The Witch Born to Burn

by Tanya Milne

  Everyone around me was moving, but I stayed still, frozen to the core. She’d recognised me from her house the day I rescued Elijah. I’d assumed Ezra had slipped her the potion, but clearly that had never happened.

  What the heck, Ezra!

  ‘You ready to sell some cakes?’ said Anna, who was standing next to me.

  I gazed up at her, hardly seeing her.

  What would this mean? What if Gretel told her husband?

  ‘Eva, you okay?’ said Anna.

  I nodded, made myself stand and be shuffled along the pew and outside to where the weak sun had emerged. I scanned the crowd, looking for Ezra, who owed me answers. I spotted him at the other end of the church grounds, standing next to his mother.

  ‘Come on, there’s no getting out of this, sister,’ said Anna, taking my arm. I looked at her sweet face, my breath returning.

  ‘You sure you’re okay?’ she asked.

  ‘Let’s just get this over with,’ I said as I slipped off Noah’s coat. I passed it back to him and thanked him before finding my way to the cake stall.

  The ladies of Melas turned into frenzied pecking hens, and for the next twenty minutes Anna and I were swamped by impatient and demanding women all desperate for Lent to be over as they laid their hands on cakes.

  Finally, like a swarm of bees who’d had their fill of nectar, they buzzed away to the tea-and-scone area and started talking up a storm. I was cleaning the table littered with the discarded, unworthy cakes when I heard a deep voice that I’d come to know only too well.

  ‘Good morning, ladies,’ said Orpheus.

  I stood up quickly and tried to find some type of expression that hid my horror.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Blackthorn,’ said Anna, who might have been scared of Orpheus, but did not hate him as I did.

  ‘I must say you both look a vision in white,’ he said, his gaze travelling a little too slowly over our bodies. ‘Don’t you agree, son?’

  What!

  I turned around and saw Ezra, who was being beckoned over by his father.

  ‘Hello,’ said Ezra, walking over and gazing down at the cakes.

  ‘I was saying, don’t these young ladies look lovely – so pure and innocent – exactly as young women should. Don’t you think?’

  Ezra kept his eyes where they were, but I noticed that the muscle in his jaw clenched tight. ‘Yes, Father.’

  ‘Eva and Anna, isn’t it?’ said Orpheus.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ said Anna, while I could only manage a nod.

  ‘This is my son, Ezra. I believe you’re all in the same grade at school.’

  ‘Hi, Ezra,’ said Anna, whose arm gently nudged mine.

  ‘Hi,’ I said, Ezra looking up at the same time as me. Our eyes met for the first time in over a month, and an invisible wire of electricity zapped between us.

  ‘As you know, ladies, our family recently moved here and Ezra could use some nice friends like you. Why don’t I leave you for a few minutes to chat?’

  ‘Lovely,’ said Anna, smiling at a mortified-looking Ezra.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ said Ezra the moment his dad was out of earshot.

  Anna glanced between me and Ezra. ‘You know what, I’m going to get us all some hot chocolates. I’ll be back in a few minutes.’ She turned and left before I could say a word.

  Ezra looked like a stallion ready to bolt.

  ‘Don’t go,’ I said quietly.

  ‘Why? What do you want to talk about? The weather? Or perhaps my dictator father? Or maybe you want to tell me about your new perfect boyfriend?’ said Ezra, his eyes hard.

  ‘Stop it,’ I said sharply. ‘Noah is not my boyfriend.’

  ‘Could have fooled me. I saw you two.’

  My face flushed and I dropped my gaze to the ground as I tried to find the right words.

  ‘I knew it,’ he said. ‘Didn’t take you long.’

  I raised my eyes to his. ‘Like I said, he’s not my boyfriend, and if I remember rightly, it was you, and not me, who didn’t want to be together.’

  His mouth opened and closed again. ‘It wasn’t because I didn’t like you – I wanted you to be safe. I’m just not ready…to watch you move on.’

  ‘I haven’t moved on,’ I said, my words sliding out like slippery fish. ‘The last month has been… I think about you all the time.’

  ‘You do?’ he said, a small smile appearing in the corner of his lips.

  ‘Not that it’s helping,’ I said.

  He let out a long sigh and leaned forward. ‘Living here, without you, it’s like living in hell.’

  I watched him more closely. Lines were carved into his forehead and around his eyes. He looked older and as though he carried a heavy weight on his shoulders.

  ‘How are things…at home?’ I asked.

  His gaze flickered to where his mother and father stood, talking to the sadist Max and an eager group of parishioners out the front of the church.

  ‘It’s okay. I’m okay,’ he said.

  ‘Oh God. It’s that bad, huh?’

  He fixed those bewitching eyes on me, flicking his sandy-blond hair from his face.

  ‘What can I do to help?’ I said.

  ‘I’ll be okay. I have my mum.’

  I glanced at his mother, who was watching us.

  ‘Your mum remembers me from that day we rescued Elijah. I thought you’d given her the potion.’

  ‘What? You never told me she’d seen you that night.’ He rubbed the side of his face.

  ‘Didn’t I?’ I said, remembering how kind Ezra’s mum had been when we’d met.

  ‘No,’ he said quietly, running his hand through his hair. ‘Shit.’

  I tried to swallow. ‘Will she tell your dad?’

  ‘If she was going to, she would have by now.’

  But there’s no guarantee, I added silently.

  ‘Why didn’t she?’ I asked.

  ‘It’s complicated.’

  I glanced at Gretel, the beautiful bird in a gilded golden cage. ‘She’s trapped, like you.’

  Ezra drummed his fingers on the table. ‘Not forever… Someday this will be over.’

  The way he said it made my heart contract. I thought living in this hellhole and pretending I was an innocent, religious girl was hard, but I had my family to come home to. Behind closed doors, I could be myself. For Ezra, it was even worse behind closed doors.

  I moved my hand so that our fingers touched. ‘Ezra?’

  He stared through my eyes and straight into my soul.

  ‘You’re not alone. Even though we can’t be together now, I’m still here for you.’

  He put his finger on the top of my hand, sending a zap into my heart. ‘That…means a lot to me.’

  Orpheus glanced over at us. I quickly removed my hand, passed Ezra a cake before saying, ‘Maybe now I’m dressed like the perfect young lady, he’ll let us become friends. Who knows, he might even let you court me.’

  Ezra laughed and the weight slipped from his shoulders. ‘You never know – I might be calling you soon.’

  Noah, who walked back outside carrying two hot chocolates, stopped for a moment when he saw Ezra and me laughing together. Then he moved towards us and Ezra stopped laughing. My gaze flickered between them – they were around the same height, the same build and they scowled at each other like mortal enemies.

  ‘Stop it,’ I whispered.

  ‘One day, when this madness is over…I’ll find you,’ said Ezra.

  My face burned as he walked back to his parents, where he was quickly absorbed into the formalities of being Orpheus’s son.

  ‘Everything okay?’ said Noah, passing me a hot chocolate.

  I took a small sip. ‘Yes. Thanks.’

  ‘Because it looked like I disturbed something.’ He glared at Ezra. ‘Something that will make the waiting period just that little bit longer.’

  ‘Stop it, Noah,’ I said sharply, putting down my hot chocolate and continuing to pack up.

  Noah’s face t
urned into a patchwork of colour. ‘I go away for five minutes…’

  ‘Noah…’

  ‘Okay, okay,’ he said, putting his free hand in the air. ‘I’m a patient man.’

  I stopped what I was doing and grabbed the skirt of my long silk dress. ‘This is not me. I am not…good…like you. You need someone else, someone who deserves you. You shouldn’t wait for me.’

  ‘I know you, more than you realise, so don’t tell me we don’t belong together. If you’d give me a chance, we could be the perfect fit, like Anna and Elijah.’

  His words were a temptation, and for a second I glimpsed us together, his hand in mine, him always by my side.

  ‘I’m not like my brother. He…he has a good, pure heart,’ I said, brushing the last crumbs off the tablecloth. ‘I’m not good for you. You should move on.’

  Noah walked around the table and gently took me by the shoulders, then turned me towards him. ‘Whether you believe it or not, you do have a good heart. And not just a good heart, but a great big heart.’

  I groaned and turned away.

  ‘Stop looking at him. Look at me.’

  I gazed at Noah’s radiant, peaceful face. It felt like the sun shining on me. He stepped a little closer and drew me in.

  ‘You’re exactly the one I want. Let me in,’ he said.

  I felt his heat press against me. But then I pictured Ezra’s face if he were to see us now. I pushed Noah back, stepped away and finished packing up.

  ‘Eva?’ said Noah.

  ‘I’ll see,’ I said quietly. ‘Tell the others I’ve gone home.’

  ‘I’ll call you,’ he said.

  I raised an eyebrow and walked past Ezra, ignored the daggers in his eyes and headed home.

  Chapter Four

  The moment I was inside my picture-perfect house, I unzipped my white dress, slipped out of it and threw it on the back of the couch before racing, two at a time, up the stairs and back into my attic sanctuary where my cat, Pearl, was waiting for me. I pulled on my thick dressing gown and sat down next to her on my bed. She strutted her way to my lap, where she sat down and started to purr.

  ‘When did life get so complicated, Pearl?’ I said, stroking her soft white fur. ‘Do you remember when there was nothing to do? No boys. No church. No drama.’ She gazed up at me with her bewitching green eyes. ‘Of course you remember!’

  As I patted her, I stared out through my bedroom windows to where the bare branches of the oak tree were being rattled by the icy breeze.

  ‘Did you know that Easter used to be my favourite day of the year?’

  The front door banged shut, and my family began moving around downstairs.

  ‘Eva, come downstairs, I have a surprise for you,’ yelled Elijah.

  I don’t want any more surprises. I want to turn back time to one year ago and never, ever leave our home, our family, where we were safe.

  Instead, I lifted a nonplussed Pearl onto my bed, slipped on my pink slippers and made my way downstairs to the kitchen.

  There they were, my family, sitting around the kitchen table with big smiles lighting their faces. In front of them on the table was the biggest chocolate egg I’d ever seen. It was at least three times the size of a football.

  ‘Surprise!’ said Mum. ‘And Happy Easter.’

  ‘Where did you get this?’ I leaned forward to inhale the sweet, intoxicating aroma of chocolate.

  ‘You won it, darling,’ said Mum. ‘I entered us all into a little competition, and your name came out of the hat.’

  ‘Are you sure you didn’t have something to do with that?’ I asked, giggling.

  ‘Witch’s promise.’ Mum wiggled her nose.

  ‘You should have seen Orpheus’s face when he saw the egg,’ said Dad. ‘He almost started drooling. So much for “I shalt not give in to temptation.”’

  I glanced at Elijah, whose face was pale. ‘You all right?’

  ‘I will be, once you crack open the egg.’ He forced his lips into a smile.

  I picked up the egg and hugged it close. ‘You expect me to share this?’

  ‘Yes,’ they all said in chorus.

  I put the gigantic egg back on the table, imagined that it was Orpheus’s head and karate-chopped the top of it, cracking the egg wide open.

  We sat together in the kitchen, stuffing our faces with chocolate and drinking tea until I felt sick.

  ‘Think I might have overdone it.’ I sat back and groaned.

  ‘You think?’ said Elijah, the only one who’d hardly eaten a thing.

  ‘You sure you’re feeling all right?’ I asked, watching Elijah closely for a reaction. I’d thought he was slowly improving, but with a jolt, I realised he was actually getting worse.

  ‘Stop your fretting, sis,’ he said. Those were the same words he’d used countless times. But the lightness, the jest that had been part of him… Well, it was gone.

  ‘Must have been awful, seeing Orpheus and Max for the first time since…’ I said, just above a whisper.

  A deep silence fell in the kitchen, the only sound coming from the ticking of the clock on the wall.

  ‘What can we do, Elijah – to help you?’ I asked eventually.

  He reached out and took my hand. ‘Just be here.’ He gazed at my parents, his face grey. ‘All of you.’

  I squeezed his hand, unable to trust my voice.

  ‘It will get easier, son. Today was a big day. Tomorrow will be better and the day after that… You’ll be feeling your old self again soon, just wait and see.’

  Elijah smiled at Dad, but unlike everyone else in the world, I saw through his smile and into the pain that was spreading like a disease, ravaging his body.

  Mum stood and flicked the kettle on. She discreetly wiped her eyes before turning and speaking brightly. ‘Well, I think today was a success. We’re still considered a fine and upstanding family.’

  ‘Is that what you call it? I call it torture,’ I said before groaning, remembering the humiliation of dressing as though I were a different person from a different time.

  ‘I think we got off lightly, Eva,’ said Mum, refilling the teapot. ‘It could be worse, much worse.’

  I thought then of Ezra, who would probably be at home in his giant mansion, his every move monitored by his monster father.

  ‘I have a bad feeling about those fish,’ said Dad. ‘It’s madness, Orpheus telling everyone the devil poisoned them.’

  My skin prickled as I remembered Orpheus’s words and his face when he spoke about the devil – ironically looking like the poster child of the devil.

  ‘I do too,’ I said.

  ‘Do you think we should do something?’ asked Mum, her words creating a magic all of their own.

  ‘It’s too dangerous, Ang,’ said Dad. ‘We agreed that we’d teach Eva and Elijah magic at home, but that’s all.’

  Mum silently poured us tea. I could see her mind ticking over, weighing up the risks.

  ‘Orpheus is looking for trouble. If we do nothing, Christian, then he’ll start blaming people. We already know he hates witches. It’s just a matter of time before he starts on about that…looking to blame witches…looking for–’

  ‘Us,’ I finished, my stomach churning.

  ‘I see your point, Angie, but what if we’re caught? And anyway, neither of us could master that kind of spell.’

  Mum’s glance flickered between me and Elijah.

  ‘Let me and Elijah try,’ I said, grabbing hold of the fruit dangling in front of me.

  ‘No,’ said Dad. ‘At the moment, we’re safe. But if we put one foot out of line, or if we’re spotted in the wrong place at the wrong time, we’re in trouble.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Dad. We’ll be careful. Elijah?’ I said.

  Elijah stared through the kitchen window to where wispy clouds filled the sky. ‘It’s probably safest we lie low.’

  I frowned at my brother. Not only was he getting sicker by the day, but he’d also turned into a chicken. I opened my mouth to peck at him,
but then I felt Mum’s hand on mine.

  ‘Elijah’s right. Let’s leave it for now and see what happens. We can reassess if the situation changes.’

  I thought of my family’s book of magic hidden in the cavity of my bedroom floor. As I remembered the chapter on water spells, Elijah spoke. ‘Don’t even think about it, Eva.’

  Mum and Dad glanced up at me with a start as I felt my cheeks burn..

  ‘It was just a thought,’ I said.

  ‘A dangerous one,’ said Elijah, sinking further into his chair.

  It was as though a cool breeze entered the room.

  ‘Okay, okay.’ I held up my hands. ‘So long as we agree to reconsider if the situation changes.’

  My family nodded.

  ‘Come on, bro. You need bed,’ I said, standing.

  He gave me the same look I’d given him not long ago.

  ‘Two can play at mind reading,’ I said, holding out my hand and helping him stand.

  Elijah hugged us all before he ambled away. He turned as he reached the stairs. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without all of you,’ he said.

  It was as though he’d squeezed my heart. Not only was it what he said, but also the way he said it, as though sadness was drowning him, and we were the only thing stopping him from giving up the fight.

  Chapter Five

  At 10 a.m. on Easter Monday, I was at my desk studying when my mobile rang. I saw it was Noah’s number, then cleared my throat.

  ‘Hello,’ I said quietly.

  What do you want?

  ‘Hey – how are you doing?’ he asked.

  I saw you yesterday!

  ‘Fine. And you?’

  ‘Fine, that doesn’t sound good.’