The Promise (The Coven Series) (15 page)

Back to CJ.
 
Having
that kind of connection to the Elements is beyond rare.
 
Plus she can write a spell like nobody’s
business.
 
It’s so easy for her.
 
They roll off her tongue.
 
What’s so funny is she’s not even aware of
any of it.
 
She finds answers to convince
herself it can all be explained away.
 
Just you wait, little sister, you can’t explain away a greeting from the
Elements when you enter my circle for the first time.
 

Dad
says to listen to what your instincts tell you and my instincts scream CJ.
 
No one else thinks so.
 
They don’t see her like I do.
 
She’s such a good kid, always taking care of
everyone else – that’s why she’s perfect.
 
She’ll take care of the JC the way I do, with love and a firm hand.
 
She’ll lead them away from the darkness I see
coming.

I
can’t wait for her initiation.
 
I’ll hand
the JC over to her then.
 
I know she and
Kay always celebrate their birthday together, but a girl’s initiation is
special, about only her.
 
She shouldn’t
have to share that with Kay.
 
So I am
going to break with tradition and hold little sister’s initiation on Halloween,
her birthday and Kay’s the next weekend.
 
I’ve got it all planned out.
 
She’ll love it.
 
Every time any of
us mention it she just rolls her eyes.
 
I
can’t wait to see the look on her face when the Elements pour through her.
 
If my suspicions are right, then my little
sister is meant for far more than just the title of JCL – she’s been truly
blessed.
 
She’s more than any of us could
ever hope to be.
 
I’m just glad I’ll be
here to see it.

Thank you old friend, for helping me to sort through it and make up
my mind.

September
28, 2006

I
saw someone today.
 
He can’t be much
older than me, but I don’t know, he just
kinda
felt
older.
 
He reminded me of Adam’s older
brother
Clint – the one who’s in college.
 
He was watching us from a distance while we
were in the meadow.
 
CJ didn’t notice
him.
 
She gets so wrapped up in her
writing I’m surprised she remembers to sleep.
 
He followed us all the way home.
 
I was ready to call the police, but then he just…disappeared.
 
I don’t mean he ducked around a corner – he
flippin faded before my eyes.
 
Like a
ghost.
 
That can’t be right.
 

Who
is he and why is he following me?

October
1, 2007

The
first of the windows have gone up in the drug store – a silly scene with a
black cat chasing a goblin out of the cemetery.
 
I love those windows the Corey’s create.
 
They like magic all on their own.
 
We witches are very creative people.
 
Look at me and CJ – I draw and she writes.
 
I did a couple sketches to some of her
stories.
 
I plan on submitting them to a
few agents – my little sister is talented.
 
She has this incredible imagination and can weave tales of terror
that’ll have you jumping at your own shadow or make you smile all day
remembering the silly story she told.
 

I
saw the boy again.
 
He was in the
cemetery.
 
I tried to talk to him, but he
was gone before I could catch him.
 
I
still don’t know how he gets away so fast.
 
He can’t be a ghost.
 
I’m a witch,
but even I have doubts about some things.
 
He seems too real, too solid.
 
He’s watching me.
 
But why?

October
7, 2007

I
wish to all the Fates I had never seen him.
 
It can’t be true.
 
It can’t.
 

October
11, 2007

Why?
 
Why now?
 
Everything is almost perfect and he shows up to ruin it all.
 
He told us why he’s here.
 
The Senior Coven is jumping for joy.
 
I was allowed into the meeting because of my
role as JCL and I’ll be joining the Coven as soon as CJ takes over.
 

I
want to throw up.
 
It’s sick.
 
A curse.
 
Everything they’ve worked for all these
centuries has been about a stupid curse.
 
The thirteenth daughter.
 
It’s not true.
 
I refuse to believe it.
 
But he’s here – how do we know it’s real
though?
 
A spell.
 
We need a truth spell to show us if he’s
real.
 
Even the Senior Coven will have to
agree to that before they pledge themselves on this path of destruction.
 

None
of this makes sense.
 
At least now I
understand the pledge to protect our secrets with our lives.
 
A curse.
 
It’s evil.
 
I need to find out more.
  
They’re
not going to tell me.
 
Maybe he will.

October
13, 2007

Oh
God.
 
No.
 
It’s in the book.
 
It’s all
there.
 
He’s there.
 
I didn’t believe it before, but it’s
true.
 
I looked for myself while they
were busy.
 
That damned book is guarded
better than the crown jewels.
 
So many wards.
 
But it
was all there.
 
They’re wrong about one
thing.
 
They all miscalculated.
 
I have to get them both away from here.

October
15, 2007

Too late.
 
They know
about my plan.
 
They know the truth now
and they won’t let me leave.
 
I have to
warn you, little sister.
 
I dare not say
anything here – someone might find this besides you.
 
The answers are in my BOS – it’s hidden.
 
You know where.
 
Find it.

I’m
afraid, Cassie Jayne.
 
So
afraid.
 
They’re coming and I
can’t keep you and Kay safe.
 
I begged
Mom, but she told me I was being silly.
 
Dad’s not home and
he’s
not answering his
cell!
 
Why isn’t Daddy answering his
phone?
 
I need him.
 

I
love you so much, little sister.
 
If I
never get to tell you that again, I’m telling you now.
 
I love you until the world cracks – remember
when we were kids and cracked Grandpa’s globe on Thanksgiving?
 
We swore the dog knocked it over.
 
We promised to love each other then until our
world cracked.
 
My world cracked
today.
 
I love you.
 

Please
Cassie Jayne, please be safe.
 
Please.

I
hear them.
 
Oh God, I hear them.
 
I have to go.
 

Where
are you, Daddy?

Chapter Twelve

“CJ?”
 
Kay’s voice
came from the hallway.
 
My stomach
knotted, telling me to hide my discovery.
 
Instinct, Emily had written.
 
My
instincts screamed to keep this from Kay.
 
I didn’t know why, but they did.
 
Maybe it was reading the diary and it’s insinuations that caused my
caution, but I hid it nonetheless.
 
I put
it back into the shoe box and carefully set it where I’d found it.
 

Drying
my eyes, I pushed myself up off the floor and closed the closet door.
 
My head buzzed with hundreds of questions
that Kay was going to answer.
 
Then I saw
her.
 
She had collapsed against the wall
beside Emily’s door.
 
Her ebony hair hung
damp and limp around a face gone ashen.
 
She looked like she’d just been through ten kinds of hell.

“Kay,
are you okay?”
 
Tears streamed down her
face and she was shaking.
 
“Was it the
dream again?”

She
nodded, her eyes wild with fear.

I
pulled her up, helped her back into my room and put her back into bed.
 
“Shh, you’re safe now, Kay.
 
I’ve got you.”

“B-b-bur-
rr
-
nn-ing
,” she stammered.
 
“I was…was…was…”

“It’s
okay, I’m here.
 
I won’t let anything
happen to you.”

Kay
had dreamed of being burnt at the stake since she was a little girl.
 
It was a horrible dream.
 
She could feel the heat of the flames as they
licked their way up her body, feel her flesh blister, burn, and swell as the
fire kissed her.
 
Sometimes she’d scream
herself hoarse even after she’d woken up.
 
It was always the same dream and it always scared her shitless.
 

“Awful,”
she whispered as I tucked the covers around her.
 
Her skin felt hot, feverish.
 

“I
know,” I soothed.
 
“It’s just a dream,
Kay, you’re fine.”

She
nodded,
her eyes still wide and frightened.
 
“It’s getting worse, CJ.
 
I’m having it every night.”

I
didn’t know what to say.
 
What could I
say?
 
I never had nightmares, ever.
 

“I
can still feel the heat from the fire on my skin,” she whispered.
 
“So afraid.”

“But
you’re not burning, Kay,” I told her firmly.
 
“It was only a dream.”

“Just
a dream,” she agreed.
 
“Just
a dream.
 
God, I need a drink.”

“No,
you don’t,” I argued.
 
“Drinking won’t
help anything.”

“I
don’t dream when I’m drunk, CJ.”

Is
that why her drinking had gotten so much worse over the last few weeks?
 
Because her dreams had?
 
“That’s still not the answer, Makayla Joyce.”

“I
know, Mom.” She rolled her eyes and took a shaky a breath.
 
She flipped the channel with the remote and
found an old Clark Gable film on AMC.
 
I
guess she’d had her quota of scary movies for the night.
 
“This will put me back to sleep as well as a
good shot of whiskey.”

I
smiled at her pained expression.
 
She was
starting to bounce back.
 
I could
understand where her dreams came from.
 
She was a practicing witch and we were all taught about the witch trials
at an early age – kindergarten I think.
 
I still remembered the story.

It
started in Salem Village, Massachusetts.
 
Fear ran rampant through the countryside as men and women were accused
of witchcraft from all walks of life.
 
It
was this fear that drove our original Coven to betray thirteen of its own
members.
 
They struck a bargain with
George Corwin, the Sherriff, to keep themselves from being named as
witches.
 
They betrayed their own to save
themselves.

I
always thought that pretty much sucked.
 
How could you betray your friends and family?
 
My own ancestor and leader of the Coven, Sara
Bishop, had burned with the others.
 
Such a tragic waste of life.
 
They had been witches, yes, but they didn’t deserve to die like
that.
 
No one did.

On
July 09, 1692, the sheriff and his men burst in on one of the Coven
meetings.
 
Thirteen were arrested and
tried as witches.
 
The Coven testified
against them.
 
They had been forced to
participate in acts of the devil out of fear for their lives, they claimed.
 
Our ancestors were found guilty of witchcraft
and burned at the stake.
 
The families of
those thirteen men and women had fled Salem Village in fear and anger over what
had transpired.
 
They founded New Salem a
year later.
 
The settlement remained and
grew into the sprawling town it was today—a town of witches.
 

It
was no wonder Kay had nightmares about being burnt at the stake.
 
The story had been drilled into us since we
were five years old.
 
We knew the details
of that betrayal better than any other event in history.
 
Our teacher had gone into vivid detail about
the burning.
 
Kay’s nightmares started
about a month later.
 
Hell, even I hadn’t
been able to shake the vision of thirteen…