Eli: Here's the next bit. I'm sorry to hear that, Dm. BTW, Jenny is a
friend in Bethany's class. The only truly normal one. Enjoy!
It was two days after the party. It was Bethany's actual birthday. She woke up early and slipped into her parents room. They were still asleep. She ran and jumped onto their bed.
"Mommy, Daddy, Wake up! Mommy, Daddy, Wake up!" She yelled over and over again as she jumped up and down on the bed, partially jumping on Daddy.
Sara groaned and turned to face Bethany. "It's way too early in the morning to wake up, Beth."
"But you said we could go to the movies today!" Bethany said as she pouted.
"We have all day to go to the movies, honey. We will go, just not right now." Bethany stopped jumping and sat down between them.
"Ah man!" She said as she crossed her arms. Ian sat up and started tickling her. "Daddy, stop!"
"Promise never to wake Mommy and Daddy up before six o'clock on a weekend ever again." He said as she squirmed to get away.
"I promise, I promise!" She screamed. He stopped, but she kept on laughing.
"Hey, c'mon. Help me make breakfeast." Bethany shook her head.
"But today's my Birthday! Make Jamie do it." She complained.
"Fine, lazy one. Make your Mommy get up." He said as he got up to leave. Sara groaned.
"Mommy and getting up will not be put together in the same sentence till it is past nine o' clock." She declared. Ian laughed and left to go wake Jamie up. Bethany scooted up to the place he was previously occupying.
"When's Andrew coming?" Bethany asked.
"Soon, baby, soon." Sara answered. "Hey look." Bethany turned around and saw the clock. "You will officially be eight in one minute."
6:41 A.M. flashed across the screen seconds later. Sara gave Bethany a hug. "Happy birthday, sweetie."
But Bethany didn't respond. She wasn't moving. Sara looked down at her and was horrified to see that in mere seconds the witchblade had sprung out in tendrels and had curled itself all over Bethany's body.
"Bethany, Oh god, Bethany talk to me!" She willed the witchblade to let her go. The witchblade would not listen. "Ian!"
He appeared a second later. He was about to ask what was wrong when he saw the witchblade covering Bethany. He sat down besides her on the bed.
"Bethany, c'mon wake up. Bethany!"
"Ian, what the hell is going on?" Sara asked, getting more frightened by the moment. Ian looked at Bethany one more time and whispered
"Perriculum."
-Mean while-
"Dominic!" Irons called out. There was no answer. He walked over to the boy's bedroom and knocked on the door. "Dominic, get up now!"
There was still no reply. Angrily, he opened the door and stormed over to the bed. He pulled the covers away from the bed. Dominic lay on his back, unmoving. His arms were crossed across his chest and he appeared to be confined by an invisible rope.
"Dominic!" He called one more time. He was unreachable. Irons pulled up a chair. There was nothing else he could do.
-Meanwhile-
Bethany looked around herself and shivered. It was really, really cold! She got up off the floor and pulled the robes closer around her body. Robes? She looked down and wondered why she was suddenly dressed in what looked like a white tunic and a long green robe.
She also wondered why she seemed so....... Big. She stood to her new full height. She had groan a foot or two sense she passed out. All she remembered was that her mother had hugged her and she had felt a huge piece of metal slice into her skin.
It was so dark here, where ever here was. It was misty, too. And so quiet. What was going on?
"BETHANY NOTTINGHAM!"
Bethany almost jumped out of her skin. She turned around to face a woman in a grey suit dress with a matching hate. Her face was like her mother's. Bethany stared at her for a few second before she smiled. She knew this woman.
"Little wielder, do you know who I am?" The woman asked. Bethany nodded.
"Grandmother Lizzie." She blurted out. She clasped her hand over her mouth out of embarassment. "I mean, Ms. Elizabeth Bronte." She said quickly. Her voice was lower than it usually was. Why was she so different here?
Elizabeth smiled. "You may call me that. Who told you I was your grandmother?"
"My Daddy said you were my Mommy's great grandmother. So that would make you my Great, great grandmother." Bethany asnwered. "But you don't look it."
Elizabeth smiled at her. "Do you know why you are here?"
Bethany shook her head. "You are here to face the perriculum." Bethany's eyes went wide and she felt numb inside. She knew about this thing. If you failed, you died. Bethany did not want to die.
Elizabeth held her hand out and raised Bethany's head to meet her eyes. "A true warrior walks with death. She meditates daily on her own finiteness. I know you are young and I know you are scared. But you need to keep your courage up. Your Father was right to tell you the truth in what happens in these tests, but you are a special generation. The first of your kind."
Bethany looked at her with confusion. Her fear was settled at least. But she didn't understand.
Elizabeth drew back from her and picked two swords out from the mists. She tossed one over to Bethany. Bethany caught it, swung it once, and held it firmly in her hand.
"Is this part of the test?" Bethany asked when she became aware that Elizabeth was circling her. Elizabeth nodded. Bethany stretched a second before she smiled. "Let's do this, Grandmother Lizzie."
-Meanwhile-
Sara was pacing the room nervously. The witchblade was quiet on her wrist, and tjis was what scared her the most. Parts of the witchblade had come off and had embedded itself into Bethany. It could be seen attached to her wrists and ankles. It wrapped like vines all around her, holding her in place.
Ian didn't move from her side. She was a true wielder, yes. But she was still only eight years old. Jamie didn't understand any of it. He sat on the floor outside the room. Finally, he knocked on the door. Sara opened it and closed it behind her.
"Mommy, what is wrong with Beth?" Sara looked down at him, holding back tears.
"Bethany is taking a very, very important test right now. She has to be left alone for a while."
"Mommy don't cry." Jamie said as he hugged her waist. She picked him up, even though she shouldn't. "Is Bethany gonna be okay?"
Sara shrugged. "I don't know, baby. I don't know.
-Meanwhile-
Elizabeth lunged at Bethany. She blocked it and attacked back. Thrust, parry, block, block. Is this what fighting her mother was like? It was like fighting a demon. Block again, parry, thrust, counterstrike, move.
Bethany had to stay swift on her feet. Elizabeth was fast, really fast. Bethany blocked upwards, but was too slow, Elizabeth got first blood by slashing her left arm. Bethany whirled around to draw the blade away.
Bethany had no time to bound her wound, Elizabeth went at her again. She was so fast. Bethany blocked again and lunged forward. She was angry now. No one besides her Father had ever gotten a hit at her. Elizabeth crashed her blade against Bethany.
"Don't do that." Elizabeth whispered. There blades went at it again.
"Do what?" Bethany asked breathlessly as their swords clashed again.
"That." Elizabeth knocked Bethany to the ground. "Hate is powerful, as is revenge. But when you let it rule your emotions and you let it be the thing that let's you win, you might as well take your blade to your own heart."
"Then what do I fight for?" Bethany asked, grabbing a good hold of her sword.
"Love, goodness, justice. Fight for the right thing, and there will always be hope." Bethany nodded to this and kick flipped up.
A flash happened as she kicked up. She was no longer in the mists. She was standing in an elegant room. She saw a man and a little boy about her age.
"Hey, what's going on?" She asked out loud to them. They couldn't hear her. They went on as if she wasn't there. The little boy had to remove his shirt and kneel. Bethany bit her lip as she saw the man bring out a whip.
CRACK!
Right across the boy's back. Bethany was horrified to watch this. She wanted to go forward and help the little boy, but she couldn't move. They wouldn't let her move.
CRACK!
"No! Stop! Stop hurting him, you coward!" She screamed. Again, they couldn't hear her. She saw everything. From the man's face, to the boy's face, to the weapon moving, all the way to the damage being done.
CRACK!
As it continued, the man and boy got older. She began to recognize their faces and features. Also, the weapon became dealier and deadlier. First it was just a horse whip, then a cat of nine tails, then a heavy chain with barb wire.
By the time they had stop growing, Bethany knew all too well who they were.
"Daddy." She whispered out.
CRACK!
She watched Irons rule out punishment with joy. She watched her Father become stone. And she learned where all those scars same from. By the end of it, her tears were falling to the ground.
Irons dropped the whip to the ground. He picked up a sword that was hanging on the wall. He faced Bethany, prepared to fight.
Bethany lunged at him. Her tears were still flowing. She went at him again and again, till she knocked his sword from his hands.
She had him against the wall at the point of her blade. He smirked at her.
"You hurt my Daddy." She whimpered out.
"Then kill me." He said mockingly. There was nothing else Bethany wanted to do more. She wanted to torture him till he cried out. She wanted him to cry out like a girl. She wanted her Father's revenge. "Go ahead, kill me."
She hesitated. What was it that Elizabeth said? Love, goodness, and.......
"Justice." She looked at him. "I may have power, but it doesn't give me the right to play god. If I killed you, I would be just like you. You'll face justice, but not by my hand."
The mists swirled up around her in another flash. She looked back at Irons, and it was now Elizabeth. Bethany lowered the sword. Elizabeth clapped.
"Very well spoken, my girl." She said as she smiled. "You have passed the test."
Bethany breathed out in relief. "Grandmother Lizzie?"
"Yes?"
"What did my Daddy ever do to deserve that?"
"Nothing, love. And that is what makes it even more painful." Elizabeth replied quietly. "That is why your parents hate him so much."
Bethany wiped away her tears. She threw down her sword. "Will he get his?"
Elizabeth nodded. "One day. Now that you know what he has done, you understand why you can never return to that house?" Bethany nodded.
"Why am I like an adult here?" Bethany asked curiously.
"Parts of your brain mature must faster than normal humans. This is how old you are in those places. You are nineteen here."
"Then how come I still think like a kid, at least I think I do." Bethany was very confused. Elizabeth laughed lightly at the look on her face.
"It's not that part of your brain. Don't worry, you'll understand it when you get older." Elizabeth assured her. "But for now, it's time for you to go home. Good luck, little wielder, we'll need you one day."
"Bye-Bye Grandmother Lizzie." Bethany called out.
Ian had been by her side all day. She had been like this for eleven hours. Then he noticed movement. The witchblade retracted itself into her skin and unraveled. Bethany was freed from her restraints and she opened her eyes.
Sara had just looked in when she saw Bethany sit up. Her jaw dropped as she walked over to the bed and stood next to Ian.
Bethany rubbed her eyes and looked to her side. "Daddy! Mommy!"
They hugged her immediately. "Thank God." Sara whispered.
When they let her go, Jamie came running in. He flew onto the bed and hugged her.
"Beth!"
"Hey!" Bethany snapped. "Off me!" He eventually let go and then stared at her.
"Beth, you have funny things on you." Bethany looked down at herself and he was right. Both her wrists had the mark of the witchblade, except they were lined in silver. The same was with her ankles, behind her knees, and just above her elbows. And on her chest, near the bottom of her breast bone was a stone that looked like the eye of the witchblade.
When Bethany looked down on it, it looked up at her before closing. Ian, Sara, and Jamie all looked at her with fear and confusion. Bethany looked on herself and said
"Cool."
-Meanwhile-
Dominic rose from his state of unconciousness. He was fearful when he saw Irons sitting a few feet away from him.
But Irons did nothing. He rose from his seat and looked at Dominic.
"Did she pass?" He asked.
"Yes, sir." Dominic answered. Irons closed his eyes and nodded. Then he turned around and walked out of the room. Before he left, he called out to Dominic.
"Dominic, be sure to bring your sword to school tomorrow. You have a mission to complete."
Coming Attractions:
A Little Different
It was two days after the party. It was Bethany's actual birthday. She woke up early and slipped into her parents room. They were still asleep. She ran and jumped onto their bed.
"Mommy, Daddy, Wake up! Mommy, Daddy, Wake up!" She yelled over and over again as she jumped up and down on the bed, partially jumping on Daddy.
Sara groaned and turned to face Bethany. "It's way too early in the morning to wake up, Beth."
"But you said we could go to the movies today!" Bethany said as she pouted.
"We have all day to go to the movies, honey. We will go, just not right now." Bethany stopped jumping and sat down between them.
"Ah man!" She said as she crossed her arms. Ian sat up and started tickling her. "Daddy, stop!"
"Promise never to wake Mommy and Daddy up before six o'clock on a weekend ever again." He said as she squirmed to get away.
"I promise, I promise!" She screamed. He stopped, but she kept on laughing.
"Hey, c'mon. Help me make breakfeast." Bethany shook her head.
"But today's my Birthday! Make Jamie do it." She complained.
"Fine, lazy one. Make your Mommy get up." He said as he got up to leave. Sara groaned.
"Mommy and getting up will not be put together in the same sentence till it is past nine o' clock." She declared. Ian laughed and left to go wake Jamie up. Bethany scooted up to the place he was previously occupying.
"When's Andrew coming?" Bethany asked.
"Soon, baby, soon." Sara answered. "Hey look." Bethany turned around and saw the clock. "You will officially be eight in one minute."
6:41 A.M. flashed across the screen seconds later. Sara gave Bethany a hug. "Happy birthday, sweetie."
But Bethany didn't respond. She wasn't moving. Sara looked down at her and was horrified to see that in mere seconds the witchblade had sprung out in tendrels and had curled itself all over Bethany's body.
"Bethany, Oh god, Bethany talk to me!" She willed the witchblade to let her go. The witchblade would not listen. "Ian!"
He appeared a second later. He was about to ask what was wrong when he saw the witchblade covering Bethany. He sat down besides her on the bed.
"Bethany, c'mon wake up. Bethany!"
"Ian, what the hell is going on?" Sara asked, getting more frightened by the moment. Ian looked at Bethany one more time and whispered
"Perriculum."
-Mean while-
"Dominic!" Irons called out. There was no answer. He walked over to the boy's bedroom and knocked on the door. "Dominic, get up now!"
There was still no reply. Angrily, he opened the door and stormed over to the bed. He pulled the covers away from the bed. Dominic lay on his back, unmoving. His arms were crossed across his chest and he appeared to be confined by an invisible rope.
"Dominic!" He called one more time. He was unreachable. Irons pulled up a chair. There was nothing else he could do.
-Meanwhile-
Bethany looked around herself and shivered. It was really, really cold! She got up off the floor and pulled the robes closer around her body. Robes? She looked down and wondered why she was suddenly dressed in what looked like a white tunic and a long green robe.
She also wondered why she seemed so....... Big. She stood to her new full height. She had groan a foot or two sense she passed out. All she remembered was that her mother had hugged her and she had felt a huge piece of metal slice into her skin.
It was so dark here, where ever here was. It was misty, too. And so quiet. What was going on?
"BETHANY NOTTINGHAM!"
Bethany almost jumped out of her skin. She turned around to face a woman in a grey suit dress with a matching hate. Her face was like her mother's. Bethany stared at her for a few second before she smiled. She knew this woman.
"Little wielder, do you know who I am?" The woman asked. Bethany nodded.
"Grandmother Lizzie." She blurted out. She clasped her hand over her mouth out of embarassment. "I mean, Ms. Elizabeth Bronte." She said quickly. Her voice was lower than it usually was. Why was she so different here?
Elizabeth smiled. "You may call me that. Who told you I was your grandmother?"
"My Daddy said you were my Mommy's great grandmother. So that would make you my Great, great grandmother." Bethany asnwered. "But you don't look it."
Elizabeth smiled at her. "Do you know why you are here?"
Bethany shook her head. "You are here to face the perriculum." Bethany's eyes went wide and she felt numb inside. She knew about this thing. If you failed, you died. Bethany did not want to die.
Elizabeth held her hand out and raised Bethany's head to meet her eyes. "A true warrior walks with death. She meditates daily on her own finiteness. I know you are young and I know you are scared. But you need to keep your courage up. Your Father was right to tell you the truth in what happens in these tests, but you are a special generation. The first of your kind."
Bethany looked at her with confusion. Her fear was settled at least. But she didn't understand.
Elizabeth drew back from her and picked two swords out from the mists. She tossed one over to Bethany. Bethany caught it, swung it once, and held it firmly in her hand.
"Is this part of the test?" Bethany asked when she became aware that Elizabeth was circling her. Elizabeth nodded. Bethany stretched a second before she smiled. "Let's do this, Grandmother Lizzie."
-Meanwhile-
Sara was pacing the room nervously. The witchblade was quiet on her wrist, and tjis was what scared her the most. Parts of the witchblade had come off and had embedded itself into Bethany. It could be seen attached to her wrists and ankles. It wrapped like vines all around her, holding her in place.
Ian didn't move from her side. She was a true wielder, yes. But she was still only eight years old. Jamie didn't understand any of it. He sat on the floor outside the room. Finally, he knocked on the door. Sara opened it and closed it behind her.
"Mommy, what is wrong with Beth?" Sara looked down at him, holding back tears.
"Bethany is taking a very, very important test right now. She has to be left alone for a while."
"Mommy don't cry." Jamie said as he hugged her waist. She picked him up, even though she shouldn't. "Is Bethany gonna be okay?"
Sara shrugged. "I don't know, baby. I don't know.
-Meanwhile-
Elizabeth lunged at Bethany. She blocked it and attacked back. Thrust, parry, block, block. Is this what fighting her mother was like? It was like fighting a demon. Block again, parry, thrust, counterstrike, move.
Bethany had to stay swift on her feet. Elizabeth was fast, really fast. Bethany blocked upwards, but was too slow, Elizabeth got first blood by slashing her left arm. Bethany whirled around to draw the blade away.
Bethany had no time to bound her wound, Elizabeth went at her again. She was so fast. Bethany blocked again and lunged forward. She was angry now. No one besides her Father had ever gotten a hit at her. Elizabeth crashed her blade against Bethany.
"Don't do that." Elizabeth whispered. There blades went at it again.
"Do what?" Bethany asked breathlessly as their swords clashed again.
"That." Elizabeth knocked Bethany to the ground. "Hate is powerful, as is revenge. But when you let it rule your emotions and you let it be the thing that let's you win, you might as well take your blade to your own heart."
"Then what do I fight for?" Bethany asked, grabbing a good hold of her sword.
"Love, goodness, justice. Fight for the right thing, and there will always be hope." Bethany nodded to this and kick flipped up.
A flash happened as she kicked up. She was no longer in the mists. She was standing in an elegant room. She saw a man and a little boy about her age.
"Hey, what's going on?" She asked out loud to them. They couldn't hear her. They went on as if she wasn't there. The little boy had to remove his shirt and kneel. Bethany bit her lip as she saw the man bring out a whip.
CRACK!
Right across the boy's back. Bethany was horrified to watch this. She wanted to go forward and help the little boy, but she couldn't move. They wouldn't let her move.
CRACK!
"No! Stop! Stop hurting him, you coward!" She screamed. Again, they couldn't hear her. She saw everything. From the man's face, to the boy's face, to the weapon moving, all the way to the damage being done.
CRACK!
As it continued, the man and boy got older. She began to recognize their faces and features. Also, the weapon became dealier and deadlier. First it was just a horse whip, then a cat of nine tails, then a heavy chain with barb wire.
By the time they had stop growing, Bethany knew all too well who they were.
"Daddy." She whispered out.
CRACK!
She watched Irons rule out punishment with joy. She watched her Father become stone. And she learned where all those scars same from. By the end of it, her tears were falling to the ground.
Irons dropped the whip to the ground. He picked up a sword that was hanging on the wall. He faced Bethany, prepared to fight.
Bethany lunged at him. Her tears were still flowing. She went at him again and again, till she knocked his sword from his hands.
She had him against the wall at the point of her blade. He smirked at her.
"You hurt my Daddy." She whimpered out.
"Then kill me." He said mockingly. There was nothing else Bethany wanted to do more. She wanted to torture him till he cried out. She wanted him to cry out like a girl. She wanted her Father's revenge. "Go ahead, kill me."
She hesitated. What was it that Elizabeth said? Love, goodness, and.......
"Justice." She looked at him. "I may have power, but it doesn't give me the right to play god. If I killed you, I would be just like you. You'll face justice, but not by my hand."
The mists swirled up around her in another flash. She looked back at Irons, and it was now Elizabeth. Bethany lowered the sword. Elizabeth clapped.
"Very well spoken, my girl." She said as she smiled. "You have passed the test."
Bethany breathed out in relief. "Grandmother Lizzie?"
"Yes?"
"What did my Daddy ever do to deserve that?"
"Nothing, love. And that is what makes it even more painful." Elizabeth replied quietly. "That is why your parents hate him so much."
Bethany wiped away her tears. She threw down her sword. "Will he get his?"
Elizabeth nodded. "One day. Now that you know what he has done, you understand why you can never return to that house?" Bethany nodded.
"Why am I like an adult here?" Bethany asked curiously.
"Parts of your brain mature must faster than normal humans. This is how old you are in those places. You are nineteen here."
"Then how come I still think like a kid, at least I think I do." Bethany was very confused. Elizabeth laughed lightly at the look on her face.
"It's not that part of your brain. Don't worry, you'll understand it when you get older." Elizabeth assured her. "But for now, it's time for you to go home. Good luck, little wielder, we'll need you one day."
"Bye-Bye Grandmother Lizzie." Bethany called out.
Ian had been by her side all day. She had been like this for eleven hours. Then he noticed movement. The witchblade retracted itself into her skin and unraveled. Bethany was freed from her restraints and she opened her eyes.
Sara had just looked in when she saw Bethany sit up. Her jaw dropped as she walked over to the bed and stood next to Ian.
Bethany rubbed her eyes and looked to her side. "Daddy! Mommy!"
They hugged her immediately. "Thank God." Sara whispered.
When they let her go, Jamie came running in. He flew onto the bed and hugged her.
"Beth!"
"Hey!" Bethany snapped. "Off me!" He eventually let go and then stared at her.
"Beth, you have funny things on you." Bethany looked down at herself and he was right. Both her wrists had the mark of the witchblade, except they were lined in silver. The same was with her ankles, behind her knees, and just above her elbows. And on her chest, near the bottom of her breast bone was a stone that looked like the eye of the witchblade.
When Bethany looked down on it, it looked up at her before closing. Ian, Sara, and Jamie all looked at her with fear and confusion. Bethany looked on herself and said
"Cool."
-Meanwhile-
Dominic rose from his state of unconciousness. He was fearful when he saw Irons sitting a few feet away from him.
But Irons did nothing. He rose from his seat and looked at Dominic.
"Did she pass?" He asked.
"Yes, sir." Dominic answered. Irons closed his eyes and nodded. Then he turned around and walked out of the room. Before he left, he called out to Dominic.
"Dominic, be sure to bring your sword to school tomorrow. You have a mission to complete."
Coming Attractions:
A Little Different