At first, all I saw was Seamus and Niall drawing their swords along with Callum and his companion. “Run, lass!” yelled one of the twins. He jerked his head to the left to look at something and I followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of two monstrous creatures bearing down on us.
Bearing down on me.
HECATE’S AWAKENING
A Crossroads Prep School Novel
K. B. MILLER
Copyright © 2014 K. B. Miller
Prologue
Hecate
“Are you quite certain this is the path we must take, Father?” I asked, peering up at the thumbnail that hung low in the night’s sky.
“It is unfortunate, Hecate, but I am. I fear that if we do not act now, Cronus will wage his war. He is desperate for your powers and those of the child, in hopes of regaining dominion over all the lands.” My father, the powerful Zeus said placing his hand on my bare shoulder as my hair whipped in the wind.
“I don’t understand why he wants to regain control over the humans. What would he stand to gain?” My voice quaked with fear. Cronus, my father’s father had been the most powerful Titan to ever rule, until my father had grown up and banished him and all of Titans to Tartarus in the underworld.
“With the combined powers of yours and the child, he wishes to open the crossroads and unleash the underworld. He seeks revenge against all those he feels overthrew his rule, and he will not be satisfied until he has the power to do exactly that.” my father paced the cliff’s edge, “As his son, his behavior saddens me greatly. He has already begun recruiting spies to find your location. Lamia, Mormo, and Empusa will act against us, and should you be found, they will take you to him.”
“Then so mote it be! I do, however have yet another question. The magic that I must undertake will put me into a deep slumber this evening when the moon is at its most potent. How will I know when to rise?” I asked.
“The child, the one whose power will be far greater than any we have ever witnessed will call you to her when it is time.” He answered.
“Then it shall be done. I have already taken the liberty of creating the potion that will assist us this night. However, I do wonder why this child, who is not even born yet is of such importance to Cronus’ plan?” I tilted my chin to face my father directly.
He eyed me for a moment before he answered, “She is important, because she is of our blood. By the time she is of this world, the power in her blood will decide all of our fates. She will be both Goddess and Titan, the beginning and the end. She will be both, living and dead, able to walk between worlds. She will be the absolute power.”
“I understand, Father.” I said, tilting the tiny vial with the powerful potion into my mouth. In a mere moment, the beautiful moon, my moon faded from my vision and all went black.
Chapter One
Sabella
“Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. It’s right here in black and white, people. Our lord, God, himself has left his instructions for us in the good book. We have to kill every last one of these abominations.” The tall man spit as he pointed to the woman bound to a wooden structure with one hand and held up a bible in the other.
Her long, dark hair blew in the wind, and her wild eyes grew larger as the man ordered another to light a fire around the woman. In less than a moment, the flames that had barely started to lick at her ankles had completely engulfed her.
“Mom, why did people burn ‘witches’ back in the day? I mean, like, honestly... why did they think they were real, and why did they think that fire would actually kill them?” The woman’s screams were abruptly silenced as my mother’s slender finger clicked the button on the remote, turning off the little television on the kitchen counter.
“Sabella why do you insist on watching those kinds of shows and movies? We live in Alma, Nebraska not Salem, Massachusetts.” My mother’s sleek blonde ponytail didn’t move an inch out of place as she shook her head from side to side in mock disgust. Her hazel eyes twinkled as she winked at me.
I had been fascinated with the idea of real witches, mythology, and magic since the ripe old age of five. That’s when the dreams of the beautiful woman on the cliff’s edge had begun. At least once a week she would visit me in my sleep, always saying the same thing, “You’re special, Sabella. You are destined for great things.”
Me? Destined for great things? Yeah, right! If I could be destined to have a friend, or two and perhaps a chest that didn’t resemble a chalkboard, that would be great.
I would wake up from the dreams both terrified and mesmerized, relaying to my mother ever single detail, and it drove her bonkers. That’s when she bought me Owlers; my stuffed owl. She said that he was made of pure magic, and would keep the dreams away. And for a while it had actually worked. However, they’d returned recently with more urgency than ever before. They were happening almost every night.
The same dream every night for weeks’ on end, talk about lame. The beautiful woman would appear on the edge of a cliff and beckon me to her. Along with her premonition that I was ‘Destined for great things’, she always tried to tell me something she said was important, but I could never remember what it was when I woke up. Magic. That’s all I could remember from the dreams, her showing me magic. She said if only I would believe I would see that it was real.
There was something eerie, yet enchanting with the notion that people out there could make things happen with just a flick of the wrist, or by uttering a few words.
“Mom, it’s just cool. Haven’t you ever wondered what the world would be like if witches were real? If magic was real, there would be no more wars, death, or poverty. Everyone could get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it.” I twirled a lock of my long blonde hair dreamily around my finger.
A shadow fell over the breakfast as Mom moved so that she was standing right in front of me, I looked up at her. A weird expression crossed her face so quickly that I thought I might have imagined it.
“You’re going to be sixteen in two days. Right now, your mind should be racing with thoughts of cute boys, making girlfriends, and clothes and all of the other stuff that girls your age are into, not mythical beings. How about you and I go see the new romantic comedy at the cinema tonight, then we could go pick out a few new outfits?” My mom asked, her gaze lingering on my clothes. Apparently mom wasn’t thrilled with today’s choice of attire. I didn’t like ‘girly’ clothes, so I usually went with my norm a pair of jean shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers.
“A, shouldn’t I be more concerned with my grades and studying, and, b... guys don’t know that I exist Mom,” I ticked off on my fingers, “Besides, I’m most parents dream come true teenager. I’m always home on time and I never cause any trouble.” I finished, offering my most angelic smile.
“Oh, Judy let her be. You’re only young once. Good morning, little owl, ” My father said as he walked into the kitchen. He bent down to hug me, “and you are the dream teenager.”
“Richard, the agency called to confirm our flight to London on Saturday,” my mother ignored my father, handing him a steaming cup of coffee before she turned back to me.
“And, since your father and I have to go of out of town on your birthday we need to decide what we’re going to do when we get back. Turning sixteen is a big deal and we need to celebrate it. I was thinking about a big party at the lodge. It’s big enough that we can invite all of your friends. They have that huge pool and the hall inside. Then, of course we’ll have to decide what kind of food to have and decorations to put up. We can hire the same DJ we had at Sian’s party everyone loved him. We also need to buy you a new swim suit, and dress. What do you think? Isn’t this exciting?” She prattled off as she scribbled notes down in her overly large leather day planner. How in the world she was able to get all that out in one breath was beyond me.
“Exciting is not exactly the adjective I would use.” I murmured. My father caught my eye and mouthed, sorry.
My birthday, ugh.
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br /> She wanted some huge party with all the thrills and frills, but honestly I only had one friend and that was the town’s librarian, Miss Larson. All the kids at my school thought I was some kind of fread and avoided me like the plague, even though I was the little sister of the heralded, Sian Grimes.
He was so ridiculously awesome that he had won a scholarship to a private school last year which effectively left me stuck at Alma High, alone. He and I were socially the complete antithesis of each other. He was tall with tousled brown hair that always looked like he had just rolled out of bed and bright violet eyes. My brother was genuinely smart, and totally outgoing; he was just like Dad with Mom’s eyes. People were naturally drawn to him, where I was short with long wavy blonde hair that I hadn’t cut since I was five, hazel-ish eyes, and always had my nose in a book, studying. I had to work to be smart. And, now he was gone, and I was alone. My goal was to make the grades, then hopefully get the same offer he had, and join him.
“Your father and I have something we need to talk to you about after we get home.” My Mom glanced over at my Dad. Both of my parents had been acting weird for days.
“Okay,” I drew the word out, “But, Mom I told you before, I don’t want a party. I just want a car, nothing fancy or anything, just something to get around in, and maybe a family dinner at Serrano’s.” I countered.
Before she could start in again, I glanced down at my watch, “Whoops. Gotta go! I have to get to the library. Huge history test on Tuesday and I need to study. Love you guys!” I reached down, and grabbed my bag, heaving it over my shoulder, then bolted for the door.
The humid morning air hit my face, and stole my breath as soon as I stepped outside. I slid the scrunchy that always rested on my wrist off and twisted it around my hair. My fingers were already on my ear buds stuffing them into ears. I swiped my finger over the cell phone screen and hit the shuffle button. I needed some tunes.
Thankfully, our house was only a mile from the library. Nebraska in late July/early August was always hot, but this year had been ridiculously hot. Beads of sweat began spilling down my back.
I’d walked the same route everyday for the past two years. So, I could walk without thinking about where I was headed and let my feet take me to my second home.
Living in Nebraska was not how everyone in the big cities pictured it. Yes, there were lots of farms, animals, and land, but we also had little cities and even better lots of little lakes.
I glanced over my shoulder at Harlan County lake as I turned off of my street. It was massive. In order to see the entire lake you had to tour it by boat, and since my biggest fear was drowning, I never went into the water. It was still beautiful to sit on the bank at sunset and watch the waves. My imagination would run wild with stories of the different mythical creatures that made their home just below the surface.
Last Summer I had started writing them down. When Miss Larson found out, she asked to read some of them. I was really excited when she said that were good. She suggested that I take up creative writing as an outlet to express my emotions. That was three months ago and I haven’t stopped since. There was a recurring theme to all of my stories magic.
As I walked, thoughts of dreams and the mysterious woman enveloped my mind. Maybe she was a witch? Maybe she was sent to tell me I would be a witch one day. I hastened my step. I wanted to write everything down before I forgot it. I knew that I wasn’t a witch, but that idea would make for a great story!
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I HOPE YOU ENOYED THE EXCERPTS
Souls (Runes series) Page 32
