The 13th Witch Complete Trilogy

by Thompson-Geer, Stacey

  “I just thought I'd say hi. I'm new in town and don't know my way around all that well.” He said moving a little closer to me.

  Bullshit . He knew his way around just fine. This place was so small you could never get lost. Not unless you wanted to. “Oh, well good luck. I have to be getting home.” I started around to be on my way, but I really didn't want to leave. There was something about him that drew me in. Keep walking you idiot. I was even fighting with myself.

  “Lucy is your name, right.” He called after me. I spun around and looked at him suspiciously. He was right in front of me now. We were so close that I could feel his breath on my face.

  “How did you know that?” I stood still. The last thing that I wanted to do was to show any fear, and I wasn’t afraid of him, but afraid to be too close.

  “I heard the other girl call you by it this afternoon in the diner.” He said this nonchalantly, like he was waiting for a reaction from me.

  “I see.” I said trying to figure out how to get out of this situation.“ I guess I'll see you around.” I said awkwardly as I started back down the road. I didn't know what to say to him, but figured I would see him again if he were living in this small town.

  “You will.” He said under his breath as I walked away from him. What does that mean and when?

  Two

  When I got home, I was mildly shaken from that encounter but at the same time, I could not get that man out of my head. He was attractive and those eyes seemed to hypnotize you. I walked into the kitchen and looked at the sink. The dishes had already been done. I figured that dad must have done it before I got home. I smiled a half smile at the empty sink. I’ll have to do them tomorrow to make up for not getting them done today. The stairs were dark, but I knew my way to my room, so the dark was not an issue. I thought about a time back in high school when I had stayed out till 2 am with a couple of friends. I was so scared that my dad was going to catch me, which he did, but not until I got up to my room and thought that I was off the hook. Good Times.

  When I got to the top of the stairs, I glanced in my parent’s open door. They had been watching the late shows as it was after 10 now. I could faintly hear the snore of my dad creeping though the open door over the TV. I just kept walking as quietly as I could so that I would not wake them up.

  As I got into my bed, I wondered what they had planned for tomorrow. My parents always seemed to go all out when it came to my birthday. I thought maybe it was because I was the only kid that they had, and it probably was. They had always treated me well and really showed me love. I remembered my 9thbirthday when my mom had said that she was working late and pretended not to remember my birthday.

  My dad took me for a walk around town, telling me what he was doing for the day. I remembered tears streaming down my face as I walked with him, knowing that I was not having a birthday party and that no one remembered. When we got home, there was a huge party in our backyard waiting for me. It was wonderful and I remember having the best time. I turned over and closed my eyes, I guess I’ll have to wait and see what they have planned for this year.

  I woke up the next morning and looked at my ceiling for a moment. It was raining outside and the thunder was rumbling in the clouds. I sat up in my room. It was noticeably darker than other days, even when the clouds were thick and dark.

  My feet fumbled for the floor. I stood up and looked toward my door. It was shut tight. I don’t remember shutting the door last night. I walked towards the closed door in the tattered t-shirt that I had chosen to sleep in last night. The doorknob was cold and a strange creak filled the air as the door opened in front of me.

  The hallway was just as dark as my room was and the air was thick. It made it hard to breath. I made my way down the hall and glanced into my parents’ room. It was empty. The television wasn't even left on like it usually was when they would go down to the kitchen and get a bite to eat. That’s odd. I shrugged it off and started down the stairs to the kitchen.

  There were no lights on in the kitchen at all. It looked as though there was no one that lived there. Everything was empty and the table had nothing on it. That was a big difference from the morning that I was used to. Normally my dad would be at the stove or washing the dishes that had built up in the day before. It felt odd to see that empty kitchen in the dark that had settled on the house. I turned the corner from the kitchen to the living room.

  The room was pretty good sized and a lot of love had come out of this room, but tonight it was different. More clouded and distant.

  The couch in the corner had been where I’d had my first kiss with the boy down the street, Sam. I was nine and it was at my birthday party, but he had turned out to be a jerk even at that age. A smile kind of kept onto my face at the thought of the awkward kiss. I was snapped out of my thought by the sound of something under my feet. It was a liquid that grabbed at my feet. Whatever it was, made it hard to walk and seemed to be getting worse. I have to get to the light switch so I can see what this is. My dad will freak out with something on his new carpet. I made my way to the nearest light switch that happened to be just a few feet from me. I put my hand out to it and flipped it on. My eyes looked down to see them laying there, my mom and my dad, blood under them and around their lifeless bodies. I closed my eyes and screamed as loud as I could.

  I opened my eyes and was disturbed to find myself in my room. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. I looked around the room and tried to slow my fast beating heart. I heard the sounds of feet running up the stairs towards me.

  “Lucy!!! Are you okay?” My dad was in my room first. He clearly had a look of concern on his face and was a white as a sheet. My mom followed on his heels looking out of breath and distraught.

  “I’m okay, I… just had a bad dream.” I tried to pull a smile out, but was very shaken from the dream that I had. They looked at each other and I felt like I was missing something.

  “When you’re ready, come down to the living room. We need to talk to you about some things.” My mom said this with a little bit of fear in her voice. She never sounded like this unless it was something big. I nodded to them as they started out my door. My dad smiled at me and shut the door as he left. I let my body fall back into the bed, shaken. It was just a dream. I need to just breath. I decided that the best thing for me to do was to get dressed and go talk to my parents. Doing something to shake off the dream would be better than sitting there thinking about it.

  I thought about the dream with every step I took down the hall and the steps to the kitchen. When I got to the kitchen, I saw my dad sitting at the table with his hands in front of him. “Are you alright? Everyone is so worried about me, but you’re the one sitting here alone.”

  He smiled slightly at me. “I’m fine. There is nothing to worry about, really.” I nodded at him and went toward the living room. There was that couch that Sam had kissed me on so many years ago. I couldn’t help but look down as I walked around the couch holding my breath. Nothing there. I let it out the air as I walked. My mom was sitting in her maroon colored lazy boy chair. She smiled at me as I sat down on that dam couch. She was wearing jeans and a very nice blue colored button down shirt. You knew that this was one of her days off, because she always wore a dress to the office. Her hair was tired back in a ponytail. She looked as though she could be a good friend or a sister. It was hard to believe that she was my mom. My dad had followed me into the room and sat beside me on the couch. He was wearing his usually get up of jeans and an old t shirt. He also had on that trucker’s hat that he loved so much.

  “We need to talk to you about some important things.” My mom started and looked at my dad. “You know that you are adopted, but you don’t know the full story. I want to tell you a little about your parents.” I looked at her intently. This was something that was important to me. My adoptive parents were great loving people, but there was always that wonder inside me. “You were a surprise to everyone when you were born. Your birth mom and dad were not expec
ting to have any more children, but you were important. They were in a very bad place and couldn’t take care of you, so we took you in.” My dad pulled a small box out of his pocket and handed it to me.

  “This was your mothers. It’s part of your family.” I took the box from him and glanced up to his face. He looked sad and unsure. I smiled a half smile at him and opened the box. There was a beautiful blue stone set in a white gold setting. The chain was also the same white gold and when it found the light, it seemed to glow.

  “Do you know anything about witches? “ My mom asked me as she kind of looked in my direction. I was taken offhand by the question. What is this about?

  “Like, Harry Potter Witches or Halloween witches?” I snickered. Why something like this would be important to who my birth parents were and why they had given me up, I didn’t know “What does that have to do with my birth parents?”

  “No, it’s nothing like Harry Potter or Halloween.” She was clearly getting agitated with me and my remarks. “And it has everything to do with your real family.”

  “But, none of that stuff is real. It's all crap.” “Your parents are witches. . .” I kind of smiled at the thought, but she was still looking at me with a very serious face. She had to be telling me the truth. “When you came to us, we knew that you were inclined to be… different. The woman that gave you to us told us that

  you would be safe until your 18thbirthday, and then we

  needed to tell you about your parents. It… would be important.” I was taken aback by what they were telling me. Witches and magic, right that was real. Have they lost their minds?

  “No we haven’t. It’s all true and the sooner that you realize that, the better you will be.” My dad answered the question that was in my head. I looked at him confused and lost. I wondered how he had known what I was thinking. “We are also a little….different.” He said this to me as I thought about all of the things that had run though my head when my dad was around. A lot of that was something that I was ashamed of thinking at the time.

  “When she left you with us, she told us that you would be a normal child and that you would be protected.” She stooped and looked at me as though she had no power to help me understand. “Until now. Once you became 18, your biological family could find you. You need to be ready and understand.” She pointed at my necklace as she spoke. “This will help you to find your power. When you’re ready to be done with it, you will know.”

  “I know that it’s a lot and you have to sift through it.” I needed to get out of this house. I was really confused and thought that maybe my parents were a little off their rocker. “I’m going to take a breath and go see my friend.”

  “You can’t tell her about this stuff. Most people won’t understand it and will think that we are all crazy people.”

  No shit. I smiled at her and gave her a little hug. “I’ll be back later, okay?” They nodded at me knowing that it’s a lot for me to take in and absorb. I walked out of the house into the sun. I didn’t understand what my parents were doing and why they thought it would be important to tell me something that couldn’t be true. I had been a normal kid with normal parents that loved me. Why were they going crazy now?

  Before I realized it, I was in front of Jes’s apartment. I really hoped that she was home. Even if I couldn’t tell her about the crazy morning I had, I could at least get my mind on something else. I walked up the stairs and knocked on her dark green door. She answered quickly and smiled at me.

  “There is the birthday girl!” She chimed at me happily. I smiled back a sideways smile as I walked in the door. “Did you get that party thing with your parents that you were talking about yesterday?” I didn’t know what to say to her.

  “I guess. It was weirder than anything. We talked about my birth parents.” I told her as I sat on her couch. I didn’t have to tell her about the whole magic thing that I had just been bombarded with. She stopped and looked at me as she started to sit down in the little chair that sat across from the couch and beside the television.

  “Are you okay with what they told you?” “I guess. It was just a lot to find out in one day and some of it seems....crazy” She kind of smiled at me and nodded. “Yeah, it probably would be hard to hear about parents that you never really knew.” She shifted in her seat a little.

  “I really don’t want to talk about it.” “I know, but sometimes you have to know where you come from. I knew my mom, but still get confused by some of the choices that she made.” I knew that she was right, but really didn’t want to talk too much about it.

  “So, what have you been doing today?” I asked trying to change the subject. “Just taking it easy. It really has been a bright and sunny day. I love days like this.” She said this to me as she settled better into the chair that she was sitting in. “I wanted to do something for your birthday, but I don’t really have anything to give you.” She sounded sad about this. “I do have a few friends that I'd like you to meet, though. If you don't mind that?”

  “I don’t care. At least I can get away from all that stuff at home and have something normal in front of me.”

  Jes smiled as I said this. “What is so abnormal about your family? You always look like everything is as good as apple pie.”

  “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.” “You might be surprised at what I’d believe.” She said looking for a reaction from me. I felt as though something wasn’t right with my longtime friend. It was something that I’d never felt before.

  “I should be heading home. I told my parents that I’d have that birthday thing with them even after all the other things that we talked about.” I said this as I shot up from the couch and started for the door. She seemed startled by the sudden movement, but managed to get up and to the door before me.

  “I think you should hang out here for a little while. I invited some of friends over for your birthday.” “You said that you didn’t have anything to give me or any real money to buy anything?” I said to her questioning what was going on in my head, but I didn’t want her to really know that.

  “I know, but my friends really want to meet you. They were very excited and I think that you will like them once you meet them.” She didn’t move from in front of the door. I was trying to figure out how to get out of the apartment. It was very small and a window was out because of the apartment being on the second floor. I decided that I was stuck and a little bit of panic set in. Maybe it was just my imagination. After all my parents had told me that I was a witch.

  I backed away from the door a bit and Jes smiled at me. She reached down to the doorknob and opened the door.

  Three

  It flung open all of the way as though someone had kicked it in. There he was standing there in the doorway, the man from the diner yesterday. I stepped back a little and was overcome by shock. I didn’t know why he was here in front of me now. He held his hand out to me as he looked at me without saying a word. I didn’t know if I should really take it.

  Jes, who was knocked down by the door, started to get up. She looked a little confused, but then realized that it was not who she had thought that it was at her door. She pushed the door back towards him, but he was a lot stronger than she was.

  “You shouldn’t have come here, Conner” She screamed at him as she tried to push the door closed on him. He motioned his hand for me to come with him. I didn’t know him but somehow, I knew it was what I needed to do.

  I reached to him and grabbed his extended hand. He pulled me from the apartment with a lot of force and then let the door close behind him. He pulled me down the stairs.

  “Who are you?” I yelled at him as we continued down the street. He was looking around us watching for any people looking for any passing cars.

  “I’ll explain everything later, but right now we have to go and fast.” He pulled me to him. I could feel the muscles under his shirt and how strong he truly was. In spite of myself, I smiled slightly. He pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and thr
ew it onto the concrete in front of us. There was a puff of purple smoke as it hit the ground and I closed my eyes tight.

  There was an instant cold wind that felt as though it could knock you over if you weren’t ready for it and then it was gone. I opened my eyes to see that we were no longer in the street in front of Jes’s apartment.

  We were in a totally different area. I had no idea we were anymore. The grass was short in front of us and there were trees lining the walkway to the only house in sight. I looked up at Conner's face. He was still holding on to me around the waist. His hair had fallen into his face during the trip and he let go of me to push it back out of his face. Somehow the day had gone and the moon was up in the west side of the sky.

  “Now, what is going on here!!?” I demanded as we stood there in the dark. “I’ll tell you as soon as we get inside. It’s not safe out here.” He grabbed onto my hand and led me towards the house.

  The house was old and tattered. It was black in color and had maroon shutters. The porch was rickety and seemed as though it was ready to fall in, but somehow stayed together. He led me up the stairs and into the house. It was a vast difference from the way it looked outside. The living room was dark but nice. There was a small greenish couch that sat in the middle of the room and a fireplace directly in front of it. The house was cool as though there was air conditioning. Which was a vast difference from the heat outside? I still wondered why I had let him lead me to a place that I didn’t even know. I didn’t know him from the man down the street, but somehow I trusted him.

  “OK, now you have to tell me what is going on or I’m going to go home.” I demanded crossing my arms. I really didn’t know if I could get out of this house and go home if I wanted to.