“I’ll recover from that terrible future, but Mrs. Anderson may not from hers,” Martha said as she moved towards her bedroom window. “Now tell Mom and Dad what you need to, but I’m going to help Mrs. Anderson.”
“You need professional help,” Martha’s brother shot at her as she went to climb out the window.
While outside the house, Martha said before taking off, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“People can’t get visions of the future,” Martha heard her brother yelling, but she ignored it as she continued towards the school.
Chapter Eight
Martha ran to school as fast as she could. Once there, she found that the second set of doors that she tested hadn’t been locked yet.
As Martha was rushing down the hall towards the nurse’s office, Dennis, the building’s custodian, yelled, “Hey, you! The building’s closed for the night!”
Without looking or even slowing her step, Martha yelled back, “Mrs. Anderson is here and I have to see her!”
Martha didn’t look back or hear anything else from Dennis, and after a couple of minutes, Martha hit the door—shoulder first—with a thud at the same time she turned the knob.
Gloria was jumping to her feet as Martha burst open the door and entered, and before Gloria could say anything, Martha rattled out incoherently, “Mickey Mouse is here!”
When Martha slumped slightly to catch her breath, Gloria asked, “What?”
Martha gestured for her to wait a moment, and after a couple of seconds, she repeated more clearly, “Mickey Mouse is here!” She turned to look at the bottom of the nurse’s medical cabinet before pointing. “Mickey is over there… somewhere, and Vincentia is on her way here now.”
“You had a vision,” Gloria accused as she went to look for the mouse.
As Martha helped look for the mouse, she said, “I did, and in my vision you two magically exchanged invisible punches… Vincentia’s punch was more potent though.”
“You described the incantation that I’ve been trying to memorize for the past ten minutes,” Gloria said as she went to look beneath the cabinet. “And although it would appear to an observer as punches, they are actually small explosions.”
“Whatever, it does…” Martha got out before seeing the mouse. She quickly pointed, and while fighting the urge to jump up on something she screamed, “There! There! There!”
Gloria quickly rattled off the spell that Martha had witnessed Gloria using in her vision, and once Gloria was done, the mouse exploded. Martha had let out a startled scream as the mouse’s blood and entrails were being splattered in every direction.
Martha had quickly covered her mouth after realizing the situation. She turned to face Gloria, and after dropping her hands from her mouth, she said, “Sorry. That startled me.”
Gloria grinned before saying, “It’s fine.”
“And, Man, you must really hate mice!” Martha uttered.
“I don’t hate any animal… or rodent, but that one had to die,” Gloria told her. “Anyway, let’s move before Vincentia gets here.”
“Where are we going?” Martha asked as Gloria moved towards her stack of unbound incantations.
“In case there are more mice around, I don’t want to say,” Gloria said as she gathered up the papers. It took only a second to grab the papers. She then turned towards Martha. “Follow me! You can tell me your vision while on the way.”
As Martha followed Gloria into the hall, she slightly hesitated to say, “Vincentia came. She answered your question about how she knew where to find you, which was through Mickey. You accused her of being evil. She… she made a crack about taking a trip to Kansas City after she took care of you. That was when you two exchanged invisible punches. And your reaction to Vincentia’s invisible punch was the last thing I saw before I was pulled out of my vision by my little brother.”
“Okay, now tell me the parts that you left out,” Gloria prompted.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Martha said while trying to sound sincere.
“I got to know you very well over this past year, Martha, and I know when you don’t want to tell me something,” Gloria pointed out. “Now start talking.”
Martha sighed before saying, “When you accused Vincentia of being evil she retorted by describing how evil her mother was.”
“Evelyn… my sister wasn’t evil,” Gloria insisted.
“According to Vincentia… within my vision, your sister was casting an incantation that was stealing powers from your unborn children and causing you to miscarry three times.”
“And Evelyn wasn’t in Saint Louis when I was pregnant with Alex,” Gloria uttered when she realized what Martha had said could be true.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Anderson. I know you loved your sister.”
“It’s fine… well, obviously it’s not fine, but if and when I can stop Vincentia, it’s currently a moot issue. Anyway, you need to leave.”
“Leave?!” Martha echoed. “No!”
“Martha…” Gloria was only able to get out.
“Vincentia is coming for you, Mrs. Anderson, and there is nothing that you can do to make me abandon you,” Martha assured Gloria.
“If you stay, Martha, I’ll be worrying about your safety rather than concentrating on stopping Vincentia.”
“If I leave, who’s to say that I won’t run into Vincentia while I’m on my way out?” Martha pointed out.
Gloria sighed before saying, “Okay, fine, once we get to where we’re going, you are to hide, and you are not to come out until you are sure that it’s safe.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Martha said in an eager tone.
Martha followed Gloria into the gym. Once inside, Gloria gestured around her while saying, “This is where we’re making a stand. Now find somewhere to hide.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Martha said before climbing into the bleachers. After getting to the second row of seats, she was given a vision that lasted for only a brief moment. She then turned towards Gloria. “Vincentia has her mice scurrying about. One will scamper across the gym floor along the north wall in a few minutes.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Gloria told her. “Now find somewhere where you can get your head down.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Martha repeated before continuing on towards the higher seats.
Once Martha had reached the spot where she was going to duck down out of sight, she looked towards Gloria before doing so and saw that Gloria had taken a seat in the third row from the court. When Gloria turned her attention to the incantations, Martha ducked down.
Martha wasn’t wearing a watch, and as the minutes slowly ticked away, she was getting slightly antsy while waiting for the inevitable to happen.
Martha had risen up slightly to look and saw that Gloria was still reading over the incantations. Martha was just about to duck back down, but before she did, Gloria shot a disturbing look towards the entrance.
Martha followed her gaze, and after a brief moment of staring at the entrance Vincentia stepped in. She stopped just at the inside of the door while staring at Gloria.
When Vincentia turned towards Martha, Martha quickly ducked down while hoping that she wasn’t seen.
“I know you’re up there, Martha,” Vincentia informed.
“Deal with me and leave her out of it!” Gloria hissed as she moved towards the court.
“Leave her out of it?” Vincentia echoed. Martha watched over the seats without standing upright and saw that Vincentia was gesturing in her direction. “Your seer has never been out of it since she had met you.”
“She’s no threat to you,” Gloria retorted.
“She knows too much about me to let her live. In fact, it’s actually convenient that I have you both here together.”
“You won’t hurt her!” Gloria ordered.
“You can’t stop me, Auntie Gloria,” Vincentia said with certainty.
“Let’s test that,” Gloria retorted before she chanted an incantation that
Martha hasn’t heard before.
Martha saw the smug grin that came across Vincentia’s face just before thin lines of electricity were drawn to Gloria from the light fixtures and the electrical outlets. The lights had dimmed to almost nothing while Gloria was drawing in the electricity, and once a glowing halo was seen around Gloria, Gloria shot a strong bolt of electricity towards Vincentia. The lights of the building returned to normal.
Vincentia remained calm, and just before the bolt of electricity could hit her, she made a reflecting motion towards Martha while uttering a few foreign words. The bolt of electricity struck Vincentia’s palms and then bounced towards Martha.
From the time when Gloria had shot the bolt of electricity to the time when Vincentia had reflected it was only a second apart, and when Martha saw the bolt heading her way, she quickly jumped to dodge it.
The bolt impacted the seat next to Martha, and when the seat exploded, debris splattered Martha’s right side. Martha cried out more from the surprise of the sudden event than the pain of being splattered.
“Ooph!” Martha uttered once she flopped hard onto the adjacent seat. She then rolled to her feet as quickly as she could and turned towards Gloria and Vincentia.
Vincentia was flying back from an invisible strike when Martha looked. The sight mimicked what she had seen from her earlier vision. Before Vincentia hit the floor, Martha noticed a large chunk of the chair beside her and she went to pick it up as quickly as she could. She then looked to see what Vincentia was doing at the same time she reared back to throw the chunk of chair.
Vincentia was on her knees while rattling off the counter-strike incantation, which had also mimicked Martha’s earlier vision. As Vincentia was sending Gloria flying back from her strike, Martha threw the chunk of chair at Vincentia while at the same time yelling her name.
Vincentia looked in time to deflect the chunk of chair with a simple deflection incantation. As the chunk of chair was flying to the side, Vincentia rattled off another incantation that sent Martha flying hard into a wall across the court and away from the bleachers. After Martha dropped twenty feet to the floor, she was knocked unconscious.
Minutes later, as Martha was waking up, Dennis—while kneeling over Martha—was slightly patting her face and uttering, “Young lady! Young lady! Please wake up!” Martha went to move, but when she felt the agonizing pain of her broken arm, fracture ribs and bruises, she stopped while letting out a moan. “Don’t move! Help’s on the way.”
“Wh-where’s… Mrs. Anderson?” Martha asked.
“I haven’t seen her for a while. She didn’t leave though… I would know if she did.”
“What about her niece?” Martha asked.
“What about her niece?” he questioned in a confused tone.
“She was here,” Martha informed.
“She must’ve been the one to jimmy the door that I found open. She’s probably with Mrs. Anderson right now… wherever she’s at.”
“Dennis!” Principle Summers’s voice was heard echoing through the hall. “Where are you?! The police and the ambulance driver are with me!”
“I’ll be back,” Dennis told Martha.
“I’ll be here… not moving.”
Dennis grinned before standing and stepping away.
Within thirty minutes, the police and the ambulance driver had placed Martha onto a gurney, wheeled her to the ambulance and rushed her to the hospital.
Martha remained in the hospital overnight, and minutes before the hospital staff was to discharge her—and in front of her parents—two police officers visited her while wanting to know a battery of questions.
Martha fudged the truth as best as she could without letting the officers or her parents know that she was fudging the truth.
After the officers were done with their questions, Martha asked, “Were you able to find Mrs. Anderson or her niece Vincentia?”
Both officers slightly hesitated before the lead officer replied, “We followed a blood trail to the school’s auditorium, and there—on the auditorium stage within a painted double circle, a pentagram and weird symbols all about—we found clothes laid out on top of a makeshift alter that the building’s custodian identified as being the clothes that Mrs. Anderson wore.”
“What does that mean?” Martha asked in a worried tone.
The two officers had exchanged a look before the lead officer continued with, “We were hoping that your answers would’ve helped us to figure that out.”
“I’m sorry that I can’t,” Martha sincerely said. The officer just nodded. “What about Vincentia?”
“Not counting Mrs. Anderson, you are the only person who had seen her last night at school, and she hasn’t returned home either.” The officer sighed before he continued with, “We have no clue on where to find Mrs. Anderson or her niece.” After a second of Martha pondering a thought, the officer told her, “If you could think of anything that would help us to locate Mrs. Anderson or her niece, please don’t hesitate to contact us.”
“Yes,” Martha quickly said. “If I can think of anything, I’ll do that.”
The officer nodded before saying, “Take care.”
“Thank you; you and your partner take care also,” Martha said.
Both officers nodded before turning and walking away.
Ellen, Harris and Martha sluggishly came out of the ‘Memory Talebearer’ spell as if they had been sound asleep.
“What day is this?” Ellen quickly asked as she looked around the room. Ellen then jumped frantically to her feet while turning towards the front door when she caught a glimpse of a strange fifty-five-year-old man standing in front of the open door.
The man staggered to catch his balance, and when Harris and Martha had looked to see what had startled Ellen, the man uttered, “What the hell… was that?!”
“Who are you?!” Ellen demanded to know.
“He’s my son, Marc,” Martha said quickly as she was getting to her feet. “He’s Wendi’s father. Marc, meet Ellen and Harris.”
As Harris went to get up Marc demanded to know, “Would someone like to explain what the hell I just experienced?!”
“Calm down, Marc,” Martha told him.
“I’m calm!” Marc slightly hissed. He then realized as to how he had sounded and continued more calmly, “I’m calm… and disturbed over what I had just experienced. Which was what?”
“Witchcraft is real…” Martha was only able to get out.
“Yes, I strongly got that impression,” Marc sarcastically interrupted with. “But why in hell did I get thrown back in time as you at sixteen, Mother?”
“The spell that we were doing passes memories from me to them,” Martha explained while gesturing towards Ellen and Harris.
“Yes, well, from the five months that I had experienced of your life, Mom, I know that you’re not the witch,” Marc got out before noticing Ellen’s facial features. “You have Mrs. Anderson’s eyes and ears. You’re the witch; you’re the one who did this spell.”
“I’m the one who cast the ‘Memory Talebearer’ spell,” Harris informed.
Marc glanced at Harris for a moment before accusing Ellen, “You’re related to that witch I saw though… in my head.”
“She was a sorceress; not a witch,” Ellen strongly corrected. “And she was my great-grandmother.”
“These two are here to reclaim Mrs. Anderson’s journals…” Martha was only able to get out.
“Those Legacy volumes that I saw in my head?” Marc quickly questioned.
“Yes,” Martha confirmed. “Those volumes are rightfully Ellen’s, and while Ellen and Harris were here, I wanted Ellen to know certain details of her great-grandmother; of course I didn’t mean for sixteen months of my life to be played out the way it had.”
“I’m not sure what had caused that,” Harris said as Ellen was noticing a residual glow within the surrounding crystal knickknacks.
“I think I do,” Ellen said before pointing to one of the glowing knickknacks.
“We should’ve removed the crystals from this room. Going with the biggest crystal ball that we could find probably wasn’t a wise move either.”
“I’ll be sure to make a note of that for future reference,” Harris said as he stared at one of the knickknacks.
“Anyway, how long were we in that… that vision for?” Ellen questioned.
Harris and Marc looked at their watches, which both their watches had read 1:17 P.M., before Harris said first, “We began the incantation an hour ago.”
“We had experienced more than eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six hours of Martha’s life in only one hour?” Ellen questioned incredulously. Harris shot Ellen a disturbed look. “I know how many hours are in three hundred and sixty-five point two-five days.”
Harris amusingly grinned before saying, “Yes, well, welcome to the world of sorcery.”
Ellen shot Harris a smirk before asking Martha, “Did the police ever find Vincentia?”
“No,” Martha answered. “Neither hide nor hair of her was ever seen again.”
“I’m real curious to know what happened that day… after you were knocked unconscious by Vincentia,” Ellen told her.
“Me too, child,” Martha assured her. “But I had always felt that if she was alive, I wouldn’t be.”
Ellen made an acknowledging and sympathetic facial expression to what Martha had said before turning towards Harris and asking, “Harry, is there any incantation that will show history events?”
“There’s none that I know of,” Harris told her.
“But there could be one?” Ellen questioned.
Harris shrugged before saying, “There could be… somewhere, but not among my family’s Legacy volumes.”
“I wonder if there’s one in my family’s Legacy volumes,” Ellen thought aloud.
“You two aren’t related, but both of your families have Legacy volumes?” Marc questioned.
“Both of our families are descendants of Merlin,” Ellen replied before looking confused. “I didn’t know until recently though.”
Harris grinned before amusingly asking, “You can’t remember how long ago that was, can you?”
Legacy Page 14
