by Tanya Milne
Anna and Elijah smiled at each other, and all of a sudden, I felt as though we were intruding.
‘Well, I guess I’d better make a move. Science test coming up,’ I said, standing. ‘You stay, Elijah. I’ll see you at home.’
‘No way I’m letting my little sis walk home on her own,’ said Elijah.
‘I’ll be fine. I have a pretty good right hook, thanks to you,’ I said, stepping backwards. ‘Thanks for a great night. See you tomorrow.’
I made it to the door before I heard, ‘Wait up.’
I turned and Noah, Elijah and Anna were all rushing towards me. I inwardly groaned, but made myself smile. I knew defeat when I saw it.
I waited at the door and checked my phone as Elijah fixed up the bill, insisting to Noah that he pay. Slipping me a wink, Elijah told Noah that he could get the next one.
Next one!
Soon we were outside, and the winds from the harbour rushed up from the water and pummelled us. I pulled my cardigan closer and before I knew it, Noah’s warm jacket was placed around my shoulders. I turned to insist he keep it, but he smiled so sweetly I didn’t have the heart to.
We stood together, making small talk before parting ways. I couldn’t help but notice Elijah grab Anna’s hand, and I wondered how long it would be, if ever, before he stopped taking her hand.
We were about to leave when I saw them from the corner of my eye. Four large men, dressed in black uniforms, wearing police badges. They were moving quickly, determined – straight towards us. My heart leapt and I wanted to turn and flee, but before I knew it they were standing amongst us, watching us as though we were bugs under a microscope.
‘Names,’ said one of the officers, taking out a small notebook.
‘Excuse me, Officer, but we haven’t done anything wrong,’ I said.
I glanced up at Elijah, whose eyes widened, and he shook his head.
The officer with the notebook put it down and looked me up and down, slowly.
‘Let’s start with you,’ he said. ‘I won’t ask again. What’s your name and your address?’
What the hell?
Elijah answered for me, quickly, and the police officer scribbled it all down.
‘You’re new in town, aren’t you?’ he asked, checking me out in a way that made me uncomfortable.
‘That’s right, Officer. We moved here about a month ago,’ said Elijah.
‘I didn’t ask you. I asked her,’ he said.
I felt every set of eyes on me, and I held back the words I really wanted to let rip.
I nodded.
He cocked his head to the side.
‘Hey, aren’t you Max McCann?’ said Noah.
The cop swung around at the sound of his name. ‘Yeah, why?’
‘You went to school with my older brother, Jamie.’
‘Oh, right,’ said the cop, his body relaxing a little. ‘I remember him. A good fellow. What’s he up to now?’
They started to chat and the tension eased.
‘Right, well, you’re allowed to go,’ said Max.
I let out the breath I hadn’t even realised I was holding.
‘But next time we see you, I’d like you to be a bit more forthcoming, please,’ said Max, looking directly at me. ‘We’re here to look after you, but if we don’t know who you are or where you live, how can we do our jobs?’
He circled my name and address in his notebook. I felt sick. Then they turned and were gone, striding down the near-empty street.
‘What just happened?’ said Anna, putting her hand on my arm and rubbing it.
‘That was the newly formed special police,’ said Noah, looking up in the direction of the departing police officers. ‘Clearly, they’re not wasting any time.’
‘No, you couldn’t call them lazy,’ said Elijah. ‘I guess we’d better get going.’
‘Why do you think he wanted to know where we live?’ I said, wanting to be back in our home town, where nothing happened and there was a police presence of one.
‘Look, I’ll try to find out some more and let you know,’ said Noah, lines etched onto his forehead.
‘That’d be great. Thanks, mate,’ said Elijah before he picked up Anna’s hand and kissed it like the gentleman he was.
‘Stay safe,’ I said, waving and backing away, eager to avoid any hand or, even worse, face kissing.
Elijah and I hardly spoke on our way home, but the silence between us was not easy. Ever since we were little, we’d always known what the other was thinking, much to our parents’ annoyance. Words were not needed now, for we each knew each other’s fears and apprehensions.
Moving to a new town was never going to be easy, but something here was rotten. I vowed to tell my parents what we knew, try and convince them to move home. It was late now and the darkness felt as though it were pressing on us. Normally I relished a good walk at night, loving how the world came alive in unexpected ways, but with the rain falling and the wind shaking the trees, the windows of the houses we passed felt as if they were staring out at us.
I pictured the piece of paper that had my name and address inside a circle. Elijah put his arm around me, but even that didn’t bring me one ounce of comfort. I felt as though a cold hand had reached inside me and now held me tight; I wondered if it would ever let me go.
Chapter Four
The front door clicked shut, and a few minutes later, my parents’ car left the driveway. They were on their way to the movies. I turned from my desk, where I was studying for my English exam, and looked out my windows.
It was right at dusk, and the strange spun golden light was being swallowed by the fierce grey storm clouds. I cleared my throat and wished that Elijah were at home. In the last few weeks, since our double date, he was almost never here. Anna was now well and truly his girlfriend, and they were hardly ever apart; even on a Sunday morning they sat, side by side, at church where their names were marked off on a roll as good, the rest of us – bad.
I thought back to that strange night of the double date, made even stranger by the conversation we’d had with our parents when we returned home. Shaken by the special police, we told our parents everything that happened, and even love-struck Elijah agreed that it was probably for the best that we move back home.
I pictured the shock and horror on my parents’ faces, but I could remember what Mum said far more.
‘I’m afraid that, even if we want to move, we can’t,’ my mum had explained, her face suddenly looking old and grey. ‘As of today, moving from this town is against the law.’
Orpheus Blackthorn had decided that anyone caught leaving would be considered suspicious and arrested immediately. There weren’t many times in my life that I’d been completely lost for words, but this was definitely one of them. It made no sense, no sense at all. I mean, suspicious of what? But as the days passed, more and more strange laws were introduced. There was to be no more living together unless you were married, and adultery was now punishable by law.
The rain started falling softly onto the tin roof above my head. I’d always loved that mesmerising sound, but tonight, well, tonight was different. Dark thoughts filled my head, and the heaviness of the impending storm sat with me in the room.
Right before our eyes, the hands of time were turning backwards, and who knew how much further it would go. But it was worse that people were taking it, too scared to say something and stop the madness.
I returned to my books, but a low grumble of thunder rattled down the street and gently vibrated our house.
And who would help us? Our country was tiny by any standards, and the whole world was trying to fight its way out of an economic slump. A powerful religious-extremist politician in a wealthy, democratic country was the least of the big problems of a world recovering from depression.
I switched on my lamp and had nearly sunk back into my books when a great bolt of lightning slashed across the sky and thunder erupted. I put down my pen as the rain began pelting the roof.
I glanced down at my phone, tempted to text Elijah, ask him to come home. But I pictured him cuddled up with Anna someplace safe and warm and couldn’t bring myself to. I settled back into my chair and picked up my pen, but then the lights went out.
For a few moments I sat, still as a picture in the indigo light, my heart racing. I began thinking about that creepy officer who had my address. I made myself stand and walk to the window. All of the street lights were out.
I let out a long sigh, sent off a text to Mum and Dad, made my way downstairs and found a torch. Outside the storm was erupting and I walked, room by room, securing and locking the windows and doors. I was about to head back to my room when my phone buzzed. It was a text from Mum.
Darling, there’s a generator in the cellar. The switch is just inside the door on your left. If you can bear a quick trip down, you’ll have some light. Let me know how you go. See you soon. Mum xx
I looked over at the stairs that travelled down to the cellar. My skin crawled at the memory of being inside there on the day we moved in. But if I ran down and flicked the switch, it would be fine. I mean, how bad could it be? It wasn’t as if anyone were down there.
Thunder erupted outside in a stupendous bang, making me jump, then laugh.
Chicken! Since when am I a wimp?
I straightened my back, then put my phone on the coffee table and walked to the top of the stairs. Controlling my breathing, I walked down the stairs and continued all the way to the bottom. It was even darker down by the old cellar door. I placed my hand on the door handle and began turning it, but then something landed with a thud beside me.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked down and there was Pearl, luminescent in the darkness. I crouched down and patted her. ‘You scared the life out of me, Pearl.’
The door creaked open, and I felt as though someone ran their finger down my spine. Slowly I stood and pushed open the door. Putrid, stale air rushed over me again, making me feel nauseous. I put my hand inside and searched for the switch, but there was nothing there other than a hundred imagined spiders. A film of sweat broke out on the surface of my skin. I dropped my hand lower, found the switch and flicked it on.
I heard the fridge chug to life, but as the lights hadn’t been on, the house remained shrouded in darkness. I was about to close the door when I looked down for Pearl, but she was no longer by my side. Nor was she up the stairs. I turned on my torch and shined it into the cellar. There, in the corner, were two golden eyes staring straight at me.
My heart did a giant leap. ‘Oh, Pearl, you gave me a heart attack. Come here.’
But Pearl didn’t move. She sat there and stared at me like some zombie cat from a horror movie.
I tried calling her and used all my usual tricks for attracting her attention, but nothing worked. I was sorely tempted to leave the door open and get outta there, but the thought of her in the cellar, on her own, filled me with dread.
‘Damn you, cat,’ I said, stepping inside, old memories and hidden secrets jumping on me. I kept walking and, thankfully, Pearl stayed still as I collected her in one scoop of my arm. As I turned to leave, my torch lit up an old box and shone on the words BOOKS – CELLAR and underneath them in faded pen, DESTROY. It was the one and only box I’d brought into the cellar the day we moved in.
I recalled the interesting-looking book with the strange symbol that had fallen from the box. I hesitated for a second.
‘What the heck?’ I said, opening the box with my free hand and collecting the weighty book.
And then I bolted. I slammed the old cellar door shut and ran up the stairs. I turned on every light in the house, grabbed my phone, and raced to my bedroom and locked the door behind me.
Pearl stared at me, quite affronted by the manhandling as she was placed back on my bed.
‘Don’t blame me. You were the one who went in there.’
Pearl turned up her head and strutted to the foot of my bed, where she settled herself for yet another nap.
‘Hard life for some, hey,’ I said, sitting on my bed and turning my attention to the ancient book with the blue velvet cover with the symbol of a five-pointed star inside a circle.
The book seemed vaguely familiar and I tried to remember where I’d seen it before, but I came up blank. My memory felt deeper, tucked away into my subconscious where I had no key.
The storm continued to rage on, but I settled. Everything suddenly felt right, exactly as it should. It made no sense, yet it made perfect sense. I opened the heavy cover and there, on the following page, was a letter; a letter that changed the course of my life forever.
Chapter Five
I stared down at the open book on my lap. On one side was a family tree that I quickly followed with my finger and found all of my family’s names printed on – including mine – and the names of all my extended family, and the generations before ours.
On the other side of the page was a letter with words that had been kept in the darkness of the cellar, words that had been hidden from me, words that were finally now brought into the light.
If you are reading this for the first time, then you are about to discover something, something extraordinary about your family, but also about yourself. Something that will make sense to you on a deeper level, but may take some adjusting to and accepting all the same.
If you are lucky, your family will have prepared you for this day, but with the danger that comes with this knowledge, some families choose to keep it a secret and protect you from your birthright.
However you got here, you have made it to this moment. You must remember that it does not matter how you made it here. What is important is that you are here now. Even more important is what you do with the information you are about to receive.
There is no easy way to break this news, so I will simply tell you.
You are a witch.
Yes, you read this correctly. You are a witch. You were born into a coven of witches and the magical blood in your body has been passed down, from one generation to the next, for many centuries.
I know you will have many questions, and while I will answer some of them here, there are many things you will need to discuss with your family. As you will discover, there are some things that are best not put down on paper.
I will start by saying that you are not descended from witches who practice black magic. Your coven has, on the whole, been a good one. This means that the white witches in your family have used their powers to help others and not harm, as some do.
You should know this does not guarantee you will become a white witch. Indeed, there have been some questionable witches in the family, a few skeletons in the closet as they say. What type of witch you become will depend on many things – your genetic make-up, your upbringing, your own free will, but there is something more as well. Within each witch there is a yearning. A yearning for either good or evil. This is placed within us as a seed and over time, it will sprout kindness or meanness and grow into something that determines your fate.
As for becoming a witch, well, that is a journey of learning that you will need to undergo. Think of it as an apprenticeship, if you will. To learn the craft of being a witch, you will have this book as a guide, but you will also need to learn from other witches in your family. Within them lie all the truths of witchcraft and its many secrets. And you will need to practice. It will take you time and persistence to learn what you need to know. And lastly, it will take courage. Releasing magic into the world is a gift, but it is a responsibility as well.
If I have any advice for you, young witch, it is to use your powers wisely. And be careful. The world has not ever understood us, and history shows it is unlikely to ever happen. So, witchcraft must stay a secret. You must never tell your secret to another mortal – unless you trust them with your life – for they may not be entrusted with a secret such as this. Your life, your family’s life, may depend upon it.
I wish you all the very best as you journey towards your destiny.
; Yours in spirit,
Ethel, 1877
I raised my head from the book, the room no longer in focus. Thoughts swam around and around in my head, and a hot burning grew inside me until I felt as though I were about to catch on fire.
I stood, Pearl stirring at the base of my bed. Car lights shone in the driveway, and with legs I could no longer feel, I walked to and unlocked my bedroom door. I made my way down the stairs on autopilot, barely able to control the rage inside me.
I made myself sit in the middle of the sofa and look up at the door. I heard my parents outside, laughing without a care in the world. Then the key in the lock. Then they were there, taking off their coats. It took them a few moments to spot me. Their smiles dropped from their faces.
‘What’s wrong, Eva?’ asked Mum, striding towards me.
‘What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. I just found out that I’m a witch, that’s what’s wrong.’
‘Eva, stop yelling, please,’ said Mum, putting her hands out in front of herself as though she were calming a wild animal. ‘Take a deep breath.’
‘Don’t you dare tell me to calm down. How could you?’ I looked between my mum and dad, their faces now pale as ash. ‘How could you keep this from us?’
‘Keep what from us?’ said Elijah, who’d let himself into the house without being noticed and now stood behind my parents.
I raised an eyebrow. ‘So, are you going to tell him, or should I?’
Mum cleared her throat. ‘Elijah, why don’t you sit down? We need to talk to you both. But, Eva, you need to stop yelling. The neighbours.’
‘I don’t give a hoot about the neighbours,’ I yelled, as loudly as I could.
‘Well, Eva, you should. Particularly now.’
Something in Mum’s voice got through to me. I sat back and took a few settling breaths, but still the storm inside me raged.