As if wanting to give both the witches the s.p.a.ce they needed, Damien didn't bother to take a seat at the table. Instead, he walked towards the other side of the wall which was filled with books. They were old books which must have been a mini library down here as the witches weren't known to travel out of the witches not only because of the eye that was kept on them by the council but also because some of them feared to what might come upon them with their ident.i.ty exposed to the outside world. 

Penny taking the lead to asked questions asked him, "How long did it take for you to control the fire element?" he waved his hand for her to take one of the seats at the round table. 

Father Antonio took a seat in front of her. Placing both his elbows on the surface of the table and giving a thoughtful look before he replied, "Must have been two years. Close to two years. Some of the white witches learn to control it sooner while some take longer than two years. It all boils down to if you can really handle the ability that you have. Just because you know that is your ability and the element bearer has gifted you to seal the deal, that doesn't a.s.sure that the white witch can be successful at it. The elements aren't something you play with, they are part of nature and one needs to keep in mind that using it affects the very power that you use."

"How does one learn to handle it? How do you make use of it?" asked Penny to see the man reach the candle. For a moment it looked as if he had scooped the fire from the burning candle like one would with from a large container of water in their palm of their hands. 

"You focus. The start is always the hardest. You might think you are on the right path but to realize you were doing it all wrong. It takes self-realization to fix the ability until you have yourself honed the skill and are able to handle it with the tip of your finger," he brought the fire close to her, closing his palm and opening it to see no fire there, "Mr. Quinn didn't give me enough details about you. For you to be a white witch, you must have had both or at least one parent to be a white witch. Correct?"

"My father was a white witch," answered Penny for the priest to nod his head. 

"And what about your mother?" 

Her mother, thought Penny to herself, "She is a black witch."

"I see."

Though the man had shown no reaction to her words, she noticed the slight movement of his eyes after hearing her reply. It had been many weeks since they had known about her mother's body that wasn't in the coffin. An empty coffin which she had visited to made her feel sick. The only question that often came to at the end was that why would her mother do something like this to her. 

Though she was a black witch, they had spent beautiful moments with each other as a whole family even though her father wasn't there to s.h.i.+eld them from the vile words of the villagers. People spoke a lot about the black witches but if her mother truly was the vindictive type of witch, then she would have burned the entire village with the villagers in it. Yet, her mother had continued to hear ill words from the villagers they lived in. 

She wondered how many other couples were present who were involved in completely two different sides of the very same coin. With black witches who were not to be trusted, the chances of them having a family was hard unless...unless they tricked the white witch in believing that they were humans with no a.s.sociation to another creature. 

Could that be what happened? 

Sudden flashes came to form in front of her eyes with her body and time standing still. Like a memory, she had already dreamt of returning back again. She saw her father sending her mother and her away from the house they had been residing in. 

"Where are we going, mama?" she had asked to receive the response back from her mother, 

"Back to the village."

Returning back to reality her eyes met the white witcher's eyes, the light blue having a tinge of orange in it because of the light emitted from the candles in front of them. Noticing the little change in her moment and expression, the white witch asked,

"Are you alright, miss?" 

Damien who had been going through a book, walked to the table to take a seat next to Penny. The pureblooded vampire then said,

"Penelope's father was killed a few years ago and we don't know who killed him."

"Pardon me I might be wrong," Father Antonio looked at Penny before he spoke, "Was it her mother? If she disappeared by the girl's side it is only possible-" 

"She didn't disappear, the black witch stayed next to her side. Faking her death just a few months ago," Damien shed some light over the matter leaving the priest confused, his eyebrows drew together.

"Then that would mean she didn't kill miss Penelope's father," concluded Father Antonio, "Black witches often commit a crime and then leave the spot but it appears that that is not the case here."

Penny who had been quiet then said, "Life that once appeared to be smooth with memories. I now find some of them empty. I think my memory has been tampered," her eyes moving up to look at the man.