HEX

by Stacy Charasidis

  Willow paused and Sadie was entranced, by the story and by the look of sadness on Willow’s face. It didn’t stay long. Her expression hardened. “I buried my Jessie while the Kellars packed and stole away with my son to hide him for his own safety. I left and tracked Karl Von Vixen down. But by then almost two years had passed and he had made a new life and changed his name to Knotts. He was married and had a child of his own by the time I found him.”

  Knotts…oh no. She didn’t want to hear this, Sadie thought frantically.

  Anger and hatred flowed out of Willow. “I moved into a little cottage nearby and set up shop. I found Karl and I seduced him. I made sure his wife discovered us in bed and saw her husband enjoying me. They were both humiliated. Then I took his child. He was so obsessed he just handed his little boy over to me. I killed his boy in front of him, and then I dumped him. I believe he killed himself a day or two later…I didn’t care. I used that boy’s life to increase my power. By then I had a new goal. I would have immortality and ultimate power as a demonness. I found the way in Elanah Von Vixen’s spell book. That idiot, Karl, had stolen his sister’s book when he fled, hoping to protect himself. What a fool. Once I transformed I would seek and destroy every Von Vixen alive. The world would be mine.”

  Sadie was trying to process all of this. “Elanah returned your grimoire and your diary to your family. I actually thought she was being nice, but she really went back to salvage her own book so she wouldn’t be accused of being a witch herself!”

  Willow shrugged, “I copied her spells, and made up a few of my own. T’was all the same. I had the one I wanted from her, the blood of three murdered children was all that was needed—the ultimate horrific act. I started with little Petie Knotts and then took Jenny Stone. Last was sweet Livey Croft…they always bred like rabbits, those Crofts. They still do, it would seem. I thought, who would miss one? But then someone squealed. Someone noticed despite all my spells, stealth and careful planning. I’m sure it was Nettie Parquhar.”

  “Did you say Nettie Parquhar?” Sadie said, involuntarily.

  Willow looked at her. “Why are you so startled?” Her eyes widened and she smiled with pleasure. “Why, Nettie’s here! How did I not sense her before? After all this time! Now I have no doubt my plan will succeed. She has to WATCH.” Willow looked positively gleeful.

  “I had slept with more men than I could count to manipulate events, hide my doings and get what I needed for transformation.” Willow snorted in disdain, “Those rutting bastards. Ready at a wink to drop their pants and satisfy their lust. My beauty has been nothing but a curse, Sadie. Yours would have been too, if you were to live, which you won’t. I was only twenty-one by the time they hung me and burned me at the stake. Every member of every family of the mob at my execution will be destroyed.”

  Sadie felt sad as she looked at the girl in front of her. A young girl whose life had held nothing but horrors. But to do what she did…

  “You didn’t deserve the pain and suffering you endured. Those people had no right. It was beyond horrific, but you deserved your ending,” Sadie said quietly. “Many people suffer injustice and do not choose the vicious and evil path you did. Imagine how your son would feel if he could see you now.”

  Rage and loss boiled out of Willow, blasting Sadie with its intensity. “I lost my chance to be with my son!” Willow hissed angrily. “I could not find the Kellars even though I searched desperately. Then I decided it would be better for him if I didn’t find him. I would get my revenge first, but then I was murdered by that Barrington bastard, Jacob. However, the Kellars have done right by me and have protected my line well. You are here.”

  Sadie started to back away. She looked furtively at her bedroom door. Her cell phone was on the bedside table. If only she could reach it and dial Luke’s number.

  “Forget it, child. You won’t escape me. You are the catalyst that has made all this possible. You are the first female Kellar in my direct line since me. With your conception, the fulfillment of the hex became possible and was set in motion. If you hadn’t noticed, each family implicated in the curse has a child the same age as you, Sadie.”

  “But I wasn’t born here…”

  “Your birthplace is irrelevant. Your conception was the key, the turning point. The fact that you’re here now matters. Eventually, you would have been drawn here. Your father had his instructions.”

  Sadie was startled. “Do you know who my parents were?” Sadie asked, trying to keep the pleading tone out of her voice. Boris and Liora would never answer that question.

  Willow stared at her, but then relented. “Irrelevant now, but anyway. Your father is still with you. Your mother died in childbirth,” she said dismissively.

  “You mean Uncle Boris—”

  “Is my great, great, many times over great grandson, and your father.”

  Sadie was shocked at the news. Willow drifted closer.

  “This still won’t work,” Sadie said desperately, backing away towards the wall. “There are no living Browns…”

  “True, not in this time, there aren’t. But Beth will take care of that. That’s her little job. She’s our mule. Our little time jumper. You remember Beth, don’t you?”

  Sadie looked at Willow in horror. Willow smiled evilly at Sadie. “Enough chit chat. Don’t worry child, this won’t hurt a bit.”

  DAY 1

  Willow’s Book of Record

  I have control. I am gathering my faithful to wreak havoc on this town. In thirty days Barrington County will be a ghost town. I will destroy everything those murderers have built in the last few centuries. I exult as I see the Barrington boy staring at me and mooning over this form. “Die, Barrington scum,” I said to him. “I will destroy all of you—your family, your friends—but I will start with you. This face, that you love so much, will be the last thing you see when you go screaming to your death.” I tossed my hair and smiled as Sadie’s power, now mine, rolled through me. Full access! I will not be denied! The look on his face was worth the struggle. I will devastate him. I will devastate this town. They will rue the day they meddled with Willow Kellar.

  The Barrington Estate

  Luke wasn’t having a good day. Mind you, he hadn’t had a good day since he and Sadie broke up. Today he hit rock bottom as he watched Willow in Sadie’s body threaten him from the church grounds. He had been waiting for her. He had known something was wrong since very early this morning when he woke screaming from his dreams. The face of his beloved had already changed drastically. Her face was haughty and angry. Lines of cruelty appeared along the sides of her mouth as she sneered at him. She was going to kill everyone and dance in their blood. He shuddered. She started to drift over.

  “Willow Kellar, you are not welcome on the Barrington Estate,” Luke said simply. With his gift, he could see the natural magic take effect immediately, following the estate’s property line and sealing Willow out.

  She walked to the edge where the invisible boundary separated the Barrington Estate from the church lands—where she couldn’t cross. Luke stood on the other side, an inch away. So close…but it might as well have been a brick wall. They stared at each other.

  Luke frowned and looked at Willow intently. Sadie’s dear face so near, but she nowhere in sight.

  Willow snorted and stepped back. A few nights ago she had been kissing this boy, she thought to herself, and he had held her desperately. “Don’t stare, boy. Sadie is gone. I have control now, and let’s be very clear, we are mortal enemies,” she said softly, cruelly, a smile playing around her mouth. “You can’t stop me, you and your pitiful friends. You have no idea what’s coming. The lore is lost, and you have no protection against me.” Willow waved her hand dismissively at the barrier. “Child’s magic. I will enjoy watching you all squirm.”

  “Effective magic,” Luke said simply.

  Willow turned her back on him in a final gesture and headed towards Town Circle. It was getting dark, but he guessed an entity like Willow didn’t
have to worry about being accosted. She could simply fry them with her power. He watched her turn on East Road with an ache in his heart.

  He was about to leave when he looked closely at the church grounds. With his special sight he noticed that the land around the church was dark, only glowing ever so slightly near the church itself. Curious, Luke crossed the churchyard, keeping a lookout for Willow now that he had left the security of his estate. At the church he found the light coming from a crack in the side door. Luke opened the door and found the source. The sanctuary was glowing with a pure white light that sent beams of brightness into the darkening room. Nothing else glowed. Thoughts clicked through his head. “Uh oh,” he said with a sinking feeling.

  Later that evening Father MacGunne walked over to the Barrington Estate after receiving a call from Claire Barrington. He was humming a merry tune as he skipped along. Ten people at vespers tonight, he thought to himself, pleased. A record turnout! The tide was changing in this town and he was responsible for it.

  With a cheery whistle he arrived at the manor and was welcomed in by Claire who lead him to the main sitting room. John Barrington was there with a few of his council members.

  “Is there going to be a meeting? Would you be wanting a blessing, then?” he asked, magnanimously.

  “No meeting, Father, although a blessing would be nice,” John Barrington said easily.

  Father MacGunne looked around and saw all the council members but one, but then noticed the Sheriff and a few teenagers. Another type of meeting then. He gave them a quick blessing.

  “Spit it out already,” he said briskly, helping himself to coffee on the sideboard.

  It was the young Barrington, Luke, that spoke. “Father MacGunne, it would appear that the church grounds, well, everything except the sanctuary…”

  “Yes, yes, go on,” he said impatiently, waving his hand which now contained a large cookie.

  “Well, it would appear that the ground is no longer…hallowed.”

  “Eh? What are you talking about boy?” he said with a mouth full of cookie. He took a moment to chew and swallow. “It’s a church, with church grounds, consecrated years ago. What are you going on about?” His head whipped about as he looked between Luke and his father.

  The Sheriff interrupted. “Father, are there any instances where consecrated ground could become defiled and require, say, another ritual cleansing or blessing to set it to rights?”

  “To be sure,” he replied, a bit bug eyed.

  “We think this may have happened to our church grounds.”

  The priest stood still, his cheery mood gone as everyone stared at him. He looked at Luke, hard. “You have the sight, boy?”

  Luke was taken aback. “The…the sight?” He stammered, not sure what to say and how much to reveal.

  His father took care of it for him. “Yes, Edward. Luke has the sight.”

  “Great,” Father MacGunne said despondently, putting the cookie back on the plate with a big bite out of it. “We all know what tha’ means.”

  “How do you know about the sight?” Luke asked curiously.

  “Laddie, I’m Irish. I grew up with stories of the wee folk.” His face turned crafty. “Watch yourself, boy. They’re sneaky little ba—”

  “Ahem,” Claire said disapprovingly as she swept into the room with fresh coffee.

  “I was merely going to say bas—er… bug—er… brats.” The priest sighed. Claire always caught his wayward tongue.

  “So, you can see blessed ground, but only in the sanctuary now, eh? I have Brown’s journals, you know. I read them all, as well as the journals from every priest who took care of this parish. The last ritual blessing that took place was right after Father Brown moved the graveyard to Limerick.”

  “Something has happened since then,” John Barrington said worriedly.

  “The animal killings?” Nathalie suggested. She and Dean were standing in the corner of the room, trying not to be noticed. “The Bugle reported that you found a string of dead animals on your doorstep.”

  “A dead animal wouldn’t do it lassie, they’d have to be ritually killed on church land—”

  “That’s why they did it,” Dean said. “Not to frame Sadie with ‘witch-like’ behavior, but to deflect suspicion while they defiled church property. But why?”

  “Because they need headquarters!” Luke shouted and pointed outside towards the rows of fiery torches surrounding the church. Father MacGunne yelped, his coffee crashing to the floor as he dashed out of the room. Confusion reigned as people looked out the window, wondering what was going on, before dashing out to join the melee.

  Father MacGunne was incensed. “What are you doing here?” he yelled at the mob, forcing his way through to the front of the crowd clustered near the main doors of the church.

  Willow turned around and smiled. Her eyes were glowing white in the torchlight. “We need a place to stay,” she said simply, extending her hand and sending a surge of power towards the angry priest. It passed harmlessly around him. Willow pouted.

  The priest was outraged. “You think you can harm me, witch? You have no power over me!” he roared. He was spitting mad.

  “Pity,” she said in a bored voice, turning her back on him. Two very large leather clad men picked up the priest and tossed him back to the small band of spectators. He rolled and sprang up like a prizefighter and was about to launch himself back into the fray when many hands grabbed him and held him back.

  “You’ll have your chance, Ed me boy, you’ll have your chance. I guarantee it.” It was O’Callaghan speaking. He was pale as he scribbled furiously on his reporter pad, recording everything for The Barrington Bugle.

  Father MacGunne only struggled briefly before he went limp and watched helplessly as Willow and her group opened the church doors and streamed in. The two brutes entered last. A large crackle and a scream of outrage came from inside the church, eliciting a laugh from the angry priest. “At least they won’t be getting in the sanctuary,” he said with extreme satisfaction. He turned to John Barrington. “I’m going to need a place to stay for now, it would appear.”

  “I have a suite in the east wing available for you, Father MacGunne,” Claire said calmly before turning to her husband. “John, we’re going to need provisions. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring.” She turned to Bill Farmer. “I’m going to make you a list. Just put it on our account.”

  “Will do, Ms. Claire.”

  “We’ll collect them tomorrow morning. Now is not the best time to be roaming the streets.” She was right. Hooting and laughing could be heard from the church and partying from Town Circle. It was going to be another wild night.

  That night Luke barricaded himself in his room and thought about Sadie. He lay in the dark, fully clothed, the horror of the day’s events washing over him. Tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes and he put his arm over them to stem the flow. His heart broke as he thought of the years Sadie had been alone and unloved, only to be used by an entity seething with hate. He could see it emanating from Willow’s being, yellow and black stripes of hatred overlaid by Sadie’s beautiful purple power. It was her essence Willow was using. His stomach knotted. Was she gone? Had Willow cast her out? If she was stuck with Willow, and her consciousness was alive, how would she fight? What could she do? Luke was tortured inside because there was nothing he could do to help. He could only pray that she was still there, somehow, and that she would hold on.

  He missed her so much. Having her to talk to and hold everyday had been a blessing, a wonderful gift. He had reveled in it, loved her without bounds, only to have her taken away. He felt dead inside. He wanted to scream and rail and throw things and destroy. Instead he lay there, in the dark, and suffered by himself.

  DAYS 2-7

  During the first week of October, Dean organized the older teenagers into groups to walk smaller kids to and from school. Willow had murdered children before and Dean wasn’t taking any chances with the little kids. They didn’t p
ublicize that, though. Barrington was teeming with strangers, and they used that excuse as a way to get the older teens to help out.

  The other problem was that Danner’s gold coins were appearing everywhere. Visitors picked them up regularly, and these were the strangers who stayed in town and caused trouble.

  “Do not touch those coins,” Dean had warned all the little kids. “They’re poison. Poison you’ll bring home to your families. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” The kids obeyed and policed each other. They were good because they were scared.

  By the end of the first week of October, both schools were closed indefinitely. An altercation between two teachers over a cheating husband left them both on medical disability due to stab wounds. Without a principal, or any sort of order at all, many of the teachers just stopped showing up for work.

  “It’s like the factory all over again. Just no beer in the fridge,” Nathalie said.

  “Why, did you check?” Dean asked with interest.

  The so-called “wild hunts” had increased. There were a couple of deaths, but the men weren’t Barrington townsfolk, so no one seemed to care. More strange incidents occurred during the Witch Hunt Excursion. Excursioners returned with burns and bloody cuts, and one woman was badly crushed in a mob of terrified jurors, but not one person lodged a complaint. They’d had “an incredible time.” The complaints were from visitors because more excursions weren’t planned.

  Town Circle was overrun every night by out-of-control party packs of people who turned ugly when challenged. The Rotunda was a wild party, and many unusual folk arrived and took advantage of the willing party animals, their vices, and their frailties.

  The Sheriff’s office and the medical clinic were overrun with men and women of all ages who couldn’t explain the bites and bruises on their bodies the next day, or what they had been doing the night before. They made complaints, but that didn’t stop them from going out again that night once they were patched up. It was a crazy kind of hunger that drove them to experience more.