Tucker and I had left, Katelyn and Owen behind so they could get better acquainted while we went for a walk down the river bank. As we strolled I had felt myself become really nervous the first time I tried to bring up Abellona, and I ended up choking my words and changing the subject. But I knew I had to somehow find a way to tell him though. I had to tell Owen too. I could never live with myself if she hurt them and I had done absolutely nothing to warn them beforehand because I had thought that they would think I’d gone crazy, or had become a freak practicing witchcraft like those nuts in New Orleans.
We had walked a little further down the bank when Tucker had taken my hand in his. Figuring that it was now or never, I feverishly racked my brain for a way as to where I could seamlessly bring up what I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't come up with anything. But then thankfully he did it for me.
“Look,” Tucker said as he pointed an outstretched finger across the Genesee. “There they are again. This place sure has a helluva lot of cats.”
It was Midnight and standing next to her was Popsicle, I was sure of her this time. They’d been accompanied by about two dozen of their friends, and I knew that this was my moment, my opportunity to tell him. So, I turned and looked at him soulfully before saying hesitantly, “Tucker.”
“Yeah,” he said—his attention still on the cats.
“There are things goin' on here that you need to know about. Things about me, and this village, and the stuff that’s been happenin' here lately since I moved up here.”
Tucker turned his gaze to me and said, “Yeah, I know. Some of the kids at your school have been messin' with you and Katelyn. I already told you that’s one of the reasons why Owen and I came up here. We'll take care of it before we leave. You know a few punk-ass Yankees are no match for us.”
“No, it's not that.” I said again, not knowing how to bring up Abellona, so I decide to talk about me. “There are things you need to know about me, about my family... We have a history here, my mama and I do. I… I don't know how to say this, but...”
“Cera, what?”
I didn't have the words to explain everything that had happened to me since I moved to Mount Harrison so I took a deep breath and just said whatever came from my mouth.
“Tucker, my mama and I are... My mama and I are witches.”
He just looked at me and then he cracked a smirk from around the corners of his mouth.
“You and your mama are witches, huh?” he said, looking somewhat perplexed at first, but then he quickly became dismissive and said, “Sure, and I'm Superman and Owen is the Incredible Hulk.”
“Tucker, I'm serious.”
Again, he just looked at me like I was messing with him, and I could tell that he was becoming a little annoyed. I could have just imagined what he was beginning to think. Like he had nothing better to do than to come up here from halfway across the country only for me to try to make him look stupid.
“Come on, Cera. Let's get back to Owen and Katelyn.” he then said turning away from me.
“Tucker, wait... Look at those cats over there. They’ve been following me around since I moved here. They're not just cats though. They’re the trapped souls of people imprisoned by this other witch. A girl named Abellona. She's been killin' all of the children of this village and puttin’ their souls in those cats for almost three hundred years.”
“Cera, knock it off already.” Tucker said, sounding exasperated and then he finished the last of his beer before chucking the empty can in the river. “If you didn't want to see me and Owen anymore than all you had to do was just not answer your phone when we called, like a normal person would’ve done.”
“That's the thing, I'm not normal.” I said pleading with him, but also not knowing what else to say.
I knew I could’ve just ended his incredulousness by looking him in the eye like a vampire and hypnotizing him, but I didn't want to do that to him. I wanted him to truly, believe me. I didn’t want him to believe me because I had put some spell or hold over him.
He began to walk off from me in a huff, and I began to panic.
“Tucker, wait!” I called out.
“Whatever, Cera,”
“Tucker, wait. Look.”
He stopped, turned around and looked at me. I didn't know what I was going to do next, but I had to do something quick. My mind raced as I stared at him intently wishing that he would just believe me, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I didn't know what to do. What to say. He was going to leave, and I wanted him to stay here. I wanted him to take me to homecoming. I wanted him to…
“Cera,”
“Tucker, you have to believe me.” I said, feeling myself beginning to get choked up, my chest starting to hitch and convulse.
“Cera...”
“I know how I must sound, but I'm tellin' you the truth. There are things goin' on that you just have to trust me on, and I know—”
“Cera, I believe you.”
“You need to believe me. You need to...” I said feeling completely bewildered on how I was going to explain everything to him. I then spun myself into babbling more and more, and then… “Wait, you believe me?”
“Cera, you’re floating,” he said to me softly, his voice fading.
I looked down, and indeed I was levitating. How? I had no idea, but there I was hovering about eighteen inches off the ground.
“Cera, give me your hand.” he said hesitantly, and I reached out for him. When he had a hold of me he was able to pull me back down to Earth as easily as pulling down a balloon stuck to the ceiling.
When I’d reached the ground, Tucker gently let me go, but kept his hands open and ready to pounce on me if I decided to float away again. He didn't need to bother though because the natural order of reality seemed to come back to Mount Harrison when my feet had touched the ground again.
On our slow walk back to the bridge I told him all about my family and about Abellona Abbott and what has been happening to me over the past two months. He had listened to me attentively never taking his eyes off me or saying a word in response.
After arriving back at the bridge we were both greeted by Katelyn shouting, “Hey, love birds! Did you two officially get reacquainted again?”
“No, sugar tits, you’re the only harlot around here.” I said, giving her a smirk as I walked up to her, then taking the cigarette out of her hand, giving it a long pull.
“I told him.” I then said to her in a whisper as I exhaled the smoke from my lungs.
“Told him what?” she asked.
“Everything,”
“Everything, what do you mean everything?”
“Just that, everything,”
“Oh, so when he didn't believe you. Did you flashy-thing his brain like in Men in Black?”
“Didn't have too, I just proved it to him.”
“How?”
“Apparently I can fly. Well... at least float.”
“No shit, really?” Katelyn then whispered as she tried to keep her astonishment from reaching Tucker and Owen who were now chucking stones into the Genesee.
“Yeah, I was telling him, and of course he didn’t believe a word of it at first. I mean, who would? But when I couldn't articulate myself and he started to get upset with me, it just sort of happened.”
“What just happened?” Owen asked having snuck up on us.
Katelyn looked at me for approval, and when I didn't tell her no right away, that little coy look came over her face again and I knew she was going to have her fun messing with him. I have to admit though, deep down I wanted to screw with Owen a bit too.
“Oh, nothing,” She said as she tilted her head to one side while twisting a strand of her auburn hair around her index finger like a valley girl. “Cera was just telling me about how she had just told Tucker all about her being a witch is all.”
“Her being a witch or a bitch?” Owen responded in typical Owen fashion.
“Hey, pig fucker.” I said, slapping him on the arm.
“Yeah, okay.” Owen then said before going over to the cooler to grab another beer.
“She is.” Tucker then said, speaking up in a straight and serious tone. “And, she's in trouble.”
“Yeah, sure, and I'm Gandalf the great. And Tucker you can be Harry Potter and sugar tits here can be the little cute one. What's her name? You kinda look like her, anyways.”
“Hermione,” Katelyn said, answering him, and then she picked up a stone about the size of a baseball and marched over to him. “Here, go ahead and throw this at her. Go on! Hit her right between the eyes as hard as you can.”
“What?” responded Owen offhandedly. “I'm not throwing that at Cera. Are you nuts?”
“No, I'm a witch. I already told you that. And, if you don't throw this at her, I will.”
“Don't be stupid.” Owen then said now sounding irritated.
“Okay, then.” Katelyn responded, shrugging her shoulders, and then she threw the stone at me with everything she could muster.
I quickly put up my hand and as the rock closed to within feet of hitting me an energy field formed, invisible until the very moment when the stone came in contact with it, deflecting it off into the distance. It was somewhat just like with the softballs... Only different this time, somehow. This time I could see the energy field before me and I could feel it too. We all could. Well, at least see it, that is. It was light crimson and passed in front and over me like a wave. I could feel it flow from me in a pulse. And, when the stone had struck it, it’d been sent bouncing off its curvature only to go sailing through the air into the forest. Eventually, being heard cracking off of trees that stood a ways behind me.
“Holy Shit!” Tucker exclaimed. Owen just stared at me, his mouth agape. Then, after a long moment that I had thought was going to last forever had finally passed, Owen said to me, “So, what else can you do?”
There Can only Be one Witch of Homecoming
Friday came quicker than I'd imagined, and unexpectedly I had found myself really looking forward to going to the dance. Of course, there was the possibility that something truly horrible might happen there. Either between Abellona showing up or the bitches doing something to screw with me, most likely both, but I wasn't going to let that keep me down if I could. My skills had been steadily improving along with my confidence in them, which had me feeling pretty cocky. And, having spent much of the past week hanging out with Katelyn, Tucker, and Owen had also only added to my well-being. Seeing the boys again had made me feel like I was right back at home in Saraland, on my turf. I felt ready to take on anything, and how unbelievably wrong I was to think that.
Earlier in the week, I had used what I had now dubbed the Cera mind trick to convince my Step Daddy Cade to go against my mama’s wishes in telling her that we were staying in Mount Harrison for the long haul regardless of whether there was an evil dead girl out to get us or not. And, to be quite honest, it really didn't take much convincing on my part to get my step daddy to side with me either. There was no way he was going to give back that money just so it could go to the ASPCA, and he didn’t believe one word my mama had told him about Abellona Abbott anyhow.
My mama didn't go down so easily though. She even tried proving it to him (After he had told her that she was full of you know what.) that she was telling the truth by showing him a little of her powers. But, after my step daddy had listened to my mama’s whole crazy story about witchcraft and her family’s history in Mount Harrison he didn’t have the reaction she’d hoped for. Even after the display she had put on of her powers. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe her; it was just… Now he was more pissed off than a porcupine stuck to a cork board, and he didn't require much, if any, convincing from me to stick around and fight for what he now thought was his.
*****
On the day before the dance, I had picked up from a small boutique in the village a little black dress with matching short-heel pumps. The dress however, did have a tendency to cling to me a little too snugly in certain areas which made me feel somewhat awkward, so I debated wearing it. But, I damn sure looked good in it though, and that wins out every time.
On the day of the dance, Tucker and Owen showed up at my house around 5p.m. He was decked-out in a white dress shirt, blue jeans, and Doc Martins. Owen looked almost identical to him except his shirt was a dark blue.
I had wished that Tucker would have showed up a little more sharply dressed. But I supposed it was the best I could've hoped for given the fact that he had only brought a few changes of clothes with him when he and Owen came up from Saraland, and probably never would have imagined going to a dance while here.
After a few pictures I said goodbye to my teary-eyed mama while my step daddy gave Tucker the, Now you behave yourself with my little girl speech. We then left for Katelyn's house at a little after five o’clock and had decided to walk there and then over to the school. Only because neither place was all that far away and we had also planned on pre-gaming a little down by the bridge, and most likely, post-gaming a lot after the dance was over too. And, having Tucker’s truck parked on the side of the road would have been a dead giveaway for cops or anyone else that was nosey enough to come see who was doing what down by the water.
The walk to Katelyn's was a quick one and almost cat free. Though at one point, I thought I had seen Midnight jet through a couple of bushes that lined the side of the road but I could’ve been mistaken.
When we had arrived at Katelyn's, her mama had greeted us at the door saying, “Well, don’t you kids just look lovely.” She then let us in where we waited in the living room for Katelyn while she brought us some Cokes.
After spending a few minutes small-talking with us, Katelyn's mama yelled up from the bottom of the staircase at Katelyn for a second time that her friends were here. A moment later I heard Katelyn fumbling around on the second floor of the house along with doors opening and then closing before finally hearing her reply down, “Send up, Cera.”
I then looked at Tucker giving him a hesitant smile and said, “We'll be right back down in just a minute.” to which he just shrugged his shoulders while doing his best James Dean cool guy impression, and I scurried off up the stairs.
When I had reached Katelyn's room her door was partially ajar, so I slowly opened it further whiles knocking gently.
Upon entering I had seen Katelyn standing in the middle of her room while checking herself out in a wall mirror. She was wearing a red dress that clung fittingly to her hips and chest, its shade of scarlet also matching her red lipstick, and there was now a bit of crimson tint to her look that she’d applied to her already auburn hair. My first thought of her was, Holy shit! If, I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I would’ve never believed it. She looked great, not just great—Beautiful. It was as if she had shaken off all the black, all the darkness, and all the horrible things that’d been done to her in this village and emerged reborn, baptized from her cocoon a completely different person. She was a normal girl again, the way she should always have been, full of excitement, optimism, and anxiety while waiting for her date to take her to the big school dance.
She turned to me timidly totally unsure of herself and asked, “So... What do ya think?”
“Seriously, you’re goin’ to wear that, bit trampy don’tcha think?” I told her as I gave her a look of utter disgust, but then I wasn’t able to hide how I really felt any longer and I said, “Wow!” still completely in shock and searching for my words. “I think Owen is going to be the most envied guy there tonight.”
“You really think it looks alright. It's not too much?”
“I think you look awesome.” I said giving her my honest two cents. “And, it's about friggin’ time you got into something with some color. Now, grab yo
ur shit because your prince awaits.”
Katelyn then took a deep breath before letting out a labored exhale and I could tell that she was super nervous about leaving her room and letting people see her dressed this way. But, I was not about to let her back out now, so I grabbed her by the arm and began pulling her towards the stairs insisting that we didn’t want to be late. I even had purposely walked behind her while going down them so she couldn't retreat back into her room.
At the bottom of the stairs she paused, taking another deep breath before heading into the living room. When she finally did walk into the room it suddenly fell into a hush of silence. I even saw Katelyn's mama gasp before putting a hand up over her mouth. After quickly regaining her composure, Katelyn's mama then called out to Katelyn's father telling him to; Hurry his lazy ass into the living room as she had put it before she herself then darted off to retrieve her camera.
After a few keepsake snapshots we departed and headed for drinks down by the Genesee. We still didn't need to be at the school for more than another hour, and even then we might have been early figuring that most people would show up presumably late.
Down by the river, under the Colmack Road Bridge, Katelyn hit the schnapps Owen had scored pretty hard trying to calm her nerves. I couldn’t blame her though, having her classmates’ see her done up like this must’ve been unimaginable for her. Still though, I had to tell her more than once to take it easy with the alcohol or else she’d end up puking in the ferns. To which she replied back to me more than once with her middle finger.
Soon though, once we were all thoroughly buzzed, we’d made our way over to the school. But not before a few spritzes of perfume and a mouthful of mints having done the trick at concealing our intoxication and ensuring our entry into the dance without any of the teachers giving us a hard time.
In the Forest of Light and Dark Page 32