Tales of Aradia: The Last Witch

by Magnum Opus

  Chapter Seven

  "So where are you from?” Rhonda asked as she and Aradia shuffled through the cafeteria line getting their food. "Nebraska," Aradia replied reaching for her wallet and placing her money in the cashier's hand. "Wow..." said Rhonda, "what's it like there?" "Boring, hence why we left," Aradia said chuckling. "We?" Rhonda inquired raising an eyebrow. "My parents and I," Aradia explained. "Oh," said Rhonda nodding. Rhonda and Aradia slowly made their way through the crowded lunch tables in the lunchroom that was so crowded and full of people talking and shoving it seemed more like a Metallica concert than a part of a school. Soon they got to a table a bit more isolated from the rest of them and Aradia automatically assumed that this was what was known in school-like TV dramas as "the loser table." She glanced over to Rhonda who was greeting the people already sitting at the table and struggled with herself over whether or not this was the direction she wanted to take with her social standing. Rhonda looked over and said with her braces sparkling, "so you going to sit down or what?" Aradia had never had friends before neither real ones nor fake ones and these days it was bad luck to have imaginary friends unless you wanted to end up in a psych ward. So with a shrug of her shoulders and a sigh she sat down next to Rhonda, concluding to herself any type of friend popular or no is better than no friends at all. Rhonda introduced everyone and as they discussed their experiences on their first day of school Aradia heard a familiar voice from behind her, "hey speedy 'sup?"Aradia grinned and turned to look at Roy, "hey there yourself." Roy glanced all around to look at the other people sitting at the table and then asked, "You want to come sit with me and my crew?"Aradia's enthusiasm at Roy's arrival vanished and said, "What’s that supposed to mean?" Roy said, "I am just saying..." and shrugged his shoulders like what he was thinking should be so obvious that it really did not need to be spoken out loud. Aradia started to scowl until Rhonda interrupted, "you know we'd understand if you'd want to sit with him instead of us."Aradia glanced all around at the others sitting at the table whom she just happily chatted with a few minutes ago turned around and said, "No thanks Roy I am perfectly happy sitting here." He glanced around one last time, shrugged his shoulders and said, "suit yourself." "That was pretty cool of you to do," said Frank, a bespectacled video gamer who was part of the crowd that was sitting at the table. "Ah no problem," said Aradia. Rhonda then said, "But it’s probably going to lower your chances to be popular at this school several notches." Aradia shrugged, "if I want to be popular I can audition on American Idol." Everyone burst out laughing but as they quieted down Frank started looking around curiously. "What's up Frank?" asked Billy, a greasy haired short blonde boy whose eyes appeared to be glued to a comic book. Frank shook his head and said, "Nothing." "No seriously Frank spill," Rhonda asked. "Its just that...everyone seems to be staring at us," said Frank. "Dude," interjected a black spiky haired boy named Calvin who had a large pile of books around him and was currently reading a particular huge one, "They always stare at us." Frank shook his head and said, "No its more than usual today its...weird." Aradia glanced over her shoulder and got a feeling of déjà vu because indeed Frank was right everyone was staring at them. Well almost everyone for like this morning in the hallway the people who seemed too beautiful or perfect to be real was staring at them intensely with the same mixture of fascination and animosity. It was like they were staring at something they had never seen before something beautiful but like with everything new or unusual they were feeling a bit apprehensive about why or how something so new or strange could even exist but most of all was it dangerous. Aradia shook off the feeling of uneasiness, turned to her friends, said, "Forget 'em it's no big deal." "Still," Frank continued, "it's weird how they are all staring at us." "Maybe they forgot to take their medication," Aradia grumbled. Frank's face and tone turned venomous as he said, "I take medication. Anti-depressants to be precise" Aradia, embarrassed about her previous statement yet determined to put an end to the conversation, replied "I never said that the medication they forgot to take was for depression." "What other type of medication is there?" asked Calvin. "Well there's medication that helps to improve your mind while there other medications help improve other parts of your body," said Aradia adding a wicked grin to drive the punch line home. After a brief silence everyone at the table burst out laughing and Aradia stretched her arms behind her head, completely satisfied.

  The school day was long and tiring but Aradia felt good about it, nonetheless. She had made five new friends (one she hoped she was still friends with in spite of saying no to him). She liked her classes and teachers, and in spite of making one enemy namely Tristan, the student body was generally accepting of her, which in itself was a huge contrast to the school in Nebraska. Afterwards as Aradia waited outside the school office for her mother (who was being interviewed to be an art teacher for the school) she began to think that she was going to like it here in Salem. However, there was something in Salem that bothered her: the people who had been staring at her all day. The beautiful people with perfect hair, bodies, teeth, and the whole she-bang who stared at her intensely as if she was more beautiful than all of them put together. It wasn't just the fact they were beautiful that made them stand out. It was because they were abnormally beautiful. Most curious of all was that they all seemed to be enclosed together like some sort of secret cult. The people who stared at her were often seen together in a close circle isolated from the regular-looking people and were often seen to be whispering or using secret nudges to indicate some type of secret language they used that only existed among them. So not only did they seem to be a "perfect" race of people who stared at her weirdly but they also seemed to share some sort of deep dark secret.

  Chapter Eight

  "Morgan!" the master bellowed. "Morgan where are you?" In a puff of black smoke, she appeared kneeling at the master's feet. "You summoned me master?" The master looked down at her and said, "Keon of the Night Shadow clan has reported to me of an anomaly appearing in Salem, MA in the United States. I wish to know if what he saw was indeed the last witch." "As you wish master," Morgan said nodding. Keon appeared at his side and asked, "what must I do master?" "Ask Morgan" he snapped. Keon gulped wondering if what he was supposed to do was going to traumatize him for life. Morgan moved towards him while Keon readied himself. When she was merely inches away from him, she stopped, held out her long green arm, and gestured to a wall. "Do you see that mirror?" she asked in her usual raspy voice. Keon nodded. Morgan then told him, "go to that mirror and look into it." "Why?" the question was out of Keon's mouth before he could stop it. "It is a revealing mirror it reveals what you wish to show us so that we may see it for ourselves," Morgan explained. Keon nodded, walked to where the mirror hung,and looked into it. At first, all he saw was a tall bulky man with shoulder length black hair, with a square firm jaw, and had a sinister expression that seemed to be permanently etched on his face. Then he saw a young redheaded woman appear looking lost, wearing a jean jacket, a purple shirt, and flowery patterned boot cut jeans with sneakers. "Is this the girl you wish to show us?" the master asked Keon. Keon too intimidated to speak merely nodded. "Well Morgan?" the master then asked her. Morgan gulped which told the master plenty. He growled in frustration and said, "can you not sense anything from her?" "Oh yes master of course I can," Morgan said nodding enthusiastically. "And yet?" the master pressed. Morgan gulped and said, "well in order to tell who she really is I must have something that belongs to her. Something important but it must have her blood on it as well." "Well that sounds easy enough," the master thundered sarcastically. "Trust in me Master and the rest of my clan," Keon protested, "we shall retrieve what you need. I already have one of my troops Saul keeping an eye on her." The master nodded. "If you wish," Keon inquired further, "we can snatch her right now and bring her to you." The master paused to consider this but then he shook his head. "no," he explained to Keon, "by now the other hiddens have most assuredly noticed her and if I was to snatch her. Questions would be raised..." "You ne
ed not answer them Master," Keon insisted, "for as master of all the vampires your word is law!" "True," the master said acknowledging this, "but still one whisper of protest can incite even the most insignificant of rebellions. The vampires follow me with no doubt, but the other hiddens still have trouble accepting my rule. If I make any move that they find suspicious..," "You are above them master," said Keon. "Yes but no need to start a war to conquer the other hiddens until I am ready do so," the master concluded with a sinister smile. "In the mean time keep an eye on her and when it is opportune. Snatch something that meets Morgan's criteria but make sure no one notices you doing so understand?" the master instructed to Keon. Keon merely nodded and left the the throne room. The master lingered studying Aradia's reflection that remained in the mirror like a newly painted portrait. "It's hard to believe," the master said finally, "that this little thing is the survivor of her people. I mean look at her," he pointed straight at the mirror. "I have faced off far more powerful creatures especially witches more fearsome than that!" He chucked while lowering his arm. Gathering her courage Morgan said, "if I may be so bold master..." "What?" he snapped. "You should not underestimate her, for if there is one thing I sense it is that she is much stronger than you give her credit for," Morgan braced herself for what she thought would be the inevitable beating, surprisingly the master merely chuckled. He looked back at the mirror and said, "that little girl? Don't make me laugh," and with that the master turned on his heel and left.

  "Hey did you hear?" Frank asked as he sat down at the table with excitement dripping from his voice. "You talking? Yeah I heard that," Aradia quipped. The others all laughed while Frank scowled and said, "No you guys. I am talking about the unsolved murder that happened in September. Remember? The guy who lived on top of his hardware store that was killed. No blood but two puncture wounds to the throat." "Oh yeah the "vampire murder" I read about it in the paper," said Billy. "Billy, you read everything," Calvin grumbled. "Who asked you?" snapped Billy. Calvin opened his mouth to argue but Frank cut him off by saying, "anyway," dropping his voice dramatically, "they are thinking about declaring that case a 'cold case file'." Aradia's ears perked up a bit while Rhonda asked Frank, "what is a cold case file?" "A case nobody can solve obviously," said Calvin with a sarcastic groan. "They got those?" asked Billy lifting his eyes temporarily from his comic book. Calvin snapped at him, “hate to break it to you Robin but there is no Batman, which means there is no such thing as world's greatest detective meaning hell yeah there are cases nobody can solve dingus!" There was an awkward silence around the table until finally Billy muttered under his breath, "a simple yes would have been enough dude!" "Anyway," Frank interrupted eager to prevent another fight between Billy and Calvin and wanting to continue his story, "they are thinking about sealing that case away or sending it to a cold case unit in another state." "So?" asked Rhonda."So," Frank argued, "the odds are they are never going to solve that case which means whoever killed that guy will get away with murder!" A dramatic silence entered the conversation while Frank continued, "And chances are that the person who did that guy in was someone in Salem." "You mean there might be a murderer walking amongst us?" asked Rhonda her voice shaking. Frank nodded and Calvin asked, "I don't see how that that's really such a big deal." "I do," said Aradia. The others had never heard Aradia sounding so serious before but Calvin being oblivious to such things just raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh you do you? Well by all means explain." "If someone got away with murder it will make them think that they can kill again," Aradia argued. "Now why would they want to go and do that?" asked Calvin. "Because they probably think by now that they can commit any crime especially murder and there will be nothing that anyone can do to stop them." said Aradia.

  Sometimes Aradia liked to do her homework right after school. One of the best places she liked to go and do her homework was at the bleachers. So there she was seating at the top of the bleachers listening to the coach yelling and the football players grunting and heaving as they did their various torturous drills. Suddenly,nthe quarterback slipped, and fell down onto the ground with a horrifying loud sickening crack. Aradia gasped as everyone rushed to him. At first, Aradia just watched as the people swarmed around the kid but she grew alarmed as she started hearing the boy screaming and yelling. The boy then stood himself up, hobbled off to the bleachers and slammed his stuff down on to the ground. Aradia looked at the boy and thought to herself, what the hell?

  Practice was pretty much over by then but when some of the other members of the team approached the injured quarterback, he snapped them away like an irritated crocodile. Soon the boys stopped trying, shrugged, and left him as they gathered their equipment. Aradia got curious and slowly started climbing down the bleachers toward him. He was currently burying his face in his hands and shaking it vigorously when Aradia asked him, "you okay?" The boy whipped around and snapped, "Who the hell are you?" Aradia, a bit taken back at his rudeness, nevertheless continued and said, "my name is Aradia and I am wondering if you are okay?" "Do I look okay to you?" he snapped again. "No, that's why I am asking," Aradia stated as-a-matter-of-factly. The boy was stunned into silence but nevertheless said, "It’s none of your damn business!" "Okay so what if I were to pay you a penny for your thoughts would that makes it my business?" Aradia smiled after what she thought was a funny joke. The boy was once again stunned into silence but after a few moments heaved a few sigh and asked," if I tell you will you get the hell out of here and leave me the hell alone?!" "No promises," said Aradia. Silent once again but only for a few moments the boy sighed and explained, "I just found out that I sprained my ankle and there is no way in hell will it heal in time for the homecoming game so not only will I not be able to play for the first and most important game of the entire football season but I won't able to play for my dad who can only ever make it to my homecoming games and none of the others!" He began to breathe heavily because the explanation had obviously been an emotional and heated one. Aradia just stared at him and said, "Bummer." The boy raised an eyebrow and asked, "who in the hell uses the word 'bummer' anymore?" Aradia shrugged and said, "But that's what it is isn't it? Your injury and your entire situation." The boy thought about it, finally sighed and nodded his head in agreement. Aradia sighed as well wondering what could be done. All of a sudden Aradia snapped her fingers and reached into her backpack and said, "Let me look at your ankle." The boy drew back utterly freaked until Aradia explained, “I think I might have something that will help." "I cannot use steroids you know?" the boy said sarcastically. Aradia groaned and said, "Well duh I know and it's not steroids that I plan to help you with." Now the boy's interest was definitely piqued and he asked, "What?" Aradia pulled out a small white container with a peach-looking cream contained inside. "You’re going to make me wear makeup?" the boy asked incredulously. "No! This isn't makeup this is cream it can heal sprained limbs," Aradia explained causing the boy to look at her skeptically, "it can I swear!" "Yeah right," said the boy, "look um...thanks for the...uh... 'Help' but I really need to go." "Oh c'mon Jayden what have you got to lose?" Aradia argued. The boy shrugged but after a few seconds his head shot up and demanded, "How’d you know my name was Jayden?" "Look!" Aradia argued, "just trust me!" "Trust you? Lady, I don't even know you!" "True," Aradia shrugged, "but you know where I go to school so if this turns out to be something that screws you over you will be able to know where I am and kick my ass!" "How do I know you go to Salem High?" "Look!" Aradia practically shouted tired of arguing with him, "I am trying to help you out of the goodness of my heart do not make me regret it okay? Now shut up and hold still." Before Jayden could argue she grabbed his ankle, peeled down the sock, tired not to retch from the smell of his sweaty smelly feet, and held his ankle steady as she applied the cream. However, to speed up the process she decided to use her "summoning" power to heal it faster. Two seconds later, the tips of her fingers began to glow with white light but Aradia careful to keep the power unnoticed kept the glow to look as dim as a firefly. Sure
enough the ankle began to heal until it looked like it had never been injured especially not a few hours ago. Jayden yanked back his ankle and upon examination stared at Aradia in disbelief who quickly said, "Now I can't be sure it will help but stay off it and soak the ankle for a couple days I am sure you'll ready to rumble by homecoming game time." "Ready to rumble?" Jayden raised an eyebrow. "You know you're going to go blind if you keep doing that," Aradia quipped with a wicked grin. Jayden chuckled and said, "Well thanks anyway," and began to walk off the field towards the parking lot. Suddenly he stopped, turned back to look at her, and said, "look I appreciate you helping me and all but this does not make us friends or nothing. So next time we see each other do me a favor and do not say hi or anything." "Say hi to a football player," Aradia gasped clutching her heart for dramatic flair, "heaven forbid! I mean I mean you no disrespect or anything but I got a reputation as a being a "loser" at this school and being friends with you would totally ruin it! No offense or anything." Jayden chuckled while Aradia winked at him.