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Also by I.D. Blind
Witch Hollow and the Wrong Spell
(Book 1 of 5 of “Witch Hollow” series)
Witch Hollow and the Fountain Riddle
(Book 2 of 5 of “Witch Hollow” series)
Witch Hollow and the Dryad Princess
(Book 3 of 5 of “Witch Hollow” series)
Witch Hollow and the Spider Mistress
(Book 4 of 5 of “Witch Hollow” series)
Witch Hollow and the Moon’s Daughter
(Book 5 of 5 of “Witch Hollow” series)
Excerpt from Book 3
The ball continued. The hall was full of people dancing and chatting, laughing and enjoying the delicious meals. Eric left the girls around the table, and went for a walk across the hall, marking the guests in the big ballroom. He knew some of them from Hollow, but most of the guest were from other towns and counties, and he was seeing them for the first time. At the end of the hall, Eric came upon a refreshment room with a table full of canapés and drinks. A group of young ladies was sitting in the corner and talking. Eric didn’t know them. He poured punch for himself, put some ice into it, and took a sip.
“You don’t even want to greet me?”
Eric turned to the voice. Dinah was standing in front of him, wearing a black brocade dress, her hair pinned up in a beautiful hairstyle. Eric had seen her in the crowd, but hadn’t bothered to approach her. He hadn’t talked to her since his arrival.
“Hello, Dinah,” he said grudgingly.
“Is that all I shall receive from you?”
Eric kept quiet.
“How are you doing, Eric O’Brian?”
“I am doing fine, thank you. And I hope you are well, too.”
“No,” she said. “I am not well.”
“Why?” Eric looked away at the ladies in the corner, then returned his eyes on Dinah.
“I am unhappy.”
“I thought otherwise. Girls are usually happy when they are getting engaged, aren’t they?”
“It depends.”
“On what?”
“On the circumstances.”
Eric put the glass back on the table. “I’m sorry to hear about your unhappiness. I wish you nothing but joy,” he said, and turned around to leave when Dinah held him by the arm.
“Stop running away.”
Eric wanted to say that he wasn’t running away, but knew that she was right. He wanted to escape her company. He felt uncomfortable around her. She was stunning as always, beautiful, elegant, but he didn’t want to talk to her.
Dinah looked at him for some long seconds. It seemed she wanted to say something but hesitated, and didn’t know how to begin. At that moment, Electra, who had been searching for Eric, appeared at the door. She saw Eric and Dinah standing together and didn’t dare approach them. Electra stood by the marble column near the door and waited for Eric, who was standing motionless near the table, his arm squeezed by Dinah.
“I want to help you,” he said. “I really do. I don’t want to see you unhappy, but you need to think independently, to decide for yourself, not to be led by others, even by your parents.”
“My father only wishes to save the town. He knows he’s doing the right thing. Leave them, join us.”
Eric looked at her in astonishment.
“Join me. Just one word and I will call off the engagement. I don’t want to marry Thomas. I don’t love him.”
“You don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I do. I have thought over this for so many nights. Please, leave them. Their days are over. You know the Hunters are back. Everyone knows. They are planning another Hunt. The witches’ days are over, they will be killed. All of them.”
“Stop it!” Eric wanted to get out of Dinah’s grip, but she held him tighter.
“Leave them. Otherwise the Hunters won’t spare you. But I am ready to accept you, forgive you, love you. Just leave the witches. You will have me as a reward. I am more beautiful than all of them together.”
Eric stared at Dinah, thinking over what she’d said, and wondering how much of that was true. She was staring back with expectation; her heart was beating fast, throat was dry. She had just made a confession to him, and now her happiness depended on his decision.
“You are beautiful but rotten inside.” Eric pulled his arm out of her grip and left the room. He passed right in front of Electra, but didn’t notice her behind the column. Shocked by what she had just heard, she continued to stand by the marble column, then felt someone’s presence behind, and turning around, let out a low gasp. Dickens McCormack seemed startled, too. He looked at her with surprise, as if not expecting to see her. Bewildered, Electra stepped back. Ariadne hurried to her friend, took her by the hand, and they paced away.
“Was he sniffing your hair?” Ariadne asked when they strode away from the refreshment room.
Electra shuddered. “That McCormack is the creepiest of all.”
“The word ‘creepy’ describes him very well.”
Left alone, Dinah snatched a strawberry from the bowl with fruits and squeezed it angrily in her palm. How could he deny me? she thought. How audacious, how impertinent he was! He will be sorry. He will be very sorry.
Thomas entered the refreshment room and approached Dinah. “Did you talk to him?”
She frowned at him.
“I saw Eric O’Brian coming out of this room. Was he talking to you?”
“None of your business.”
Thomas saw the squeezed berry in her palm and grasped her wrist. “What have you decided? To disgrace me?”
Dinah roughly freed her hand. “I said, none of your business!”
“I think you have forgotten that we’re getting engaged soon.”
“And I think you have forgotten that we’re not even engaged, yet you already behave like an old, jealous husband.”
Dinah fled from the room, and Thomas, infuriated both with Dinah and Eric, stood in solitude, pressed his lips together, and thought about how much he wished for Eric O’Brian’s disappearance. He knew that Dinah, who would soon become his wife—something he was wishing for eagerly—was pining over Eric, and his inability to win her heart caused hatred and detestation towards his rival.
On the way to their table, Electra saw Eric by the window, and telling Ariadne she would soon join their company, walked to him. As she put her gloved hand on Eric’s shoulder, he smiled and hugged her waist.
“This is a beautiful place,” he said, looking out the window. The night had fallen, and the reflections of the stars were shining brightly on the surface of the clear pond. The small lanterns, some hanging down the branches of the trees, some inside the colorful bushes, were already burning and brightening up the luxurious garden.
For a while, Eric and Electra stood silently by the window, admiring the beautiful panorama and thinking about Dinah’s words, but none of them spoke about their concerns. Eric didn’t want to scare her, and Electra didn’t wish him to think she’d been eavesdropping.
The conductor of the orchestra turned to the guests, raised his stick, hushing everyone, and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please choose your partners. The Ornshire Waltz begins now.”
“Oh, the Waltz!” Electra exclaimed. “Let’s go.”
She dragged Eric to the dance floor, on her way waving to her friends and calling them to the center of the ballroom. The conductor waited for everyone to choose their partners, then turned to the orchestra and swayed his stick in the air. The Waltz began.
“Just don’t forget to count,” Electra reminded Eric.
Hundreds of pairs whirled across the ballroom, like motley butterflies fluttering over a blooming meadow. Not a guest was left sitting; everyone had found a partner, and was spinning in the dance,
getting ready for the first turn.
“I don’t want to change my partner.” Eric held Electra’s hand tighter.
“Neither do I,” she said with a smile. “But the time is coming, one more spin, and we’ll turn around.”
Without stopping the music, the orchestra smoothly played another tune; the dancers stopped for a split second, and turned around. Medea appeared in front of Eric, and smiling at each other, they began waltzing in the ballroom, looking around to see who was dancing with whom. Hector was dancing with Ariadne, and Jack had met Eleanora on the dance floor. Eric smiled under his breath at the sight of his beaming cousin. At last she was dancing with Jack—something she had been waiting for the whole evening. Eric searched for Electra. The smile disappeared from his face when he saw her dancing with Thomas Baldric. She didn’t seem pleased. Thomas’s lips were moving, he was saying something, but Electra was silent, her eyes aimed at the floor.
“Calm down,” Medea told him. Eric looked absently at her. “Calm down, she can handle one minute with Baldric.”
“If he insults her, I’ll beat him up.”
“Just don’t start a fight here. We have been tolerating insults all our lives, and we certainly can do that for a few more minutes.”
The music changed again and everyone turned around. Eric stared at his partner, then put his hand over Dinah’s waist, and avoiding her glance, looked around the ballroom again. Jack was now dancing with Ariadne, and Hector was waltzing with Eleanora. Medea was Thomas’s new pair, and Eric grinned as he saw how boldly she was looking into Thomas’s face and saying something to him with no fear. Medea was the boldest of the sisters and never shunned away from speaking her mind.
“What a bad day,” Thomas said. “I’ve been stuck dancing with witches when there are so many normal people around.”
“Indeed it’s a bad day for you, Baldric. The day when you lost your pants.”
“Huh?” Thomas’s pants began slipping down. He hastily reached for his belt, trying to keep his clothing on, while waltzing awkwardly.
“Stop it, witch.”
“Apologize.”
“I said stop it! Now!”
“I said apologize.”
While Thomas was trying to keep his garments on, Eric and Dinah spun in the dance nearby. Eric chuckled over Thomas’s awkward dance.
“He’s an idiot,” Dinah said.
Eric couldn’t believe she was saying that about someone she was going to marry. She had already said she didn’t love him, but he couldn’t understand why she also wished to humiliate Thomas in front of him.
“I don’t want to marry an idiot,” Dinah continued. “It’s a decision on behalf of our parents. I’ve never gone against my father’s wishes, but I don’t want to marry that fool. Please, help me.”
“Dinah, I’m sorry, but I don’t know how I can help you. You need to talk to your parents. It’s not too late. It’s never too late. Don’t do that if you don’t want to.”
“But I have to. Now, if you would only agree to join us. I would convince my father to accept you.”
“You don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“But we used to be friends once. Not much time has passed since. We still could resurrect our friendship, our feelings. I know you were fond of me. Your feelings couldn’t have vanished without a trace.”
Eric didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to cause her pain when she was already miserable, but the truth was that remorse was the only feeling he had. He pitied her and wished he could help her, but didn’t know how. He didn’t love her anymore. That feeling had vanished a long time ago, without a possible resurrection.
“It’s because of her, isn’t it?” Dinah threw a glance at Electra. “That witch stole you from us.”
Eric followed Dinah’s glance and saw Electra dancing with the worst partner in the whole ballroom—Dickens McCormack. Watching them dance was like watching Dickens hurting her and staying quiet. Eric was beginning to hate that stupid Waltz. It was an unpredictable dance, and when there were so many people hating each other in one place, that dance was only causing more confusion.
Eric danced with Ariadne, then with two young girls he was seeing for the first time. After one last turn, everyone was back with their original partners. Eric eagerly hugged Electra’s waist and asked her if Thomas or Dickens had insulted her. Telling him not to worry about the Easterners, Electra asked if Eric had seen Cassandra in the hall.
“I have not. And frankly, I've just now noticed she’s nowhere near. And I haven’t seen Raymond, either. Maybe they are strolling somewhere?”
“Maybe,” Electra said gravely.
Copyright 2013 by I.D. Blind.
Cover art copyright 2013 by I.D. Blind.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used factiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All right reserved. No parts of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except for brief excerpts for the purpose of review or quotation, without permission in writing from the author. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author at
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References
1. “Blacksmith.” A traditional English folk song. (Go back)
2. “Searching For Lambs.” A traditional English folk song. (Go back)
3. “Battle of Harlaw.” A traditional Scottish song. (Go back)
4. “Twa Corbies.” A Scottish folk ballad (Go back)
5. “If I Were a Blackbird.” A Scottish Ballad (Go back)
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