Chapter 25 #3
“No, I can’t, but that doesn't mean I can’t teach you some respect,” she says before throwing her through the door and into the shed. Bianca screams and begs as Caroline does god knows what to the woman. I stand just as she walks into the room again dusting off her clothes.
“Are you okay, Imogen?” I nod but I’m not alright; that bitch killed my mother, took the only person I had left away from me, for reasons I don’t know.
How can anyone be alright after learning that?
Tears brim before flowing over. Caroline’s arms wrap around me, pulling me close.
“There, there, child, she can’t hurt you anymore. I’m here now,” she whispers soothingly.
“She killed my mom,” I whisper between sobs.
Caroline freezes before pushing me at arm’s length. “What did you just say?”
“She killed my mom, said it was payback for my mother killing hers.” Caroline looks just as confused as I feel about Bianca’s reasoning. My mother would never take anything from anyone, she was a good woman and a great mom to me. Caroline pulls me back toward her, hugging me tighter.
“We need to leave; we can figure out everything else later. But for now, we have to go before they come home," she tells me. I nod and let her drag me to the car. When I get in the silver Audi, I notice a woman sitting in the passenger seat. Caroline ducked inside to grab my suitcase.
The woman has an eerie feel about her. She isn’t that old.
She looks around my age but there is something off about her.
Her energy is off; I can’t explain it. She doesn’t scare me, but it’s like I can literally feel the power rolling off her.
She turns in her seat, flicking her auburn hair over her shoulder and peering back at me, her pale blue eyes flicking to mine before she smiles softly.
“You must be Imogen. I’m Claire,” she says, reaching over the seat to shake my hand.
As soon as I place my hand in hers, she gasps, gripping my hand tightly.
Her eyes turn white, and she has this faraway look.
Like she is seeing through me at something I can’t see.
I rip my hand from her grasp, alarmed. Her eyes seem to come back into focus, and the color comes back.
Claire smiles softly, but she can’t hide the worry in them.
The driver's side door opens, and Caroline hops in the car, looking between us, as Claire remains calm, staring like she is trying to figure something out.
“What happened?” asks Caroline, looking as confused as I feel.
“I don’t know?” I answer honestly. Claire remains silent but turns around in her seat, gazing out toward the front.
“We need to leave, now” she says, staring toward Caroline.
Caroline hastily jams the keys in the ignition before taking off at a fast speed down the dirt driveway.
Dust and dirt spray everywhere. Claire leans forward, grabbing something from between her legs.
Its a black leather backpack. Sitting in the middle seat, I watch as she rummages around in her bag before pulling out a necklace.
The necklace seems familiar; it takes a few seconds for me to figure out where I’ve seen the intricate design before.
Sitting forward slightly, I pull the bracelet from my pocket.
It has the same design as the necklace Claire holds in her hand, the same silver vines and leaves wrapping around the bracelet to the pendant which has a lotus hanging from it, that is caged in by the vines.
“What’s that?” I ask her.
“It’s a witch’s talisman,” she says, her eyes darting to the bracelet I hold in my hand to show her.
“Turn back around,” Claire speaks when she sees the bracelet hanging from my fingertips.
“What, you just said we had to go?” Caroline says. I can hear the panic in her voice as she stares at Claire. Caroline spins the car around, anyway, heading back toward the house.
“What’s going on?” I ask,
Claire grabs the bracelet before dropping it and hissing in pain.
“That’s why I can’t read you, why it looks like you have no future. Where did you get that bracelet?” she asks, as I snatch the bracelet from where she dropped it on the carpet between the seats.
“It was my mother’s. I found it in the shed.”
“The fact you can hold it proves it is not your mother’s. A witch can’t hold another witch’s talisman.”
“What?” What she says doesn’t make sense. I’m not a witch. Caroline pulls up out the front of the shed and I jumps out when Claire does, following by Caroline.
“Why are we back here?” Caroline asks, glancing around nervously.
“If she has a talisman, I’m willing to bet her family’s grimoires will be here as well.”
“Grimoires? Like spell books?” I ask. Claire nods, pushing the roller door up and going inside.
“Look, I’ve been through that shed so many times. If my mother or father were a witch, I would have found something resembling spell books by now.” Claire paid me no attention and kept heading toward the office in the back of the shed.
When she opens the door, she gasps. “I knew it.” I peered around trying to find what it is she thinks she found. Claire goes over to my grandfather’s table.
“Honestly, Caroline, I’m surprised you didn’t notice this when you were in here,” she said, running her hand along the top of the table.
Caroline stared at the table and I mean really stared at it.
Caroline goes over to the table, running her fingers over the design carved in the top which is five different circles.
One on each side before a bigger one in the middle.
The same vine-like structure joined the four outer circles before vines from each connected the middle circle to the other four.
“It’s an earth pentagram,” Caroline whispers before knocking on the wood. The wood makes a hollow sound, like it has a compartment below the tabletop. I never paid attention to the table before believing the story my mother told me about my grandfather making it.