The Woman in the Woods (Saul Silva x OC)

Chapter 11: The Stone Circle

A/N: This is the longest chapter by a landslide. It has near 10k words which is like two chapters--please consider this a two-hour season finale if this was TV (only there's still a closing chapter coming after 🤣). I just didn't feel like breaking this apart, although that's probably the smarter decision. I thought it would lose momentum if I did since this is also the most action-y chapter. But the first third of the story does include a quiet moment between Saul and Sasha/Maja. The latter third well, you have to read it.

"Where did you get this information?" Rosalind asked, standing behind her desk while Andreas told her that the blood witch, along with Silva, had been found, or will be found.

"One of my students. Saul contacted him."

"Who?"

But Andreas wouldn't say, which Rosalind shouldn't find that surprising. The man had his bouts of righteousness from time to time, except this shouldn't be one of them. It should have been obvious to him that she would ask.

"You understand why I need to know?" She prodded.

"The information is solid. He'll be at that house in Adquistes with the witch at four AM."

"It's not solid until I talk to this student."

The man took a deep breath as though that would help. No matter how much he tried to suppress it, she had already read him, his anger and desperation as he stood there. Andreas had always been hot-tempered, but even as he matured, he never did learn the trick in avoiding being read by mind fairies. He was the same old Andreas from sixteen years ago in that respect.

Through gritted teeth, he said, "The Specialists are my responsibility and we agreed that I have final say when it comes to them."

She raised an eyebrow as though challenging him further, then smiled. "My dear Andreas, I'm not gonna torture one of your precious students. I'm just gonna ask them questions and see if what they say is true."

"You're not a lie detector, Rosalind. If you do sense guilt, that's not proof that they're lying. You're the Headmistress, grilling a teenager who's been contacted by Saul; of course, they're gonna feel guilty."

Rosalind drummed her fingers on the table. It was unusual that he would be so protective of a student like this. She could only think of one good reason as she looked out the window, eyeing teenagers walking through the grass. In the distance, she could just glimmer the Specialist's training ground and imagined seeing a boy with golden locks and a tall frame, busy with beating down whoever was unfortunate enough to be paired with him.

"This student specifically said four AM?"

"Yes."

"Do you know that an hour before that is the witching hour?"

Andreas just shook his head, looking at her with the suspicion that she knew what was going on even though he was the one who supplied information. It was a look he was very familiar with.

"You're dismissed," she said, sitting down and looking again out the window.

"We're not gonna discuss what we're gonna do?"

"Later," was all she said. "On your way out, please tell my assistant to bring Bloom in."

///

They had found a house. It was four in the afternoon, again taking them a day. Maja found it in a property auction's list that had no bids. It wasn't as rundown as that abandoned house in Adquistes; it looked sturdier, not graffitied, not falling apart. It even had usable furniture. But it still was sad-looking and gave off haunted house vibes. At least they now had a place and was finished fortifying it. She didn't need to cut her hand, just pricked her index finger, dropping blood at five points around the house. She estimated it was just a vial of blood she lost. Veiny red light encased the property for the moment, giving everything under it a bloody tinge. It should go away in a few minutes.