shook her head. “Nothing.” She swallowed hard.

When Huruna turned away, the dove spoke again, urgent and fearful: “Please don’t tell her I spoke to you. She threatened all of us. Be very careful of her.”

Sabrina’s eyes widened in shock. She pointed at the dove’s leg. “It has no limbs?”

“Yes, it doesn’t,” Huruna said coldly. “All these animals are my special ingredients.”

The dove continued desperately: “She threatened us not to say a word. You should be very careful about Huruna.”

Sabrina kept staring, completely focused. Suddenly, the dove flapped its wings in panic.

“She has a knife!”

Sabrina spun around in terror. The moment she did, Huruna realized the truth. With terrifying speed, the priestess grabbed the dove and hacked its head off with one clean strike.

Sabrina gasped in horror, her stomach twisting violently. “What did you do?!”

Huruna smiled sweetly and wiped the blade clean on a cloth. “It is an ingredient, remember?” Her voice and expression remained eerily calm, as if she had merely cut a flower. She beckoned Sabrina forward. “Come and look at this.”

Still shaken, Sabrina stepped closer and peered into the large bubbling pot. While her back was turned, Priestess Huruna quietly reached out and cut off a lock of Sabrina’s fiery red hair, slipping it into her sleeve without a sound.

Little did Huruna know that high up in the corner of the hut, Kiki the squirrel had seen everything.

The next morning, Sabrina sat beside her mother’s bed, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest. The knot of fear that had lodged itself in her stomach slowly began to loosen.

After a while, her mother stirred and opened her eyes.

“Sabrina…” she yawned, stretching her arms. “I had the weirdest dream.” Her gaze landed on the table, and her eyes widened. “What! You made food? How did you know I was starving?”

Sabrina smiled warmly as she placed the steaming bowl of soup in front of her. “I knew you would need this after lying there like a log all night.”

From the windowsill, Kiki protested loudly, his tail flicking in annoyance. Sabrina let out a soft laugh. “Yeah… it was actually Kiki’s idea.”

She stood up, brushing her hands on her skirt. “I’ll be right back, Mother. I have something to attend to.”

Before her mother could protest, Sabrina dashed out of the house, giggling as the cool morning air brushed against her face.

Deep in the forest, Sabrina chattered endlessly while Kiki remained unusually quiet, leaping from branch to branch above her. She finally stopped and took a deep breath, a flicker of worry tightening her chest.

“Okay Kiki, what is this all about?” she asked.

The squirrel paused on a high branch, his small paws gripping the bark. “Last night, while you were looking into Huruna’s pot, I saw her cut your hair and hide it in her sleeve.”

Sabrina burst into laughter, clutching her stomach. “Don’t be ridiculous, Kiki. Why would she do that?”

“I saw her do it. Believe me,” Kiki insisted, scratching his head frantically.

Sabrina waved it off with a smile, though a small seed of doubt settled uncomfortably in the back of her mind. She continued walking, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling.

Soon, she stepped onto the main footpath and came across a group of villagers gathered anxiously. She quickly hid behind a thick tree, listening.

“Huruna does nothing for us anymore,” one man complained bitterly.

“How could she demand so much just to heal this man?” another added.

A dying man lay on the cold ground, his breathing shallow and labored. Taking a steadying breath, Sabrina stepped forward.

The moment the crowd noticed her, they gasped in fear and stumbled backward. Cold whispers rippled through them like a bitter wind.

She hesitated, a sharp pang of pain stabbing through her heart at their reaction. Why do they always look at me like that? Still, she forced herself closer.

“Don’t touch me!” the man growled weakly.

Sabrina felt a deep wave of sadness wash over her. “You are dying,” she said softly. “You must accept my gift if you want to live.”

The man finally fell silent. Sabrina knelt and placed her hands on his chest. Golden light bloomed warmly between them. His body trembled as the light enveloped him. Within seconds, his breathing steadied and color returned to his ashen face.

The villagers stared in stunned silence. But as Sabrina stood up, exhaustion crashed over her like a wave. The world tilted violently, and she collapsed to the cold ground.

“Now what?” one of them muttered.

“Let’s wake her up,” another suggested half-heartedly.

“We should go. She’ll be fine. There’s nothing we can do for her anyway.”

One by one, they walked away, leaving her lying alone on the dirt path. When Sabrina finally opened her eyes, only Kiki remained beside her, curled up against her side. A bitter ache settled deep in her chest. Pushing herself to her feet, she brushed the dirt from her clothes and walked away, the familiar sting of rejection burning behind her eyes.

From the shadows of her hut, Priestess Huruna watched everything, her face twisted with burning rage.

"Sabrina," she snarled under her breath. “Your days are numbered. They will never truly accept you. You will always walk alone.”