I pulled a cloth bag out of the hole. I think originally it must have been white but now it was covered in dirt. I knelt on the floor and opened it carefully, inside was a very old book, handwritten in navy-blue ink. On the front page were five names – John Putnam, William Cutler, Edward Tudor, Arthur Richards and Harry Goodie. I put the book under my arm and headed towards the front door. It opened itself then closed again behind me.
“Where did you find that?” Lily asked me.
“Under the floor.”
“How did you know it was there?”
“I was shown the way.”
“By who?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.
“I don’t know. Come on, let’s get this back to the motel.”
All the way back to the car I felt someone was watching us. I kept turning around but there was no one there. Lily felt it too but didn’t see anyone either. We both picked up our pace. As soon as we got to the car we locked ourselves in and I put my foot down.
When we got back to the motel it looked as though everyone who’d been staying there had left. There wasn’t a soul or a car in sight; it was very eerie. Even the office was shut up and the whole building was shrouded in darkness. Lily held on to my arm as we walked warily to our room. We closed the curtains and locked all the windows and the door. I pulled the book out and started to read. I only got halfway through the first few sentences when the door began shaking violently. I slammed the book shut instantly, wondering if it was causing it. Seconds later the windows started shaking too. The noise was so loud, it sounded like a hundred fists were being slammed repeatedly against the walls.
“What’s going on?” Lily said in a shaky voice, not knowing whether to watch the door or the windows.
“I don’t know,” I grabbed the book and the bag with all my research in it. “Come on, we’re getting out of here!”
“I’m not going outside.”
“Yes, you are!” I grabbed her and dragged her out the door.
We ran as fast as we could to the car. The doors were open and ready for us before we got within ten feet of it. I kept the book on my knee while I raced down the road.
“Keira, there are four people blocking the road,” she said, leaning forward in her seat to get a better look. “They’re wearing funny robes and hoods, like druids.”
“Well, if they don’t move they’ll die,” I said, speeding up.
They didn’t move until I was almost on top of them. They all levitated and I drove under them.
“Did you do that?” she asked me.
“No. Are they behind us?”
“They’re just watching us in the road, staring. Who are they, Keira? They scare me.”
“I don’t know, but at least we’ve gotten away from them. It’s all OK.”
We came to a stop fifteen miles out of town on a country lane. We were surrounded by darkness; the only light was from the full moon and the headlights of the car.
“OK, that was creepy,” Lily said, getting out of the car for some air.
“Well, it’s over now, so relax,” I said, getting out after her.
I shouldn’t have spoken so soon. The four figures appeared again, standing around us but at a slight distance. It was as though they were the four corners of a square. Lily started shaking so I put my arm around her shoulders.
“What do you want?” she asked, almost sobbing. None of them spoke or moved. “Answer me!” she demanded, but still they remained silent.
I looked down at the ground; whenever I used my power my eyes changed color. If it was something simple like making something float to me, they would glow bronze for a second then return to normal. But if it was a big task the whole of my eyes turned white, my pupils completely disappearing. The car engine started and I reversed it so it was about two feet away.
“Get in the car.” I told Lily, then, lowering my voice, added, “Don’t lose the book.”
I let go of her and she dived in the car. She locked all the doors and I moved it back to where it was originally parked. I looked up and stared at each of them in turn, my eyes were back to normal. They were still standing completely still.
“What do you want?” I asked plainly.
“How did you get into that house?” one of them asked.
“None of your business.”
“Where did you get that book?”
“Again, none of your business”
“Get the book!” he ordered the tallest one.
He started walking over to the car. I started after him but almost immediately one of them launched an energy ball straight at me. I felt my eyes turn as it hurtled towards me. I sent one back. They met in mid-air, fizzling then fading as they cancelled each other out. Then I instantly threw another at the guy heading for the car. He didn’t have time to react and it sent him flying backwards.
“If you wanted a fight you should have just said,” I told them, and then threw them continuously from each hand at them all. They blocked some but in the end they had all been knocked off their feet. Every time one of them tried to move I would hit them with a ball. I was getting carried away with it all until Lily blew the horn. I ran to the car and we shot off again.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Back to the motel.”
“WHAT?!”
“You just saw me take all four of them on. They are no match for me; we’ll be perfectly safe.”
Lily was silent all the way back and didn’t look impressed at all. When we got inside she locked and double-checked the door and the windows. Then she dragged me to the sofa and sat me down.
“OK, look,” she started, “I think I’ve been a damn good friend through all this. I mean how many people do you know who would stand by someone who can do what you can? You never tell me anything and I think I deserve an answer to a few questions, don’t you?”
“Fair enough, you can have two questions tonight.”
“TWO!!” she yelled, banging her fists on her knees.
“Take it or leave it.”
“Fine, how do you control it? You know, how do you get things to do what you want?”
“That’s actually really hard to explain. OK, umm… it’s like when you’re walking, you don’t have to think to yourself, OK left foot forward, now right foot forward, do you? You just start to walk and your legs move.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s kinda like that, it’s just instinct. I know what I want and I just…make it happen. I can’t explain it any other way. The truth is I don’t really know how it works, I just use it.”
“So if you wanted me dead, you could just make it happen.”
“No, it doesn’t work like that. I would have to do something like throw you off a cliff, or throw a knife into you or something.”
“So you don’t have to call on the power from somewhere?” she quizzed.
“Lily, the power is in my blood; it runs through me all day every day. It never leaves me.”
“So why do your eyes go white?” she said, circling her own with a finger.
“That’s far more than two questions.”
“I don’t care.”
“They change when I let the power run freely through me.”
“I thought you said it does that anyway.”
“It’s always in me, however to use it, I set it free. But I’m still in control. When I’m not using it, it lies dormant; I suppose it’s just a side effect. Think of it like a volcano. One minute just like any old mountain, but the next all that smoke and lava.”
“I think I understand.”
“I told you it was hard to explain. To me it’s just a natural thing; to you obviously it’s not.”
“Well, thanks for trying.”
I smiled at her, then put the kettle on.
“What do you think they wanted?” she asked me
“The book. One of them asked how I got it and how I got in the house.”
“What did you say?”
“I told
them it was none of their business.”
“Who do you think they are? Do you think they could be who you’re looking for?”
“I don’t know, but if that’s the sort of people they are then I don’t want to know them.”
“They must have known you had power.”
“What makes you say that?” I said, putting down the mugs.
“They didn’t speak to me, or attack me in anyway.”
“I don’t know, maybe, but why attack me? Why not just talk to me if they know I’m the same as them.”
“I wish I had all the answers for you, I really do.”
“I think we should both get some sleep. We’ll be safe so you don’t have to worry about anything, I promise.”
“What if they get in and take the book?”
“They won’t get in. This room is protected now.”
“How?”
“A spell.”
“Well, couldn’t they break it?”
“Maybe, but only if they knew the exact spell I’d used. And there are a lot of them, so it would take them a while.”
Lily seemed to relax a bit and got into bed. I was tired myself now, so I put the book under my pillow.
Chapter 3
Could It Be?
We woke early the next morning. All was peaceful and life had returned to the motel. I sat at the table with coffee and the book while Lily got showered. I’d only been reading about ten minutes when she came in.
“Found anything interesting?” she asked.
“How it all began.” I told her what I knew up to that point.
We were both hungry now so we went out for breakfast. I hid the book under the floorboards beneath the bed and put another spell on the room as we left. I would instantly know if someone was trying to get in. We drove into the village and went in the same café we’d been in the day before. We were the only people there other than the staff. After breakfast we decided to walk further into the village. When we got to the corner of the street we bumped into Lucian and Jake.
“Hey.” Lucian smiled.
“Hi,” we both replied.
“How are you both today?” Jake asked.
“Fine, thank you,” Lily said, going a little pink.
“How is your studying coming on?”
“Slowly actually,” I groaned.
“Why?” Lucian asked.
“We don’t really know who we can talk to about the things we need to know. I’m not being funny but the people around here don’t seem to be very friendly. We just get glared at all the time.”
“Ah, that’s because you are in the old town. People here are still very superstitious and wary when they see a new face. Maybe you should go to the new town.”
“But we’re not here to study the new town, are we?”
“Yeah, that’s true. Well, we could try and help you out. We know a lot of the history; it gets drummed into you in our families.”
“Why?” Lily asked.
“Our families have always lived in Massachusetts, Salem mainly, so they pass the history down,” Jake told us.
“Well, we would really appreciate any help you could give us,” I replied tentatively.
“When are you free?” Lucian asked.
“Anytime.”
“Well, there’s no time like the present. Shall we go somewhere we can talk properly?”
“Yes, where?”
“We can go to my house,”
I hesitated for a moment. I looked at Lily, who nodded. “OK,” I said.
Lucian’s house was like something out of the movies. The gates stood three times my height and the place seemed to be bristling with security. You had to either buzz to get in or, in Lucian’s case, hold a key fob in front of the scanner. The approach to the house was surrounded by trees – it was beautiful.
The house, or should I say mansion, looked very old yet modern at the same time. It had been well looked after over the years. Its great stone walls reached to three stories. It had black-painted old-fashioned windows and, in some places, ivy grew. When I got out of the car all I could do was look at it in amazement. I was in a world of my own until Lily took my arm and snapped me out of it. Lucian let us in and led us into a reception room. I looked around in awe; the ceilings were high with large gold chandeliers hanging from them. There was a massive stone fireplace in the center, with new wood piled up ready to be burnt. What I assumed to be ancestral portraits hung on two of the walls. Dark wooden cabinets with glass fronts were filled with gleaming antiques.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” Lucian smiled, motioning to one of the large black sofas.
“Thanks,” we both said, taking a seat. They sat on the sofa facing us.
“So what do you need to know?” Jake asked us.
“What can you tell us? We need as much information as possible,” I told him.
“What exactly are you studying?”
“The Salem witch-hunt.”
“Ah.” Lucian said “You were right not to ask anyone in the village then; we’ll fill you in on what we can.”
“Do you want to take notes?” Jake asked.
“I have an excellent memory,” I replied.
“OK, well, despite generally being known as the “Salem” witch trials, the hearings were conducted in a variety of towns. In Salem village, in 1692, there were two girls – Betty Parris, who was nine, and her cousin Abigail Williams, who was eleven. They were the daughter and niece of the Reverend Samuel Parris, who had just become the new priest at the old parsonage. They began to have fits described as “Beyond the power of epileptic fits or disease” by a minister in Beverly…
“The girls screamed a lot, threw things around the room, made strange sounds, crawled under furniture, contorted themselves into strange positions. The girls said they felt like they were being pinched and pricked with pins. Two other young women in the village began to behave just the same and people began to talk about witches. The first three people accused and arrested for allegedly afflicting Betty, Abigail, Elizabeth Hubbard and little Ann Putnam were Sarah…” Lucian’s voice trailed off.
As soon as he mentioned the name Putnam, my eyes widened and I sat up straight.
“Something wrong?” Jake asked curiously.
“No, nothing,” I replied. “This Ann Putnam, was she some kind of a relation to John Putnam?”
“Yes, she was his daughter; he also had a son who was just over a year older than her…”
“Edward,” I said quietly to myself, but not quietly enough.
“How did you know?” Lucian asked, frowning.
“I came across the name doing research,” I lied, looking down at the beautiful cream-and-red patterned carpet.
“But Edward Putnam disappeared when he was nine years old. Not many people know about him. He isn’t in any of the history books I’ve read, so how do you know about him?”
“If he isn’t in any of the books, then how do you know?” Lily said, jumping to my defense.
“Like I told you before, it’s been passed down through the family.”
“Did John Putnam get accused of witchcraft?” I asked casually.
“Yes, he did, but I’m not telling you anymore until you tell me how you know about Edward,” he insisted. His voice had become grave.
“Well, in that case I suppose we’d best be going…”
“Hang on!”
“Thanks for the bit of help,” I said, as we made our way for the front door. As we started to open it two other guys came in in a hurry and nearly bumped into us.
“Sorry.” one of them said, then glared at me.
“It’s OK.” Lily said.
I glared back at him and a rush of anger swept over me, I recognized his voice from the previous night. He was the one who’d said, ‘Get the book!’ Then when I looked at his friend I noticed how tall he was and that he was walking with a slight limp. Lily saw the look on my face and grabbed my arm and led me to the car. As we pulled away they all stood at t
he door watching us.
“What was wrong with you in there?” she asked me.
“Lily, I swear to God it was them out there last night. I recognized that guy’s voice when he said sorry.”
“I don’t believe it!” Lily began.
“And the tall guy, he was walking like he had an injury. Just maybe from being attacked and thrown by an energy ball.”
“How do you want to handle this then?”
“I’m not sure yet. But there was something about that house too; I felt like I belonged there.”
“Maybe you do. Listen, don’t do anything hasty. He may just sound like the guy from last night”
“So explain the guy with the limp and how there just happened to be four of them.”
“I’m not saying you’re wrong,” Lily said defensively “You just need more proof before you go off on one. If they are innocent, you could cause yourself no end of problems and expose yourself. Try and find out more about them first – their full names, for example.”
We were quiet for the rest of the journey to the motel.
When we got back we decided to go and talk to the receptionist. Her name was Sarah; she was young and lived in the new town. She was only working here for a bit of money during the college holidays. She was really nice and very chatty.
“So do you know a guy named Lucian? He lives in a big house on the other side of the village,” Lily quizzed her.
“Ah yes, you mean Lucian Turner. Good-looking, fit.”
“That’s him. Does he hang out with three other guys?”
“Yes, the families are very close; they’re like brothers.”
“What are their names? I know Jake,” I told her.
“Yes, Jake Culver, Tyler Rickman and Danny Goodwin. My dad told me their families settled in Salem back in the early eighteenth century. They never bother with anyone else really, which is a shame. Lucian is gorgeous and Tyler, he is so funny and really cute. A lot of the girls around here would love to be with him,” she smiled to herself. “But people in this part of town tend to keep away from their families because their ancestors did or didn’t do something…I don’t really pay that much attention to it all. There are a lot of superstitious people around here and I’m sure they still believe in witches and all that mumbo-jumbo…”