“Eh? No, I’m not a monster.” Selim stood frozen in panic, her face flustered, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Mom!”
This cry rang out like a spell. Sharn jerked her head up, forcing herself to her feet and rushing to Selim’s side.
The wide Cape instantly enveloped Selim in Sharn’s arms. Sharn glared at the crowd, her voice hoarse. “Shut up! My little angel Selim is not a monster!”
“Get away!”
Sharn didn’t even spare Bart a glance, just clutched Selim tightly and shoved through the crowd, running toward home.
“Don’t be scared, Selim. None of that has anything to do with you.” Sharn’s arms reflexively tightened, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly. “Right?”
Selim understood that Sharn’s heart was already in chaos, that her current defense was only a mother’s instinctive reaction.
A faint, elusive smile appeared at the corner of her lips. She didn’t answer, just wrapped her arms tighter around Sharn’s neck in response to her fear.
No one knew how much time passed before Sharn, still clutching Selim, finally made it back to the door of their house.
Sharn set Selim down on the steps, but she herself seemed completely drained, stumbling backward several steps before sliding to the ground against the doorframe.
“Wuuu wuuu wuuu…” The pain of losing a child surged forth. Sharn buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Where’s brother?” Selim, manipulating the boy named Rosha, walked over and hugged Sharn, gently comforting her.
“It’s nothing, Rosha. Your brother Vikas just needs some time to recover; we can’t see him for now.”
Sharn quickly wiped away her tears. The word ‘Mom’ truly was like a spell to her, awakening the last traces of strength within.
She hugged Rosha tightly.
“Rosha, go call your little sister Jialan. We have to leave here and go on a long trip.”
Reason overcame sorrow—Sharn just wanted to take her children and flee this town, which might be harboring a monster. She had to protect the ones she had left.
This was rational, but how could Selim allow her to go off script from the play she herself had written?
Selim still needed more time—she was waiting for all the extras to arrive.
“Mom, I’m hungry. Can we eat first?” Rosha pulled Sharn’s hand and led her to the dining table, stopping her from packing.
“All right, but let’s be quick.” Sharn couldn’t help softening, sitting down beside her at the table.
The pain of losing a child made her instinctively avoid reality; she could only fill the emptiness inside by giving double the effort, compensating the remaining children with even more love in the name of guilt.
“Here, Mom, have some soup.” Selim brought another bowl of Borscht Soup to Sharn.
“Thank you.” Sharn’s eyes grew complicated as she looked at Selim, but then she shook her head hard, her guilt deepening. “Selim, I’m sorry…”
Sharn’s apology was loaded with two kinds of guilt: one for letting Selim witness a loved one’s passing and failing to protect her pure heart; the other for the fleeting suspicion that had risen against Selim in her own heart.
“Why would Mom apologize?” Selim looked at Sharn with a confused expression, as if she truly understood nothing.
“It’s nothing… Let’s eat…” Sharn sat at the table, savoring this fleeting, false peace.
How she wished all of this was just a nightmare.
Selim could feel the Dream World tearing at the seams, her heart silently summoning the monster to come closer.
It was time. She needed Rosha to start a small quarrel with Selim, laying the groundwork for Rosha’s tragic exit.
Under Selim’s control, Rosha stood up to get more soup, but suddenly tripped.
The bowl filled with red soup flew from his hands. Thick, scarlet broth, like spilled blood, splashed all over Selim.
“Ah!” Selim shrieked, jumping up. “Rosha, I hate you!”
Rosha nimbly hid behind Sharn, sticking his tongue out at Selim. “It’s because Selim’s dumb! She can’t dodge for herself!”
“Mom, look at Rosha—” Selim put down her bowl and chopsticks, her face filled with a trace of grievance.
“Rosha, apologize now!” Sharn scolded Rosha angrily as she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the soup from Selim’s clothes.
“Now Selim smells delicious. The monster is going to eat her!” Instead of apologizing, Rosha taunted Selim.
“But…” Selim spoke coldly, “isn’t it right next to you, Rosha?”
“It’s time to eat, darling.”
Before she finished speaking, Rosha was lifted off the ground—just as before. Before Sharn’s terrified eyes could catch anything, he was torn apart and devoured by the Invisible Monster, disappearing without a trace.
“Rosha—!”
Sharn lunged forward in desperation, her hands clawing helplessly at the air, touching nothing.
Despair washed over her like a freezing tide.
She suddenly turned to Selim, dropped to her knees, and shook Selim’s shoulders hard with both hands.
“Tell me! What was beside Rosha just now?”
Of course, Selim wouldn’t answer Sharn honestly. Her face was frozen in terror and complete unfamiliarity, staring blankly at Sharn.
After a moment, Sharn seemed to regain a bit of sanity. She clamped her hand over Selim’s mouth, her voice filled with desperate pleading. “Selim, please, I beg you… promise me… from now on, never, ever speak again, all right?”
Selim obediently nodded.
“We can’t eat now. We have to go!” Sharn struggled to her feet, rushing into the bedroom to pack clothes.
But the urgent knocking instantly shattered the deathly silence inside the house.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Open up!”
“Hand over Selim!”
Outside, the crowd had gathered. Torchlight flickered over the doors and windows as people stood outside shouting, demanding Sharn hand over Selim.
“Selim, hide!” Sharn shoved Selim toward the bedroom. Only after seeing her safely hidden did she take a deep breath and shakily open the door halfway.
The doorway was filled with townsfolk holding torches. Their usual friendly smiles were gone, replaced with expressions of anger as if carved from the same mold.
“Sharn, hand over the Witch Selim. We don’t want to make things hard for you.”
“Never!” Sharn spread her arms, blocking the door like a mother hen shielding her chicks. “Unless you walk over my dead body, no one will take my daughter!”
The crowd exchanged glances, lowered their torches, and spoke in a conciliatory tone. “Selim isn’t your daughter. You’ve been tricked by this Witch.”
“Nonsense! How could my daughter be a Witch? Get out of here!” Sharn retorted sharply.
“Sharn…” An elderly man stepped forward. “Haven’t you noticed that Selim doesn’t have the long ears unique to us High Goth?”
“What?” Sharn’s expression froze. She seemed to have never realized this before.
But searching her memories, she indeed realized Selim lacked the distinctive pointed ears of the High Goth.
“Sharn, Selim the Witch disguised herself as your child! Give her to us—we won’t hurt you. This is for the safety of the whole town!” The Mayor’s voice brooked no argument.
“No, I can’t!” Sharn backed inside, trying to close the door.
Sharn’s heart was a mess now. Doubt had cracked open, but her love still refused to believe Selim was a Witch disguised as her daughter.
“Mayor! We’ve caught the Witch!” a few young men shouted from afar.
“Mom!” Selim cried out at just the right moment, her voice full of terror, piercing Sharn’s ears.
Sharn looked over and saw Selim tightly bound by several young men, being dragged away.
“Give my daughter back—!”
Magic swirled around Sharn. Though she’d just entered the Moonlight Tier as an extraordinary, she decided to take up her duty as a mother and fight to reclaim Selim.
A few people of similar strength stepped forward, blocking Sharn and sending her tumbling back.
“Get out of the way!” Sharn charged forward again, only to be sent flying back once more.
“Don’t hurt my mom!” Bound tightly, Selim shrieked. “I hate you! Disappear! All of you, disappear!”
At her cry, the Invisible Monster appeared once more, instantly devouring the young men around her.
Freed, Selim rushed into Sharn’s arms.
Sharn witnessed the young men being consumed. The last string in her heart snapped. Looking at Selim racing toward her, all she felt was strangeness.
“Witch…” Sharn murmured, lost, and suddenly pushed Selim away, her voice hollow. “So… it’s all because of you? Witch?”
Selim was struck as if by lightning, rooted to the spot. Her voice quivered, tentative. “Mom…”
“I’m not your mom…” Sharn’s eyes were empty, like a puppet whose soul had been taken. She staggered toward the door, muttering over and over, “Witch… Witch…”
“Execution of the Witch!”
“Kill her!”
The crowd erupted in frenzied shouts, swarming forward and binding Selim once more.
Sharn only looked back at them woodenly, her lips moving, but in the end, she said nothing.
They escorted Selim to a place out of Sharn’s sight. The crowd lost all spirit, simply marching forward out of habit.
Selim easily slipped out of her bonds. After fabricating a double who looked exactly like her, she conjured up a Cape and leapt down.
With the shift in Sharn’s heart, the entire world now showed signs of collapse. Selim, controlling Bart, walked toward home.
As she walked, she counted on her fingers, as if ticking something off.
“Those she cares for… those who love her… those who love me…”
“Sharn, I know this is cruel to you…”
“But… I am the wicked woman, Selim.”
“It’s time to wake from the dream.”