The Witch in the Woman Saga
Book One: The Rising Fire
By Stacey Criswell
Copyright? 2013 Stacey Criswell
This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places, incidents and dialogue are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.
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Dedicated to my parents, for never giving up on me. And my brother and sister, I know you both will always be there for me.
Chapter 1:
I wake up sooner than I had expected, or wanted to. But, I can't go back to sleep. I try my best by closing my eyes for another five minutes, but how can I? Today will be one of the worst days of my life, and I can't do nothing to change that. My brother's hearing is today, and I know it isn't going to end well. The best he can get is thirty years to life in prison. But, I have never seen anyone get off that easy. For the crime he had committed, no one has ever gotten anything less than the death sentence.
We never really had the best relationship, but he is my brother. I don't want him to die. I hated living with him though. My life was literally a living hell. I wish things were different between us, but I know if he gets out and comes back, he will have control over me again. I always put up a wall when he was around, but people say that changes me. I become isolated, and guarded. That's the point of a mental wall, so no one can hurt me. Right?
So, why would I be so broken down if he were to die? And, why don't I just get away from him? Because, I feel like since he's my brother I owe him something. And, I am absolutely terrified of him.
I slowly trudge to the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror; I have black eyeliner stains from my eyes to the bottom of my chin, where I was crying the night before. Although, that's not new. I seem to cry a lot these days. I turn on the sink water, cup my hands under it and splash it on my face. It hasn't helped any; I look even worse now, so I wet a rag and scrub my face until it finally comes off. I don't have to go anywhere until 2:00 P.M. so I see no reason to get all prettied up. All I can bring myself to do is throw my long black hair up in a bun. Then I slowly ease down stairs to start my day.
As I start a pot of coffee, I see the clock; it is only 5:30. I take a deep breath, and whisper; "I really wish I was in bed." But, I ignore myself as usual. The coffee pot beeps to show that it's done, so I take a cup, with a teaspoon of sugar in it, and go back upstairs to my room. As I walk in I notice the window is open. But, I don't remember opening it. I sit my coffee down on my side table and go over to shut it. Out of the corner of my eye I see a quick movement causing me to quickly jerk around but nothing is there. I roll my eyes. "I'm just paranoid." I slowly close the window and sit on my bed. My cell phone starts ringing, so I follow the sound of my Breaking Benjamin, I Will Not Bow ring-tone. "I will not bow, I will not break, I will shut the world away, I will not fall, I will not fade, and I will take your breath away."
I spot my phone sitting just under the edge of my bed. "There it is." I look at the screen "Jett" is highlighted in dark blue on the screen. I don't know if I am really able to handle talking to anyone now, but I tap the talk button anyway, "Hello?"
"Hey. How are you doing?" He asks me in a sympathetic voice.
"As good as I can be I guess. Why are you up so early?" I ask suddenly curious.
"I'm at work. Do you know how hard it is to serve the man who could kill you at any minute, like he's doing Jacob? I mean it was crazy to even try to argue with Skylark. But, I don't think simply arguing is a reason to get killed or sentenced to jail. And, I can't stand to see you hurt."
Skylark was all nice and sweet until Katrina let him have a little power as the leader of the Hagar's troops for four years. But, they never once had reason to suspect he'd turn on them. He assassinated Katrina, our beloved Queen of five long, but happy years. The best thing about her was we didn't think of her as a Queen, but as a friend, or a sister. Skylark is now our King, but everyone thinks of him more as a dictator.
"I agree it was reckless. He can always start something can't he?" I comment.
"Yeah, anyway, I just called to check in on you. I'll be over after I get off work." Jett says.
"Okay, thanks. Do me a favor, and don't do anything you'll regret." I plead, knowing he won't even consider it.
Jett laughs, "Whatever I do, I won't regret it."
I shake my head. "Bye."
"Bye." He says and we both hang up.
I toss my phone on the bed, and plop down on the edge of my blue oversized chair. As I turn to see what time it is now, I see a figure out of the corner of my eye, and this time it doesn't move away from me. He is as still as a statue. "Hey, who are you? And, what are you doing in my house?" I demand, standing up.
"You are Ren?e?Perry, are you not?" He asks.
"I'm not answering anything until you tell me who you are, and what you want." I say, trying to sound as normal and unaffected by him as possible.
He shakes his head, making his black hair hang loosely around his face and around his eyes. He does a quick flip and it falls perfectly into place. I literally have to tear my eyes away from him; he's...like, beautiful. "No, you don't understand. I'm not here to take orders from you Miss Ren?e. You will tell me what I want to know." When he looks back up at me he has fangs, and his eyes are as red as blood. Yup, I'm serious. Fangs! And, a very serious case of pink eye!
I quickly back up shocked and whisper, "What the hell are those?" I back up to far and fall on the bed. I don't normally curse, but come on, fangs! "Okay wow, I'm completely losing it!"
?"Oh these?" He says, "These are just my little friends. So, are you Ren?e?Perry, or not?"
"Yes, okay I'm her! What do you want? And, since I answered you, could you put those away?"?I point to his mouth, with a shaking finger. They slowly slide up into his original teeth, and his eye return to a deep blue. This, just creeps me out even more, because that means this happens to him often. It's not just my imagination.
"Good, now that we have that?over with. Would you mind directing me towards your brother, Jacob Perry?" He roams around my room, and when he sees the armchair he sits gracefully down in it.
"What do you want with him? He's been in jail for two years. Surely, he hasn't bothered anybody for a long time. Has he?" I ask my voice still to shaky to try and act not afraid.
"No, I just need to speak with him. So, he's in jail? Why is that?" He plays with my bracelet while he talks.
"Okay, listen mister, I respect your whole fang thing you got going on there, but would you mind putting that down? It's not yours to play with. And, he's in jail because he started an argument with Skylark."
He looks at me, "It's important that I find him. He hasn't lived in this house for two years?"
"No, he hasn't." I answer.
"That's interesting. I will go talk to him, and if I don't find out what I need to know, I will come back to you." He stares at me for a moment, and then quickly jumps out the window. Yep, the window. I guess doors are overrated.
I jump up and look out the, but he is gone. I at least expected
to find a body, but nothing. Just the smell of his cologne.
I sit there a few moments, wondering if I had imagined the encounter. Thinking maybe I've gone off the deep end. Maybe I should get some mental help.
After sitting there for what seems like an eternity, I hear the door bell ring. Pulling away from my crazy world in my head, I jump up, and run down stairs.
Unsure, I open the door, and see Sam, Chelsea, and Michelle, my three best friends. Sam is short with long, black hair; she is skinny and more of a tom boy. Michelle though, has bluish hair, is skinny, and is very girly.
Chelsea has long black hair, and is very quiet. That's why I like her. "What's up guys?" I ask they don't normally just show up, so I am a little suspicious.
"Nothing just thought you might want some company." Says Sam; with a small smile.
"I appreciate the thought. I'm still on my first cup of coffee. And, it's already been a long morning." I complain.
We sit at the kitchen table, and they start talking about the weather, and shopping. I drift off into my own crazy little world. I can't help but think about the vampire guy?.What was his name? Now that I think about it, he never told me his name. Of course, he wasn't in much of a mood to answer my questions. I have so many. Like, what has Jacob done? Why won't he use the door? I laugh secretly to myself. And, I'm only assuming he's a vampire. What else has fangs? Spiders. Snakes. Okay, shudder, snakes are not that beautiful.
But, I haven't seen him until this morning, and I've lived here for my whole life. Hagar is a big land, but everyone knows everyone around here. I don't think I will see him again. Something pulls from my deep thoughts and obviously it's Michelle and Sam snapping their fingers in my face. "Huh?" I ask confused.
Michelle looks at me worried but goes on, "Do you know when Jett is going to get here?"
"Uhh no, when I talked to him earlier he said he would be over after work. But, he didn't say a specific time." I mumble.
"Hmm, okay. Well Chelsea, Sam and I are going to town, do you want to come?" Michelle asks.
"Uhh no, I think I'll stay here, I have to get ready for Jacob's trial, but thanks." I explain, being as convincing as possible.
"Okay well, we'll see you later then." Sam and Michelle say in unison.
Once they are gone I go upstairs to get dressed. I figure I will try to look nice so that I won't reflect badly on my brother, although he does that enough on his own.
But, I pull out a nice black dress anyway. It is plain black but that is okay, I really don't want to stick out. I put it on, and go to my closet and get my black heels out, and put them on also. Next is the fun part, I take my eyeliner, and make dark lines below, and above my eyes. Once my mascara is on too I look as if I am going to a ball. But, it is the complete opposite of the good time I would have at a ball.
Just about the time I sit down on a bed, the door bell rings again. I go down the stairs a bit slower this time, I have heels on, and it wouldn't end well if I ran down in them. Looking through the peep-hole, I see on the other side of the door is Jett. He is wearing his uniform; it is a black t-shirt and jeans. The black in his shirt really makes his deep blue eyes stick out and his beach blonde hair makes him look like he has no troubles in the world. I open the door, "Hey come on in."
"Thanks. Wow, you look beautiful. How are you doing?" He asks, stepping inside. I am already so sick of people asking me that. I want to blurt out at everyone who does, "How would you be if you knew your brother was more than likely going to be executed?" But instead I politely say, "Thanks, and yeah I'm fine for now. I'm just ready to get this over with."
He gives me a weak smile. "Yeah, me too. So, how's your morning been?" A lot of sarcasm in such a small question.
"Well, I don't know yet. I made coffee at 5:30 AM and it's?." I look around at the clock. "8:00 A.M. and I still haven't finished my first cup. It's been a long morning,?to say the least. So, how was work?"
He smiles, "Working for someone who basically owns you, what could be better? There was this one guy that brought him coffee. I guess it was made wrong or something, he looked the guy in the eye, and it's like he just froze. His eyes stopped moving, and then it's like you could almost hear his heart crack. They made me leave before I could see what they did with him. The boy was only eighteen; it was his first day. I've never seen him do anything like that before."
"Yeah, even more of a reason you need to be careful. We don't know everything he's capable off. You're only nineteen. There's not much difference. And you of all people know he's not sympathetic." I point out.
Jett looks at the ground, "Yeah, I know."
His parents and sister had been killed by Skylark the first day he became King. He made Jett watch, and laughed the whole time. That's why Jett is so guarded with his emotions now, and his hatred only grew with time. I really hate that he had to work for Skylark; it made me fear every day that he would hurt him. We left it at that, and after a while of talking about everything we could think of he says, "Okay, I hate to tell you this, but it's time to go. Do you want to ride with me, or take your own car?"
I think about it for a minute, "I'll ride with you." I get up grab my phone, and go get into his truck.
The ride is longer than I remember it from all the times I've taken it. I can't help but wonder what is going through Jacob's mind now. It should be obvious that he's wondering if he'll die today. I decide I need music to keep my mind off things. "Do you mind?" I ask as I turned the radio up.
"No, go for it." He says. I turn it up to 45; it can only go to 50. My second favorite song is on, called One Last Breath by Creed. I feel exactly what the song says, so I sit back and listen to the lyrics.
Jett smiles when the song goes off, "I love that song."
"Me too, it was my dad's song. He and mom used to listen to it in the worse times, and they'd think about how they could end it all so easily. But, mom told me that they would look at Jacob and me and push all those thoughts out of her head." I whisper.
"I didn't know that. I'm sorry. I really should learn more about my girlfriend before I say things."
"It's fine," I assure him, and put my hand in his on the console, "I don't expect you to know everything about my pity story."
"I've been with you for three years, I should know some things."
"It's a song with a background. All songs do. Please, stop worrying about things you know about me. You know everything important about me." I look at him, but he almost refuses to look back at me. "Is something else bothering you?"
He sighs, "I'm...not ready to see you hurt again. You barely made it through when your parents died." I don't say anything, because he's right. The only difference is, my parents loved me and I loved them, Jacob doesn't love me, and I just care for him.
Once we get to the court-house?I see Jacob at the front of the room. He turns, and looks straight at me, but he acts as if he has no clue who I am. Skylark is also there, sitting in the judge's seat.
I point him out to Jett, "What is he doing sitting in the judge's place?"
Jett looks, "Oh man, he's the judge. This isn't good at all."
"Wait, that means he gets to decide whether?Jacob should be put to death." Jett nods. "But, he'll get executed for sure." No wonder no one had ever gotten off with anything less than execution. Skylark's self-centeredness, is going to kill my brother.
"Sit down." Jett tells me.
"Hello, loyal and non-loyal subjects. We are here to hear the judgment of this young man." He motions to Jacob, "Well, no let me rephrase that. I am here to decide. You all are here to watch." The court doors open and close with a bang. I look around to see the guy from my room this morning.
Skylark notices his presence too, and glares at him but goes on, "I have made my decision. I have decided that the boy named Jacob Perry will be executed. His charge is defying me. Let this be a lesson for you all, if you dare to defy me you will be punished."
Jett stands up, "Why don't you do something with us then
? If you think we're all such a problem. You come fight us! You always let someone else do your work. What are you too much of a wimp to kill someone one your own?"
Skylark smiles, and Jett falls to the ground holding his head and yelling.
I lean down beside him, "Stop." I tell Skylark. "Stop!" Jett stops yelling and does his best to stand up, still holding his head.
He grabs my hand and leads me out of the court-room, "Hey, look at me." He says. "Look at me. I can't say he's going to get out of this, because I know he won't. But, just know I'm here for you. Always. You've got to stay strong. If you fall apart in front of Skylark you'll be giving him exactly what he wants. Like I always say emotions are the first thing people will use against you. I have to go back in there you stay here. I'll be back in just a second."
I grab his arm as he leaves, "Don't go back. He'll kill you." He ignores me and goes into the court-room.