They say when Ipswich was founded there was five families with great power and bound together by a dark secret. But that was lie; in truth there was really six families until one family was banished from Ipswich for abusing the gift. Now there are five families and they have stuck together and kept their gifts a secret, which has kept them safe for the last three hundred years. Well… In a manner of speaking.
Hell. That was the only way to describe Isobel Hembry's personal surroundings as she stood in the middle of the beach with a cup of beer in her hand as she watched her fellow classmates dancing and drinking around her. Isobel hated the beach because it was always crowded and there was sand everywhere, which got into places where sand didn't belong. Then there was this party, it was the annual back to school party that was always held here at the dells and Isobel wasn't the most sociable person and parties weren't kind of her thing. So being at a party that was being held on the beach was literally her personal hell on earth. Isobel didn't even want to be here, she could imagine of plenty of things that she could be doing right now but she was here because of her best friend Kate. It was Kate's constant begging which had caused Isobel to cave and agree to come to this party as apparently this pasty was a big deal because it was the first party of their senior year not to mention it would be their last ever back to school party at the dells. The fact that Isobel would never have to attend another back to school party here at the dells again after today came as quite a bit of relief to Isobel, but it wasn't that much relief as she was till here suffering. Glancing at her watch Isobel let out a long sigh, she hadn't been here long enough for it to be acceptable for her to leave without getting a lecture from Kate about being boring. Not to mention Isobel would have to find a ride home as she had caught a lift to the party from her former lab partner Haley.
Isobel couldn't see Kate throughout the crowd of teenagers getting drunk which was very annoying as the sooner Isobel found Kate, the sooner she could head home. Isobel wasn't have any fun in the slightest, she was bored and the beer in her hand was starting to go warm. Taking a deep breath Isobel decided to venture into the belly of the intoxicated teenagers around her in ropes of finding Kate. Walking up the beach Isobel felt a sharp tingle which caused her to stop mid step. Isobel knew that unwelcoming tingle very well and it only meant one thing. It meant someone was using and it was more than one person and they were close enough for Isobel to pick on it. That was the burden of being a witch was being able to tell when other witches were using a great concentration of power. It was too hard for Isobel to guess what four idiots were using and looking over her shoulder, Isobel caught sight of the cliffs stood in the distance which were hidden away in the fog which only confirmed what she knew. Isobel was going to kill them all when she got her hands on their four dainty necks which wouldn't be dainty for much longer. Isobel couldn't help the frown on her face as she drained the rest of her slightly warm beer before idly tossing her cup to the side.
"Isobel Marie Hembry there you are! I've been looking for you everywhere, for a minute I thought that you weren't going to show up." Kate firmly stated as she made her way through the crowd with a disproving look on her face as she approached Isobel and handed her a new cup of beer. With Kate there was a blonde girl who Isobel had never seen before, probably the new roommate who Kate had been going on about earlier in the day. "And now you can take that frown off your face right this minute and cheer up Isobel! C'mon this is a party and not a funeral!"
"Are you sure about that?" Isobel grimly question before taking a sip of her beer as she was going to kill four boys the first chance she got. Isobel couldn't believe that they had been so stupid, so reckless and she was going to make her feelings on the situation pretty clear.
"You know that you'd have more friends Isobel if you weren't such a Negative Nancy." Kate stated, reminding Isobel yet again that she was her only friend in this god-forsaken town which caused Isobel to smirk in amusement. Isobel knew she wouldn't win any popularity contests anytime soon but that never bothered her. Isobel may have lack a sense of humor at time and was way too serious when it came to being a witch to the point where a lot of people didn't approach her because of stoic manner at the best of times, But that didn't bother Isobel as she had always remained true to herself, never changing herself to make people like her better. It didn't mean that Isobel didn't like to have fun because she did, it was just her idea of having fun didn't remotely resemble getting drunk on the beach with people she wasn't too fond of.
"Did it ever cross your mind that I might like having one friend Kate?" Isobel questioned in a mocking tone which caused Kate to roll her eyes and Isobel to laugh before taking a large gulp of her beer. If Isobel was going to have to be here for a while then she was going to have a lot more to drink. Isobel kept reminding herself that if she kept drinking then she would get through the rest of tonight and then it would only be a countdown until she left for Yale and no longer have to come to parties at the Dell where she'd be forced to hang out with people she didn't like.
"Anyway now that you've started to lighten up just a little bit, I'd like you to meet my new roommate Sarah Wenham." Kate began as she made the introductions. "Sarah this is my best friend Isobel Hembry; the daughter of Ipswich."
"For god's sake Kate, do you really have to bring that up here of all places? You know how much hate I man that crap and the sense of undeserved entitlement that the daughter nonsense brings to. It's nice to meet you Sarah and please feel free to ignore Kate, sometimes that mouth of hers doesn't know when to stop talking." Isobel stated in an annoyed man, she was really ticked off that Kate had brought up the title that Isobel had gone out of her way to not be associated with. over the years Isobel had made it perfectly clear that she did not want to be known as the Daughter of Ipswich nor did Isobel want to be referred to as it, let alone be called the Daughter of Ipswich. That made up title was capable of giving a person a complex, which is why Isobel tended to stay away with it as she was just Isobel Hembry. Nothing more. Nothing less.
"Daughter of Ipswich? What's that?" Sarah asks interested and Isobel glared at Kate for opening a can of worms that she didn't want open.
"When Ipswich was founded, it was founded by six families and out of those families, one family's line died out but the other five have survived and still remain here in Ipswich. Isobel is a direct decedent of one of the six families. There are others of course, including my boyfriend and they are known as The Sons of Ipswich but as Isobel is the only girl born in the last three generations to any of the families she is known as the Daughter of Ipswich. All together they are known as the Children Ipswich but Isobel here isn't interested in any of it." Kate explained to an interested Sarah. Everyone in Ipswich thought that the families were great for founding Ipswich but what they didn't know was that Ipswich wasn't the reason that they had stuck together. It was because that the families were all bound by an ancient secret which to this day they all continued to keep. Back in the 17th century when the witch trials were spreading through Ipswich, the six families came together and formed a covenant to protect them all from the witch finders. To protect themselves, their families and their gifts so they could escape the persecution that was occurring all around them. Whilst only five of the six families remained, the covenant was still in intact and the families had been bound by a code of silence for over three hundred years.
"That sounds pretty cool."
"You'd think it something like that would be cool and for some odd reason everyone tends to think it's cool but the novelty for me has worn off. I'm lumped together with people I don't like or care for much just because we're the same age and our families go back hundred of years. I get called this title that means nothing for me but people make a big deal out of it like it's something that matters when it really doesn't and it just gives people a complex. Take the boys of example that think that they have this sense of entitlement because they are the infamous Sons of Ipswich which has made them think that they can do anything they want. People look at them like their gods when really they are just assholes." Isobel begrudgingly stated, practically from the day she was born she had wanted nothing to do with the boys. Isobel didn't want to be associated with them and she had turned back on the tradition that she was supposedly born into. Especially the covenant which was practically a glorified boys club. Isobel didn't want to be a part of any of that, to be forced to do something just because it was tradition. Sure she keep the secret of their powers and the code of the covenant but Isobel refused to join them. She would do things her own way and sure enough it was working out just fine.
"Hey! One of those so-called assholes your talking about is my boyfriend Iz." Kate scolded as she referred to Pogue Parry, who Isobel would consider to be her arch nemesis. Normal people didn't actually arch nemesis but Isobel wasn't normal and neither was Pogue and Isobel butted heads with the most out of all the boys. Everyone had always assumed that the two of them would be best friends considering their father's had grown up together, gone to the same college and lived next door to each other. But things hadn't exactly followed their parents history, Isobel and Pogue were the furthest things from best friends hence why Isobel considered Pogue to be her archenemy. The two of them couldn't be in the same room without an argument erupting between the two of them, let alone have a conversation that didn't involve insults and raised voices.
"Doesn't change how I feel about him in slightest." Isobel retorted before taking a huge gulp of her beer, talking about the boys was just winding her up even more with every passing moment. "Now can we move onto something else or at least get me another drink? Otherwise I'm going home…"
"That's the spirit Isobel! There may be some hope for you yet!" Kate cheered and Isobel couldn't help but smile, she was going to regret this later but this was going to be her last year with Kate before they went off to different college. So Isobel would suck up her detest of the dells to put in some quality time with her best friend.
"Okay so give me the scoop on whose here! Tell me everything I need to know." Sarah demanded and Isobel turned to Kate with an amused smile on her face as maybe this party wouldn't be as bad as originally thought. Kate with a matching smile turned Sara ever so slightly to the left and pointed to a boy with shoulder length wavy brown hair who was wearing a letterman jacket.
"Okay so first thing you've got to know is that Aaron Abbott is an ass who has to be avoided at all cost! Aaron is a chauvinistic prick who treats girls like they are dirt, he would have broken Isobel's heart, if she even had a heart to begin with." Kate said starting with Isobel's boyfriend when it came to Sarah's guide to whose who at Spenser. Isobel wasn't bothered in the slightest that Kate was bringing Aaron up and openly insulting him. It was rather welcoming, along with the fact that Kate was warning Sarah off him, not because him and Isobel had dated. But because he was a toolbox.
"You dated him?" Sarah questioned and Isobel idly shrugged her shoulders before taking a sip of her drink. Given Isobel's status as loner who didn't like the company of many people, it had taken a lot of people by surprise when she had started dating someone like Aaron Abbott. Naturally it didn't end well, not that Isobel was planning on the rest of her life with him.
"For a while, word of advice whilst we're talking about him. Don't ever mention it in front of Kate's boyfriend, he's kind of touchy about the whole thing for no real reason." Isobel replied in bemusement as whilst the whole thing between her and Aaron had been messy, it had majorly pissed of Pogue and the rest of the boys seeing as they didn't get on with Aaron at all. The feelings were very much naturally returned so Isobel dating Aaron hadn't exactly gone done well. But Isobel actually didn't care what the boys thought about it, in fact she had stayed with Aaron for an additional mouth out of spite and to rub it in the boys noses before she had broken up with him.
"Why?" Sarah asked.
"It's complicated." Kate replied and her tone of voice indicated that the subject should quickly move on and Sarah nodded her head slowly before motioning her head in the direction of another boy.
"Okay… "Whose that?" Sarah questioned and Isobel took a careful look at the boy, he was tall enough with short brown hair and a very nice smile. If Isobel knew him, she would have definitely remembered him but then again she never really paid much attention to anything outside the bubble that was her own little world.
"New guy?"
"He's looking over here!" Sarah chimed in excitement and Isobel probably should have looked away but she didn't. She kept looking at this boy and eventually his eyes met hers and he smiled. Isobel looked at him for a few more moments before turning her attention back to Kate and Sarah. There was something about that boy but Isobel didn't know what.
"I don't know much about him–"
"–But she intends to find out, that's another thing you should know Sarah, Kate is the go to girl for everyone at Spenser. She knows everything about everyone, I'm surprised that her head hasn't exploded yet…" Isobel quipped in a amusement, hiding her smirk as she drained the rest of the contents of her drink.
"Isobel did you just pull a funny?" Kate demanded in mock shock horror.
"So what if I did? I can have my moments…" Isobel retorted as she gave Kate a stern look, trying to look as scary as she could but moments later, she along with Kate and Sarah all burst out laughing. It wasn't the funniest ever but it was funny enough and Isobel put it down to the two beers that she had been drinking on an empty something. Isobel felt far more relaxed and dare she admit it, have a good time until Kate suddenly stopped laughing.
"They're here…" Kate quietly stated as this bright eyes look appeared on her face as she looked off into the distance.
"Who are they?" Sarah questioned and as Isobel followed Kate's gaze she caught sight of something that caused her jaw to harden.
There they were. Pogue Parry, Caleb Danvers, Reid Garwin and Tyler Simms. The Sons to Isobel's Daughter of Ipswich and Isobel's seemingly good mood had already slipped away and she was back in the irritated moon that she had been in just over five minutes ago. The boys were walking towards her like they didn't have a care in the world, like they were untouchable but they were about to get another thing coming. Isobel was going to knock those smug smirks off their faces.
"The Sons of Ipswich."