Chapter 4

The smoke from the wooden fire drifted from a nearby village and settled over the long luscious fields.  The morning was cloudy, dark: dense smoke blotted out the sun and it seemed to drain the colour from everything.

Summer sat up, shifting her body in the long grass of the field.  She knew she was dreaming.

Memories flashed abruptedly. Catching herself running outside to face Lucien who had immediately disappered into thin air. The panic that rose from her...not because Lucien had disappeared but because she wanted answers. An overwhelming feeling that she wanted to be near him. She rushed back into the house, hearing the chaos that was erupting over Hattie's slashed cheek, and then she had fallen asleep on the sofa.

She tried to wake from her dream, but was imprisoned to watch the scene unfold. 

In front of her, women were working, their black hats bobbed as their charcoal, long black dresses swayed like shadows against the blood red earth.  They were pulling at things, reeds maybe from a large lake.  Suddenly a wail shattered the silence as a black figure rose from the horizon and plummeted down, flying across the fields, heading towards the women.  As it finally landed, the women straightened up to watch. They were not afraid. They were elated, crying with happiness, welcoming the dark mass as if it was returning home to them. 

They stumbled forward, entering the water towards the darkness, their limbs twitching in excitement. 

Summer’s heart began to thump harder, as she watched the figure approach the women; it spoke in whispers, swirls of dark mist wrapped and twisted around them in a deathly embrace, finally ending with an outstretched arm pointing to her.  Summer froze.  The women turned to look at her.

They had no faces, from what she could make out... but their high pitch wails signified triumph. 

Then without further instruction they stealthily limped toward her.  Summer willed her body to move, but found that she was stuck to the ground.  Anxiety thumped her chest cavity as a rising scream threatened the walls of her throat. The women towered over her, peering down into her face, she realized with a sudden horror that they did have faces. And they were terrifying. Weathered faces gave way to thier thinned lips which housed a monumental amount of sharp teeth. They were witches. Even worse to discover, that made her heart stop and blood run cold, is the women were not holding reeds, but bloodied intestines. 

Their blood red eyes shot over her, darting so quickly it made her dizzy.

She heaved, she wanted to bolt, to run away, get away from whatever these things were.  As her eyes froze on one of the things faces it started to croak:

“Me alegro de volver a verle” Nice to see you again

Summer stared, eyes wide. She was terrible at translating and speaking other languages. But this was so clear as if it was her mother tongue. Panic washed over her again. 

Another witch came forward, a wide smile stretched across her face showing sharp teeth

“Cuanto tiempo sin verle” it has been a long time

Summer shook her head trying to escape the nightmare that was unfolding in front of her.  

How could she understand this? What did they mean a long time? She had never seen them or this place in her life...

Plucking up some courage, and trying to forget the bloodied entrails that swung above her head, Summer responded

“Es usted muerto” She mumbled, are you dead?

With this response they chuckled and grabbed at each other excitedly

“Si” One answered Yes

“De Verdad?  Really? “Eseguro?” Are you sure? Summer could only say, her voice trembling 

With this they remained deathly silent, and moved to the side to give her a clear view of the black figure standing by the lake.

Only by this time, her body went limp and fear crept into her very soul. 

A pressure grabbed her shoulders and immediately she was thrusted back into reality. Suddenly her eyes opened, staring at Jake’s worried face “Sum, are you ok?  Its ok, it was just a dream”.

As she came round she remembered that dark figure as it stared at her, its nearly skeletal body attached black smoke wings, it’s gleaming, menacing pointed teeth, those red burning eyes, and that horrifying realisation what it had said to her as she left

“Bienvenido de nuevo mi amor”  Welcome back my darling