One: The Daughters of Salem
It was the summer of their senior year at Harvard. The alumni of Spencer Academy, a majority of which made it into Harvard, had gathered back in their hometown to celebrate one last wild summer before their last year began. Kira Snider, still the same frosty aristocrat she had been in high school, had arranged a late-night rave in the usual party location: the beaches of Marblehead. Festivities began at sundown, and everyone was itching to get there.
Caleb Danvers drove down the familiar roads towards town to pick up his prescription for his migraines. As of late, especially when around his girlfriend Sarah, he had been getting head-splitting pains. The doctor prescribed some medication, which worked—for a while.
Caleb and his friends had been invited to the party first; it was only proper to have the Sons of Ipswich attended the biggest bash of the year. Known amongst the students at both Spencer and Harvard as a group of wealthy bad-boys, the Sons of Ipswich had more history behind the name then they let on. As the Sons of Ipswich, they were in control of strong powers given to them from their ancestors, witches who escaped the witch trials.
Caleb turned into the pharmacy and parked his Mustang next to a sleek, black Audi S4. He'd never seen the car before in town and he knew everyone. Shrugging and assuming it to belong to a tourist, he headed into the pharmacy and picked up his pills.
"Oh, Elly, why not?" he heard someone whine. He glanced to his left and saw a pair of girls browsing the shelves. From their expensive clothes, he guessed they were the owners of the Audi.
"First, don't ever call me that again," a lithe, black-haired girl replied. Caleb appraised her, as was his habit when it came to pretty girls. She was graced with long legs and a slender torso. From the muscles in her legs, he guessed she was athletic. Her black hair reached below her shoulders, cascading around her in black waves. Her face was pale and oval with high cheekbones and her eyes—from what he could tell—were emerald green. He had been mistaken; she wasn't pretty, she was beautiful.
Her friend was an inch shorter, also with long legs. She was a golden girl with rich blonde hair bobbing around her chin. Her blue eyes were bright and her face heart-shaped. She, too, looked athletic with a lean build.
"Second?" the golden girl prompted. The pale beauty sighed.
"Don't you think it would be a little awkward if we just randomly went up to them and introduced ourselves?" she replied. Her emerald eyes flicked towards Caleb, a tight expression masking her face. The golden girl followed her friend's gaze, her bright blue eyes widening.
"Oh, I guess that takes care of it," she murmured. Caleb smiled politely and walked over to them, his pills in hand. The headache he had entered with was gone, a mystery that he wasn't eager to pursue just yet. He may be Sarah Wenham's boyfriend, but there was something about the emerald-eyed girl that caught his full attention.
"Hi, I'm Caleb Danvers," he introduced, extending his hand in greeting. The golden girl looked at her friend, who seemed frozen. Sighing with exasperation, she took Caleb's hand first.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Adeline Lakeland," the blonde replied. Caleb nodded and smiled, turning his gaze eagerly to Adeline's friend. Her green eyes weren't as surprised as they had been earlier, but they were still wary.
"I'm Elisabeth Bishop," she told him, her voice quiet. "Where are the others?"
Her question caught Caleb off-guard. Others? What others? Adeline glared at Elisabeth.
"Well, that's subtle," she snapped. Elisabeth looked at her evenly.
"Might as well get it over with, right? Isn't that what you wanted?" Elisabeth retorted. Caleb looked at Elisabeth, drawn to her by some invisible chain.
"What others?" he asked her. Elisabeth turned her cool gaze towards him.
"Certainly there is more than one Son of Ipswich," she replied. "Otherwise I would be highly disappointed having come here to find you all only to learn that there is but one." Caleb's mouth tightened. To the schools, the Sons of Ipswich were only a group of friends with a title. The way Elisabeth spoke of them, it sounded like she knew the truth.
"Maybe we should take this outside, Elle," Adeline prompted, leading her friend away by the arm. Caleb followed them to the black Audi.
Elisabeth threw their purchases into the trunk and looked at Caleb. "Well?" she asked. Caleb frowned.
"My friends are out somewhere," he replied warily. "How do you know about us?" Elisabeth leaned against the car, her arms folded across her chest. She looked at him with her arbitrary, even gaze.
Damn, she's gorgeous, Caleb thought. Elisabeth looked at Adeline.
"Take care of the listeners," she ordered. Caleb watched Adeline, who began scanning the vicinity.
"We know about you because we are like you," Elisabeth told him, capturing his attention. "We also have magic, just as dangerous as your own. I guess you could say that we function the same way, under the same rules, and with the same limitations."
Caleb looked at them with disbelief. How could they be like him and the others? Their powers could only be passed down through males; and he hated to be Captain Obvious, but they weren't boys.
Elisabeth smiled at the confused look on his face. "You are the Sons of Ipswich, and we are the Daughters of Salem."
Adeline looked over her shoulder, eager to see his reaction. His handsome face was composed, but Adeline knew the surprise in his eyes. She glanced at Elisabeth, whom she had known since they were born. Elisabeth was always cautious with people, always making sure the others didn't do anything stupid; but with Caleb Danvers, Elisabeth seemed… relaxed. Adeline smiled mentally. She knew all of Elisabeth's body language, having spent so many years with her, and all of Elisabeth's movements indicated she was interested in the gorgeous boy in front of them.
"Daughters of Salem?" he repeated. Elisabeth nodded. "So there are four of you?"
"Five, none of our members are rogues," she replied, her eyes flashing in the summer sunlight. Caleb couldn't believe it. There were others like him and his friends; and they were girls. He figured it was only sensible. Every yin had to have a yang. But he couldn't believe that their yang looked like them. He could tear his eyes away from Elisabeth's face. She had known about Chase Collins, their rogue member who had disappeared four years ago. She had to be telling the truth if she knew about that.
Gathering his cool, he smiled. "You guys busy tonight?" he asked. Though he believed their claim, he wasn't sure the others would believe it unless they saw proof. Elisabeth looked at Adeline, who shrugged.
"I don't think the girls are busy. Besides, I'm sick of being cooped up in Rosie's aunt's house," Adeline said. Elisabeth turned back to Caleb.
"Nope, why?" she asked. Caleb grinned.
"Well, there's going to be a party tonight, and my friends and I are going. I thought you could introduce yourselves to them," he replied. "And show us what you're capable of." Elisabeth raised an eyebrow.
"You want us to prove ourselves?" she asked skeptically. "And here I thought you believed me." Caleb shrugged.
"I believe you," he corrected, "but I don't think my friends will believe five unbelievably gorgeous girls claiming to be our female counterparts." He flashed a smirk. "You wouldn't believe what some girls have told us in order to get our attention."
Elisabeth laughed and tossed her black hair over her shoulder. "Oh really? Then I guess we'll go." She held out her hand. "Give me your phone."
Caleb handed her his phone, watching her punch in a number. As she added her number to his phone, she tossed her cell phone to him. "Add yours, I don't answer numbers I don't recognize," she told him. Caleb did as he was told, all too happy to comply.
You have a girlfriend, moron. Don't get too happy.
When they were done exchanging numbers, they took their phones back and smiled at each other. "I'll text you directions," Caleb told her as he opened the door to his car. Elisabeth nodded and made her way around to the driver's side.
"It was nice meeting you, Caleb," she said as she slid into the car. He watched the Audi pull out of the parking lot and jet down the road, a smile spreading onto his face. It was a stupid smile; a smile he used to only smile with Sarah. But it hadn't been Sarah who had made him smile—it had been Elisabeth Bishop.
"We have to prove ourselves?" Contessa Foster cried. She was a small girl with a big personality. She was tough, but just as girly as her friends. Her auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail—as usual—and her innocent face was contorted with mild rage.
Elisabeth sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Tessa, it's only fair that we earn their respect if they have to earn ours," she said. Five girls were sitting in the parlor of the Snider mansion. Kira Snider was the first cousin of Rosalie Ward well, a Daughter of Salem. Kira's mother had been the youngest daughter of two and had been instructed to not breathe a word of the Daughters to her family.
Rosalie Wardwell was lovely, with her family's traditional red hair and a pair of sparkling blue hazel eyes. She was rational, but was given to fall prey to her emotions. Unlike the other girls who either ran cross-country or swam, Rosalie loved to dance. She was an accomplished ballerina, having gotten into Yale via dance scholarship.
Relations between the Daughters and Kira had always been icy. Kira always carried herself with too much confidence, which the Daughters were eager to pick at. They knew she was jealous of them; they always had somewhere to be, someone to impress. However, instead of taking it in stride, Kira lashed out with put-downs and icy glares—Rosalie often bearing the brunt of the attack.
The Daughters were staying at the Snider home in Ipswich as ordered by Elisabeth's mother and grandmother, who had also been the oldest Daughter of Salem in their time.
"You and the girls will be staying with Rosalie's aunt this summer," Victoria Bishop had said one May morning. Elisabeth looked up from her breakfast to blink dumbly.
"Why?" she asked. Elisabeth's father sat next to his wife, his eyes glued to the newspaper. His silence predicted a rising argument. She had always been closer to her father than her mother; he understood her better. His motives for loving her weren't in any way related to making her the best witch their family has seen.
"Your twenty-second birthday is this summer." Elisabeth frowned. She knew where this conversation was going. The thirteenth of June was her birthday. That meant only one thing: the Prophecy. Elisabeth set down her spoon and looked at her mother.
"Don't start with that again," she begged. Victoria lifted a hand to silence her.
"Mother agrees with me," Victoria told her daughter. "She believes this is the year the two covens will merge." Jane Bishop, Elisabeth's grandmother, had taught the Daughters of Salem everything they needed to know about their heritage and their abilities. It was tradition the oldest surviving Daughter would become the matriarch of the families, essentially making decisions for the girls. Jane Bishop had to approve of everything that affected their future: boyfriends, school activities, schools, etc.
"Maybe Grandmother is wrong," Elisabeth said without much conviction. Victoria smiled condescendingly at her daughter.
"Unlikely, Elisabeth." Elisabeth began eating again, hoping to ignore her mother. However, Victoria continued to speak.
"You will find the Sons of Ipswich and befriend them; become allies with them." Elisabeth listened to her father's paper rustle as he turned the page.
"You mean seduce them," she corrected, her green eyes meeting her mother's. Victoria raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Prepare yourselves for the worst, for you know the Prophecy: When the eldest Daughter sees the end her twenty-first year under the black light of the moon; when the Fifth Son returns for vengeance—"
Elisabeth looked down at her breakfast. "—and when a Daughter pays the price, the Devil's Sons and Daughters will become One," she finished. Victoria nodded solemnly and touched her daughter's hand.
"It will not be you," her mother told her. "It cannot be you, you are too strong." Elisabeth removed her hand and excused herself from the table, claiming she needed to finish some homework.
"But how are we supposed to prove ourselves?" Madigan Baker asked. She was the youngest of the quintet, and like the majority of the group, she was a swimmer. Her brown hair brushed her shoulders elegantly.
Adeline looked at Elisabeth. "Yeah, how?"
Elisabeth shrugged and looked at the clock. "I'll think of something later, right now I think we should get ready to crash Kira's party." Rosalie smirked.
"She'll kill us," Rosalie pointed out. Elisabeth laughed darkly.
"I'd love to see her try," she replied. Adeline whooped and leapt to her feet.
"Then let's get going ladies," she cried. "We have some boys to impress!"
The Sons of Ipswich were gathered at their usual meeting place: the cliffs above the beaches of Marblehead. Caleb had told the others about his encounter with the Daughters of Salem, and as he had suspected, the boys were a little suspicious. Caleb reduced their suspicions, but the girls were going to have to prove they had magic before they would be accepted.
"So, where are they?" Reid Garwin asked impatiently. His eyes kept flicking towards the bonfires on the beach. He wanted to have some fun. Tyler Simms clapped him on the shoulder.
"Chill, dude, if they're as hot as Caleb says, they're worth the wait," he said with a snicker. Pogue and Caleb rolled their eyes. Tyler and Reid were the bachelors and chronic flirts.
"Of course we are," a silky voice said from above them. The boys looked up, their jaws dropping. Five girls were walking down a set of invisible stairs in a perfect line, their eyes pitch black. Reid and Tyler stared at Caleb, who was grinning. The Daughters of Salem were legitimate.
The girls stood in front of the boys, their black eyes reverting back to their natural hues. They were all smirking at the expressions on the faces of the boys. The girl in the middle of the line, the leader, nodded at Caleb, who nodded back.
"Nice entrance," he said with amusement. The girl-leader shrugged with a grin.
"You said to prove ourselves, so we did." Caleb laughed and looked at his friends.
"Boys, meet the Daughters of Salem," he said as he motioned towards the line of girls. "I believe some introductions are in order." The girl-leader nodded and looked to her far left.
"We'll start," she said. She nodded at the girl who was standing at the end of the line.
"I'm Madigan Baker," the girl said as her brown hair blew in the slight breeze. Her gray eyes were cool but welcoming. She was wearing a jean skirt that hugged her slender hips nicely and a violet tank top. The girl next to her stepped forward; she was a small-framed girl with auburn hair and amber eyes. She was wearing a pair of tight jeans with a cropped football jersey.
"I'm Contessa Foster, but call me Tessa," the auburn-haired girl said with a smile. Her eyes fell on Reid, who was appraising her without attempting to hide it.
The girl-leader looked to her right. The blonde standing immediately to her right stepped forward. Her hair was chin-length and her blue eyes were bright. Her lean body was covered with a pair of tight, white pants and a light green bikini top with a cropped jean jacket.
"Adeline Lakeland, call me Addy." Tyler clenched his fists to stop himself from jumping her. Addy looked at the girl on her right, who was a cute red-head with hazel eyes. A khaki skirt showed off her legs while a tight pink shirt highlighted her slender torso.
The red-head gave a small wave. "I'm Rosalie Wardwell."
Then, all eyes were on the girl-leader. Her black hair was loose around her shoulders in thick waves and her emerald eyes glittered mischievously in the slim moonlight. A white, mid-drift shirt showed off her wash-board stomach while a black pair of shorts showed off her legs. A pair of suspenders and a pair of black pumps accessorized her outfit.
"Elisabeth Bishop," she told them. Caleb smiled at her and was about to introduce his friends when she stopped him. "We already know how you all are," she told him. "We've been keeping tabs on you four for a while."
Pogue frowned. "Why?" Elisabeth shrugged.
"My grandmother is insane." Adeline snorted.
"And that's where your mom gets it," she added. Elisabeth smiled dryly and nodded. She looked at the Sons of Ipswich and smiled.
"Seeing as we're late for a party, I'll sum everything up for you: my grandmother is basically our dictator, everyone but Rosalie is on the Yale diving team and runs track, we could very easily kick your asses if we wanted to, and Kira Snider is Rosalie's cousin and our mortal enemy. Shall we go?"
A burst of giggles erupted from the girls at the explanation. Caleb grinned and shrugged.
"Sure, we normally just drop in from here," he told them. Elisabeth eyed the cliff and looked at the girls.
"Diving practice anyone?" she asked with a smirk. The girls cheered as Elisabeth turned her gaze to the Sons. "This is why our team demolished Harvard at state."
Rosalie was the first to go, just doing a simple dive. Adeline followed her with a fancy backflip dive. Contessa was next with triple-tuck dive, followed by Madigan with a quadruple-tuck. Elisabeth stood on the edge of the cliff, her back facing the bay. She slipped off her pumps and handed them to Caleb.
"This is why I demolished Harvard at state," she said with a confident grin. She took three steps forward away from the edge, turned, and sprinted towards the edge. She leapt forward, pushing off the edge with her hands and spiraling in the air, her legs pinned together. She grasped her ankles in a pike, tumbling towards the ground in such a position.
The Sons of Ipswich couldn't see her landing, but they knew she landed on her feet. Caleb laughed and looked at the boys.
"See you at the bottom." With that, he fell into the night fog, Elisabeth's shoes in his hands.