by Rose Pressey
I knocked on the door and immediately heard shuffling from the other side. Annabelle looked at me with a horrified expression.
The door inched open. “What do you want?” the old woman asked, glaring at us with her deep green eyes. Her gray hair had come undone from its bun and her beige floral dress was incorrectly buttoned down the front. The wrinkles on her face deepened with her frown.
“Um, we’re sorry for bothering you. We’re looking for someone by the name of Kelley Killebrew.”
A deathly pallor fell across her face. There was something odd about this woman. Magical energy surrounded her. It wasn’t coming from me, and I knew it wasn’t coming from Annabelle, so it had to be her or someone else was in the house. I looked over her shoulder into the dimly lit space. With sparse furnishings and untidiness, it almost looked as if the house was abandoned.
“Are you a witch?” I asked.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “What business is that of yours?”
“I’m the leader of the Underworld,” I said.
As soon as I mentioned that I was the leader, she opened the door wide. “I’m sorry, my hearing isn’t what it used to be. Did you ask if I was a witch?” She held her hand up to her ear.
I nodded. “Yes, that’s what I asked.”
“Why yes, dear, I am. What can I do for you?” Her voice now dripped with honey and her demeanor had changed completely.
“My name is Hallie LaVeau and this is Annabelle Preston.” I looked at her expectantly and she finally followed my lead.
“I’m Patricia Killebrew. Would you like to come inside?”
“This is creepy,” Annabelle whispered.
I expected Annabelle to retreat to the car at any moment. We stepped inside the house.
“Won’t you please have a seat?” She motioned around the room. The sofa and chairs were covered with stacks of newspapers. “Oh, let me move that for you,” she said as she scooped up the papers.
Annabelle and I eased down on the edge of the sofa cushions. Annabelle’s eyes were wide as she looked around the room.
I leaned forward and fixed my gaze on the woman. “Like I said, we hate to bother you, but do you know Kelley Killebrew?”
Patricia lowered her head, then looked up at us. “She was my niece.”
“Was she the leader of the Underworld?” I asked.
She hesitated, but finally nodded. “Yes, she was until…”
“Until she passed away?” I asked.
Patricia nodded, but didn’t speak. She stood up from the chair and shuffled over to a cabinet across the room.
“Would she have any reason to come back in spirit?” I asked.
Patricia looked at me with a scowl. “No,” she said sharply. “What’s done is done.”
“Was she stripped of her leadership status before she died?” I pressed.
“Just because you’re the leader doesn’t mean I have to tell you anything,” she said.
I nodded. “No, you don’t have to, but it would be a great help if you did.”
Patricia paused, then said. “She was misunderstood, that’s all. She wanted some witches removed, but they were bad witches.”
“Who were the witches?” I asked.
“I don’t have to tell you anything else,” she said.
Patricia pulled out a silver picture frame and moved back over to us. She held out the frame and we looked down at the picture.
Annabelle released a little gasp and I squeezed her hand. It was exactly what I had expected. Constance had been telling the truth. The woman in the picture had the same brown eyes and dark shiny hair—the same bright smile. It was Kelley and apparently she had been the leader of the Underworld.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After getting little information, we headed back to LaVeau Manor to see if Kelley was there. If she was, then I had to confront her. Why had she lied? Was she connected with Giovanni? She’d done an excellent job of tricking me. I’d thought she was a sweet girl. Now it turned out that I couldn’t trust her at all. I had no idea what her true motives were.
“I can’t believe what we found out,” Annabelle said in a shaky voice.
I shook my head. “I can’t believe I trusted her.”
We parked in front of the manor and rushed up the steps and through the front door. Luckily, the women weren’t casting any spells at the moment. We ran up the stairs to Kelley’s room, but she wasn’t there. The front door opened and closed. Annabelle and I exchanged a look and hurried down the stairs.
I was relieved to see that it was Nicolas. “Are you okay?” he asked as he rushed over to me. “You look like something’s wrong.”
Before I had a chance to tell Nicolas about what had happened, my phone rang and I knew it wasn’t going to be good news when I saw Liam’s number displayed on the screen.
“Hallie, what’s going on there?” he asked in a panicked voice. I’d never heard him like that before.
“I was looking for Kelley, have you seen her?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ve seen her. She’s here. I need you to come here right away.” Tension reverberated through Liam’s voice.
“What’s wrong, Liam?” I asked.
Nicolas stepped closer with a concerned look on his face.
“Just get to the plantation as soon as you…”
The phone went dead.
“Liam? Liam?”
There was no answer.
“What happened?” Nicolas asked.
“The phone went dead, but he wants us to come to the plantation as soon as possible. Kelley is there.”
“Oh, this doesn’t sound good,” Annabelle said.
“Annabelle, I don’t want you to have to deal with this,” I said.
She shook her head. “I’m your best friend and I won’t leave you to deal with this alone.”
“I have Nicolas to go with me.”
“Well, you guys might need help. I’m going with you,” she said.
Chapter Thirty
We jumped in the car and headed toward the plantation. Tension filled the air. If not for Nicolas’ soothing presence, I don’t know what I would have done. Would Giovanni pop up behind us again? I had no idea what to expect when I got to the plantation. I’d dealt with a lot of weird stuff over the past few weeks, but I didn’t want to deal with another demon. I just hoped that Liam was okay.
I glanced back at Annabelle. She had a worried expression on her face. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but I knew by the look on her face that she was anything but okay.
Nicolas looked ahead, focusing his attention on the road in front of us. The sun would be setting soon and I hoped to get to the plantation before darkness fell. I glanced over at the speedometer.
Nicolas noticed and said, “It’s probably not safe to drive any faster. This back road has a lot of curves.”
I nodded. Of course he was right, but that didn’t make the situation any less stressful. Annabelle fidgeted in the back seat and I knew her stress level was at an all-time high.
Finally, we approached the turnoff for the plantation and made our way down the long gravel drive. The sun melted, spilling color over the western sky. Darkness was waiting for me. The house seemed so peaceful and quiet. There was no noise and I didn’t see anyone.
“It looks like no one is home,” Annabelle said as she walked beside me.
She looked like she was in ready-to-run mode. The slightest noise might send her running away from this place and I couldn’t say that I blamed her. I might run too if I could. Since I was still the leader I had an obligation to take care of this.
We stepped up the front porch and I turned the knob. After the last conversation with Liam I wasn’t going to bother to knock or ring the doorbell. I was pretty sure he was expecting me.
I called out to him. “Liam? Where are you?”
No one answered and there was no sound from inside the house. The longer we went without finding him the worse I felt. My stomach was twisted
into a knot.
“I’ll check upstairs and you all can check down here,” Nicolas said as he climbed the stairs two at a time.
Annabelle and I didn’t split up to find Liam. There was no way she was leaving my side and frankly I didn’t want her to leave me either. If something had happened to Liam, I didn’t want to confront Kelley alone.
We searched all of the downstairs and finally came back around to the foyer. Nicolas was just coming down the stairs when we entered.
“They’re not up there,” Nicolas said as he approached.
I shook my head. “They’re not down here either.”
“We should check outside,” he said, making his way to the front door.
Annabelle and I followed. I stepped out into the yard and looked around, but I saw nothing. Not even the leaves on the trees were swaying. I’d never seen it so still out here before. There was usually at least some wind.
“You all go around that side and I’ll go around this side of the house. We can meet at the back,” Nicolas said.
Annabelle and I took off around the side of the house.
“Do you feel eyes on us? Why is it so quiet here?” Though her words were spoken softly there was an underlying sense of panic.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.” I didn’t mention to her that it was freaking me out.
Annabelle and I made it around the side of the house and I was almost expecting something or someone to jump out at us. The air surrounding the plantation had turned suddenly creepy and a little ominous. I knew that meant magic was in motion. Or at least it was very near.
When we made it to the back of the house, I spotted Nicolas walking toward us.
“Did you see them?” Nicolas asked.
I nodded. “They’re not out here either.”
“They must have left,” he said.
“I don’t like the way this is going. Do you notice the change in the air?” I asked.
He nodded and a look of concern spread across this face. “Yes, I noticed it as I was coming around the house.”
That was the same time I’d felt it. Heck, even Annabelle had felt it and she’d always been oblivious to the paranormal.
A noise echoed through the air and we looked at each other. “Where did that come from?” I asked.
“It sounded like it was at the front of the house,” Nicolas said.
We hurried around to the front of the house. Liam and Kelley were together, getting into his car. They didn’t look up and I didn’t think they had noticed us.
“Stop right there,” Nicolas said. His voice carried, loud and authoritative, across the air.
Liam and Kelley turned around to look at us at the same time. Where had they been? It looked as if they were getting in to the car to leave, not as if they’d just arrived. Kelley frowned and Liam looked around as if he was planning his next move. She didn’t answer, but I knew she had no intention of stopping unless we forced her.
Nicolas yelled at Kelley again as he rushed toward the car. I ran behind him.
Liam ran over to us. “Kelley was forcing me to drive her to find Giovanni and then she wanted to find you.”
Kelley lifted her arm and whirled it around, then pointed it at Nicolas. An evil smile spread across her face when the energy hit Nicolas and kicked him to the ground. I ran over to him, but the spell she’d just cast was keeping me away. She zapped him with the spell again when he tried to get up. Why hit him twice? Wasn’t it enough that she’d already sent him to the ground? I had to prepare myself for what would happen next. I knew she would use her magic on me next.
I ran through the spells in my mind, trying to figure out which one I would use to stop her. My mind was blank and I couldn’t think of anything that would help. She reached her arms into the air again and I knew she was focusing her energy on me this time. A whirling wind circled around her as if fueling her power. She narrowed her eyes and focused her dark stare on me, but before she could cast the spell, Giovanni and Kevin drove up.
The black car came to a stop and they jumped out. Had they followed us here? Kelley lowered her arms. The spell had been paused for the moment, but I knew that she wouldn’t give up that easily.
Giovanni and Kevin stepped closer and stood beside Kelley. I should have known they were in on this together. That was why they had the symbol.
Giovanni stood tall and puffed out his chest. “I demand that you give me the book now or I will have to kill you and all your little friends.”
I stood my ground. “There is no way in hell you are getting the book. Give up your little fantasy.”
Nicolas finally managed to break free from the spell that Kelley had cast and joined me. My mind was still blank on what spell I should try on this evil bunch. Before I had a chance to even wave my arm to try a spell, Giovanni lifted his arms and pointed them at us. I knew what was about to come our way and it wasn’t going to feel good. Wind whirled around him and a dark mass circled around his head. It traveled down and then carried across the air until it smacked us head on. We immediately fell to the ground.
As if an invisible force lifted us from the ground, we began walking. Nicolas, Liam, Annabelle, and I headed toward the plantation. We moved up the front steps toward the front door. I looked back and Kelley and Giovanni were laughing. We were powerless to stop whatever force was making us move inside the house. We moved inside the house and the large wooden door slammed shut behind us. This spell and evil energy had banished us inside the plantation.
As soon as the door slammed shut, we were able to move of our own free will again. I ran to the door and twisted the knob, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Stand back.” Nicolas warned with a wave of his arm.
Liam and Nicolas pulled on the door, but it wouldn’t open.
“We’ll try the back door,” Liam said with a firm no-nonsense voice.
Liam and Nicolas ran to the back, while Annabelle and I continued pulling on the door. I looked outside and saw Kelley and Giovanni talking. That same black mass was circling around their heads. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew it was powerful. We had to find a way to get rid of the spell and get out of the house.
Nicolas and Liam ran from the back of the house, but I knew by their expressions that they hadn’t gotten the doors to open back there either.
“We’re going to break the front window,” Liam said.
The words had just left his lips when a loud noise echoed from outside. We hurried over to the window. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The coven members had pulled up in an old car. Where in the hell had they gotten the car from and how did they manage to drive it? I was pretty sure that they’d used their magic. They were just lucky that they hadn’t wrecked on the way here.
“What are they doing here?”
Had they come to help Kelley, Kevin and Giovanni? After all, the symbol had originated from their coven. The front and back doors on the old jalopy opened at the same time and the women jumped out. We stared in silence, waiting to see what would happen next.
The women focused their attention on Giovanni and Kelley, who had stopped and were now staring at the women. The coven members grabbed hands and formed a semi-circle. The wind whirled around them and a cloud of mist burst up from the ground. They began a little dance, which any other time would have been quite comical. It was a scene that would have garnered a few million hits on YouTube if I’d recorded it.
The white cloud swooped forward and rushed toward Giovanni, Kevin and Kelley. They fell backward onto the ground, landing on their butts. They looked around in a dazed sort of confusion. At that moment the lock on the front door clicked and then it slowly swung open. I couldn’t believe that the coven members had come here to help us. I still wasn’t sure if they could be trusted though. They might have an agenda of their own.
Once the door opened, we hurried out of the house and down the front steps. Giovanni, Kevin and Kelley were still on the ground trying to make their way up.
Finally, Kelley
, Kevin and Giovanni climbed to their feet. The white cloud had dissipated and without warning they ran toward their cars.
“They’re trying to get away,” Annabelle yelled.
They made it to the car and opened the doors before the coven members slammed them with another spell. It was quite funny to watch actually. That same white cloud engulfed their entire car.
“Whoa, how do they do that?” Annabelle whispered.
“It’s magic,” I said.
But she already knew that much. To be honest, I had no idea why their magic was so good now when it had been so bad before. I knew mine had improved because of the Book of Mystics, but why had they improved? Had they taken the Book of Mystics? It wouldn’t surprise me if they had. Everyone wanted it.
I joined the circle with the women and we began reciting the spell. The white cloud circled us. It weaved in and out and around our legs. It climbed and weaved before finally hovering over us again. I couldn’t believe that I had joined with the coven members to do a spell.
Would it really work? The other spell they had performed worked, so why not this one? Whatever had happened to them, I was glad it had worked because now more than ever I needed help. Our words grew louder and stronger and I felt the white energy around us.
The air around the plantation had been heavy, but the more we chanted the more it dissipated. Soon the heaviness lifted and I looked around. The white cloud above us had disappeared. Nicolas, Liam, and Annabelle looked out over the lawn at us from the front porch. To say that they looked tense would have been an understatement. Apparently, the spell that the coven members and I had cast had broken whatever spells Giovanni, Kevin and Kelley had placed around the plantation. We released hands and I felt the energy drain from my arms all the way down to my feet. It had taken all of the energy I had to cast the spell with them.
When I stepped around, Giovanni, Kevin and Kelley were nowhere in sight. I ran over to Nicolas.
“Where did they go?” I asked.
“When the spell was finished they walked off. They went that way through the lines of trees.” He pointed.