Salem Moon (9 page)

She and Lily had known each other their whole lives and had always been best friends. Lilac
’
s mother, Jillian, was also a member of Wicca and belonged to the same coven as Lily
’
s parents. Her father, Jack, was Salem
’
s police chief. Lilac hadn
’
t lived with him for years, ever since her parents divorced.

Lilac didn
’
t like her dad much. Quite frankly, Lily didn
’
t blame her. They both felt he
’
d put his job before his family. After all, it wouldn
’
t look good if the Chief of Police was a witch. Jillian had converted to Wicca when Lilac was but an infant. She
’
d constantly preached to him about the true nature of Wicca, which had nothing to do with evil
. On
the contrary, they reveled and respected all things in the natural world. However, perceptions were a powerful political motivator and he simply couldn
’
t risk losing the communities respect. Lilac was an only child. Her parents were in agreement in one area, they both disapproved of their daughter
’
s lifestyle
. Lily knew she didn
’
t care what they thought. Lilac was eighteen, same as she, of legal age, after all. And s
he
’
d be out of their hair soon enough, off to a college in Louisiana.

Lily
’
s own parents, Richard and Summer Snow kept to themselves mostly. Her mother
’
s cold personality was well known to all with whom she came in contact with. For the most part, her mom was okay, not the most loving mother in the world, but certainly, not the worst. She could be very tender at times with Lily and those in her immediate circle, but you never knew with her. She ran hot and cold with little warning. Lily had made a decision this past year, when she
’
d turned eighteen, to disassociate herself from Wicca in favor of Christianity. She thought her mother would die of a conniption fit!

“
This is your
heritage
, Lily! It
’
s where you belong,
”
her mother had argued. The silver chain, which held an emerald studded pentagram, hung around her neck, glittering in the late afternoon sun. Lily had one too. Her mother had presented it to her on her thirteenth birthday. Contrary to popular belief, the pentagram was a symbol of the four elements, earth, wind, fire and water, with the fifth point representing the self.

The looks and sneering mockery by fellow students which Lily and Lilac had suffered throughout high school, caused Lily to remove it. She was tired of trying to fight against the myths and misconceptions that fictional movies and books had erroneously attached to it.

Lily had rolled her eyes at her, a well-known and much hated teenage trait.
It drove her mother crazy.

“
Mom, I
’
m eighteen, now. I
’
ll decide where I belong.
”

Her mother threw up her hands in frustration.
“
I give up! Richard, maybe you can talk some sense into her
.
”

Lily
’
s father set aside the paper he
’
d been reading and hugged his daughter.
“
Whatever you want is fine by me. You do what your heart tells you too, honey.
”

“
Thanks, Dad.
”

Summer Snow looked at each of them as if they were bugs in need of squashing and stomped out of the room.

Richard Snow sighed,
“
Guess it
’
s gonna be a bit frosty around here for a while.
”

“
Sorry Dad.  I didn
’
t wanna cause any trouble between you and Mom.
”

“
She
’
ll get over it. She always does, honey.
”

Lily had one brother, Dylan whom she loved dearly. He was sixteen. Theirs was a unique bond, unlike a lot of brothers and sisters who fought constantly, they never
argued
at all.

As a young boy, he
’
d been diagnosed with Leukemia. He was virtually at death
’
s door when he
’
d been miraculously cured. For years, Lily had watched him suffer. He loved baseball, but couldn
’
t play on Salem
’
s little league team due to his illness. Upon his recovery (which even the doctors puzzled over) her dad bought him a ball, a bat, a mitt and of course, a Red Sox cap. He now played on the Salem high school team. His inexplicable recovery was still the talk of the town, but only one person knew exactly how he
’
d been cured. That person was Lily.

“
Aww…Magick, you
’
ve come to join us have you?
”
Lilac
stroked the fur of the
, sleek and completely black cat
who
’
d
mysteriously appeared at Lilac
’
s side. She had an uncanny way of just
“
being present
”
without anyone seeing how she
’
d got there. Hence, Lily named her
“
Magick,
”
using the old spelling of the word, still commonly used by Wicca as well as the fashionable shops in town.

According to Wicca, she was what was known as Lily
’
s
“
familiar.
”
A familiar was a companion animal that chose its owner, usually finding them when least expected. To Wiccans, they were similar to
a guardian angel
of Christians. They
supported and guided the witch.

Although, Lily thought of Magick as her soul mate animal, her mother insisted that the cat had
chosen
Lily
. She insisted
one only need look into Magick
’
s eyes to see the sacred deity she embodied.

Whether she was a familiar or a soul mate
,
the reality was, the cat had been found on their doorstep one Halloween Eve
. The animal had
most likely escaped from a local animal shelter.

According to Lily
’
s father, Richard, whose best friend was the manager of the local animal shelter, black cats were not put up for adoption during the time preceding and right up to Halloween. Thus, protecting these cats from the rituals they might be used for by those who practiced the black arts.

Magick had immediately attached herself to Lily. The cat possessed a keen sense of intuition and was attuned to Lily
’
s every emotion. Lily adored and trusted her completely.

At the moment, however, she was like any other feline, allowing Lilac to scratch behind her ears
,
her eyes half closed with the pure ecstasy of it, purring loudly.

Lily closed the book she
’
d been reading, carefully placing it next to the neat pile of documents placed in her care by Ms. Swanson. She pulled down the cover of the roll top desk, concealing its contents and locked it with her key.

“
Okay, Lilac, I
’
m with yah. Let
’
s walk to town, see what
’
s doin
’
.
Maybe, go down to Salem Willows and hang out at the beach.
”

“
Sa-weet! We can check out the tourist guys. My dad told me the
Blackstones
have some
guy
stayin
’
with them, supposedly a distant cousin or somethin
’
. Mmmm…maybe he
’
s hot
.
”

Lily wrinkled up her nose in distaste at the mention of the Blackstone family. It was well known throughout Salem that the
Snows
and the
Blackstone
s
loathed each other an
d had for the past 300
years. No matter that such a long period of time had passed since members of the Snow family had made harsh accusations of witchcraft against the
Blackstones
. Accusations, that eventually caused their ruin. Both families still held a grudge and avoided one another whenever possible.

Lily had grown up with the tales of treachery
committed by
her descendants. How one of them had raped an innocent young girl by the name of Abigail Blackstone. And in the years that followed, the Snow family was able to amass a large portion of the
Blackstones
’
properties for a mere pittance. To this day, a large portion of the Snow
’
s wealth could be traced back to those early monetary transactions.

It was said that Dr. Samuel Blackstone was imprisoned after the sentencing of his children and his land was put up at auction. The Snows were but a poor family back then, but Richard Snow managed to scrape together enough to buy some of the
Blackstones
’
property, and as he prospered, he eventually came to own the very house Lily
’
s family now resided in. Sadly, witch-hunting could prove quite lucrative as a method of acquiring valuable land.

Dr. Samuel Blackstone had died in jail of pneumonia within months of his imprisonment. His grave could be found to this very day on the back end of the property still owned by the
Blackstone
s.

No one knew where Abigail was buried. Of course, her final resting place would
have to
be somewhere on unconsecrated ground. A witch could not be buried in the family plot or where any God fearing family would be
interred
. Some of the graves of those who were hanged at Gallows Hill had been found and re-interred over the generations
. H
owever, hers had not been one of them. Lily knew that new information on the graves of those still not located could come to light at any time.

As for the name and fate of Gabriel Blackstone, there was nothing written of him. It was as if he
’
d never existed.

G
abriel was totally disoriented. He found himself in a strange bedroom of a house that was
unknown
to him. The walls were slanted on two sides, meeting directly in the middle to form a point in the center of the ceiling. There was but one window in the entire room where a
light
, summer breeze gently blew
the soft, pale yellow drapes inward.
He caught different scents on the air, some familiar, some not.

The smell of the sea from the harbor had the same salty aroma. He could smell the woods around this place and hear the birds singing.

But, alas, there were other smells. The air was heavy with them. Noxious fumes
. A
nd the
noise
coming from the world outside
was
deafening
.
When he dared to look outside, he was dumbstruck and frightened by what his eyes beheld!

He turned away from the window, shaken and bewildered and fixed his eyes upon the glass in the mirror, over which hung an elaborately adorned crucifix.

He was astonished by what he saw
.
His hair was neatly cropped with only a hint of length falling across his forehead. His cheekbones were high and perfect
,
complementing his strong jaw line and unusually pale violet colored eyes
. A
ll
his
features
were
more prominent.

Even his manner of dress was changed. He had on a black tee shirt and blue jeans
. A
t his feet were boots, but of no style he had ever seen before. His arms and neck were exposed, the tanned muscle of them, the same. He felt naked in these clothes, accustomed as he was
to
the white linen, long sleeve shirt and leather jerkin
he normally wore.

“
Where…am…I?
”
Gabriel whispered to his own refection in the mirror, not really expecting an answer.

“
Your question should not be
where
you are, but
when
you are
.
”
T
he answer came to him out of thin air.