WitchLove (10 page)

Luke’s driving had slowed down somewhat since having to negotiate American four lane highways and junctions, as well as driving on the wrong side of the road. We decided that even though Salem was only thirty minutes away, we wanted to have a mini road trip and explore the state a little, so in the end we arrived just after midday and opted to get my aunts shopping out of the way first. Salem was pretty much my idea of a small town in New England. The centre was quaint, beautiful, and touristy. Once we’d dumped the car we headed straight for a pretty little lane just off Essex Street, where Aunt Sarah had told us we would find a tiny shop open only to supernaturals, which remained well hidden amongst all the
human
witch shops and tourist traps of the town.

‘So I think it must be down here,’ I said, indicating a quiet little lane which ran off the pedestrianised street we’d been wandering down.

‘It’s so pretty here. Can we just pop into some of these shops? They look so fun and I could really do with some more candles and crystals,’ Brittany said, wandering over to a shop named Hex.

‘Later, but we need to find my aunt’s shop first, then we can do our own thing,’ I said, noticing Luke’s shoulders slump with the possibility of more girlie shopping.

‘At least we aren’t clothes shopping, Luke,’ I said, nudging his arm.

‘And you never know when you might want a pair of googly eyeballs or a Voodoo doll,’ Brittany added with a grin, looking back into the shop window.

‘Come on, I have a feeling it’s down here,’ I said, hurrying down the half-hidden side street. The cobbled street was still pretty, bordered with its tall red brick buildings, but there was also a slight chill in the air, something intangible that would make any sensible human choose another route. Obviously this was why another beautiful tree-lined avenue ran parallel to it, busy with shoppers and tourists.

My aunt had said to look out for magic, watch out for the glamour illusion that disguised its shop windows and made them look like a brick wall. Brittany spotted it straight away, but it was only when I saw her marching over to a slightly grubby wall that I suspected and concentrated harder.

‘Luke, can you see it?’ I asked as we followed Brittany over, both of us squinting in an effort to see past the strong wards.

‘Nope, not a thing. It’s obviously warded against angels too, which is more than a little concerning,’ he said. ‘Can you?’

‘Yes, I think so. I couldn’t at first but now… yes, I got it. Come on.’ I pulled his arm and dragged him behind me like a blind man. I had to admit the shop didn’t entice. If anything it did the opposite and made you want to run screaming in the opposite direction, but Brittany wasn’t even sixteen yet and she didn’t seem to think there was a problem, so why should I?

‘Don’t you think it’s a little odd that my aunt would send us here?’ I said. ‘It doesn’t really seem her type of place,’ I said, remembering her rant about
dark
magic, which she had expanded upon daily.

Brittany shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s an illusion to put newcomers off. It’s the only possibility. This
is
the lane your aunt mentioned, and she
did
say it would be warded with powerful magic.’

‘Jess, if you don’t like it, I don’t think we should go in. Maybe it’s wrong, and the very fact that I can’t see it is worrying me,’ Luke said. ‘Your aunt didn’t mention it being warded against angels.’

‘Maybe she doesn’t realise, she’s probably never been inside with an angel before,’ Brittany said. ‘It’ll be fine. Come on scaredy cats!’ She stepped forward, pushed on the black wooden door and disappeared inside.

I shrugged apologetically at Luke and pulled him by the hand so we could follow, but as I crossed the threshold I felt him torn from my grasp. I looked back in shock but he, and indeed the whole street had disappeared. Where the doorway had been was just a vast, black hole of nothingness.

‘Jess?’ Brittany squeaked, suddenly barging backwards into me.

‘I’m here, but Luke’s outside. He couldn’t enter. How can we get back out? Have you seen the doorway?’ I whispered.

‘I don’t know, I’ll think on it, but Jess… I don’t think we’re safe here. Stay by me, and whatever you do, don’t giveaway your identity. Just follow me and pretend…’

‘Oh, what do I have here? Two baby witches I see,’ said a beautiful woman, whose flowing hair shimmered from black to lilac, as she walked out from the back of the shop.

‘Oh hi, err.. we’re here from England on a school trip, but we got a bit lost. We were supposed to meet up with the professor at the museum… do you know the way?’ Brittany asked.

‘Which museum is it you were looking for?’ the witch asked, an icy smile creeping across her features.

‘Errr, I… Je...Julie, do you know?’ she said turning to me.

‘I think it was the Witch History Museum,’ I said, thinking of a signpost I had seen just before we’d found the alleyway. ‘We thought maybe this was a shortcut?’

‘And you thought that you would come and investigate my shop, even though I have all manner of wards in place. You must have been
very
persistent or you’re not quite telling me the truth,’ she said, as I shot Brittany a quick glance. What now?

‘There’s something about you that I recognise, which is strange seeing as you come from England, and I rarely go there,’ she added, staring at me.

‘Oh I don’t know; we witches all look the same, don’t we?’ Brittany said, her voice beginning to squeak slightly.

‘No, I don’t recognise you. You look like any other witchling… but you.
You
are different, you don’t look well and there is something about your aura that can’t decide if it’s white or black. Interesting…’ she mused, before turning and wandering back into the depths of the shop.

‘Shit! We need to get out of here before she realises who you are,’ Brittany whispered.

‘But maybe if we tell her, she’ll worry about my aunt coming after her?’ I answered back in a hurry.

‘No way! Much too risky. Let’s just try the door again.’

We headed back to the door, which had sealed itself shut and would not budge.

‘Oh, there you are girls, I do so hope you weren’t trying to leave without saying goodbye; that would be very rude. No need to worry about your teacher. I’ll get you there in no time, but first there is a darkness about
you
that is most interesting. I think we should see where it stems from.’

I looked at Brittany and noticed the concern flash across her features. Her hand reached out for mine, but it was too late. The witch reached across quicker and tapped me lightly on the arm.

I blinked.

The room had disappeared, and so had Brittany.

I looked around me in astonishment. I was in a hospital corridor. There was something familiar about it, but then all hospitals look alike and I’d been in a few recently. I glanced around looking for a clue, and then I saw it.

I looked down at myself and I knew where I was instantly. I was wearing my favourite old blue jeans and my ‘Noah and the Whale’ t-shirt, the same t-shirt that I’d worn the day my mum died, and the t-shirt that I’d packed up into a little box and never put on again. Was it just a memory or had she pulled me back in time? My emotions felt real… very real. I raced along the corridor, past the nurses who appeared frozen in their tasks and straight to the door that I remembered so clearly.

I paused at the door, took a deep breath and burst through.

‘Jess! Shhh, she’s sleeping,’ Luke said, frowning at me as I burst through the door.

I looked around the room and the emotions hit me, anger and frustration seeping into my conscience as I looked across at the tiny, frail woman; her cheekbones hollow, her breathing ragged. I climbed onto the hospital bed and curled into her side, as I had done every day for the past couple of weeks and the feelings of despair began to suffocate me. Tears easily filled my eyes and trickled in a steady stream down my cheekbones.

‘Hey, it won’t be long now Jessie. I’m here and I promise you I’ll never leave. I’ll be here whatever, okay? Whenever you need me, I’ll be here.’ Luke’s voice calmed me, as he stroked my cheek and held my mother’s hand.

‘Jessie, Jessie, my sweet girl. You have so much ahead of you and I’ll watch you every day, honey. Don’t cry.’ My mum’s voice whispered in my ear, and her hand shook slightly as she stroked my hair briefly, before letting it rest across my body.

‘Mum…’ My voice caught in my throat and I couldn’t say anymore.

‘Honey, go and fetch you father for me please. I think he went to the cafeteria. I want you all with me, okay?’ she said.

‘Can’t Luke go?’ I asked.

‘No, I need a word with him. You go. It won’t take a minute.’

Luke nodded and smiled and I reluctantly climbed off the bed. Why was he taking up time with my mum? Precious time. Old feelings of bitterness began to creep into my head, mixing with the feelings of despair and anguish, curling and broiling in my gut. Something niggled, a recent memory, something Luke had told me, but I couldn’t quite hold onto it and I frowned as I turned away from him.

‘Ooh! Cancer will always produce some dark feelings, feelings of despair and anger, but I’m not sure we’ve seen it all yet, have we Jessie?’ The witch suddenly appeared in the doorway and I looked back at the bed, startled to see both Luke and my mother gradually turning to dust and blowing away. In fact everything began crumbling around us and I soon found myself standing in a wasteland with nothing but the witch.

‘Jessie, Jessie,’ the witch jeered at me smiling. ‘Now that’s a name I recognise. Let’s see if you
are
who I suspect you might be,’ she added.

I frowned, trying to shake the dark feelings which were still clinging to me and frantically thinking through all the spells I had learnt over the last week, to see if there was anything that might get me back to Brittany, or Luke. But as I had no idea where I was, or indeed where Brittany was, I didn’t really have any clue what to do. And then for some inexplicable reason, she released me.

The wasteland was gone, she was gone and I was sitting on a beautiful Victorian four-poster bed. The room was dark and chilly, illuminated only by the filtered glare of the yellow streetlights outside. A movement on the other side of the room startled me and I looked towards it. Sebastian strode towards me, his expression thoughtful.

‘So Jessica, I’m giving you the choice. You can choose their fate. It is they who changed your fate, so it seems only right that you get to choose theirs…’ he said, perching on the side of the bed.

Oh no! The girl gang! The girl gang who had stabbed me and left me paralysed and dying in the street. The girl gang I had chosen to save. I’d only wanted to scare them, frighten them off and teach them a lesson, but Sebastian had found out and made me choose between their deaths or wiping their memory and letting them carry on… they couldn’t be allowed to know of the vampires in Manchester, and our secrecy came first. Had I made the right decision? I’d set them free. I was haunted by every crime they committed since which went unpunished. Some weeks after my decision, a local girl was attacked with a glass bottle. Her life had been saved, but she had lost the sight in one eye and had permanent scarring down her cheek. The police had no evidence and there were no witnesses. The girl was too scared to prosecute.
I
knew who was responsible and
I
had set them free. The emotions bubbled over once again. The total fear from the night they attacked me, the raw hate which burned in my soul when I awoke and found I had lost all that was dear to me, the regret… what would have happened if I had chosen Sebastian’s other choice; their disappearance, their death?

‘You can always change the past Jessie…’ a voice whispered in my ear and I jumped, startled and turned round to face the witch, who nodded towards an unseeing Sebastian and smiled.

Without thinking, and with the hate, fear and all the blackness of my soul pouring forth I awoke from my thoughts.

‘Sebastian?’ I said, watching him walking towards the door. He paused and turned back.

‘Yes?’

‘I’ve changed my mind… I mean… if you agree, well maybe they shouldn’t be allowed to live.’

Sebastian smiled at me and opened his mouth to say something, but I never heard it as he suddenly began fading away.

‘Jessie! Oh God! Thank God!’ Brittany flung her arms around me, and I felt her warm cheek flushed against my own.

‘Jessica? Are you okay?’ a woman asked, standing just behind Brittany.

I looked about me, dazed and utterly confused. I was back in the shop, the door was wide open and I could see Luke standing beyond on the street. Looking at the woman’s worried eyes I nodded and attempted a smile.

‘You! What did you think you were doing? I should report this to the Council. You are fully aware that anyone from the Blood Moon coven is not allowed anywhere near Jessica James,’ the woman said, turning on the dark witch who had reappeared on the other side of the room.

‘Oh, there’s no harm done. I had no idea who they were. They came to me, said she was called Julie. There’s a significant amount of dark power in that child. You all need to be very careful,’ she said, looking at me with a grim smile.

‘Yes, brought to the surface by you, no doubt,’ the new witch said, grasping both mine and Brittany’s arms and leading us towards the doorway.

‘Bye Jessica. Come and see me anytime,’ the dark witch said in a silky smooth voice.

The new witch merely tutted and pushed us through the door and into the street.

‘Jess!’ Luke said, flinging his arms around me. ‘I was so worried about you both when I was stuck out here.’

I was silent, still in shock. What had I done? Had I changed the past? Were those girls dead now because of me? Or was it a dream? The ugly feelings still masked everything, and I became aware that I was following the others down the street and towards another doorway only ten metres or so further down.

‘Come now, she’s in shock,’ the woman said, leading us into her shop which thankfully we all entered easily. This time, when Brittany tried the door it opened straight out again.