Sofia could only stare and observe the situation. It was a sad thing for a woman to be denied the right to carry and touch her baby after delivery.

“What punishment was worse than this?“, Monica yelled and stared at her open belly as blood oozed out of it.

Feeling a surge of strength, Monica sat up and questioned the Witch who refused to answer her. But Monica persisted, despite the big cut on her stomach, she insulted the witch and tried to force Words out of her.

“The only thing you can do to have your peace is to kill me because I'll keep disturbing you”, Monica spoke with all seriousness while giving her a stern look.

This time she was hell-bent on annoying the Witch, somehow, anyhow!.

It was obvious that she needed answers and didn't mind facing the witch head-on. The Witch stared at her for a while, trying to read her expression.

She looked closely and realized that Monica had braced herself for what might happen next. A wicked grin became visible on her face.

“Your husband's closest friend is a power-drunk fellow, and he needed more powers to be in control of things”, the Witch calmly explained to her while trying to read her expression but Monica remained serious.

“This particular ritual goes beyond regular witchcraft and sorcery, we needed something clean to increase the efficacy of his powers”.

“We needed blood, a very clean and new one and he offered to sacrifice your baby and if you prove stubborn you might tag along”, the Witch explained everything without sweet-talking or sugar-coating her words.

“Life, death, power, sorcery, hierarchy in the witchcraft world, there's a price to pay for everything, it's quite unfortunate that Henry will spend the rest of his life alone or maybe with another woman”, she placed her words rightly just so she could anger Monica and control her mind.

Monica only stared at the witch and let out a broad smile like someone who feared nothing. “The child that dances with the spirits should not be scared when the spirit starts to visit him”, she spoke loudly and her iris turned green, she was provoked.

Her minions circled her and held their hands as she continued her enchantment. The more she spoke her fingers elongated, the moon became very black and lightning was very obvious in the sky.

The phalanges in the mirror continued appearing and disappearing, and her pot of blood boiled with a rush. The python opened its lip at the slightest provocation.

The Witch was very angry and everything in the shrine felt this anger. The heat and aura were too much for Monica to bear.

Monica took a closer look at the Witch's minions, they were more of young old men, then a woman in her early 30s and some dwarfs that looked like centaurs. They were scary to look at.

Sofia kept praying for Monica hoping she'd receive strength and leave the shrine. Quietly she went downstairs to the single guy's room and knocked hard.

This time there was no music blaring from his speakers, he heard her almost immediately and she nearly cried, she felt happy because she found help.

She took him to the balcony and at some point, he couldn't see anything in the witch's shrine. He just saw a regular building. Sofia felt frustrated but she didn't give up.

She got a white cloth and cleaned his eyes, thereby enabling him to see beyond the building. Where she got this idea from was still a mystery.

“This is scary”, he exclaimed upon sighting Monica and her opened belly. In all his years of existence, he had never come across something as gory as this, hence he decided to help somehow.

“Sofia this is extremely painful and I wouldn't want my enemy to face something like this”, Big b spoke with all sincerity. “It's going to be risky but we can't watch her die”, Sofia swallowed hard and nodded her head in affirmation.

They came up with a plan, prayed, and hoped that Monica would try to escape.

The Witch continued chanting and the water in her earthen pots dried up completely, “something had gone wrong”, Monica murmured to herself upon sighting blood oozing out of the eyes of her various statues.

It felt very off, “why would blood ooze out of these scary-looking statutes, something was wrong”, Monica affirmed while taking another look at it.

Something was not in place but she had to seize the opportunity and run away. The ground was oddly hot, she wrapped herself in her shirt and tip-toed quietly to the door.

Her leg felt sore and she was extremely weak but opportunities like this come once in a lifetime.

The viper lay in wait, ready to attack her, the Witch was engrossed in whatever she was doing so she had no idea what was going on at the back.

She kept her distance and she got an idea. The snake was sticking its tongue out, coming close to her so that she could go back and stay trapped inside, but if she obliged out of fear then she might end up dieing.

As a cunny reptile, it was the best guard the Witch could think of. Demonic and cunny at the same time, it was the perfect example of a shrine guard, no one would dare to escape after sighting this scary snake.

Monica stuck out her tongue and started moving towards the snake with her hands apart and her head moving side to side like a clown. Big b couldn't help but laugh out loud in the heat of the moment.

Monica continued moving towards the snake unsure of what might happen next but she persevered, completely ignoring the consequences.

To her surprise, the snake moved back and she was able to get out and scampered for safety.

Like someone who's been bitten by a snake, the Witch turned around and stared at the entrance. Immediately after Monica left, something struck her.