The White Witch (19 page)

“Damnit Kate! Where are you going?” Logan yells, trying to pull me back, but I yank his arm against the gates, hurting him and forcing him to lighten his grip enough for me to wriggle out.

“Away from you!” I yell, before I sprint down the street and I see him retreat into his house, likely to get his truck keys.

I duck behind a shrub two blocks up from his house as he drives past me. My phone buzzes off the hook in my pocket and I decline his calls. As soon as he turns I emerge and continue running up the block, grateful that I didn’t have my flip flops on. I make it to the Yacht club and finally pull out my phone to call a cab. I have over a dozen missed calls and texts telling me that I don’t understand.

I sit on the sidewalk at the corner of the yacht club until the cab pulls up. As soon as I stand it occurs to me that I need to text my parents, but what exactly do I tell them?

Hi mom and dad, if you get a call or visit from Logan, just ignore him because he has lost his mind and thinks that if he sacrifices me he will gain power to heal his mom. No biggie.

The cab driver looks back a couple of times and on the third offers a tissue since I can’t seem to stop crying. With a Puerto Rican accent, he tells me that I am too pretty and young to be crying so much. When he pulls up to my house, Logan is sitting on my porch. The cab driver must have noticed my hesitation since he offers to keep going and take me somewhere else, free of charge. I decline with a smile and step out, handing him his money. As soon as I step onto my walkway and close the gate behind me, Logan stands and begins walking toward me. His eyes are red and his long lashes are wet. His chest is heaving and he opens his mouth, but I raise my hand, asking him to stop.

I open my mouth, but instead tears fall and I choke on the words I am going to say. “I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt my dad or Liz.”

“Angel, ple-”

“Don’t!” I yell and the tears come harder. “Don’t call me that!” I choke out between sobs. I walk around him and up to my porch and he follows me, but stops at the steps. Wind whips around us and strips nearby branches of their leaves.

“I just,” He tries, but I turn to unlock my door. “I’m trying to do the right thing here.”

I chuckle through the sobs. “The right thing.” I say lowly. “There is no right thing now is there?” I raise my hands and slam them down onto my thighs. “I should have seen it! At least with you having all the power, you can save your mom and maybe stop Erebos from controlling your dad the way he does! Should you want to stop there.”

“That’s what you see?” Logan shouts and his eyes well up with tears.

“No.” I say as calmly as I can, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “That’s what I heard. From your mouth.” I bite my lip, stopping more tears from falling. “So go ahead and kill me, just leave my dad and Liz out of this. I’ll come quietly, after all, it can’t hurt more than it does right now.”

I walk in and slam the door behind me before dropping to my knees. I think of what I would do if I had the chance to stop my dad from suffering, but I can’t. It’s just not something I can picture because the pain in my chest won’t allow it.

I hear his tires screech in the street as he makes his way out for what is almost the last time. I spend the rest of the day hating myself for letting him in, for falling for him, and most of all for agreeing to check Erebos’s house, even though it might have given a solution to healing his mom. My thoughts return to last night when he had the nightmare and I realize that he was struggling with what he was doing to me. That must be why he was apologizing to me. My heart sinks further as I picture the entire night over and over in my mind.

As it gets later, I text my dad and ask what time he will be back tomorrow and he says it should be around five or six. I breathe a sigh of relief and decide to go to Logan before then, because I will not be able to bear saying goodbye to them.

I spend almost the entire night awake, falling asleep every once in a while for fifteen or twenty minutes but never any more than that. When I decide I can no longer stare at my ceiling, I get up and take a shower. I slip into my jeans, my black tank top and my sneakers.
What do you wear to be sacrificed, anyway?
I pull my hair into a ponytail and look at myself in the mirror.
I don’t have anyone to impress, so this will have to do
. The bags under my eyes have almost overtaken my face. I look years older than I did before the school year was over. My chest heaves and I look at my room for the last time.

I walk over to the small desk in the corner of my room and take the pictures of my dad and Liz and of my mom out of their frames. My chin shakes, but I keep the tears in, or I’ve run out, I’m not sure anymore.

I’m so numb, I feel like I am barely in control of my own movements. The need for nourishment eludes me, though nausea continues to plague me.

I look at my phone and see that it’s noon. I silently wonder what will become of me, what will Logan tell my parents? Will he tell them I’m missing? Will he say we had an accident? Every scenario I think of turns my stomach even more. I walk around my home one more time and stand at my parent’s bedroom for at least thirty minutes.

Well, no point in delaying the inevitable
. At two o clock, I jump in my jeep and drive to Logan’s house, though I do not remember how I got there since my mind wandered the whole time. I pull up to his house and sit in my car for another twenty minutes. I finally step out of the car and make my way to the door.

Sabina answers it and I am bombarded by feelings of hate and sorrow and anguish. I know it’s not her fault, but I can’t help but blame her at least a little. Judging by the smile on her face, she has no idea what her son is up to, so I play along.

“Hello Katelyn! It is so great to see you.” She takes me into a hug and releases me, looking around the room to ensure that no one hears what she is about to say. “I was starting to think that something happened between you and Logan because he’s been so sad and distant the past couple of days.”

I take a ragged breath. “Nothing we can’t work through, Sabina. Is he home?”

“Yes, dear, he is upstairs. I’m going to run to the mall for a bit and do some retail therapy.” She raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Hubby’s orders. He thinks it will make me feel better.” She shrugs her shoulders. “It couldn’t hurt.” She giggles slightly, takes her purse off the coatrack and heads out the door.

My feet are heavy with each step I take and though part of me wants to get it over with, the other part wants to turn and go home.

I knock on Logan’s room before opening the door and finding him sitting on the chair on his balcony.

“You’re early.”

I open my mouth to speak, but the sight of him renders me speechless. Part of me still cannot believe that he is going to go through with this. “I didn’t want to be home when dad and Liz got there.”

“I figured as much.” He says solemnly, still not looking at me.

I walk out to the balcony and breathe in the sea air mixed with the smell of all the flowers from the garden. Though I try to let it soothe me, it doesn’t work. I look at Logan’s hand and want to take it so bad and beg him not to do this, but I don’t.

Instead I sit down beside him. I see his fingers twitch but he doesn’t move.

“Is… Is it going to hurt?”

“I will try to make it painless.” His voice shakes ever so slightly as he keeps his attention on the distant sea.

I take some deep breaths and they are each ragged. I look at him out of the corner of my eye and I see him looking at me, his eyes are sad and red and I know that part of him is dying over this decision, but still, I say nothing.

“Have you contacted Gamaliel?” He asks hesitantly.

“No. He won’t understand and doesn’t need to know.”

We sit in silence for a long time, with me forcing the wind to swirl around us, bringing the aroma of the flowers up to us every once in a while offering what little comfort it can. After an hour he checks his watch, gets up and walks into his room. He almost staggers over to the sofa and leans on it, turning pale and I think that he is about to puke all over it.

“Logan.” I whisper, torn between wanting to comfort him and punch him in the gut so he feels some pain at my hands.

Just then, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out to find a message from my dad.

Dad - Tell Logan thanks, we appreciate him sending his boat to pick us up. Can’t wait to see you guys later tonight.

I run to his balcony and look out to the pier to see that his boat is gone.

When I turn around, Logan is leaning against his sofa, facing me. I feel a rage build inside me and for the first time ever, I ball up my hands to keep the magic from bursting out and possibly hurting myself as well. I stomp over to him as a tear rolls down my face and he doesn’t move, not until my knuckles crunch against his jaw, sending him over the sofa, breaking the coffee table and landing against the other sofa.

“What are you doing?!” I yell as I watch him rub his chin and arch his back. “I told you I would be here! I told you, you could do whatever you wanted, just to leave them out of this.”

He takes a deep breath and pushes himself off the floor, his gaze only resting on me for a moment. I want to read his emotions but I can’t. He looks like he is fighting over himself between anger and hate and rage and even sadness. “I had to be sure you weren’t going to back out.” He moves his jaw back and forth as he walks to the shelf that leads to the secret passage. “You coming?” He calls over his shoulder at me.

I want to scream. I want to push him down the stairs and punch him, punch him until he hurts as bad as I do. I want to hit him in the heart so it will break into a million pieces like mine. But I don’t. I walk silently to the passage while tears roll down my face. I follow him out into the garden and though the sun warms my face, I am nothing but cold inside.

Logan opens his mouth like he is going to say something but doesn’t and I can’t decide if I want him to or not. The wind whips through my hair as if it’s trying to comfort me, but I barely acknowledge it. We walk to his dock and Erebos is waiting for us. I have an overwhelming urge to knock him off and drown him in the water, but with my parents on Logan’s boat, I find myself keeping my hands at my sides. We walk to the very end and I begin to see his boat appear in the distance.

My phone vibrates again and it’s my dad.

Hey Katie-Kat! I’m in the bridge and can see you with the binoculars. I can’t wait to get there. I got you and Logan something from Martha’s Vineyard.

I choke back my tears in case he is still watching and try to keep a smile on my face. As the boat comes closer, I see my dad and Liz standing at the top and waving before disappearing moments later below deck.

“Just…” I start, my voice is low so that only Logan can hear me. “Just please don’t…”

My voice trails off as I hear an explosion and when I turn my attention to the ocean, the entire ship is engulfed in flames.

“Nooooo!” I scream as I reach out my hands and collapse to my knees. “What have you done?!” I feel my insides heave, but I have nothing to spew so I stare off the water to the ball of flames that has incinerated my parents. When I look down at my reflection in the water, my eyes are glowing blue and my hands are trembling. The water around us begins to roil, splashing so hard against the posts below they begin to crack. I lunge at Logan, knocking him off his feet and knocking his head onto the dock.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Erebos pull something from his coat pocket. He takes the lid off and a needle sparkles in the remaining sunlight.

“Now, now, let’s not waste that precious power just yet.” He throws himself onto me and plunges the needle into my neck.

Just as the darkness begins to envelop me, I collapse onto Logan, completely blinded and hearing only three words. “I’m sorry, Angel.”

When I wake I am tied to a makeshift crucifix, only I’m on my knees and my ankles are chained to the concrete behind me. Leather straps hold my arms out to either side. The first thing I think of when I open my eyes is the sight of the burning boat that had my parents in it.

I feel the same sensation to throw up, but there is nothing in my stomach, so I end up heaving once and sobbing until I see Logan and Erebos emerge from Erebos’s home, followed by two older gentlemen all dressed in black with guns strapped to their hips. I figure that those must have been the two in the gunmetal grey SUV. I completely ignore the two goons and run my gaze briefly over Erebos, locking my sights on Logan.

As they approach, one of the goons circles me, running his finger along my neck and pushing my hair to my back.

“You sure we can’t have a little fun with her before we sacrifice her? Seems kind of a waste if you ask me.”

Logan lunges forward grabbing him by the shirt and speaking through gritted teeth. “You touch her again, and I’ll sacrifice you…Got it?”

The goon puts up both his hands and backs up slowly.

Logan spares a glance at me, but I shift my gaze, unable to accept even that moment of kindness.

Erebos kneels in front of me and picks up my chin with two fingers. “You should be proud that you will be contributing your magic to Logan. With his youth and drive, he will be able to do great things for our family…” He smacks his lips together. “Oh, and he will have a piece of you with him the whole time.”

I shake my head out of his hand and spit in his direction. “Go to hell.”

Erebos gives a wicked laugh. “Perhaps one day, but not just yet.” He stands, turning his attention to Logan. “Don’t take too long with your goodbyes my great nephew, we have preparations to make.” Erebos warns Logan, pointing a finger at him.

Logan waits until Erebos is halfway to his home before kneeling in front of me. I can’t bring myself to look at him, so I let my head hang and stare at the ground that I slowly saturate with my tears. He reaches out and grazes his fingers along my head and down to my neck. I flinch, yanking on the leather straps and even the chains at my ankles.

“I begged you. I begged you to leave them out of it.” I sniff as more tears fall and I shake my head. “They didn’t have to die. Especially not because of me.” I watch my tears disturb the dust beneath me.

Logan runs his hands along my arms and over the leather cuffs and I don’t know if he is trying to be close to me, or make sure that I am tied down, but I’m not sure I care. He presses his head to mine. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.” He whispers onto my cheek, forcing more tears, but this time I lift my head to look into his eyes. Those eyes, which are now a dark blue, with all light having left them.

“No, I am sorry.” I say lowly as I feel the tingle taking over my body and see the reflection of the glow of my eyes in his. His face flickers, his eyes widen and he stands slowly backing away. I feel the pulse in my hands, but the restraints are too tight.

I think about calling Gamaliel, but I am afraid of causing someone else to lose their life on my account, so I remove all thoughts of him from my mind, barring him from finding me.

Erebos makes his way back and throws more logs on the fire to my right, causing embers to fly out and fry bits of my flesh, but I don’t react. He pulls two vials from his pocket and empties them into the fire, changing the color of the flames to blue the first time and the second, the entire pit glowed green. He chants some words in a language I have never heard and never care to again as he waves his hands over the fire, causing the smoke to carry to him  as he inhales. He calls over Logan so that he can do the same, but leaves him there while he saunters his way over to me.

“Oooh.” He clicks his tongue once.  “Well, Logan, you seem to have enraged our fair little maiden here. Look at her.” He stands back admiring me. “Come, nephew, come see.” He waves Logan over to stand beside him and he puts his arm around him. “Do you know why her eyes glow, when that has not happened to any witch in history?”

Logan does not respond, but only shakes his head. 

“It is the centuries of power she contains. It is the power you will have, my boy once tonight is over.”

“Not if I can stop him.” I say arrogantly.

“What will you do little witch?” Erebos lunges at me grabbing my face in his hands.

I smirk at him. “First I will kill you, then, I will stop him.”

“Stop him?” Erebos releases my face violently and begins to chuckle loudly. “
Not
, kill him?”  He puts his hand over his chest. “Oh bleeding heart, you love him.” He laughs harder.

Logan’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t move or say anything.

“Well, dear girl, I will tell you something then.” He puts his lips next to my ear. “I killed your parents. Logan just wanted to use them as insurance, but I made sure that, that ship never made it back to port.”

He pulls his face back and looks me in the eyes. “So let that console you while you die at his hands.”  He turns to Logan. “It’s time.”

I am left there for what I estimate to be about thirty minutes in which time the goons run back and forth from the house, bringing candles, potions, and the journal. Logan does little except supervise and on occasion glance at me, though I keep my emotion to myself.

“Logan.” Be sure her restraints are tight. We have no idea how strong she can be when her powers maximize.

Logan walks over to me, trying not to look me in the eyes as he pulls on the restraints and re-does the buckles in the back. He steps over to my left with his hands behind his back as Erebos begins chanting something again in a language I have never heard. He crashes a beaker full of red liquid onto the logs on the fire, causing the fire to blaze up, the heat causing me to turn my head and I begin to perspire.

I try to look back but the blaze doesn’t come back down. Erebos walks over to the fire inserting a dagger into the flames until it begins to scorch his hand. He begins to make his way to me, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Evangeline and Gamaliel run out from a nearby set of trees, attacking the two goons that sit on the other end of the pit. The goons pull their guns and shoot them, knocking them down, but they are back up within seconds and chasing them.

“Stop them!” Erebos yells, the dagger burning him. “Do not let them stop us!”

I begin to see flashes of grey and white lights as the guns go off again.

Erebos walks toward me with the dagger pointed at me, and Logan pulls a knife from his waist, turning and slicing one of the leather cuffs that are holding me down.

As soon as my arm if free, I point it at Erebos who is now no more than one foot away from me. A flash of blue and white appear and I knock him into the air landing him easily five feet away from me. I feel the surge of energy and when I pull on the chains I realize they are already undone and that Logan must have done that when Erebos told him to check my restraints. I look at Logan and only see my parents on the burning boat and let my rage loose on him as well, knocking him down and away from me. I reach over to undo my other strap when out of the corner of my eye I see Erebos running toward me. The latch gets stuck and I fire at him with all I have but he jumps out of the way.

The fire nearby blazes and I pull from it, trying to engulf him in flames, but he puts them out and I realize that he must have elemental powers as well. He comes at me, wrapping both his hands around my neck, I flail my free hand, trying to claw at his face and though I scratch him and blood runs down his cheek, I cannot stop him. He starts chanting again and I realize that I will have to try something else. I stare at him and picture myself going into his mind. I have to push hard and though my mind is hurting and out of the corner of my eye, I see Gamaliel holding Evangeline back, I continue forward, remembering that Keepers can only do so much, the rest is on me.

I stumble into the darkness that is Erebos’s mind and begin to see flashes of rituals and beatings at the hands of those loyal to the cause, introduction to this darkness by his father. I try to inflict pain just by thought and he closes his eyes, his words slurring, but I am running out of air and cannot keep this up. He releases my neck and takes a step back, finishing his chant and dropping the blade down.

Just as the blade catches the reflection of the fire next to me, Logan lunges on top of me.

“Aaaaaah!” I hear Logan right in my ear.

“Logan!” I scream as his body becomes heavier on me and he slowly glides off onto the ground with a dagger protruding from his back.

“No!” Erebos screams. “You fool!” He staggers back. “I should have known you would be weak! I should have known you couldn’t do this!”

He yanks the dagger from Logan’s back and I finally manage to free my other hand. I take all the energy inside me and lift my hands in his direction, just as the dagger comes down on me again, but he only manages to scratch my chest as he is blown back and suspended in air.

“You and your family’s evil will die here!” I scream at him, though it is not my voice. It is a voice I heard only once before in my head. Abigail.

I release all the energy I have left, and Erebos is thrown hard against one of the pillars surrounding the firepit, splintering the thick wood and falling lifeless to the ground.

I drop to my knees and crawl over to Logan. I see Gamaliel finally release Evangeline as he goes over to Erebos, probably to ensure he is dead. Evangeline runs to me, taking me in her arms.

“Oh my precious girl. My Katelyn!” She holds me to her as she runs her hands down my head and back. “You did it. You’ve released us from the curse and stopped the Blackbournes.”

At the sound of the name, I ease out of her grip and look at her for a moment, before turning to Logan. I crawl over to him and hesitate, as I see Evangeline go around him and kneel immediately trying to check him for a pulse.  She looks at me and puts her hands over where the dagger was plunged.

I feel the hot tears streaming down my face as I watch his still body, waiting for a reaction. Evangeline’s eyes are closed and her hands are trembling, beneath them, the wound seems to slowly stop gushing blood. “You can heal?”

Evangeline drops from her knees onto the ground like she has been drained of all her energy. “Only a little, his body will have to do the rest. Perhaps his own gift of healing will be enough.”

Gamaliel walks up to us and nods his head slowly. “It is balanced once again.” His eyes drop quickly to Logan.

I crawl around to his other side and Evangeline moves to give me room. I lie next to him on the ground, still feeling the heat of the nearby fire. “Please Logan.” I wipe my eyes. “Don’t do this.” My chin quivers as I swallow the lump in my throat and continue. “We will still find a way to help your mom, but you have to stay with me.” I grab his hand and put it on my face as Gamaliel examines the wound on his back. I fight with myself over feelings of anger and sadness.

Gamaliel looks at me with his brows furrowed. “We have to get out of here.”

“What’s going to happen to us? What about when someone finds out who did this?”

Evangeline slides a hand under me pushing me up. “There are others that will ensure this is ‘balanced’. But we have to go now.”

I stand to my feet, my eyes still on Logan. “What about Logan?”

Gamaliel, lifts him up by an arm and throws his limp body over his shoulders.  “Now!” He yells as he begins to make his way to the nearby forest from which they had first emerged. I run behind him with Evangeline at my side. As soon as he chooses the parallel path, he creates a portal and we are in his living room where I was the first time I was attacked.

“Shouldn’t we be in a hospital?” I ask loudly as the Keeper lowers Logan onto his sofa.

“No.” Gamaliel says firmly as Evangeline runs to another room and emerges only moments later with a first aid kit.

“Clean him. I will be right back.”

Gamaliel disappears into the kitchen and I help Evangeline soak cotton balls with peroxide, cleaning up the wound. I see Logan’s fingers twitch a couple of times, but otherwise he gives no reaction. As we are cleaning up, Gamaliel walks into the room with a teacup filled with a liquid whose steam stops short of bubbling over the cup instead of going up into the air around it. He searches the first aid kit and finds a syringe. He takes the lid off with his teeth and spits it onto the floor.

The Keeper inserts the needle into the hot liquid and pulls some out into the syringe. He holds it carefully over the open wound, allowing only a few drops to fall in, and I see pieces of tissue and flesh begin to merge. He takes out some butterfly strips, to assist in closing the wound from the outside, puts a bandage over it and some first aid tape to hold it in place.

“Help me.” He tells Evangeline and she moves to stand above Logan’s head to support him as they turn him over and lay him partially on his back, careful to not put pressure on the wound.

Evangeline brings her hands down over his mouth and opens it. Logan doesn’t move, does not protest, he is so still I would have mistaken him for dead.

Gamaliel shakes his head. “That will take too long.” He lifts Logan’s shirt revealing his severely bruised abdomen. “The damage she caused is too much. It has to be direct.” He raises his hand and brings it down hard on Logan’s stomach, driving the needle down all the way in. He injects more into his body than he had into the wound as he pulls the needle free, he puts Logan’s shirt back down and sighs, sitting on the coffee table.