The Promise (The Coven Series)

by Baker, Apryl

  He snarled and stomped into the house. Oh, no he did not.

  “Daddy!” I yelled and followed him. I caught him in the kitchen.

  “Leave it be, CJ.”

  “No, I won’t leave it be. Who is he, Dad? What do you know that I don’t? Is it about the curse?”

  The glass he held fell to the floor and shattered. “How the hell do you know about that?”

  “Does it matter? The point is I do, but only enough to drive me crazy. Will you tell me the truth? Will you tell me about the curse and what it has to do with me?”

  His hands shook. The broom he used to sweep up the glass fragments vibrated with his tremors. “I can’t, CJ.”

  “Is it a binding spell? You were the Coven Master, Daddy. You have to know how to break a binding spell.”

  “It was a blood oath I took, CJ. You can’t unbind that.”

  I didn’t know what that was. I hadn’t come across it in any of the books Jeff gave me. Instead I focused on the one question that had been haunting me since my eavesdropping escapade.

  “Did you steal the Book then, Dad?”

  “No,” he shook his head. “I should have, though. I should have destroyed that book long ago.”

  A wave of black rage swept through me. Destroy the Book? Destroy my Book?

  “No one will ever destroy my Book.”

  He looked at me sharply. “Your book?”

  “It’s mine,” I snarled. “Whoever shall try and take it from me will suffer my wrath.”

  His eyes went round. “CJ, honey, why don’t you sit down?”

  “Where is it?” I demanded. “Where did you put it?”

  “I don’t have it, honey. I swear it upon my oath as Coven Master. I didn’t touch it.”

  The rage drained out of me as suddenly as it came. I fell into the chair. What was going on? “Daddy, what’s happening to me? I don’t understand. I’ve never even seen that Book, but I…it…what’s wrong with me?”

  “Shh, honey, it’s okay,” he soothed. “Why don’t you try and get some sleep? You look tired.” He muttered something and my eyes became heavy. I needed sleep. It overrode everything else. I was so tired. I blinked. What had we been talking about? My eyes fluttered. Sleep.

  “Yeah, you’re right, Dad,” I mumbled through a yawn. “I just need to sleep.”

  He helped me up and half carried me to my room.

  “Sleep, sweetheart.” He kissed my forehead and pulled my old, worn out throw around me. He left, pulling the door closed behind him.

  My eyes fell closed and I drifted on a warm lulling breeze of darkness. Sleep.

  The blare of my phone woke me.

  “Hello?” I slurred.

  “CJ, thank the Fates,” Billy sounded frantic.

  Kay screamed.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What’s wrong?!” I shouted into the phone, wide awake.

  “I don’t know! She was asleep and she just woke up screaming. I can’t get near her, CJ. I don’t know what to do.”

  The dream. She’d told me it was getting worse and that she was having it every day. I could hear her screaming and sobbing in the background. This was very bad. “Where are you?”

  “We’re on the boat.” His voice shook. “CJ, please. What can I do to help her?”

  “Just talk to her. Bring the boat back to the dock and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “I can’t! The damn thing stalled. I’ve been trying to get it to start. It’s why we’re still out here instead of home.”

  “I’m coming, Billy. Just do what you can.”

  I jumped up, surprised to see my shoes were still on. The clock told me I’d been asleep for hours. It was almost midnight. My parents weren’t home either. Crap. Where were they at this time of night? I needed a car. Double crap. I needed a boat and we didn’t own one. Where could I get a boat at this hour?

  Jeff.

  I found his number in my phone and prayed he’d answer. If his battery ran low, he never answered the damn thing.

  “CJ?” His voice sounded sleepy. I must have woken him up.

  “Jeff, I need your boat.”

  “My boat? CJ, you don’t even know how to drive a boat.”

  “It’s Kay. Billy called. Something’s wrong. I have to get to the lake and then out to where they are.” The longer I thought about her screams, the more scared I got. I needed to get to her. I’d seen firsthand how bad they’d gotten. An overwhelming sense of dread settled in my stomach. It cramped up in agreement. She needed me. “Please, Jeff.”

  “Okay, okay, just calm down, hon. I’ll be there in five minutes and then we’ll go find them.”

  I grabbed my coat and met him halfway. The boy was quick. He still wore his green flannel pajama bottoms and I could see his tee shirt on backwards. The tag waved at me from under his bomber jacket.

  “Thank you,” I told him as I slid into his old Jeep Wrangler.

  “What happened?” He put the car in gear and pulled out, headed in the direction of the lake.

  “Billy called. Kay woke up from her nightmare screaming and he can’t get her to calm down.” I twisted my fingers in agitation. “Hurry, Jeff. Something’s really wrong. I can feel it.”

  “Does she have nightmares a lot?” He pushed the gas pedal and we hit eighty. The speed didn’t even bother me tonight. Normally if anyone got above fifty I started to freak out. Emily’s accident had made me leery of riding shotgun with anyone. Tonight I was glad for the speed.

  I nodded. “Yeah, but they’re getting worse.”

  We pulled up to the dock and I jumped out before he’d put the jeep into park. I ran ahead, pulling lines and doing what I could to get the boat ready to launch. Not that I knew much. We didn’t have a boat so I’d never learned the ins and outs of boating.

  “Where are they?” Jeff finished stowing the lines.

  “On the lake.”

  “Where on the lake?” he asked patiently. “It’s a big lake, hon.”

  “I…” Damn. I didn’t know. “Billy didn’t say.”

  He nodded and pulled out his phone. “Hey, Billy. I’m bringing CJ out. Where are you?” He listened for a moment and then told me to sit down and started the engine, pulling out into the peaceful waters. Twenty minutes later we pulled up alongside Billy’s dad’s boat, Lady Chance. It was a big boat, having compartments under the deck. Billy tossed a rope ladder down and we climbed up.

  “Where is she?”

  “Below.” He turned and ran, Jeff and I hot on his heels.

  Kay sat hunched in a corner. Her eyes were wide with terror and fear and her breathing came in short, gasping bursts. She looked wretched. Scared to death.

  “Is she awake?” I asked softly, not wanting to upset her anymore than she was.

  “I don’t know,” Billy whispered. “She crawled into the corner while I was on the phone with you. I tried to touch her, but she flinched away. She stopped screaming about five minutes ago.”

  “Kay?” I took careful, easy steps to reach her and hunkered down. “Kay, are you okay?”

  She stared into the distance, her eyes focused on something I couldn’t see. She was still asleep, trapped in her nightmare. I took her hand and she screamed. Over and over, she let out an ear-piercing wail that would scare all the ghosts back into their graves. Bone chilling screams. She needed to wake up.

  I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her as hard as I could. When that didn’t work, I slapped her hard across the face. “Wake up!” I yelled into her face. Jeff handed me a glass of water which I poured over her head, but it had no effect. I shook her again. She just continued to scream.

  “What the hell is wrong with her?” Jeff asked hoarsely.

  “She’s dreaming,” I told him. “ She’s dreaming about being burned alive, but something’s wrong. I don’t know…she has to wake up. If she doesn’t…”

  “…if she doesn’t, what?” Billy demanded. “What?”

  “I don’t know,” I shook my head
. “I can’t explain it, Billy. Something really bad is going to happen. I can feel it. She has to wake up.”

  “How can you know that, CJ?” Billy asked, his voice as confused as I felt.

  “I just do.” My heart pounded in concerto with Kay’s. Her fear and pain echoed in me. I…felt…everything she did. In that moment, we were connected in a way I couldn’t begin to define. I could feel her dying. “NOW! We have to wake her up NOW!”

  Words whispered in my mind and I repeated them blindly.

  “Spirit, I ask thee to free her from this burden,

  In this time, in this place, I call it into me.

  Show me now what she sees and forever let it be.”

  “CJ, NO!” I heard Jeff shout as I fell forward into an oblivion of darkness.

  Chapter Twenty

  The first thing I became aware of was the stench. It smelled like a Port-A-Potty had overturned in the summer sun and no one bothered to clean it up. I gagged at the cloying odor. Sounds filtered through and I tried to focus. I could see everything, but it was a little hazy. I heard someone crying and I turned my head to see who it was or at least tried to. Panic set in when I found that I couldn’t move so much as a finger. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

  A hand came down on my shoulder and I looked up to see a man’s face staring down at me with grim determination. His eyes held both sorrow and acceptance.

  “Why Papa, why do they do this?”

  The question came from me, but I hadn’t asked it. What was going on? Where was I?

  “I do not know, daughter.” He pulled me to him in a tight hug. “We must be brave this night, child. It will be over and done with soon enough.”

  “I am afraid, Papa.” Fear knotted in my stomach.

  “As am I, daughter, as am I.” He stroked my hair. Understanding hit hard and fast. He wasn’t talking to me. I was trapped in this girl’s body, his daughter. I couldn’t speak or move. Kay’s dream. I had taken it into myself. This was her dream. She had dreamed of being burnt at the stake. What had I done? No, please no. I screamed and struggled against the invisible bonds that held me, but to no avail. I was good and stuck. Crap. Crap. Crap.

  Someone took my hand and I looked up into hazel eyes filled with warmth and sadness. Long, wheat blonde hair hung in limp dirty waves around her face. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen herself. The girl’s thoughts softened. This woman was their mistress, their Coven leader. Crap. I was staring into into the eyes of Sara Anne Bishop.

  “Laura Elizabeth, do not fear this. Death is a natural part of the circle.” Her words, gently spoken, did nothing to calm the fear rolling inside of the girl. Or me.

  “She is only twelve, Mistress.” This came from Laura’s father.

  “We are to burn, Mistress,” I heard her cry. “We did nothing! Why?”

  “Why?” another man growled. “Because we have been betrayed by our own, that’s why! Are we to sit here and do naught, Mistress?”

  “Tis naught we can do, Robert,” Sara told him softly. “If we were to use our gifts then they would not only condemn us, but what is left of our families as well. Is that what you wish, for your wife and infant son to suffer our fate as well?”

  “No, of course not, Mistress, but there must be something…”

  “There is.” A burly man pushed his way forward. “We may not be able to stop this, but we can…”

  “No, George.” Sara interrupted him. “We will not.”

  The man snarled and took a step forward. Sara arched a brow. He flew backward and hit the wall. She’d never even moved or made a sound, but she’d managed to throw him several feet. The girl had some serious skills. Even I was impressed.

  Footsteps interrupted the conversation. The sheriff’s men had come for the prisoners. Strong arms enfolded me. Laura began to cry hysterically and clung to her father. I was crying myself. I could feel her pain, her terror, her helplessness. It wasn’t fair. It had never been fair. How could they do this to these people? I had never understood the horror of this night. Now I was about to witness it first-hand.

  We were herded out of the jail cell and marched into the night. A line of long poles stood upon Gallows Hill, kindling at their bases. They were going to burn us. All the others had been hanged, but not us. Our Coven had seen to that.

  The entire village had turned out to witness the burning. Gleeful jeers could be heard among the mob gathered as we walked towards the men waiting for us on the hill. Faces full of revulsion and hatred stared at us. They started to throw things as we passed.

  Something struck Laura’s head. I could feel the wet, runny juice slide down her face, my face. A stone thudded into my back, nearly knocking me to my knees. Laura’s father kept us upright. The stench of peat from the torches burned my nose.

  I felt every stone, every slimy trail of rotten food slide down her face. Merciful Fates, I wasn’t simply observing through her eyes. What happened to her, happened to me!

  I was going to burn.

  Wake up, wake up, wake up, I begged silently. Please wake up.

  Vicious fingers tore Laura from her father. She clawed at the hands holding her and kicked out. I tried to move, to help her fight, but I was frozen, a prisoner in her mind. She twisted and bit, but it was of no use. The man who had pulled her away from her father laughed and struck her across the face. We both cried out at the pain as lights exploded behind our eyes.

  Laura was forced to one of the poles that had been shaped out of the trunk of a tree they’d cut down. Ropes bound her hands and the man started on her feet. Dizzy, she frantically fought as the man worked to secure the ropes. She managed to pull a foot out of his grasp and kicked him in the face. Blood poured from his nose and he rose up, enraged. He pulled his hand back to strike her, but was stopped by Sheriff George Corwin.

  “Cease, Henry. Let us get this business done with.” He looked grim and not at all pleased. We were not making this easy for him. All along the line, many struggled to free themselves, but more men came to subdue them. Fighting was a pointless gesture. These men, women, and children had been damned by the good people of Salem. A mantra of ‘burn the witches’ echoed through the summer night from the crowd gathered. Laura shook with fear. It blinded every other emotion.

  He began to read out the death sentence. I couldn’t focus on his words. I tried desperately to wake up. I started making spells up, but nothing worked. I begged and pleaded with the Elements. There was no escape from this nightmare I’d trapped myself in.

  Laura screamed in blind terror. That jerked me back to attention. A torch had been thrown into the hay used as kindling among the wood below her. It caught fire quickly. The heat and smoke hit her in the face. I screamed with her. Screams echoed up and down the line of burning poles.

  “Papa!” she cried, the skirt of her dress catching fire. Real terror set in for both of us. The heat of the flames intensified, gaining strength as they licked their way up the cloth. Agony bloomed as the fire ate through the cloth to the skin underneath. It caressed us as it spread, climbing its way up our body. The smell of burning skin assaulted our nose. We couldn’t breathe. Our skin swelled and blackened as the fire charred it.

  We were dying.

  A scuffle broke out. We could barely hear the shouting over the screams of the others as they burned. Our throat was raw from the smoke and our own screams. There were no tears left, the heat drying them. Someone tried to break through the crowd, but fell before he reached us. We heard Sara cry out and we managed to turn our head to see her staring in a rage born of grief and helplessness. It was her betrothed who had fallen. To our left we heard someone chanting. No. No, not that. It was forbidden.

  Sara began her own chant, but the pain overwhelmed us. Laura and I could no longer bear it. The fire consumed us…

  Chapter Twenty One

  “PleasepleaseEmswakeup!” I shook her frantically. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream while her body, covered in sweat, convulsed and twisted. I tried t
o shake her awake again, but her arms flailed, knocking me down.

  What was wrong with her? When I woke up she was lying on the floor. I thought maybe she was sleeping, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know what to do. She wouldn’t wake up. Emily always told me what to do. She was older than me. I was only five and she was eight. She knew everything.

  What should I do? Daddy. I’d get Daddy. Standing up, I started to run to the door, but stopped when Emily groaned and rolled over. I flew back to her. “Ems! Are you still sweep?”

  She pushed out blindly, knocking me away from her. I fell and hit my head on the dresser. “OWW!”

  The door opened and Daddy came in. “What is going on in here, girls? You’re supposed to be asleep.”

  “Ems is having bad dreams,” I told him, rubbing the sore spot on my head.

  “Bad dreams?” he frowned and came over. “Emily?”

  “I had a bad dream too,” I told him, careful to stay out of Emily’s reach. “When I woke up, she was on the floor.”

  He picked her up and put her on my bed. “What did you dream about, Pumpkin?”

  “Fire, Daddy.” I shivered, remembering. “I was scared. The fire…”

  “You dreamed about being in a fire?”

  “Uh-uh,” I shook my head and crawled into his lap. “A mean man tied me up and set me on fire.”

  He looked down at me in horror. “You were tied up?”

  “Yes…no…I don’t know. I can’t member.” I started to cry. I could still feel the heat of the fire on me and smell the smoke.

  “Shh, Pumpkin.” He stroked my hair. “It’s okay now. Daddy’s here.”

  Emily came awake with a gasp. Daddy covered her mouth with his hand to keep her screams silent. “It’s okay, honey, Daddy’s here. You’re okay now.”

  “Burning,” she croaked when he pulled his hand away. “Set…on...fire…”

  “You dreamed of being set on fire, too?” he asked.

  She nodded and took several deep breaths. “Heard CJ crying. I came in to see what was wrong. She was shouting something.”

  “What was she shouting?”