by D L Blade
He smiled. “May I?” He gestured to the bench I was sitting on.
I didn’t say yes, but I moved over a few inches, allowing him to sit. He leaned back against the bay window, keeping his eyes on me.
“I’m going to tell you a story about five children born in 1674.”
I lowered my brow. “My ancestors?”
“Not exactly.”
I looked at him curiously. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“There were five special covens that lived in Salem from five different bloodlines, and each of them was blessed with the gift of a child. The children were each born with gifts that would help other witches with their magic.”
He brought his hand to my neckline and I flinched. I realized what he was going to do and relaxed, letting him grab the jet stone necklace around my neck. He rubbed the symbol with his thumb and smiled. “You were so powerful back then.”
It took me a moment to realize what he was implying.
“You’re lying,” I snapped.
“I have no reason to lie to you. We were born on March 2, 1674. Our mission was to train and be soldiers. The five of us were called the Chosen Ones. After we turned ten years old, we formed our own coven. Eight years later, we would go through what was called an Awakening. It happens when we turn eighteen on the minute we were born. An Awakening is when a witch gains all their powers to their fullest. As children, having that kind of power is dangerous, so witches aren’t given all their powers at birth. Our coven decided that once we gained all of our powers, we would do another ritual right after, to make ourselves immortal, so we could live our lives protecting other witches and the humans on Earth.”
“How do I not remember any of this? Do I suffer from amnesia or something?” I was now rambling, as so many questions entered my mind. “I mean, I have clear memories of myself as a kid, here in East Greenwich. Am I really that old? Does that mean my mom, Lily, and Joel have lied to me my entire life? Did they just create this story that I was born in Greenwich and—”
“No, Mercy.” He stopped my questions in their tracks. “You do not understand what I’m telling you.” His face looked pained as he closed his eyes. He brought his hand over to mine again and squeezed, opening his eyes again. “You died before your Awakening.”
My eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped slightly.
“It took me centuries to find a spell to bring you back. I finally had everything I needed to reincarnate you into this life.”
I couldn’t find the words to speak. I was trying to wrap my mind around what he had just told me. If this was true, there was an entire life I had experienced that I knew nothing about.
Who am I?
I sat there processing all this information, my heart pounding hard against my chest.
“My father created a binding spell on the grounds of his farm. The ritual had to be done there. I met you at your home that night but the rest of the coven was still missing, so I went out to find them while you stayed back to pack a bag. You were supposed to meet us but you never showed. When we finally found you, the people in our village had already hung you by a rope from a tree for being a witch. It was 1692 and the town was on a witch hunt. It was too late. We still had a mission and even though we were all devastated over losing you, we had to go back to the farm and complete the ritual.”
I saw it. I saw me! I saw them in my dreams. It dawned on me that my dreams weren’t dreams after all … they were memories.
I closed my eyes and shook my head. This was overwhelming. I thought about the guy I had seen in my dreams for the past year. Was he just a dream? Or was he a memory? It wasn’t Caleb, so who was he?
“After we went through our Awakening, we immediately followed it by performing an immortal spell. The villagers then found us and hung us, too. We closed our eyes and waited until everyone left the execution, removed the nooses from our necks, and jumped down.”
Wow, this is insane.
“Our coven was incomplete without you. It took me a few years to create the perfect spell to bring someone back to life in a different body. I tried several times with the witches in your bloodline, but every time they got pregnant, I couldn’t use my power to bring your soul to that body. Your grandfather, thankfully, had two daughters, and at that point, I almost gave up. I then tried one last time with Daniella, and it worked. Your soul needed this body, at this time. I visited your parents and told them about the witch that was growing inside of your mother. Nine months later, she had you.”
I leaned back, processing what he had been telling me. My entire life, my mom had known I was a witch.
How could she keep something like this from me?
“Mercy?” I heard Caleb say, pulling me out of my thought. “Are you still with me?”
“This is a lot to take in, Caleb,” I said. “But keep going.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “When she was pregnant, she could feel the presence of an old soul inside of her; even your powers. She could even see visions of your past life when she laid down to sleep. I told her everything about who you were, what your mission was, and what to name you. She agreed to the terms. She was to bring you back into this world and to train you to know your magic and your heritage.”
He sat up straight and shifted his body toward me. “We spoke often throughout the years. I explained to her what your powers could do and how to prepare you for your Awakening. She’d often argue with me about you being a part of this life, but I still thought she had been teaching you, Mercy. If I had known she was keeping you in the dark and taking your powers away, I would have stepped in and taken you from her. I didn’t protect you. I allowed her to become addicted to your powers, which eventually led to your attack,” he confessed.
It was him on the phone with my mom all these years.
“I heard you.”
“You heard me?” A blank look crossed his face.
“I heard the phone calls.” I shook my head and fought back tears. “I thought it was my father checking in on me, but it was you. I wondered why the calls stopped.” I lowered my head.
“I’m sorry. It must hurt to realize it wasn’t him,” he empathized softly. My father hadn’t called, he didn’t care. He never cared about me.
He grabbed my hand again and rubbed the tops of my fingers. “Mercy, your powers are stronger than any witch in our coven. The level of power you were born to have is unlike anything any of us have ever seen. Your mom was never born to have that kind of power. When the Awakening happens, it will be too much for her and it will kill her.”
I quickly looked up.
“You have to physically take those powers from her before you turn eighteen, or she’ll die. I believe your mom wanted you dead because it was the only way for her to keep your powers. When you go through the Awakening, she won’t be able to hold on to them anymore. She needs you to die for her to keep your powers. If a witch kills another witch, the surviving witch will absorb the energy and magic from the other.”
“Why doesn’t she just give them up now if she knows it’s going to kill her? It’s not like she can get to me now that she’s behind locked doors.”
“I don’t think she realizes what will happen. Or, if she does, maybe she thinks she can get out,” he said.
I didn’t think that was ever a possibility, but if my mom was that powerful, maybe she would find a way.
I thought about everything he had told me. This wasn’t make-believe. It was a life that was a part of me now, no matter how scary it all seemed. My ancestors were known witches. I started that car today at the park with an energy force that came through my hands and my body was healing at an unnatural speed.
“I’m a witch.” I was trying to register what he was saying. “I’m an actual witch.”
I thought about my mom being a witch and how she must be extremely powerful after syphoning out all my powers, on top of her own. Then there was my sweet grandfather. Wow, he had been a witch, too. That was the only way
he could have passed his powers down to his children.
I was now more frightened than ever that my mom could escape and come find me. “Why hasn’t she used her powers to get out of there?”
“She can’t use them there. This isn’t just any mental institution. This world is known for many supernatural creatures, especially in Salem. This is more of a facility to keep powers in, for those that would use their powers for evil. After she tried to kill you, one of our own used her connection to the legal system to get her transferred to her family’s hospital. The walls are concealed with magic, kind of like what I did here in your room, except the powers around your room won’t last. I can only hold on to them for so long. It weakens me.
“In the facility your mom is in, no one can use magic or any supernatural abilities inside the barrier. A few government officials know about us and are gladly letting us treat and control the supernatural.” He grabbed my hand again. “Let me help you. You know what I am saying is true. I can take you to Salem tomorrow to see your mom and help take your powers back.”
He raised his hand to my cheek, but I flinched. He was trying to be affectionate, but I didn’t want him to touch me so intimately. He might know who I used to be, but I had no memory of him.
“And us?”
He smirked and chuckled under his breath. “Were we close?”
“Yeah, how close were we?” I asked.
“We were in love. Our parents knew it would be a distraction for us and our mission, so they forbade our relationship when they found out about us. We had just turned seventeen when they told us that if we didn’t stop seeing each other, they would strip us of our powers.”
“Did we listen?” I giggled at myself. “If I were anything back then like I am now, I wouldn’t have.”
He was no longer smiling. “We obeyed. It wasn’t an option to disobey.” He looked down and I could have sworn I saw a tear in the corner of his eye.
I hadn’t really thought about my father lately, but I was now. “My father in this life, was he a witch? Or did he leave because he knew that I was?”
“Your father wasn’t a witch, but I saw the fear on his face when I told them about you. Your father left out of fear, Mercy. He was a coward.”
Yes, he was. Any man who walks out on his family like that is a coward. I was still so angry with what my father had done, and I didn’t even remember him.
“My mom told me he had left us but would never tell me why. I assumed being a father was just too hard for him and he was running from his responsibilities.” I stood up and walked away from the bench, folding my arms tight around my waist. “Do you know what happened to him?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t.” He stood up and walked toward me. I didn’t back up.
“I believe your mom cared, loved you, and she believed taking your powers away was the best thing for you. Maybe she hoped that if she stripped you of your powers, your father would eventually come back, even just for you. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop once she started.”
I huffed and shook my head, thinking about Lily now. “I can’t believe Lily and Joel have been lying to me my entire life.” I paused briefly. “Lily was planning to tell me something important last night, but I had my accident. This was probably it. Which means she probably knows about you and knew it was you who had been following me.”
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “I haven’t been following you, but someone has been. A few times when I tried to approach you, I heard them. I don’t know who it is or what they want, but they’re there. I won’t let them get to you.”
“You swear it wasn’t you?”
He nodded. “I swear it.”
“Okay, but I’m sure she knows it was you that attacked me tonight.”
He sighed and shut his eyes tightly in frustration. “I didn’t attack you.”
“Stop, Caleb. There were better ways to handle all of this. You scared me.” I moved away from him and he grabbed my wrist. I instantly yanked it away. “I don’t want you to go with me tomorrow, but I will go and talk with her.”
“Mercy, it’s too dangerous.”
“I don’t trust you enough, Caleb. So, I’m going alone.”
“Mercy!”
I balled my hands into fists. “Please get out of my room, Caleb, and knock down this barrier. I need to be alone right now.” I stood up and pointed to the window. “I don’t want you to wake Lily. Climb down the tree outside my window. I will ask Lily tomorrow how to take those powers away from my mom. I don’t know how much she knows about what I can do, but I would rather have family help me than you.”
He shook his head at me and let out a frustrated growl. “You’re just overwhelmed by all this information. Get some rest and I will call you tomorrow.” He waved his hands in the air and the blue light disappeared. He walked over to my nightstand and picked up my phone, fiddled with it, punched the keyboard a few times, and set it down.
“My number is now in your phone. Also, when you get there, you’ll need to ask for Leah. She will show you how to take them. The shield prevents you from using your magic, which means you won’t be able to pull the powers back into your body without the facility lowering the shield.” He looked down like he was in pain. “And please, Mercy. Be careful. Your mom may not be able to use her powers on you from inside that place, but she’s very manipulative. Don’t trust anything she says.” He walked past me, crawled through the window, and disappeared without another word.
I gasped and ran to the window. He couldn’t have made that jump without getting hurt. When I peered over the window he was already running into the forest by our home, unharmed.
I ran up to my phone and opened it. He’d sent a text to himself from my phone, so he had my number.
I sat down on my bed and opened my nightstand drawer. I had kept a knife in the drawer for protection ever since my mom attacked me. I pulled it out, closed my eyes tight, and made a small slit about an inch long. It hurt, but I had to see what would happen.
Nothing happened right away, but then after about a minute, the wound closed right before my eyes. I sat dumbfounded. This was really happening.
My phone screen told me it was almost one in the morning. I needed rest if I was going to face my mom tomorrow and make her tell me what she knew. I needed to know if everything Caleb said was the truth. If it was, maybe she would have a change of heart and willingly give me back my powers, especially if she knew it would kill her if she didn’t.
Dressed and ready to face my mom, I stared at myself in the mirror one last time before putting my necklace back on. I was ready … I thought.
As I entered the kitchen, Lily turned toward me, holding a warm cup of coffee and a piece of buttered toast. She smiled and took a seat at the table.
“Good morning,” she said. She studied me for a minute. “Are you feeling okay? You look okay.”
“I feel fine.” I was suddenly nervous to bring up Caleb to her, but I had to.
I only smiled back and walked over to the pantry to grab the cereal and then to the refrigerator for the almond milk.
“Let’s leave in about fifteen minutes,” she instructed before taking a bite of her toast.
I grabbed my coffee and cereal and joined her at the table. We looked at each other and she stiffened up.
“You’re not going to see the sketch artist today, are you?” She already knew my answer.
I shook my head. “Caleb visited me last night. He told me everything. I’m going to see my mom today.”
She set her coffee down, eyes still on me.
“I was afraid of that. She told me he might come for you before your Awakening. That’s what she and I talked about when she called. She wanted me to let you talk to her before he found you. I wanted to tell you, Mercy. I was going to tell you.”
“You’ve known my whole life, Lily. And I’m guessing you knew that was him last night?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Why wait until two weeks before
I’m eighteen?”
“It wasn’t my place to tell you. It was your mother’s. I knew Joel and I would eventually have to after your mom was arrested. A witch shouldn’t do their Awakening alone. It’s not like you are able to avoid it. We were just waiting for the right time to tell you.”
It all sounded so comical to me.
“Is there a right time to tell me we’re witches?” I asked.
“I guess not.”
“Is he dangerous?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. After you died, Caleb and the rest of your coven created the jet stones by enchanting them with magic, to keep the future of witches safe. They had just enough to pass down to each first-born female in each of the five bloodlines. The Chosen Ones proved to us their loyalty, but the way your mom described some of the visions of your past life, with what she saw Caleb do, she said he would only bring you destruction.” She rubbed her eyes. “Is it absolutely necessary for you to go see her?”
“Caleb told me my powers are going to kill her when I go through my Awakening if I don’t take them back,” I explained.
Lily’s mouth gaped open.
I told her what I had to do and everything Caleb had told me about myself last night. The look on her face showed me she had no idea what I was talking about. She just sat there quietly.
“This is why she tried to kill me before I turned eighteen, because she knew my powers would get too strong for her to hold on to during my Awakening. She didn’t want to give them up, so killing me was the only way to assure my powers would stay inside her.”