by J Lynne
Sarah bent down. “I can make you talk.”
He reached into his jacket, as the bald man had, and produced a pistol. The man did not intend to hurt Sarah. That wasn’t allowed. Instead, he placed it underneath his chin. “I’ll do it, I swear.”
Rose grabbed Sarah's arm and pulled her back. “Let him talk.” She wanted him dead, but the information was more valuable than revenge. This group killed her husband. They may have been divorced, but she never stopped loving him and in her heart, she believed he still loved her. They had kidnapped him and tried to get him to talk, but he refused. He had been tortured for hours before they put him out of his misery and dropped his dead body outside the cafe where they had witnessed him meeting his ex-wife. When she had found him, the organization followed her.
The man let out a sigh of relief and loosened his grip on the pistol. He didn't want to die, but he knew he couldn't return without the apple and the girl. “You're special.” He blurted out.
Sarah frowned. “That's all you got?”
“The apple... It's chosen you.”
“The apple is pure evil.” Rose scowled.
“It's been waiting for you to be reborn and it'll try to consume you.” The man leaned back, hoping to find a way out of this situation.
“Start making sense.” Sarah stomped her foot.
“You killed my husband. What's it all for?” Rose rushed towards him, ignoring the glass shards under her feet.
He shook his head. “It wasn't me.” He pointed the gun at the apple.
Sarah stared down the barrel of the gun and covered herself from the sound of the blast. She flew back and landed on the ground. Her back slid on the wet pavement of the alley. Opening her eyes, she saw bolts of lightning shooting in all directions from the apple. It lasted for a mere second. The smell of burnt flesh reached her nose and she crawled over to her mother lying on the ground with blood pouring from her mouth.
“Please, don't die!” Sarah shook her and cried.
You're safe now. The apple fell to the ground and rested next to Sarah.
IV
The girl battled against the frigid wind that threatened to push her down into the deep snow. She grabbed the furry hood on her thick jacket, struggling to keep it over her head. The wind tunneled up her sleeves and goosebumps formed on her skin. Her long black hair flew out from the sides of her hood and covered her face.
She placed a single hand on the metal door built into the side of the mountain, trying to decide if she should pound on it and face her fate. Behind her, the world was empty and covered in thick snow from a raging storm that hadn't stopped in over thirty years. The girl wondered if it would ever stop.
They will kill you.
“Maybe that's what I deserve.” Her breath was visible in the frosty air.
Think carefully, Alexis.
“I'm not making the same mistake my mother did.” Alexis tried to block out the image of her dying mother. The jeweled dagger sliced its way into her mind. “She protected you and you brought her death.” She raised a fist and struck the metal. Her gloves didn't protect her from the cold and she felt the pain in her hand.
Within seconds, the narrow slat in the door opened and eyes appeared. “Do you have it?” the woman asked. “I'm not letting you in until I see it.”
Alexis reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the perfectly red apple. “Let me in.” She held it up to the slat.
The woman on the other side slammed the slat closed.
Alexis lowered her hand and returned the apple to her pocket. She took a step back and looked up the mountain. The sky wasn't visible. She had never once seen the blue sky, the sun, or the moon.
The door slowly opened and the woman poked her head around the corner, beckoning Alexis to enter. The girl stepped out of the cold and inside the mountain. She removed her hood and noted the torches attached to the rock wall that led them down a narrow tunnel from the door to the middle of the mountain, where it opened up into a great room.
The woman leading Alexis pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders, trying to warm herself, and waited for the girl to take in her surroundings. Here she saw a great library protected by the same organization that hunted her family since the apple had first entered the life of Sarah Givens centuries ago and made them aware of its existence in the modern world. The threat the organization thought they removed from the earth was back and stronger than ever. They had followed the apple through the many, many years that it passed from mother to daughter, killing any that got between them and the apple. Alexis's mother Nadine was one of their victims.
“What's your name?”
Leave this woman. Where is the old man? The apple vibrated in her pocket.
Alexis closed her eyes and waited for the voice to fade in her mind. She needed to concentrate. “I'm Alexis Givens.”
The woman stared at her intently.
“I've been summoned by you.” Alexis tapped the tip of her foot on the ground. She looked around and started to see faces appear around tall wooden bookcases. Some were old and some young. They all had one thing in common—they looked scared.
“It wasn't her,” a shaky voice said.
Alexis turned and faced an elderly man approaching her with the use of a cane. He had a baldhead and thick, wrinkly skin. She didn't understand how this man was a threat to her family.
“It was me.” The man nodded. “I'm Conner.” He held out his hand and grabbed hers, squeezing it. “It's nice to meet you.” The old man leaned his head close and examined her eyes. He smiled, seeing them a sparkling green and blue-speckled color. Nadine didn't have them. He remembered that. This child was the first in his lifetime that he'd seen with that trait.
Alexis pulled her hand away and watched the woman disappear into the stacks to join the others who stared at her from a distance. “It wasn't always you, was it?” She didn't believe that this man was in charge. She expected a large council that changed members as the years passed and people grew old and died.
Conner smiled a toothless grin. “No. But it was always the responsibility of my family to seek the apple as it was yours to protect it.”
“But why?” Alexis never knew why the apple came to her family.
The old man raised a hand. “How old are you child?”
“Fourteen.”
He shook his head with a sad look. “I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this at such a young age. I'm an old man and can handle the burden.” Conner waved to a young boy, who carried a thick book to a small round table. “Come.”
Alexis unzipped her jacket and followed him. She waited for him to sit first and placed herself on the opposite side of him. The leather-bound book looked old and she ran her finger across the many cracks on the cover.
“I want you to understand the necessity of destroying the apple.” The old man placed his hands on the book and slid it closer to him. He heaved the cover open and thumbed to a particular page. “Our world is ending.” He maintained eye contact with her. “But this isn't the first time.”
The apple grew heavy and she could feel her jacket shift to the right where it rested in her pocket. She waited to hear its words inside her mind but instead felt emptiness and sadness. Those hiding in these mountains remained out of her sight. They were the last living souls in this world beside her—thanks to the apple.
The old man moved his head to get her attention again. “Have you heard the tale of the Black Witch?”
Alexis frowned. “The fairytale?”
Conner nodded.
The apple started to vibrate in her pocket and she placed her hand over it. She sensed its anger. Alexis felt it push against her, moving her jacket. She grabbed the fabric and pulled it back into place, holding it there.
Conner began his story. “The witch walked this earth in human form over a thousand years ago and wanted nothing more than complete domination of every living being from the newborn baby to the monstrous dragon. She wanted control of it all.”
A small group of people formed at the far end of the library, watching Alexis closely. She felt them and turned to look. They scattered.
“They fear you,” Conner said.
Alexis turned her attention back to the old man. “It's the apple they should fear.”
Conner shook his head. “It's what's inside.”
She removed her hand from her jacket. “I don't understand.”
“The Black Witch used apples to kill.”
She killed those who betrayed her. The apple corrected the old man in the mind of Alexis.
“She injected them with brewed poisons, which turned the inside of the apple black. And that's how she got her name.” He slid the book to Alexis. “When the townsfolk realized what she was doing, they were determined to stop her. They banded together and found her home in the middle of the forest. They killed her by shoving her body into her own bubbling caldron, mixing her with the poisons inside.”
“That's horrible.” Alexis turned the book around and found the picture of the witch with her fingers. She traced the image. “She looks like me, but older.” The witch had the same black hair and fair skin. Even her lips were a bright red. Alexis leaned in closer to examine her face and saw her eyes. They were green and blue-speckled.
“They didn't stop there, though.” The old man rubbed his face. “They took a syringe and injected the contents of this brew into a red apple that sat on her table.”
A high-pitched scream echoed within the mountain and Alexis covered her ears in pain. Conner clutched his chest and fell backwards from the table, landing on the hard ground. The screaming subsided. People emerged from hiding and ran over to the fallen man.
Alexis stepped back from the table and searched for the apple. It wasn't in her pocket. “Where is it?” she yelled at the group. “Did you take it?”
They will pay for their sins. The apple appeared in the center of the table.
She rushed towards it and watched the apple rise up, hovering in the air. “Run!” Alexis tried to warn them.
A bright light escaped from the core of the apple and filled the room, blinding Alexis. She crouched and protected her eyes. Seconds later, the light dissipated and she stood. Everyone was gone. Reaching inside her pocket, she pulled out the apple. The face of the old man appeared on its surface. Alexis jumped back, dropping the apple. She turned around and found she was not alone.
V
Alexis rocked back and forth, pulling at her black hair. She felt the sting on her spine each time her back hit the bathroom wall. Her eyes were lifeless, her hair a tangled mess. She spent the past two years locked in this small room without food or water—kept alive by the apple against her will.
The red glistening apple appeared in front of her, floating in the air. Alexis screamed and grabbed it, slamming it into the floor repeatedly. It disappeared and her fingertip smashed into the floor, busting open and gushing blood. She grabbed her hand and cried out uncontrollably. Thrashing against the wall, Alexis kicked out and her elbow struck the wall, causing it to swell.
“Stop fighting me.”
Alexis heard the voice of a small female child and ended her fit. She let her body slide across the wall until she reached the floor and curled up into a ball while banging her head against the wall. “Get out of my head,” she said.
“You silly beast.” The voice giggled. “I'm not in your head. Open your eyes and look at me.”
Alexis focused her eyes and saw a pair of small feet standing in her view. Struggling to move her head, she followed the legs up until she reached the face of the little girl. “Who are you?”
The little girl bent down and cupped Alexis's face. “You've known me your whole life.”
“No, no, I don't know you.” Alexis watched the plump, red lips of the little girl. They were unnaturally red. She knew because people often commented on her own red lips. Alexis noted her dark hair and fair skin. She stared into the green and blue-speckled eyes of the little girl.
The girl raised her hand and an apple appeared in it. She smiled and took a bite.
Alexis shook her head. “You're dead.”
“Do I look dead to you?” She closed her fist and the apple disappeared.
“You're the Black Witch?”
She giggled and shook her head. “No. I'm her daughter, Lilia.”
“But…” Alexis struggled to speak. “How, how is that possible?”
The same way you're still alive.
Lilia smiled at her.
“Did you hear that?” Alexis grabbed her.
The little girl smiled. “No.” She stood and disappeared.
Alexis covered her face with her hands and cried out. She didn't know what was happening. Nothing made any sense. “Why are you doing this to me? What do you want?”
You.
“I don't understand.”
“Those people killed my mother.” Lilia ran her fingers through Alexis's hair. “Just like they killed yours.”
“Please, stop.” Alexis pleaded with her.
“I saw them do it. They wouldn't leave you alone. They want to kill you and now they can't. They don't exist any longer.” Lilia comforted her. She waited several minutes before speaking again. “Do you remember them thrusting their special jeweled dagger into her heart while you watched?”
Alexis rolled away from her.
“They killed others in our family that exact same way. Don't let them fool you.” Lilia scowled. “That story the old man told you was a lie. The fairytale they created to scare their kids and keep them from wandering too far from their perfect homes.”
Listen to her. She speaks the truth.
“The apple is evil, the apple is evil.” Alexis repeated the words her mother spoke to her on a daily basis.
“My mother wasn't a witch.”
“She poisoned people.” Alexis stared at the tile floor.
Lilia nodded. “You're right, but they paid her to do it.”
“What?”
“She was an apothecary and helped women from the town with minor illnesses. Many came to her instead of the doctor because he would treat them differently.” Lilia sat on the ground and crossed her legs. “My mother listened to the stories of these women and how their husbands treated them poorly. They had other women while their wives sat at home taking care of their babies. It started with one named Marianne Hutch.”
Alexis lifted herself up and sat on the toilet. “Marianne? She asked the witch, uh, your mother to kill the other woman?”
Lilia shook her head. “No, her husband. If she killed the mistress, he would simply find another. She wanted to get revenge and asked my mother to concoct a poison to kill him. Marianne said her husband loved apples. He ate one with every meal, as did many others, because the doctor insisted it would be better for their health.” She picked at her nails for a moment and began to sing, “An apple a day keeps...” She stopped, smiled, and continued her story. “So she did. And I helped her, of course. Marianne was the one who came up with the idea of putting the poison in the apple, but we didn't know how much to inject, so my mother had to give Marianne three apples before it finally caused his death. The first two simply caused him to become slightly ill.”
“Like food poisoning.”
“Yes. The third apple was so strong that he died the minute he ingested it. The inside of the apple was black. Marianne told her friends about my mother helping her and soon others sought her out. We were outcasts and this was the only source of income she could get. Some gave her coin and others traded. She needed to feed and clothe me, so she kept doing it. It went on for years.”
“That's impossible. How did she get away with it for so long?” Alexis asked.
“She refused to provide the poison apples too close together. There was no law enforcement in the town, which made it easier. By the time people started putting the puzzle pieces together, over twelve husbands were poisoned and killed.”
“That many?” Alexis gasped. She couldn't
imagine wanting to kill the man you loved.
Lilia sighed. “Back in those days, women weren't treated as equals. They remained in the home to cook and clean. The men went out and drank, doing whatever or whoever they wanted.”
“How did they find out about her and the poison apples?”
“A young girl was poisoned by an apple meant for her father. The woman didn't want to watch her husband die and left it next to his meal. He gave it to his daughter. The woman was distraught and didn't want to be hung for her crimes, so she blamed my mother, calling her the Black Witch. She told her husband that my mother put a spell on her and convinced her to deliver the apple to her own table, saying that was the reason why she didn't join her husband to watch him eat dinner. They believed her. Even those that had paid my mother to kill their husbands believed the lie.”
“So they hung her?”
“That would have been kinder.” Lilia ran her finger along the bathroom floor, tracing the flowered pattern. “They wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, so they came to our home and forced their way inside. I heard the noise and hid in the rafters, but I could see my mother. A group of men ripped her clothes off and beat her. Their wives and children stood in the back and cheered them on. Even Marianne was there. After they finished beating her, and other things, they pushed her towards the cauldron that was brewing another batch of poison. They forced her inside it. She didn't fit, so they held her head in the boiling liquid until she didn't have a face left. They didn't leave until all of her was inside that cauldron.”
“That's awful.” Alexis slid off the toilet and sat in front of Lilia. “I'm sorry.”
“It was a long time ago. But our family has survived, hasn't it?” Lilia grabbed Alexis's hand. “We are family after all.” She smiled. “I knew I could save my mother. I was determined to do so. I took a vial of that poison and traveled to find a real witch, the one who taught my mother how to heal with medicines. She injected the poison into an apple and told me my mother was inside. I didn't believe her at first. It didn't make any sense, but I could feel her around me. I vowed to keep that apple safe until I found the perfect host. Sarah was the first and now it's you. You can help bring her back into this world and save it.”