A cold gust of wind ripped through the room and every candle flame turned to smoke in an instant. Gigi dropped in a free fall from the ceiling. She screamed and flailed her arms around to try and stop herself. Savannah and I dove forward but she fell too fast.
NO!
That golden glittery mist shot up from the ground. The blue light shined through the cracks again – and Gigi froze a foot off the floor. She gasped for air. I lunged forward and put my fingers under her, like they’d been before. Savannah shook herself then followed my lead. Once we both had her I felt that same tingle in my fingertips. Pressure pressed down on my hands…and then she slowly lowered to the floor.
None of us moved.
I wasn’t even breathing.
We just looked at each other with our jaws dropped and eyes wide in silence.
Then Savannah squealed and smacked her palms on the floor. Gigi scrambled up onto her knees. We looked at each other then burst into laughter. It was terrifying yet I couldn’t stop laughing. For a few minutes, we just sat there holding on to one another and giggling.
Gigi sat back and pushed her hair out of her face. “What just happened?”
“I have no idea, but that was awesome!” Savannah pointed to me. “You’ve got some crazy energy, ma’am. Holy hell. What was that? I am here for it.”
“Did that just happen?” Gigi leaned over and breathed heavily. “Did I dream that?”
I shook my head. “I will be dreaming of that for many nights, I fear.”
Savannah clapped and laughed. Then she gasped and sat upright. “OH MY GOD. I have the best idea.”
Gigi frowned. “What now?”
“Something we haven’t tried yet to get some answers.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What’s that?”
Savannah grinned. “A séance.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Saffie
“Oh, Saffie, check this out.”
Gigi grabbed my hand and dragged me off the main street onto a bricked pathway. We passed a dark wooden house then she stopped us in front of a small grassy field with trees lining the edge and a gray stone wall about three feet tall surrounding it.
“See these stones sticking out from the wall like little benches?” Gigi led me down the narrow gravel sidewalk that wrapped around the grass section to the first of the stone slabs. She pointed. “This is a memorial for the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, what this town is sadly infamous for. Each of these benches has one of the victims’ names on it.”
Oh. I leaned forward, squinting through the darkness to read the names carved into the stone. I walked along the gravel, reading name after name. Giles Corey. Sarah Good. Wilmot Redd. Susannah Martin. Sarah Wildes. John Willard. Ann Pudeator. Elizabeth Howe. George Burroughs. The strangest sensation came over me, one I didn’t know how to explain. My chest grew tight and hot. A lump formed in my throat and my eyes burned. It was sadness but it was anger. It was rage searing through my veins…and…helplessness. Each name I read was a stab to my heart. It felt personal. I felt like I knew these people, which was ludicrous. There was no way I could.
It must have just been because I’d only just learned about the trials. It still felt new to me. But then I spotted a name that took my breath away.
Bridget Bishop.
I heard Dr. Troy’s voice in my mind saying, the Bishop name is famous here. I shuddered.
Savannah squeezed my arm. “Don’t worry, this isn’t where they were hanged. That’s across town, we can bring you there another time to see it.”
I’ve seen it.
I frowned. Why did I think that? I’d only just learned about the trials a few days ago. I didn’t even remember all the victims’ names or know the details of how the trials happened. I sure as hell had never been to the site of the hangings nor did I know where that occurred.
Yet even as I thought that images flashed through my mind. Images of feet swaying in the sunlight. Images of tears streaking down dirt covered faces. Soundless images of screaming rage in my peers and women shielding the eyes of young children. I smelled dirt and the stench of unwashed bodies. I felt heat barreling down on my back and sweat covering my body.
“Safferella?”
I jumped and found both of them watching me. I cleared my throat. “Um…are we doing this here?”
Savannah grimaced. “God, no. That would be both dangerous and horridly distasteful.”
I sighed with relief and nodded. “Good.”
“I just wanted to show you.” Gigi hooked her arm around mine. “Come on, let’s do this.”
I let them lead me back up the brick pathway to the main street then around the old wooden house to our left. The two of them were talking about something but I couldn’t focus on their words. I was too shook up by my own thoughts. I’ve seen it. It left a bitter taste in my mouth and tightness in my chest.
“All right, we’re here.” Gigi tugged on my arm, pulling me out of my own troubled thoughts.
We’d stopped on the sidewalk in front of a black iron gate that wrapped around some kind of park. Right in front of me was a large white sign with writing on it.
“The Burying Point – wait.” My stomach rolled. “Is this a cemetery?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Savannah said with a grin and dreamy eyes as she stared off into the dark. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
I frowned and followed her gaze. Just beyond the iron gate was darkness. There were no lights in the fenced off area and the large trees blocked most of the lights coming from the surrounding streets. We were right in the heart of town. Essex Street was one street over. If it hadn’t been two in the morning, there would have been a ton of people walking around. As it was, the streets were a ghost town.
Ghosts. I shuddered. No pun intended.
Why are we doing this?
“We don’t have to, Saffie,” Gigi said softly from beside me, answering the question I hadn’t meant to say out loud. “But I think it’s worth a shot.”
Savannah spun to face us. “Ma’am, you’re something special. The supernatural world seems drawn to you. Hell, one spirit already spoke to you. We’re doing this because I’m hoping there is a single spirit in Salem that knows you and may be able to answer your questions.”
I bit my bottom lip and eyed the sign over her head. “But a cemetery? Why?”
Gigi shrugged. “Most seances happen in cemeteries. It’s just kind of how it goes. Savannah and I have done many seances before.”
“And we chose this one because Gigi and I have done a séance here before, so we know what kind of energy to expect.”
“But this sign says 1637…how will any of these spirits help me?”
Savannah gestured around us. “Because it’s centrally located, spirits who weren’t buried here may be close enough to still hear our call. Its popularity among tourists actually makes it safer for us. Other more private cemeteries…we could get into all kinds of trouble.”
“Okay.” I blinked and hoped my face didn’t convey the fear rolling beneath the surface. “And you’ve done this before?”
“Yup,” they both said at the same time.
A part of me, a big part, was scared out of my mind and did not want to do this. But the bigger part of me refused to bow down to that fear. I was desperate for anything I could get about my memory - about who I was before a few days ago. So if that meant I had to do a séance and summon the dead to talk to me…then so be it.
I pushed my shoulders back and held my chin high. “Okay, let’s do this.”
Savannah squealed then jumped up and over the iron fence.
My jaw dropped. “Wait, we’re breaking in?”
“I know, right?” Gigi wagged her eyebrows. “We’re so rebellious. Come on.”
Later, if I ever told anyone about this night, I was going to lie and pretend I really considered not breaking in. But in reality, I didn’t hesitate one second to climb over the gate after them. It wasn’t peer pressure, I knew it was my choice…and I chose to be
brave and go for it. Because I needed answers and so far none of the living had been any help.
The cemetery was dark, the only light came from the moon over our heads and the soft shimmer of city lights around us. Savannah led us straight into the middle of the cemetery, to the deepest, darkest section nestled under the low hanging branches of some trees. It may have been winter, but these trees had clung to their leaves enough for them to block out all of the moon’s glow. The city lights shimmered in the distance. The only way I saw my friends was by the glow of Gigi’s phone that she held up.
“Okay, this is the spot,” Savannah said suddenly then turned to face us. She pulled a flannel blanket out of her satchel bag and laid it out on the ground. “On your knees, ladies.”
I dropped to my knees on the blanket, thankful there wasn’t an ounce of snow or ice on the ground. Despite the lack of snow, the air held a bitter chill to it that made me glad I’d put on my Ugg boots and my jeans without holes in them. My cashmere sweater was more delicate than I was comfortable with but it kept me surprisingly warm under my wool coat.
It was actually a calm, crystal clear evening. The sky had never looked more black and it made the dusting of stars twinkle like – wait. Those aren’t the stars. Fairyflies glittered bright gold in the sky above our heads, floating up around the branches like they wanted front row seats to the show. I smiled and looked back down to get my friends’ attention and my jaw dropped. In those few moments I’d been distracted, Gigi had set up five white candles in a small circle between us. As she bent down and lit them, Savannah sat the burning piece of sage in the center.
“Okay, let’s do the damn thing.” Savannah pulled a black leather-bound book out of her bag, the same notebook she always carried. “Ready?”
I narrowed my eyes at Savannah’s book. “What is that anyway? You always have it.”
Savannah grinned down at it and the flickering orange flames made her expression downright mischievous. “My poems.”
I frowned. “Your poems?”
Gigi smirked. “Her poems are like…magic to her.”
Savannah sighed and ran her hands over it. “Think of this as my spell book of sorts.”
My eyes widened. Wow. She’s really into this stuff. “May I see it?”
She held it out to me so I took it. The leather was surprisingly soft. The pages were made of parchment that looked ancient and smelled like the forest. I flipped through a few pages, finding elegant passages written in black scroll. There were a few smudges, stains, and drawings on them but they just enhanced the energy in it.
“This is cool.” I handed it back to her. “So you have a poem for this?”
“She has a poem for everything.” Gigi zipped her jacket up higher. “You’ll see. Savannah, get us started before we get caught in here.”
I leaned toward Gigi. “What do I do?”
She held her hands out, one to me and the other to Savannah. “Hold on. Savannah will guide us through it.”
“Okay.” I reached out and grabbed Gigi’s hand then held mine out to Savannah.
Savannah nodded and cleared her throat. She sat her notebook down on the ground and flipped through the pages. Then she leaned back on her heels and rubbed her palms together. She took a deep breath, placing her hands in mine and Gigi’s. She winked to me and then looked down at her open book and licked her lips.
Energy tickled the nape of my neck, slithering down my spine like someone had dragged their fingers across my skin. I shivered and glanced over my shoulders to scan the cemetery…but we were alone. We hadn’t even summoned the spirits yet and I already felt eyes on my back. That couldn’t have been a good sign. I did another scan but it was just too dark. I could only barely make out the tops of the tombstones near us, everything else was drenched in darkness. Even the tombstones we were nestled between were too hard to see. If someone was out there, we wouldn’t have known.
“I come to you on bended knee, On hallowed ground beneath silver light, I beseech you, hear my Plea! To carry forth through the black of night.” Savannah’s voice was low and soft but it carried through the cemetery like somber church bells. “Knowledge once known does now ensnare. Mind clouded by shadow, ties broken. I search for the one who is aware, The one that has now awoken.”
The flames on the candles shot up, flickering a few inches in the air. The fairyflies flew in a circle over our heads then shot down to coil around my body like my own personal tornado. I gasped and my body locked in place. Gigi’s grip on my hand tightened.
Savannah’s eyes widened but she kept chanting, “Beyond the reach of sacred realm. Free of the ties that bind you. Break through the veil, my call at the helm. Bring forth what is hidden to be seen anew.”
Wild, raw energy shot down my spine, through my legs, and into the ground under my knees. I felt it explode out of me. The air around me pulsed with electricity that made all of our hair stand tall. It spilled out of my body in one big cold wave. The blanket under my knees turned to ice. In a split second, the icy wave spread out around me, freezing every strand of fabric in the blanket.
“Guys…” My eyes widened. “Guys.”
Savannah and Gigi looked to each other and I saw fear flicker in their eyes.
“Guys, what’s happening?”
The ice hit the ground all around the blanket. A wicked gust of wind ripped through the cemetery. Fog dropped from the cloudless sky, clinging to the trees and the tombstones. The ice spread faster than a wildfire, covering every inch of ground in the blink of an eye. Every blade of grass, every twig, every speckle of dirt – all ice. The battered stone of the tombstones glistened like glass as the ice swallowed them whole. The trees swayed and groaned like they were screaming out in pain as the ice inched up their trunks and out to each branch. Everything was frozen solid as statues.
I exhaled a shaky breath and it came out in thick white cloud.
Snowflakes rained down from the sky.
The ground trembled so hard our candles tipped over. The flames slid onto the frozen blanket, dancing over the ice like it was taunting us. The wind howled like a tornado. Every muscle in my body tightened but my teeth rattled together. I was shaking, or maybe we were all shaking. My hair whipped around my face and coiled around my neck and arms. Savannah’s eyes were wide and her face pale. Gigi mumbled a string of eloquent Spanish that I didn’t understand but it sounded like a prayer.
And then the wind died like someone flipped a switch.
The fog swirled. Electricity tingled along my skin.
A soft blue light poured out of the ground like a rising tide. It grew denser and taller, then began to sway and move – then shot straight up. Pillars of light filled the cemetery. And then they moved. Everything was happening in slow motion yet faster than I could track at the same time. It was like time stopped existing.
Those glowing pillars of light moved and morphed…into people. I blinked rapidly, trying to make it go away but every time I reopened my eyes they looked more and more human until the entire cemetery was filled with people. With spirits.
My breath left me in a rush.
I glanced left and right, then right and left. We were surrounded. Spirits stood shoulder-to-shoulder watching us. Waiting. For what, I didn’t know and didn’t want to. My body trembled. Spirits rose from the ground one after another, from every tombstone in the cemetery and then some. They wore all different styles of clothing, some old and some frighteningly modern.
“Saffie,” someone whispered.
“What?” But I kept my eyes on the glowing spirits.
“Saaaaffiee.”
“What?” I hissed and looked to my friends. “Who said my name?”
They both just stared at me with wide eyes, shaking their heads.
My stomach sank. “You said my name. One of you whispered my name. Right? RIGHT?”
“SAAFFFIIIEEEEE,” that whispering voice shouted.
We gasped.
A wild tremor ripped down my spine. “You heard tha
t? Tell me you heard that.”
Gigi nodded and kept chanting her Spanish prayer.
“What have we done,” Savannah whispered.
“Saffieeeee,” they called for me.
My name echoed around the cemetery, each one raised my pulse several beats. My heart sounded like hummingbird wings in my chest. I gasped for air but none came. Golden glitter erupted from inside of me and flew in the air above our heads. When it hit the trees above us they swayed and groaned. Chunks of ice broke off the branches then dropped down on us. Under the ice, the bark turned a warm, vibrant brown and leaves sprouted in the brightest shade of green.
“SAFFIE.”
“What…what is…why are they saying my name?”
At the sound of my voice, every single spirit turned and looked right at me.
OH GOD.
NO, no, no. NOPE.
“This isn’t happening, This is a dream,” I heard myself whisper.
The spirits’ glowing translucent eyes snapped to me. Their stares were not vacant and empty but sharp and concentrating.
“Saffie…”
“What?” I shouted to them in a panic. “What do you want from me?”
They took a step forward, then another…then another. I choked on a scream. They didn’t answer my question, they just came for me. Together. At the same time, like I’d unlocked their ability to move. Their ghostly feet walked above the piling snow and ice toward me. Their eyes zeroed in with fierce concentration.
“Nope. Nah-uh. No, ma’am.” Savannah tugged our hands and dragged us up to our feet. “Time to go. Now. Not doing this.”
Savannah reached to pick her notebook off the ground. She grunted as she pried the ice off of it. “Gimme, dammit. MINE. Get ya’own, ma’am.”
Gigi grabbed Savannah’s satchel and dove for the candles.
I looked up to face the army of spirits marching toward us – no, not us. ME. Each and every pair of eyes were locked on me. “Why me? What do you want from me?”
“Shit, the candles are frozen!” Gigi shouted, her voice trembling. “The blanket is stuck, too!”
The Cursed Witch Page 17