Hey! Sorry I missed the update date thing last weekend, but I just...could not get any inspiration for this chapter (that's why it is so short, btw). So, sorry, again.
I would like to tell you a story: I was writing the beginning of the chapter, my mind concentrating on this scary (in my opinion) scene and more scary scenes to come, when my sister comes in and hits me with a bag of letters! (They are called Banana Letters, for building words and things. Its kinda like Scrabble, except its not.) I jump, literally, out of the chair and land on my ass on the floor, and that little...mean person (don't wanna call her the b-word because she's only 9) laughs at me! I'm like "Why did you do that?!" She's like "You were staring off into space, and I wanted to see what would happen." I'm like "WTF?!" and she's like "What does that mean?" and I'm like "Uh, nothing!"
But, whatever. Hope you like the (short) chapter! Thank you thank you thank you for the loving reviews, I love every single one of you! (Appropriately, of course.) Keep up the grrrrrrreat reviews!
Disclaimer: I only own the family from the 1800s. Nothing else. Except the plot, that's mine too. But NOT THE CHARACTERS! CC owns them (the lucky duck.)
Screaming, like fighting, sounded through the large house. A little black-haired girl, about seven or eight, stood barefoot under the large oak tree in the front yard, watching the house with a mixture of fear and resentment. She was holding a small cymbal-banging windup monkey.
The door slammed open to reveal a tall man with black hair and blue eyes, his face contorted with anger. Behind him was a short woman, with brown hair and eyes. They were both yelling profanities at each other; the only difference was the woman was speaking in Latin. Above them, the sky turned dark, and the wind started to pick up.
The girl watched as her parents fought in the yard. She hugged her monkey tighter. Her father advanced towards her, stood in front of her and held out an arm, pulling her behind him so she could not see her mother. She buried her head in her father's shirt. "You will not hurt her, witch!" her father yelled. "She is our daughter!"
"She is not any blood of mine!" her mother yelled back, and she held out an arm.
Suddenly the girl's father was yanked away from her, and he flew through the air. He landed on his back on the ground with a thump. The witch gave a short, victorious laugh before returning her gaze to the girl. Her smile was nauseating as she took a step.
Her father moved, and gave a pained whine. His mouth struggled, but eventually he formed the words, "R-run, Mable." The witch grunted as she turned her attention back to him. She held out her arm again, and the father flew to the porch. His back hit against the wall of the house, right beside the window. His mouth opened, trying to give a scream, but it only came out as a little whine. The witch moved her hand, and the father slid across the wall and through the door. The witch marched back into the house.
The girl took this opportunity to run. There was a path that she had made that went down to her swimming pond, and she ran down it, her bare feet thumping against the ground. Her breath came in short gasps. She stopped about half way there however, because she heard something; a twig snapping. Slowly, she turned her head, but didn't hear it again. She took another step, and this time she heard something else, up above her head. Looking up, she saw her mother, and gave a little gasp.
The mother was perched up in the tree above her like a leopard or jaguar stalking its prey. She had blood on her dress and hands. She jumped down and grabbed hold of the girl's head, turning it to the side sharply.
Alec woke up, sweaty and gasping, his heart racing. He had one thought, and one thought only: find the girl.
He jumped off the couch quickly, not wasting time changing out of his sweat-soaked clothes. He bypassed Magnus, who had come in the room with a plate of waffles. He barely got past without knocking the waffles out of his hands.
He heard Magnus call his name, but couldn't be bothered with answering right now. He knew Magnus would follow, so he would just explain everything later. He ran out the door into the searing cold, realizing then he was in a t-shirt and had no shoes. But he didn't stop. Running down the pathway in bare feet was difficult, the hard ground frozen and biting into his skin, but he kept going.
Halfway to the pond, he skidded to a halt. In the distance, he could hear Magnus yelling his name and running in his direction. Looking around he knew this was the place where Theodosia killed the girl.
He searched the ground, but found nothing to insinuate a murder. Of course, that had been in the early 1800s, so erosion and things could have buried the evidence. Or Theodosia herself.
Dropping to his knees, Alec began clawing at the frozen ground, loosening up the dirt. His hands were almost numb, but he kept going until he had dug a pretty good sized whole. He stopped when he came across something. Magnus came to a halt beside him, out of breath. "Alec," he gasped, "what just happened?" He wrapped something around Alec's shoulders, but Alec didn't notice. He picked up the object and examined it closely. He almost burst out in tears.
It was a small skull, like that of a child.
Magnus returned from the kitchen was a mug and wrapped Alec's fingers around it. He squatted down in front of him. Alec was looking off into space, his head down. Magnus had bundled a blanket around him when they got back into the house because he was shivering, then he called Catarina and Ragnor, who were currently scoping out the spot where Alec found the skull. "Do you want to tell me what the hell just happened?" Magnus asked softly.
Alec swallowed and didn't answer. Magnus sighed and rose to sit on the couch beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He leaned in and gently pressed a kiss to his temple. "Do you want to call your siblings? Make sure they're okay?"
Before Alec could speak, a thump sounded from the top of the stairs, followed by another, then another. They seemed to be getting louder with each thump. It was descending the stairs. Magnus saw a small object from where he was sitting, but couldn't make out what it was. It landed at the foot of the stairs, and never moved after that.
Both Magnus and Alec were still for a moment, before Alec got up quickly, abandoning the blanket and Magnus's arm, and went over to the stairs. Magnus followed him suspiciously.
Alec got on his knees and held the object in his hands. It was one of those creepy little monkeys that played the cymbals. This one was really dusty, and its fur was matted in places. Alec held it like it was precious china and could break at any second. "What is that, Alec?"
"It was hers," Alec said quietly. "You know, the girl in the photo; their daughter."
"How do you know?" Magnus asked.
"I had a dream about it last night. And when I woke up, I knew I had to find her." He looked up at Magnus with big, sad blue eyes. "Why is this happening to me?" he whispered.
"No, Izzy, I'm fine… Okay, tell Max I said hi… No, please don't Isabelle…"
Magnus only caught snatches of Alec's conversation with Isabelle on the phone. He was in the living room, whereas Magnus was in the kitchen. Alec must've been pacing, and Magnus could only hear what he was saying when he came by the door. Magnus closed his eyes and sighed.
Catarina sat opposite him at the kitchen table with Ragnor to her left. The monkey that had fallen down the stairs was in the middle of the table, staring at Magnus with creepy, mocking eyes. He half expected it to start playing without anyone touching it. They were all silent, and Magnus wondered what they were thinking. "What did you find?" Magnus asked.
"The skull, and a few small bones. Maybe finger bones, I'm not sure," Ragnor said.
"I, uhm…" Catarina said, but stopped and shook her head. "This is awful, Magnus. Her family was never of any importance to her. She just used them to raise her standing with…" she trailed off. "But I did figure out something."
"Finally, some information!" Magnus barked. Catarina cleared her throat, clearly annoyed. "Sorry," said Magnus. "I…didn't get much sleep last night. Please continue."
"I now know the girl's name," said Catarina.
"Mable," said a voice from the doorway. Magnus turned and saw Alec clutching his phone, looking at Cat with a blank expression.
"I also know that there is a reason her mother wanted to kill her," Catarina continued softly. "Why she was never mention in any of the articles or captured in any of the pictures. Mable was very sick and very weak, and her mother did not want her scene by people. She was hidden pretty much all her life."
"How do you know that?" Alec demanded. He stalked over to the table and plunked himself down, setting his phone on the table and staring at the monkey right in front of him. He started picking at the sleeves of his sweater that he'd changed into a few minutes ago.
"She…has a gift –" Magnus started.
"Yeah, I know," Alec snapped. He started to say something else, but instead he just sighed and shook his head.
"So," continued Magnus, trying his hardest to forgive Alec for snapping at him. "Theo-whatever wanted her own daughter dead because she was sick?"
Catarina paused. "Well, yes, but also because of the child's premier standing with God – at least, in her eyes. She was pure and a child, so…"
"And Elijah?" Alec asked. "Why sacrifice him in front of a fire with a bunch of satanic symbols?"
"I did some more research last night," Catarina said, "and I found out that Elijah was a minister at the local Presbyterian Church."
"Premier standing with the Lord," Ragnor muttered.
Catarina nodded. "Exactly."
"I still don't understand." Alec shook his head. "I mean, I get the whole 'premier standing' thing, but why are these things happening to me." He looked at Magnus.
"Your family was the first people to live in the house since they died," Magnus said, rather forcefully. But he wanted to get his point across. "And you happen to resemble the husband who tried to ruin the witch's ritual by protecting their daughter. Why do you think these things are happening?"
Alec stood abruptly. "He didn't protect her!" he yelled. He pointed a finger at Magnus. "You have no idea what went on, okay? You weren't there!"
Magnus stood as well. "Neither were you!" he screamed back.
Alec stalked out of the room, shaking his head and muttering something Magnus couldn't hear. Magnus felt guilty almost immediately, and tried to catch his arm as he went by. Alec pulled away and went out into the hall and up the stairs. Magnus heard a door slam above their heads, and it made him jump. He plopped back down in his chair, hearing the familiar creak. He blew out a breath and dropped his head in his arms on the table. He heard Catarina's soft voice speak. "Give him time. He still hasn't really gotten used to the whole 'ghost' thing."
"It's been weeks," came Magnus's muffled reply.
"No it hasn't," Ragnor argued. "It has only been a week. One. Uno. Une. Einer – "
"We get it," said Magnus.
"Whatever. Speaking of the whole 'ghost' thing, I need to put up my cameras again." Magnus heard him get up from his chair and felt him pat Magnus on the back as he went by. Slowly, Magnus raised his eyes to Catarina, who was staring after Ragnor, seeming to be lost in thought.
"Are you two dating yet?" Magnus asked tiredly.
"I could say the same about you and Alec," she said without looking at him.
Magnus snorted. "Touché," he said before dropping his head back into his arms.
Alec lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He felt bad, snapping at Magnus like that. Magnus was only trying to help. But he just didn't get it. Alec felt that little girl's terror as he was dreaming; felt as her father held her protectively; felt as her mother jumped from the tree and broke the girl's neck. To them downstairs, this was just another case that they had to solve, nothing special. To Alec, this was protecting his family, so they can have a better life. It really didn't help that Mable looked exactly like Isabelle. Maybe that's why Alec felt the way he did.
He felt a shiver run through his body as he heard his door open softly. It must be Magnus, coming to apologize for what he didn't do, so Alec didn't turn his head. He just continued to stare at the ceiling. He felt the bed dip with someone's weight at the bottom, but could not see Magnus in his peripheral vision.
Suddenly, a face appeared right in front of Alec's, and it wasn't Magnus's. It was a pale woman with tangled dark hair that fell around Alec's head. She was staring down at him with black eyes and a smirk. Alec tried to move his arms, and noticed that she had him pinned down at the wrists, and was straddling him. She tilted her head to the side and smiled, her teeth brown and rotten, her breath like rancid meat. It made Alec gag. And then she was kissing him, and Alec almost did throw up. She moved her lips against his, but he refused to kiss back. He could taste her breath, and did not like it at all.
And then everything went black.
Yuck. That's all I have to say.
Review!
(Okay, that's it. That's all I'm gonna say.)
