BLACK MAGIC

GENRE:  Charmed, Fanfiction, Original Characters

RATING: PG – 13

SUMMARY: Three sisters  inherit magical gifts and the responsibility of using it to help others in an isolated New England town.

est. reading time: 50 – 60 minutes

B L A C K M A G I C W O M E N ~ I

SALEM, FEBRUARY 1692

“Evil, black witch!…Thou hast consorted with Satan and used magic to manipulate these God-fearing people! CON-FESS!!”

“AHH!!” Tituba screamed as the lash flayed the skin on her back…

“No, master…I know not of Satan…”

She said weeping.

“The gift. It comes not, from that foul beast.”

“LIES!!”

“AHHH!!” Two more lashes criss-crossed the delicate flesh on her back.

“Thou knowest this to be true, Master! I assisted with thine own illness winter, last!”

Samuel Parrish’s eyes widened at her observation of his own hypocrisy.

“Dare thee?…wield accusations of participation in thou’s hateful filth!?”

“AHHH!!!”

~~~~*~~~~

The beating went on into the night.

Tituba was indeed touched by the gift, but it was not of Satan.

The few whitefolks in Salem who knew of it, coveted and feared it. When finally that fear had outstripped the desire to use it, the Salem Witch Trials were the cruel result.

It all began a year earlier. Samuel’s daughter Betty observed Tituba’s powers in action. Behind the house, as she tilled the black soil, Tituba accidentally raked the hoe across a particularly nice-looking turnip.

Now, Tituba was always careful. As a West-Indian woman, the only woman of color in the entire village, she was often looked upon with suspicion when anything untoward happened. She looked around and knelt before the plant…carefully cupping it in her hands. As she did, the planet mended itself and set up healthy and tall in the row as if nothing had happened.

And then she heard the gasp. Eight-year old Betty Parrish had seen.

When Betty told her parents, she was beaten severely for telling falsehoods…She blamed Tituba, who had not confirmed the truth of it to spare her the lashing.

Now, if anyone had Satan in them, Tituba knew Betty did. She was a mean-spirited, conniving child, who felt no remorse for anything… Orchestrating an orgy of fear and paranoia, had been an amusing trifle for her.

In so doing, she facilitated the murder of two innocent women and the rape of Tituba, who was blackmailed into relenting to the old man’s lustful desires to spare herself and her husband the same fate.

They were subsequently banished from the village after the trial, leaving all of their earnings from their years of working as indentured servants to the Parrish’s behind.

…But Tituba did not leave without a small measure of revenge…

She cursed the Parrish’s to a life of ill-health, guilt, and unhappiness until they had willed every bit of their rightful earnings back to her family. And so they did, but the will remained hidden in the cellar for more than three hundred years.

Tituba and Solomon Black eventually settled with their children in Chester, Delaware, where their future generations lived until that special inherited gift resurfaced again…

~~~~*~~~~

CHESTER, AUGUST 2007

The whine of Santana’s guitar played Black Magic Woman on the stereo as Deidre continued to flip through the upcoming Fall semester course catalog.

Deja stormed in through the front door, her hair a mess, her clothing disheveled.

“OOOH!! I’m so tired of this shit!” She said letting her bookbag drop on the sofa.

“I hope you weren’t fighting, Deja. You know how mom feels about that…”

“Blame Tanya and her back-up bitches…Can’t even fight for herself.” She said poking her mouth out.

The youngest, Donni followed behind soon afterwards looking just as disheveled.

Deidre shook her head. “You’re supposed to be the rational one.”

“What? You think letting three girls gang up on my sister is rational?”

Deidre sighed… “You guys have got to keep yourselves out of trouble. You’re worrying mom. She’s got enough on her plate.”

Deja sat down. “I know…If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t have. But they started punching first.”

Donni nodded her head. “She’s telling the truth.”

Deidre frowned…Well, you’ve only got a couple more years. I know school is rough now, but just keep those grades up and you’ll be able to go to a college where you won’t have to deal with this.”

Somewhere better for Deidre turned out to be Spelman. She was just a year shy of graduating with a criminal justice degree.

“Mom taking on an extra shift?” Donni said looking around… Their father Derrick Quincy Black had died while all of the girls were still in grade school. He was a cop on a routine traffic stop, when the guy he’d pulled over shot him twice in the head and drove off.

Esther, their mother was a nurse. The previous day, she had a graveyard shift. She should have been home by now, and up preparing for another.

The doorbell rang.

Deidre peeked through the window and saw a short white female police officer on the steps, looking the same way another officer had on that night many years ago…

“Oh, God.” She said swaying on her feet.

~~~~*~~~~

“…I do sympathize with your situation young lady…Your world turned upside down by the malicious actions of one drunk driver, but you are in no shape to take custody of your sisters…You’re drowning in debt, the house has been seized along with the rest of your family’s assets to settle your debts. College has even been put on hold. It would just be wise to allow them to become wards of the state. You only have three more years before both are legal adults…”

Deidre sat in the courtroom listening to the Judge go on and on, rationalizing why it was best for the State to take away her sisters…She could cry if the judge’s condescending attitude didn’t piss her off so much.

And where the hell was Francie?? Francie was her best friend from Spelman. She had been helping to find anything, any loophole she could use help her to retain custody of her sisters. They were tracking one promising lead that had gone from family legend to very firm reality in the space of a few nights’ hard research.

A round-faced light-skinned woman bound into the courtroom and quietly slid into a chair beside Deidre.

“Dee! I’ve got it.” she whispered, and handed her a stack of bound paperwork.

She looked it over briefly and smiled at her friend. “Thank you.” she mouthed.

She stood up.

“Your honor, if it pleases the court, I have new evidence I’d like to introduce.”

The cynical-looking old white man peered over his spectacles and sighed. “I’ll allow it.”

“…These documents are proof of the transfer of inheritance to my sisters and I, your honor. I can afford to care for them…” She said holding the papers aloft for dramatic effect.

“There have been rumors in my family for generations of an ancestor who had passed a significant inheritance down through the family line, only to be claimed by female heirs.”

“My sisters and I are those heirs, your honor.” The judge beckoned and she stepped up to the bench handing over the paperwork. He squinted at the papers and then frowned.

“You mean to tell me, you are the first females to have been born in your family since 1703?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Well…” He said frowning, thoughtfully, “…everything seems to be in order…You have an inheritance of assets appraised at a value of over one hundred and twenty thousand dollars and a house in Knotern, Massachusetts…”

“It seems that my objections to your custody no longer apply…State motion dismissed!”

Dee, let out a breath of relief and turned to find her sisters. They both jumped into her arms and began to cry…

~~~~*~~~~

“I don’t know why we have to live here…Couldn’t you have just put this place up on EBay or something?” Deja said peering out the car window at a sad-looking barn across a field. “All we’ve seen are all these old timey white folks and not one black person since we’ve been here!…Not even pumping gas at the station.” She said shaking her head.

Donni giggled.

“This place has been in the family for three hundred years without any of us knowing it…I think we should at least see the place before we think about selling it.” Dee said as she turned a corner onto a winding dirt road.

“Oh, my GOD we are living in the Boonies….” Deja said. “And not just the Boonies, but the Boonies of the Boonies.”

Even Dee had a chuckle a little at that.

“I think it looks nice out here…” Donni supplied. “I’ve never seen so much space and so many trees… It feels so old, here.”

Deja looked at her like she had two heads. “And that’s a good thing, to you…”

Donni just nodded.

“Well…” Dee said as the cottage finally came into view…”Still wanna sell it on Ebay?”

It was a charming looking place, made of stacked white flagstone and a staggered tiled black roof. Despite having been lived in by none but the caretakers of the land, it felt homey.

“Yes. I still think it should go up on E-Bay.” Deja said.

“You’re just salt and vinegar, girl…”

Donni’s face lit up at the sight of the place…Their old home had been a rowhouse that was all vertical space and little privacy from the neighbors. Truthfully, Deja too felt an immediate connection to the place, but she’d be damned if she’d let on to her sisters.

As they rolled up they noticed someone, a man closing the front door and locking it.

“See…We even got a white man living in our damn house.”

“Deja!”

The man was a wirey-looking with scruffy dirty blond hair and a slight five o’clock shadow. He wore a toolbelt around his waist.

He turned, spotted the car and yelled, “Are you…the Blacks?!”

“…yeah, we’re ‘the blacks’. don’t be scurred. we don’t eat white people…” Deja said under her breath, giving Donni the giggles, again.

“Yes we are!” Deidre said rolling down the window. She cut the engine and glanced back at her sisters, giving them her best “you better behave.” look.

She stepped out onto the spongy grass and looked up just in time to face this new stranger.

“Hi, I’m Nick. Nick Sumpter.”, he said grinning so broadly, his eyes creased.

“I guess, I’m your new neighbor. I’ve been caring for this place for quite awhile. You’re lucky to have it.” he said, kindly.

“I’m Deidre, though everybody just calls me Dee. And these are my sisters Donni and Deja.”, she said, turning to them. He shook everyone’s hands in turn.

“Wow. Well, I can tell you, this whole town is going to be eager to meet you…They’ve been telling me the Blacks were a myth.”

Deja started to say something but Donnie knocked her elbow.

“What exactly do you do here?” Dee said stepping up to the front door.

“Well, I’m a carpenter by trade, so mostly repairs and upkeep…I’m handy with other things too, like the plumbing.”

Dee laughed. “So, I can just call you if something breaks, huh?…That’ll save us some time.”

“Just call me for whatever you need.” Nick said so smoothly, she wasn’t sure if he were flirting or not.

Deja coughed in manner that was suspiciously like a chuckle.

“…Sure.” Dee said, nervously fiddling with her hair.

“I inherited the upkeep of this place when I purchased that little plot down the road, there.”

“The folks I purchased from were adamant about keeping this place up….Now, I see it wasn’t in vain.” He said, looking at each of the girls’ faces.

“…Well… I’ll leave you to your new place.” He said, scratching the back of his head.

“Nice meeting all of you. Just knock on my door if you have any questions.” He said backing down the walkway. He turned at the last moment and headed down the dirt road to another cottage in the distance.

Dee watched him go.

“Oooh, Dee I didn’t know you did white boys.” Deja said.

“Though, with that one? …I really do not blame you.”

“…me neither.” Donni said, quietly.

Dee shook her head and flipped through her keys until she found the right one, the most intricate-looking skeleton key she had ever seen.

She turned it and the door popped open by itself.

“Okay. That was weird.” Dee said.

They stepped in cautiously, thinking it was a spring on the door. But as soon as all three were inside, the door shut behind them and what felt like a rush of warm air passed up through their bodies from the floor.

Their extremities started tingling. They wanted to move, to speak, but their limbs as well as their tongues were rooted.

A tiny light swirled in front of them, growing bigger and bigger until it settled into a female form.

A tall brown-skinned woman wearing an complex headwrap piled high on her head stood before them, smiling.

“I’ve been expecting you.” Tituba said, smiling.

B L A C K M A G I C W O M E N ~ II

CAMERON

“Women in the family, after these many years…” she said shaking her head.

“My own daughter died shortly after birth. It happened a lot in those days, but my son survived, as did his son, and his son after that…”

She stepped forward. “I’m sorry ladies.”

Their feet were no longer rooted to the floor and Deja immediately tried to run.

Tituba stuck her again.

“I promise, your great-great-great (too many greats) grandmother is a good witch.”

“You all have been touched by the gifts of our ancestors, a long forgotten matriarchal power, a gift from the source of all creation…Creation is, after all, the source from which all others come, ladies.

…In fact, when you give birth, yours will increase.” Her eyes lingered on Dee, for moment.

“Wait, our what, will increase?” Dee asked.

Tituba walked over to Donni and touched her. The air seemed to bend around her until she was gone. Everyone could hear her panic and her feet shuffle around the room.

She reappeared in front of the fireplace, clutching the mantle.

“Okay.” she looked around wide-eyed and touched herself to make sure she was in fact, really there. “You both saw…or didn’t see that right? I’m not crazy…”

Dee and Deja both nodded at the first, but Deja shook her head at the second assertion, to which Dee responded by smacking her arm.

“I’m not lying to her.”

“There are spaces in this world that are not visible to others. You have to ability to access them…You slip into this place, that other reality and fold in on this one. Your sisters will be able to see you from now on, but others, will not.”

She walked over to Deja and touched her next. “I don’t feel any different.” she said after a moment.

“Why don’t you pick up that bureau over there.” Tituba said, gesturing at a very sturdy piece of furniture…She looked at it and back to Tituba.

“You have got to kidding me.”

Tituba simply raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, okay…” She placed her hands underneath and braced for the heaviness…which did not come.

She lifted it as easily as small folding chair.

“Ho-ly Shh-”

Tituba cleared her throat before Deja could finish. She set it back down looking down at her hands in awe.

And finally she approached Dee. “As the oldest, your power will be the most developed.” When she touched her, at first nothing happened…

And then some of the small nicknacks in the room began to vibrate and tip over.

Dee gasped and looked around… “I …did that?!”

“Yes, descendant and you will do so much more…” She said caressing her face with her semi-transparent hand.

“You also have a small level of telepathy. You can feel others’ thoughts, to a degree.

“My God.” She said, her eyes wide.

“Goddesses.” She smiled. “It’s what our oldest ancestors called women like us…It evolved to priestess, shaman, wise woman, sorcerer, witch…”

She folded her hands across the front of her drab dress.

“But they all mean the same thing. We have gifts others do not.”

“But…Why us??” Deidre asked.

“Because it is your destiny. It is to be used wisely for the good of those most in need… but be careful. When I was found out, people died… And these powers can be taken away if you use them for ill or selfish needs…I’ll do it myself, if I have to.”

She said her eyes finding each of the girls’ own.

“All of your powers are stronger when the three of you are together. They will never be effective against your siblings. Donni, again, that was the last time, you will appear invisible to your sisters.”

Donni shuffled on her feet and let her head fall to the side, disappointedly.

She said with a stern look so similar to their father’s, that if they hadn’t been sure already, her relation was now of no question.

“What exactly are we supposed to do with these…” The word was stuck on her tongue.

“…Powers?” Diedre asked.

“You’ll know.” Tituba said and then she began to fade…

“Wait!” Dee said, but her visage grew more and more faint.

“… I will be watching.”
_______

“Okay, where are the Scare Tactics people?” Deja said, peeking around corners…

“That was a good one guys! Come on out!” She grabbed a door and yanked too hard, taking it right off of it’s hinges…

“Oh. -Not Scare Tactics, then.”

“You knew that Deja.” Donni said.

“But I did kinda’ hope.”

Donni rolled her eyes.

“I always thought having powers would be cool…But this, actually having this strength, is pretty scary.”

“Look, we all know, that as crazy as this whole thing is, it did happen. We’re all just gonna have to deal with it… And that means, not using any of our powers until we’re sure we’re supposed to.”

“Oh, come one Dee, what does that even mean?!”

“Well-“ Dee said, running a hand across her flushed brow. “Tituba, said we’re supposed to help others, right?”

“Yeah, like superheroes!” Donni said excitedly.

“Then that’s what we do. We see someone in need, we help them. Discreetly…I’m not trying to get the attention of the men in black.”

“Right.” Deja said. “Like those guys actually exist.”

Both Donni and Dee both regarded her with a serious expression.

“Well, I guess they may…Considering, the powers and all.”

A voice floated through the house.

“They do.”

“Okay, that’s creepy.” Dee said. “Please, great- grandma…Can you please not watch all the time…?? I’d really like to feel comfortable. At least pretend?”

No response. Dee breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”

“Before I give you that space you requested…Just so you know. I’m not the only one who will be keeping you out of trouble.” Tituba smiled slyly and disappeared for the last time.

“If you ever need me, look into the hall mirror and say my name three times.”

“Just like Bloody Mary.” Donni said. Her eyes widening. “Deja shook her head and gave her a “You’re retarded” look.

“Okay.” Dee said, clasping her hands together. “Let’s just unpack and get situated.”

“I’ve enrolled you at the local school, Middlesex High but we’ll have to get uniforms for you tomorrow.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Deja said, shifting her weight. “Is there any other school we can go to? One where you don’t have to wear ugly clothes??”

“Yes. But now, that we can afford it, you’ll attend nothing less than the best. That’s what Middlesex is.”

“…Middlesex sounds like some kind of hermaphrodite or something…” Deja mumbled, irritably.

Donni giggled.

_____

The next day, Dee entered the small dusty shop where dozens on uniforms hung in plastic bags, on wheeled racks. Yellow tags with sizes hung from the sleeves.

They were navy blue jumper skirts with two weird swatches of fabric that ran from their waists up over both shoulders, and down their backs, like suspenders.

“Oh, hell no…” Deja said thumbing the flaps.

“May, I help you?”

A short, spectacled old white lady, with a white bob, had appeared in the room. She peered at them with a look they were all familiar with. The “I hate blackies” look.

“Umm, good afternoon, ‘mam. I’m looking for uniforms for my sisters.”

Dee said with a strained smile. “Well.” She said, staring back at Deja and Donni.

Dee could practically hear her mind trying to calculate some kind of excuse to prevent them from buying.

The old woman opened her mouth to tell her the prices.

“We have the money.” Her smile was still plastered in place.

“Well- I don’t-“

“-I saw their sizes, right over there.”

“But-“

“I can sew. Mending won’t be a problem for me.”

Tituba, surely wouldn’t mind her messing with this old bigoted woman, would she?

“Well then.” She could see the woman was taken aback. Who wouldn’t be?

She finished ringing up the items in silence.

“Well, thank you for helping us.” Dee said, still smiling…As you can see

She leaned forward, and whispered. “ Just so you know, not all blackies steal…And yes.”
She said, sliding a hand through her hair. “It’s real.”

“Bye-bye, now.”

As they all walked out, Deja snorted.

________

They past several white teens, chattering on the sidewalk. They all turned to look at them.

Dee could tell…They had never actually seen black people, in person.

Both Donni and Deja gave Dee a look.

“Damn.” Deja said. “This year is going to be hell.”

B L A C K M A G I C W O M E N ~ III

CAMERON

The signs on either side of the great wrought iron gates read Middlesex High School.

Dee pulled up to the ancient looking structure, it’s spiraling tiers and great arched dark stone cutting elegant angles among the Fall trees.

Both of her sisters were unusually quiet. Donni slumped in the backseat and anxiously nibbled on her nails, while Deja wore an intimidating scowl, a defense mechanism she employed when she was (afraid) didn’t want to be bothered with new people.

The traffic circle had a huge ornate fountain in the middle. A statue of a minister stood proudly within. Dozens of students, all white, swarmed through the doors.

The girls took a deep breath and gave their uniforms one last adjusting tug. The navy blue wool was as itchy as they’d thought. They slid out of the back-seat of Dee’s car, appearing as prominent among the students, as two spots of ink on a sheet of white paper.

The students stared and whispered. Deja, furrowed her face even more and sucked her teeth at the bolder ones, who didn’t bother to try to disguise their curiosity.

“You’d think they’d never seen black people before…” Deja said, loudly. Of course many hadn’t…outside of the service industry and MTV.

Schedules in hand, both girls walked down the white halls, scarcely paying attention to students around them. They glanced up at the many classroom doors hoping to find a pattern that would show them where their own classes were.

…And then it happened.

Deja accidentally bumped into Cameron, a big-boned blond girl, double Deja’s height. She had the stocky muscular build of the lacrosse player she was.

“-What the fuck?!” She yelled and shoved Deja to the floor, her rubber soles squeaking on the way down.

Deja only had a moment of shock, before she scrambled to her feet and punched the girl in her face. She had to a hop a little to do it, so she hadn’t been able to put her full force in it. She barely touched her. Good for Cameron, bad for Deja.

“OW!! SHIT!” Cameron exclaimed, as she held her nose, which appeared to have exploded.

Both girls remembered the bureau at the same time and looked at each other, eyes wide.

And then Cameron rushed her…Wild bloody hands tugged at Deja’s uniform, punching at her chest and face. Deja noted, with disgust, that she might as well have been a small child, for all the force she felt.

“Okay, that’s enough…THAT’S ENOUGH!!” An auburn-haired women dressed in a black pant-suit stood between them, her brown eyes, stern.

“This is a prestigious institute of higher learning…Not a zoo. Both of you, come with me…”

“…THE REST OF YOU, GO ON TO YOUR CLASSES!!”

Donni was alone in the halls…And every student’s eyes were on her.

**********

After she was done speaking to both of their guardians, Mrs. Howe hung up the phone. They were to be suspended for two days.

Cameron sat on the edge of the leather chaise in the nurse’s office. Her nose had stopped bleeding. The nurse had assured them it wasn’t broken.

“But Mrs. Howe… I was defending myself. You see what she did to my face. I guess that’s how they do things, in the ghetto…” Cameron said as she poked at her tender nostrils.

“…And you said that shit with a straight face, too….lying bitch-”

“-Cameron, this is your second incident of self-defense at this school…One more and you’re out, I don’t care how much money your parents have.”

“…I’m sure…”

“What did you say?”

Cameron merely sat back and pursed her lips mockingly, in response. The principal’s frown faltered for a moment.

She sighed deeply. “Your guardians will be here, shortly.”

**********

Donni glanced back and forth between her schedule and the numbers on the door, just to be certain this was, in fact the right room… She hoped it wasn’t.

It was more like an auditorium, than a classroom. Still, she gathered herself and entered the loudly buzzing room, finding a seat in the least crowded corner.

She suspected the reason it wasn’t crowded, was the odd androgynous-looking boy, she’d spotted there.

He sat as still as a statue, his stringy dark hair hanging in curtains across his soft-featured face. His full pout down-turned at the corners, his eyes sleep-heavy. He slumped low in the wooden bench.

“Good morning class!!” A short round bald man, strode into the room, looking very much like a lost relative of Danny DeVito’s.

“…For those of you who are new to me, I am Mr. Alcott and this is English Lit 201…Make sure this is where you’re supposed to be-Okay, good then.” he said, his lack of a pause, clearly intended to be a joke.

“Let’s get started…”

The class was instructed to crack open their textbooks to the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

“Who has read this piece?”

The majority of the class’s hands flew up in the air. Donni’s eyes widened…At her old school, no one would dare raise their hands to this. She had read it, but she’d been so well-trained (raise your hand if you want your ass kicked) she didn’t raise her hand.

But here, the students seemed eager and competitive, except for herself and the sulky goth kid sitting nearby.

“Well, then let’s discuss it!”

One by one, Mr. Alcott fired off pertinent questions about themes of the piece and every student rattled them off like clockwork.

“Okay…good. You all know how to google.”

The class broke up in nervous laughter..

“…but how does this make you feel? Can any of you relate to it? What is your albatross?”

“Ms. Black.”

“…shit…” She thought.

“Have you read the piece?”

Donni was annoyed. His tone was condescending. He assumed she hadn’t. Still she answered honestly.

“Every day, since I’ve been in this town, I’ve been stared at like a stranger …like some weird, interesting thing.”

“And yeah, I am right now. I understand. I know, I’m different…” she said, her thoughts drifting to those newly appointed special qualities.

“I just hope no one decides to shoot me down.” She said, still far away.

“Well.” He said, moving on, without a pause or response.. “Anyone else?”

Other students hands were up and more google answers were flooding from their lips to Alcott’s strained praises… “Very good, Amanda!”

Donni pretended to re-read the poem… The dark-haired boy was still prone, but his eyes discreetly fluttered her way.

*********

“They’re not coming…” Cameron said shaking her long blond hair.

“I have a car, they’ll expect me to go home on my own.”

“I’m not releasing you, without a guardian.”

“GOD! I’m not running away or anything.”

Deja rolled her eyes while her feet impatiently tapped on the floor.

The intercom beeped. “Mrs. Howe, Ms. Black is here.”

“Send her in.”

Dee walked into the room.

“I’m so sorry.” She said, looking anxious.

“We’ve been working on this. I’m sure you know about our recent circumstances”

She nodded, unsympathetically.

“Well, I hope you know that we have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior at this school.”

Cameron chuffed.

“Only reason she’s still here is because she fought me. Expel her and she’d have to Expel me to….Which she can’t do.”

“-My apologies…” Mrs. Howe said, interrupting. “Her parents have been called.”

“Do I need to sign anything?”

“Yes. Here and Here… Remember, until Thursday.”

Dee nodded.

“Thank you.”

She turned to leave and Deja got up to follow…

Once they were in the halls, Dee urgently grabbed her hand and whispered fiercely…

“We need to talk.”

Deja frowned. It was obviously not about the fight.

**************

Donni entered the huge Chem lab and planted herself at an empty table. She was early this time, so she watched the class fill with students, all avoiding her table.

Finally all but two seats were left… The two beside her.

The last girls entered the class, a pretty Asian girl and doe-eyed brunette.

The Asian girl looked liked she’d just lost fifty bucks gambling, while the brunette seemed fine. Cheery, even.

“Hi, I’m Jeanie.” She said, extending her hand.

“Donni.” She replied, grinning. Then she turned to the Asian girl.

“Oh, uh Anna.” She said, limply shaking for barely a second, as if she might be catch something.

The class turned out to be fun. They got to try the exploding Mentos experiment. Anna sat cross-armed and did as little as she could. Every few seconds she glanced around self-consciously.

Donni shook her head at her…Nobody was paying attention to her crazy ass.

*********

Dee led Deja down the hall…and as she did, a boy came bounding at them, out of breath. He had bed-head hair and his ears stuck out a bit from his head, giving him a quirky look.

“Excuse me…(pant, pant) Do you know where room 304 is?”

He was obviously new… and late.

“Look, I’m as new as you are, but I… actually do know the answer to your question!” Deja said, chuckling at the realization. But her smile faltered when she saw the look on Dee’s face.

This really was serious.

She made it quick. “Down the hall, two lefts and on the right-hand side.”

“Thanks!” he said and continued to run on.

“Come on.” Dee said…she was practically dragging her along, now.

*********

Donni dreaded this point in the day, most. The cafeteria at lunch was a madhouse. She had hoped to see Jeanie, but to no avail. Anna sat among a pair of giggling blonds. They seemed popular. They completely ignored her, but she still sat at rapt attention.

Donni shook her head.

She took her tray and headed outside, onto the grassy hills. It was beautiful weather and trees’ colors especially, were a sight to behold. She sat indian-style, just beneath the line of the shade of a giant oak tree. She was amazed there were only a few students out there.

Under the oldest-looking, twistiest tree, sat the goth boy from English Lit.

“Perfect”, she thought, giggling a little. “Of course, the goth sits under the creepy tree.”

He wasn’t eating, but drawing something. Curiosity got the better of her. She liked to sketch a bit, too.

Donni chanced some conversation. “I saw you in Alcott’s class.”

He simply looked up at her briefly, his brow furrowed and then back down to his drawing.

“…okay…you don’t want to talk, thanks for making me feel like a jackass….” Donni said under her breath.

He smiled audibly.

“…I’m used to ignoring people. I wasn’t sure you were talking to me and usually, when people are, it’s something rude….Sorry.”

“Oh. Well that sucks.”

“Yup.” He said, his eyes trained on his work.

Donni craned her neck up a little bit. ‘What are you drawing?”

He held it up so she could see it. It was the school, all of it’s spires, pillars and stone arches, mirrored perfectly, in coal and graphite.

“Wow. You’re good. I try, but I can never get the details right…From here that looks like a photograph.”

He shook his head and smiled, and she was amazed at how much it changed his face, especially his eyes, which she noticed brightened. They were the sparkling blue of a fresh water pool.

“Copying is easy compared to being unique. I wish, I had my own my personal mark, you know? Like Basquiat and Pollock you know?, I’d rather have that, than the ability to copy it perfectly.”

Donni nodded.

He narrowed his eyes. “…I bet you have a style.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I can just tell…You’re not trying be something. You just are.”

“Okay.” Donni said, squirming uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

“Most people, try to live up to some preformed ideal. You’re not.”

“Oh, believe me. I’m trying to fit in, just like everybody else.”

He laughed, a sly eyebrow quirked upwards. “…Right. Then why did you come out here?”

“Because it’s gorgeous out here. I honestly don’t know why more people don’t-“

He blinked, triumphantly.

“Well, you’re out here too.”

And he shifted a bit…

“Yeah, but…I’m a cliche.” He said indicating the few accoutrements of the subculture he could get away with in his uniform: a pair of heavy black boots, a wallet-chain, the barely noticeable liner on his eyes.

“Not around here.” Donni said, honestly. He was the only goth kid at the school, from what she could see.

“Okay. I’ll take that.”

He got to his feet, and stretched. “Well, I gotta go…It was cool talking to you. …Donni, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Lou.”

And she watched him stalk off.

********

Dee slammed the door and began to drive.

“Okay, Dee what is going on?!”

“That girl you fought today?”

“…Yeah, the giant cave-bitch, what about her?”

“I think she’s our first charge.”

“……………………..what.?”

B L A C K M A G I C W O M E N ~ IV

CAMERON

“The things I felt in that room….They were indescribable. Just heavy evil. It sent a chill to my soul.”

“Well of course, you felt it from the Yeti queen-“

“-No, Deja not from her, on her, all-around her. Like some kind of parasite.”

“So what are you saying…That she’s possessed? Like the exorcist or something?”

Dee nodded.

“Yeah…Something like that.”

“…damn…” Deja said.

“So then, that’s why her parents weren’t about to her pick up. They’re probably scared of her. What are we supposed to do?”

Dee sighed. “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”

*******

Donni prepared for the next class, her most loathed school subject, gym.

As she changed in the locker rooms, she felt like she was on some nature show, they way the other girls were looking at her.

She was certain they were trying to see if she had the same girl-parts or something. This town was beautiful, but it really needed a few less clueless white people.

The girls jogged out onto the field as the teacher blew her whistle. Donni lagged behind, stealthily (she hoped) adjusting her wedgie.

And that’s when Jeanie jogged up. “Hi! I guess we’ve got gym at the same time too, huh?”

“…yeah.” Donnie said, slightly suspicious.

“Look, not that I don’t appreciate it but…Why are you being so nice to me? The rest of this school acts like black skin equals aliens from outer space.”

“I can’t just want to be friends?”

Donni crossed her arms across her chest and pursed her lips.

“Okay…I’ll admit it, I may have a few ulterior motives.”

Donni sighed and began to walk away.

“No! Wait! It’s not like that. You’re a Black.”

“So.”

“So…” Jeanie stepped closer and kept her voice low.

“Some of the kids know the rumors, but I know the history…The Salem Witch Trials? Tituba’s your ancestor and the family she worked for, heck some say this whole town is cursed because of it.”

“I write for the school paper, The Eagle and…”

Donni was now doing a fast-walk away.

“…I’d really like to write your story.”

“OKAY LADIES, WE’RE PLAYING FLAG FOOTBALL TODAY.”

The frizzy-haired gym-teacher said cheerfully.

“Please!” She said, touching her shoulder. “Let me do this. I’ve known about this for awhile and I’d love to write about it. You guys have the house now, it’s a great vindication story.”

“No.” Donni said shortly and jogged to the other end of the field, thankful she had been assigned the other team’s flag color.

******

Dee stormed in through the front doors and yelled… “TITUBA! -Grea-GRANDMA!”

“We really need your help! You never told us, how we’re supposed to help possessed bullies!”

There was no reply.

There was a frantic tapping at the door.

“Hello, in there!” It was Nick’s voice.

Dee opened the front door to his concerned face.

“I saw you pull up here like a bat out of hell…Are you all right? Do you need anything? It sounded like you were yelling at somebody in here.”

He was trying to look past them into the house.

“Uh…Sure, we’re fine. Right Deja?”

Deja nodded.

“….Okay.” he said, clearly not convinced.

“Then, I came by some time this week to replace that sod?”

He stood aside from the entryway, allowing a clear view of the deep skidmarks in the grass of their front yard.

“Yes. Sure Nick, whenever you can. Now, I’m sorry, but we’re both really busy right now…”

“Oh-“ Before he could finish, Dee had shut the door.

She ran her hands through her hair exasperated and looked around.

She spotted a big yellowing piece of parchment sitting in the middle of the coffee table.

Dee scrambled to the table, with Deja right behind on her heels.

It read:

Dear Descendants,

I can’t hold your hands through this. It’s already in you.
Figure it out.

Love,
Great-great-great-great-great-great Grandma

“Well, that’s just wonderful.” Dee said…

“I thought you said you’d help!!
At least those Charmed girls had a any-spell, magical encyclopedia!”

“So…Now what?” Deja said.

Dee sat heavily on the couch.

“We wait. I’ll pick up your sister after school and hopefully we can figure this out together.

After all, it’s already in us, right?”

*******

Cameron sat in the principal’s office glaring at Mrs. Howe.

“I told you they weren’t coming.”

She said, as she slowly got from her chair.

“And as usual you chose denial over the obvious. Neither you nor my parents can’t fight this.”

“Wait-”

Before she could finish her thought Mrs. Howe keeled over in her desk, as if she’d passed out.

Cameron got up and left the office.

The secretary stopped her… Cameron quickly switched to panic-mode.

“I don’t know what happened, but I think the principal fainted or something.”

The secretary ran past her into the office.

The bell rang. Cameron blended in with the multitude of students, now flooding the hallways…

*******

…Including Donni, who having just exited gym with the world’s nosiest high school girl, she just wanted…to disappear.

If she hadn’t been looking down at her feet she wouldn’t even have noticed it happening.

She quickly glanced around…

Nobody had seen it, but she had to be careful not to bump anyone. Donni bobbed and weaved through the crowded hallway, desperate to reach the refuge of the girl’s bathroom, when it happened.

She spotted the giant blond white girl, Deja’ had tangled with that morning.

Cameron was looking directly at her.

B L A C K M A G I C W O M E N ~ V

CAMERON

Donni froze.

Cameron wasn’t normal. She couldn’t be if she could see her. She backed down the hall and ducked into girls’ restroom.

She quickly found an empty stall and began to dig through her bookbag.

“Come on, come on. Where is that stupid phone!” She’d just flipped her cell open, when she heard the door swing open.

She hoped the two girls she’d spotted chatting at the mirror, on the way in would hang around for awhile.

But, just as that thought passed though her head, she heard the sound of two bodies, dropping to the tiled floor.

“I know you’re in here.” Cameron said.

Donni quickly typed in one word: “…help…”

She pressed send and prayed.

*************

Dee nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the buzzing at her hip. She almost ignored it altogether. But when she spied Donni’s name blazing brightly on the front screen she quickly checked the message.

“I shouldn’t have left Donni at school.” She said, quietly.

“We’ve gotta go, NOW.”

Deja hadn’t shed her coat, so she was right on Dee’s heels as they walked quickly through the front door.

Dee and Deja jumped back into the car and Dee backed out onto the graveled street, creating more treads in the soft grass.

She didn’t notice Nick start up his own car behind them.

************

Donni stood on the back of the toilet. Cameron was now, methodically opening the bathroom doors…

“Your people are always interfering….Why is that? Oldest magic on Earth, huh?”

“Well.” She said knocking open the door adjacent to her own.

“Maybe for humans…”

There was a long moment before the Donni’s door flew open.

Cameron just stood there, her eyes completely black, looking like a harbinger of evil.

“Oh God….”

Donni was frightened and unarmed, but she wasn’t about to go like a lamb to slaughter. She threw her phone at her. And it smacked her square in the forehead.

A thin rivet of blood trailed down Cameron’s face, but she ignored it.

“Oh, you really got the shit end of the stick, didn’t ya’? Your power is useless against me.” Cameron reached into the stall and grabbed Donni by her collar. She leaned in as if to kiss her.

“Since you don’t know how to use it, how’s about you give it to me, huh?”

Donni squeezed her eyes shut and felt something odd. She felt herself slip…REALLY slip into that space, Tituba had spoken about.

She opened her eyes and saw Cameron rapidly fading away, her mouth opened wide, in an anguished cry.

Moments later, she felt herself settle onto a hard surface and everything was once again solid and clear around her. She was in Chemistry Lab on her hands and knees on the floor behind the sink, afraid the ground might slip away, again.

She got up and looked around.

“May, I… help you?” The professor inquired.

All of the upper-class students turned at their tables and looked at her.

“Sorry, wrong class.” She said, and quickly left the room.

She walked briskly down the hall, looking in all directions, hoping she wouldn’t spot Cameron.

She past by a watchful Lou. Donni halted quickly and ducked into the library when she saw the back of Cameron or, NOT-Cameron scanning the halls for her.

“Hey, where’s the fire?” Lou whispered behind her, making her jump.

“Oh, not now, Lou. Please…”

“Okay.” He said, nodding. Leaned back against the stacks and frowned. Whatever she wasn’t saying, it was serious.

The library was practically empty.

“Don’t you have a class to go to?”

“Study hall. Library’s fine for it.” He lied.

The door swung open. Donni had just enough time to catch that familiar blond hair before she grabbed Lou and steered him deeper into the stacks.

She placed a finger to her lips and hoped he understood the urgent look in her eyes.

She mouthed the words “Don’t move.” and then walked out into the open.

“Ah, There you are!” Cameron said. And Donni looked around, all five other people in the library were now frozen like mannequins, including Lou.

“What are you?”

Cameron laughed. “Well, right now…I am enjoying inhabiting this shell.” She said, indicating Cameron’s body.

“How about you? What do you know about who, excuse me…What you really are? How can you possibly appreciate that at your age?”

“So that’s what this is all about? You’re jealous because you’re old? An old bitter demon who has to-“

“Daeva.” She said, her eyes flashing black, again. “ And her family owed me.”

Her voice was very bleak, now. “I was perfect, until the three of you.”

There was a wavering in her voice, fear, she was certain of it, that emboldened Donni.

“What’s the matter, scared of us?”

“No.” She said, her lips turning up into a twisted smile.

“…Just hungry. Your soul should do.” It leapt at her.

Donni closed her eyes and thought back to when she faded before. She heard a crash. When she opened them, Cameron was against the wall at the other side of the library.

She’d fallen right through her.

Donni turned in time to see Cameron twitching on the floor.

“God, help her.” She said.

***************

Dee and Deja ran up to the school.

“How will we find her?!” Deja said, with a little too much panic in her voice, the students out front were staring.

Dee forced a smile and said, pointedly “I know where she is. Follow me.”

Just as they disappeared through the front doors, another car pulled into the parking lot.

Nick, casually got out of his car and followed them in.

****************

A black gas began to seep out of her eyes, nose, and mouth. And then Cameron got back up again, looking far more sinister.

“Don’t damage my vessel, child.” It said. “You wouldn’t want to piss me off.”

Donni was still faded, her visage translucent to the creature.

“If you don’t want her damaged, come out of her.” She said.

It laughed, a rumbling timbre.

Quietly, deep in the stacks, Donni’s sisters were quickly searching for the right book.

Dee could see the question in Deja’s eyes, but she only shook her head, impatiently.

**************

“Here!” Deja whispered triumphantly and brought the heavy tome down. It was the Torah, untranslated from Hebrew.

“Good. Just touch her skin with it.” Dee said.

“How do you know thi-?”

“Just trust me, and do it.”

Deja crept up behind her, while it was distracted, taunting Donni. Donni was grateful she was still see-through. She might’ve given her sister away.

“Hey, CAVE bitch!” She said and it turned around. Then she wacked her in the arm with the heavy book..

Cameron’s eyes widened, furious. And that was the only effect.

“Dee! It didn’t work!”

“I said, DON’T DAMAGE MY VESSEL!” It said. It reached out to grab Deja but she dodged it.

“I hope you have another plan!”

Dee looked stricken. She didn’t.

**************

Nick hoped he wasn’t too late. It was his job, after all, to keep them safe.

Everyone he passed in the halls was now, frozen. Nick swung open the library door and spotted a very unsure-looking Dee.

He didn’t have to say a word. She’d gotten the message, loud and clear.

“Open the book.”

She focused as intently as she could and the book flipped open on the floor.

She lifted it a few inches from the floor, but her powers weren’t steady enough to get it to touch Cameron’s skin.

So, Deja grabbed it from the air and pressed it open against her arm, herself, after she’d tried to grab her again.

The shriek she let out was ear-piercing.

Thick black smoke poured out of Cameron’s eyes, mouth, nose, and ears turned solid as it hit the air….falling like ash to the floor.

And then she collapsed.

“Great.” Deja said. “Wait. What are you doing here, Nick?!”

“I’d like to know more about that myself, but first, let’s get out of here.” Dee said., looking right at him.

“You sure she won’t remember?” She asked him and he nodded.

“Wait. You guys are talking telepathically??” Donni said, finally solidifying completely.
“-No time, Donni, we’ve got to leave before the spell breaks.”

“But…” Donni glanced back at Lou.

He had been looking right at her, when he froze.

“-We’ll deal with it later.”

Nick was picking up Cameron.

They all hustled out into the parking lot.

He pushed her unconscious body into his backseat and shut the door. He then went around to the driver’s seat and started car.

“That don’t look right.” Deja said, as she watched him.

“He’s following us home. And he better damn well, make good on his promise to explain himself.” Dee said, sounding angry.

B L A C K M A G I C W O M E N ~ VI

CAMERON

“-You’re a monk?” Deja chuffed. “As in…celibate, praying, choir-singing, bible-reading monk?!”

“Yes, except for the singing part. The Order of the Carthusians.”

The girls were all completely gobsmacked.

“We’ve been watching over your kind for over nine hundred years. Since the Crusades.

Nick sat down.

“My order formed after we first encountered women like you in Africa. Our mission then, was to claim all of the old Christian artifacts, no matter the cost.

During the last surge of attacks on the West Coast, I saw many of the men cut down by a strange and powerful weapon. The fires incinerated hundreds of men at a time, in an instant.”

He frowned, deep in thought.

“Wait. How could you have… seen it?…” Donni said, sitting down in a nearby chair.

Nick nodded. “I was there.”

“But you don’t look a day over thirty.” Deja said. “What happened-?”

“Penance.” Nick said, simply.

“The Crusading Knights unwittingly destroyed the divine, in their quest to claim it. She was merely protecting her people and more importantly The Ark.”

“Like…As in Raiders of The Lost-??” Donni said, incredulous.

Nick sighed heavily. “The few survivors, thirteen of us in all, began the Order. It was our curse, a path from which we could not waver. Protect her descendants. The good of humanity depended on it.”

“You’re the first direct descendants we’ve encountered since we lost track of your line in the Carribean in 1602. And the first of which there are more than one. It’s a great honor, being assigned here. Your family is… entirely unique and very important to us all.”

“So, there are more of you. Nick, why the charade?” Dee asked, looking a little wounded.

“I had to make certain you were here for the right reasons. If not, my job was to steer you the right way…. or stop you.” He said, with a finality that they knew meant death.

“Great.” Dee said, exasperated.

“You know, it would have been helpful to know these things, before the demon tried to eat my sister’s soul.” Dee said angrily.

“I’m sorry, I had to deceive you. But it was necessary until we were absolutely certain of your pure motives.”

“Do you have powers? Like us?” Donni asked.

“No, but we study centuries-old combat and spiritual techniques and we read about our enemies in our library. Much of this knowledge has been lost to the general populace.”

“That’s how you were able to speak to my mind so clearly.” Dee said, distantly.

“Honestly, I had never been that successful before. It was a longshot. I was surprised it worked so well with you. It doesn’t work unless there’s a proper… connection with a person.”

Nick blinked and looked away.

“-Look, I’ve told you what you need to know. Now, we should focus on Cameron.”

Dee unfolded her arms.

“He’s right.” she said, with a significant look at her sisters, who were giving them both looks of their own.

“We have to perform this ritual very carefully.” Nick said.

“She’s been breached. She’ll attract other harmful entities if we don’t close her up.”

“Dee?” He said, and an unspoken dialogue passed between them.

“-I called her parents on the way here.-”

“-Good. This is going to take a while. I’ll need….-”

“Okay, that is going to take some getting used to.” Donni whispered to Deja.

Dee was still unreasonably angry at him. Beyond what he’d hidden, it was a strange betrayal, being made to think a monk was well, available. She’d kinda’ liked him.

Dee left the room and returned with some tap water.

“It’s an old barrier. Many spirits don’t like crossing it.” He said, holding up a glass.

“All water is holy.”

“…Does gran know?” Deja asked.

“For as long as I’ve been house-sitting.” Nick said, distractedly as he sprinkled the water across her still face.

Cameron stirred, her lips trembling, her eyes sleepy and afraid.

Her voice was small. “Is it gone?” She said, looking at Nick.

“Yes. Thanks to these ladies.”

“Thank you.” she said, turning to them weakly.

“It’s what we do.” Dee said, shyly.

Nick smiled up at her.

She caught a stray thought from him, a wave of emotion, really. “…regret. a spike of attraction…” before it shut down.

Monk or not, he was still a man. Dee reveled in that small pleasure. He may not be able to cross that line, but it was ego-boosting to know he might want to.

“I need to say a few words over you.” He said, placing a hand on her brow. “So, nothing else will come after you, okay?”

Cameron nodded.

He whispered into her ear and she passed out.

He then stood to face Dee.

“-A half hour should be all she needs. She won’t remember much, tomorrow.-“

“-I’ll take her home. Her parents should be happy to know they’re no longer it’s prisoners.-“

“….But why did it come after her and her family in the first place?”

“Evil, attracts evil.” Nick said.

“Her parents were likely involved with the possessed themselves, and didn’t know it. Their daughter was too tempting a soul not to hitch onto.”

“I’ve learned that many families around here, like your own have unorthodox histories.”

“Sometimes it catches up to them.”

“Look. If you need anything else, you know where I am. And Dee, now that you know how…You can touch my mind when you need to.”

Dee nodded.

~

Once he was gone, Dee called out to Tituba, using the mirror.

“Is he for real?”

“Very. He’s been waiting for you ladies for five years. I’ve gotten to know him well, in that time.”

“Gran, would you have let him kill us, if we weren’t….pure of heart?”

“Of course not, but I would’ve let him give you a good whippin’”

They laughed.

“But his Order is very real. Real allies, you need. Only five of whom still remain. The others are working with our more distant relatives.”

“This is only the beginning, ladies. You’ll need to work together and fight more sinister forces than that. But I know you can do it. You keep to each other and you will grow strong.”

“What’s next?” Deja wondered aloud.

“Whatever it is, I have full faith you’ll be able to handle it.”

Tituba’s image faded away.

Cameron was stirring. It was time to drive her home.

Episode 2:
CURSED GROUND

ACT I

KNOTERN, FEBRUARY 1683

Elizabeth and Tituba walked through the town square seeking supplies for the household in winter, oil for the lamps, a new kettle, and blankets.

Elizabeth spied Sarah Osbourne and her husband Matthew who were also hunting for supplies, and walked over to greet them.

“Good day, Sarah.”

“I say, good day to thou, Elizabeth. I do hope it remains fair.”

“Indeed.” Elizabth said, a strained smile plastered on her face.

Elizabeth acted as if just noticing Sarah’s husband, then. He was a Scot and former indentured servant by the name of Cyrus.

“Scandalous” She thought.

He spoke first, clearly aware of her distaste.  “I say good day to thou, good lady.”

She simply gave him a curt nod and was on her way.

As a minister’s wife she could scarcely fathom the idea of marrying so beneath herself. She thought of Sarah as wasting herself on this lower man.

She was a merchant’s daughter, a beauty and her servant was a handsome man, no doubt. But he was having a time, properly providing for her. The neighbors constantly gossipped about the strain on their marriage.

It was said that he was having an affair with the young Lydie Rooke, a girl only thirteen years of age, who lived nearby.
;
As they went their separate ways, Elizabeth whispered to Tituba, “Tis shameful.”

In truth, Lydie did have a lover, but not Cyrus.  A traveller by the name of Thomas had indeed bedded her several times in the woods behind the Osbourne house. Likely, this was the reason Cyrus was implicated.

And now, unbeknownst to all but Lydie, herself and Tituba, who was smart enough to not breath a word of it anyone…

…Lydie was pregnant.

~~~~*~~~~

The schoolbell rang, loudly, and the kids flooded the halls.  Donni walked alongside Lou, who had become a good friend in the quiet weeks following Cameron’s possession.

Interestingly enough, she and Deja had also become friends. Both were full of bravado and sass and they traded playful barbs at each other.

If Lou had seen anything in the library, he’d been smart enough not to mention it.  Donni herself, had pretended nothing had happened and Lou had followed suit.

But Donni knew, he had to have seen something, he just hadn’t breathed a word about it…yet.

“I swear Mr. Osbourne is trying flunk everybody. That stuff he asked us about today was not in the study guide!”

“Yeah, I’d  heard about him. He enjoys torturing his students. We’ll just have to help each other..” He said, smiling.

“Definitely.” She said, staring at the C+ at the top of her pop quiz. She’d never gotten anything below an A-.

“Listen Donni, I’ve been meaning to ask you” he said, his hand tightening on the strap of his bookbag.

“-wanna go to Spice on Friday?”  The words came out in a rush.

Spice was a local shop that specialized in exotic teas. It had large plush couches and many odd tomes.  It was the hip spot, where the local young alternative crowd tended to hang out.  Mostly arty types and tourists when it got warmer.  The were many books and knick-knacks about witches, which is what the tourists seemed most interested in, because of the history of the area.

“They’re having a reading that night.”

Donni darkened and smiled.  “Sure.” She said nodding and hugging her books. “I’d like that.”

“Okay then.” He seemed relieved. “Then we can go together, after school. I’ll walk with you.”

Donni sucked her lips and nodded, her sister and Cameron further on down the hall, were snatching glances at them.

Lou and Cameron heaed off to their respective classes while Deja and Donni talked, in the halls.

“So, I guess he finally got the balls to ask you.” Donni swatted her.

“Deja!”

“Well, he did, didn’t he?”

“Yeah.” She said, smiling. “We’re going to Spice on Friday.”

“My sister’s got a boyfriend.” She sing-songed. “I never thought I’d see the day. It took you moving to this country-ass town to find one.”

Donnie rolled her eyes.  “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“-He’d sure like to be.”

“Whatever. -Besides, what about you?” Donni said, desperate to change to subject.  “You still writting Calvin?”

“Naw.  It ain’t like I’m ever seeing him again. And besides, what would he do with the stuff we got going, now?”

“-You’ve got a point.”

“That boy you hang out with is a weirdo, he’d be cool with it.” Donni gently shoved her sister again, while she laughed.

“Speaking of-, we haven’t seen anything weird since Cameron.”

“-So, far.” Deja said skeptically. “I have a feeling something’s coming soon.”

~~~~*~~~~

Dee sat behind her computer, glasses sitting precariously on the end of her. She was busily applying for local jobs.   Luckily for them, it would be awhile before money truly might be issue, but she had no illusions, it would be at some point. And she didn’t want to rest on laurels doing nothing with the degree she’d earned.

But in this town…  What could she do?

There was a rap at the door. It made her jump.  She would have to get a quiet doorbell, or something in place of that bulky knocker.

She took off her glasses and headed down the steps. She peaked through the curtain and saw Nick, looking a bit anxious.

She unlatched the door and opened it.

“Nick. Come in.”

He let out a breath and he stepped through the threshhold. Clearly, this was important.

“I’m sorry to bother you… but, I think your sisters are in danger.”

~~~~*~~~~

“From what?”

“Not from what. From who. Remember there are a lot of old families in this town.” He said, seriously.

“Okay Nick. Just tell me everything.”

They both sat opposite each other on the couch and he pulled a book out of his jacket pocket.

“Look here. It’s a record of a major event about eight years before the trials….

“-What-“

“-Just read it.” he said, and thrust it into her hands.

It is reported, that on this day, September of 1683, Miss Lydie Rooke, aged 13 has committed suicide, throwing herself from mill, in Middlesex county.

She was pregnant. It was suspected that Sarah Osbourne’s indentured servant, her husband may have been the bastard’s father. Though, no conclusive proof could be found, as none had witnessed any fornication.

Lydie had committed the gravest of sins, from which she cannot ever be redeemed. She had not only murdered herself but took the life of her unborn child, as well.

She is a cursed soul and therefore cannot be given a proper Christain burial.  Her family has been informed of this, but I fear it is likely -

“The rest of the page is torn out.” Dee noted.

“What is this? And what does it have to do with my sisters?”

“That land where Lydie committed suicide is foul. It is the opposite of hallowed. It is a safe place for evil to come and it will draw them, like none other.”

He sat up further.

“Dee. It’s where they go to school.”

~~~~*~~~~

Dee stood up and paced to the corner of the room.

“So what does this mean? -That they will be attacked?”

“It means, Cameron was only the beginning. It means, I was wrong about where her possession began. It means anyone within their circle or outside of it is likely plotting their demise, at this very moment.”

Dee swayed with this news.

“I need to speak to Tituba. She must know about this. She has to know what to do.”

Nick nodded. “That’s the other reason I came over here.”

Dee went to the hall mirror and spoke her ancestor’s name, three times, but instead of appearing in the mirror, as she’d expected,  her full transluscent figure appeared behind her.

“Yes. I know why you’ve called me.” She said, as they spun around.

“Lydie.” Her expression was strained and she rang her hands.

“I had no idea that was where the girls were going to school. They’ve been there too long for you to remove them…” She said quietly, halfway to herself.

“They will find them now, regardless.”

“But I thought this is what you wanted, for them to fight evil” Dee said.

“Yes, child, but not this. They are not ready for this yet. They are chicks in a den of full of foxes.”

Dee sat down. Nick stood nearby, a hand on her shoulder.

“So then what do we do?” He asked.

Tituba stood with her hand under her chin, her cast down in consideration.

“You need to find Lydie. Find her and her baby and bury them in their proper place, hallowed ground.

You need to do what I could not. This will slow them, bind them enough for your sisters to gain control of their powers.  Enough control that they will be able to tell friend from foe and fight them, when they come.”

“How do we find her?”

“That’s where you come in Dee. You need to learn to control those telepathic abilities of yours , a bit earlier than I thought.-“

She said, walking towards her.

“You need to learn to touch folks who have long left this world. I pray you will do it, child.”

Tituba said, frowning.

“With Nick’s help you can. You must.”

She said, and faded away.

Dee heard a car pull up outside of the cottage. She went to the window and peeked through the curtain. Both Donni and Deja seemed exited, looking upbeat.

“Thanks, for the ride Cameron.”

“No prob. Laters.” Cameron said and pulled away.

The girls walked up the newly sodded grass. Nick had kept to his word, laying it down soon after their run-in with Cameron. He was now in the kitchen having some coffee.

If Dee could hear her sisters’ thoughts at this moment, they would sound like…

“Hardly any of these white boys are fine and none of them would be interested in me even of they were, Donni and Lou have their drawing in common and she never was like the other black girls at our old school anyway.-“

“-Oh, my God I have a date, a real date. Does he really like me? He is so cute. What am I gonna wear?- I hope we’ve got something good to eat tonight, I’m starving.-”

The girls opened the door, shedding their coats, preparing to jog up the steps to their rooms with their bookbags.

“Hold up, you two.” Dee said, sighing. “We’ve gotta talk.”

Deja and Donni looked at each other as if questioning whether either knew what was up.

“Sit down.”

Dee didn’t bother to speak aloud.

“Nick, the girls are here.”

He came in from the kitchen and the girls knew it had to be something supernatural. …Bad supernatural.

“Oh, great.” Deja said, “I had almost forgotten we were abnormal.”

“What’s going on?” Donni asked.

Nick and Dee continued their unspoken communications.

“I should pull them from school while we sort this out.”

“That’s may be for the best. “

“Could you not do that?!” Deja said. “It’s like when people speak some other language around you. It’s just rude.”

Dee crossed her arms. “Deja, you’re the last person who should be talking about what’s rude.”

“-Anyway, this is important.”

She told them about Lydie and the curse, passing around the ledger for them to see.

“So, then- What do we do?” Donni said, noting the missing piece of the page.

“I was just asking if it was a good idea to pull you two from school.”

“Um, that would be fine by me.” Deja said.

“I really don’t want to fall behind.” Donni said, while Deja shot her a ‘you would think that’ look.

“There’s no way you’d fall behind, even if you stayed out of school. I know why you don’t want leave.” , she said. “You don’t want to leave your boyfriend.” she sing-songed

Donni turned to her frowning and shoved her sister. “Stop it.”

“He likes you!”

“Jealous, much?”

Dee stood with her hands on her hips and waited. “Are you two quite through? Because I’d really like to get on with saving your lives here.”

They quieted.

Nick spoke up. “I think it would be best for them to stay in school.”

“WHAT?!” Dee said, incredulous. “They’ll be sitting ducks!”

“Well, whatever forces are there, possible traitors, they don’t know we know. Tituba said they would follow them here, anyway. I think it would best for them to stay and see if they notice anything. We both can watch them, while you work on your abilities.”

Dee sighed. “Right.”

“I also think there’s a good chance, Lydie’s body is on school grounds.”

“Okay, you’ve convinced me, a little too easily for my taste, but…It does make sense,” she said, nodding her head.

“Just know, if anything happens to my sisters, I going after who did it and then, you’ll be next.”

“Of course.” Nick said. “But I have confidence this will work.”

“You have confidence.” Dee said, running a hand through her hair.

“Well, I don’t.”

~~~~*~~~~

The next day at school, the girls were on their guard.

Even Lou was looked upon as a suspect…by Deja only. Donni insisted he was fine, that she hadn’t felt negative a thing from him..

And then of course, Deja reminded her, that she wasn’t the one with power to know that.

Donni and Lou sat under, what had become their spot at lunch under the strange, twisty tree.

He noticed she was quieter than usual, even for her.

“What’s wrong?”

“What?” He had snapped her out of her thoughts.

“You’re far away. Where might that be?” He said, his voice as usual, low and even-toned.

“Nowhere.” She lied.

He continued to look at her and then, what Donni had dreaded, happened.

“…Is it about what happened in the library.” He made it a statement instead of a question.

Donni tried to play dumb. “What happened in the library? What are you talkin-“

“You know what I’m talking about.” She never was a good liar.

“What do you remember?” She replied.

“I remember you pulling me into the stacks, looking freaked out. I remember you telling me to be quiet. I remember bits and pieces after that.”

Donni’s eyes widened. He should not remember any kinds of ‘bits and pieces’.

“What exactly.”

“Okay, you’re gonna think I’m crazy.”

“Try me.”

“I saw Cameron fall through you.”

Donni kept her serious face.

“Donni that’s not normal in any kind of rational way…”

She looked away.

His eyes widened at her look, it might as well have been confirmation.

“What are you?”

~~~~*~~~~

Nick and Dee were in the cottage, working on strengthening Dee’s abilities.

“I want you to try to call Tituba without using the mirror.” Nick said. “You were supposed to eventually be able to do that, but we’ll have to speed along the process. It’ll help you learn how to call Lydie.”

Dee took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Nick sat beside her, his voice calm and soothing, and so very close. He did not wish to speak to mind and so he focused on that. He didn’t want to distract her from her task. Nonetheless she did find it difficult to concentrate.

His voice was kinda’ sexy. His face was so close to her own, she almost feel his heat radiating from him, though he did not touch her.

Her eyes were closed. Anyone looking at her might think she were in a trance.

“Dee, just focus on Tituba. Focus on exactly what you want. You need to want it badly.”

He said, distracting her again. ‘Wanting it badly’ reminded her of other things.

It had been a long time since she’d had sex. Her on-again-off-again boyfriend from Morehouse, was far away, and off-again.

She licked her lips. Nick had noticed, his eyes wandering to them for moment. The were now wet and glistening. It made him think of other parts of her he imagined wet and…
He tried to block this out of his mind, lest she catch a stray thought. He should not be thinking about this. Why couldn’t his charge be less… attractive?

He thought about his vows instead and spoke again.

“Concentrate.” He was trying to focus as much as she was.

“She was deep within her subconscious. Her hands gently rose from her lap as if reaching for something, someone.

She swallowed. A small wisp of what appeared to be shimmering white smoke appeared in the center of the room. A gentle breeze emanated from it, blowing her hair little.

She even spoke her name softly. “-Tituba.”

Like a tear in the air, her form spread and solidified and until she was almost fully there, looking confused at first and then proud.

“Open your eyes, child.”

“Gran?” She said.

“You’ve pulled me here. Already. Outstanding.” She said, and meant it.

Dee let out an excited whoop and threw her arms around Nick, pulling him into her embrace.

“I did it!” She shouted.

He was startled at the closeness of her body, and now his face was showing some shock and discomfort.

“Tituba raised an eyebrow.”

Tituba’s eyes narrowed as she watched them. Suddenly, Dee pulled back, looking uncomfortable, herself. A stray thought of his fluttered across her mind. “…we’re too close…”

~~~~*~~~~

Tituba , spoke again then.

“I’ll be gone now. I’d like to see if you can summon me quicker, next time.”

She faded from the room, in the manner that she came, before Dee could protest. The last thing she wanted was to be alone with Nick, right now. …Or so she told herself.

“Uh, Dee…I don’t know what you read just then but, you know we can’t.”

“Of course, not.” Dee said. She’d too to focused on her own discomfort to have noticed anything then, but she played along.

“It would be wrong.” Nick replied. “It would break the rules of my order, my most scared vow-“

Dee closed the distance between them and planted a kiss on his lips. He did not pull away. Both of the their feelings passed back and forth in waves, as he deepened the kiss. It was an incredibly erotic feeling. Like an continuous reverb of desire.

For her part ,she reached up both hands and slid them through the back of his hair.

Nick brought his hands around her sides and pulled her closer.

They both broke the kiss at approximately the same time, Nick’s thoughts of the years he had gone without this, now for naught slipping into her mind.

They were both breathless.

Dee blinked rapidly and smoothed her hair, looking away, touching her lips. She could still feel the echo of his lips pressed upon them.

Nick spoke up first. “That can’t happen again.” He said.

“No matter, what you feel from me. Understand?”

She nodded.

“-No matter what you hear from my mind. You are an attractive woman, beautiful even, but I can’t. It would interfere with my job here. Protecting you and your sisters. I can’t care about one more than the others.” He said to her also reaffirming the truth of it, to himself.

“Yes, of course.” She said.

She got up quickly from the couch.

“I think you should go, now.”

Nick frowned. “But, you have to practice this, until it becomes second-nature, -and your telekinesis. We haven’t even begun to work on that.”

He said frustrated, in more than one way. “This is what I feared-”

“I’ll work on it alone for awhile, okay? I promise.” She turned to face, him her hands crossed over her chest, rubbing her arms. At some deep part of her mind (not deep enough, for her) she wished they were his hands.

Nick slowly got up and put of his coat, silently going out through her door.

~ by Raven White on December 26, 2008.