Chapter 6- Wicked Forest

“Beth I am sorry,” he knew it was a lame excuse. However, deep down he knew she understood. His father’s word was law. He couldn’t defy him. No one in the coven would ever dream of such a thing. His father ruled with an iron fist. One that even Levi wouldn’t challenge. It had been that way for centuries. He had changed, but hadn’t they all in some way?
His coven was different to others and still lived by the old laws. Defy the leader and death would follow. It was a punishment everyone avoided. No one in their right mind would challenge him. There had been a few in the past. Seth had put them in their place, using their death to install fear into the rest of the coven members. He made examples of them. That was enough to keep people in their place.
“You’re a big boy, it’s time you made your own choices,” Beth’s words stung, her eyes had turned cold.
He wished he could stand up to the man he called father. Yet he wouldn’t. Not after what he had done. It was his own fault and stupidity that had got him in the position he was in now and he knew it. Yet Beth was too young to understand, and the coven had been forbidden to ever talk about Levi Carmichael’s sin.
He had hurt her, hell, he was hurting. Levi could easily imagine living a life with Beth. She was young and full of life. Yet she also was caring and kind. She would do anything to help. He looked at the pain on Beth’s face. It was like a dagger in his heart. She would have made the perfect wife. Her black hair flowed in the wind, and her ankle length skirt looked like a flowing river. She was the definition of beauty.
“Beth, listen to me. Leave. Go anywhere but here. What my father is planning and about to do, you don’t want to be a part of it.”
Beth laughed; it was a flat sound. Like his confession and sucked all life and emotion out of her. “You want me to leave? Don’t use your father or the better world as an excuse,”
“Beth, it’s not a better world. Just trust me,” he whispered. He was finding it hard to reason with her.
“I will never trust you again. I have heard how amazing it will be and I want that.”
He watched her walk away. It was over. The years it had taken him to open his heart and let someone in had been wasted. He just hoped this Hudson girl was worth the hurt he had just caused. His cousin seemed to think so. He had been in a huff with Levi for days now. He wanted the girl for himself, well he could have her for all he cared.
Walking back through the community in which he lived he looked at the people he shared his life with. All of them were hidden within the Wicked Forest, away from civilization. Seth hated the humans and wanted to be as far away from them as possible.
He didn’t know much about many of the other coven members. He had never had the care to know. He wondered if they wanted what his father and the older witches wanted. If they knew what they would be getting themselves into, or what the better world entailed. He watched a little boy skip down the path of his home and shook his head.
His father was a good manipulator he would have them all convinced that change was for the better. It didn’t matter either way as the young witches would soon know what they had let themselves in for. He just hoped they had the strength and willpower that would be expected of them.

***

His wife had gone crazy, and his daughter hated him. Henry was at a loss. He didn’t know what to do. Should he stand up for what he believed in, or should he do what he had been taught to do and honour his wife? He bowed his head at the kitchen table. Either way someone would get hurt.
He hadn’t seen Crystal all weekend. She had refused to come out of her room, and he was worried about her. Jeanette on the other hand had another surprise up her sleeve one that Henry knew would just be another blow in the wrong direction. At times he thought his wife didn’t know their daughter at all.
“Everything has been settled,” Jeanette said putting on the kettle. Henry nodded afraid to speak in case he said something he would regret.
“At times I think we have given Crystal too much freedom, because we saw how special she was. I wish we had been firmer. If we had been then we wouldn’t be having this problem now,” Jeanette said, while pouring hot water into two cups. Henry looked up at his wife then, and really looked at her. Crystal was different to their other daughters and because of that Jeanette had been stricter. The way she ordered Crystal about and spoke to her like she did the members of the coven instead of her daughter had caused the problem. His other daughters had seen what having a loving and caring mother was like.
Crystal on the other hand hadn’t. When she was sick, Jeanette expected her to suck it up and get on with it. With the others she would stay by their side, worrying over every sniffle. She had wanted Crystal to grow up strong and fearless.
But in the end, she had given up creating a bond with her daughter. One that she would never have if she carried out her plan, Henry knew that Crystal would never forgive her. She would never forgive him.