by Dani Corlee
Table of Contents
Title and Copyright
Dedication and Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
A New Witch in Town (Maybe Two)
(A Modern Tale about the Witches of Springsville)
Dani Corlee
♥♥♥♥♥♥
Copyright © 2015 Dani Corlee
http://www.danicorlee.com
[email protected]
All rights reserved
Cover Design by StunningBookCovers.com
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written permission from the author and publisher, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. All the characters, names, places and situations are products of the writers imagination or have been used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To my Mom. I really wish you could have seen this book published.
Thanks to StunningbookCovers.com for the wonderful cover.
And thanks to Aurora, my lovely daughter, for believing in me. I love you much more than you’ll ever know.
CHAPTER 1
“Mom, Mom, please tell me again about the new house!” Aurora couldn't contain her excitement at the new adventure she was living with her mom. A new life, new friends, a new house only for girls! She was dreaming about lace and pinkish colors and a television which would never contain news and political debates but always cartoons and sweet movies. She was dreaming about elves, fairies, witches and castles. Hey! Her mom had promised her she was going to have an entire room for her toys, with a huge, pink castle and a giant pool filled with little plastic balls.
“How long before we get there, Mom? How long?” she asked again, combing her favorite doll's hair while looking out of the car window. They were finally entering the town after traveling for hours.
The colorful shop windows along Main Street showed a cheerful town, despite being deserted under the hot sun of an early July afternoon.
“Look, Mom, look! There's a toy shop!” Aurora shouted. “There, look!” she insisted.
Kimberly giggled. “Of course there is. This is a small town but not that small. There are probably other toy shops.”
“Look there! There's a movie theater!”
“Let me concentrate, will you? The GPS isn't working and I'm afraid we might get lost only a few minutes before we get there. See? It wants us to turn right here and pass through a shoe shop!” Kimberly's frustration was growing. She slowed down and looked for the street name, only partially aware that the clean, two-story buildings, perfectly painted in pastel colors with no graffiti, were entirely spotless. In fact, all the streets they passed were immaculate.
“Is that our house? Or that one? Or maybe that? Ohhhh! Mom, I like that one!”
“We are not far, little one, don't worry. Only a few more minutes and you'll be able to see our new house.”
“What does it look like? Why is it called Cherry Lane?” Aurora asked in one breath while kicking her seat.
“I'm not sure, my love. I've been told the trees along the street are cherry trees, but when I visited the house, it was too late in the season for them to bloom. They might be all cherry trees, I'm not sure. I bet the street is very cheerful and beautiful in spring. That's why I decided to buy the house. Well, its extremely affordable price was a good reason, too.”
“I decided you could buy it!” Aurora exclaimed, a little annoyed, still trying to fix her doll’s hair as blonde and straight as hers. Mrs. Daisy had been her companion for at least two years now, and she couldn't do without her. Despite her many other dolls, it was Mrs. Daisy that received all the love and the attention this four-year-old could give to a toy.
“Oh, yes, I remember this,” Kimberly mentioned soon after they left the center of town, passing by a modern, square building covered with glass. The other side of the street edged the town park. From there, the rolling green hills which surrounded the town were scattered with beautiful homes, with big gardens bordered by white fences. The street went on for a while with no buildings, eventually reaching one of the old residential sections that was full of closed side roads.
They reached their destination a few minutes later, and Kimberly parked in front of a light blue house with a barn-style roof and a tower-style room.
“Wow, Mom! This is a real house!”
Aurora wasn't wrong. Kimberly herself felt the same, after having lived while she was married in a classy, rented apartment on the twentieth floor of a skyscraper, not very different from the loft she had lived in with her parents.
“This is our home now,” she said with pride. Taking her daughter by the hand, Kimberly led the way inside, waiting for the moving truck with all their belongings to arrive. Both Kimberly and Aurora were unaware of the eyes that were spying on them from a house across the road.
Michelle was looking out the window, slowly sipping her green tea, when she saw the car arrive and stop at the house at the end of the street.
“What the... hey, girls! Look there!” she exclaimed, waving her hand to get the attention of her friends who were too busy with their cups of tea and pastries.
“What's the matter with you?” one of them asked, not really interested. Her eyes never left the plate that held the pastries.
“I'll take this one. It looks delicious,” a third woman said, talking to herself.
“You greedy girls! Stop eating for a while and come over here! A car and now a moving van have just parked in front of Dolly's house. Look, a man is getting out.”
“Is he hot?” another friend asked, her mouth full of cream, which made her face appear even more round than it actually was.
“Don't be silly, Heather. I told you a few days ago there were some men working on old Dolly's house. A whole team of workers.”
“Could the house have been sold to someone? But who on earth would buy old Dolly's house?” Her voice couldn't hide her surprise.
“Gnnoone gno gnon't gnow agnout gnat gnouse sgnory.”
“What? For God's sake, Amy, don't talk with your mouth full of chocolate cream.”
“Sorry,” Amy apologized, licking one finger at a time. “Probably someone bought the house without knowing its story. Some foreigner.”
“A foreigner?” the other friends asked in unison, wide-eyed with astonishment.
CHAPTER 2
Lucille entered the Magic Club, snorting. She enjoyed their weekly meetings, just not when a new boyfriend was waiting to take her on a ride around Springsville on his Harley Davidson.
She hurried into the auditorium, waving to the receptionists with a smile, as her thin
, high heels smacked across the shiny marble floor.
The club was a modern, three-story building. The two upper stories were enclosed entirely in glass; it was a multi-function center. It included a gym, a yoga room, a swimming pool, a tea room, a library and even a kitchen for cooking lessons. That didn't include the indoor playground for kids, a music room which was mostly used by teens, and the auditorium.
Celeste, the president of the Magic Club for that year, was late as usual. She was meant to hold a weekly speech, providing an opportunity for the others to debate a topic of importance and interact with each other. After that meeting, anyone was free to use the amenities the club offered. Every amenity except the Secret Chamber. This was the cell where ancient and precious books were kept and that could only be accessed with permission, and only for a valid reason.
The Secret Chamber, named more for its relative importance than for its secrecy, was under the basement. It was a large, old room full of ancient books. The building that had stood over the basement had been old, ancient, even, until the club had been built over it.
Lucille adjusted her pink jacket and tight jeans, her overly backcombed hair, and smiled, showing the gum she had chewed for hours. Despite her age—she had been celebrating her thirty-ninth birthday for at least fifteen years—she was still a beautiful woman. And most of all, she was one of the most powerful witches in town.
At last, the skinny figure of the president appeared in the packed auditorium and hurried onto the dais, trying to adjust a strand of her brown hair coming loose from an otherwise perfect bun.
“This afternoon, I wanted to tell you about the many benefits of clover if picked on the night of a full moon while reciting the proper spell, but just before going out, I heard an interesting bit of news on television and I had to investigate. The space agencies of all the world have detected a new comet approaching our planet, a comet which seems to be from one of the universe's many chasms.” She took a deep breath.
“Now,” she continued, placing her hands on the dais and leaning towards the audience. “We all know very well that every comet heralds an important event. Therefore, I strongly suggest that we investigate it, especially due to its strange shape. It seems the comet looks like a flying bird!”
“What?” Isidora's booming voice didn't need a microphone to be heard by the whole auditorium. No one could help staring at her, fully knowing that the wisest and oldest witch of the community never talked in vain. She carefully put her knitting work on her lap. Many eyes followed her gestures. By now everyone knew of her hobby and was used to the sharp contrast between her corporate suit and her knitting work.
“A flying bird, you said? This reminds me of something. My memory is not what it used to be, but I bet it has something to do with the prophecy.”
An audible Oh! resounded through the room. A prophecy wasn't something to be taken lightly, and they needed to do something about it at once. An excited murmur shot through the room, and all eyes remained on the president and Isidora in expectation.
Isidora passed her knitting materials to Aunt Adeline, waking her up, and with her authoritative voice, said, “Celeste, my dear, give me the Chamber's key and let's have a look at the Masters' Book.”
The buzz in the room grew louder.
Celeste removed a thin necklace from under her light sweater, searching with her fingers for a tiny pendant. As soon as she touched it, it turned into a big, ancient iron key, full of swirls.
Murmurs of surprise resounded in the room. Most of them had never had the opportunity to see the magic key in action.
Celeste gave it to Isidora with a serious look, then turned to Lucille and asked her to follow them to the Secret Chamber.
“I'm coming, too!” Aunt Adeline's feeble voice was only heard by Isidora, who raised an eyebrow. Hands on her hips, she turned to her, looking at her unsuccessful efforts to get up out of the chair.
“You'd better stay here, my dear. It might be difficult for you to get down there,” she replied politely.
“Down there where?” Aunt Adeline looked at her, puzzled.
“Oh, dear.” Isidora rolled her eyes and left with Celeste and Lucille.
They went down the large, modern stairs to the basement. When they arrived, Isidora pronounced a few ancient, magic words, moving her hands in the air, her thin fingers flitting like a pianist. Finally, a secret door opened which led to an old, winding staircase. They didn't need to turn on the lights as candles flamed simply at their passing by. After a few moments, they arrived at the Chamber and opened the heavy wooden door, using the old key. The Chamber was an old and dark library, full of books and scrolls placed on thick wooden bookshelves.
There was a strong, musty smell of old things, but not of humidity, thanks to a spell preserving the room from anything which could ruin the precious items kept there. Suffused light came from the ceiling thanks to another spell, which provided ventilation only for the candles’ smoke. It had been that way for hundreds of years now, and no one had ever thought about having electricity installed.
Inside a glass case, there was an ancient book: the Masters' Book.
It was said to be more than ten thousand years old and to be the copy of an even older book. Not all the witches' communities had the privilege of owning such an important and precious book.
Isidora recited a spell and opened the case, smiling as the book flew to a big book stand.
The old book's cover was made of thick, dark leather. Gold swirls adorned it, and in the middle there was a star, each of its seven tips encrusted with a precious gem of a different color. Each one represented what the witches considered the cardinal points of space and time: north, south, east, west, past, present, and future.
Isidora opened the book with another spell, and had the old, yellowish pages turn, pages which had been handwritten thousands of years before by another witch.
She finally found the prophecy, which appeared at once to be very important, every word written with gold ink. It glowed on the page as Isidora read, and as she said each word, they detached, one by one, from the book and flew into the center of the room, dancing around in a shining swirl, forming the image of a comet.
“Every 50,000 years, a star shaped like a flying bird will pass across the earth, bringing the power from the center of the galaxy. It will bring good news and will announce the most precious thing witches could ever expect: a new Queen, a witch with massive, unshakeable powers, somebody who can change the destiny of the world.”
Isidora read the prophecy without daring to breathe. She dared not break the dancing spell and, not able to stop, was overwhelmed by the news. The witches had been looking at the dancing words, hypnotized by the golden light around them. Then they turned to each other, speechless, in wonder. They had never heard anything like this and didn't know what to expect. The dancing swirls died, leaving a few sparkles still shining and fading away in the center of the room.
“Does the prophecy say where the Queen will arrive? Oh, my! Will she be an alien?” Celeste asked with fear in her voice.
“I don't really know. It is said that the comet will announce it, not that it will actually bring her, but the prophecy is quite vague. We don't know where it will appear, or how we will recognize her. The prophecy doesn't say anything else...”
“What will we do now?” Celeste asked, nervously biting her lip.
“We have to get organized. We must decide as soon as possible on an official announcement and connect with all the other communities of the world, to beat the other groups to the punch. This will increase our power and reputation.” She paused. “But first, let's go upstairs and give the news to our group. They've been waiting patiently.”
CHAPTER 3
“Please, please, silence!” Celeste shouted into the auditorium, crowded with excited witches.
An extraordinary meeting was a rare event, and not a single witch had dared miss it. It was the second time in three days the community had met and received incredi
ble news.
Isidora had to make a big announcement, but most of the witches had already figured out what it was about. The meteorite hitting the town outskirts early that morning had been heard for many miles and there was only one explanation: the meteor was the messenger the prophecy talked about and it announced the Queen was arriving in their town. It was the perfect day for such a wonderful event—June 21st, the Summer Solstice!
Isidora stepped onto the dais. She adjusted her short, silver bob, slowly tapped on the microphone and cleared her throat.
“Two days ago, we gathered for our weekly meeting and we discovered something really incredible. Now you all, even those who didn’t attend the weekly meeting, know about the prophecy. And all the world's communities were advised the same day. We still don't know enough, despite the rumors that are flying around.” She paused and took a slow look at the whole audience, trying to focus on each face to underscore the importance of what she was about to say.
