HEX

by Stacy Charasidis

  Nathalie was now dying of curiosity. Something had happened last night that had obviously been some sort of threat to Luke. Something that had gotten out of control.

  There was a soft tap at the door and Luke peeked in hesitantly. Sadie gave him a small nod and he raced into the room with a tray of hot chocolate while Dean followed with crackers, cheese and cookies. Nathalie realized that she was starving.

  Luke forced a mug on Sadie and quickly made her a plate. “Eat, please,” he said desperately and she complied by popping a cube of cheese into her mouth.

  Dean had a mystified look on his face and Nathalie gave him a small shrug. Luke caught the exchange and sat down at Sadie’s feet. He looked at Sadie and took a breath.

  “Sadie’s magic…power…whatever you want to call it, manifested itself last night,” he said quietly.

  Nathalie and Dean sat very still.

  That’s it, Dean thought resignedly, I just can’t dodge that bullet, can I.

  Nathalie shook her head to clear it.

  “It’s purple,” Luke babbled.

  “Okay,” Nathalie said soothingly. “Purple. Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

  Luke told them about Liora Kellar’s attack. “I couldn’t reach Sadie this morning at all. She wasn’t answering her cell. So I sneaked into the woods behind the Kellar house early this morning, and if I didn’t see her, I was going to call Sheriff Holt and insist he search the Kellar house.”

  Luke was breathing heavily and Sadie looked at him with some concern.

  “Luckily, Liora and Boris went out so I climbed the trellis at the back and saw her sleeping.” Luke took a deep breath. “I tried to wake her up but she was so disoriented. I was sure Liora had drugged her! Then she tried to break up with me and told me to leave!” Luke’s voice was agitated. “So I pleaded for her to come with me and she agreed, so here we are.”

  Dean raised his eyebrows in alarm and Nathalie put her hand on Sadie’s. “So, what’s the situation with your aunt?”

  Sadie shrugged. “I’m not sure, exactly. After I fainted in the yard, Luke revived me and wanted to take me home with him, but I knew I couldn’t come here. It’s too much of an imposition.”

  Luke snorted. “You don’t know my mother,” he said with pride.

  She smiled slightly as she continued, “Luke helped me to the door and Uncle Boris opened it. He made sure Luke was okay and then sent him home. He said it was dangerous for Luke to be here right now. At first Luke wouldn’t leave, but Boris assured him I’d be just fine. After Luke left I walked into the kitchen and faced my aunt, who was sitting at the kitchen table as if nothing had happened. I told her never to threaten any of my friends ever again. She just agreed, and I went to bed.” Sadie shrugged. “I was a bit feverish afterwards, but she was there, wiping my face with a cool cloth and taking care of me. She was happy! When she left, I started to pace. I think that’s when shock set in. I was exhausted this morning when Luke found me.”

  “I don’t trust her,” Luke said with a frown. “Who threatens to kill you and then wipes sweat off your face? Liora’s crazy! I’m missing something,” Luke exclaimed, frustrated that he couldn’t figure out what he was missing.

  Sadie shrugged again. “Regardless, that’s my aunt and my home, and I think that my aunt is slightly afraid of me. After I threatened her, Uncle Boris explained that Liora had been a bit stressed lately, and when she saw me in town with that Barrington boy, well…” she smiled wryly at Luke, “the shock sent her over the edge. It’s just that the Barringtons have always been considered our mortal enemies. A famous feud, like Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues. Instead of Romeo and Juliet we’re Luke and Sadie.” Sadie sighed. “Apparently she was regretful.”

  “So why break up with Luke?” Dean asked with innocent curiosity. He was stuffing his face with cookies. Nothing hurt his appetite.

  Sadie shook her head and her face tightened. “I don’t want Luke to get hurt.”

  “I’m not going to get hurt!” Luke said heatedly.

  Sadie stared at Luke. “You don’t understand. I can feel it, deep inside. Something is happening around me that I don’t understand yet, but believe me, someone or something has a plan for me. If Willow is haunting me or controlling me, I’m quite sure her plan does not include having a Barrington for a boyfriend.”

  Luke made a sound of protest.

  “You are always with me!” Sadie exclaimed. “Suppose you’re there when I lose time? You could get hurt, even killed! I can’t take that chance. I won’t.” Sadie’s voice was laced with fear. “And now this power. Suppose it’s used against you? I flung my aunt ten feet and it didn’t take any effort.”

  Luke looked at his friends. “From what I saw last night, Sadie is extremely powerful. More powerful than Willow ever was, I’d wager. Definitely more powerful than her aunt.”

  “How can you tell?” Nathalie asked, surprised.

  Luke squeezed himself on the couch and pulled Sadie close. “You can feel something like buzzing or static when Liora is using her power, like she doesn’t have full control of it. It doesn’t seem like she’s powerful enough to harness it, you know…keep it near her, so it dissipates a bit creating that static electricity feeling. Our hair was standing on end. With Sadie, well…”

  Everyone waited expectantly.

  “Sadie just pulled energy towards her…no static or buzzing, just ropes of purple power and full control. Liora is nowhere near as powerful as her.”

  “Power that can kill in the wrong hands,” Sadie added seriously. “I know that instinctively.”

  Ah, the crux of the matter. Nathalie thought. With missing time, she’s scared because she doesn’t know what happens during that time.

  “You would never hurt Luke,” Dean said reassuringly.

  “I wouldn’t. But that thing haunting me might,” she said coldly. Her anger at being used was apparent.

  “Willow,” Luke said decisively.

  “We never confirmed,” Sadie said stubbornly.

  “So let’s confirm,” Nathalie said. “Sadie, do you know of a way to communicate with this entity?” Nathalie asked curiously, looking at Sadie. “Do you have a…spell of some sort we can try?”

  “Talk to a ghost?” Dean said with some skepticism. “Like a séance?”

  “Exactly,” Nathalie said with an admiring glance at Dean.

  “It’s Willow,” Luke said brusquely. “I know it’s her. It has to be. I’m not crazy. She spoke to me on the library steps. She didn’t introduce herself, but she looks just like Sadie, and she’s evil. Who else could it be?”

  “Luke, I agree with you, but let’s make sure. What’s preventing us from solving anything is we continue to act like victims, pretending it’s not happening and waiting in fear to see what’s going to happen next. It’s time to take control—record what we know and get answers for what we don’t know.” Nathalie took a determined breath. “The seemingly impossible or supernatural is actually true.” Nathalie said decisively. “Luke witnessed Sadie when she was being possessed. No one else could see it, but Luke could. We need the name of that entity.”

  Luke nodded.

  “I was hexed,” Dean said quietly. The inability to control himself or make his own decisions during that time still gave him nightmares.

  “That’s right,” Nathalie said with a frown. “I couldn’t see the hex bag but Sadie could.”

  “And there’s Nat’s demon,” Sadie said finally. “The one who likes superstitious jingles and leaves gold coins as calling cards. The one we almost forgot about.”

  “I wonder how many other beings we’ve encountered that we don’t remember,” Dean mused, thinking about the person who sold his sister the eyelash. “There are a lot of new and strange people visiting or participating at the fair.” Dean told them about Ella’s hair and her wishing eyelash.

  Nathalie was shocked. “Are you serious? And you’re just telling us now?”

  “It slipped my mind!” Dean
said sheepishly.

  Luke looked doubtful. “Are you sure? Ella’s smart. She’s played a joke or two on you, buddy…”

  “Nah, man. Her hair is real. I checked. Apparently the second eyelash didn’t work for her though, so who knows.”

  “What concerns me is that Ella is playing with magic. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? We may not be the only ones having strange experiences,” Nathalie said.

  “So all these odd things are happening now, and maybe not just to us,” Luke pointed out. He had moved so that Sadie was settled firmly in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

  “When I was at Taline’s stand, I asked her for a special stone that wouldn’t let me forget things that happen to me.” Sadie lifted her wrist and a blood red stone was lashed tightly against the underside of her wrist with some sort of woven, hemp cord. “I’m not sure if it will help when I lose time because I think my mind goes to sleep and doesn’t record memories, but it will prevent me from forgetting any other ‘special’ beings I may meet.”

  “Maybe we should all get them,” Luke suggested, taking Sadie’s wrist and looking closely at the stone. “It’s pulsing. Wow. It’s beautiful.”

  “Yes, and very rare. It’s a bloodstone. It matches your heartbeat. Taline lent me this one for now because of my problem.”

  Nathalie was frowning. “I never wrote my sister for information on the demon,” Nathalie realized, angry with herself. “This is what I mean! We talk, it’s important, but the urgency just, well, fades.”

  “We’re distracted, even my dad,” Luke said quietly. “He hasn’t said anything, but he’s become more secretive since the windmill started spinning and houses in town were marked with blood.”

  “Yes, and if you look at the list of families who were targeted, they’re all on the town council, except for the Crofts. So why Dean’s family? I did some checking. The only other tie all the families have is that they are all originals.”

  “Originals?” Sadie asked.

  “The book I’m reading on Barrington County calls the first settler families ‘originals,’ but not all original families are on Mrs. Barrington’s list,” Nathalie said. “Only a select few, so I can’t figure out what the connection is.”

  “Maybe there is no connection,” Dean suggested. “Maybe it’s random. Why is this so important to you, Nat?” Dean asked curiously.

  “I’m not sure,” Nathalie said, shaking her head. “The fact that the list wasn’t circulated or published in the paper is significant. Claire Barrington doesn’t pull strings like that unless it’s important.”

  “We need to figure out what the link is,” Sadie said.

  “Maybe it’s just wild behaviour. Nathalie and I closed the factory this afternoon. The place was nuts. Employees playing games and drinking beer. We’ve never seen this. Ever. It’s crazy,” Dean said.

  Nathalie nodded. “I felt the same way last night observing the behaviour at The Rotunda. The town is wild every night with revelers, and there’s absolutely no control. Even my dad was blasé about it.”

  There was general agreement.

  “I think we’ve all had the same thoughts,” Nathalie said, thinking back to her conversation with her dad. “So for argument’s sake, if we boil it down we have a mysterious witch in town, a trapped demon threatening people and tossing around evil gold coins, the ghost (to be confirmed) of Willow Kellar haunting Sadie, and a town gone wild.”

  “Yay,” Dean said under his breath.

  Nathalie looked around at her friends. “Time to make a plan. Luke, please get me some writing paper and a pen before I forget again. I’ll ask Rain to find Dannerlich’s tome, or anything by that writer.”

  “Deitriche. The writer. His name is Klaus Deitriche,” Luke supplied helpfully, along with paper and pen. “Nothing like the memory of a genius IQ,” he said with a small self-deprecating laugh.

  “I’m also going to need that coin. I’m sending it to Rain. The markings may be important.”

  Sadie was standing. “Right. I’ll check the demon reference book at my house and get the coin. I’ve memorized his markings,” she added.

  Nathalie looked around at her friends. “No more ostrich behavior. Magic exists, witches exist, demons exist, ghosts exist and possession is possible. Any questions?”

  “Nooooope,” Dean said for all of them.

  “We’re going to figure this out. It’s no coincidence that this is all happening at the same time. We just need to tie it all together.”

  Barrington County

  Wednesday, August 14

  Dear Rain,

  Hi sweetie, hope you’re doing well. We really need your help, so I’m going to jump right into it. Please, I need you to take this very seriously even though you may have a hard time believing what I’m about to write.

  Things have gotten very strange in our town. The festival is wild this year. It’s kind of worrisome because it seems to be a bit out of control and none of the adults are doing anything about it. Nothing bad has happened yet, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but it’s still creepy. Some pretty strange folk have come to visit, and stayed.

  I am working with some friends to figure out what’s going on here and we need some books that are only available in Superstition’s Library. In this envelope I’ve included a coin. It’s a very special coin. It has been shrink wrapped so you can see the markings, but DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, touch it with your skin! It is coated with some sort of poison that will make you sick. I’ll explain more about it when I see you next.

  For now, we desperately need information on the being stamped on this coin. We believe he’s a demon and that his name is Dannerlich. One side of the coin has the demon’s face. On the other side the demon’s symbol. Apparently there is a book in Superstition’s library about him (according to the on-line catalogue). Sadie says it’s probably a large tome (book with leather and buckles) with the demon’s face or symbol etched on it. It will contain a record of the demon written by the humans or witches that knew him. See if it matches, if it does, we need to know his story. Right now Sadie was able to identify him as a bad luck demon that made superstitions come true. Considering the name of the town you’re in, we suspect he was there at some point.

  Sadie is also having a strange summer, to put it mildly. We’ve discovered Beth (the girl I complained to you about) is an actual witch. Now a demon and a ghost (I know, I need to explain but I don’t have time)…we think this may all be tied together somehow.

  I am also looking for the “Book of Record” by a Dame N. Parquhar. Luke and Sadie requested it from Superstition but it never came. We need that book! Can you look for it as well? It’s going to be in rare books for sure. Steal it if you have to!

  I need to post this right away, so I don’t have time for more details in this letter. See if you can find the tome and anything else pertaining to the start of the three counties. I’m not sure Limerick is involved, but Superstition definitely is. Something significant happened around here in the last five hundred years, and we need to know what that is!

  Your sister,

  Nathalie

  PS: Nick says hi.

  PPS: Don’t tell anyone except Gabriel what you’re doing. It may be dangerous if the wrong person finds out what you’re researching.

  THE BARRINGTON BUGLE – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23

  Barrington’s Harvest Festival – A Smashing Success!

  By Patrick O’Callaghan

  The festival so far has been a smashing success! Despite the innocent vandalism proclaimed in the papers earlier this month by a sensationalist journalist, more visitors than ever before are streaming in for Barrington’s Harvest Festival. New vendors have set up shop and a multitude of new and interesting trinkets and novelty items are for sale. One vendor is selling “wishes” in coloured vials, while another has jewelry made from glowing gems. For the men, designer weapons for display are laid out to view along with exclusively designed belts and shoes. Toymakers, from our own
Toys, Trains & Merryment Toy Store, doll makers, and other crafters are there for the pleasure of your little ones.

  As for food, no need to eat at home or the outlying hotels! Baker has outdone himself this year with his goods, Ye Ole Sweete Shoppe is represented in full force, and the Curtis brothers have Town Circle covered for good food and drink. For those romantic diners, the Spells & Stars Restaurant is still your best choice – but you’ll need a reservation. Not to forget – the new chocolate drink that has become this festival’s rage – produced by none other than Barrington’s own Limerick Candy Factory run by Shaemus O’Malley. It isn’t available for sale yet, according to the pretty servers, but it is free for anyone who wants a cup.

  Who would have thought we could have shaken a coin from that old leprechaun Shaemus, eh? To top it all off, the legendary reveler has been unusually absent this year. Come out from under the shamrocks, Shaemus! Bottoms up and top o the mornin’ to ya!

  On the activities front, the riding barn has been a galloping success with the kids. Wayman’s arrival in Barrington has been a godsend. His popularity has spurred a committee of town members to form a group to plan new and exciting activities for our guests. Surprisingly, one of those members is actually part of the town council – old Eric Sweet. (Finally doing something to earn that councilman salary. Don’t think I don’t remember that twenty bucks you still owe me, you old weasel.) The plan is to organize hiking excursions to Crystal Falls with lunch included, mock “witch hunts” through the woods, and a nightly staging of the Kellar Witch trial and hanging, among other things. The activities will be posted as they’re organized, so don’t forget to check The Bugle Bulletin Boards at the fair and around town.

  THE BARRINGTON BUGLE – THURSDAY, AUGUST 24

  Letters to the Editor

  Issac:

  I really must protest you allowing your reporters to broadcast their personal messages and gambling debts in the town’s newspaper under the guise of an article. It’s unprofessional and inappropriate. The paper’s articles should report facts and not act as a vehicle for personal communication. It sends the wrong message to the visitors of our town. If O’Callaghan wants to go drinking with his buddy, or collect money he’s due, he should just pick up the phone.