“It disappears,” Jed told her shortly as they walked inside and Abella closed the door behind her letting her eyes grow accustom to the dark.
They walked along the passageway until they reached the door of Cicely’s sanctuary and Abella took a deep breath as she reached for it turning the knob to enter the room.
As the door opened, the candle flickered on and a voice rung out, “I knew that you would come.”
Abella walked in and before Jed could follow her she closed the door behind her leaving only a small crack, and Jed grimaced not liking this part of the plan.
Abella walked farther in to the room noticing how it changed from what she remembered as the woman walked forward as the room became more illuminated revealing Cicely lying on the floor breathing unevenly.
“What did you do to her?” Abella asked in a low voice trying to keep her voice calm.
“Would you like to see?” The woman said in a light voice before she began to chant and Jed, knowing what she was trying to do, begin to counter her with a low murmured spell of his own.
When Abella didn’t react the way she suspected, the woman frowned slightly before she said, “Well, you are stronger than she told us.”
“No, I’m not,” Abella said with honesty, “I just have some very good friends.”
The woman laughed before she said, “There are no true friends in this world, but enemies.”
Her eyes narrowed on Abella as she said slowly, “What is special about you? I can’t figure it out for the life of me.”
Abella shook her head as she said, “Nothing is special about me. I am just a witch like you and Aunt Cicely.”
“No, you are not like me,” the woman gloated. “I am a powerful witch and you are…merely a nobody and yet the other witches followed your lead, and protected you when you needed it.”
Abella didn’t answer knowing that it was merely a statement and nothing else before she said, “Oh, well, I will learn the secret sooner or later.”
The woman laughed as she lifted her hands and Jed’s eyes widened as he realized what she was doing as he pushed open the door, and yelled, “Abella, be careful.”
Abella didn’t move a muscle but she nodded her head a second before she and Cicely vanished, and Jed’s eyes narrowed before he disappeared himself the room’s light dying, and one could see the room beginning to fade away.
Back at the pack house, Jessa and Asilynn were heading for the kitchen when a pack member stopped them.
“Have either of you seen Jenna today?” She asked with a frown.
Asilynn and Jessa looked at each other before Jessa answered, “No, we haven’t. Is there a problem, Ana?”
“Jenna was supposed to make dinner tonight,” Ana said with a slight grimace, “but we can’t find her anywhere. In fact, she hasn’t been seen since last evening.”
“Jenna rarely misses a chance to show us her skills so she may be back later,” Jessa told Ana with a small smile.
Ana looked worried though so Asilynn told her, “If she doesn’t return in the next hour, we will go look for her okay?”
Ana nodded her head as she fell in step with them as they headed for the kitchen.
Almost an hour later, Jessa and Asilynn looked at each other worriedly before Jessa decided to let Timothy and Gregory know what was going on, and that they were going to look for her.
Timothy warned her to be careful as they headed out. Jessa tried calling her through the pack link but to no avail and they started their search in the woods around the pack house not finding anything before they decided to check at places that Jenna frequented. Still they came up empty handed as no one had seen Jenna recently and it was getting late when they started for home.
“Do you think it is possible that Jenna took off after her mate rejected?” Ana asked biting on her nails.
“She didn’t seem so upset about the fact except for knowing that Caden knew about it,” Jessa commented in a thoughtful voice.
“But it is possible,” Ana said in a trembling voice.
Jessa and Asilynn wondered about that as one of them said, “It is possible, but knowing Jenna, she wouldn’t have just given up on what she truly believed was her right and what she wanted.”
The young woman didn’t seem convinced as they arrived back at the pack house and as they entered the house, Gregory and Timothy including Ana’s mate came forward to meet them.
“Did you learn any news about where she could’ve gone?” Timothy asked as he slid an arm around Jessa’s shoulders
“No, and none of the local shops that she frequented have seen her since last week,” Asilynn said leaning against Gregory.
Ana leaned heavily on her mate as she said, “I may not have liked her but I didn’t want anything to happen to her.”
“No one did, Ana,” Gregory said aloud as Asilynn frowned at them.
“Just because we can’t find her doesn’t mean something happened to her,” she said hotly. “It is possible she just wanted some alone time to figure some things out.”
Jessa nodded her head in agreement as Leana and Dave entered the room, and Leana asked condescending, “Where have you been, Jessa?”
“Trying to find out where Jenna vanished to,” Jessa answer absently.
“Has Jenna disappeared?” Leana asked in sharp voice catching the nodded heads although they were talking among themselves.
“We should put out a patrol for the evening and start a search tomorrow,” Dave said, and Leana nodded her head.
“That is a good idea, Dave,” she said. “I will leave you in charge of it.”
“Yes, Alpha Female,” Dave said bowing lightly from the waist as the others looked on.
Leana smiled and said, “That is taken care of” before she walked away heading up to her room and Dave followed a few minutes later after telling Timothy and Gregory, “If I can be of any assistance to help in her search please let me know.”
Gregory and Timothy nodded their heads briefly before Dave went upstairs, and Jessa frowned as one of the pack members came out whispering, “That man gives me the creeps.”
“You are not the only one,” Jessa admitted giving her smile and a nod.
“Gregory, it’s beginning to rain,” a pack member said coming inside from their mock fighting area. “Do you want to continue the exercise?”
Gregory frowned as he said harshly, “Do you think you are going to melt?”
At the member’s startled expression, he sighed and said, “We will continue practicing in the rain.”
He nodded his head to the others before they left going outside as Timothy and Jessa looked at each other before chuckling although there was no humor in either tones. They turned as one looking out the door as the rain began to fall each one wondering where Jenna disappeared to and Timothy had a bad feeling as he put an arm around Jessa’s waist.
In a secluded area to the north of the pack house, surrounded by shrubs and trees stood an old weathered beaten deserted shack that no one visited. The sunlight flickered through the trees as the only thing one could hear were the sound of birds tweeting and the sounds of the forest animals playing when suddenly the peace was broken with a loud whine as if an animal was in pain. The animals in the area stilled before they scattered and then a light rain began to fall getting steadier and heavier as the sky became darker. The animals ran for cover their ears twitching waiting for the sound of one of their own in pain, but the sound never repeated in the dreary day as the animals settled back down although they sensed something wasn’t quite right in their little corner of the forest.
Chapter 49
“Aunt Cicely,” Abella muttered crawling over to her in the limited light she had in the room her eyes getting accustomed to the darkness so she could be prepared for what was to come.
“Why did you walk right into her trap?” Cicely murmured opening her eyes slowly.
“If I didn’t then Jed would never know how to find us,” Abella told her with a smirk.
After she transported them, she had locked them inside this room merely stating that she would give them some time alone. Cicely knew she wanted to give Abella time to show off her power so she could see for herself how accurate it was, and she turned to Abella ready to warn her when she stopped stunned at what she was seeing.
Abella had sat down next to her bringing her knees up where she could rest her chin in the arch they corrected.
“What does Sydney truly want, Aunt Cicely?” Abella asked her eyes scanning the room realizing absently that she finally remembered the woman’s name. “From what Uncle Jed has told me every other woman that was with us that week are all dead so why are you still alive? Is it because of the power you have that is so similar to my own?”
Cicely sighed nodding her head. “She asked me about it before we separated at that time, but I didn’t give her a straight answer so decided to find another way.”
“Yet she went through the others first to see if they had any information about me,” Abella asked tilting her head to look at Cicely.
“No, she didn’t use them for that,” Cicely told her softly. She glanced around the room her eyes distant as she remembered what she learned and how it made her blood boil inside of her.
“So why did she attack and kill those other women?” Abella asked and Cicely glanced over at her about to explain when the woman in question interrupted them.
“I wanted what they had to be honest,” Sydney said walking in the room closing the door behind her.
Abella glanced over at Cicely before she asked, “What is it that they had you wanted Sydney?”
Sydney laughed before she said, “What does a witch have that I could want?”
Abella’s eyes widened as her meaning sunk in and she asked, “Is that even possible?”
“There is a way,” Cicely said in a low voice. “But it leaves the person weak and eventually the body just gives out.”
Abella’s eyes narrowed as she stated, “So you take their power and in the process you kill them.”
Sydney shrugged her shoulders as she started to walk around them observing them with malicious eyes before she said, “They weren’t using their powers properly and I could use them much better than they ever did.”
“I doubt you could ever fully access their ability no matter how hard you try,” Cicely taunted her trying to get up only to fall back.
Sydney’s eyes flared with rage before she shook her head chuckling at Cicely before she said, “I won’t be provoked by your childishness because I know my own ability.”
Cicely literally snarled at her and Sydney clucked her tongue. “You have been spending too much time with those werewolves, but they have their uses for some things.”
She gave Abella a shrewd look that Cicely caught only to have Abella say, “I am sure someone gave her some information on me although I seriously doubt it was much or accurate.”
Sydney didn’t like Abella’s tone of voice but she held back her rage as she stopped circling them and stood in front of Abella eyes scanning her as if she was looking for something.
“I can’t see how…” she began only to stop and shake her head.
Abella narrowed her eyes as she said slowly, “If it’s my power you want then I will tell you that it is unstable if you use it wrong.”
Sydney laughed shaking her head as she mocked, “So immature and naïve. That power can take you anywhere with only a thought, or to any one. I could do whatever I want without anyone being the wiser that it was me.”
Abella kept her eyes on the woman in front of her as she let her mind focus on Jed and she felt Cicely grab her hand, but she made herself keep her focus on Jed hoping that she could do what Cicely told her was possible.
The woman shook her head laughing looking down at the young woman in front of her grey eyes blank. She sighed hunching down and her hand went out to her when suddenly Cicely shot up sending her flying across the room.
“So you were playing possum,” Sydney snarled stopping herself from hitting the wall.
“Think what you like, but I won’t allow you to take her power,” Cicely told her strongly as she pushed herself slowly to her feet after she had let go of Abella’s arm without distracting her seeing from the blank look that to distract her now will have disastrous effects on her.
“And how are you going to stop me?” Her opponent taunted as she closed her eyes ready to do her chant and Cicely immediately countered creating a shield to protect both the two of them.
“Well, well,” Sydney said softly as she opened her eyes seeing Cicely still standing tall if breathing heavy.
Her eyes went to Abella who was absolutely still her eyes glazed and she smiled as she remarked softly, “You are protecting her, huh. So her power although useful and powerful, it has one weakness.”
She tilted her head as she said, “I wonder what would happen if she was distracted right now.”
Cicely’s eyes widened in fear but before she could come up with a counter spell, Sydney had moved using a levitation spell to send a book flying over to Abella.
“NO,” Cicely screamed trying to catch the book as Jed suddenly appeared in the room. “Jed, the book; stop the book.”
Confused, he watched as the book started to fall in a slow movement right next to Abella and his own eyes widened knowing that Abella didn’t have time to pull herself out as the book landed hard on the floor making a loud ‘bang’ echo across the room.
The grey of Abella’s eyes flared before suddenly they became almost black and she fell sideways to the floor still as a statue.
Everyone froze before Sydney began to laugh a loud cackling noise her body was almost bent over at the waist. “So one loses her mind if they are distracted in the middle of the trance, huh?”
She walked over and looked down at Abella seeing how dark her eyes were, and she chortled, “It seems that there is no hope for her.”
Cicely’s eyes went wild as she turned around and with a sweep of her hand she sent her flying across the room. It was so sudden that Sydney didn’t have time to react so she hit the wall hard leaving an indentation of her body in the poorly constructed wall.
“You steal powers as if they are like objects to be taken,” Cicely said in a hard voice, and Jed stepped back seeing her rage consume her something a witch should never let happen.
“I have the right to them as only I know how to use them properly,” she sneered picking herself up from the floor.
“You weren’t born with those powers,” Cicely told her heatedly.
“They should’ve been given to me,” Sydney screamed. She pointed to Abella who Jed had gone over to lifting her gently in his arms, “She is nothing but a naïve young girl not understanding the true importance of the gift she had been given. With the ability she has to go anywhere by knowing a name of a person or a place without having ever been there, there is so much one can accomplice to make themselves rich or somebody that the world will obey.”
“Abella never saw it like that,” Cicely shouted startling the woman. “She knew what the power could do, she has even used, but she also sensed the damage that it could cause.”
Cicely was breathing hard her eyes narrowed to slits as she looked at the woman in front of her. “I could go in more detail but I don’t think you care one way or another so let’s try finish this now.”
Sydney start laughing not taking Cicely seriously which was her mistake as Cicely closed her eyes and lifting her hands making a diamond shape, she started chanting and Sydney froze as the words echoed around the room.
“What do you think you are doing?” She screeched her eyes wide and darting around as she backed up.
Jed answered as Cicely was lost in her spell, a spell that few witches knew or would use because it had the ability to strip a witch of all their power.
“No, they are mine,” she screamed. “You can’t take what is mine by right.”
With those last words, her body went up in an arch and froze as a light began to gather around her and Cicely’s eyes opened arms still outstretched so that she was framed in the formation of her hands.
“What you have stolen is being returned,” Cicely told her and Jed watched as a light suddenly appeared from Cicely going through the shape of her hands and hitting the other woman directly.
Her body reacted jerking around as she was having a seizure and then to even Jed’s astonishment, lights began to appear from within her body. They floated up to the ceiling and disappeared as if they were being called away.
Cicely lowered her hands slowly to her sides as the woman collapsed to the ground before she looked up at them. “What have you done to me?” She sobbed her hair wild around her face.
“I took wasn’t yours and returned them,” Cicely told her again. “As of now, you are merely a human with no powers just as I am.”
“But I am a witch,” she sobbed hitting the ground with her fists. “You had no right.”
“I had every right,” Cicely told harshly pulling herself to her full height. “As witches, we are a dying breed and you were sacrificing others to make yourself more powerful so you can be somebody.”
Cicely shook her head as she turned to Abella her eyes filled with tears as she muttered to Jed, “Is there any way to bring her back?”
“If there is, I don’t know about it,” Jed revealed as they both stared down at her.
The woman glanced over at them and she giggled hysterically, “Well, at least if I can’t have it, then she won’t either will she?”
Jed and Cicely ignored her as they linked hands creating a bubble around them before they disappeared.
The Witch Prophecy Page 48
