“You must observe the rituals. No matter what happens. It will keep you, and your sisters together.” Freya's mother cautioned her. Freya was seventeen years old when her mother introduced her to the Michael rituals.
“I promise to keep our family together.” Freya said, staring at her mother. She was too young, but she had to do it. They were both in the woods, and the bright rays of the moonlight struck the surface of the earth. It lit the woods up brightening and almost making the darkness of the night disappear. They took each other's arms, both heaved a sigh of relief shutting their eyes, and permitting their dark magical energy to flow through them. Freya could perceive her mother's strength, she was certainly a powerful dark witch.
“Please...” The man muttered, he could only see glimpses of the two figures standing around him. Freya wanted to hesitate, tears dropped from her eyes, as she felt tenderness. Her mother understood this, it was her first time, but it won't be her last.
“I'm so sorry.” Freya mumbled.
“I have a family. Please!” He continued imploring. Freya looked away, she had hardened that heart that just felt sympathy. She followed her mother's chant, as their magic strangled the half-conscious man up. The man screamed as blood trickled down his eye and nose. He lost his breath, choking until his life was no more. From that day onwards, she grew stronger, and after her mother's demise, she took it upon herself to lead her sisters responsibly.
Present Day.
Hayley and Earnestine were getting close to where the blue unquenchable flames were burning, it made the forest look more like a village green, Hayley could feel the warmth of the fire though she was not too close to it. They could see Sabrina standing chanting with her hands up in the air, they could feel their magic, having fewer hopes of saving Wendy Cooper. Hayley trudged towards the fire, all she could think of was to save her friend. Earnestine said an offensive spell interrupting them from the chant, they lost control. Hayley was quick enough to attack, her spell sent the three sisters stumbling down the woods while Earnestine helped Wendy who was half awake. Wendy was yet to admit what she was doing in such dark uncanny woods. It was midnight, the rituals was ought to be held by midnight. The moon had suddenly disappeared, and the tiny shimmering stars were gone, lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled. It told them that something horrible was going to happen. Earnestine was leading Wendy out of the forest, she didn't forget to use her witch powers to wipe the vague memories of what just happened to her. Earnestine heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that Wendy had wandered of out the woods. She was about to get back to her sisters when she felt her head pound so hard, a wail escaped her lips, she wasn't the only one, as they couldn't hold back the pain of what was happening to them. They saw the darkness and emptiness, but still, they could not recognize what they were glimpsing. Next, they saw the world in flames, people fleeing to save their life, witches strangling and taking the lives of humans with their magic. It was the most formidable thing they had ever seen. They had broken flashes of their father, the world was in an apocalypse. Everything went black.
The sun rays lit the room up when Sabrina opened the curtains, they were all surprised at what happened the previous night. Their mother warned them to always observe the ritual unfailingly. Hayley strived to see through the room, the rays of the sunlight were falling directly on her face, almost taking her sight. Wait! Is that the sun or is this torture? Hayley asked herself. She mumbled a spell, and the curtains closed immediately, she noticed Earnestine was beside her, and they were both tied up in chains. They both struggled to get each other, but all to no avail.
“It's what would keep us together as a family.” Freya told them. She was standing at the edge of the basement staring at Hayley and Earnestine.
“I couldn't watch you kill my friend.” Hayley interrupted.
“Who cares about your friend?” Sabrina said from behind them, arms akimbo. Hayley turned to her, scoffing, as she removed her gaze. Sabrina raised an eyebrow and scowled taking a stroll around them.
“I do.” Hayley said with her eyes wide open still struggling to get off the chains.
“I'm beginning to have a life here in Weston Hills, and all you could do is to strive to take away the source of my little joy.”
“Who cares about your joy?” Sabrina derided.
“This family is more significant than you can infer.” Janeka added, but with a less harsh tone.
“We want the best for you.” Freya said softly, all she wanted was for Hayley to understand that the ritual would become a big part of their lives.
“What is the reason for this ritual other than to get powerful, and keep our bond as a family stronger.” Hayley challenged. Sabrina grew furious, and without any solitary thought, she slapped Hayley.
“How dare you?” Sabrina roared. Hayley took calm breaths, she could feel her power rising, but she preferred not to react because it would spell disaster. “I'm late for school.” Hayley said while she whispered a spell, their chains breaking up and plunging on the wooden floors. Janeka was puttering with the broken chandelier which lay on the cabinet. She was stunned, How did she? How did they do that? Earnestine's chains broke up too, she sneered, as they both walked upstairs leaving the three sisters to think deeply about what they had just done.
“These bitches are getting more powerful.” Sabrina said, as she moved up and down the basement. Freya didn't say a word, the deed has been done. All she wished was to keep her sisters together, as a family.
“Is there any way we can do justice to this?” Janeka inquired expecting a positive answer from Freya. She was the lady who knew it all, the first daughter of Edmond Michael who made her first kill with her mother beside her.
“I'm so sorry for dragging you into this.” Hayley apologized.
“You can't just lose someone who would be making your last days in high school better.” Earnestine shrugged. She glanced at Hayley, as she opened the pack of pizza that lay on the dining table. She understood that Hayley didn't have a better life in her former school, and she didn't want any of those things to happen to her again. Hayley had finished taking her bath, she was late for school, but who would question her. She quietly took her seat while Earnestine served her.
“Enjoy your breakfast, and hit the road.” Earnestine chuckled, as she was leaving the kitchen. Hayley smiled, looking back, as Earnestine left the kitchen. She exhaled deeply thanking heaven that she had a sister who cared so much about her.
Hayley entered the biology class late.
“Welcome, Miss Michael.” The teacher said. She didn't whisper a word, pretending not to have noticed that her teacher was referring to her. On second thought, it would be so rude, she never want to become Sabrina. Not even when a gun would be pointed at her head.
“Morning sir.” She greeted with a smile. “Be fast, Cinderella.” One of the random boys said sarcastically, and they all chuckled at her. She sat beside Wendy without smiling at her or anybody while taking out her notebook, and listening attentively to what her teacher was saying.
“Hello,” Wendy whispered when the teacher turned to the blackboard. Hayley smiled shortly then she got her attention back to what she was being taught.
The school bell rang, and Wendy was leaving the class alongside other students while Hayley sat on her seat waiting for all the students to leave. Papers were flying across the hallway while students stormed out of their classes, chatting, whispering, and chattering indistinctly. Hayley was lost, she could hear, and feel her heartbeat. It pounded so hard, and that told her that she needs to act. She walked out of the class quietly making sure she did not forget anything. She had planned to be joining the football team today, but all that was ruined. Still intent on looking for the boy who aroused the sardonic laughter in the biology class. She recognized he was standing close to his locker holding a fair blonde girl in her hands. Hayley smirked, it was the perfect time to take her revenge, and get to show the whole world that he was a weakling.
“Hey,” Hayley said interrupting him from his conversation. She didn't think twice, but shoved the boy to the wall, glaring at him.
“What's your name?” She asked seizing his neck. This caught the attention of other students who were discussing along the hallway, she could hear them muster incessantly, she guessed that a great number of the student feared this gruesome guy.
“Nick.” The boy answered struggling to breathe. Nick was the same height as Hayley. He was sturdy and muscular, he had silver eyes. He soon tugged away from Hayley sending her to the ground. Hayley kicked him while still on the ground, and they both fell. He was the school bully, and he always got away with whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted to. Hayley seemed to be the first student to challenge him, Nick was surprised that none of his friends had come to save him though he had not gotten his ass kicked, and he never wanted to disappoint his friends or get the girls to laugh at him. They both stood up waiting for the first person to make a move.
“I'm being lenient. The next time you try to mess with me...” Hayley said as she turned to walk away.
“I'd love to mess with you now.” Nick announced with his arms wide open looking sideways. Hayley halted when those words escaped his lips, she felt intimidated at the same time she felt her wrath soaring, and she just wanted to pour it all out. Without further thought, she hastily turned and slapped Nick on his face. The whole crowd gasped peering at Hayley who kicked and pushed Nick. It was intense, Nick himself was surprised. He had never been slapped this way all his life, and it was just the new girl who was questioning his domination, he lost one of his teeth, and he just stared at her, wiping the blood that was about to trickle down his soft lips. The girl she was talking to had fled when she saw Hayley was the tough girl. She didn't want to get into any trouble.
“I guess I'm stronger than I look.” Hayley retorted with a scowl. She was about to hit him again when Wendy stopped her tightening her grip on Hayley's arms
“Stop it. Hayley.” Wendy asked. Hayley struggled until she lost her grip, and wandered away talking silently to herself. Wendy raised an eyebrow when Hayley left without uttering a single word. This wasn't the friend she knew yesterday. Nick's friends quickly helped him up and led him to the health block.
Earnestine drove into the ice cream shop. She alighted from her car and sauntered into the shop. Her heart skipped three beats when she saw Erin, she closed her eyes trying to catch her breath thinking about those sweet blue eyes she had, and the perfect green hair that flowed down her back almost reaching her waist. She had not seen such a beauty.
“I guess you want ice cream again.” Erin said with a smile.
“Yeah, I do.” Earnestine said, as she sat down on a seat waiting to be attended to. “Frozen yogurt.” She reminded.
Erin grinned, as she passed her the frozen yogurt. Earnestine was doing some research on dark art, and the histories of dark witches, her mind slowly drifted to her phone not noticing that Erin couldn't get her gaze off her. “How long have you been in town?” Erin asked.
“A few days.” Earnestine answered. She peeked at her and then back to her phone, she was finding engaging facts about the rituals. She had to go back to the last events of Weston Hills before the witches fled their town. It dawned on her that such a ritual never existed. She locked her phone and dropped it on the table. Erin shrugged, it wasn't nice to irritate a shopper.
“I think I will be on my way,” Earnestine said as she paid her off. She was almost at the glass transparent door when Erin spoke up.
“Can I have your phone contact?”
“Sure.” Earnestine retorted.
Hayley was at the sports field with Wendy watching the red tigers play football, she just loved their team and wanted to be a part of it, but all her hopes were ruined by Nick and her siblings.
“How was your night?” Wendy said venturing into a conversation.
“There was nothing good about last night.” Hayley replied nattily.
“What happened?” Wendy asked.
“My sisters almost took someone precious away from me.” Hayley said.
“I want to see them, and kick some ass.” Wendy let out.
“You don't want to, they are pretty powerful...” Hayley said with a grin, and they chortled. Witches almost escaped her lips, but thank heavens she didn't say the word.
Earnestine drove into the house with Wendy and Hayley in the car. She had gone to pick them up from school after she left Erin's shop. Wendy loved what she saw, the house was really beautiful, the fence, the green grasses, and of course the corridor. She imagined what the inside would look like. Wendy widened her eyes in astonishment when they took a step into the house, she couldn't believe her eyes, but this house was virtually like heaven. The delicate chandeliers. The massive staircase, and the plain wooden floor.
“I love this place.” Wendy chuckled.
“They have decided to make up for their evil deeds, by bringing the right person at the wrong time.” Sabrina said while sitting in the living room. She only darted at them before she got her mind back to her favorite tv show. All she did every day was watch cartoons, play games, and practice her magic. Hayley ignored her and was stepping upstairs whereas Wendy was attempting to have a conversation
“Nice to meet you,” Wendy said waving at Sabrina who was staring at her intently. She felt skeptical about this girl, but she wasn't very sure about it. “Go have a chit-chat with your friend.” Sabrina said, still wondering if it was the same girl that was about to be killed the aforesaid night. She shrugged getting her full attention back to the television. Wendy's smile faded when she noticed that Hayley didn't care a bit.
“She's the bully sister, Wendy.” Hayley told Wendy signaling her to come upstairs.
“Have a nice time.” Earnestine told Wendy and Hayley, as she took a turn to the kitchen. She couldn't wait for it to get dark, so she'd take her bath, and chat with Erin. All she wanted was something to cool her off, she had started regretting why they couldn't just find another human.
Janeka and Freya were at the library. They were studying their magic while Earnestine peeped through the half-opened door. She cleared her throat, scanning through the library, as she took slow steps in.
“We should have done the rituals.” Earnestine confessed, as she mumbled a spell, and the doors got locked.
“I attempted looking for the consequences of the rituals on the internet, but it was a whole bunch of shit.”
“I don't trust the internet on supernatural stuff.” Janeka interrupted. Freya was paying less attention, Earnestine knew she would never be interested in whatever she had to say until she got over with what happened recently. She felt disgruntled, but she was protecting the sister she adored the most.
“Why are you informing us? You know it's the wrong time for this. The deed has been done, we just have to wait for the consequences.” Freya interrupted glaring at her. Earnestine looked away. “I was protecting Hayley's friend.” She told them.
“Of course, you were.” Janeka uttered.
Wendy was stunned, all she ever wished for was to find a book that discussed the history of the town she had been living in for years. Hayley passed into her room after she finished in the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” Hayley asked as she opened the closet keeping her eyes fixed on Wendy who she noticed was absorbed by the book, but Hayley didn't care. It wasn't her witch book, so there was nothing to worry about.
“It's a bit of a history of Weston Hills. Where did you get this book from?” Wendy asked.
“I found it somewhere.” Hayley said pulling up her dress and sitting on the bed. Wendy rolled her eyes, something told her she was lying, and Hayley must know very much about the things in this book.
“Do you know about witches?” Wendy asked. That was all she had been seeing in the book.
* Weston Hills was formerly a town of witches, a town of dark powerful witches. Amongst these witches were other supernatural creatures, spirits, vampires, werewolves, gargoyles, golems, and the rest of them. Most of them were extinct. Some years ago, these witches fled away due to the numerous attacks launched by humans on them. Though they had the power to fight back, they had to flee because they never wanted what was imprisoned to be returned. Weston Hills had other natural creatures, poisonous spiders, venomous snakes, deers, and a few birds. Raven was common, but these humans who had taken over Weston Hills hated Ravens because they were known to depict evil. Amongst these creatures was a vast land of forest with evergreen trees, beautiful lakes, seashores, and steep mountains. It also had a few caves that were scattered around the town.
Earnestine turned a page of a book, she had told them what she saw in her research. Only but a few histories dating back to when witches and other creatures were dominant in Weston Hills.
“There is nothing related to the rituals.” Earnestine told them.
“It's rather confidential.” Janeka said. “This pedagogy was given to us by our mother. We should heed it more than anything in this world.” Freya said. Earnestine sniffled. She stared at Freya with watery eyes, and they all heaved a sigh.
“Why are you so concerned about what you ruined or are you afraid of what would happen to the family? You don't want your sweet little Hayley to abandon you.” Sabrina said scathingly, she just barged into the conversation after she stepped into the library leaving the door open. Earnestine was older than her, but Sabrina didn't care so long as she was doing what she felt was right. It didn't matter to her. “Sabrina...please no more drama,” Freya told her. Sabrina stood there exhaling deeply, she could not just believe that after all was said and done they were siding with Earnestine and Hayley. “What matters is our family. We can keep it together.” Freya said.
“Some stupid ritual can't take us apart.” Janeka interrupted.
Hayley was walking down the street with Wendy by her side. She was seeing her off, and she had strolled far away from home.
“See you tomorrow.” Wendy said, as they embraced each other, and bade each other goodbye. Hayley turned back, she thought about her family, and the rituals and she promised that nothing would ever break their sisters' bond. She followed a short lonely path that led to their house, as she contemplated her sisters.
Hayley felt someone speed past her, but she wasn't sure, ignoring it, as she kept on moving. She was about to take a turn when she bumped into a gray-haired short woman with red eyes, and pale blue skin. She seemed like someone who had been wailing all her life. This old woman reiterated some indistinct words, glaring, and trying to scare the living daylights out of her.
“You can't escape your destiny.” The old woman told her. Hayley had flashes of the things she saw when she came in contact with the oak tree in her school. She fell to her knees screaming until the woman vanished, as she stood on her feet, she felt tears trickle down her eyes.
“My destiny is greater than you think.” She muttered. All she could think of was to run back home and lock herself up. She couldn't explain what just happened to her, but she kept on running until she got home. The farther she ran the scarier it got, the Ravens cawed, wolves howled, birds chirped, having flashes of the old woman as if she was about to devour her mind. She felt as if those things were after her, but all she wanted was to go home. She barged into her room and stepped into the bathroom turning on the shower, as she pulled off her dress taking a nice warm bath.
The five sisters sat in the dining after they finished Sabrina's food. They held one another and promised that they'd always stand together no matter where life takes them to. Hayley finally smiled. This was the kind of family she was looking for. A family with an unbreakable bond. They all were about to leave when Freya's phone beeped, and she checked her message. She smiled when she saw the message, she wasn't sure what to do, but something told her to read it. Her sisters couldn't wait to hear why she was smiling, they all felt tickling under their feet.
“It's him.” She informed them grinning, but it didn't last for long, she looked sternly at them, and they all raised an eyebrow before they all smiled, chortling, as they embraced each other.
Hayley opened her eyes. The whole place got covered by a thick white cloud, and she couldn't see a thing. “Where am I?” She asked herself, as she stood up trying to find her way out of the fog which was nearly impossible to escape.
