In Search of the Seventh Sister

By Luiza Dobrzyńska

The Mountain Witch by Luiza Dobrzyńska is the long-awaited continuation of the story of Edith from the novel You're Too Young. However, it is a completely separate story. Anyone who has not read the first part will easily understand the fate of the heroine and her friends.

 

The author skillfully introduces the reader to her story and continues the story so that he can become friends with her from the very first pages of the book. The Mountain Witch is an engaging novel in which old tales and fairy tales mix with modern everyday life and fit into the life of the 21st century.

 

It's a story about love, friendship, loneliness and the extremely difficult but mature decisions that teenage Edith must make to protect her friends. The supernatural abilities that nature has given her sometimes make her life and contact with her peers very difficult, but they are often very helpful.

Luiza Dobrzyńska's novel can be read in one breath.

 

This is an excellent place for teenagers who would like to break away from reality.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royal Hawaiian Press
• Release date: Apr 13, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224633753

Book preview

IN Search of the Seventh Sister

IN Search of the Seventh Sister

Book III

Mountain Witch Trilogy

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by Luiza Dobrzyńska

In search of the Seventh Sister

MOUNTAIN WITCH TRILOGY

Book III

by Luiza Dobrzynska

All material contained herein is

Copyright © Luiza Dobrzynska 2024 All rights reserved.

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Translated and published in English with permission.

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Paperback ISBN:  979-8-9902858-3-5

ePub ISBN: 979-8-2246337-5-3

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Written by Luiza Dobrzynska

Published by Royal Hawaiian Press

Cover art by Tyrone Roshantha

Translated by Rafal Stachowsky

Publishing Assistance: Dorota Reszke

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Version Number 1.00

Table of contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Edyta Gwerska lost her father and mother in a plane crash but found a new family in the persons of her aunt and uncle. She learned from them who she really was and that her innate talents made her a special person. Introduced to the world of ancient Nature Magic, she began to explore its possibilities when difficulties and danger arose. And then unexpectedly she saw in front of the school...

Chapter I

Even from a distance it was possible to see that the stranger was extremely beautiful, but that's not why Edi rushed towards the gate. On the way, she had to pass an advertisement pole and lost sight of the woman for a second, and when she found herself at the fence, she was gone. She stood and looked around, confused, until Marek joined her.

What happened? he asked.

Did you see her? Did you?

Some woman was standing here, but I didn't pay attention to her. Where did she go?

I don't know. Edi's legs began to shake so that she could barely stand, Marek... it was my mother. I can't be wrong. It was her!

The boy held her up to keep her from falling. Concern and care were painted on his pretty, doll-like (as they said) face.

I've never seen your mother, but I guess that's impossible, after all she's dead.

I know that!

Calm down, Jańcio and Szkrab are coming, they can't see you in this condition.

He warned her just in time.

Yo! What's up? cried Szkrab. Get a room!

Shut up, lunatic. Edi started to get weak.

Marek helped the girl sit down on a shabby bench next to the gate and fanned her with a notebook he had taken out of his backpack. He looked concerned and worried.

Better?

Ye... ah, she replied with hesitation, I suddenly got dizzy, maybe because I didn't eat breakfast.

Jańcio handed her an unwrapped Snickers bar.

Would you like a bite?

Not wanting to make him feel bad, Edi broke off a piece and put it in her mouth. The taste of chocolate had a calming effect on her and she had the impression that it brightened her thoughts.

Of all human inventions, chocolate deserves the highest award, Alinka once told her. When I first tasted it, I had the impression that the gates of paradise had opened before me.

The nymphs loved sweets. Their favorite delicacy was Mignonne candy bars, which Janina brought at their request all the way from France - thin flakes of challah covered in Swiss chocolate, produced by a small factory somewhere in Antwerp. For this treat every nymph was ready for anything.

For Edi, the Mignonne was too sweet, but the snickers were quite fine.

Thanks, Jańcio, she said. I'm better now. I'll pull myself together soon.

She got up from the bench and threw her bag over her shoulder. She really felt completely fine now, although she still couldn't explain to herself what she had just seen. She was already used to seeing goblins, russalkas, gnomes, little devils and other such creatures, but ghosts... oh, that completely different matter. She was definitely afraid of ghosts and would prefer not to see any of them, even if it were to be the ghost of her own mother. But what kind of ghost shows up in daylight?

Janina listened to her niece's story with an impassioned face, without interrupting her dressing of the strange creature that lay hunched over in her lap. It had an elongated body and a round, almost human-like head, although with its long legs that looked like enlarged straws, it looked more like a large, quadrupedal spider.

Are you sure about what you saw? she asked when Edi finished her story.

Of course, I am, otherwise I wouldn't have told you. Auntie, was it a specter? A phantom? The doctor shrugged.

"What an absurd idea.

I'm sure it wasn't."

How do you know? Auntie, I'm afraid of ghosts.

At your age? Janina looked at her niece chastisingly, without interrupting the bandaging of the patient's limb.

You know, Graham Masterton wrote that they can be helpful or malicious, but I don't want to see any.

Janina took from a wooden box lying next to the chair something that resembled a tube made of two parts. Using it, she further stiffened the creature's leg and began bandaging it again.

You have read too many horror movies and here is the result. You have nothing to worry about. Our world and the world of the dead cannot communicate with each other. They do not cross at any point, and there is no fear of someone from there just returning to scare a cousin or neighbor.

Some people claim to talk to ghosts and to have seen them.

Some have also seen UFOs. And honest politicians. Edi, those who claim to communicate with ghosts are actually talking to someone completely different.

With whom?

Most often with goblins. They are a bit childish and mischievous, and can also be very dangerous, since, while by no means wishing people ill, they are unaware of the possible consequences of their mischievous pranks. Sometimes a nocnitsa also plays the role of a ghost. This is a subspecies of russalka. They are also called mora. Not to be confused with incubus. You haven't had to deal with one yet, because there are none in Jodełka, and they don't come to me for rescue. They don't need it.

What do they look like? Edi regretted not having a magic reader with her. She hadn't heard of goblins yet.

"They can be seen as a phantom or a wisp of mist... Or thickened darkness. Most often, they are the ones that scare children who wake up in the night, they also move furniture, knock something off shelves and make it so that in the morning a person can't find what he put back the previous day.

They don't have bodies like we do, or even Herta and the other wodnicas. They are entirely made up of the astral."

What is the astral? another unknown word. Or completely unknown? Maybe not quite, but what does it mean?

It is such matter not of this world. Scientists deny that it exists, but they are wrong. They just don't know how to find it with their methods, and that's why the nocnitsas can sleep peacefully, Janina explained everything as calmly and matter-of-factly as always, Edi could see, however, that her aunt was deeply concerned. And that she was trying to hide it from her niece.

The creature in her lap raised its head.

Are you finished? it asked in a voice reminiscent of a magpie's squawking.

I have to seal the end of the bandage, the doctor answered and unwound a large piece of plaster from the roll. Take care of that leg and don't strain it for a few days. And above all, don't get into any more brawls. In two weeks come back to me, I'll remove the brace. Don't do it yourself.

I won't. Thank you, little old lady, you are invaluable.

The creature rose on its thin legs and jumped out of the window so quickly that Edi barely had time to notice it.

What was this thing? she asked, wrinkling her forehead.

Didko. Its name is Wik. A relative of our Kurt, but endowed with more power. Sometimes that's not enough, though, as you can see. He got hit in some fight, he didn't want to say in which kind. Didkoes are secretive and not easy to see, but they can sometimes be very helpful. If you ever want to talk to one, you'll have to go at midnight to the crossroads, where an odd number of roads diverge.

Thank you but I don't need to do that. Auntie, can this night russalka, mora, attack a person?

Janina smiled slightly.

No, they basically just scare, she replied. Except that there is a catch here, because they can scare someone to death. They know how to look quite scary when they want to. They were once blamed for the SIDS.

What it is?

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The infant dies and it is not known why. They can also be dangerous when you listen to their whispers. Impersonating the spirits of the dead, they give people advice that can lead them to their doom.

Why do they do this?

"They don't like people, especially children. They scare them deliberately and are happy when the little ones get sick because of it.

Edi shook slightly. She didn't like small children either, but not so much as to wish them something bad.

So if the woman she saw wasn't a ghost, and judging from your words, not a nocnitsa either, then who was she?

The doctor squirmed slightly. She carefully put together her first aid kit, locked it and only then answered:

I don't know. You will have to find out. And anyway, why are you afraid of ghosts?

"Because... I said, when I was ten years old I was terribly fond of reading horror. Auntie knows, Masterton, King, Knight... Lovecraft. Sometimes I couldn't sleep after such reading and climbed into poor Tamara's bed...

And who allowed you such nastiness, you snot!

I allowed myself. I bought in the waste paper store next to the school. For a zloty there you could get a pretty decent book that someone threw away. Why is Auntie angry about this?

She snorted with displeasure.

Actually, now it's for no reason, she replied. You are probably already too big to be afraid of some Cthulhu, right?

Why is Auntie talking about him in particular?

Well, you mentioned Lovecraft and Masterton, so that name comes to mind by itself. To tell the truth...

You want to tell me that this bogeyman exists?!

The doctor waved her hand.

These two knew something, but for the hell they couldn't guess what's going on. They probably both saw the creature they wrote about, but knew nothing about its actual nature.

So what... what did they see?

Edi felt her hands turn icy and her throat go dry. She hadn't expected to hear something like this.

They saw a paranormal being that feeds on emotions, specifically human fear. As you can guess, it can't be very pretty. It's because of her that people should neither read horrors nor watch them, because the more afraid they are, the stronger she is. She draws energy from their fear, accumulating in the Earth's aura, like electricity in a battery. She is most fond of wars and any catastrophes, but she will not disdain and a small snack, the fear of B-grade horror movie viewers.

Do people sometimes see her?

Oh yes. She is very intelligent and knows how to manipulate people, leading to various conflicts. And sometimes she appears to someone overly curious about supernatural matters, which can end up in a mental institution for the delinquent. Many self-proclaimed mediums and occultists have ended up like this. You are a candidate for becoming a witch, but even we can't cross certain boundaries. It's dangerous. Never get sucked into the occult, spiritualist séances and the like, because you will bring mortal danger on yourself, and not only on yourself.

I'm not going to, Edi shook violently. I have always preferred to think that the dark world, supposedly existing next to ours, is just a tale.

My poor child, her aunt stroked her tenderly on the shoulder. Unfortunately, the old axiom that says the world is cognizable is just wishful thinking. Fortunately, creatures born of negative emotions are usually poorly anchored in the real world. They can only come here for a short time, because they are harmed by sunlight, for example, but also by several other things. So they drop in like a restaurant to eat, and then disappear unless...

Unless what?

Sometimes they show more, um, longevity. That's when they pursue someone, but let's not talk about that for the next few years. Fighting them is already the domain of mages, and the best ones. Now you understand why we give them such respect.

I understand. They stick their necks out for those who slander them. That's not fair.

Without exaggeration. They are also acting in their own interests. Do you think they want an invasion here by some unbelievably monstrous creatures against which every man-made weapon, not excluding the hydrogen bomb, is worthless? They can only be defeated by power, the existence of which scientists around the world categorically deny.

Do they threaten us?

No, sunshine. As long as the aura of our world is unfriendly to them, we are safe, and already we all take care that it remains as it is. Someday you will take care of it too. For now, go do your homework, while I have to make some visits. I'm already late.

It's not often that a person learns that the horror stories it reads are not entirely just literary fiction. Edi would have loved to question her aunt more thoroughly, about all the details the magic reader didn't want to give her. Besides, it had been grimacing lately, there was little she could learn from it. She hoped to find Janina at home the next day, returning from school, but was disappointed. She had to wait a few days for a convenient time to talk. When the doctor finally took a day off, she didn't really have a time for conversation anyway. Edi realized this immediately when she walked into the house after returning from school.

Janina was not alone. Sitting with her in the living room was Barbara, shaken and in floods of tears. It was an unexpected sight, especially when one knew this energetic and cheerful woman.

Don't stare, said Janina to her niece. Go upstairs and do the homework.

There was something in the doctor's voice that made Edi not dare to contradict her. So she went to her room, set an Amy Winehouse CD and sat down at her laptop. She didn't feel like studying right now.

Life is as strange as a madman's dream, she typed in her Facebook status. Something that seems unbelievable to you one day is perfectly normal the next. Do you also have that?

Definitely yes, came Marita Sky's reply after a while. And specifically what happened?

This and that... she wrote back elusively.

My sister said so, and then it turned out that she was pregnant.

Oh mother, and what?

What do you mean? She gave birth, and her boyfriend denied paternity as long as he could. Only a DNA test proved that the bastard was lying. But alimony he still doesn't pay. He left for Germany and went on a wild goose chase. Men are pigs.

Don't generalize, Andrzej B. joined the conversation, Not everyone is like that, and also you women are not so great.

This started a veritable argument about who is bad and who is worse, and eventually Edi switched to another thread. There the discussion drew her in so much that she only stopped writing when Janina entered her room. She was tired and sad.

Damn it, she sighed, sitting down on her niece's bed. Just what I need.

What happened? Edi asked, turning away from the laptop. Her aunt shrugged.

Barbara fell head over heels in love with somebody and Żywia refused to bless her relationship.

Why did she refuse?

She has her reasons. Jadwiga and her Edzio were lucky, they received permission, but this is not at all common. It is decided, so to speak, by the species test of the feeling that unites two people in love.

Edi nodded her head.

As in Sapkowski's words in one of the Witcher stories. 'Love must be true'.

I will have to read this The Witcher someday, though, muttered Janina without conviction.

She picked up the chain with the forked bead, still lying on the shelf. She looked at it for a while.

Jadwiga didn't want you to follow in her footsteps, she finally said. I suspect that this Tamara, whom she hired to take care of you, knew very well who she was taking care of.

How so?

She gave you this bead so that by some accident you wouldn't discover your Gift. If you wore it, it would activate and block your talents. Luckily it didn't match your style...

Edi got up from her desk, closed the laptop and sat down next to her.

Auntie, why do you say that? she asked softly.

One pays dearly for being a witch.

With what?

Happiness, dear. Ordinary human happiness. Our life is a struggle and suffering, a constant tension, a burden that is sometimes really beyond our strength. We get a lot in return, that's a fact, but is it enough to compensate us for everything? I'm not sure, she said. She shook her head in doubt.

Auntie, asked Edi after a while. Are the satanic witches you once told me about easier?

Hmmm, Janina looked at her intently. They get what they want more easily, that's for sure. Evil spirits, so to speak, can be generous. However, there is a catch here. Usually women who lack the Gift go this route, so the Power they use is not theirs. And minor demons are capricious. One day you enjoy their favor, and the next you're out of the circuit. It takes a great deal of intelligence and dexterity for such relationships, and rarely does any desperado playing with Satanism have these qualities in sufficient measure to save herself from a miserable end.

So Hell does exist...

"Oh yes, but it has little to do with the traditional image. It is... a dark realm. Woland's domain, he rules there. Minor demons have their own separate areas, but they all obey him. Okay, let's finish this, I have