Chapter 58- Whispers In The Wind

Her emotions weren’t easily hidden on her innocent face. Her pain and anguish were evident in the crease of her lovely brow and the down curve of her full lips. It was her eyes that had caught the young man’s attention. They showed her soul, much like an open book. They were a deep pool of restless gold, an ocean of hopeless grief. Her black hair, shone with the moons light, highlighting her pale face. A few strands blew in the light breeze while the rest trailed down her back resting at her hips.
The boy had paused to admire the young woman’s beauty, who leaned against a windowsill, resting on her elbows. They smiled at each for a moment, one that held a connection, full of chemistry.
The boy wondered why such a beauty like her was leaning against the window of an all-boy’s school.
His thoughts ceased as she moved away from the window to reveal that her lower half was missing.
In terror he was frozen to the spot. Before he could run or will his body to move, she had cut the boy in half.
The young woman screamed as she scuttled away with the boys’ legs.
Jeanette jumped up. Her heart racing and fear running through her veins. It was just a dream. That was it she told herself as she laid back down and drifted back to sleep.
“Do you need your legs?” The young woman asked Jeanette. Great, she was dreaming about the demon girl again. Jeanette grunted and answered, “I need them right now yes,” at her answer the girl let out a loud screech.
This time when Jeanette woke it was morning. Time to get ready for the trial she thought. Dressing she headed downstairs. She needed coffee and lots of it.
When she entered the kitchen Daniel one of her investigators was waiting for her.
“Mrs. Hudson. Ma’am, I am afraid that the body you found yesterday is indeed….” a loud bang on the door interrupted them.
“Thank you, Daniel that will be all,” he had in part confirmed what she expected. Yet she had seen the boy. Breathing through her nose her mind yelled imposter. Something was going down right under her nose.
Swinging the door open she pulled a face at Martha that showed her displeasure of seeing the old woman.
“Ruby is back,” the woman said still in the doorway.
“So?” Jeanette asked. When she had learned that Ruby had gone missing, she was glad. No one would know about the baby. She had hoped she would stay away until after the Childs birth.
“She is alone,” Martha said raising a brow.
“What are you getting at Martha,” she snapped.
“Where is Greg?”
“I am not his mother. I do not have a tracker on him. Go ask someone else,” she slammed the door. “Nosey old bat,” she muttered.
***
Stepping into the Great Hall, Crystal could feel the energy all around her and her body trembled at the menacing expressions on the members of the coven’s faces. Yes, she had done lots of wrong in her short life. She broke the rules and lived her life her own way. She stole her father’s body and disobeyed her mother. She did what she had to do to survive.
She didn’t understand why they wanted to bring her down.
Fear travelled in Crystal’s veins, but it never made it to her facial features. Her eyes remained steady and casual as if she was shopping for shoes as she made her way to the front of the Great Hall.
Her mother’s face was a picture of annoyance. She had made it clear that Crystal was not to be a part of the trial. No chains or a cell would stop her from defending herself. That was the problems with the trials. The person accused didn’t even have the chance to speak, locked away out of site while the elders of the coven chose their fate. Crystal wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
She waved her hand and lifted Jeanette into the air and held her suspended by the ceiling.
“Crystal!” her heated voice was cut off as Crystal muted any sounds that passed her lips. Magic, it was a part of her. Yet her parents had both warned her about only using it in small quantizes. The reason why now was clear. She was powerful. More powerful than she ever knew, and they wanted to hide that, not from just the coven but Crystal herself.
Clearing her throat, she took the mike. Her eyes caught Levi who stood in the corner just visible within the shadows. Seeing his face and knowing he was there to support her. Even after her spiteful words warmed her heart and gave her the courage she needed.
“I know that I have made a few mistakes. I have broken the rules, disobeyed the law in which we have all sworn by. The reason I am here today stood before you all are my own fault. I have made you all mad, angry. Maybe what I have done to you has been wrong. To me I have had a reason, one in which I would like to explain to you all,” A man shot from his seat with his hand raised in Crystal’s direction. In a blur and a gush of wind Levi had put the man to sleep. He nodded for her to continue, and she closed her eyes to shake the shock from her body.
She knew she was disliked within the coven; however, she didn’t expect to be attacked.
“I have never gone by the rules that I have been taught. To me those rules are stuck in the old times. I wasn’t allowed friends. My husband was picked out a few days after my birth. Things have changed, as people we have changed. With time so should those rules. Sometimes you have to make choices beyond the right, beyond what we have been told,” she took the mike and moved closer to the edge of the stage.
“I was lonely, and I wanted to kick out at the people I believed made me feel that way. Along the way I found myself. I found who I want to be. But that isn’t what you want to hear. You want to hear why I stole my father’s body. Why I went against everything,” she glanced at Levi who gave her a smile full of pride.
“My father didn’t deserve to be burnt. He didn’t ask to marry my mother. He was forced too. He didn’t ask to have to sacrifice his daughter. He was told too, and he knew that he wouldn’t have a choice. You see that is the problem. We have no free will. We don’t get to think for ourselves. You didn’t know my father. The real Henry Hudson. He was a man that gave me life. He made me believe in myself. He was there when I had no hope. He was my savoir, friend and parent,” Tears began to brim Crystal’s eyes and she took a deep breath. She lowered her eyes to the floor while she composed herself. When she looked up, Ruby walked down the aisle. Her face set in determination. She climbed the steps to the alter and held Crystal’s hand.
“Did he deserve to be trapped between the living and dead for escaping a life he did not want nor to choose?” she looked around the rows of the witches.
“No, he didn’t,”
“But you think he did. Why? Because my mother and the elders told you to think just that,” she had to show them that they had independence.
“The elders and my mother have lied to you all. Athens is not a place of sanctuary. It is not a world where the curses each coven have been given are lifted and we will life in unity. It is riddled with monsters. Ancient creatures. Most of you will die,” gasps spread around the room.
“You lie!” a young woman shouted.
“I am afraid what she is saying is the truth,” Levi came to her rescue and climbed the alter to stand beside her.
“I have been to Athens. Hell, I was born there. Athens is a prison. One crated by Zeus to house is offspring. When he saw what they were doing to the natural world he created Athens. We witches were created to keep the creatures in that world like and restore rules and boundaries. Opening that vortex could be the end for us all,”
“We would never believe a monster like you!” another man yelled. They were getting nowhere. They had been brainwashed.
“Enough of this nonsense,” Martha yelled and gave Crystal a satisfied glare.
“Crystal Hudson will be stripped of her powers for the next three days. The wedding will commence, and we will all go home to the place we belong!” Martha yelled.
“Would it make you feel better to watch me while I bleed? To watch me die. You can take everything I am. But you will never break me!” Crystal yelled with power behind her voice as she unleashed her full fury causing the whole building to threaten to crumble into its foundations. Everyone ran for the nearest exit as something hard brought Crystal to her knees and caused the room to dissolve around her.