“Claire, it's Emily. I – I just got a letter saying they have you and I need to come and- I had a dream that you were dead and..." She started to cry. “Claire please be okay. Call me. Call me back." She ended the call and looked at the phone that trembled in her hand. Her mind raced as she tried to decide what to do. She should call the police. She opened up the note and read the words again.
She dies.
She couldn’t let her dream come true. She needed to get to Claire. It didn’t matter if it was a trap. She had witnessed Claire’s death, and she needed to stop it. She grabbed her bag and left with the note clutched in her hand.
She sped down the highway, driving out of the city. The coordinates they had left her were forty five minutes away and didn’t appear to have an exact location on a map. It looked like they were leading her to the middle of the woods. Her dream didn’t take place in the woods. There had to be a building there. She would get there, and she would find Claire faster than she had in her dream. She would get to her in time. And she wouldn’t hold anything back from her anymore. She would tell her everything. It wouldn’t matter if Claire didn’t want to be with her. She had to at least try.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
KAREN OPENED HER eyes and saw only darkness. She felt wet and cold, and she could smell gasoline. She shifted her shoulders and realized her arms were tied behind her back to the chair she was sitting on. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and she saw a large room in front of her. Dilapidated and abandoned rows of chairs stretched ahead of her, and she realized she was on a stage.
“She’s awake!” a man’s voice yelled.
Karen looked towards the voice and she saw a man she didn't recognize. He was sitting on a chair at the bottom right of the stage with a red container of gasoline sitting next to him.
“Who are you?” Karen said.
“He’s an angel,” a woman’s voice said. From the other side of the stage a woman walked into a stream of moonlight that shone through a hole in the roof. It was the woman who approached her at Emily’s building. “And he is going to help me save you.”
“How is killing me going to save me?” Karen asked. She discreetly wiggled her hands behind her back to try and loosen the knot. Maybe she could break free.
Suzan sighed and smiled at Karen. “By giving you a chance to repent all of your sins before we burn you alive. You can either burn for a moment, or burn for all eternity. Your choice.”
“Why me? What did I do?” She knew the answer but she was trying to buy herself some time.
“For being a witch!” Angel yelled. He was leaning forward now, gripping the armrests on the seat. His fingers were digging into the old fabric and turning white.
“Relax, my love,” Suzan said to him. She turned back to Karen. “We were waiting for Emily, so we thought you might be a good way to get her here." She started walking up to the stage. “Being her mother, I figured it was a safe bet that you were a witch like she is. We’re cleansing this city.”
Karen would have laughed in her face had she not been tied up and drenched in gasoline. It was all absurd, but these were dangerous people and it was very likely she wasn’t going to make it out of this situation alive. She had come here hoping to protect Emily from these people, and now she was going to lead Emily right to them.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CLAIRE STEPPED HER foot out of the shower and onto the plush pink mat beside the tub. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body as she ran her fingers through her wet hair. She wiped the fog off of the mirror, and looked at her reflection for a moment. She felt healthier than she had in months and she looked it too. Besides the few distracted moments, the initiation had went perfectly. And with the killers in custody it felt amazing to relax and let her guard down a bit. It was also nice to have the house quieter again. The entire coven sleeping in the house was cozy at first, but had become quite cramped. She had enjoyed getting to spend so much time with Emily, however. She let the towel slide off her wet skin and she closed her eyes. She ran her hand up her stomach and over her breasts, and imagined Emily there with her. She moved her hand slowly down again and over her pelvis when a knock at the door made her jump and open her eyes.
“Jesus- what!?” she yelled.
“Your phone has been ringing, I think someone really wants to talk to you.” Jeremy said through the closed door.
“Who was it?”
“Don’t ask me. Not my business.”
She heard his footsteps walk away from the door and down the stairs. She rolled her eyes and pulled her towel back up.
“So much for that," she said. She left the bathroom and crossed the hall into her bedroom, where her phone sat on the nightstand. She had three missed calls from Emily. And a voicemail from her. Concerned, she pushed play and put the phone to her ear. Emily sounded terrified. Claire’s jaw clenched at the sound of her crying on the other end. The killers weren’t whoever the police had in custody. And Emily was following them into a trap.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
EMILY HAD PULLED off the main highway five minutes ago, and was driving much slower on the dark side road. She was looking for any sign of life. Anything other than woods. She was close, but didn’t see any signs of it. Finally she approached a clearing in the trees, where a small dirt road led farther into the darkness. A sign overgrown with vines and weeds read Louisville School for the Gifted.
She turned onto the road and followed it for a few minutes until she saw a huge structure sitting among the trees. She was here. She parked the car and opened the door quietly. She pushed it closed, but didn’t let it latch. She didn’t want anyone to hear her. She was hoping she could get to Claire before the fire started. They were expecting her, but maybe she had an advantage since she had seen what was going to happen. And where it was going to happen. She just had to find the stage.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“JEREMY!” CLAIRE SCREAMED as she ran down the stairs. “Jeremy- it was Emily!”
Jeremy came around the corner out of the kitchen. “What? What’s wrong, calm down you’re okay.”
Claire was trying to catch her breath. “They have Emily," she panted. “That was Emily who called. She thinks they have me and she is going to them. It’s a trap. They’re going to kill her Jeremy.”
Jeremy blinked and shook his head. “Wait. What? No. They as in the murderers?”
“Yes!”
"No, Claire, they were caught. They’re in police custody. Emily is fine.”
Claire frantically put her phone on the side table and pressed play. Jeremy listened to the short message and looked back up and Claire.
“See. She is not okay,” Claire said. “Maybe the police have somebody else.”
“Did you call her back?” he asked.
“I tried. It went straight to voicemail.”
He tried to think about what was happening. “But that- but I thought..."
“I know. Something is wrong. I can feel it. I have to get to her," she said.
“How?” Jeremy asked. “Do you know where she is?”
“No," she said. “But I can find her." She walked to the cabinet in the hallway and unlocked it.
“Claire, you don’t know how far she is,” Jeremy argued.
She ignored him and pulled a large jar off of the shelf of the cabinet. “Tell the others what's happening. We need at least two more of us here. Get them here please. We don’t know how much time we have.”
Jeremy stood there and watched Claire. He was frozen and wasn’t sure if he should help her or try to talk to her about what was happening.
“Now! Please," she yelled at him. “We don’t have time to sit around and talk about this.” Claire could read how he felt right now, and she had no patience for it.
Jeremy went back into the kitchen and picked up his phone. He sent a group text to the coven.
911
The murderers are NOT the ones that the police have in custody.
Emily is in
danger and Claire is going to project to her.
We need all hands on deck ASAP.
He put his phone in his pocket and walked into the dining room. He kneeled down and rolled up the rug, carried it into the next room and leaned it in the corner. He gathered candles and started placing them in a nine foot circle in the middle of the room. Claire set the jar on the floor next to the circle.
Jeremy got a text from Allison and Olivia saying they were on their way. Tanner hadn’t replied yet. That didn’t worry Jeremy, Tanner often got tied up in his work and lost track of his phone.
“Allison and Olivia are on their way," he said to Claire.
“Okay, thanks.”
“I know that you're really focused right now. But, are you going to get dressed?” he asked.
Claire looked down and realized she was still wearing only a towel. She rolled her eyes. “Fuck. I’ll go get dressed. Hopefully the girls are here soon so we can start.”
She ran upstairs and closed her bedroom door. Usually she practiced magic naked, but for this magic she would be seen out in the real world, so she had to be dressed. She opened her closet and grabbed a black shirt and a black pair of pants. She put on the clothes and grabbed a dark hoodie as she was leaving her room. As she was walking back downstairs, the doorbell rang. Allison and Olivia had arrived.
Claire greeted them at the door. “I’m sorry but I don’t have much time to explain what's going on. We just have to get to work.”
“We don’t even really have much to explain anyway. We aren’t exactly sure what’s happening.” Jeremy added.
Allison and Olivia took their coats and shoes off and followed Claire into the dining room while Jeremy closed all of the curtains on the first floor.
“Are you okay, Claire?” Olivia asked. She hadn’t seen Claire this agitated before. The energy in the house felt unfamiliar, and it worried Olivia.
“I will be okay when we find Emily,” Claire answered. “So obviously the police have the wrong people. Emily called me-hysterical-”
“Wait so you spoke to her?” Allison asked.
“No I missed the call,” Claire said, disappointingly. “She left me a message. She said she was coming to save me. That that they had me. So she’s heading right to them. I am going to project to her. I’ll find out where she is so we can call the police and send them to her, and I'll try to lead her to safety before it’s too late.”
The other three nodded in agreement.
“Everyone get comfortable. We are going to cycle through to conserve energy. I will start, then Olivia, Jeremy, and Allison, before the cycle comes back to me.”
Jeremy lit all of the candles. Claire laid a pillow down towards the top of the circle. She took the large jar and twisted the lid off. The jar was full of blessed salt which she used to pour a circle around them and the candles. She handed the jar to Olivia who poured around the circle. Olivia handed it to Jeremy, and so on, until all of them had made a circle. Claire sat in the middle and opened the small glass jar that contained Emily’s blood. She slid a glass dropper inside, then pulled it out and let a drop of blood fall onto her tongue. She laid down with her head on the pillow. Jeremy sat on the floor above her head, and Allison and Olivia sat on either side of her. Claire held Olivia’s hand on her right side, and Allison’s hand on her left. Allison and Olivia each held Jeremy’s hands, which completed the circuit in which they would share the energy needed to project to Emily. Claire closed her eyes and concentrated. The energy in the room shifted as they all centered and grounded themselves in the circle.
Claire formed an image of Emily in her mind. She focused all of her energy on Emily. Every memory she had of her, every feeling, every association. In her mind she was suddenly standing in front of a wooden door. The door was surrounded by darkness and fog. Using all of her generated energy, she reached for the doorknob and turned the handle. She stepped through the doorway and was standing in the woods. Looking back over her shoulder, the doorway was still there. In order to return to her body, she would need to get back to this doorway before their collective energy was depleted.
She stood and listened to the sounds around her. In her mind, like a thought, she could hear Jeremy, Allison, and Olivia breathing in the dining room. She pushed through and listened to the sounds of the trees and the wind. She let her eyes adjust to the light, and she saw a huge building tucked among the bare trees. She started running towards it. She ducked under branches as she ran until she remembered that she couldn’t touch anything unless she really wanted to. And touching anything used extra energy, which she didn’t have much of. She came to a smaller opening of trees and saw Emily’s car. She heard a sound inside the building and quietly made her way inside.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
EMILY DIDN’T RECOGNIZE any of her surroundings. She had to get her bearings if she was going to find Claire before the fire started. She went to the first door she saw and it was locked closed. Or possibly jammed. She made her way around the outer wall of the building, careful not to trip on any of the overgrowth that surrounded the exterior. She found another door, and it was open. It moved back and forth in the wind and beckoned her inside. In her dream she woke up in a gym, but now she was standing in a long hallway. She made her way around the debris that was scattered along the floor, and walked deeper into the school. The wood was rotten and it looked as if a strong breeze could blow the entire structure down. She searched for anything that looked familiar. She just needed to find the hallway that led to the stage. She heard a sound behind her and felt her blood turn cold. She snuck behind a row of rusted lockers and tried to calm her breath. She listened and heard sounds from two directions. Quiet shuffling down the corridor to her right, and footsteps from the left. Where she had just come from. Someone was behind her. She toyed with the idea of running away from the footsteps and toward what she hoped was Claire. If she could outrun whoever was behind her, she just had to get to Claire in time to get her free and they could fight off the attackers together. But if she got caught, she couldn’t save Claire and they would both be killed. She took a deep breath and waited for the right decision to come to her, remembering that Claire might already be dead. She closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek. Then she heard a whisper.
“Emily. Where are you?”
She couldn’t believe what she just heard. It sounded like Claire. It couldn’t be her, it sounded so close.
“Emily?”
Emily peeked her head around the corner and saw Claire, all in black, standing in the hallway.
“Claire!” Emily said in a sharp whisper. She ran towards her and almost tripped on a piece of wood.
Claire had never been so relieved. She had gotten to Emily in time. “Be careful,” Claire said. She knew Emily was going to embrace her and she concentrated. She needed to focus to be able to touch Emily and she’d only be able to touch her for a moment.
Emily crashed into Claire’s arms and the tears started flowing. “I thought you were dead. I thought they were going to kill you.”
Claire lifted Emily’s face to hers. “Listen to me Emily. I am not here right now. I am at the covenstead, and I am projecting myself here. I don’t have much time. You need to give me the address to this place so we can get the police here- and you need to leave. Now.”
Emily wiped her cheek. “W-what do you mean you aren’t here?”
“I had to save you again," she smirked at Emily. “I’ll explain it later. Now how did you get this location?”
Confused, Emily pulled the note out of her pocket and showed it to Claire. Claire read it and re-read it and tried to freeze the image in her memory.
“A sign said Louisville school for the gifted outside,” Emily said.
“Okay.”
Emily hugged Claire again and she noticed she couldn’t smell her. She felt like she was fading as she held her. Claire pressed her lips to Emily’s ear.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you,” Claire whispered.
>
“I have so much I need to tell you,” Emily said. “I thought I could ignore how I felt about you, but I can’t anymore.”
Claire felt herself losing a grip on Emily. She pulled Emily’s lips to hers and she kissed her. It only lasted a moment until Claire’s face had no substance to it. She looked at Emily and Emily leaned into her, trying to kiss her again.
“I can’t feel you,” Emily said, confused.
Claire heard Olivia’s voice in her head. You need to come back. We can’t hold this much longer. Come back NOW.
“I’ve run out of time. I have to go. I’m going to send the police, but you need to get back to your car as fast as you can and get out of here. It isn’t safe.”
“Wait!” Emily said, and she reached her arm out to Claire, who was fading in and out of existence.
“Emily. GO!” Wishing she could kiss her goodbye, Claire left Emily standing there and ran as fast as she could. She didn’t know if she was going to make it back to the doorway before she completely disappeared, and she didn’t want to find out want happened to her spirit after that. She ran in a straight line towards the door. Running through trees and branches like they were smoke in the air. She saw the door and felt herself getting weaker. She felt her movement slowing down and it was getting harder to breathe. She flickered in and out of existence and before she dissolved into air one final time, she burst through the door, opening her eyes and gasping for breath on the floor of the dining room. Jeremy, Allison and Olivia all had to make an effort not to collapse onto the floor with Claire. They had drained all of the energy they had, but they weren’t done yet.
“Where is she?” Olivia said. Her voice was low and weak.
Claire took two more deep breaths before answering. "Louisville School for the Gifted, some abandoned school."
When Witches Wake Page 21