A Witch's Curse

by Nicole Lee

  22

  Blume Park was situated next to the lake. She met up with the coven. They were all standing in a circle, their robes as dark as the shadows surrounding them.

  “Sit in the outer edge and observe us,” Hemera said, pointing a scraggly and rather malformed finger in the direction she wanted Rose to remain immobile in.

  The ceremony then went through four stages, each divided by ranks.

  The first was the Dedication. Every one spoke aloud their vows to the gods, with eyes closed and hands together in front of them, as if they were praying.

  One particularly struck Whelan with a sort of curiosity. Tawaret sajd, “I somberly swear to set aside all personal ethics bestowed upon me in my formative years prior to taking up the practice, and replace it with creeds initiating me into the lifestyle that I am given, rather than one I personally requested. It is up to me to be conventional within the limitations of the accepted rules, which I am more than obliged to be a part of.”

  The second phase was the Neophyte commitment. Each witch had to perform an act that proved they were not imposters.

  One witch had to hold a ball of fire in her hand, no matter how much it burned her flesh, singing her brows, melted her makeup, thereby causing a searing liquid to fall onto her clothes and the rest of her form. It looked agonizing. The true trial given to her was not to scream. The first degree of initiation was when they soon declared a high priestess. Hemera was picked to be the new clergywoman. They all clapped and bowed before her. Rose even did so to fit in, although she felt sick to her stomach while making herself do this.

  Their stretched out loop soon became closer knit, with each one holding another’s hands while moving into the form of a tighter circle. In the very center of the sphere, the black cloaked man emerged.

  He stared at her for a second that felt much too long. Rose hoped that this would not be the last moment of her disguise. Not after she had come so far in becoming an emissary in pursuit of the secrets of their warren. Soon, the one wearing the robe vanished into a tree’s outstretched branches, causing a thick patch of gloom to settle on the ground

  One reached into a nearby bag that looked to be quilted from some archaic cloth, and abruptly retrieved a lantern. Another was soon in view, and it was only a matter of time before each and every person in the assembly was holding a kerosene light.

  “Are you learning anything yet?” Tawaret said, turning around and giving Rose a smile with her wilted, hollow and black teeth.

  “Yes,” Rose answered, tightly gripping the wand beneath her heavy gown.

  They raised the objects high, before Rose figured out that her mother was no longer even in the circle, but behind her.

  “Oh!” Rose said, startled, attempting not to show too much distress. “Hemera, what’s happening? Do you want to make me part of the ritual?”

  “You could say that,” she said, looking at Rose from head to toe. “Tell me, what’s your real name?”

  “Turgenev,” she said off the top of her head. naming a Russian author that she had read over the summer.

  “Ah. Tell me, Turgenev, what interested you in our group? All of the ladies seemed to like you immediately, but no one has thoroughly questioned you. I would like to know what attracted you to this coven.”

  “It’s very interesting. I’m a beginner in magic, and I wanted to learn the basics from elders who are well-experienced in this kind of training. Not to say that you’re old.”

  Hemera smirked. “You didn’t answer me. A true witch would know that there are countless groups spread out all over the county, particularly the sort of witchcraft that people your age are interested in. This tells me one of two things. Either you arrived here out of your own naiveté, an obsequious desire to try and commingle with others far above you, or you’re not who we think you are.”

  Rose felt her felt her palms becoming clammy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came here because I’m genuinely curious. That’s why.”

  Hemera leaned in closer. “Conspirators have never been treated well in the past times I’ve lived.”

  “What makes you think I could be a conspirator? I idolize you.” Again, Rose felt her insides turn.

  “Some people have been skilled by us in the past. Many of them went on to pursue better things. Of course, we eventually cursed them, because no one can just leave our group. Which reminds me of certain times in my life when I saw many a defector’s insides ripped out and put on display for the village.”

  “I assure you, I’m here for instructive purposes. I told you that I was lead here.”

  “True, but by whom?”

  It took a few seconds before the final act was issued.

  Hemera shouted to the coven, reaching underneath her own robes as Rose did the same. The next few seconds were a blur, with her running backwards and pulling out the wand, pointing it at her mother.

  She was catapulted backwards. Falling on the grass and sliding four feet in reverse, she was soon on her feet again and greatly disoriented. The world was spinning faster than it ever had. It took a small while to even regain the focus it took to point her magic weapon on the right course. Having her mother in sight while coming at her and ready to attack, she muttered a spell under her breath. An ice flurry emerged from the tip.

  Hemera prepared to make another assailment, closing her eyes quickly. What she seemed to be ignorant of was that the spell had just started. An enormous gust of wind kicked in and knocked the witch off of her feet, propelling her into an almost deadly flipside.

  The other members of the coven neared her. One reached for Rose from behind, gripping her shoulders and throwing Whelan to the ground. The agony of the concrete walkway hitting her elbow sent a shooting pain through out the arm. Soon, what felt like a thousand feet began kicking her everywhere. The pain was already too much.

  The first tear fell on one of the ancient practitioners black leather shoes. She tried to imagine something burning in her mind’s eye.

  A flame, small as a spark, emerged in sight, and before long all Rose could hear was screaming.

  Within seconds, she was using all of the adrenaline pumping through her veins to push her legs up, wanting to run far away from the fire. When a good distance apart from the blaze, she saw the rest of the group fearfully backing away from it.

  “Get her!” Hemera hollered. Rose did not have to think twice; she still had enough enchantment to create a wall of flame in front of her, which she then formed into a wide circle, so as to stand in the center of it without worry of being burned.

  “Anyone who enters this ring will turn to dust.”

  They stared at her blankly, before Nekhbet raised her hands.

  Rose was in disbelief as a sudden downpour of torrential rainstorm fell. Though the perspiration was great, it still took a few seconds before the inferno was fully extinguished.

  Rose slung out her wand again after reaching into her pockets and retrieving a handful of dust, and decided how now was the time to cast the banishment spell.

  Before the incantation could be completed, the stick was thrown out of her hands by a strong wind. Grunting, she stared in dismay at her last chance lying on the ground yards away from where she was standing. The group was too close, for they would surely apprehend her before she had a chance to get the needed object back in her hands.

  A scream exploded in the reserve beyond.

  “Am I invited?”

  All heads turned to look and see where the noise was coming from. Grady was standing on a hill top with his coat off, peering down at them not from twenty feet off. With him was Alexis, Melinda, and James.

  Alexis was the first to make a move. She pointed her wand downwards, and it was not too long before a hail of coals emerged from the sky. Hemera bawled in frustration while the rocks fell all over her, smearing their black ash around where she was standing.

  All of her friends soon came rushing off the mount, and when they were on the ground’s level, the sle
et of dark rocks had ceased to plunge. Rose viewed Alexis as she successfully fended them off, creating an unseen blockade to prevent them from getting closer. While a few broke through it, they were soon slung and overturned where they originally stood.

  James and Melinda were picking up the coals and throwing them at the group. Grady was trying to get to the forefront while Alexis held him back.

  “Banishment, Rose!”

  She ran over to where her wand was lying and picked it up hurriedly, along with dust from the exile’s island that had flown with it. Concentrating, she pointed the wand once again, and blew the sand over the edge of the object’s end.

  The ground beneath her feet quavered. A colorlessly blinding combustion detonated in front of her. For a moment it seemed to blend, as if time itself had decreased to a measured pace.

  Snippets of ashen fire flowed like snakes within the fence of luminosity, and Rose feared that the large wholeness of its radiance would consume her forever. A wall of sightlessness overtook her, the radiance scorching everything in its path.

  The screaming of a thousand spirits, each of them sent away from their home lands at some point in history, could be heard at a volume so loud that it would have been possible to bust the eardrums of everyone within ten thousand feet. For the remaining seconds she saw stars, before it faded to black for all but a minute. Rose felt her whole body quake before passing out.

  After regaining consciousness, she peered upwards to see that she was still in the center of Blume Park. Grady was leaning over her. Groaning, she pushed her upper body to bring herself closer towards him.

  “It worked,” her boyfriend said this with a smile.

  She looked intently at everything around her - the flora, the azure mountains peaking countless miles away, the stars shining eons above her. Her four acquaintances were nearing where she was lying.

  Rose clutched the side of her head. There was a mild throbbing.

  “Are you all right?” Grady asked, helping her up.

  “Yes,” she said. “What about you?”

  “Of course I feel fine,” he boasted. “I mean, look at me. I’m Grady Bell.”

  They hugged each other. Melinda ran up to them, also giving an embrace.

  “I thought you were gone, girl.”

  “Everything‘s good,” she said. “I’m only concussed.”

  “Good to know that’s all that’s wrong,” Melinda said. “As if that’s not a big deal. Should we get you to an emergency room?”

  Rose rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand for the last time that night, pointing it to the center of her head. She let loose a stream of what must have been perceived as murky words to everyone around her.

  “Where’s Miss Harvey?” Rose asked.

  “Oh,” Grady said, unfolding his arms and putting his hands in his pockets tensely.

  Alexis came up from behind them after having emerged from a dark valley in between a pair of verdant knolls.

  “Where’s James?” Rose asked.

  They all peered at one another worriedly.

  “Let’s split up in two groups,” Alexis said.

  Melinda and Alexis went together to explore the eastern area of the Park, whereas Rose and Grady were held responsible for the north, to regroup later if other directions needed to be investigated. Alexis inserted a protruding light at the ends of both of their wands, and soon they divided themselves to explore different quarters of the square.

  When Rose found herself alone with Grady behind several rows of trees, she brought him in close.

  “Thank you so much for coming to my rescue,” she whispered while hugging him.

  “Someone had to do it. To be honest, I still have little to no idea what’s going on here, but I know this. If anyone harasses you, I’m there.”

  He leaned in, when suddenly a muffled groan was heard. They both looked to their right and noticed a figure draped in blackness. They ran over to him as fast as they could, jumping around a few monstrously large oak trees in their path.

  James was positioned face up, moaning in pain and only half-conscious. They both shook him.

  “Are you there?” Rose asked.

  “I love you,” he grumbled.

  “You’re dreaming,” she said.

  His eyelids fluttered open, and he gave them a wide eyed expression, one hinting at absolute and nearly immutable shame.

  “She’s my girl, buddy.”

  “How are you feeling?” Rose asked.

  “As if I’ve just been hit by a van. One carrying steel. And an entire football team. A professional one, not an amateur league. No offense, Grady.”

  Alexis and Melinda came around the corner of a pine tree. They grabbed a hold of his arms and helped him stand. He wobbled while gaining balance on his legs.

  “Where did you two send them?” James asked, folding his arms in a meager attempt to get warm. Rose turned to Alexis, suddenly as interested in the answer as her friend.

  “Far away from here, to a place they belong. A part of the world where if the sun doesn’t end them the isolation will. They will probably murder each other before the elements do.”

  Although Rose could not admit it then, a bit of guilt suddenly overwhelmed her.

  Melinda raised her voice. “While we’re on that subject, I think we should get out of here. It’s cold and we’re exhausted. Am I right?”

  “Rose,” Alexis said, “I trust you can get your three friends to where they need to be safely. Here‘s the keys.”

  Rose caught the roll of metallic objects in her hands, and then stared at her teacher. “How are you going to get home?”

  Alexis winked. “I have a broomstick.”

  “Please.”

  “I have to give this place a few more enchantments, just to ensure that they will not return. It’s unnecessary, but it is better to be cautious.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Grady said, reaching out his hand.

  The teenagers strolled through the cerulean glowing grounds, feeling more alive than they ever had before as the frigid wind brushed against their skin. They turned their backs to Alexis, and began to leave the field.

  23

  After waking up, she dressed and looked out her window, happy to not be in a foreign place. Rose had slept in most of the day, and it was not until peering onto her street that she saw how it had snowed heavily during the night.

  Walking downstairs, it did not take long for her to notice an eerie silence. She turned on the television station and found out that the curse had, indeed, been lifted. There were no more uncontrollable waves of bad luck for the town. The stories were now as blasé as they had ever been.

  Negative thoughts still overwhelmed her. For how long would it all be kept away from the vicinity of Lake Pines?

  She looked to her right, seeing the hallway leading to the master bedroom. The doorway was not open, which was strange. He always left it cracked to allow air in.

  Rose sat up from the reclining chair, making her way down the narrow winding walkway. She turned the doorknob and walked through the threshold, seeing that his clothes were lying in a bundle near the pillows. Her father was not even in bed.

  “Dad?” Rose said, knowing that, unless he was in the garageor outside shoveling snow, calling out to him was in vain. Rose ran outside, sitting on the frosty porch while fumbling through her pockets for the cell-phone.

  Retrieving it and dialing promptly, she waited to hear James’s voice.

  No one was on the other end. After then punching in Melinda’s number, there was no answer except for the white noise.

  She walked back inside and grabbed her car keys off the table, moving back into the light snowfall outside, opening her car door and trying to start the ignition.

  The engine was dead.

  The vehicle was running well prior to this day, with no complications apparent except the occasional minor heating problems. She stepped away from the automobile, slamming the door behind her while running down the st
reet. There was an old man, Mr. Niffen, who lived four blocks down, and he was a complete gear head. Rose had hopes that he would be able to help her. She loudly knocked on his door. No one came to answer.

  She moved to the side and wiped away the frost on one square of the sheet of glass, gazing into the living room, feeling a bit like a stalker, despite how she just wanted to make sure he was all right. What she found, to her astonishment, was a pile of tweedy clothes lying on a sofa.

  She walked across the lawn, kicking heaps of snow behind her. Rose made quick steps back to her house, and once inside, she reached for her broomstick lying at the foot of the stairs.

  Soon she was standing on her terrace, gazing at everything from the overhang. She was now sitting on the object, grabbing the end of it with both hands and closing her eyes, trying to focus on the thoughts it took to fly - merely imagining aviation, removing all possibilities of doubt, according to one of her books.

  At first nothing happened. Or so she thought, until looking down and noticing that she was hovering. Like that, she fell.

  The drop was only five feet, and all she did was bruise her ankle. She began the ritual again, reminding herself that the key was to remove all sense of inherent qualms with the idea of air travel without modern technology. She was a witch. It was in her blood to be able to pull this off.

  Soon she was floating again, and it was not until she was above her own peaked rooftop that she managed to immerse herself in the required courage to look down.

  Now, it was time for projection. Remaining attentive to the rhythms and sensations arriving from the broomstick, she visualized herself soaring in a straight line. Within seconds, she was doing just that. It gave her a rush of adrenaline that she had never experienced before, until she saw the tip of a tower coming dangerously close to her.

  She avoided it with a quick swoop in the other direction. She breathed a sigh of relief, and when she was sixty feet higher, able to glance at most of the entire town, something became readily apparent.

  All of the houses had cars parked, as if a permanent vacation had befallen the area. No one was entering or leaving their abodes, ones caked in glacial ice. Lake Pines was empty. She was the only person here.