78: Chapter 78 The Fall of the Supreme Witch?

The next day.

Shaun was awakened by a series of urgent knocks at the door.

He opened his eyes. Outside the window, the sky was still dark; the moon had already set, and the sun had not yet risen. In the room, only the small bedside lamp was on, casting a dim, yellowish glow over Madison's face.

She was curled up in his arms, sleeping soundly with even breathing, her brow relaxed and a faint curve at the corners of her mouth.

The knocking sounded again.

It wasn't a knock; it was a pounding.

"Shaun! Madison! Get up quickly!"

Cordelia's voice was completely different from her usual gentleness—sharp, urgent, as if something had grabbed her by the throat.

Shaun sat up abruptly, and Madison was also startled awake, rubbing her eyes in a daze.

"What's wrong?"

Shaun had already gotten out of bed and walked over to open the door.

Cordelia stood at the doorway, wearing a bathrobe with her hair loose, her face as pale as paper.

Her hands gripped the doorframe, knuckles white, and her whole body was trembling.

"Something happened," she said, her voice shaking. "I can't sense her power anymore."

Shaun's heart sank as he asked, "Fiona?"

Cordelia nodded, her lips trembling.

"She was there last night. Even though it was weak, it was still there. Just now, when I woke up, I habitually went to sense it... and it was gone."

"Nothing at all."

Madison sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes, not fully awake yet. "What are you talking about?"

Cordelia looked at her, her eyes reddening. "Fiona, I can't sense her anymore."

In this timeline, the Supreme Witch Fiona had not yet turned against Cordelia to extend her lifespan, but was instead single-mindedly pursuing treasure, so the relationship between the two was still decent.

Upon hearing Cordelia's words, the room went silent for a second.

Then Madison threw off the covers, jumped out of bed, and stood barefoot on the floor.

"What do you mean you can't sense her? Is she dead?"

Cordelia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "I don't know. Maybe she just masked her power; she's done this before. When she doesn't want people to find her, she retracts her power."

Upon hearing this, Shaun suddenly spoke up. "Have you felt your magic power increasing crazily lately?"

Although Cordelia didn't know why Shaun asked this, she still shook her head.

Seeing this, Shaun felt reassured.

If Cordelia's magic power were growing crazily, that would mean Fiona was truly done for.

Shaun calmed down a bit and hurriedly asked again, "Have you checked her room?"

Cordelia shook her head.

Shaun was already running out, with Madison following him, and Cordelia behind them.

The three of them crossed the corridor and ran up to the third floor.

The lights on the third floor were all off, the wall lamps were not lit, the door at the end of the corridor was closed, and there was no light under the door crack.

Shaun rushed to the front and pushed the door open. "Fiona!"

The room was very dark.

The bed was empty, the quilt folded neatly, the pillows straightened, with no signs that anyone had slept there.

Madison stood at the doorway, stunned. "She's not here."

Shaun stood at the doorway, looking at the empty room.

The hand-drawn map he had given her yesterday was missing from the vanity.

He walked over and rummaged through the vanity.

It wasn't there; it wasn't in the drawer, nor was it on the bedside table. The map was gone, and Fiona was gone too.

In fact, this had been expected; Fiona had directly said at the time that she would leave immediately.

"She went alone!"

Shaun delivered the "verdict."

Cordelia and Madison both looked at him.

Shaun said, "The map is missing. She said last night she wanted to go before dawn. It's not dawn yet, and she's gone, alone."

Madison's face turned pale. "Is she crazy? In that state, she's going alone?"

Cordelia didn't speak.

She stood in the center of the room, her hands gripping the hem of her bathrobe very tightly.

After a long time, she spoke, her voice very soft, as if talking to herself. "She can't wait any longer; her power is fading."

Cordelia turned and ran out. "I'm going to find her."

Madison grabbed her. "Where are you going to find her?"

"The swamp!"

"Do you know where it is?"

Cordelia was stunned.

She didn't know.

She didn't know the location of the treasure, nor did she know about Joseph White's map.

Both of them looked at Shaun.

Shaun stood in front of the vanity, his mind racing.

He still remembered the route on the map.

Through the woods, across the dried-up riverbed, the red cross.

He had looked at it many times last night; every turn, every mark, was engraved in his mind.

So he said, "I know where it is."

Cordelia looked at him, and Madison looked at him too.

"Take me." Cordelia was very agitated.

Shaun looked at her.

Two people who should have been at odds, he hadn't expected them to care so much in this world.

With Cordelia caring so much right now, Shaun found it hard to refuse.

After all, the witches had helped him quite a bit. He thought about it; he would just lead the way, and if they really encountered danger, he would just run.

So he nodded. "Okay, I'll go change my clothes. Ten minutes, gather at the manor entrance."

Cordelia nodded and turned to run out.

Madison also said, "I'm going too!"

Shaun knew he couldn't dissuade Madison, so he just nodded and agreed.

Before long, Shaun's car had set off.

Madison sat in the passenger seat, having changed into dark clothes with her hair tied in a ponytail, looking uncharacteristically serious.

The back door was opened, and Cordelia got in, wearing a dark long dress, carrying a small cloth bag in her hand with a grave expression.

The car drove out of the manor, heading toward the swamp.

The sky was getting brighter, and the sky in the east turned from grayish-white to pale pink.

The road became narrower, and the trees on both sides became denser, their branches and leaves intertwined overhead, cutting the sunlight into countless fragments.

Shaun gripped the steering wheel, running that map over and over in his mind.

"That swamp," just as Shaun was thinking, Cordelia suddenly spoke, "is Marie Laveau's territory."

Marie Laveau was the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans; on the surface, she ran a hair salon, but in reality, she was highly powerful and had always protected the local black community.

Her greatest rival was the white Supreme Witch, Fiona.

According to the original story, the two had once signed a peace agreement, but in reality, they were both struggling against each other in secret.

This person was no pushover; she could bury the racist Madame LaLaurie alive in a wall for nearly 200 years as the cruelest punishment.

Furthermore, unlike the witches, her immortality and magic power were not innate, but the result of a deal with the Voodoo spirit of death.

Marie Laveau exchanged her soul for immortality, but the price was that she could not refuse to sacrifice infants!

Just from this point alone, Marie Laveau could not be considered a good person.

Anyway, one was a Supreme Witch, the other a Voodoo Queen; the two were really six of one and half a dozen of the other—neither had any room to criticize the other.

It was just that, standing on Madison's side, Shaun naturally hoped that the Supreme Witch would be safe and sound.