Bad Holiday in Witch Town Read online

fight their way out of there.

  "We really are trapped here, aren't we," Luke said dismally, something in the pit of his stomach contracting and beginning to ache dully.

  Zack went over to where Jeremiah sat and stood over him. "Why is it like this? How did it get this way?"

  The man didn't look up. "It has always been this way. We follow the old ways in Witch Town. Any man who questions this has been severely reprimanded. And taught to accept the wisdom of the Mothers."

  "And what about you? Do you actually agree with all of this?" Zack couldn't believe the man really accepted things as they were.

  "What choice do I have?" he countered. "Those who have power make the rules." It was a simple statement, one that could not be contradicted.

  Ellie and Beth were back in their room. Even though they had considered making a break for it, they knew full well that it was pointless. They had no idea of where to go. Even if they found the boys how could they get out?

  It was very dark now. A small candle burning on a stand was the only light in the room. The two girls sat side by side on one of the beds.

  "Tell me something," Beth said keeping her voice low, "Have you ever, you know, felt like you could do something..." She felt really stupid asking. "Magical?"

  Ellie gave her friend a long suffering look. They may be in a terrible situation but they still had the same relationship. One that was very important to both of them. "Oh yes, I'm certainly magical!"

  Beth gave her a push in the ribs. "I'm not trying to be funny here," she began with a quick smile, "but they say that one of us is like them." She stopped and her expression darkened.

  "Could be both of us," Ellie said without really believing it.

  Beth didn't think so either. "I would have known if there was something. And there isn't. I'm not a witch." She felt utterly ridiculous as soon as the words left her mouth and looked embarrassed.

  "So that only leaves me," countered Ellie, now very serious.

  Beth said nothing for a few moments and then gave her friend's hand a squeeze. "It doesn't mean anything. You are who you are. If you can do this stuff then great. Use it to get us out of here."

  Ellie managed a smile and a nod of her head. Practical Beth. Never one to stand by and let life get the better of her. "So are we supposed to sleep? Ready for a big day in the morning?"

  "The Testing," the other girl said with a certain amount of reluctance. Neither said anything more for a long time. "And I'll tell you something else," Beth's voice finally piped up. "They're not sticking anything in my neck however well I do on this damn test!"

  Ellie couldn't help laughing, even though she was scared. She needed some kind of release anyway. The whole situation was so tense and overwhelming.

  They set about getting ready to try to sleep. They had checked the door. It was locked. The windows were the same. And even if they broke the glass they were on the second story of the building and would probably fall and break their necks if they attempted to climb down.

  Trapped.

  Ellie understood that they were running out of options. She just hoped the boys were faring better.

  But although she wished this with all her heart, she was beginning to understand that here hope was in short supply. And worse still, if she really was one of them. A witch for God's sake! She trembled at the thought. What would that mean for Beth, Zack and Luke?

  7

  Today I'm going to be tested. To find out if I'm witch material! If I am, I guess I'll be one of them. I'll be in with the in crowd! And then what? Live here happily ever after? I really don't think so. The first chance I get I'm out of here. Along with Beth, Zack and Luke. We came here together. We get out of here together. Witch or no witch.

  Zack hadn't slept at all. He had lain awake contemplating the madness that was his life. Luke had fared slightly better, sleeping fitfully.

  Light streamed in through the solitary window of their small room and Zack waited. It was very early and already the sound of movement in the adjoining room told him that Jeremiah was up and about.

  So what would happen today? They were supposed to work, become part of the community, settle into Witch Town life. Zack had turned things over in his mind all through the long night, considering possibilities, weighing up options. And he had come to some difficult conclusions.

  Number one: the women...the witches, were obviously very dangerous and as crazy as he knew it to be, they could hurt people by just uttering words. He had seen it, felt it. It was a fact however much he might struggle to accept it.

  Number two: Ellie and Beth were now caught up in this somehow. And as far as the witches were concerned, at least one of them was a witch in training. It didn't get any easier to swallow.

  Now he came to point number three. The one that sent a chill through him and had left him in a cold, clammy sweat. If either Ellie or Beth wasn't a witch, they intended to kill them. That's what Jeremiah had said. Which finally led him to his final conclusion. Number four. They would have to get out of Witch Town before this 'testing', whatever it actually was and before these people found out that the girls were not witches at all and they had just stumbled into this hell hole by some freak accident.

  There it was. Very straightforward when you spent all night looking at the situation from every angle. All he had to do now was act on it.

  Luke stirred in the other bed.

  "Are you awake?" asked Zack in a whisper.

  The other boy turned his head. "I was hoping it had all been an especially weird nightmare." There was no humour whatsoever in his tone.

  "It is a nightmare, but it's a real one. So now we have to fight back."

  Luke pushed himself up into a sitting position. "I'm listening."

  So Zack told him his plan.

  The girls were taken to a place Allana had not shown them the evening before. Obviously this had been a deliberate omission, because it was at the centre of the town and when they arrived there it was difficult to miss.

  The town square was a paved area of blue stone and set at the heart of it was a raised wooden platform. But it was what stood upon this structure that caused both Ellie and Beth to stop in their tracks and stare with a sickening, queasy feeling in their stomachs.

  A gibbet complete with hangman's noose loomed down over them.

  And of course they were not the only ones present there. A small delegation from each of the five Covens were there to observe.

  "Come forward," ushered a woman they had not seen before who wore green. The girls walked on hesitantly, feeling more and more terrified. What on earth did these women have in mind for them? The noose above swayed in a light breeze and Ellie tried to turn away her gaze from it but found that it transfixed her. "Now," the woman continued, "you will take your places on the platform."

  Ellie didn't even need to look at Beth to know they would both have the same answer to this.

  "No way." It was Beth who voiced it.

  Both girls stood side by side with identical expressions of defiance.

  "You refuse?" came the voice of the woman in green.

  "You bet your life we do!" responded Beth, almost shouting it.

  There were several long moments of silence, all of the women assembled watching them. Finally there was movement among their ranks and the elderly woman who had called herself Margaret of the Black Coven came forward. Her cloak shifted around her and Ellie had the brief impression of a great bat, it's wings extended for flight. She regarded them both impassively, her lined face serene. "I think that we both understand that only one of you is of our lineage. Only one." she said this with quiet conviction. "Why don't we make this less difficult for all of us."

  Ellie shot Beth the briefest of glances. Once again she searched her mind, looking for even the slightest sense that she might possess the kind of ability these women were suggesting but there was nothing there. Yes, she had felt some strange kind of déjà-vu about this place, but surely that didn't really mean she was
a Goddamned witch!

  "Maybe you've got it completely wrong," Beth said forcefully. "Maybe neither of us are witches! I'm sure you've made mistakes before."

  The old woman shook her head. "No mistake," she intoned. "In with power, out with power. One of you opened the way. Now you must wear the Spirit Heart and become who you were born to be." From behind her another of the women walked forward holding one of the crystal amulets. She wore a white cloak but said nothing. She held only one. It seemed that they had known all along that it wasn't both of them. "Who will take it?" the black cloaked woman enquired with a benign smile. Both of the girls moved away from her. Neither wanted anything to do with it. The old woman's eyes twinkled with mirth. "You really cannot escape your destiny you know."

  And with that, with a speed that was startling, the amulet flew from the other woman's hands as if under its own control and wrapped itself around Ellie's throat.

  She barely had a moment to blink in shock. Then she felt something sharp penetrate the back of her neck. Her hands came up to pull at it, to stop it, but it was all too fast. She cried out, not really in pain, more in horror at what was happening to her.

  Beth had moved away from her, more because she had just wanted to get away from the amulet, but now she stared at her friend with both terrible fear and an awful, gut wrenching sadness.

  "The testing is complete," Margaret stated. "A new Mother has been chosen. We welcome you among our ranks." It all sounded so simple, so