Dark Humanity

by Gwynn White

  The witches went silent as they let Miss Perry chant quietly to herself. They respected the process and the sacred tradition of the ritual. None of them took it lightly.

  “The image is forming,” Lilia declared. Ariel sat up straighter to get a better look at the rock pool. All she could see was the moon reflected in the shiny surface.

  “It’s a map,” Miss Perry said quietly, holding out her hands over the water as if to keep it still. The witches leaned in for a better look.

  Ariel stood, her curiosity getting the best of her. She followed the other women and leaned across the water, trying to see what they were all fussing about.

  It was a map, just like Miss Perry had said. Ariel recognized the outline of the country but it wasn’t just a stagnant globe. It twinkled with lights dotted randomly around the place.

  “What are the lights?” She asked.

  Miss Perry looked at Lilia for confirmation before she replied. “They mark the location of the Morbose descendents. Each one is a relative of the original witch.”

  Ariel wanted to scream with delight. It had worked, she could see the result in front of her very eyes. All that fear and pain had been worth it. They could track down the descendents and get them to reverse the curse placed on the Black Eyed People. They had done it.

  “Get in closer,” Lilia directed solemnly, not celebrating just yet. She knew better than to jump the gun before they had real, solid, information they could use.

  Miss Perry nodded and moved her hands about. The image instantly changed as if it were merely a touch screen. No matter how many times Ariel saw it happen, she doubted she would ever get over how cool it was to see the images on the water. It was magic, she couldn’t describe it any other way.

  The map became more condensed as Miss Perry drilled into the details. The little lights flashed by as she enlarged the area closest to their town.

  “How close can you get to their location?” Ariel asked, wondering if she would be able to get a real address to visit. She imagined being able to knock on their door and explain the situation. She would most likely be turned away at her first attempt, but she would have to convince them to reverse the curse somehow. If she had come this far, she could finish her mission and fulfill her promise to Gabe.

  Miss Perry was concentrating hard but she managed to answer as she multitasked. “We can get a general location but nothing more than perhaps a town.”

  A town would still help. Perhaps now with the protection spell lifted, Ariel would be able to continue her research on the family tree that she had abandoned when everything had led to nothing but dead ends. She wouldn’t allow herself to feel overwhelmed with the task ahead.

  “On my gosh,” Miss Perry gasped suddenly. The witches all huddled closer, trying to see what she saw.

  “What is it? What can you see?” Lilia asked, her voice strained with worry.

  “There are descendents right here in Central Heights. Three of them.” She pointed at the lights at the top right hand side of the rock pool. They twinkled like beacons in the middle of the ocean.

  “Are you sure?” Ariel asked. She could see a lot of lights in the water, the chances of them being in Central Heights seemed unlikely.

  “I’m sure,” Miss Perry affirmed, her voice leaving no doubt she believed it. With one wave of her hand, the water returned to reflecting just the moon. The witches all took a step back, trying to comprehend the night’s events. None more so than Ariel.

  “I can’t believe they’ve been here all along,” she muttered, mainly to herself.

  “It’s still not going to be easy to find them,” Lilia warned. “We’ve got a long way to go yet.”

  Ariel understood it wasn’t going to be easy but she felt more positive than she had done in ages. She was desperate to tell Gabe all about what they had done but it would have to wait. More than anything, she needed some sleep – lots of it.

  Karen drove her and Kourtney back to her home. Ariel was glad she didn’t have to go back to her own house, not when she was still in such a state from the ritual. There would be no way to explain that to her parents. The other witches remained in the woods, promising to make sure the fire would be put out and their traces of being there removed.

  As soon as they arrived at the house, Karen’s mother put them straight to bed. She didn’t ask many questions, only the one that really mattered to her: “Is everyone okay?” They were, which made her visibly relax before she left them alone.

  Ariel crawled into the sleeping bag on the floor with relief. However when Karen turned off the lights, she was filled with a sense of dread. The Shadows lived in the darkness and she didn’t want them to return. They had seemed so real in the woods, she still couldn’t believe they were only in her head. She didn’t trust them or her own sense of what was reality.

  She didn’t think she would be able to sleep at all, her mind still whirling around like a tornado with thoughts of the evening and every dark outline looked like Shadows. Yet the moment Ariel placed her head on the pillow, she was dead to the world.

  The three of them remained that way all night. Even when the morning rolled around, they still slept. It wasn’t until Miss Perry tapped on the door did they stir from their sleep. She stepped into the room with Karen’s mom.

  “How are you girls this morning?” Miss Perry asked. She was alone, Lilia leaving her to attend to the follow up by herself.

  Ariel propped herself up on her elbow, yawning and stretching. Her body was sore but it wasn’t as bad as she had expected it to be. “I’m good.”

  “I’m fine too,” Kourtney replied.

  “I’m kind of pumped about what we did last night,” Karen said happily. “We actually broke a spell. A powerful one. How cool is that?”

  “It feels good, doesn’t it?” Her mother grinned, crossing her arms as she leant against the doorframe. “I remember the first time my coven did something big. We just turned water into fire but it was an amazing feeling. I’ve been catching up with Ellula, you guys really rocked it last night. I hear you did really well, Ariel.”

  “I didn’t really do anything except what I was told,” Ariel replied honestly. She couldn’t get over how weird it was seeing Karen’s mom talk so openly about her witchcraft. She would love to see her own mother there, listening in. She would have had a heart attack.

  “Don’t underestimate your role in it all,” Miss Perry scolded her. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up to that ritual and you were exemplary.”

  “Maybe you should join the coven,” Karen suggested.

  Kourtney instantly jumped in. “That would so awesome, you should totally do it, Ariel. We would love to have you, right Miss Perry?”

  “We welcome everyone,” she replied. “Ariel, if you’re interested we can talk about it further.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t really think it’s my thing,” Ariel said carefully. She didn’t want to offend the witches but she was looking forward to being done with it all. She yearned for everything to go back to normal. “I really appreciate what you’re doing for me though, don’t get me wrong.”

  Miss Perry laughed. “It’s okay, Ariel, the craft isn’t for everyone.”

  “How about you kids come down for some breakfast,” Karen’s mom said to break the silence that was threatening to linger. Ariel didn’t realize how hungry she was until she heard the word breakfast. Her stomach growled, begging to be filled. They hurried downstairs, enticed even further by the smell of freshly cooked pancakes.

  It wasn’t until early afternoon that Ariel made her way home. Miss Perry dropped her off a few houses away from her own, just to make certain her parents didn’t see. There would be no way to explain her History teacher’s presence and she was too tired to try to formulate a good lie.

  “I’m home,” she called as she staggered through the front door. She received a few ‘hello’s’ in return. “I’m going to be in my room.”

  She made her way up to her bedroom, hoping the sunlig
ht would be enough to keep any Shadows at bay. She was still nervous at seeing them. Around every corner, under every piece of furniture, she expected to find them lingering.

  The sun filtered through the windows, much to her relief. She opened the curtains even further, making sure to allow as much light in as possible. She didn’t want to risk anything being in darkness.

  At the beep of her phone, Ariel jumped. Her hands were still shaking when she answered the call. The number was blocked, she didn’t know who to expect on the other end.

  “Hello?”

  “Ariel.” Her name was enough to instantly perk her up.

  “Gabe, I’ve been so worried about you,” she started, thinking she had so much to tell him that she didn’t even know where to start. She was excited to share her news above all. “You’re never going to guess what happened last night.”

  “And I really want to hear it but I don’t have much time,” Gabe said quickly. “I’m on a payphone at a gas station. We had to move again, we’re on the road. We don’t even know where we’re going.”

  That now familiar pit was forming in Ariel’s stomach. She instantly forgot about her success the previous night. Something bad was going on, she just knew it without him having to explain any further.

  Yet she still needed to hear it with her own ears. “What happened? Why are you moving?”

  “Someone was killed.”

  “I know, I saw it on the news. I was hoping it was just a coincidence.” She closed her eyes, waiting to hear the inevitable. She hated the fact that Gabe needed to confess the murder to her. She knew how bad he would be feeling for taking another’s life. Her heart knew it wasn’t really him but the curse, but it was still difficult to take in.

  “It wasn’t a coincidence. My dad, he didn’t mean to-”

  “It was your dad?” Relief flooded through her. It hadn’t been Gabe. He wouldn’t have to live with what he had done for the rest of his life. It was bad enough that it was his father, but she couldn’t help be happy that it wasn’t him.

  “Yeah. This lady that lived in our street asked if he would come into her house and check on her gas stove,” Gabe explained sadly. “He didn’t want to but he had to. The compulsion, he couldn’t fight it. He went inside and…”

  “It’s okay, you don’t need to explain. I’m working on breaking the curse, Gabe, you won’t have to run for much longer.”

  “I wish that were true.”

  “It is, I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t sure. I wouldn’t get your hopes up like that,” Ariel insisted. She could feel her heart breaking for him. He was so sad, it dripped from his every word.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said distractedly. “We’re probably going to keep travelling for a while so nobody recognizes us anywhere. I’ll try to contact you again when I can but don’t worry about me.”

  “Of course I worry about you. Gabe, I love-” The beeps of the phone being hung up interrupted her, leaving her sentence hanging on the tip of her tongue.

  Ariel put her phone away, all her enthusiasm gone. She lay down on her bed and closed her eyes, letting the fatigue take over.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Going to school on Monday felt blissfully normal. Ariel was glad for something to keep her busy. Even if that meant lying to Cassidy about what she did on the weekend.

  With only one week left before the prom, Ariel was in serious avoidance mode. Everywhere she went around school, she scanned the crowds looking for Spencer. She didn’t want to accidently run into him again for fear he might ask her to the prom. She didn’t have a good excuse to say no and couldn’t betray Gabe to say yes. So avoiding the situation all together was her only option.

  By the time one of the last prom committee meetings was over in the morning, Ariel was a nervous wreck already. She would have been more than happy to go home and hide away from the world for the day – or even longer if she could have gotten away with it. She had no idea how she was going to get through the day without saying the wrong thing to the wrong person.

  “Hey, wait up,” Cassidy said as she grabbed Ariel’s arm to stop her getting away. “Did you notice how Niccolette didn’t even look at us throughout that entire meeting?”

  Ariel sighed with relief, Niccolette was a good subject – it was safe. “I know, she probably hates me.”

  “Well it won’t last long.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Cassidy grinned like she had a secret, a good one. “It’s cheerleading tryouts this Friday. They’re going to love me after they see my routine.”

  Ariel was happy for her, she sounded so much more positive than before. “So you’re ready for it then?”

  “On my gosh, no. I have so much practice that I need to do, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do it in five days. Seriously, I’m panicking on the inside.”

  “Well as long as it’s only on the inside,” Ariel teased. She knew Cassidy could have a year to prepare and she would still stress about it being perfect. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Nah, I’ll get there,” Cassidy said as she turned to get to class. “I’ll see you in Science class.”

  “We’re not having lunch?”

  “I’ve got some spying to do, the cheerleaders are going to practice their routine at lunchtime.”

  Ariel nodded and let her go, savoring the lucky break. Now she wouldn’t have to make up an excuse about why she needed to spend the lunch period in the computer labs.

  The morning classes went by fast, much to Ariel’s relief. She was dying to get online and couldn’t wait until the bell rang. Within minutes she was perched in front of a computer and calling up the now familiar family tree research websites.

  Picking up where she had left off before, Ariel chose a branch of the Morbose family and continued tracing the lineage downwards. Without the details being hidden by the protection spell, it was much easier to trace the relatives.

  Now when she did a search, there were at least twice as many hits. Ariel was in awe how a spell cast centuries ago could influence a relatively new technology like the internet. The original witch wouldn’t even have been able to fathom the invention of the internet yet her spell was powerful enough to override the search engines. Ariel figured it was probably only the tip of the iceberg when it came to her powers. She wondered what else the witch had done in her lifetime.

  It took all her lunch break to get closer with the branches of the family tree. She was only one generation away from finding a name of someone who could possibly be alive today. They would be old but there was a good chance she would be able to find them. With any luck, they would be one of the three that lived in Central Heights. It was overly optimistic to expect it, but Ariel still had to hope.

  At the sound of the bell, Ariel closed down the computer and hurried away to class. She couldn’t move as fast as she wanted to because she had to keep alert for any signs of Spencer, but she still got there in good time.

  Science passed and then so did Math. When the final bell sounded for the day, Ariel still couldn’t leave the school as much as she wanted to. With the prom less than a week away, she had poster hanging duty with the rest of the committee. She found Cassidy with the others.

  “Take a dozen of the things and put them everywhere around the school,” Ms. Thatcher instructed half the girls. “The rest of you, take the remainder to the gymnasium and get sticky with them.”

  Ariel picked up her dozen as Ms. Thatcher retreated to the teacher’s lounge. She apparently didn’t feel the need to supervise or help in any way.

  The pair started in the corridor as another group of the girls started in the classrooms. The entire school was going to be all too aware of the impending prom. Ariel wondered if it was supposed to be a threat – be there or else. They still had tickets to sell, hopefully the extra push would get rid of the remaining few.

  “Do you have the tape?” Cassidy asked, holding a poster on the wall with one hand. Ariel pulled off a piece an
d handed it across. “Thanks.”

  “What’s the point with all these things? Like anyone doesn’t know about the prom by now.”

  “I know, right?” Cassidy agreed. “Still, at least it gives me an excuse not to go home.”

  “Is Eleanora still teething?” Ariel asked, thinking about going home to a screaming baby. It wouldn’t be fun.

  “No, it’s my mom. She’s driving me crazy.”

  “What’s she doing now?” It was always something. Ariel figured if she fought with her mother the same amount of time that Cassidy did with hers, she would never get all her homework done. They argued over every single little thing.

  “She always wants to know what I’m doing and where I’m going. Before I do anything, she gives me the third degree. I swear, she’s getting worse. All of a sudden she just doesn’t trust me.”

  “Did something happen?” Ariel asked. Her mother had good reason to be suspicious, but not Cassidy’s.

  “Not that I know of. She’s insane.”

  “Maybe she’s pregnant again, didn’t she go a little weird last time with all those hormones?”

  Cassidy shrugged. “Don’t even joke about it. I can’t handle another little dribbler running around.”

  Ariel couldn’t disagree. She had heard plenty of horror stories from her friend since baby Eleanora was born. Sleepless nights, endless wailing, and dirty diapers. It wasn’t something she envied. Ariel used to wish for a younger brother or sister, someone she could hang out with. Since Eleanora was born, she was over that fantasy.

  “Spencer was looking for you before,” Cassidy suddenly said to break the silence. “I told him you were around somewhere. Did he find you?”

  “Nope.”

  “You should find him tomorrow, I think he wants to ask you to the prom.”

  “Which is exactly why I’m avoiding him,” Ariel confessed. “I’m happy going with you, I don’t need to go with a date.” Cassidy looked everywhere except at Ariel. It could only mean one thing. “Please tell me you haven’t got yourself a date for the prom?”