Once Upon a Charmed Time

by Rose Pressey

  I could’ve definitely dealt without the use of the word ‘never.’ We could get right back on the plane and head home, but I guessed that wasn’t an option now.

  The three of us headed up to the large massive wood doors and I pushed on the doorbell. Then I used the big knocker. We waited for a while and nobody came to the door, so I rang the bell again.

  “Why give us an address if no one will be home? The place doesn’t look abandoned,” I said.

  I would be extremely unhappy if we couldn’t get in after coming all this way. This was a serious matter that had to be addressed immediately. The whole reason for our trip across the country was to fix the witches’ spells. I didn’t know exactly what to do next. I wasn’t sure what made me grasp the door knob and check to see if it was unlocked, but nevertheless, I did. And yes, the door was unlocked. I looked back at Nicolas and Liam.

  “Do you think they want us to just go inside? Maybe that’s why they left it unlocked.”

  Liam shrugged. “It’s possible. It doesn’t hurt to go in, right?”

  “Well, technically I suppose it could hurt if they thought we were breaking in and intruders.”

  “I think they’ll know who you are,” Nicolas said.

  “And if they don’t know who you are they’re about to find out,” Liam said. “Let’s go inside.”

  “Well, I suppose we can go in and check it out.” I released a deep breath and pushed the door open wider.

  Nicolas and Liam decided they should enter first. Except they both tried to go through the door at the same time.

  “That’s not how it works, guys,” I said.

  We stepped inside the house with its tall ceilings, winding staircase, and marble floors. A giant chandelier hung from the ceiling. It was eerily silent inside the place. We had just moved into the foyer, not too far—I wanted to make sure someone wasn’t waiting to attack us before I went any further.

  “Hello, is anyone here?” I called out.

  Of course we didn’t get an answer.

  “What do you think we should do now?” I asked.

  “I think we should check out the rest of the house,” Liam said.

  “I’m not sure that’s a wise idea,” Nicolas responded.

  It was typical of the brothers. One was more practical, wanting to play it safe, and the other one always willing to take a risk. I liked to think I was somewhere in the middle, but I never knew which way to go. Follow Nicolas and play it safe or take more risk and do what Liam wanted? I thought for the sake of not hurting Nicolas’ feelings I would go with his advice.

  “Yeah, we should probably go back outside and try to locate them first.”

  Liam didn’t listen. He continued around the corner, stepping into the huge parlor at the side of the house.

  I looked at Nicolas and shook my head. “Why do I even bother telling him what we should do when he doesn’t listen?”

  “You’re the leader, tell him what to do and he should do it.”

  I didn’t think I was that kind of leader. Anyway, we followed Liam into the parlor.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered.

  “I just think we should check this place out,” Liam said. “You all can wait outside and I’ll have a look around.”

  Just then a bang sounded from somewhere in the house.

  “Either this place is haunted or someone’s here,” I said.

  “It sounded like it came from the back of the house,” Liam said as he walked toward the hallway.

  As we moved through the house there were no other strange noises and I began to wonder if it was just a noise that the house made, something in the walls settling. However, then it banged again and we froze. We’d just entered the kitchen. There was a massive island in the middle with pots and pans hanging above it.

  Liam pointed toward a door. “I think it goes to the basement,” he whispered. “I think the sounds are coming from down there.”

  “So they have someone chained up down there? I really don’t think I want to join them,” I said.

  “Well, if there is someone down there we have to save them,” Nicolas said.

  “Hallie is joking, right?” Liam asked.

  “I hope there isn’t really someone down there,” I said.

  “You seriously think there might be someone down there?” Liam asked.

  “What else would be making the noise? What if it’s a big animal?” I said. “This is making me really nervous.”

  Liam went over to the door and slowly opened it. The space was completely dark and I wasn’t sure that we wanted to turn on the light until we knew exactly what we were getting into. I reluctantly followed behind the guys, down the steps, and into the basement. As soon as we reached the bottom of the steps I wasn’t sure which way to turn. It was dark, but my eyes had adjusted somewhat to the darkness. At least I could see a couple of feet in front of me. The place seemed to go on forever and it must have been just as big as the top level of the house. At least I didn’t see any people chained up. No one was being tortured and luckily there were no monsters. It was about time that we went back upstairs to safety and light.

  Chapter 11

  Just then we heard footsteps from above.

  “It sounds like someone’s home,” Nicolas said.

  “We should get back up there before they leave again,” I said.

  Actually there were quite a few footsteps. Maybe there was more than one person up there. It might be kind of hard to explain why we were coming out of their basement. Nevertheless, we couldn‘t stay down there either, so I would just have to tell the truth. That was always the best policy, right? Lying only created more problems, so even though it would be awkward, I would tell them that we wanted to take a look around.

  The three of us made our way back over to the stairs. Nicolas was right behind me and Liam behind him. Or perhaps I should have made them go ahead of me so that they would be first out the door. No, that was making someone else do my job. That wouldn’t be right.

  I was halfway up the steps when the door slammed shut. It startled me and I almost fell backwards. Nicolas caught me. No one had been in front of the door, so I wasn’t sure who had closed it. I assumed that they didn’t know we were down there or else they wouldn’t have shut the door.

  A click sounded from the other side of the door. Was that the lock? Now we were stuck down there. I raced up the rest of the steps with Nicolas and Liam right behind me.

  I pounded against the door. “Hey, open up. We’re down here.”

  So far no one was responding. Nicolas yelled out and Liam as well.

  “Why aren’t they coming to the door?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I assume they can hear us,” Nicolas said.

  Panic fell over me. I felt claustrophobic, as if we would be stuck there forever. I pounded on the door and then tried the knob. Of course it was locked, just as I’d suspected. Our repeated calls for help went unanswered.

  That was when Nicolas said, “Let me see if I can get the door open.”

  I stepped out of the way on the stairs, letting him go by. I wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but I figured it had something to do with knocking the door down. Nicolas and Liam were strong enough. If anyone could do it, I was sure that they would be able to. I just had to remind myself to stay calm and breathe. I took a deep breath, trying not to let myself hyperventilate. We would get out of there.

  We wouldn’t be stuck down there for the rest of our lives, which would be short if we had to stay down there with no food or water.

  If we found no way out we would die down there, a slow death. Not that I was panicking or anything.

  Nicolas got as much of a running start as he could. He rammed his whole body against the door. A huge bang rang out, but it didn’t open.

  “Are you are right?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” He rubbed his shoulder. “That thing is solid though.”

  “What are we going to do?” I touched the door again a
s if it would open at my touch.

  “I don’t know, but there has to be a way to get this door down,” Nicolas said, inspecting it closer.

  Liam stepped forward. “Let me give it a shot.”

  I’d known he was going to do that. If Nicolas couldn’t get it open what made him think he could? That was just the way that the brothers were though. Competitive as usual.

  Liam got into position just as Nicolas had and then ran toward the door. It made a loud bang when his body hit it too. The door didn’t open for him either.

  “Are you happy now?” Nicolas asked.

  “Okay, guys, this is no time for arguing,” I said.

  I tried banging on the door again, but it was useless. Footsteps still came from somewhere in the house. They had to know we were down there or at least hear something making noise. Perhaps they were used to the noise. If they locked people down here all the time the noise wouldn’t bother them. I really was beginning to panic. I clawed at the door, as if that would somehow break me free.

  “You need to calm down. Look at me,” Nicholas said. “We’ll do magic. We’ll be able to get the door open.”

  “We have to use our magic,” Liam said.

  “Oh, yeah, right. I’m a witch. I can do that.” I just hoped that I had the right spell that would work to get me out of here.

  I was a witch, but I couldn’t do everything. It didn’t help that it was dark down there. It made it seem even more ominous and spooky, like I never knew what might be lurking around the corner in the shadows waiting for us. So we should go back down to the bottom of the steps where we had more room. Right now I should be back in Enchantment Pointe picking out a wedding cake and working on seating arrangements for the reception. Instead I was in a dark spider web filled basement.

  “We can get in a circle and try to cast our spell,” I said.

  Once at the bottom of the stairs we got into a circle and held hands, ready to cast our spell. We closed our eyes so we could focus on the words. As always I had to call to the elements.

  “I call to the element air, please help us. I call to the element of fire, please help us. I call to the element of water, please help us. I call to the element of earth, please help us.”

  I wouldn’t wait for anything to happen to begin the spell .There was no time for that. Whatever happened, happened. Casting a spell without the aid of the elements made it much more difficult.

  “Release the negative and set us free,” I recited the words carefully and waved my arms through the air.

  Then I heard a low noise.

  My eyes sprang open and I jumped. “Is that a rat?”

  “It probably is a big rat,” Liam said.

  “You’re supposed to make me feel better, not worse. Can’t you say no it’s probably Mickey Mouse?”

  Liam laughed. Then we heard the noise again, and it didn’t sound like a rat. This thing was much bigger, which made me extremely nervous. It sounded like someone grunting. We released each other’s hands and tiptoed over to where we thought we heard the noise. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Was there some kind of demon? Maybe that was why they had locked us down here.

  This was becoming more worrisome with each passing second. I was second-guessing my idea of coming out here. Perhaps I’d been led here under false pretenses. It was too late to worry about it now though, what was done was done. I just had to get us out of there before anything bad happened.

  The noise sounded again and we paused so that we could figure out where it came from. It definitely sounded as if it was closer. So we were headed in the right direction. We moved forward, but I still couldn’t see anything back there. The space was so huge and so dark I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Whatever was making the noise continued, making it easier for us to find it.

  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know. It could be something bad or a spell trap. We were doing exactly as this thing wanted us to do. Liam was walking behind me and Nicolas was walking in front, leading the way. I reached out my hand so that I could possibly feel for something and make sure that we weren’t getting ready to bump right into a wall, piece of furniture… or the devil. I was scared of what my hand might touch. The idea of finding a mouse sounded better and better, even if it wasn’t cute Mickey Mouse. My anxiety increased as I felt for the wall. My hand made contact with absolutely nothing. It was as if we were in a black abyss.

  We continued our search and then I bumped into something, almost falling on my face. I fell forward, but Liam grabbed me and pulled me back.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, brushing the hair off my face.

  Momentarily the wind had been knocked out of me, but I finally managed to speak. “I’m okay.”

  Nicolas touched my arm.

  “We shouldn’t be back here,” he said.

  “No, we have to find out is making that noise,” I said. “Just a little bit further back here. We have to almost be at the back by now.”

  “I think something’s just playing games with us,” Nicolas said.

  “Nevertheless, we have to check it out.”

  Sometimes I was probably too curious for my own good. The noise continued and I knew that we were right there around whatever was making the sound. It definitely sounded like a human making the noise.

  That was when I spotted a foot attached to a leg.

  Someone was sitting in a chair.

  Chapter 12

  The person was tied up, with his legs roped to the legs of the chairs and his arms bound to the back of the chair. His mouth was gagged. He stared right at us, pleading with his eyes. This was horrible. Who had done this to him and why?

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “Oh, my gosh, we have to get him untied.”

  “Wait,” Liam said. “Maybe he’s tied up down here for a reason. He could be a killer.”

  I studied the man’s face. He continued his plea with his eyes.

  “He looks nice enough. What if he’s in danger? We can’t leave him like this.”

  “Hallie’s right. We can’t leave him,” Nicolas said.

  The guy looked from Nicolas to Liam and nodded.

  “Are you a killer?” I asked.

  “I don’t think he would tell you if he was,” Liam said.

  “No, but I can tell in his eyes if he’s lying.”

  Okay, I couldn’t really, but this guy didn’t know that. As long as he thought I could maybe he’d tell the truth.

  “I vote we get him out of here.”

  “Okay, but if you make one wrong move we will take you down. Do you understand?” Liam asked.

  The guy nodded. Nicolas and Liam started to untie the guy. My stomach clenched and I prepared myself for a fight. Once both hands were undone they moved down to his legs. So far he hadn’t tried anything bad. Nicolas got the rope off his right leg first. I backed up a bit, waiting for the time when Liam freed the other leg. Nicolas stepped in front of me. I appreciated his desire to keep me safe. That was really sweet. Technically neither man was my bodyguard, but I knew they’d help me out of a jam. When Liam got him loose the guy didn’t move.

  “I don’t know if I can stand. I’ve been here so long,” the guy said.

  Nicolas and Liam moved over to help the guy, placing their arms under his and lifting him from the chair. He wobbled a little at first, but then finally stood on his own.

  “You okay, buddy?” Liam asked.

  “I’m better now. I just want out of this place,” the guy said.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “My name is Dalton Andrews. Who are you?” he asked.

  “My name is Halloween LaVeau, I’m the leader of the Underworld.”

  His eyes widened. “The leader? You came all this way to save me?”

  I exchanged looks with Nicolas and Liam. I almost didn’t have the heart to tell Dalton the truth.

  “Actually, I came here for another reason, but I’m glad I was able to get you free. Sadly, I think we’re stuck down here now too. The do
or is locked.”

  “There has to be a way out. I have to get out of here,” he said in a panic.

  He took off in a sprint and immediately ran into something. He fell to the ground with a crash.

  “Calm down,” Nicolas said, helping him up. “We have a plan to get out of here.”

  “Yeah, but you can’t freak out. That won’t help us now,” Liam said.

  “You have a plan?” The guy sounded skeptical.

  “We’re going to do a spell,” I said.

  “We’ll get the door open, don’t worry,” Nicolas said.

  “Are you a witch?” I eyed him up and down.

  I figured we could use all the help we could get.

  “Yes, I am a witch.”

  I moved back a couple steps. I still didn’t trust him. “How long have you been down here?”

  He rubbed his head. “I don’t know for sure. Maybe a week.”

  “Why are you down here? Who put you down here?” I asked.

  Answers to those questions would go a long way to help me to figure out why we were now locked down here. There had to be a connection. Was someone just trying to see how many witches they could collect?

  “I don’t know why I’m here. Someone in a black hooded robe kidnapped me from the street and the next thing I know I’m stuck down here.”

  “Did they say anything to you?”

  “Not a word. That’s more terrifying than if they said something,” he said.

  That was true. Not talking was creepy.

  We gathered in the same spot again to cast the spell. If this didn’t work I didn’t know what we’d do. Though I couldn’t let the negative thoughts take over my mind. I had to remain positive.

  We stood in a circle, holding hands. Dalton was across from me with Nicolas and Liam on each side of me. First, I called to the elements. “Element of air, I call to you.”

  The wind picked up, whipping my hair.

  “Element of fire, I call to you.”

  A hint of orange glow fell over the room.

  “Element of water, I call to you.”

  A roaring sound filled the room, making the walls and floor vibrate.