Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume (7 page)

All of that, even the fact that they were messing
with her now, wouldn’t have bothered her. What put her on edge was
that she recognized the leader.

“Bane, right?” Aradia asked.

She’d never met him before, but she recognized him
from descriptions Kaiser had given her. He was a hulking,
swaggering werewolf with a smug grin plastered on his ugly face. He
wore his greasy black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and he’d
adorned his leather jacket heavily with obscene words and patches.
He had on steel-toed black boots and was fairly well draped with
dangling silver chains. There was no mistaking this guy especially
by the fact that he smelled like fresh dirt.

Bane grinned as he approached her. “My reputation
precedes me.”

“I suppose it does,” she replied unenthusiastically.
“This is a high school, you know. I don’t suppose any of you are
actually enrolled in school? Here or otherwise?”

“Not really our scene,” one of the lackeys
replied.

Dear God, Kaiser really used to hang with these bone
heads?

“Your reputation precedes you, also,” Bane stated. He
paused a moment before adding, “Witch.”

“Excuse me?” Aradia replied with disbelief. A look of
shock replaced her previous, miserable one.

“Oh yeah, I know all about you. Hell, by now probably
the whole town knows there’s a real hidden witch in Salem,” Bane
uttered, voice dripping with cruel amusement.

How could anyone have found that out?
Aradia
thought, completely puzzled. As far as she knew, only Dax, Mr.
Dayton, her parents, and Roy knew what she was.

“He didn’t give me a name,” Bane went on. His
smirking grew more sinister with every word he said. “But the girl
who took down the Vampire Murderer was a likely candidate.”

“Who didn’t give you my name?”

Bane shrugged. “Didn’t give me his name either. I
didn’t ask. Leech was lucky to get away from us alive.”

Aradia rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, you’ve never
killed anyone. Worst crime you’ve pulled is what you’re doing with
your hair.”

Bane and crew growled at her.

“What did he look like?” Aradia inquired further.

The lackeys weren’t smiling anymore, but Bane still
was, and all three looked violent. Kaiser had warned her that he
was a bruiser. She weighed her options though and decided it was
worth the risk, even on school grounds.

She stood up and got right in his face, trying to
keep her voice steady. “The vampire who told you about me. What did
he look like?”

Bane didn’t say anything.

Aradia tried to sweeten the deal. “If you ask me,
maybe I can find him, and maybe I really will kill him.”

“Or maybe you just want to keep him company at night,
like you do with that other vampire and werewolf," Bane
retorted.

“I am so tired of this vampire-werewolf love triangle
thing,” Aradia muttered.

“That’s right,” Bane replied, clearly not listening
to her. “We know all about your sick fetishes.”

Aradia rolled her eyes and sat back down.
This
isn’t going anywhere.

“Dark hair, goatee,” Bane said, describing his
informant. “Real Colin Farrell thing going on.”

Xan!
Aradia realized, clenching her fists with
her hands, her body now taut with anger. Xan had been in the room
as well, and even if he hadn’t been, Mr. Preston or even Dax could
have told him.

If word had gotten to some outsider like Bane, the
rest of the hiddens in school probably know about me too! They’ll
probably start staring at me even more then they usually do! They
probably all think I’m a freak.

The idea brought back a slew of memories from her old
school and brought Aradia to the brink of bursting into tears.

“I don't know if it's true, though," Bane continued,
spurring Aradia to look directly at him.

“You don't think it is true?” She said in an almost
pathetic, but very hopeful voice.

“Naw, I don’t really think you’re the last witch.”
His wicked smile should have warned Aradia that she wasn’t going to
like where he was going.

“Really?” she asked. She felt like a kid at Christmas
time who was about to get a hoped-for game console.

“Yeah. Judging by how scrawny and weak you look, I
doubt you’re the last survivor of your kind. You’re nothing special
at all.”

Aradia's face fell. “What?”

“Yeah. Look at you, sweetie. Nobody would call you
special. Isn't that right, guys?”

The other werewolves snickered, highly amused by
their leader’s joke.

“But then again,” Bane added. “Maybe you really are
the last witch. Maybe the other witches faked their own deaths just
so they could make sure they would be free of you.”

Aradia stood up again and faced Bane. This time it
was no ploy for information. Her body shook with anger and her
palms were heating up, ready to burst into flame. The look in her
eyes would have warned a terrorist not to mess with her. Bane,
however, just looked right back at her. He folded his arms across
his chest as if he were daring her to make a move.

However, at that very moment the school counselor
happened to be walking through the quad, and the SHS counselor
happened to be Mrs. Preston. Upon seeing her daughter practically
surrounded by a group of punks, she quickly swooped to Aradia’s
rescue. She asked, “Everything alright, honey?”

“Honey?” Bane repeated sarcastically.

Aradia considered punishing Bane for all this. It was
three on one, but they wouldn’t be expecting what she could do,
even if they did know she were a witch. Since her mother was there,
she decided against it. Aradia swallowed her thirst for vengeance,
took her mother's hand, and went towards the parking lot.

“I don’t think we’re done here,” Bane interrupted
their retreat, “honey.”

“Oh please,” Aradia’s mother replied. “Right now the
three of you are trespassing, and by the smell of it, have weed on
you. You’d probably get about ten hours of community service and a
court-ordered drug cessation program if I called the police right
now.” She pulled out her cell phone to add credibility to her
threat.

“Hmm” Bane replied, “excuse me if I don't start
shaking in my boots.”

“I’m sure you are,” Aradia’s mother replied. “I’m
also sure I won’t see you on school grounds again. Have a nice
day.”

Bane’s cackling laughter, along with his gang's,
echoed in Aradia's ears as she and her mother walked away.

"What was that all about?" Liza asked her daughter as
they drove home.

"Nothing," Aradia muttered with a shake of her
head.

Liza wanted to press it further but not wanting to
upset her daughter, she decided to drop the subject. Aradia slumped
against the car window feeling completely defeated. As much as she
wanted to deny it, the werewolf had reminded Aradia the seriousness
of her situation. The seriousness of whether or not she was truly
the last witch. Was she truly all alone? She felt confused and
angry, but most of all she was upset for having so many questions
and no answers.

Ever since she had become aware of her powers, she
had always had questions. Now, though, she had more questions than
ever before, and she could not bear it any longer. Aradia had one
last, crazy thread she could follow. She had to know.

“Mama, I need you to take me to the cave where you
found me.”

“You know, when you said you could take me to the
cave,” Aradia said, bored, “I’d assumed you actually knew where the
cave was.”

“It’s been fifteen years,” Ross replied defensively.
They’d driven back and forth over this particular few miles of
highway three times now. “You were there too. You could help with
the directions.”

“I was a baby,” Aradia replied. “Do I need to add a
‘duh’?”

“It’s a shame there’s no sign,” Liza commented. She
and Ross exchanged a knowing glance and soft chuckle. Aradia rolled
her eyes. She’d heard the story of how they’d found her dozens of
times.

“You could use your powers,” Ross said. “That
summoning light would lead us right there, wouldn’t it?”

“Ross…” Liza admonished.

“No, it’s okay,” Aradia replied. “He’s right. Or, he
should be.”

That earned a questioning look from both her parents,
though Ross kept his eyes on the road.

“I tried,” she explained. “It didn’t work. I think my
powers are weaker when I’m… feeling down.”

“Or maybe less controlled,” Ross replied. “I think
you’ve got all the same power stored up in there. You just can’t
tap into it the way you want if you’re not…”

“Attuned,” Liza finished for her husband.

“Here,” Ross stated firmly, pulling his Murano onto
the shoulder. “Here’s where we pulled off the road.”

“I think you’re right,” Liza said. Pointing, she went
on, “And down there is the clearing where I waited while you went
looking for trouble.”

“Found it,” Aradia joked half-heartedly.

Ross held out an arm. “Lead the way. Ladies first, of
course.”

“Of course,” Liza replied, glad she’d had the
foresight to wear old sneakers.

Liza got them to the clearing, but Ross was the only
one who truly knew where the cave was. After about an hour of
searching, he found it. The cave had not changed much in the years
which had elapsed since he found his daughter.

At the mouth of the cave, Aradia suddenly felt
afraid. She wasn’t sure what scared her more: the possibility of
answering her questions, or the possibility of finding nothing at
all. What she found, if anything, might traumatize her for
life.

“It’s okay, honey,” Liza reassured her. “Your father
and I are here for you.”

Aradia looked at her mom, who nodded. They both
sighed heavily and went into the cave together.

The cave was damp, smelly, and chilly, but most of
all it was spooky. In spite of that, Aradia could not help but feel
that this cave did indeed have the answers to her past. Somehow, in
some visceral way, she felt like this cave held a link to other
hidden witches.

“Hey check it out!” Ross cried, his light focused on
a spot at the center of the cave. He bent and picked up a small
object from that spot.

“Is that–” Liza asked.

“My wallet! It’s still here,” Ross replied. “My
note’s still inside.”

Aradia took the note and unfolded it. “‘Dear people
who lost something important. If you lost something here recently,
call me at this number. If you can describe in detail what it is,
I’ll give it back.’ Really, Dad? You wrote this like I was a wad of
cash.”

“Couldn’t take any chances,” Ross replied, waving his
light around the cave.

The three of them wandered. The cave was shallow, but
it opened to the east. Though they had started early, it had taken
them far longer to find the cave than they’d anticipated, and the
sun was high in the sky. Little light entered, making exploration
difficult, and they had only the one flashlight.

Ross returned several times to one particular wall.
It seemed to be a dead end, but he was not so sure. Puzzled and
curious, Ross went to the wall and ran his hand over it. He did not
know what he expected to happen, but nothing did. He rubbed his
fingers together. It wasn’t what was happening, it was what
wasn’t
happening. He still wasn’t sure what that was though
o rather, what it wasn’t.

He looked down at his palm, and he froze.

“Hey guys,” he said. He widened the beam to create
some ambient light. “This cave is filthy, right? Covered with dirt
and mold and bug droppings?”

“Nice, Dad,” Aradia replied.

“Bear with me,” he said. He ran his hand over the
wall then held it up to them, palm out. “Why isn’t my hand
dirty?”

Aradia's mouth dropped open in shock. With unusual
trepidation, she crept to her father’s side.

“I feel… warm,” she stated. She didn’t really know
what she meant, and neither of her parents questioned her.

Her hand shook as she reached ever-so-slowly to
repeat her father’s act of brushing the wall.

She swept her hand across the stony surface. For a
moment, she was terribly disappointed, but also relieved. It felt
like normal rock. However, no sooner had she touched the wall than
it began to melt like a pad of butter plopped atop steaming
vegetables. All three Prestons jumped back in surprise.

When the wall finally stopped melting, all that was
left was a hazy rippling mass of grey. Without warning or ceremony,
Aradia stepped through it, followed promptly by her parents.

The sight that met their eyes was a curious and
frightening one: an old, abandoned village, ripe with the stench of
death. Smoke rose from burned out huts, clearly built mostly of
wood and thatch. Animal carcasses, those of horses, turkeys, and
goats, rested in their pens. Wood and iron tools lay abandoned near
the huts and in the fields. Behind them was nothing but a seemingly
solid stone wall.

“This place looks like it’s been abandoned,” Liza
said.

“Not abandoned,” Aradia corrected.

“No,” Ross agreed. “More like razed to the
ground.”

Aradia began to tremble and her mother wrapped her
arms around her daughter's shoulders. Aradia did not shrug her
off.

The Prestons slowly explored the entire village. Ross
entered many of the huts checking for survivors, but every time he
returned shaking his head and looking ever more defeated.
Eventually Aradia abandoned caution and called out, "Hello? Hello?
Anyone here?"

“I’m not sure that’s wise,” Ross stated. His voice
was the only response to her calls.

“Why not? We didn’t come here for nothing.”

“Somebody attacked this village, destroyed it,” Ross
replied. “These buildings are still smoldering, so the attackers
can’t be far. It doesn’t look like they left any survivors, so who
do you suppose might answer your calls?”