Salem 1993
Abigail heard Max and Allison leave the room. She'd woken up to the red beam of light that had shone from the book. Binx had closed it, but she felt too anxious to go back to sleep like her friend had. She was worried, something in her gut was telling her this was all too easy. She could hear Max and Allison's voices from downstairs, but she couldn't make out any of the words. She closed her eyes, telling herself that everything would be okay, the sisters were gone and by sunrise, she'd either be stone once more or coming up with a spell to turn herself into a cat.
Suddenly she felt hands grab her, pulling her up and out of the bed. There were hands over her mouth in an instant so she couldn't scream. She wasn't prepared to be pulled out of the bed and fell to the floor. She hoped that the noise of her fall was enough to alert Max and Allison that something was wrong.
Winifred had grabbed her and was having none of her struggling. Grabbing the book from the steps she swung it Abigail's head and the girl dropped like a rock. Thackery tried to wriggle free but he was thrown into a sack. It took the sisters mere seconds to hide. Sarah covered herself with the bedsheets, while Mary dragged Dani and Winifred dragged the unconscious Abigail into the closet.
Max came running up the stairs, shouting for Dani and Abby to wake up. "Dani!" Max's voice ran through the empty house. He calmed down when he saw the top of either Dani or Abigail's head peeking out from underneath the cover's that they'd pulled over their heads.
"Max," Allison gasped as she came into the room. "The book is gone."
Max moved to the loft to double-check, but sure enough, the book was gone. Allison grabbed his wrist before he could get too close to the loft. "I'm telling you," she said, "something's weird."
Max rushed over to the bed to check on his sister, pulling the cover back. "Dani, wake up."
Instead of his sister and Abby, Max found Sarah Sanderson under the covers. She sat bolt upright, beaming, and said, "Trick or treat!"
Allison shrieked and lept back. Max backed towards the closet, but the doors folded open revealing the other two sisters and Dani.
Mary and Winifred stepped out of the closet, grinning. Winifred held her spell book and Mary held Dani. One of her hands was wrapped around Dani's mouth and the other around a large knitted sack, which Max knew contained Binx. For a brief second, he wondered where Abigail was, but then the witches started to talk.
"Looking for this?" Winifred screeched, waving the patchwork book around.
"Or this?" Mary tightened her grip on Dani's face.
Max looked from Dani to the book and realized that Binx and Abigail were right, the book was dangerous. They'd opened it and it had somehow betrayed them to the sisters. If only they'd waited till morning to open the book, he silently lamented. As he stood there, the shriveled bit of the book just by the lock opened, revealing that it didn't just look like an eye, it was an eye. Probably cut from someone's face, from the looks of it.
Max was disgusted backed away. Winifred raised her hand and blasted him with a bolt of lightning. Max was thrown across the room and into his drum set, the drums and cymbals going everywhere and making a terrible racket.
Allison stumbled over to Max's prone form, popping open the salt and throwing it in the air wildly.
"Salt!" cried Winifred. "Ha! What a clever little white witch. Cleverer than the other."
Allison held the container like a weapon, pointing it at Winifred. She'd have to worry about the witch's words once it was safe.
"But it will not save thy friends," Winifred continued her mocking. "No. Come, sisters." She lifted her skirts and started up the stairs to the loft. "The candle's magic is almost spent. Dawn approaches."
Mary followed her older sister, dragging the still struggling Dani with her. Sarah was last, her gaze lingered on Max's still form, before she glared at Allison and stuck her tongue out at the girl.
With a bolt of lightning, Winifred blasted the loft's window, and a good portion of the wall around it, to pieces. There was a shower of sparks and smoke that changed from pink to green to grey. Allison was knocked off her feet by the force of the blast and wood fell down into the room.
The witches took off on their improvised brooms, as Allison got up and sprinted up the stairs shouting for Dani, in between her coughs. But they were gone and so were Dani, the spell book, and Binx.
Allison went back to Max, shoving the snare drum off his chest. "Max are you okay?" she asked as she helped him sit up.
He blinked, disoriented from the strike. "Where's Dani?"
"They got her, Max," Allison whispered. "I'm sorry. We'll get her and Binx back."
"What about Abby?"
"I don't know where she went."
A well-timed groan from the closet made Max and Allison rush over. They found Abigail struggling up from the floor, a gash above her eyebrow from the corner of the spell book was steadily bleeding down her face.
"Oh my god!" Allison gasped, crouching to help the other girl up. "Are you alright? That doesn't look good."
"I am well," Abigail mumbled, before gasping. "The sisters have Dani and Thackery!"
"Yeah," Max told her, rubbing the back of his neck. "They escaped by blasting a hole in my loft."
From the hole, they could hear singing, and Abigail knew what was happening. "Sarah is calling the children of Salem to their deaths."
The three of them picked their way up to the loft, Abigail leaning on Max for help. Looking over the dark streets of Salem, they could see an army of children walking through the streets, despite it being six in the morning. Most of the kids were in their PJs, others were still in their costumes. They carried candles and flashlights to light the way as they walked like they were hypnotized. All of them were shuffling south.
"They're going to the Sanderson house," Allison said, looking at kids walking up the road and out of sight.
"Hey!" Max shouted at the sleepwalkers.
Allison reached around Abby and grabbed his arm. "It won't work," she warned.
"Hey!" he tried again. "Don't listen to them!" But the children were no better than the adults at the Pumpkin Ball. "Abby, can you do anything?"
Abigail blinked for a moment, she'd never had a nickname before, it made her happy. "I cannot help them as a whole, I might be able to break the spell on one at a time, but we do not have time for that."
A realization dawned on Allison. "Max, Abby," she said to get their attention. "I figured it out. Winifred said, 'The candle's magic will soon be spent, and dawn approaches.' The Black Flame Candle only brought them back for this one Halloween night – and unless they can steal the lives of children, when the sun comes up, they're dust."
"Yeah," Max said, turning to look at her, "but how can we make the sun come up? And they've got Dani. We need a miracle."
"I know of no power that will move the sun faster than it wants to move," Abigail said before they could even think about asking about magic.
Allison had a hopeless look on her face. Looking back over the kids with their candles and flashlights, the warmth of the lights giving the whole scene an eerie feel.
"I have an idea," she said suddenly, looking back at Max. "Can you drive?"
It took them a few minutes to prepare. Max looked for the car keys and some cellophane while Allison quickly looked at the cut on Abigail's head. Once everything was ready, and Abigail was patched up, they hopped in the car and Max drove to the Sanderson house.
Max had only had a few driving lessons with his dad, it wasn't that hard to drive. The hardest part was trying not to hit the kids walking in the street, once he was clear of them it was pretty easy, though it was harder than he thought.
Abigail wasn't too sure about the horseless carriage that Max and Allison had ushered her into. It was a strange contraption, though efficient, but it frightened her, and she sat in the back stiff as a board and silent the whole drive to the sister's house.
Once it was in sight, Max cut the headlights so the sisters wouldn't know they were there. The tires crunched on the gravel, but he hoped that it would be quiet enough that they wouldn't hear anything.
"Stay here and wait for my signal," Max told Allison.
She nodded, happy to stay out with the car, especially since her last time in the house hadn't been the greatest. She honestly didn't ever want to go in there ever again if she didn't have to. Abigail was still in the back seat but less stiff. She knew the plan. They needed to stick together and her going in would only be an extra distraction for Max. She was to stay in her seat and wait for everything to happen.
The two girls waited in silence for Max's signal. They watched him burst through the door dramatically. Though they couldn't see what was happening they could hear Max just fine.
He was clearly talking to the sisters, most likely Winifred directly. Then they heard him say: "Daylight savings time."
At that Allison flipped on the headlights, which shone orange through the cellophane that was wrapped around them, mimicking the light of dawn.
The sister's shrieking could be heard outside. It took the siblings a minute to exit, and when they did Max was holding a pair of shoes, which Abigail thought was odd.
"Max, I want to see her turn to dust," Dani said before she noticed Allison standing beside the SUV gesturing to the open door and trying to whistle. "Pump it!" Dani yelled once she realized the sun was not in fact rising and ran to the car.
Max raced after her, jumping into the driver's seat and passing Binx to Allison, and revved the engine. He took off with a roar of the engine.
Allison opened the sack and freed Binx, who promptly jumped into the back seat to check on Dani and Abigail. He made sure that Dani was alright first before turning to Abigail.
The first thing he noticed was her uncomfortable look, he quickly realized that she did not like riding in the car. The next thing he noticed was the bandage on her forehead. Guilt twisted in his stomach, if he'd been quicker maybe that wouldn't have happened. Maybe if he hadn't been stuck as a cat for all eternity he could have stopped her from getting hurt.
Abigail could see the guilt on his furry face and gave him a weak smile. "My injury is no fault of thine, Thackery. 'Twas Winifred who struck me and with whom the fault lies." Her friend might be a cat, but she knew him, and she knew what to say to comfort him.
Though the comfort didn't last because the sisters quickly realized that the sun had not risen, and they had not burned, and they had jumped onto their broom, mop, and vacuum to chase after the children.
Dani reached over and clutched Abigail's hand. The fact that Max was driving was enough to unease her, the last time he'd had a lesson he'd gotten into an argument with their dad over what a rolling stop was.
"There are too many kids," Max exclaimed, swerving to miss another group of zombie-like children in the street. Leaning out the window he shouted: "Go home!" but they didn't listen to him, he wasn't even sure that they'd heard him. Groaning in frustration, Max hit the steering wheel. "We need to wait in the cemetery until sunrise," he said. "But these zombie kids are going to trap us on the road."
"Try that side road." Allison pointed to the left to a road that snaked into the woods. "It'll reconnect in town, and you can circle around to the front of the cemetery."
Max nodded, veering onto the road. It was risky. This way would take longer but it would get them closer to the large clearing where Binx had taken them earlier and from there it would be easy to get to the sewers if they needed to.
He clenched his hands on the steering wheel, trying to stop himself from imagining the car veering off the road. He wondered how much more luck they'd have. The sprinklers, the kiln, the fake sunrise – how many more tricks would work on the sisters? But the sisters were hopefully on a timer – if Allison was right – so they only had to hold them off until sunrise. That should be easy enough.
"Are they following us?" Max asked, glancing at Allison.
Allison turned in her seat to check behind them. "No."
Max smiled, relieved. "Good."
Then Winifred Sanderson appeared next to the car, her torso leaned over the handle of her broom.
Max swerved the car away but managed to stay on the road. Allison reached over to help steady the wheel and ease the car into the middle of the road, so they didn't swerve off.
"Pull over," Winifred half demanded half cackled. "Let me see your driver's license."
Max nearly stuck his hands out the window to push her away, but he thought that might be a bad idea. He, instead, gripped the steering wheel and moved the car to the left, knocking her out of the way.
"We're gonna be okay," Allison tried to assure.
He nodded and kept driving. Taking a sharp turn, Max found himself on the street with the cemetery, which boosted his confidence. He slammed on brakes in the middle of the street when he saw the iron gates. He didn't bother to take the keys when he hopped out of the car, he could worry about that when the sun was up. He opened the back door and helped Abigail and Binx out, while Allison helped Dani out and grabbed a duffle bag of supplies.
The group felt better once they were through the gates and were on hallowed ground. Until Max backed into Billy Butcherson. Dani shrieked as Abigail pulled her away. Allison tried to help Max, who had pulled out his dad's pocketknife, but he yelled for them to run. So, they took off through the graveyard.
Binx lept out of Abigail's arms to guide the group to Emily's grave. Allison and Dani each grabbed a large branch and Abigail was quickly trying to remember any useful spells, but she could only think of nearly useless ones.
It didn't take long for Max and Billy to stumble into the clearing. When they saw Billy, Allison and Dani scrambled to their feet and raised the branches, ready to attack.
"Max, run!" Dani shouted.
"Max, move out of the way," Allison warned, charging forward, ready to knock Billy's head off.
Max got between the pair and Billy, while the much taller man shrunk away from the improvised weapons. "Wait!" Max cried. "No. No, no. He's a good zombie."
Allison lowered the branch slightly, staring at the dead man. "You're sure?" she checked. "How do I know you're not just saying that because you've been bitten?"
The statement confused Abigail, who was wondering why biting someone would change their mind about if you were good or bad. She threw a questioning look at Binx, who merely shook his head. Now was not the time.
Max gave Allison a look, and she relented. "Okay, fine."
Billy followed the pair down to his open grave where Dani, Binx, and Abigail were waiting.
"Hi, Billy," Dani greeted, waving at the man. She seemed to accept him instantly as if she didn't care that he'd been chasing them down all night.
"Welcome, Mr. Butcherson," Abigail greeted. "Wonderful to see you again."
Max wondered how both Dani and Abigail were so calm about the zombie joining them. But from Abigail's words, he figured that the girl had known him when he was alive and before she'd turned herself into a statue.
Billy nodded to Abigail while helping Dani down into his grave, saying: "You'll be safe in here."
Max went through the duffle bag of supplies, handing Allison a container of salt and pulling out a baseball bat for himself. "You okay, Dani?" he asked, checking on his sister.
"Yeah," her voice was small when she answered. "I'm fine."
Allison quickly drew a circle around Billy's grave and Abigail bent down to touch the salt ring. They all heard her murmur the words "Praesidio in loco isto" but only Dani spoke up to ask what she'd said.
"Was that a spell?" Dani questioned from inside the grave.
"Yes," Abigail responded.
"I thought spells had to rhyme, like the one you used to heal Max."
"Spells are stronger when they rhyme, but stronger still when in Latin," Abigail explained. "I don't know a lot of spells in Latin, but that one was for extra protection. Just to keep you safe."
Dani gave her a grateful, but weak smile.
"Here they come," Binx called out in warning. "Billy, Abigail, guard Dani. Max, Allison: spread out."
They had all gotten to where they needed to be when Winifred descended from the sky on her broom. She looked quite menacing with her dress billowing around her in the wind.
"For the last time," she called down to them, "prepare to meet thy doom."
She swooped low, straight towards Dani, but Max took a swing at her with the baseball bat. Winifred veered out of the way, then turned back towards the boy.
"You little pest," she sneered. "I've had enough of you."
He swung again hoping to knock her off the broom and onto hallowed ground, but Winifred caught the bat and tore it out of his hands. She tossed it aside with a laugh.
Max turned to run but Winifred was faster. She threw a bolt of lightning at a tree, knocking a branch down and cutting Max off from his friends. Billy and Abigail now stood between Winifred and Dani.
"Go to Hell," Billy yelled.
"Oh, I've already been, thank you," she quipped with a tight smile. "I found it quite lovely."
"Then return, witch, for this world does not want you here," Abigail threatened.
"Bold words, little white witch," Winifred taunted. "But you'll not last through the night, I'll make sure of it."
"Manere retrorsum!" Abigail half screamed, trying to send the witch away, but the ginger witch only cackled at the attempted magic.
A/N: The spells I used are just phrases translated into Latin using Google Translate. If you speak or read Latin and they're wrong, let me know! One more chapter left! Just a reminder that I will be posting it on Halloween, which is four days from now, not three. But it feels right to end the story on Halloween.
Hello, I added this not to the first chapter, but I wanted to make sure that it was seen and have put it here as well. I got a review from a guest, and it made me feel I needed to clarify something. My Abigail, the Abigail in this story, is not meant to be the Abigail Williams from the Crucible or the actual Salem Witch Trials. I actually forgot that there was an Abigail involved in the Salem Witch Trials or I might have picked a different name, but it's too late now. I simply googled common names for the 1600s and Abigail was the one I liked. So it is pure coincidence that her name is Abigail. Abigail Williams was only about 12 when the trials happened, but the Abigail in this story is about 16.
Manere retrorsum - Stay back
Praesidio in loco isto - Protect this place
SORRY I'M UPDATING SO LATE! I FORGOT AND I WORK NIGHTS SO I'M SO SORRY! I saw the email saying I had a review and panicked!