The Witch Born to Burn

by Tanya Milne

  I leant into him, kissed him and then spoke the words from my soul.

  ‘I love you, too.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The first thing I heard when I opened my eyes the next morning was the sound of wind rattling my windows. Sitting up in a daze, I saw dark swirling clouds outside. I pulled my doona around me. It was freezing, but it would only be colder in the bay, where one by one, we’d be tested for witchcraft.

  If someone had told me a year ago this would be happening today, I would have doubled over in laughter. I caught a glimpse of the girl I used to be and my head went light. That girl was gone forever. In her place was a young woman facing an event that could change her life – possibly even take it.

  ‘Eva,’ Mum called out from downstairs.

  I remembered back to the night before when I’d gotten home – the looks on my parents’ faces when I’d told them what had happened down by the bay. The reality of ill-fated twin witches had well and truly kicked in.

  ‘Eva. Hurry up!’

  I checked my watch.

  Crap.

  For the first time in days, I’d finally slept – overslept. We had to be down by the bay in less than thirty minutes.

  ‘Coming!’ I yelled, slipping on my bathers and warmest clothes possible. I stumbled down the stairs and took the cup of tea that Elijah passed to me, a sly grin on his face.

  ‘Take it all went well at Anna’s?’ I asked.

  ‘You could say that. You?’

  I thought back to the night before on Ezra’s boat where we had whispered our love for each other.

  ‘That good, huh?’ he said, nudging me in the ribs.

  ‘Come on, you two,’ said Mum, who’d been quietly watching our interaction from the corner of the kitchen.

  Mum’s voice brought us both back into the moment with a thud. Mum was collecting her belongings, and she looked the smallest she’d ever been. It gave me an inkling into how she felt, what was at stake today for her family, and it made my stomach churn sick.

  ‘It’s going to be okay, sis,’ said Elijah.

  Really? How do you know?

  Outside, the gate opened and shortly afterwards, Ezra’s steady footsteps were on the stairs. I tried to move, but it was as though my feet were suctioned to the ground.

  ‘Come on, sis. You can do this,’ said Elijah quietly as Mum answered the door.

  ‘Hi there,’ said Ezra, his green eyes finding mine the moment he was inside.

  ‘Hi,’ I whispered.

  Within seconds, he had his arm around me and squeezed me tight. ‘It worked!’

  ‘What?’ I said, turning to him.

  ‘The bay, it’s crystal clear.’

  ‘Really?’ I said, hope blooming inside me like a flower in spring.

  ‘Yes,’ said Elijah, doing a fist pump in the air.

  My mum hugged my dad, who’d just walked into the kitchen. ‘They did it. The bay and the river – they’re clean.’

  ‘Really?’ said Dad.

  ‘Yes, really,’ said Ezra, his smile wide.

  ‘Did anyone see the water?’ I asked, remembering how the water changed from white to red.

  ‘Not that I’m aware of,’ said Ezra. ‘The storm clouds must have hidden it.’

  My smile fell from my face with Ezra’s next words. ‘Come on – we need to get a move on.’

  I grabbed my coat and was about to walk out the door when Mum stopped me and hugged me so tight I couldn’t breathe. My confidence died right there in her arms. The bay might be clean, but there was no point pretending I would definitely pass the test.

  ‘Love you,’ she whispered, then pulled away before I could reply. She disappeared back into the house.

  ‘Come on,’ said Ezra, grabbing my hand and guiding me outside, where the icy winds waited.

  I clutched Ezra’s hand as the first person, a hand- and foot-bound Mrs Wheelan, was dropped by two special force policemen into the bay. People all around us let out small cries as the mother of three was dropped like a stone into the water. She quickly disappeared into the depths of the blue bay, ripples breaking out across the surface.

  I glanced around me. Every set of eyes was glued to the water, many people performing the sign of the cross. Orpheus, who was standing in front of the crowd, glanced up and caught my eye and smiled reassuringly. I tried to smile back, hoping my face had come close to its intended shape. Ezra told me in the car he’d spoken to his dad when he’d gotten home last night about what Max had done to me. All of the doubts Orpheus had been forming about me had vanished and turned into anger towards his most loyal servant.

  So long as I sank down in the bay today, I would not be considered suspicious.

  I stared back to the now-still water. There was no sign of the mother who lay down on the bottom of the freezing bay, no breath in her lungs.

  Orpheus started the countdown. ‘Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.’ He nodded at the waiting diver, who duck-dived down to collect her. I held my breath as moments fell on top of each other. A cry broke out from across the crowd as Mrs Wheelan’s youngest daughter ran towards the bay, caught by a teenage boy before she plunged into the water.

  As the little girl cried, small circles appeared on the water’s surface and two heads bobbed up at the same time. Mrs Wheelan’s face was the colour of the clouds in the sky above, but she was gasping and choking. All around, people started talking.

  ‘Silence!’ yelled Orpheus, holding up a notebook and putting a cross through her name. ‘Mrs Wheelan failed one test, but passed two. She has officially been cleared of witchcraft.’

  Mrs Wheelan was helped to a small shore nearby, where her feet and hands were unbound while the next person, Mr Bennett, was dropped into the water, sinking down with hardly a splash.

  We watched, transfixed with horror, as women, children and men were pushed unceremoniously into the water, only to be dragged back to the surface almost unconscious soon after. One after another, they were proclaimed innocent and rushed away by their waiting families back to the warmth of their cars and homes.

  By the time Noah, Anna and their family were tested, my body felt frozen. One by one, they were pulled back to the surface, only Anna glancing our way with a small smile.

  By the time it was our family’s turn, three people, including one child, had surfaced unconscious and were rushed to hospital, yet every single person had been cleared of witchcraft.

  ‘Elijah Martinez,’ called out Orpheus before my brother was dropped into the water. I held my breath every second he did as he plunged straight to the bottom of the bay, only surfacing when the diver found him.

  When Elijah emerged from the water’s depths smiling, I gasped in air. Next my mum was tested. When she was quietly cleared of witchcraft, my dad was tested. I stripped down to my bathers and watched the water’s surface as my hands and feet were bound.

  This time no one was watching the water. This time everyone was watching me – the girl who’d failed two tests and the girlfriend of Orpheus’s son. The moment the police had me bound, Ezra stepped forward and kissed my cheek, but I could no longer feel a thing. The cold winds that blew in the heart of our town had frozen me to the core.

  As my dad came to the surface, he gazed up at me and smiled, but I couldn’t make my face respond. I turned away and there, staring at me with lines etched onto his forehead, was Jet. He made fists with his hands and he was saying words, but I couldn’t understand them.

  ‘Ready, dear?’ asked Orpheus, bringing me back into the moment with his uncharacteristic kindness.

  ‘Ready,’ I said, balling my hands into fists before being plunged into the icy waters. It was as though I’d fallen onto a bed of ice nails. My body buckled against the pain before I sank down to the bottom of the bay.

  I hit the bottom with a thud. My chest tightened, then burned, and soon it felt as if it would burst. I heard a diver drop into the water above me. Relief poured through me. It was over. I was goi
ng to be okay. I waited for the diver to find me, but the moments came and went. No one came for me. No one found me.

  I struggled against my bindings, but they’d been fixed tight. I tried to find my heat in my hands, but my body was too cold. The feeling as though my chest would explode faded until I felt my spirit detach from my body. Behind me there was darkness, but in front of me there was only light.

  As I moved towards the light, I heard my name being called, over and over. I felt a tug and before I knew it, I was plunged back into my body where my chest burned and I gasped in air.

  I opened my eyes and there, over me, water dripping from his face onto mine, was Jet. His expression was haunted. For a split second, before my thoughts arrived, before everyone else intruded, there was just him and me. His eyes filled with tears and I reached up and wiped them.

  ‘Get off her,’ said Ezra, who shoved Jet away and crouched down next to me. I turned to a bewildered-looking Jet.

  ‘Hey, Ezra, stop it,’ said Elijah. ‘He just saved her.’

  Within seconds, Jet was picked up by the police officers and taken to the wharf for his test.

  ‘Eva, are you okay?’ said Ezra, taking one of my hands.

  ‘Oh, darling,’ said Mum, who was sitting next to me, holding my other hand. ‘We were so worried.’

  An ambulance officer arrived and placed a heated blanket over me. Behind him stood Elijah, Anna and Dad, who all looked as though they’d been crying. I opened my mouth to speak, but my throat was raw and words wouldn’t form.

  ‘Don’t try and speak, honey. It’s all okay,’ said Mum, wiping away another tear.

  ‘What the hell happened?’ said Elijah, mirroring my own thoughts.

  ‘Max, that’s what happened,’ said Ezra, his words as sharp as a blade. ‘I didn’t realise, but he was the diver on duty – he was supposed to bring Eva up.’

  ‘What!’ said Elijah, the colour of blood appearing under his skin.

  ‘Don’t worry – my dad is dealing with him.’ Ezra’s gaze did not leave mine. ‘Being arrested as we speak.’

  What?

  ‘Finally saw his true colours,’ said Ezra, pushing my hair from my face. ‘And cleared your name.’

  For the first time in days, my lungs properly filled with air. I was finally free of suspicion, and Max would no longer be able to hurt me.

  ‘It’s all going to be okay,’ said Ezra, but I could barely hear him. I turned to see a scowling Max being marched to the waiting police car. Behind him was the crowd, their prying faces alternating between Max, me and Jet, whose feet and hands were being bound together.

  Jet and I gazed at each other. Any moment he’d be thrown into the freezing-cold waters and left alone on the bottom of the bay, his life at the mercy of those who were meant to protect him.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Eva,’ said Ezra, bringing my attention back to him. ‘We were about to send down another diver when we realised you…weren’t being rescued.’ Ezra looked as if he was about to be sick as he relived the memory. ‘But then Jet dived in and pulled you out.’

  ‘Thank goodness he did,’ muttered Dad, whose expression appeared puckered and raw. ‘That boy deserves a medal.’

  Ezra grew smaller as my dad’s words sank in – he’d just shoved away the boy who’d protected me yesterday and saved my life today.

  ‘It should have been me,’ croaked Ezra, his face haunted. ‘It was all such a rush and before I knew it, he was pulling you from the water.’ I scanned the faces of my family, who appeared to be remembering what they’d seen.

  ‘I’m okay,’ I whispered.

  ‘Okay, folks, time to stand back,’ said the ambulance officer who’d placed the blanket over me. ‘We need to get Eva into hospital.’

  ‘I’m okay,’ I said. My body, which I’d barely been able to feel, began to thaw, making me shake. As everyone around me argued back at once, I glanced across to the wharf and watched in horror as Jet, wearing only his board shorts, was shoved into the water.

  ‘Come on, Eva, you stopped breathing… You need to be seen,’ said Ezra.

  ‘Stopped breathing?’ I whispered.

  ‘We…thought we’d lost you,’ said Ezra.

  ‘If Jet hadn’t got you out when he did and given you CPR straight away…’ said Elijah.

  ‘CPR?’ I said, remembering a flicker of a memory of detaching from my body and moving towards the light.

  I put my hands on my chest, which was sore to touch. I moved my fingers to my lips, which felt swollen and tender. Jet’s lips had been there.

  Ezra’s face flushed and he glanced up at the ambulance officer and nodded.

  ‘Not yet,’ I said, looking over at the water, my eyes opening wide when I saw that there, on top of the water, was Jet’s floating body.

  I sat up as Orpheus’s voice boomed out. ‘We have caught our witch.’

  I tried to stand up and run down and back into the water, but Ezra’s arms held me.

  ‘Leave him,’ Ezra whispered in my ear.

  The crowd, now released from their shackles of fear, began to chant, ‘Witch! Witch! Witch! Witch!’

  Within seconds Jet was pulled roughly from the water and dragged to shore, where waiting police officers unbound and handcuffed him. I pushed Ezra away and tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t work and I started to fall. Ezra grabbed me and in one movement he picked me up in his arms and strode to the ambulance.

  ‘Jet!’ I tried to scream, but my voice wouldn’t raise more than a whisper.

  Before I knew it, I was placed onto a bed and thrust inside the ambulance, where another officer was waiting to attend me. I strained to sit up and look out of the ambulance, but an officer started closing the door. The last thing I saw was Ezra’s face, set like rock, and Jet being marched past the ambulance, his fear-filled eyes finding mine.

  ‘Jet,’ I managed to croak before the door was slammed shut with a bang. In moments, the ambulance siren was blaring and we were off and racing towards the hospital.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I glared at the nurse as she left my hospital room, then kicked off my blanket.

  ‘I want to go home,’ I said, knowing I sounded like a five-year-old, but unable to stop my frustration.

  ‘It’s for the best,’ said Ezra, wisely moving from the edge of my bed to the seat next to it.

  ‘I feel completely fine,’ I said, annoyed by how my voice sounded weak and hoarse. ‘I am completely fine.’

  ‘Eva,’ said Ezra, running his hand through his hair. ‘You stopped breathing this morning and started developing hypothermia. They’re just doing their job.’

  I opened my mouth to spit out words, but clamped it shut.

  ‘Your parents are coming to collect you first thing tomorrow, remember.’

  I rolled my eyes as I realised that, like it or not, I was trapped. All afternoon Ezra and my family had been in my hospital room, fussing and fretting, the threads of my patience wearing thin.

  Ezra stood and closed the curtains, shielding us from the darkness that strained against the glass. The clock across from my bed showed it was after six. The tests would be finished.

  ‘Did anyone else fail the test?’ I asked, frustrated that no one was telling me a thing, and even my phone had been confiscated by hospital staff.

  Ezra stopped what he was doing before he spoke. ‘No one else failed. Our plan worked.’

  I thought back to the night before when we’d gone into the woods and Elijah had cleaned the water, making sure everyone sank rather than floated. Everyone except Jet.

  ‘Why did Jet fail then? It doesn’t make sense.’

  Ezra yanked the last of the curtain across the window. ‘I don’t know why he failed. He just did.’

  ‘Do you know where he is – what’s happening to him?’

  Ezra spun around. ‘Like I’ve already told you about ten times, I don’t know where he is.’

  ‘Well, can you find out?’

  ‘What does it matter? He failed
three tests in a row and has been arrested.’

  I thought back to what happened to Elijah after he was arrested and my stomach churned.

  ‘Can you find out or not?’ I asked.

  ‘Why? Why is it so important that you know what’s happening with Jet?’

  ‘I…just…’

  ‘What is it, Eva? Spit it out. Just say it. You like him. I saw your face when he pulled you from the water. I saw the way you looked at each other, the way you touched his face.’

  ‘Stop it,’ I said, the machine beside me that I was hooked up to starting to alarm.

  He glanced at the machine and then back to me, his eyebrows drawn together. ‘Just tell me, Eva. I can take it.’

  ‘Jet saved my brother, and me, so the least we can do is try and help him. You need to stop getting so jealous and start helping him, like he would help you.’

  ‘Oh, so he’s an angel now, is he?’

  The nurse on duty strode into the room and checked the machine, then turned to Ezra. ‘Eva needs to rest and visiting hours are over.’

  The last of the colour drained from Ezra’s face, leaving him looking exhausted.

  ‘Go home and get some sleep,’ I said to him. ‘We can talk in the morning.’

  The nurse turned to Ezra and raised her eyebrows.

  ‘Can we have a couple more minutes, please?’ said Ezra.

  ‘Two minutes,’ she said in a don’t-argue-with-me tone before striding from the room.

  Ezra sat down and took my hand. ‘I’m sorry for losing my temper. I guess I am…jealous.’

  ‘You don’t need to be. I told you last night what you mean to me.’

  ‘But I see your connection with Jet.’

  ‘Jet can be a nightmare, but he’s helped us – we owe him. That’s all.’

  Ezra stared up at the ceiling.

  ‘That’s all,’ I said, squeezing his hand. ‘I can’t just stand by and watch him be…mistreated.’

  ‘What do you mean? What are you going to do?’ he asked.

  ‘Time’s up,’ said the nurse, standing at the entrance to my room. ‘You can come back when visiting hours start at eight.’