The day went on fairly the same as any other. The prickling feeling I woke with never went away and only seemed to get worse as the day went on. My brain was too fuzzy for me to concentrate by the last class, which was AP European History. I heard the teacher set the report, due in two weeks, on significant events in four different time periods. I couldn’t even pay attention. It was just so boring. I put my head down on the desk, which Mr. Kenston didn’t seem to mind, and studied the sky outside. The days were supposed to be getting shorter, but 2:30 in the afternoon was a bit too early.
I watched as the dark clouds in the sky moved towards the building. I thought my mother had said the weather would be clear for the party to be held outside tonight, but maybe there would be a short storm in the afternoon. The sky changed from gray to slate gray, then to a darker shade of blue, but never quite black. I could see rolls of lightning in the clouds, farthest away from us. Lightning shot through the sky and lit up the streets below. The prickling feeling started to spread from the back of my neck, down to my arms and hands. When the bell rang, I reached to grab my pencil and was rewarded with a static shock.
Chad found me nursing my fingers by my locker. “You okay?”
“Yeah, static shock.” I held up my finger and he kissed the tip. I laughed and smiled at him.
“There, your booboo is all better.”
“Yeah.” I threw my bag over my shoulder and slammed the door of my locker shut.
“You ready, birthday girl?” He held out his arm. I hooked mine in it as he led me through the halls to the brewing storm outside.
That is when everything changed . . .
CHAPTER TWO
The storm in the sky never reached us, but the lightning struck the ground at my feet the moment I stepped onto the sidewalk, in front of the school. The clouds rolled fast and the thunder boomed, but everyone around continued home as if it was a normal, sunny day. There were no umbrellas going up, or hoods on jackets. It was as if the show in the sky was just for me, but by the look on Chad’s face, I could tell he could see it just as much as I could.
“What’s going on?” I asked, and wondered at the lack of surprise in his expression.
“Let’s just go to my house and we can talk.” He held my hand and pulled me with him as he started to walk. His voice was even and he didn’t appear to be affected by the coming storm.
I stood firmly where I was. “No. I knew something was going to happen today, and you did too, but you laughed at me!”
The roll of thunder in my head made me yell at him, even though I tried not to.
“You’re surprisingly calm for someone who knew this was coming,” he said sarcastically as he looked around at the kids being dismissed from the elementary wing. “Can we just go to my house? Crystal and Matt are meeting us.”
“How do you know that?”
He held up his hand, which had his cell phone in it. “Matt messaged me after the last bell. We’ve seen this happen before. Just please come to my house, and you can yell at me all you want.”
I could tell he was scared of something, and he was pleading with me, which he never did. Usually, if he wanted something, I’d pretend to say no. Usually, he’d get it anyway, but this wasn’t a bowl of ice cream or copying homework.
He all but dragged me back to his house. His father was at work and would be for as long as the sun was up. Chester Crain worked at the lumber mill. On the nicer days in the fall, he would be gone just before the sun came up and not return until the sun was down. They cut the trees down in the fall and cut the lumber at the mill in the winter. If you asked him what he did in the spring and summer months, he’d just cock his head a bit and say, “Cultivation.”
Chad didn’t speak to me again until we were inside his house, and Matt and Crystal were waiting on us in the kitchen.
“Coffee?” Crystal handed me a mug.
“What the hell, you guys? Is this a secret club I’ve been a part of, but never knew about? Somebody start talking, damn it!”
I didn’t realize the force I used when placing my coffee mug down on the counter. I regarded the shattered pieces scattered about. Damn. I really wanted to drink the coffee.
“Hey, that was pumpkin!”
My glare at Crystal could have burned a hole in her skull, that’s how angry I was, but the voice behind me had us all standing at attention.
“Calm down.”
I twirled around to see Chester Crain, not at work, but very much at home and scolding me. Chad always had a chipper disposition. It was evident that he got it from his father, although not at the moment.
“Sorry.” I looked down at the shattered mug again, not really understanding what I was supposed to say in front of him, and suddenly feeling ashamed at my outburst.
I looked at Chad and he sat down next to where his father stood. A glance at the other two told me they, too, were submitting to Mr. Crain’s sudden appearance, but neither of the three looked surprised by it.
“Being your mother’s daughter, I thought you’d take this better.” I heard Chester say as he strolled over to the cup I shattered on the counter.
“Helen? What does she have to do with the storm outside, singling me out?”
“Not Helen.” He wiped the broken shards of glass off the counter and into a garbage bin.
“What do you mean, ‘Not Helen?’ My parents died in a car crash when I was a year old. That’s why I was adopted. So, if not Helen . . . ”
“Your parents are very much alive, Elyse.” He turned to me and put a hand on my shoulder, which began to shake, along with the rest of my body.
“What do you mean . . . still alive?” I choked on the words.
How in the world could they still be alive, and never come to see or contact me and let me know? And how did Chad’s father know anything about my birth parents? The room started to feel as if it were shrinking, and I couldn’t breathe. I pushed Chester’s hand aside and ran outside by way of the kitchen door.
“Elyse, you shouldn’t be outside right now.” Chad followed me.
“Why not?” I turned to him, my eyes red and filling with tears. I could tell my cheeks and ears were flushed.
“The storm is singling you out. It’s the equinox, your eighteenth birthday. Your power is attracting the lightning.” He held his hand out to me, but as I registered what he said, the sound of his voice went quiet, as if someone had turned the volume down on the television. I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying, but I could see that he was talking. There was a rush of wind in my ears and I looked up. The wind had begun to pick up again and the thunder rolled behind the clouds. The last time I saw them, they were off in the distance, but just then, they were right overhead.
“ . . . inside!” I heard Chad yell as he came to me and grabbed my hand. He pulled me back into the house, out of the gathering storm, and the wind slammed the door shut behind us.
I walked through, to the windows at the front of the house, and looked outside. The storm was circling the house, and beyond it, the sky was clear and sunny. I turned back around and noted that the wind outside was not howling against the house, as it had been against me in the yard. I took my time looking out of the few windows on the first floor of the house as I made my way back to the kitchen.
“How come we can’t hear the wind?” I asked Chad.
“The house has a grounding spell on it.” He looked down at his feet.
“A what?”
“Elyse, you might want to sit down for this.” Chester pulled a chair out next to the table for me to sit. I must have been raised properly, because I did without question.
“You woke this morning with a prickling at your neck?” Chester asked me.
“Yes.”
“That was the start of your power. A witch’s power comes to them on their eighteenth birthday.” He looked at Crystal. “She will get hers in three weeks, then the four of you will be complete.”
“Wait, the three of you are witches?”
“No.” Chad took my hand as he spoke to me. “Crystal is a witch and Matt is a shifter.”
“A shifter?” I squirmed a bit in my chair, wondering if I should make a run for it. I could go home and crawl into my bed and ignore the world until tomorrow.
“Yes, I can shapeshift into animals and other people,” Matt answered.
Reluctantly, I turned to Chad. “And you?”
He held both my hands and looked at me. I could see the answer in his eyes. It played on them, as if they were a movie screen. A small child, a boy about six years old, stood in front of my house. Then he was gone, and in his place was a small wolf cub.
“So, you’re a shifter too?”
“Not exactly . . . I can shift into animals only, and then only a select few. Whatever is needed to protect.”
“Protect what?”
“Not what,” Chester said behind us, “whom.”
I stood, letting go of Chad’s hands, and began pacing the kitchen. The room was much smaller than the kitchen in my own house. The cabinets were old and worn out, and the appliances looked as though they were purchased in a junk yard. The small house reminded me of a cabin in the woods, since it was surrounded by trees in the back and sides. The furniture was worn, but in a comfortable ‘lived in’ way. I had spent many weekend nights clinging to the arm of the sofa, trying to hide my face away from some awful horror flick Chad had talked me into watching with him, only to end up hiding my face in his chest and covering my eyes with his shirt.
“So . . . what does that make me? You said witches get their power on their eighteenth birthday. Does that mean I’m a witch?”
“No, not just a witch.” Chester moved slowly through the room, studying the looks of the faces in front of him. “I think I’ll let the young ones explain. If you need me . . . well, Chadwick will know how to get a hold of me.”
I watched him as he left the room. He looked back at Chad, and then at me, before leaving us. The storm outside still rumbled in the sky, but I still couldn’t hear it from inside the house. The four of us sat there at the small table in the kitchen. None of us spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Then I remembered something.
“Oh no.” I looked at my watch.
“What?”
“The party . . . ”
“It won’t start for another hour or so. We have time.” Crystal smiled at me.
“But if I can’t go outside . . . ”
“It’ll be fine. It only lasts a short while. Look, it’s clearing up already.” Chad pointed out the window, to the sky.
I could see the clouds begin to lighten and thin in some spots. The lightning shot out less often through them.
“Okay, so you can answer my question, then?” I looked at the three of them. Friends I have had since I was five years old.
“Your mother is a High Priestess of her coven, and your father’s a Priest of another coven. They broke rules, got married, ran away. They were hunted by both covens, until you were a year old,” Matt answered.
“How did you guys know about all this, and never told me?”
“We didn’t know if our coven would ever be whole. Your parents cast a spell on you to hide you from their prospective families, but no one knew if the spell would break when you were supposed to come into your power.” Chad drummed the table.
“Oh. So I am a witch.”
“You’re a High Priestess, or you will be once we complete the ritual,” Crystal stated with much more excitement than I had expected.
“What ritual?”
“During the winter solstice, there is a blood ritual that we need to complete together. It will bring all of us into our full power and make our coven whole!” she exclaimed, and Matt grabbed her hand in an effort to calm her. It was an act I had seen him do to reign in her excitement before.
“There are two shifters and three witches per coven, and when the ritual is performed, we each will come into our full power . . . but we will also share each other’s powers as well.” Chad looked uncomfortable, but continued anyway. “The fact that your parents are from two different covens and both highborn . . . well, let’s just say it’s uncertain of how much power you will have.”
I chewed on those words for a bit and listened as they explained a slew of other things to me over the course of an hour. After that, I had to shut off my brain and excuse myself to get ready for my birthday party. Changing my mindset to walk through the front door was difficult. My mother greeted me with the biggest grin I had ever seen her wear, and my sister and father were already dressed for the festivities planned that evening.
When I saw the costume on my bed, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. I had purchased a beautiful burgundy gown at some costume shop months ago, and the store owner had said the gown belonged to the first High Priestess named Seraphina, marked for death by the Council for the act of betrayal. As I slipped into the dress, my mother came into the room to help me with the lacing in the back. It flowed from my neck and down, past my feet. Since it was so nice out, I had planned to attend the backyard party barefoot, so looking for the perfect shoes hadn’t been an issue. The front of the dress split up the middle, and each of the edges on the dress were lined with gold ribbon. It was satin or silk. I hadn’t really asked. All I knew was it felt smooth against my skin.
My mother could have been the owner of this dress, by the accounts of my friends. My parents had been hunted by their own families to be killed, just as the previous owner, if the shop owner’s tale was the true history of the dress.
According to my friends, my parents lived on a small farm, not far from here. When I was a year old, they were found. The two covens worked together to find them and kill them, not knowing I even existed. Before they were found again, they decided to give me to a family in town and hoped I would be safe. I guess they thought once I was eighteen, and if I came into my powers, I’d have my own coven to protect me. Or they hoped I’d never find out and stay a mortal forever. Either way, their families found them and set their home on fire, with them inside. They were believed to be dead, but somehow, they survived.
I had always been told, while growing up, that they had died in a car crash. I guess telling someone that their parents had died when their house was set on fire would have been a hard thing to tell a small child. Those thoughts rushed around in my head, and I could only imagine what the images would have been like when I was six years old. I shook myself as I thought about it.
There was only one way to find out what really happened. I would have to ask Chester Crain where they were and go find them. Then another gnawing question hit the back of my mind . . . who was the third witch and the fifth of our coven?
CHAPTER THREE
I had to look out of my bedroom window to make sure the storm that nobody else could see had stopped following me, as I was told it would. Sure enough, the sky was clear and the sun was starting to set. I could hear music and the voices of those, who had already arrived, out in the yard. My parents went all out for my eighteenth birthday. There was a haunted house in the backyard, complete with a chainsaw wielding psychopath and zombies. The side yard, next to Helen’s sun deck, was laid out with food, set up buffet style. The DJ was inside, since the ever-changing autumn weather was so unpredictable, and he was just too paranoid to do outside events. My mom hired the same guy for the last five birthdays because she said he was really good. I think it was because he knew to stay away from the type of music my parents didn’t like. He had continued to play the same tracks each year, only adding in something new when he had a new track in the horror genre. I didn’t mind at all, and this year, I really wasn’t thinking much about the party, let alone the music being played during it.
The house was completely transformed. Orange and black streamers wrapped around the railings and banisters. They also hung from the tops of every doorway like a curtain. Many of the guests could walk underneath with no problem, which was also a plus for Crystal. However, I got poked in the eye trying to mak
e it from the dining room, which was turned into the dance floor, to the foyer in the front of the house. Everywhere I looked, there were cobwebs and large purple and black colored spiders with red, beady, little eyes, skulls and bones. The front yard looked like a cemetery with head stones sporadically placed in the small hills of grass, on either side of the stairs. The lights on the front porch were changed to black light bulbs and I could hear the screams coming from the backyard as guests started making their way through the haunted house. I lost my footing, not able to see where I was going due to the fog machines placed around the house, and silently thanked my mother’s good sense to suggest attending the party barefoot. I only agreed to avoid the awkward shopping trip for shoes.
Most of the older kids in town made their way to my house every year for the party, even kids I didn’t speak to, which kept the streets clear for the little ones to trick or treat. My parents always made sure big bowls of candy were filled and placed all over the house and grounds, so none of the older kids felt cheated out of their due. They also had over a hundred bags of treats made up and placed on a long table on the back patio for them to take and bring home at the end of the party. I always got a kick over the fact that my parents went all out every year. Of course, my sister had a similar party on Cinco de Mayo, which was her birthday. It was a spectacle, to say the least.
I walked through the horde of people who were gathering around the dunk tank and bobbing for worm-filled apples, which were just gummy worms pulled through Granny Smiths, and looked around for my friends.
My friends, only three people out of the entire crowd of a hundred guests, who came for my birthday party every year. My stomach turned in knots and churned as I remembered the truths they had told me that afternoon. They were my best friends, yet they had kept vital information from me. I wasn’t even really sure it was true, or for how long they had known about it.
Chad was the first one I spotted, but he usually was. It always seemed like he was there the instant I needed him to be, no matter where I was.
Immortal Slumber (The Crawford Witch Chronicles Book 1) Page 2
