Precious Anathema (3 page)

“
Carna, why do you think I
don’t look like everyone else?” The room went silent and Carna sat
down next to me, putting her hand on my knee.

“
I think it’s because you
are special, more special than any of us Delilah.” I watched as one
of the women rolled her eyes at me. Carna flashed a very evil look
and the woman. I had to stop calling them women, they were five
seconds older than I was and I didn’t think I would like someone to
call me a woman yet.

“
Selene, that’s enough from
you.” Well now I knew the girl on the left with the attitude was
Selene. I looked at the girl on the right; she must be Eris, she
seemed to have softness about her that I liked. She saw me looking
and smiled back at me, realizing that we had not been introduced
yet she lifted her hand and pointed out each of the girls. “Your
cousin Selene is my niece, and Eris is my daughter.” Serene rolled
her eyes and Eris stood from the couch, with a big smile she came
over to hug me, I put my arms around her and started to cry. She
squeezed me tighter and whispered in my ear.

“
Serene is just jealous
because she isn’t the perfect one anymore, I am glad we found you
Ella.” She kissed my cheek and walked back to the couch, sticking
her tongue out at Serene as she sat down. I laughed a little inside
and then I heard dishes crash in the kitchen and remembered that
Ally and I had forgotten about Wyn. Jumping off the back of the
love seat I made a dash to the kitchen and found her leaning
against the counter, crying.

“
Wyn, what can I do?” I
walked over and put my arms around her, holding this amazing woman
while she sobbed. After a few moments she stood up and wiped her
face, forcing a smile as she looked at me.

“
Ella, they aren’t that bad
Hu?” I shrugged my shoulders and turned my head as laughter filled
the room again.

“
I
guess
not, I mean they
are
different but I
guess I am too.” Wyn put her arm around me and squeezed me
tight.

“
I have known that you and
your Mom were different since you were a little girl honey, you
were just a toddler when your Mom told me everything and it never
changed my love for you. I know that your mom was scared you would
get sucked into the bad side of it if you knew, but we all have
that in us and I don’t think you need to worry about that.” I was
confused why she was so upset then.

“
Why are you crying over
that then?” Wyn put her head down and tears fell down her face as
she told me.

“
I am crying because I know
you are going to leave with them, and your Mom would be mad at me
right now but I think you should even if it’s just for the summer.
You have a right to know about your family, so when they ask and
they will I think you should go with them.” I had just said my last
goodbye to my Mom hours earlier, I certainly wasn’t thinking about
leaving our home.

“
No, I am
not
going anywhere Wyn,
I
won’t
go.” I
heard a noise and turned to see Carna standing in the
doorway.

“
Ella, you certainly don’t
have to do anything you don’t want to do. I am not here to Force
anything on you, we can make this work and get closer no matter
where you are.” Selene came up from behind her and smiled at me
when she heard the news I may not be returning with them, I tried
to ignore her as Carna kept talking. “We are going to stay at the
bed and breakfast for a few days and hope to have more time with
you Ella, but we should go now so you have time with Wendy and
Ally.” She walked closer to hug me as Wyn poked me in the ribs, I
turned to her and she motioned for me to invite them to stay, and
she wasn’t subtle about it either, Carna saw her and laughed. “We
can stay at the B&B Hun I am sure you would be more comfortable
with that.” We hugged and I said nothing at first, but then I felt
warm and a sense of comfort in her arms I had not felt from anyone
but my mom till now. I slowly stepped back and shook my
head.

“
No way, you are staying
here. It’s what I want, and it would make me happy please stay.”
Carna smiled and Selene stomped off like a three year old. I heard
squeals from the living room and Eris came running in the kitchen
to hug me. Carna smiled and we all laughed a little.

“
If that’s what you want we
would love to stay Ella, thank you.” I glanced over her shoulder
and saw Selene glaring at me; she mouthed the word ‘Bitch’, my face
became hot to the touch and my eyes burned, she was going to learn
quickly that this is no ordinary bitch. This bitch is also a
witch.

*

Two hours into trying to sleep and my
mind was full of images, women on brooms with warts, kissing frogs,
cauldrons and of course being burned alive wouldn’t leave my
thoughts. I found myself suddenly falling to sleep with these
images in my mind. The darkness felt cold on my skin, almost too
thick to breathe as I walked through a field of tall grass I had to
move as I walked, I thought I was in a jungle until I saw a light
ahead guiding my way. I walked faster and came to a clearing. I
could see the light ahead of me and as I wiped the dew from my
arms, I could see it had color. The blades of grass had cut not
only my arms as I looked down at myself, I was bleeding from
everywhere. My hands shook as I lifted them to my face, the birds
above me had begun to swarm and I could hear the calls to others,
they were signaling that I was fresh and I started to run to the
light. The faster I ran, the thicker the air became in my lungs. I
couldn’t run fast enough and fell to the ground. The light was
moving toward me, someone was coming to save me. I picked myself up
from the grass as the bird calls grew louder and closer to my head,
they were making their way to me and I screamed as the light came
into view. A large black bird, at least eight feet tall with the
face of a beautiful woman, and the wingspan of a city block stood
before me, smiling as I scrambled to get away her wing pushed down
on my legs and she bent down till I could feel her breath and beak
on my ear.

“
I have been waiting for
you Delilah.” I woke screaming from the first nightmare of my life.
The days with my Aunt and cousins in Nebraska were full of shopping
and sightseeing, lots of laughs and no mention of witches, fables
or nightmares. Since they had arrived I had been plagued with them
every night, my questions were mounting, but my fear wouldn’t allow
me to ask. The last day of the visit I still hadn’t made up my mind
if I would go with them or not. I sat on my bed and looked at
pictures of my mother, her beauty was so deep inside her it
radiated, that couldn’t have been by chance since I saw it in Carna
as well. I looked around my room, knowing what I had to do. A tear
pooled in my eyes as I thought about leaving, and then I saw the
letter from my mother. I crawled under my bed and pulled out my
suitcase, I needed to start taking chances if I were ever going to
find myself.

Three hours into this cross country
trip and I was already finding myself looking for a soft spot to
land if I just happened to open the door and jump from the van. I
agreed to spend the summer getting to know my new family, and we
were all going back to the family home in Maine. Carna said the
home had been vacant off and on for almost a hundred years, so it
sounded like a lot of hard work but I loved the idea of learning
about my roots, until about a half hour ago when Eris and Selene
began fighting and my Aunt started screaming at them. I stared out
the window wondering if they had a spell to make the princesses
grow up and I tried to block out the yelling with some Paula Cole,
Feelin Love on my IPod. As I listened to it I closed my eyes and
saw a dark haired man with big arms pushing me against a wall while
he looked in my eyes, with a halfcocked smile he grabbed my ass and
pushed his body against mine. I could see his face looking at me;
he was so intense he almost scared me, if it didn’t turn me on so
much I would have run as his hand reached up for my face to hold me
with fierce intensity. I was quickly taken from my fantasy as I
heard a shriek from beside me. I felt incredibly annoyed that the
girl fighting would ruin the greatest fantasy of my life, I took
out my ear buds and wished I could go back to my very bad, dark
man.

“
You stupid fucking dyke
you wouldn’t know a blow job from a dye job don’t talk to me about
being a lazy screw!” I lowered the music just enough to hear
everything without being too obvious. Selene called Eris a dyke,
why would she call her that?

“
I get fucked better by
girls than you ever will by those little boys you like bitch!” I
dropped my jaw. Eris was a lesbian? And here I thought I wouldn’t
learn anything on this trip. The van started to go over the rumble
strip on the side of the road and then came to a violent stop.
Carna turned in her seat, the van had gone silent and she looked
pissed.

“
Do either of you girls
have anything nice to say? Because if you don’t I suggest you shut
the hell up before I drop you on the side of the road, do I make
myself clear?” Both girls nodded and though I didn’t know what it
was like to have siblings; my first dose was turning into a hard
one to swallow. “Delilah, come sit up here with me so you don’t
have to listen to the children.” I jumped from my seat and climbed
over Selene grumbling under her breath at me as I put my seatbelt
on and we were back on the road again.

“
Carna, can I ask you
something?” I put my IPod in my bag and began to fidget with my
ring; it was a sterling spinner with a Celtic knot pattern that
spun when I was fidgety or scared. It had been a gift from my
Mother so I would stop biting my nails; I had gone through four of
these rings since and smiled as I felt myself relax just by knowing
it was there.

“
Delilah honey, you can ask
me anything please don’t be so nervous.” I looked up and she was
smiling, the backseat had gotten a little too quiet as I started
talking.

“
I am confused; you told me
the family has a lot of money.” She nodded in agreement. “You also
dumped it on me that we are all witches.” She nodded again, and for
the first time in two minutes I heard a snarky voice in the
back.

“
Well, we don’t know
if
you
are a
witch yet but the rest of us are.” Carna put her hand up in a fist,
Selene silenced herself, and Carna smiled at me again.

“
I guess I am just curious,
why are we in a van instead of a fancy car, or why didn’t we just
fly to Maine?” Selene started laughing from the backseat and I
heard her whispering to Eris. Carna just looked at me with a slight
grin as she answered.

“
Now I am confused Delilah,
are you asking me why we didn’t mount our brooms and head to the
North East.” I laughed as I took a sip of my soda, spraying sugar
out of my nose.

“
No, not brooms I meant
planes not brooms.” I couldn’t stop laughing, and Carna laughed
too.

“
We can’t take a plane back
because Selene caused a bit of a stir on our way here and the Air
Marshals asked us not to fly the friendly skies anytime soon as we
were escorted off the plane.” I had to laugh as Selene rolled her
eyes and kicked my seat. I decided it best to ignore her and took
out the letter from my mother to read and ask more
questions.

*

You’re great, great;
Grandmother Emma had no intentions of cursing herself and certainly
not the entire family when she cast the spell. She had been
involved with a man who decided to publically cheat on her and
humiliate her. She cast the spell (and then threw it away) No one
knows what the original spell was, but I can tell you this. All the
Grace women have looked the same since, until you. All the Grace
women have only been able to have girls, and All Grace women have
many abilities and one is to enchant any man they come upon, To
use, to play with and then with a heart as cold as ice throw them
away. If we don’t, like your father they disappear from us before
the child is born. I didn’t want this for you and left the family
completely. You were born unlike any girl the Grace family has seen
in decades, it gave me hope that somehow I had been able to keep
you from it. When you were three years old I learned that you
looked different but you had more to you than any Grace woman
before. At the park I watched you make a boy fall from a swing, I
watched you do it when he stole it from you, then as I ran to you I
watched you heal his skinned knees. We all have gifts aside from
the curse and the bloodline, but our most unique gift has always
been dark. You have a gift that is truly from light, I want you to
burn this letter after you read it, and I want you to keep your
gifts a secret while you figure them out. I want you to get to know
your family but ultimately decide for yourself what you want for
your future. I am giving you my spell book, but I ask you not to
try anything inside until you are ready. I love you Delilah and I
am with you every second of everyday from now until the stars stop
shining.

Love forever and a
day,

Mom

*

I had only been in Maine for three
hours and wanted to run back to Nebraska. On the outside it was an
amazing sea of green hues, the air was crisp and I could taste the
salt, thick as fog. The temperature had dropped over thirty degrees
as we had made our way across the country, and as I grabbed my
hoodie I decided that the bathing suit and sunscreen may have been
over packing. As the miles continued into the ‘Way life should be’
state I saw no changes, no billboards, no signs outside of exit
markers and it was all pretty boring. I had been asleep since
somewhere after the five hour mark and slept all night. A twenty
five hour trip had turned into an eighteen hour one with Carna’s
caffeine addiction and no traffic. It was still another three hours
to the house, but with Selene still asleep Eris and I started
having a great time without her getting to know each
other.