The Witchfinder Wars (3 page)

Time to get out of here
.

The walk to James P. Cothran High School was
a short one I always tried to make as long as possible. Kids I had
known since kindergarten snickered as they rushed past me, and the
thought of ditching rose with my fantasies of what else could be
done on such a perfect Southern day. Those changed as I remembered
my mother's remark of how, if I don't use the magic, I'm no better
than the other kids living here in Manning.

But that was the
point
. At least to
me. Our family history had been filled with words like 'Chosen' and
'gifted', but I didn't care. I didn't feel as if I had been chosen
for anything. Much less special enough to have the powers of a
goddess flowing through my veins. My own failed attempts at spell
working proved this to me time and time again.

No, Ivy and Evie were the Chosen Ones. They
were examples of women who used the powers given to our ancestors
by the Gods. Me? I only wanted to be normal. To be just like my
classmates rushing to school with friends. Laughing. Smiling.
Instead, I was 'chosen', or so they wanted me to believe.
Chosen.

And alone.

The school came into view too soon for my
liking. I rounded the final block, and my cheerful fantasies
disappeared against the clamor and laughter of those who had passed
me, now leaning against cars and benches with the same reluctance
to face the first day of school I'd felt all morning.

Now I rushed to the first class on my list
as an excuse to get away from the social scene straight out of a
bad high school sitcom. It wasn't until I slid into the familiar
confines of an empty desk that I felt secure from the prying eyes
which had surrounded me outside. Here, with any luck, and with the
assistance of the teachers, I could be happy in my solitude.

The day wore on as slowly as I had imagined
it would, but I began to relax as the attention shifted from my
presence to someone else entirely. I was too grateful for this good
fortune to push it away by inquiring too much about my replacement.
The gossip swirled in every class and I asked no questions as girls
I would never care to know giggled their way to their seats. Their
customary stares, the ones given instead of casual greetings, were
now lost in the flush of every female cheek and a predatory gleam
in every female eye.

The more normal gushing went something like
this.

"I met him this morning, Allie...and he's so
cute! You just want to hug him!"

The girl named Allie agreed as she slid into
the seat diagonal to mine and leaned in closer to her friend.

"Which you did...twice! I still can't
believe you worked up the nerve! You know they bought the old
Berwick place, right? He's not just cute, Hannah...he's got to be
loaded too!"

"Well, of course he's loaded!" her friend
replied with an avaricious gleam in her eye. "He's a Hopkins.
They're the ones who've redone the old mill and turned it into a
clinic. They're the one who're renovating downtown. They're the
ones who are bringing jobs back. His family must have absolute tons
of money! And did you see the car he drove to school?"

The best part of my new sense of
non-existence was the attention that had been mine was now taken
away. This day I had dreaded all summer was suddenly a breeze to
get through. The hard plastic of my chair became a cushion to relax
in. I leaned back to concentrate on the history lesson.

I would have pitied the new boy if it hadn't
been for the girls' reactions. While it was never good to be
considered the
new one
, at least they were accepting him. I
would have been jealous if my relief had not been so great.

Looks like Evie's star charts were right
again....

When the final bell at the end of the school
day rang at last, I was almost sorry. I sprang out of my seat and
out the door to join the sunlight that had teased me through the
thin blinds shielding our classrooms from the outside world. My
steps quickened as I left the big lawn edging the sidewalk and
became quicker still as I headed toward home.

Don't forget about tonight! You have your
fitting at seven!

Relief now that the day was finally over
brought on a whole new fear as I remembered the words of my mother;
I slowed almost to a crawl as the memory took hold.

My robes...my robes for my
initiation
.

I groaned aloud as I shifted my backpack,
weighted now with books though it had been so light this morning,
against my thin shoulders.
Not now...not tonight. I don't think
I can handle it, not that and the first day of school.

The astrological charts Aunt Evelyn lived by
had proclaimed tonight would be the perfect time to begin getting
me ready for the initiation as a full member of the Blanchett
coven. The robes had been designed, created, and blessed by her;
she'd been working on them in the last few months, the months
leading up to now: the time when I would become something I didn't
know I wanted to be.

A true member...one with a special gift to
contribute...one who fills the third opening.

A Chosen One.

A witch.

The voice behind me seemed to read my
thoughts as it cried out from the brightness of the day.

"It's the witch, boys!"

The saner part of me warned me not to stop,
all too aware of how alone I was on the deserted sidewalk too far
from safety. Not to stand and face the group of four descending on
me faster than a pack of lions eager for a slaughter. My fear of
the fitting took a backseat to something else; I planted my feet to
the ground as the group came closer. They were all boys I'd known
for years, Michael Pitts and Chuck Donovan, Billy Barnes and, worst
of all, Jordan Raquel. Jordan had become their unspoken leader
before preschool and they circled around him now like wolves around
their alpha male, awaiting his permission to strike. Jordan tossed
his books to the one closest to him.

"Hey there, magic maker."

Jordan's smile would have been charming if
it had been aimed at anyone else. To me it was full of nothing more
than malice as he stopped inches away from where I stood
frozen.

I seemed to stop breathing as I waited for
the worst to come. Teasing and spitefulness had become a part of my
daily life when I was forced out into the world Manning had to
offer, but never before had the others allowed themselves this
close.

I knew, without quite knowing how, I was in
danger.

I wonder if Aunt Evie saw this in her
charts...
.

Chapter Two

Tommy

"Tommy?"

I pulled a pillow over my head and hoped the
voice would go away.

"Tommy!"

I grabbed out blindly, not daring to open my
eyes, and a second pillow joined the first. I burrowed deeper under
my covers.

"Thomas Carlisle Matthew Hopkins!"

I moaned and rolled over, pillows escaping
from my bed as if they knew something I didn't.

A rattle. I was pretty sure it wasn't a
rattlesnake, but I wouldn't have bet on it.

A shard of light from newly-opened blinds
sliced into the eye I had cracked opened. I squeezed it shut again
to offer
up a hopeful groan.

"Out of that bed right this instant, young
man!"

"Five more minutes, Grand? Please?"

If it had been my dad, I would never have
dared to even make the request. But I was lucky today. Dad hadn't
arrived yet.

"No time to dawdle, Tommy. Come on now, out
of bed. It's time to get up. You know what day it is."

Lucky. Hah. How lucky can anyone be on the
first day of school? And a new school at that. Not just new school
either: new town, new house, heck—new state. New country, if it
came to it, since we'd just moved back to the States from
Italy.

I sat up, all thoughts of sleep escaping
with those turncoat pillows.

"Grand, say it ain't so!" I begged. "Please
tell me it's not the first day of school already! We just got
here!"

My grandmother stood at one of the windows
of my room, the blind cord still in her hand. She is known
officially as Mrs. Harcourt Jamieson Matthew Hopkins; to friends,
family and acquaintances as Katherine; but to her thirteen
grandchildren, of which motley crew I was the oldest at seventeen,
as Grand. Both her nickname and a title, at least to me.

When you grow up in a very rich family
always on the move, not just from city to city but from country to
country, you look for a fixed point in your life.

My point is Grand.

"Now get those long legs in the shower,
Tommy. Brent will have breakfast ready in fifteen minutes and you
know how he hates it when anyone is late." She tucked the cord into
a fancy holder at the side of the big window. Our new house—one of
what seemed like dozens we'd lived in over the last few years—was a
remodeled Victorian, Grand had told me on our trip here. Big and
old, with lots of room for Grand, my dad, my sisters and me, and
all our servants.

Brent, for one, is our chef. I know.
Pretentious. But we Hopkins have tons of money and, as my dad once
explained to me, we can't be expected to do menial things for
ourselves when we can hire someone and provide them with a useful
job. Well, that's not exactly how he said it, but I'm pretty sure
that's what he meant.

"And if you don't hustle, I'll make you ride
the limo to school, and drop off your sisters on the way."

I hit the floor and ran toward where I
thought the bathroom was but, since we'd only got to this house
late yesterday, wasn't exactly sure. I made it, though, and reached
in to start the shower. Steam rose and I looked around to see if
there was any soap.

Sure there was. Our maids took care of those
things. One day, one of them will forget something. Or maybe they
forgot stuff all the time, only Grand followed behind them to
correct their errors, like she did mine.

I peeked back out the bathroom door. Grand
was standing at one of the tall windows, the one with the blind
she'd raised. From the tilt of her head she was gazing down, and
her shoulders were a little slumped.

"Grand, are you okay?"

I heard her sigh as she turned. She smiled
at me. "Just a little tired, Tommy. All this moving is making me
feel my years."

"Hey, now."

I walked over and put my arm around her
shoulders, gave her a quick hug. She looked as Grand always looked:
a dress, today pale blue, pearls, and her grey hair in a braid
wrapped around her head like a crown. She felt a little thinner
than the last time I'd hugged her and it gave me a funny feeling.
After all, I hugged her every day. Didn't I? Well, maybe I'd
skipped a day or two lately, what with the move and all. You'd
think we'd get used to it, moving as much as we did, but I sure
never had.

"We're here for a while, at least, so let's
make the most of it. Hey, maybe I can go out for football at
school! Will you come to my games to cheer me on? Oh, and by the
way; where are we again?"

Anybody else would have laughed, but not
Grand. She knew I was as serious as a heart attack. "North
Carolina, as you ought to know quite well, young man; a little town
called Manning. Almost back home, at least for me. I was born near
here, and I met your grandfather in Raleigh, the capital, when we
were both in college."

She reached up and patted my cheek, then
gave me one of those grins which meant 'I'm onto you, so watch
out'.

"Now get in the shower, you hear me? I hear
your sisters arguing."

My twin sisters, Jos and Jax, are
eleven-going-on-twenty-five; both blonde and blue-eyed like me. In
the distance I could hear loud shouts and louder complaints.
Something to do with whose blouse was whose and what someone was
going to do to someone else about stealing it.

I headed for the shower as Grand headed for
the ruckus down the hall. Inside, the bathroom was steamy from the
shower I'd left running. I wiped a space clear on the big mirror
over the sink and made a face at myself, then stuck out my tongue.
My hair stuck up all over my head, like it always does. Bed head
could have been invented with my head in mind.

For a minute, it looked like someone was
standing behind me and off to my right side, a figure barely
visible in the steamy glass. A vague outline, a shape: shorter than
me by a good bit, but then I'm pretty tall.

A weird feeling went through me.

How could I see the image of somebody
standing behind me when I was alone?

I turned. No one there of course.

I shook off the weird feeling. Just tired,
or jet lag or something.

I jumped in the shower.

***

Grand didn't stick to her threat about
making me ride in the limo with my sisters. We all shared a rushed
but really good breakfast, dished out by Brent, while Grand gave us
directions to our new schools. Gave me directions, at least; Jos
and Jax were going in the limo after all.

"Why can't Tommy drop us off?" Jax demanded
through a mouthful of eggs. She had her blonde hair in a shaggy
ponytail and was wearing a purple t-shirt and jeans.

"Because Tommy's car is a two-seater, and
his high school is across town from your grammar school, that's
why." Grand calmly buttered a biscuit.

"I didn't know Brent could make biscuits," I
said as I grabbed my third.

"It's North Carolina. He doesn't have a
choice." Grand looked smug.

"After today, can we ride the bus?" Jos
asked. She had a green blouse that looked nice with her corn silk
hair hanging down to her shoulders. She sipped her grapefruit
juice, trying to be as ladylike as Grand kept trying to make them
both. Jax joggled her elbow and a drop spilled onto her blouse.

"Hey! Now I'll have to change!" Jos glared
at her twin.