HEX

by Stacy Charasidis

  They both lay down again and picked up their books, signaling to Dean that he should leave.

  Dean left with his list, feeling stunned at how easy that was. No shock, fear, denial, or comments that he was insane. Ella should have been the boy and me the girl, he thought. Then he heard Max ask Ella, “Did he think we were fooling around?” Max whispered curiously. “With the door open? If we were wouldn’t we close the door? Geez, we’re not stupid! Does he think we’re stupid? He’s stu…” he went on.

  Clueless, Dean laughed to himself as he listened to his sister reassure him.

  Saturday, September 28

  The Barrington Estate

  Luke dreamt of Sadie. She was standing in the woods, smiling at him and beckoning him near. Her hair was blowing in the wind and her dress rippled gracefully. Luke’s longing for his girlfriend flared painfully. Okay, only this brief moment, then we won’t see each other anymore. He went to her and took her in his arms but she suddenly went very still, and as Luke watched in horror, Sadie’s eyes began to glow violet then white and within seconds she disintegrated.

  Luke woke up sweating and shaking, sitting up in bed and taking deep breaths. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his temples. He could still feel the agony of Sadie’s loss ripping through him and tightening his throat. After a few moments the feeling started to fade, like all dreams do, as reality asserted itself. Thankfully, he wouldn’t remember the dream in the morning.

  A tapping at his window made him turn his head and he yelled in surprise and fear. Sadie was at his window—on the second floor. He freaked and surged out of bed, heading to the window at a dead run. He wrenched it open. Sadie was floating in mid-air, purple energy flowing around her and lifting her up. He grabbed her hands and pulled her in. She was in her pajamas! A long, flowing white garment that looked like it came from the middle ages. It was very old fashioned and had a lot of material. He held her tightly and felt her arms go around him.

  “I miss you, Sadie,” he whispered urgently. “I love you so much.”

  She hesitated before she replied. “Me too, Luke,” she said quietly, pulling back and bringing his head down for a kiss. The terrible ache in his heart began to ease as his mouth touched hers and they kissed deeply. Luke groaned at the feel of her body against his. He missed her desperately. He wanted her so badly. She gave a throaty laugh as she stepped back and he laughed with her as he swung her around the room, dancing to silent music.

  After he twirled her around, she stopped and unbuttoned the front of her gown, which fell open to expose the swell of her breasts to her belly. She looked at Luke invitingly, moving her shoulders to expose some of her pink nipple. “Touch me,” she whispered. Her voice held such power, such desire. “Take me, Luke…” she breathed, her chest lifting, begging for his caress.

  Luke burned as he reached for her, but flashes of white in her eyes were disturbing him. Her hair was rippling, and so was her gown, but there was no air moving around the room. She took a step towards him, saying his name softly. His body responded. He was ready, but he was suddenly disoriented and the flush of mindless passion began to recede and was replaced with alarm. Something was very wrong. He stared into Sadie’s eyes and his sight shifted and he knew. Sadie’s body was here, but Sadie wasn’t. It was Willow.

  Luke pushed her and backed away a few steps. “I know what you’re trying to do. It won’t work.”

  “Don’t you miss her?” Willow asked softly, suggestively, exposing one breast and rubbing the nipple invitingly with her fingers.

  In that moment, staring at the face of the girl he loved more than himself, Luke understood why so many men had cheated and fallen under Willow’s spell. Her sensuality was overwhelming, and the temptation to take her, a willing, wanton woman, and love her with no one around to witness…yes, he understood now.

  “You’ll get nothing from me,” Luke said clearly, his breathing shallow. “I will NOT be used to hurt her! I do miss her, desperately. I love her, but most of all, I respect her, and her body. Shame on you, Willow Kellar, for using her, your own flesh and blood. She’s your heir. You should have more respect for her, and for yourself.”

  “Like they respected me?” she hissed at him, suddenly insanely furious. Her eyes blazed demon white and Luke backed away in fear.

  “So you’ll perpetuate behavior you abhor?” he cried. “You are unworthy of her!”

  “And you are worthy of her? You spineless cretin! Abandoning her when she needed you the most? Typical Barrington! I will see her rot in Hell before I allow her to be with you!” She hissed again then bared her teeth in a spiteful expression as she headed to the window. She sailed out of it forcing a cry of horror from Luke. He ran to the window and peered out in terror, but Willow was on the ground, stalking away.

  “Your time has come and gone, Barrington,” she said before disappearing into the woods.

  Luke’s heart was pounding. Love, fear, sorrow, anger all raged within his heart, but he was also filled with a bit of wonder. Beneath all that boiling hate that defined everything Willow was…tonight…well, tonight Luke had sensed disappointment…in him. He had let her down…which meant at some point in their brief interactions he had rated above a lowly worm in her estimation. Something to think about.

  Sunday, September 29

  A Phone Booth in Limerick/The Parker Residence

  Pickup pick up pick up pick up pick up…

  “Hello?” Nathalie answered the phone.

  “Hello? Hello? Nathalie? Nat! I swear to God, I saw ghosts. Ghosts! My God! People we know! How is that possible?” It was Rain, babbling in a terrified panic.

  Nathalie lunged for her journal and started scribbling furiously. “Tell me everything. Did it happen right away?”

  “Did it happ…you knew!” Rain screeched at her sister, “My God, Nathalie. You knew this would happen and you didn’t warn me!”

  Nathalie flinched. “I, yes. No! I wondered if it was true. I read it in Nettie’s journal. I was sure it was hooky! Crazy talk! To your point…how is it possible? I’m so sorry Rain…”

  Silence on the line, and then a sigh. “The first half hour was fine, normal. The graveyard was beautiful, so Gabe and I looked around, reading the grave markers, paid our respects to Mr. Green. After that we started to feel strange, like we were being watched. Then I saw them, everywhere—filmy and flickering. We saw Mr. Green! Gabe shouted, and we ran! Not far though…because after a few rows we stopped seeing anything. Nothing at all, but we weren’t in the Barrington graveyard section anymore!”

  “Rain, Nettie writes that Barrington had a graveyard in town in 1595. It was right beside the church. After Willow was executed for witchcraft the families involved started to see ghosts. Not the whole town, just the hexed families. They were vocal about it at first, but the other townsfolk started to suspect them of witchcraft, or insanity, so the families had a meeting and agreed to keep it under wraps. This is one of the reasons only those families are on the council, so secret information like this doesn’t get out to the general public and cause hysteria. Back then, bad things happened when people got hysterical. As a solution, the council agreed to move the graveyard, hoping distance would solve the problem.”

  “Are you kidding?” she asked incredulously.

  “No, which is why I needed you to do a test. You wouldn’t have gone if I had asked you to look for ghosts!” As Nathalie spoke her head cleared. “Willow’s hex left a mark on all of us, a mark that’s passed down from generation to generation. It’s like a wedge in a door—something was left open, a tie to us and a way back for her when the time was right. If we get rid of Willow and cancel this hex that’s been hanging over our heads for hundreds of years, then we’ll be free of this too.”

  “But Nathalie, Parkers aren’t on the hex list. Barringtons are, so I understand about Gabe, but not us. Why do I see ghosts? Maybe it’s not limited only to hexed families.”

  “We’re not directly on the list, but we are sideliners. Will
ow had a bone to pick with Nettie Parquhar, who is our ancestor. Parker is just an evolution of her name.”

  “Shitstinkle.”

  “You said it. Anyway, that explains why Barringtoners are not encouraged to go to Limerick with a body after the funeral. I understand having the funeral here, in our own church with our own priest, but I always thought the ‘town goodbye’ ritual for the body was stupid…all to make it unnecessary, or even unusual, to go to the Barrington graveyard in Limerick.”

  Nathalie thought of the town design, the buildings, the rituals, the spells…all the stuff The Circle secretly prepared to counter that terrible hex and protect their families.

  “Do you think Father MacGunne knows about all this?”

  “Who knows?” Nathalie said. “Maybe Father Brown left his diary, and instructions, for the next priest, and it’s at the church. I’ll ask Luke to ask his dad. After all, it’s odd for a church not to have a graveyard. Any priest that followed must have wondered.”

  “This is weird shit, Nat. What does it mean?”

  Nathalie was thinking furiously. “No strangers, no ghosts. It’s funny. Every Barringtoner knows the saying, and repeats it, but no one ever asks why the saying exists or what it means. We just accept it as an oddity of our town, the fact that we have no hotels or graveyards.”

  “No one remembers because it has just always been. The explanation isn’t part of our town history lesson, either,” Rain argued.

  “That’s because this is trauma control circa 1590s. It happened so long ago now that no one remembers, and the people who did know the reasoning were trying to keep it a secret.”

  “Makes sense…but you’ve got to wonder what the rest of the town thought of having their dead moved to Limerick.”

  “According to Nettie’s journal, they told the townsfolk they were worried about plague, and they wanted to build a bigger church. They bought it. Everyone was afraid of disease back then.”

  Rain’s voice was muffled briefly. “Relax!” Nathalie heard her yell with her hand over the phone. “What a spaz,” she mumbled. “Nat, that’s Gabe, nagging me like a girl. He wants me to get off the phone. I’m using his phone card, and apparently his mother gets uptight if she sees a conversation on his phone bill that is longer than one she’s had with him herself. Gotta go, babe. I’ve got a date with a tome, anyway. You had better write me EVERYTHING,” she threatened. “You owe me big for this one,” she said before she hung up.

  Silence. Nathalie was thinking and tapping her pen on her book. There must have been at least one person in a hexed family who’d experienced this, but then she tossed the idea aside. If council families have strict orders not to go to the graveyard, they don’t go, so it’s most likely a dead end.

  Nathalie’s Journal – Entry for Sunday, September 29

  Dean and Luke just left. We’ve been crammed in my room for hours talking about the fact that we see ghosts. They have access to our mortal senses! It’s a terrifying thought, and terribly wrong. We shouldn’t be able to see them. It’s not right. None of us want to see dead people.

  According to Nettie, Willow was burned to ash, which was blown all over Barrington Forest. Does that mean she’s everywhere? I know Luke was pretty horrified at the thought.

  I think the ghosts are just by products of an open doorway, and Luke agreed with me. He thinks that the open doorway is something we need to be concerned about, and he made a very interesting point.

  What if something else tries to come through?

  Monday, September 30

  The Residential Quads

  Despite a couple of days delay while they waited for Father MacGunne to bless their water, the spell went well. Max and Ella were a great team. Max handled the technical set up while Ella handled the spell casting.

  Nathalie was impressed. “Wow,” was all she could say.

  The first part of the spell required the residents’ houses to be sprayed with holy water. Once Ella cast the spell, the holy water would keep out unholy beings such as ghosts and other non-corporeal troublemakers. To set that part up, Dean had kids in teams on bikes spraying holy water on the houses in each residential quad using squirt guns.

  The second part of the spell involved—

  “Trees?” Dean asked doubtfully.

  Max grinned and explained. “The spell to keep non-resident jerk mortals from harassing citizens in their homes is a bit trickier. We can’t do individual protection spells per house, which would take forever since we are doing all the neighborhoods, so we needed to use more general objects or things. The spell Sadie designed targets malicious intent of non-residents and makes them uninterested in coming near. By spelling the trees around the residential quads…”

  “No jerk will even consider messing with the residents,” Ella finished.

  “Exactly,” Max beamed at her.

  “What about our resident hooligans?” Nathalie asked curiously.

  Max shrugged. “That’s why we still need Sheriff Holt,” he said simply.

  October

  Tuesday, October 1

  The Kellar Residence

  It was very early morning. The room was as gray as the slashing rain outside. Sadie woke slowly, disoriented. Feelings of unease and fear were pulling her from sleep and she knew why. Something was manifesting in her room. A presence was forming, watching her. She sat up in bed, her heart pounding and her skin starting to prickle. She watched in horror as the entity solidified into the shape of Willow Kellar. Her hair and black dress were rippling as if she were standing in the wind. Sadie glanced wildly at her bedroom door and window and Willow laughed. Sadie could hear the locks turn.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Willow said lightly, staring at Sadie with her white eyes. “I need you now. There’s no more playing around. No more visits. You’re done.”

  Sadie frowned and responded coldly and evenly, even though she was freaking out inside. Time’s up, she thought to herself. “Why don’t you just leave me alone? None of these people ever did anything to you, you crazy witch. The people you want to punish are long dead.”

  “Crazy witch?” Willow’s beautiful face contorted in rage before returning to its determined expression. “You know nothing of me, child. Nothing of what I endured at the hands of those people! Nothing!” Willow said vehemently.

  Suddenly Sadie was furious. Three months of stress and fear launched her out of bed towards the apparition. Willow flowed back as Sadie screamed, “WHAT, WILLOW? WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO TO YOU TO DESERVE MURDERING THEIR CHILDREN AND TAKING WHAT WASN’T YOURS TO TAKE? WHAT?”

  “They took my husband and my child!” Willow raged back.

  “You were just a harlot! You weren’t married!” Sadie yelled.

  Willow looked at Sadie with disdain. “Who says?”

  “There’s no mention—”

  “No mention? So? You didn’t find an official record…in Limerick? Where I lived. Just because you can’t find a paper record that speaks of it does not mean it didn’t happen, you foolish child!”

  Sadie was stunned. Limerick? “What are you talking about?” she said tensely.

  Willow considered her before answering. “I was married when I was fifteen and by sixteen had a babe of my own. He was a sweet boy. My husband’s name was Jessie. He was a second generation ‘half breed’ as you refer to it these days—three quarters German settler and one quarter native Indian.” Anger appeared in Willow’s face.

  “We had been sweethearts since we were small. We were frantically in love! We couldn’t keep our hands off each other, like you and your Barrington boy. The town rejoiced at our marriage. The Kellars were a very popular family, and we were good youths. We were blessed with a child almost right away. We named our son Jessie Jr. Jessie didn’t want that, but I wanted my son to bear the name of his father, the man I loved more than anything in the world. Jessie gave in, of course. He was the kindest and gentlest man. He always gave me everything I wanted.” Willow hesitated and then continued. �
��But then the Von Vixen’s arrived off the boat from Europe and settled in our town. Rich and entitled, they considered us all beneath them.” Willow spat with disgust.

  “The younger son, Karl, became obsessed with me even though I was a happily married young woman. Since he considered us all dirt anyway, he decided he could do whatever he wanted. The young men of the town followed him like dogs because he was ‘pure’ European stock and was very flashy with his fashionably cut clothes and sparkling jewels. He was the one who started to call Jessie a half-breed and made him seem less than human. He told people Jessie didn’t deserve to have a white wife, especially one as beautiful as me…”

  Willow’s eyes glowed as she looked at Sadie. “I began to fear for my husband. Our families went to the town leaders and THEY WOULDN’T HELP US,” she hissed, her white eyes shooting sparks. “Why? Because Elanah Von Vixen was the honourable Sean Kirkman’s mistress, and he refused to interfere with her brother. I knew even then that those boys would take matters into their own hands and hurt my beloved husband. I warned the Kellars, but Jessie was incensed when he found out that Karl was harassing me, and in a rage, confronted him. Jessie was strong and Karl a stupid popinjay prancing around in his silly ruffles.” Willow laughed, “Jessie, as you say, ‘kicked his skinny ass’ in front of all his friends that day.”

  Willow’s look quickly changed to anguish. “That night a mob of young, brainwashed men came after Jessie. They broke into our home and dragged Jessie out of our bed. That’s the night my power manifested itself, just like I knew yours would in defense of Luke when Liora attacked him and you thought she was going to kill him. I too attempted to defend my love, but I was too late to save my husband. They strung him up in our yard so fast and they made me watch as they hung him, all the while hollering and laughing! Karl meant to rape me and murder my son, who was now screaming in the house from all the noise and commotion. I was terrified, and slow, but when Karl said ‘get the boy and string him up beside his half-breed father,’ well, my fury overwhelmed my shock, and before anyone could move a muscle, I melted the flesh from the bones of every man in that clearing until you couldn’t tell they had been human. Except for one. Karl Von Vixen got away because I let him. Death wasn’t good enough for that man. He ran to Barrington.”