Chapter Nineteen
I really want to be a glass half full kind of girl, but when life keeps kicking you, can you remain optimistic?-Charleene
“ R ight Charleene, please relax this shouldn’t hurt, we are sisters in a fashion. I mean you no harm.” I found myself relaxing with her calm voice, she almost sounded motherly as she reassured me. It took me a few seconds to relax my body, to feel calm and centred. “Close your eyes and find one thought or place that makes you feel safe.”
Following Gladys’ voice I searched my mind for a time when I felt safe, and the only thought that came to mind was the night me and Dina had been intimate. Just the thought of her lips against my skin had a smile gracing my lips.
“Have you got it?” She asked, making me nod straight away. “Good, now sink into that feeling, let the peace flow through you.” Doing as she bid, I let the memory play out in my mind.
Suddenly, I’d felt warmth spread through me from my head all the way down to my toes and I began breathing deeper with each inhale. A gentle pressure pressed against my mind, but I wasn’t scared of it. It was warm and kind, if a feeling could be that, so I embraced it. “Well done child,” I felt more than heard Gladys’ praise inside my mind as I let her in.
“From the ancient lines will come two children, both hunted, betrayed, and loved. Entwined with forces dark and light, of one world but open to many. One will be our salvation, the other our destruction. As ancients return, battles will wage. For gates long shut will be opened, and bridges long burned will be repaired.” I heard Gladys’ voice this time, she sounded like she was miles away while my eyes remained closed .
I felt when she tried to dig deeper, pressure building inside my mind and just when it started to get painful, my eyes flashed open. Gladys stood above me, holding her head as though in pain; I could still feel her searching inside my mind. Movement to my left almost drew my focus from Gladys and as I realised Ally’s intent to yank her away from me, fear swallowed me. Quickly wondering what would happen if she was ripped from my mind, in terror I screamed at Ally, “Don’t touch her!”
Ally’s outstretched hand whipped back to her chest at my words, “What’s wrong with her?”
Watching Gladys for a few seconds I could feel her begin to withdraw, and without knowing how, I found myself saying, “She’ll be fine, but if you startle her she may lash out, she’s still inside the connection.”
“Cryptic much?” Ally muttered, making me question again just how I knew that.
“I can feel her still looking inside, trying to find what’s hidden.” I said, trying my best to explain what was happening without fully understanding.
“And what’s hidden inside of you exactly?”
“I have no idea?” A nervous laugh bubbled from my lips with the words.
“And neither do I. Someone locked you up tight as a baby.” Gladys told me with a strange look.
“Why?” I found myself asking, as another mystery presented itself.
“To protect you, to protect us? Only they who placed the lock on you will know,” Gladys suggested, her eyes filling with sympathy on my behalf, before she looked over at Ally and noticed that she’d moved closer. “What happened while we were connected?”
I let Ally take the lead as I attempted to understand everything she said while somehow looking into my mind, Gladys’ sharp gasp drawing my attention away from my chaotic thoughts.
“You’re a child of the prophecy Charleene, that is why someone went to great lengths to hide you.” Gladys sounded both mystified and sad, confusing me further as she just makes new questions rise in my mind. What does being a child of ‘the prophecy’ even mean? Am I good or bad? Did I hurt someone and that’s why the coven sent me away?
“But why? And which one am I?” I asked, as my panic climbs higher and higher.
Gladys’ voice was full of sympathy when she spoke, “Only time will tell, but I do know that children suspected of being connected to that prophecy have been killed for centuries by their own covens.” Her words are no comfort as she explained what has happened to children connected to this so-called prophecy.
“I don’t want to destroy anything, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t….” I babbled, word vomiting each thought as it crossed my mind, until Gladys’ voice interrupted me.
“Ssshhh child, what many fear is that the child will not have much choice in what they do. Many coven leaders have passed that fear onto their own children, generation after generation. You have to remember, no-one likes the unknown.”
She began to sound like she’s talking to me from far away, her voice echoey as though I was standing at the end of a tunnel while she stood at the opposite end.
“Plus, you might not even be one of these children.” Ally’s voice sounded so calm as panic attempted to suck me under. Her voice was clear and loud, making me focus on her instead of my whirling thoughts.
“Maybe not,” Gladys agreed, with a sceptical glance at me, before her eyes fixed on Ally, “Your turn Forg…Ally.” I smiled a little as Gladys corrected herself before saying the wrong name. It seems like Ally has made an impression on her , I thought to myself as Gladys motioned Ally back to where she’d originally told her to sit and I watched as she complied.
“Now relax and find a time or place that makes you feel safe,” Gladys’ voice took on the same calm tone as it had with me and I watched as Ally closed her eyes. “Have you got it?” Gladys asked. I watched amazed as Ally nodded and Gladys’ eyes closed as she stood above her. I felt the air warm and a sense of calm washed over me as Gladys was enclosed in a white glow. Is that real? I thought, seconds before I was shoved backwards .
Blinking my eyes open, I wondered briefly when I’d closed them and couldn’t remember doing so. It took me a moment or two to get my bearings as I stared upwards at the white wisps that danced above me. How pretty, I thought briefly, before turning my head to the side. Blinking, I stared at the world around me wondering, where the heck I was?
Was I even still in Gladys’ garden? I asked myself, staring at everything around me as I pushed up until I was sitting. When had I laid down? Everything looked almost right except it was like someone had used a damp cloth and rubbed away any bright colour. Long white wisps—almost like smoke—drifted around my bare feet and multiplied when they shuffled. It was so similar to the real one, if you could ignore the fact that she was alone and the strange hazy whisps.
“Hello?” I asked softly, afraid to shout too loudly and disrupt the peace and tranquillity that infused me. “Dina? Ally? Jace?” I called, worried that somehow we'd been separated and they were as lost as I was.
“Merry met Daughter,” a kind, yet confident voice interrupted the quiet. Whipping around, my gaze landed on a young woman who stood behind me. She had long, dirty blonde hair that floated in a wind I couldn't feel and eyes similar in colour to my own. The long grey skirt of her dress floated around her ankles, showing off her bare feet, and she was smiling kindly at me.
“Do I know you?” I asked, confused. Was she the mother who had abandoned me as a baby?
“No, I would think not. But we are connected, you and I.” She answered cryptically, raising more questions in my mind.
“Do you know where my friends are? They were here with me moments ago.” I glanced around, double checking they hadn't magically appeared alongside the woman.
“They did not follow you here,” she told me, her voice calm and quiet.
“What?” My gaze returned to her, as my eyes narrowed in suspicion, “And where is here?” I snapped, while the fingers on my left hand tapped against my thigh .
“You have no need to fear Daughter. No harm will befall you in The Inbetween.”
“The Inbetween? What's that?” My questions made the women's stoic face change. Her eyebrows lifted and her eyes widened.
“You are a Witch, are you not?” She challenged, taking a slight step back.
“Well, yes, I suppose I am,” I answered, uncertainty making my voice quieter.
“What do you mean?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked me up and down, “you have the aura of Our Witches, however you sound unclear.”
“I was raised a human,” I said honestly, wondering if the woman could tell if I lied and not wanting to chance it, “until a month ago I didn't even know Witches existed.”
By the time I'd finished, the women's eyes were as round as dinner plates and filled with sadness, “Why?”
Her one word question was one I'd asked myself since I'd been old enough to realise I was an orphan. “I don't know.”
Looking closer at the woman before me, I noticed her dress looked to be from a time long ago instead of any current fashion brand.
“Who are you again?” I asked, realising she still hadn't told me.
“I'm Eilidh, I was the first,” she said, with a sad smile that barely turned up the corners of her lips.
“The first what?” I asked as my eyebrows met in the middle at her response.
“The first sacrificed to the prophecy.” She said, her expression never changing, even though her words sounded unbelievable.
“What prophecy?” I pushed, feeling like I already knew what she was referring to, but wanting to hear what she’d say.
“From an ancient line will come twin flames both born and blessed, to set our world on a different path. Separated their paths will be long and hard, as light turns to dark, love to hate. Familial bonds will be broken but our salvation or destruction will be decided by their hands. Ancients shall herald their arrival as they return to wage new battles upon our fields. Burnt bridges may be remade as gates long closed will open. All will hail the Gatekeeper.”
Eilidh’s voice was hypnotic as she recited a longer version of “the prophecy” than Gladys had told me.
“And how many have come to you here, in…” I paused remembering the term she’d used for wherever this was, “...The Inbetween?” I finished, incredulous that women had been killed over the years, all because one woman claimed they would have a power that would be fearsome.
“You are the fifth who still lives but the thirteenth whose soul is tainted by the prophecy.”
Wow, that's a lot of people. “And were they all female?” I asked, needing to confirm I understood that part of the prophecy like I thought I did.
“Yes.” Eilidh confirmed, a sad look flashing across her face.
Sadness crashed through me at all those lives cut short, lost before they really got started, “And what Coven did you hail from?” I asked, using the correct term.
“I was the first of the Nicniven's to be sacrificed to save all.” Eilidh commiserated.
“Right, well, I'm going to change it.” I decided, my voice firm as I glanced around the strange place I'd found myself in, “but first I need to understand more about magic, can you help with that?”
Eilidh smiled up at me, “Of course child, that is why I remain here in The Inbetween.”
Nodding at my strange new guide I promised to end the cycle of death in the Witch community.