Before (13 page)

She wasn’t going to complain about the accommodation because
her feet hurt.

As they made their way into the dust riddled room, Cora sat on
the floor as Tabitha passed her some bread and an apple. She was so
tired she barely had the energy to lift her hand to her mouth to
eat and feed the stomach that complained loudly at her.

“
We will be there tomorrow morning.”

“
Right.” Cora really didn’t know what else to say.

“
I’m doing this for you, Cora.”

“
I know.” She understood why Tabitha was doing this, but she
was seventeen, she liked to complain. It was her right to be
moody.

She snuggled down into the protective bubble that Tabitha had
cast to keep them hidden. Tabitha had entwined some of her element
within it so they were cocooned by a warm blanket. They lay in the
darkness, the sound of their steady breathing, as well as the loud
shouts from the people who stumbled through the streets, was their
only companion.

“
How do you feel?” Tabitha whispered, referring to her
change.

“
The same as I felt the last time you asked me.”

“
Does it hurt?”

“
It hurt at the time. I’d have said that was the most painful
thing I’d ever experienced before watching my mother... Now I feel
numb.”

The knowledge that she would live a long life without her
mother was impossible to accept. The large hole in her chest where
her heart should be would always be there, no matter the age she
reached in witch years. It had been days since the incident, and
Cora was already struggling to live life without her mother and
grandparents. It wasn’t the same, how could she continue in this
sleep mode for the rest of her life? That certainly wasn’t living
it to her best ability.

“
Tab, how are you feeling?”

There was no reply from Tabitha. She lay in the dark listening
to her own breathing.

The rustle of Tabitha’s clothing told Cora she was turning to
face her. A small light filled their bubble revealing Tabitha’s
face. Cora could see the strain of the last few days on Tabitha’s
face. Her hair was now coal black again, her leaf green eyes paler
than usual. Her lips were chapped but she still looked more than
beautiful.

“
I miss her, and I know how much you miss her.”

“
It shouldn’t have happened, we could have saved
her.”

Cora pushed down on her fresh surge of anger.

“
We couldn’t, Alizon knew this and I knew this. If we’d saved
her how many other lives would we have put in danger? It would have
caused a mass panic...”

Cora thought about this. Was a mass panic worth the price of
saving her mother? She didn’t know anymore. This indecision further
enforced that her whole world didn’t make sense.

“
You see how bad the commoners are with witchcraft? If we had
taken your mother to safety they wouldn’t have stopped. They would
have pillaged every village, searching for every apparent witch in
the country. Could we really bring that upon our kind?”

“
Why did it have to be her?” Cora whispered feeling the tears
burn at the back of her throat.

“
I know, sweetheart. I feel your pain...”

“
Do you? Tab, you haven’t cried, you haven’t done anything. I
know you are strong, you are the strongest person I know, but you
must feel it.”

“
I do, Cora, I feel it more than you know but having you to
concentrate on helps me.”

“
I don’t want to be the reason you don’t cry...”

“
You are not, I just know that I must focus my energy on one
emotion at a time. Right now, it is my responsibility for you that
gets me through the days.”

“
The only way I’m getting through this is by focusing on the
anger. Jack’s family had something to do with this.” Cora was
adamant. “I remember the day the commoners surrounded my mother,
that day when Eli came to me on Jack’s field. He appeared flustered
and concerned but who knows if he was the one who set this up. He
may have wanted the two of us in that room so we would die
together.”

“
But Jack intervened...”

“
Yes,” she said thinking over the events. “He probably didn’t
know what Eli had planned. Not until later when everything changed
between us.”

“
We can never know I’m afraid. Cora, we must sleep. We have
quite an important day to follow.”

Tabitha extinguished the light leaving them in darkness. Cora
saw her mother’s eyes flash in the black surrounding them. She was
sure those jade green eyes would haunt her until her dying
day.

She’d gone through the change so her dying day would be in
some far away future. Now that she didn’t age, what would Tabitha
do? Tabitha hadn’t gone through the change. Cora couldn’t sit back
and watch the only family she had left, grow old and die. Was she
not powerful enough to withstand the pain? As the thought entered
her head she was already dismissing it, no, that couldn’t be
right.

Tabitha was one of the most powerful witches she knew, which
meant Tabitha hadn’t experienced something so life changing that
the snap had happened. Was it bad of Cora that she wanted Tabitha
to go through the change no matter what the experience was? That
she wanted a person she loved from her past to be present in the
future.

“
Child, you need to rest your brain. I can hear it turning from
here. Please, try to sleep, you will feel better for
it.”

Cora heard Tabitha mumbling something under her breath and
felt a calm state wash over her. Tabitha’s hand brushed through her
hair as her eyelids drooped.

14

1st September 1612

During the course of the morning they had weaved their way,
unnoticed, through the busy streets of London. She’d looked around
with cautious fascination as they’d travelled. The streets were
dirty as human filth and rubbish lined them. Cora was so used to
the green of the fields that seeing this filth and smelling it made
her gag. Why would people choose to live like this?

The houses, and there were plenty of them, were bigger than
the ones in her home village. They were two, three storeys high
with things hanging precariously from open windows. She’d never
seen homes so tall, she assumed hundreds of people must live in
them. She shook her head, no wonder London was
overcrowded.

They’d exited the main bustle of the city and made their way
through the outskirts. This was the kind of landscape Cora loved.
Flowers, an infusion of beautiful pinks, lavenders and whites
bloomed here. Horses grazed in green fields. The smog of the city
had been left far behind.

They turned, making their way down a thin path. It was quiet
here; only the buzz of insects and the chirp of birds could be
heard. A welcoming cool breeze slid along her skin as they walked
alongside the sweep of tall trees that obscured their view from the
sun’s intense heat. A gap in the trees made her stop. She looked at
what lay before her and then glanced at Tabitha who was looking at
her, she was no doubt judging her reaction.

In front of them stood a magnificent manor, high turrets
reached towards the sun as elaborate gardens stretched for miles
around. She felt like she’d entered another time, the difference
between London and here was so unexpected.

“
This is where we need to be,” Tabitha said.

“
Where is this? Who do we know here?” Cora asked, even though
she sensed that Tabitha wouldn’t answer her questions anyway.
Whoever lived here was very rich judging by the manor and the
setting it was in.

Tabitha started walking towards the large house in the
distance. Her lips were firmly sealed. Cora walked behind her
soaking up the surroundings. As they approached the long, dry dirt
drive she saw large blooms of soft blue flowers were cut into the
lawn creating circles of colour on the lead up to the house. She
had never seen something so beautiful in all her life. There wasn’t
much room for flowers in her village when you needed the fields for
crops.

The long winding drive forced the visitor to see the splendour
of the gardens and the house. As they approached the large wooden
door, Cora suddenly felt underdressed and nervous. Cora watched as
Tabitha pulled on a long, thick piece of rope and stood next to
her.

It took only moments before a man appeared at the door. His
nose was bent out of shape, his dark brown eyes sat too close
together and were sunk deep into his head. The long black suit made
him appear short and fat. He looked at their attire with a certain
air of distaste.

He was a commoner. Cora knew the difference between commoners
and witches, she couldn’t state what it was, it was just some
quality, an air around them that made her see their true selves.
All witches could do this, this is what helped them when concealing
their powers.

“
Good afternoon, do you have an appointment?” he asked, his
voice sounded nasally.

“
Yes, they are expecting us.”

“
Very well, Madam, please follow me.”

They stepped into the foyer which made Cora nearly gasp out
loud. Two wooden sets of stairs branched from her left and right,
sweeping up and joining on the second level. Her eyes followed the
beautifully varnished wooden floors to where the light winked from
the tall windows that stood high on the second level. They cast a
soft glow upon the exquisite pieces of art that lined the walls.
Did witches live here? If they did then they were rather open with
their money and that would bring them unwanted
attention.

They continued to walk, the man leading the way under the
stairs. They walked through a room that housed a large fireplace.
Carved into the dark wood were roses, the stems reaching up from
the bottom and curling into the corners to look as though they were
blooming.

The fireplace held a mountain of fresh logs that were waiting
to be lit. A chandelier holding six large candles hung low from the
ceiling. Stuffed heads of game lined the walls. Ignoring the
grotesque heads, she looked up at the high ceiling and saw the
beautiful hand crafted art of what appeared to be angels frolicking
in a garden. A garden that looked very much like the one they’d
walked up.

The servant led them to two doors that were already open. They
walked out into the garden and her breath was yet again knocked out
of her as she caught sight of the large lake. The deep blue water
glistened under the rays of the sun. She saw that there was a bench
nestled within the greenery surrounding the lake, a perfect spot to
lose yourself. Cora knew if she lived here she could have spent
many hours sitting there in the sun reading a good book.

As they continued walking across the grass, she scanned the
area and stopped when she caught sight of a man and woman sitting
at a table, waiting for them.

They were commoners.

Cora tried to hide the surprised jolt. Why had Tabitha brought
her here to meet commoners? What could they possibly do to help
their witch situation?

The woman stood, her hair was a light brown in colour and sat
high upon her head. She stepped forward and Cora noticed the way
her hazel eyes twinkled. Cora definitely felt underdressed when
comparing the woman’s stunning lavender, floor length gown to her
thin, yellow dress. One that she’d travelled in for two days that
now had several dirty marks on it.

“
Hello, it is lovely to meet you,” the woman said as she hugged
Tabitha.

Wait, they were meeting for the first time? But Tabitha had
said she already knew them.

“
And you.” Tabitha nodded and motioned for her to move forward.
Cora didn’t hold anything against commoners but with their track
record she was being cautious. The man remained standing quietly at
the table, watching her. Had he sensed she was a witch? Were they
wary of their kind?

“
Cora, I would like you to meet Violet Hunt.”

“
It’s lovely to meet you, Ma’am.” Despite her reservations,
Cora still remembered her manners.

“
And you, please call me Violet, you must come and meet my
husband, George.”

Violet led them to the table where the man named George bowed
respectfully. She noticed the way his shoulder length auburn hair
swept forward into his face from the slight warm breeze of the day.
He took her hand in his and gently lifted it to his lips. His
moustache tickled her hand making her smile.

“
Pleasure to meet you, Cora, Tabitha, please sit.”

She took the seat next to Tabitha biting back on the rush of
questions that had surged in her head. If they were meeting for the
first time, Tabitha must expect their help. But how could commoners
help them? They didn’t have powers.

“
So, I can imagine you have travelled quite far,
Cora?”

Cora felt the shock of his question jolt her. How was she
supposed to answer this? They weren’t to know why they had
travelled. They couldn’t know they were witches. Cora didn’t want
to face the repercussions from the Corenthio Coven. This was going
to cause problems if Tabitha wasn’t diplomatic about it.