Ancestral

by Kirstie Keatings

  Lila had also entertained the potential for her own deception, even from herself, especially since she had slipped into death more than once and someone could have manipulated her into doing something without her knowledge, but she quickly dismissed the idea, reasoning that she had been on the porch with Adam and Elsie when Rose had been attacked, and she was fairly certain she and Adam had spent most of the day together talking about utter rubbish. Adam had been with her at almost all times, so that was further proof that he wasn't involved in it.

  It was also perplexing that the witch was clearly carrying out Spirit magick. Every witch had access to every element, but they were trained in only one, with other magicks being carried out as a coven to protect themselves. It would be easier for a water witch to reach spirit whilst in the bath, for an air witch in a wind storm, and for an earth witch buried in dirt. She glanced at Troy with a frown; he had been the only one with both opportunities, but he had also been in the car when it had crashed; why would he risk his own life?

  The more she thought about it, the less sure she was of the person's identity. Maybe she already knew, but didn't want to confess – it wouldn't be the first time her trusting nature had gotten her into trouble. Besides, she was already in a lot of trouble, and she was fairly certain that what was going to happen would happen with or without her friend's influence.

  Finally, they got into the car and packed things into the boot. Lila had been given a leg brace and crutches, and strict instructions to be careful until it healed. She'd pulled on a false grin at that point, acting like she had no reason to go and do something silly – except, that was exactly where she was heading. Into possible danger, with no real consideration for her poor leg. She didn't really have the luxury of resting it. They all had a lot to get done and not a lot of time to do it.

  Thankfully, though, the first stretch of this journey involved a certain amount of travelling. Due to her own car being totalled, she got into the car with Adam and Rose, and Troy got into Elsie's car with Sadie, seemingly recovered whilst she was in hospital. They all seemed to want to give her plenty of space because of her leg, and she was grateful for it. Intending to speak to Adam and Rose about everything which had happened, it was a little annoying to find that instead of utilising her time effectively (in her own mind), she instead found herself waking up not far from Hamilton, stretching out across the back seat. She had a blanket over her, which confused her until Rose gave her a small smile.

  “Hey, sleepyhead.” Rose teased. “Feeling any better?”

  Lila nodded, shifting to lift the blanket off of herself, feeling a little embarrassed about it all. “Yeah. I really needed to sleep after all of that.” she gave another yawn.

  “How about I threaten to beat everyone up so you can sleep when we stop?” Rose offered, and Lila smiled, imagining the conversation. Rose seemed to be doing well, after their encounter with death. Actually, come to think of it –

  “You can remember everything that happened, right?” she asked, only just realising the significance of this. Rose nodded. “Huh.” Lila hummed, “That's really odd. Normally when I come out of Death, I don't remember anything at all.” she admitted. Rose raised an eyebrow.

  “So that's not normal?” The young witch asked. Lila shook her head, then caught sight of Adam looking in the rear-view mirror at her.

  Understanding exactly what Adam's looks were all about, Lila expanded the conversations. “Up until yesterday at least, every time I entered Death, I forgot everything. There may still be places that this is still the case, but Rose and I both remember every detail of what happened to us tonight.” she explained, looking at Rose for confirmation that what she'd said was true. Rose nodded. “It's not just that, the whole place, it's different. When you're there on a normal day, you're alone, there's no one there unless they're looking for you or you're looking for them. When Rose and I were there, it was like the whole place had closed in on itself and suddenly the prison cells were all overcrowded. Does that make sense?”

  Adam nodded, frowning. “Okay, so whatever that's about, it's not something good, right?”

  At that point, Lila hesitated, wondering how much she should tell them and deciding that it really wasn't her place to keep something this important from them. Biting her lower lip, she swept her hand through her her hair, wincing and regretting it as it pulled on the stitches. It occurred to her that it was in almost the exact place the other scar from the ghost attack was going to be. That'd make an interesting tale, two scars heading in two directions, from two separate events.

  “Well, no. It's definitely not good.” she admitted. “In fact, it's kind of terrifying. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I really need help.” Lila added. “The truth is, the way the spirit world is collapsing like this makes me think that it's going to break through into our world. If that happens, there's no way that civilians wont see this. If they start believing in ghosts again on a mass scale, it's only a matter of time before they start looking into other supposed myths, and the more scrutiny we're under...” She didn't have to finish.

  “Witch hunters.” Rose muttered, looking paler than she had before, which was an impressive feat since she'd looked half dead since she'd woken up. Lila nodded after a long pause, giving a soft sigh.

  “Yeah. We could wind up in another set of Salem witch trial judgements.” she answered. The tension in the car was practically unbearable, and she shifted uncomfortably. “Hey, at least they know that the whole testing us with drowning is a bit counter productive, and capital punishment is illegal in a lot of places...” oh, it was a bitter sweet comment and she knew it.

  Adam gave a nervous chuckle and Rose said nothing. Everyone in the car knew that Witch Hunters didn't play by civilian rules, and would kill them in secret, passing it off as an ordinary murder when they dumped the bodies. Lila wondered if Witch Hunters had been the cause of the coven leader's death, but she also knew that they had no real drive to kill witches who played by the rules. With the Spirit realm in chaos, anyone could be blamed. They were heading up a long city street, and it seemed to stretch on forever like the Green Mile on Death Row, as if emphasising how dire their situation was.

  As Adam pulled into a car park, following Elsie's car, he parked up and they unbuckled their seatbelts, still in silence. Lila felt the need to say something, to convince them that she wasn't a bad omen who had brought this all down upon them. “We're going to get through this, guys.” she promised, wishing she had more time to say something, anything. “Rose, don't say anything to the others about this. I'll explain later.”

  Rose looked confused, but nodded, climbing out of the car before Adam could come round and get the door for her, so he appeased his need for chivalry by being fast enough to open Lila's. Giving her one of his offhand smiles, he bowed over with a flourish. “Milady.” he intoned, his accent a perfect representation of a very high class butler. She chuckled, amusement lifting her mood instantly.

  Climbing out of the car, she let him help her, limping a few times before Rose had time to gather her crutches from the trunk of the car and hand them to her. Sliding her arms into them was awkward when she kept wobbling, but she managed it. Hurrah, she thought, Now I'm a kick-ass ninja cripple.

  If the dead erupting all over town didn't kill her, her sarcasm might.

  “Thanks.” she smiled at the siblings, before looking over at Troy and the others. They were obviously involved in the continuation of a conversation they'd been having in the car. As she hobbled over, Troy threw up his good hand in frustration, rolling his eyes. “Come on! Lila...back me up here. Zayn or Harry?”

  “...Who?” Lila asked, a blank look on her face. “Is that the guys from that band... uh... Union K?”

  “Union J. Also, no. That's George Shelley. He kinda looks like Harry, though. Zayn and Harry are in One Direction.”

  “-Actually, Zayne left.” Elsie interjected.

  “Shut u-” Troy began.

  “And Harry Styles is nowhere as c
ute as George Shelley, for the record.” Sadie added.

  Looking around the girls, Troy was wide-eyed. “Are you freaking kidding me? Seriously? None of you have a shred of taste.” he huffed, making Lila laugh out loud.

  “Who did you pick?” she asked, but Troy simply held up a hand as if he weren't talking to her. Sadie chuckled. “He wouldn't tell us, but I think that's because its a tie.” she answered for him, causing him to make an obscene gesture in response. Lila laughed again; conversations like this were part of the reason she hadn't let everyone in on how dire their situation was. Better to allow them the innocence of meaningless chatter for as long as possible.

  Elsie was chuckling, leaning against her car. As Troy moved deeper into his sulk, she pushed herself away from the car door, hands in her pockets. Her long red hair seemed darker, yet more vibrant under the cloudy sky. “Okay. So, I had already moved out of my parents. I have an apartment at the top of that building.” she pointed. She lived over a shop, but three stories above it. Lila had never seen a commercial building have apartments so high above it before.

  “Uh, one problem.” Lila piped up, raising her crutch a little, as much as she could without losing her balance.

  “I've got you.” Adam promised. She opened her mouth to protest, and he shook his head. “No arguing. Seriously, I've got you. Gives me a chance to feel all manly again instead of the one playing catch up all the time.” he explained. Rose clucked her tongue beside him.

  “How many times, you goon? There was nothing you could have done. Like Lila said, things are a bit out of whack because of the whole murder-by-athame thing. My guess is that we're all affected because of our parents blood line.”

  This girl is a genius, thought Lila – not only had she provided the perfect cover story for what they were stressing over, but she'd also covered a plausible excuse for what had happened – and had now helped Lila expand her theory. What if it were their blood lines? She'd been assuming that the reason they were feeling so much resistance in the spirit world was because everyone was, or because they were investigating their parents murders, but she'd never considered the possibility it was because they had the same blood which had been spilled and that this had drawn them to this particular group.

  Taking deep breath, Lila changed the subject before they could think too much into it. “So... Lead the way, Elsie.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The stairs were less troublesome than she'd expected, but that was probably because at the bottom of the stairs, Adam had bent down and swept her into his arms, barely giving her time to pass the crutches to Rose before he started to walk. “I hope you don't think this is you sweeping me off my feet, Dyek.” she scolded. In return, he pouted. “Dang. You're on to me.” he teased, then chuckled. Lila wasn't particularly bothered by the notion that he might be – she was growing fond of him, though she definitely wasn't attracted to him beyond that notion of, he's a great guy, and realistically, that's probably what he thought too. It wasn't unusual for friends to become closer when they were sharing a secret.

  Behind them, Rose made a gagging noise, informing them that they needed to get a room, and Lila snorted in amusement. “Yeah, that's a great idea. I totally need a nap.” she answered. “And so do you, young lady.”

  “You just had a nap! And don't patronise me, old lady.” Rose shot back, and Lila laughed. Briefly, she wondered if she had ever looked as petulant as the younger witch did at that moment, or if it was a skill that Rose alone had mastered.

  “I need another one. You know, on account of my old age, and such.” she chuckled, yawning. Adam set her down on Elsie's sofa, careful to make sure she didn't wind up on her bad leg. Nonetheless, Lila winced, and he began to apologise repeatedly. “It's okay.” she promised, smiling. He looked unconvinced, but nodded, accepting her words even if he wasn't sure he believed it.

  Across the room, Sadie and Elsie were carrying boxes through from another room, teasing Troy mercilessly for his injured arm and being unable to lift anything. His responses were pouty, to say the least, and that just made it even more amusing.

  Despite her best efforts, Lila struggled to stay awake. Each time she opened her eyes, the rest of the group were in various stages of sorting through the boxes, the remnants of Elsie's parents belongings. They all seemed to be making a Herculean effort to remain quiet enough so that she could sleep, but before she could tease them about it, she fell asleep again.

  Hours later, she woke to the sensation of Elsie shaking her gently. “I think we figured something out.” the redhead murmured, passing over an account book. Lila forced herself to sit up, brushing her hair out of her eyes and took a look around. Troy was unconscious, upright in the armchair, whilst the other two were sitting on the floor cross-legged, as if they were having a powwow. Adjusting her glance, she looked down at the accounts book, tracing her fingers down the list. “Huh, that's weird.” she admitted. There was evidence of a large amount of money being sent to an account right before the coven meeting in Waterloo. “Bribe money?” she asked, and Elsie shrugged, indicating that she had no idea. “Well, unfortunately since you're not your mother, we can't actually find out who this was sent to... but it does indicate that maybe our parents knew they were in some kind of danger.”

  Elsie nodded. “That's what we thought.” she admitted, indicating Adam and Sadie on the ground. “But we've been looking for so long we couldn't decide whether or not it was wishful thinking.” she gave a soft laugh. “Of course, you're concussed – again – so we probably can't trust your state of mind either.” At that, Lila punched her in the arm, making her chuckle. She wasn't actually concussed “We're ordering in some food and heading to bed. Think you can stay up long enough to eat?”

  Lila's stomach grumbled, answering for her, but she gave a nod anyway. “Yeah. Any chance of a drink, by the way? I feel like I've been swallowing sand.” she frowned, shifting and realising how uncomfortable she was in her jeans. “I need to change into some pyjama shorts.” she murmured, and Elsie held up a hand.

  “I'll get them. We should probably check if your dressing needs changed yet, anyway. You've been moving around a lot.” Elsie made her stay seated, one hand on her shoulder, then left to go into her bedroom and came out with shorts. Whacking Troy, she sent the other three out of the room with him and then helped Lila to dress before crouching down and peeling back the bandage over her wound. “Mm, it's oozing a little.” she grimaced, then pulled on a pair of blue gloves, ripping open an alcohol wipe.

  “Woah! Where'd you pull that from?” Lila asked, yelping as it stung. “Ow, okay now I'm awake.” she pulled a face, watching Elsie wipe it clean and redress it.

  “I brought it through while you were asleep. The box is down here.” she tapped the tin she'd just pulled everything out of. Lila didn't remember hearing her open it, but her ears had felt pretty full of pressure just from standing to pull up the shorts. “ There, all done.” Elsie smiled. Lila glanced down, and had to agree that the fresh white bandage did look far better than the one they had thrown out, which had been showing leakage right through to the other side. At Elsie's say-so, the others came back into the room, Troy grumbling at the way he'd been woken up and reminding her that he was an invalid too.

  A brief discussion regarding food and where to order in from ensued, with everyone unanimously deciding to order from the nearest pizza place because it would take the least amount of time to get to them and the least amount of washing up afterwards. When they were done talking about it, the conversation inevitably drifted to the crash and everything afterwards.

  “Troy... what did the police say about the crash?” Lila asked him as they settled at her feet, putting the takeaway menus away in the coffee table drawer, which was only just within her reach. The wooden drawer stuck as she closed it, forcing her to try it a few times before it caught on the runner and finally slid shut. She narrowly avoided falling off of the sofa as it fell into place, following its movement involuntarily. Catching herse
lf, she gripped the arm of the sofa and sat back, exhaling in an expression of relief.

  Troy gave an awkward, one-shouldered shrug, looking thoughtful for a moment, as if it were an answer he needed to consider carefully instead of just remembering and repeating. “Nothing much.. asked if I saw who did it, I didn't, and said they'd need to keep hold of the car and not to go out of state until they'd finished their investigation. Lila frowned; that meant that if this took them beyond Ontario's borders they'd be stuck here while the others investigated. She was even more glad now that she'd told Adam what was going on; even if there was no way to talk to him between now and that point, he'd know to look out for the traitor in their midst and would act appropriately. That being said, she was holding out hope that the search wouldn't extend beyond the borders of their State. Everything they'd uncovered til now, albeit small in number, had indicated something within Ontario – other than Elsie's parents payment to that random bank account.