Bound In Blood (The Adams' Witch Series Book 1) (23 page)

“Yes, I do, Sarah.” Jennie lifted her shirt and brought out her Wicca handbook. “Here. You’re going to need this.”

Ten minutes later, the phone rang. This time, I didn’t have the strength to creep down the stairs and listen in on the conversation. I knew it was Drake, though Rose never came up the stairs and handed it to me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Isabella

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“Come!”

Two men descended the steps of the dank cell. Isabella wrapped herself in her arms. She did not look up. She did not want to see who came for her.

A hand pulled at her sleeve and she resisted only for a moment before remembering the blow of the judge’s palm onto Mrs. Shipton’s face. She allowed the magistrate to move her, but her strength and her senses gave him nothing. He twirled her around like a puppet, holding her, making sure she stood on two feet and dragged her when she did not. “Help me, you fools. She is too weak to stand on her own.”

The two men hesitated, so Magistrate Ludington grabbed hold of Isabella’s hands and pulled. It knocked her to the floor and he dragged her unmoving body across the damp dirt. Her back hit the stair and her feet thudded every time they landed on a new step. He grunted at her weight, heaving her up until she lay completely flat on her back.

She opened her eyes and saw the moon and the stars. A tear leaked out before she shut them again.

Hard footsteps raced up the stairs, and Mrs. Shipton began to scream. Two men halted her, grabbing her shoulders. “Stop,” Mr. Ludington ordered. “I want her to watch. Then she can see what she is about next.”

The pathetic woman dropped to her knees. “Oh no, please. Please, no.”

Isabella opened her eyes and looked around. A crowd gathered in a circle around her. Men, women, and children she all knew by name. They used to stop to talk with her before the weather changed, and the crops failed, and the witches were found. Before this, they were neighbors and friends. They were nice and agreeable. Now, they stood over her, repulsed, angry, mouths tight and eyes narrowed and leveled at her.

A rumble started from the back. “Witch!” someone called.

Isabella winced.

“Blasphemer.”

“Die you unholy creature.”

“May Satan save you now!” Mrs. Ludington screeched before pelting her with a handful of stones.

Isabella shut her eyes, flinching away. Two more men broke the circle and carried a trunk of an old pine and laid it next to her.

Mr. Ludington hauled her up by the shoulders and propped her next to the dead tree. “You two, tie her up.” Limp Isabella stilled, her heart frozen on a single beat. No one moved toward her.

“Thomas…Tie. Her. Up.”

“What about her trial?” Mrs. Shipton screamed.

“Silence!” Magistrate Ludington cried. “There will be no trial. Evidences in this instance were plenty. Isabella Lynne has been seen in the woods at night, not only once, not only twice, but on numerous occasions. We found ingredients for her potions. She bewitched my son! We will not honor the direct descendant of Satan with a trial.”

Feet shuffled toward her and she squeezed her eyes tight, not wanting to see Thomas. She did not want to cry out. She did not want to whimper or whine. If she were to see him, she would do all of them at once. Instead, she grasped hold of the memory of his face when they stole the kiss in her room, or when he met her in the barn for the first time. Surely their love was not blasphemous.

Thomas.
Her
Thomas.

She wondered which hands that touched her were his. They were both rough, forcing her arms behind her, the rope digging into the flesh of her wrists and burning as it was tugged across her. Then came her feet. The rope snaked in and out, around her ankles and the log and when they pulled it tight, she clenched her teeth to drown out a cry.

None of her body lay on the ground anymore. It suspended in air, her head slightly higher than her feet and she moved now, jostled about on the rounded log. The knots of the rope held her tight. It gave her no room to move her wrists or ankles. If she were to think about escape, hope for escape, it would only be a cruel thought as it was not possible.

The journey was short. Her head knocked against the wood as they swung her up. She fell forward slightly, only as much room as her arms gave her. Her shoulders seared in pain as the weight of her body hung against it.

She tried to straighten her legs to release the pressure on her arms, but it did not work. Her eyes firmly shut, she flinched as objects struck her. Some pierced her skin, others bounced off and left bolts of pain flowing through her. More cries of “Witch!” were yelled out until the entire village seemed to shout at once.

“Villagers of Adams, I, your magistrate, have done it again. We will burn away the evil that inflicts this town. We will make this right again. We will feed your children’s mouths. We will survive!” The pillar of the trunk swayed back and forth. “We must rid our town of evil to do it. And right now, two such evils will be burned.”

Two?

Cheers and chants of “Die witches” sounded from every corner of the little town square. Isabella’s eyes popped open. She looked to her right. Nothing. She looked to her left.

There she stared into eyes. Familiar brown eyes. Brown eyes that turned down with sorrow when she was a little girl and scraped her knee or ruined a dress. Brown eyes that smiled at her when she helped with chores. Brown eyes that mirrored the flames below as the hay beneath them caught fire.

Her mother’s eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Sarah

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I halted as I discreetly, or so I thought, descended the stairs. Rose came into the foyer, checking her wristwatch. It was five or so. She had already hindered all my attempts to get out of the house to meet Drake and Jennie. Every moment counted though. I didn’t care if my body wasn't in top shape. I needed to be out there, seeing who killed my father and who wanted to kill me. “I’ve got to see Drake. It’s important.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You banged your head last night. You’re not going anywhere.”

“But Rose—”

Her eyebrow shot in the air. “No buts.”

“I really need to see him. Can he come over?”

“He could if he tried honey, but he hasn’t.”

I’d noticed. Neither Jennie nor Drake had tried to come over, even though Jennie said she would. “Can I call him then?”

Rose stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “You don’t want to seem clingy, do you? I know him and that Marlene girl were really close. She wasn’t clingy. She's a free spirit.” She huffed and put her hands on her hips. “We all thought he’d end up with her just……”

“Just what?”

“It didn’t…click…I guess."

I smiled, not feeling particularly happy. I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “Good for me then.”

“Actually, Honey,” Rose said, frowning, “I think I should tell you. Before you showed up, I’m pretty sure they were going to get back together.”

My heart freefell to the ground. “That would explain why she hates me.”

“Probably.” Rose chuckled. The sound quickly turned eerie, like a Halloween clown’s maniacal laugh. “Once you’ve gone, I’m sure things will go back to as if you were never here.”

A fire sparked to life in my belly. “Drake says he’s not interested in her.”

Rose shrugged. “I’m just telling you an old wise woman’s point of view. Take it as you wish.”

She waved her hands and walked into her bedroom. I might’ve taken her advice if I hadn’t pored through Jennie’s Wiccan handbook all day, devouring the information. And I still might have listened, except I came across a picture of a doll within the pages. Marlene’s doll.
A binding doll
.

I ignored my aunt and walked to the front door. I pulled it open, smiling, and walked out. After easing the door shut, I ran to the SUV, hands already pulling at the keys I found on the side table from my pocket.

One thing the old wise woman didn’t know: how to live with a teenager.

I started the car and gunned it for the main road. My tires threw rocks into the grass as I took a right toward Drake’s house. I got to the old, country farm in no time, religiously checking the rearview mirror for Rose following in her own car, shaking her finger at me and saying what a naughty girl I was.

I pulled up to Drake’s farmhouse. The front curtains moved and his face came into view. I jumped from the car, but a head rush knocked me off kilter so I stood still, gripping the door handle for balance before Drake rushed over to envelop me in a hug.

“Are you okay? I’ve been calling you all day.”

“My cell’s dead, smashed.”

“No, I know. I called the house phone.”

“It hasn’t rung all day.” I smacked the door with my fist. “Aunt Rose must have turned the ringer off.”

“So are you alright?” He hugged me again, squeezing me. His grip moved to my hurt elbow and I moaned. He broke away and studied my injuries, turning my hand over in his. “Nasty."

“Yeah, battle scar, I guess.”

Drake frowned, letting my hand drop. His face turned chastising, like he was sick of having to remind me of something I did wrong over and over again.

“Someone tried to run me over,” I reminded him. “This has everything to do with my dad and this crazy town. What are we going to do?"

Drake groaned. “Not you too.”

“What?”

“Jennie’s been ringing my phone off the hook. She’s convinced these things are related.”

“How can they not be?”

“Someone didn’t try to run you over. Those things just don’t happen in this town.”

“They did. Hello. Look at my dad.” Drake sighed and my nerves frayed at the already worn edges. “Jesus, Drake, your feelings are giving me whiplash. Do you believe that what is happening is happening or not? Did you not see what happened to Marlene yesterday?”

“Yeah, I did, and I talked to Marlene. She was invited to the meeting, she just showed up late.” Drake laughed. “You see, Sarah? There are always rational explanations for things."

“What? About what they did at the meeting? That doll is a binding doll. It—”

Drake waved my words away. “Some weird Wiccan stuff. I think you should stay out of it. Jennie kept talking about some crap that happened hundreds of years ago. I mean, really?”

I pulled away from him. “This is crazy. I mean, one minute you’re right there with me, and now the next, after I practically get run over, the biggest clue of all, and you think this is all some misunderstanding?”

Drake grabbed me by the shoulders. “You need to stop getting involved. Nothing is going on here. We’re in Adams, Virginia for Christ’s sake. I think there are only two hundred people living here. Nothing is going on. You need to stop prying.”

I shrugged him off. “Just…whatever, okay. Fine.” I fiddled with the keys in my hands. “I’m gonna go.”

“Just because I think you’re wrong about this town doesn’t mean I want you to leave. Sarah.” He grabbed for me again, eyes boring into me, filling me with a yearning so bad it made me want to fall into his arms. His body radiated need and like the pull of gravity, I was swept away. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

His eyes lightened as he reached for me. “Come on. I don’t want to worry about some conspiracy theory. I want to spend a fun summer with you.”

He leaned into me, kissing me with all of our desires laid bare between us. He kissed the worry out of me, the tense headache and rigid bones. He wound his hands in my hair, pressing my lips to his so hotly, so intimately that even I was a little embarrassed.

“Is that all you got?”

I jumped and snatched my head away. The kiss ended badly. Part of my lip was probably stuck to one of Drake’s teeth.

I spun, heart hammering away in my chest with a chisel. The inside of my mouth tasted metallic.

“Huh? Is that all you got, Mother?”

“Jennie?” I found her, face shaking and cheeks flaming red. “What are you—?”

“Get in your truck now, Sarah. I’ll explain on the way.”

“But—”

“Now! Trust me.” Jennie shook something on the ground in front of her from a canister. “Get behind this line.”

Frozen, my feet were planted into the earth like a cypress tree, and my fingers were roots that intertwined with Drake’s. I didn’t know if I could go anywhere even if I wanted to.

“Please,” Drake scoffed. “I told you she was crazy.”

“Sarah…” Jennie’s voice turned to buzzing alarm. “I believe you. I believe everything you’ve said and I know why. I know everything and I’ll tell you. Just get behind this line and we’ll drive away from here."

I scooted a few inches away from Drake, dropping his heavy hand. He stared down at my feet, blinking, like he thought he only imagined I’d moved away from him. “You can’t be serious, Sarah. I told you. There’s nothing going on here.”