“Answer the question,” Nathalie said.
“Why? You haven’t compelled me.” He looked unconcerned as he picked invisible dirt from underneath his nails.
“I compel you to answer any question put forth in this space,” Sadie said formally.
“That doesn’t actually work, but I’ll play along. Very well,” he huffed, but then he smiled. Nathalie realized that he was enjoying himself.
“Yes,” he said, looking directly at her, “I am enjoying myself because it’s very boring where I live. I love field trips.”
“Answer the question,” Luke said in a dead voice. His eyes were blazing a curious green.
“Look here people, everyone knows Willow. Her deeds are famous, and I admire her work.”
Luke frowned. “Her work killing children for power? How admirable.”
The demon’s eyes flicked briefly to Luke before dismissing him. “That’s what evil things do, boy.”
“You are an abomination,” Luke said in the same dead voice.
“Ah, now, now, Barrington. Sticks and stones, and all that,” the demon said cheerfully.
“Are you in contact with Willow right now?” Nathalie asked, trying to focus his attention.
“Me? Oh, no,” he laughed. “I’m here with you guys right now!” He looked around and fixed his gaze on Dean. “Take good care of that one, sweetheart. He’s special.”
“Why are you here?” Nathalie asked again in a far away voice.
“Seriously? You called. Hello! Well, anyway, it’s been a slice, really, but I’m bored now. But let me leave you with a few presents. Give them out to your friends…” and with a laugh a shower of coins flew into the room, tinkling and rolling on the floor before disappearing. Danner was gone.
Everyone fell sideways to the carpet, completely drained. Luke was the first to recover. He dragged himself to his feet and went to his bedroom to grab the snack trays and thermoses of hot chocolate he had prepared earlier. They were all very grateful as they gobbled down the cookies, fruit, and cheese Luke had stashed.
“God, you’re so smart, Luke,” Dean said around a mouthful of food. He was attempting to wash it all down with a huge swallow of warm hot chocolate.
“It was Sadie’s idea,” Luke said simply, watching Sadie carefully to make sure she was eating. “Apparently when she was small she did a few rituals with her aunt and uncle and they always drained her.”
What a different upbringing, Nathalie thought to herself as she looked at the pale girl.
“It didn’t work,” Sadie said. “We have to try again and do it right this time,” she said a bit desperately. “Willow’s still out there.”
Luke gathered her in his arms and kissed her head. “We’ll get her and destroy her.”
“What’s the point? He wouldn’t answer any of our questions. We can’t compel him; he’s too powerful. What makes us so sure we can handle her? I’m just surprised we’re not more terrified after what we just saw, and who we spoke to,” Dean said worriedly, grabbing Nathalie and hugging her tight. “That demon really has it out for you.”
Luke spoke up. “It has to do with our subconscious…it was awake during the ritual. It’s treating the experience like a dream. That’s why our fear is fading.”
“I knew it,” Nathalie said, getting up.
Dean let her go and spoke up, “I have to agree. I don’t know about you guys, but the memory of this experience is fading fast. In a few minutes I won’t remember any of it.”
Nathalie went to her pack and took out the diary Nettie had given her. She opened it and scribbled furiously before she forgot anything. “I’m also noting that we need to be more careful when using blood. Elanah and Hester weren’t very specific about that, or about the subconscious part.”
Sadie sighed. “I suspect there is certain basic knowledge that witches taught each other, but didn’t write down because everyone knew it. My problem is that I don’t know all the rules, like how to use blood in a ritual properly.” Sadie looked at Nathalie. “Do you know why he told you to take care of Dean, Nathalie? It’s not good to have a demon aware of you. We are nothing but cattle to them. He’s never met Dean before, so why did he say Dean was special?”
“Maybe he was joking? No wait, maybe he meant ‘special’ as in ‘retarded’ and sees me as a boy who licks bus windows and plays with his own poop,” Dean said with an edge of hysteria in his voice.
“It could be a threat against me to watch my loved ones,” Nathalie said, fear threading her voice. “He did warn me not to interfere.”
“No,” Luke said clearly. “He’s interested in Dean, but he doesn’t want him dead. That was obvious. He didn’t lie, but he went around the question about collaborating with Willow. He answered the question truthfully, but it was overshadowed with an omission. We didn’t ask the right questions. They were too general and we gave him room to skirt around the answer. And, we didn’t use his full name. That would have made a difference, but it’s a good thing we didn’t. I think if he thought we knew his name we’d all be in big trouble. It’s better this way for now.”
They all looked at Luke with astonishment. He shrugged self-consciously. “What? I can see things that aren’t there and sense…untruths. That’s how I know my dad’s worried about things. Sometimes he lies, and other times he just omits information or only partially answers my questions. It amounts to the same thing.”
“At least we learned something with Luke being here,” Nathalie remarked as she scribbled.
Sadie spoke up. “The only reason Willow is here is for revenge. Her curse is still pending after hundreds of years, and all the parts have aligned.”
“And Danner is helping her,” Luke said tiredly. “His comment about ‘admiring her work’ is bull.”
“Yes, it’s more than that,” Nathalie said softly. “They’re working together. We need to research what exactly happened the day Willow was executed. We need to understand who was there and the exact hex. We need to find out what happened with Danner and where he is. I hope Rain writes back soon.
“One last thing,” Dean said, clearing his throat. “Before he left, Danner gave us a gold shower…where did all the coins go?”
Saturday, August 31
The Barrington Estate
It was the last day of August and the town council was meeting to discuss the happenings in the town, which had been party central for pretty much the whole month.
“Not a bad turnout. I’ve never seen so many people…”
“…having so much fun…” Eric finished with a laugh. He had stopped in Town Circle to pick up his special drink before coming to Barrington Manor. He just couldn’t get enough of it. He spiked it, of course, but everyone knew that. They all loved it, except John. For some reason Barrington didn’t drink it like everyone else. What a party-pooper.
Something isn’t right, John thought worriedly as he watched his friends, who were also the town’s leaders, laugh and drink. Despite the fact that they were the guardians of The Circle’s knowledge of the hex, and by their heritage, responsible to act in defense and protection of the people of Barrington, they seemed out of control, like everyone else.
Earlier that evening, he and Luke had stood at the edge of Town Circle and watched the revelry. People were dancing and laughing, but it didn’t seem like clean fun. There was an edge of madness to it. He watched as older members of the community acted like teenagers.
“Kinda weird,” Luke had laughed, but the confusion in his voice was apparent.
“Just enjoying the last of summer’s freedom,” John had said to his son reassuringly, but he was lying. The partying and dancing when the festival opened was normal and continued as visitors came and went. However, this year visitors didn’t seem to be leaving, and the number of people in the town was swelling. Even the townsfolk, whose excitement eventually died down and the thrill of the fair and the evening activities became more of a weekend thing, seemed to continue to be enthralled. He knew many of
the people dancing and drinking in the square.
Only Noah Baker seemed grounded and concerned. Even the Sheriff had come by earlier to voice his concerns.
Noah walked over and nodded. “It’s time John,” he said quietly, looking at the other men with a slight frown. “According to The Circle’s book, it’s written:
‘…and under the influence of the witch, the town shalle become lawless and the people concerned unto themselves…’”
“Jacob’s diary corroborates. The signs are complete,” Noah said with finality.
John nodded. “You’re right. Paint the barns with the sigils to warn all who enter Barrington that we are hexed.”
September
Tuesday, September 3
Barrington School Grounds
Despite the “university-like” party town evenings, supplies were bought, new clothes acquired, and school started like it did every year. Barrington’s two schools were located right behind the restaurants in Town Circle, but separated by a small wood. The two school buildings were more like large houses than institutions. There were only about two hundred kids in Barrington to begin with, so classes were pretty small and were held in large drafty rooms with archaic desks. In each building there was a small teacher’s lounge and a fairly large dining room where the kids ate their lunch when the weather was bad, although the older kids ate at the restaurants most days. Because the town was so small, the pub opened it’s kitchen for lunch and allowed the teens to eat there, but most of them went to The Fry Diner or to Joe’s Java Coffee House.
Both of the schoolhouses had entrances at the back into a small but perfectly designed gym where the kids could play basketball, floor hockey, or do gymnastics. The gym was free for use by the community in the evenings, so a third door at the back was for public use. Barrington had a lot of clubs and the town was generous when supplying equipment.
The school grounds were not extensive, but they were beautiful and picturesque like every other part of Barrington. At the front there was a small park for the little kids to play in and a field in the back for soccer and football. There were picnic tables interspersed in the small wood so the kids could eat and socialize outdoors.
The school area took up almost half the quad. The rest were houses, a rusty (but now working) windmill, and a red barn.
The elementary school kids were in a separate building from the high school students. This was to protect them from teenage “corruption” according to the principal, Mr. Linus Green. Not many of the kids liked him and called him “Sinus” or “Snot Green.”
Little kids with bulging knapsacks and excited faces milled around the front of the “Little House” schoolhouse, which is what the elementary building was nicknamed. Barrington County Elementary School was just too much of a mouthful.
The “Big House,” or Barrington County High School, was where you went starting in grade seven. It also was teeming with teens milling about the front and talking excitedly about their summer, and the festival, as they parked their bikes.
Nathalie stood at the edge of the wood and scanned the crowd. She saw Dean shepherding his twin brothers, who were starting kindergarten. His sisters were nowhere to be found.
Uh oh, Nathalie thought. The two precocious ones don’t look very happy.
Dean saw her and waved. When he arrived he gave her one of his wide smiles and kissed her soundly on the mouth. Some of the older kids made comments and kissy noises. Nathalie just smiled. The little boys looked disgusted.
“I don’t think you should do that in public,” Zach said, scandalized and looking around.
“Yeah, you’re in front of little kids!” Eddie piped in. “It’s a bad sample!”
Zach frowned and whispered furiously to his brother, “it’s ‘example,’ not ‘sample,’ Eddie!”
“Example!” Eddie yelled loudly.
“A little kissing never hurt anyone,” Dean said easily.
At that moment a tall, pretty blonde lady stepped out of the Little House to check on her young charges. A bell clanged and she started motioning and calling the kids to come inside.
The boys looked at her with their mouths open. Dean smiled. “That, my boys, is Miss Linda. She’s your kindergarten teacher.”
The boys looked at each other and headed towards the steps. They looked very small with their huge knapsacks bulging with supplies. Dean started to follow, but they told him to go away. “We can handle this by ourselves,” they said over their shoulders and made shooing motions. Dean and Nathalie watched as the boys climbed the stairs and introduced themselves to their teacher. She smiled when they held out their little hands to be shaken.
Nathalie looked at Dean with raised eyebrows.
“It’s polite,” Dean said, shrugging.
“If you could point us in the right direction to the kindergarten rooms, kind lady…” they asked in very charming voices.
“Why, certainly, young sirs,” she responded formally and herded them in, giving Dean a small wave as she did so.
“Well, that went a lot easier than I thought it would,” Dean said with mixed emotions, rubbing his chin and worrying a little. Nathalie put her hand in his and pulled him towards their building.
“They’ll be just fine. They always are.” As the two of them walked closer they could hear a conversation going on amongst some of the older kids.
“I’m telling you,” Reggie Baker was saying loudly, “I watched the Sheriff paint those symbols on the red barns myself.”
“I thought it was more vandalism,” one of the girls said.
“All the same symbols, perfectly painted? Vandals wouldn’t do that,” a boy said loudly.
“If it was a gang symbol they would,” she retorted hotly.
“What do you know about gangs,” he sneered.
“Did you ask the Sheriff why he was doing it?” someone else in the crowd asked curiously.
“Yeah, but he told me that it was none of my concern,” Reggie said, his face tightening with anger.
“I hate it when adults don’t think we should know things,” another girl said.
“I agree,” Luke said quietly behind Dean and Nathalie. They turned and Luke was there holding Sadie’s hand. Poor Sadie, she looked…uncomfortable, and Nathalie knew why. It was one thing to start dating someone in the summer. You spend a lot of time together with no observers or interference. It was another thing to announce it to the whole school. Sadie looked as cold and as perfectly pressed as usual in her high-necked black dress. Her violet eyes did not betray any uneasiness. The fact that she was trying to tug her hand out of Luke’s did, but he had a death grip and wouldn’t let go.
Nathalie smiled. She’s going to have to deal.
Tess Smith stopped by to say “hi” and give everyone a hug. Nathalie hadn’t seen Tess pretty much all summer. She watched as Tess stopped at Sadie, who tilted her chin up imperceptibly.
Tess smiled warmly at her. “Hey, Sadie,” she said with a laugh, looking at Luke. “I guess we won’t be going through another year of Luke mooning over you.”
Luke blushed. “Jeez…I wasn’t that obvious,” he mumbled.
“He was,” she said, punching him on the shoulder, and with a “see you later,” Tess headed towards another group of kids.
Sadie smiled and looked at Luke adoringly. He seemed to stop breathing at her expression, so Dean helped out by smacking him on the top of the head to bring him back to earth.
“Okay, lover boy. What were you just talking about? ‘Fess up.”
“Oh, the barns, right.” Luke lowered his voice. “I overheard my dad give Sheriff Holt the order to paint the barns. Those symbols mean something. They’re supposed to be a warning for others not to come here.”
Sadie nodded. “In the old days, everyone recognized them. The sigils indicate that the town is hexed or cursed in some way, and warn people from other towns to stay away.”
“Judging by the turnout at the fair this past weekend, no one understands what they m
ean anymore,” Dean said wryly.
“The Sheriff only painted them on Sunday,” Sadie told him.
Luke licked his lips. “Sadie and I looked through the diary kept by Jacob Barrington—the one that belongs to my dad that no one is allowed near.”
“Brave,” Dean commented.
“We were desperate, trust me, but we didn’t have it for long. We flipped through quickly and found the sigils carefully drawn, with scale measurements and an explanation of what to do. The barns are special. They were built to serve as warning beacons in case the hex Willow uttered was ever set in motion.”
Sadie nodded. “This town was very carefully designed. The fact that there are only four roads into Barrington, each road following a cardinal point with a red barn at the entrance, was deliberate.”
“We need the exact wording of that curse,” Nathalie said quietly. “We need to understand what we’re facing. Are we all going to die? Suffer a plague? Is the town going to blow up?”
“Jacob chronicles what happened to Willow, but we didn’t have a chance to read it. Sadie and I stole the diary for an hour while my mom and dad were out, but it took us almost that long to find the sigils and read up on them. The book is hard to read, and we were lucky. My dad normally hides it, especially lately, but he left it out. Thankfully I was home,” Luke said.
“The guy who read Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queen,’ and then explained it to our English teacher, had a hard time with the language?” Nathalie said in disbelief.
“They couldn’t spell for the life of them back then, at least not consistently, and the pages are very faded.”
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