CHAPTER 6: THE WITCH'S TRADE
The next day, Charlotte ended up sleeping well into the afternoon. She was awakened by the playful cries and laughter of the town's children who had gathered together at the bridge right outside Charlotte's home.
Charlotte quickly dressed herself in a simple pale blue gown trimmed with pink and white; after she was done, she immediately headed outside to see what the kids were up to.
"Afternoon children." she greeted as she approached the small group of six kids; they all turned to face her and gave her a friendly smile,
"Hi Charlotte!" they answered. Charlotte smiled and was getting ready to ask what they were doing when one of the kids, a small girl, ran over and hugged onto Charlotte's skirts.
"Charlotte!' the girl happily cried; Charlotte gazed down on the small and very familiar looking girl, her smile widened slightly,
"Hello to you too, Alexandria." Charlotte stated with a soft laugh. When Charlotte looked back up at the rest of the group of kids, she noticed something odd, "Alexandria," Charlotte began as her eyes quickly searched through the group of kids, "Where's your brother, William?" she asked curiously.
"Oh that's who we are waiting for." Alexandria answered, the rest of the kids nodded their heads in agreement.
"Why are you waiting for William?" Charlotte questioned.
"He hasn't come back yet." Said a boy who Charlotte knew as Tommy Stewart, the son of the Blacksmith. Charlotte cocked her head to the side slightly,
"Come back? Come back from what?" her face now showed concern, her tone serious.
"He followed after some new girl into the woods. They went to find the Tree of the Dead, I think..." Tommy answered uncertainly.
Charlotte stiffened softly before she looked back down on Alexandria.
"Does your father know about this?" the young woman asked.
"Well...not exactly." Alexandria answered shyly as she stepped back from Charlotte.
"Well how long has he been gone?" Charlotte demanded; the children grew silent and gave each other secret looks, "Well?" Charlotte pushed her eyes darted back over to Tommy who looked to be the oldest of the group; under Charlotte demanding gaze, Tommy looked down at his feet and shifted uncomfortably before answering hesitantly,
"I don't know...maybe 20 minutes?"
"20 minutes?!" Charlotte exclaimed, "Wha...Wil...Oh!" Charlotte groaned in quiet anger, "Well someone must go after him!" She informed the group; Tommy quickly jumped in,
"You can use Lightning if you want." he offered pointing over to where a small grey horse was tied to a wooden post.
Without hesitating, the young woman quickly marched over and untied the horse before climbing up onto the saddle to take hold of the reins.
"Which way did he go?" she asked; Tommy pointed in a direction across the bridge,
"Over the bridge, to the Western Woods." he answered.
"All of you stay here!" Charlotte ordered the group of kids before she took off across the bridge and rode towards the shadowy woods. Remembering the way that Mrs. Adams had showed her the day before, Charlotte followed a path deep into the trees until she finally came upon the familiar clearing.
Bringing the grey horse to a quick stop, the young woman gracefully swung herself down from her seat. Then with fierce determination in finding young William, she bravely walked over to the god-forsaken tree.
"William?!" she called loudly while searching all around for the boy, "Willia..."she started to call out again but was cut off as her eyes spotted William stepping out from behind the tree... and he wasn't alone.
Charlotte stiffened softly as she realized that William was being held at knife point by a young girl with golden hair dressed in a pale pink dress whom Charlotte guessed was the 'new girl" that Tommy had informed her about.
The girl held the blade firmly against William's throat, her young face was expressionless. Charlotte raised both her hands up in the air in a surrendering gesture, "Easy now..." she stated calmly, "What do you want?" Charlotte asked; the girl remained silent so Charlotte took a step closer, "Put the knife down, there's no need for that." When the girl didn't move an inch Charlotte softly added, "Please...just let the boy go."
Finally, the girl smirked and slowly shook her head 'no'
"Not without a trade." she replied.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow, "Trade?" she repeated.
"You must give me something for the boy." the girl specified.
"I have nothing of value on me," Charlotte informed as she extended her arms out to her sides, with her palms facing out to prove her words, "What are your demands?"
"Come closer." It wasn't a friendly suggestion...it was a order.
Feeling like there was nothing else that could be done, Charlotte slowly approached the girl and the frightened William. Charlotte made eye contact with the poor boy and gave him a soft reassuring smile before fixing the girl with a cool gaze.
"Yes?"
"Hold out your hand." answered the girl.
Without question, Charlotte did what she was told.
"Now I ask you again, what are your demands?" Charlotte calmly questioned. The girl smirked once more before lowering the knife from William's throat; then in a flash, she threw the boy away while reaching out to snatch Charlotte's open palm.
A gasp of pain slipped out from between Charlotte's teeth. For such a young girl, she had abnormal strength-the force she was applying was practically crushing her hand.
Placing her blade's sharp tip into the soft skin of Charlotte's palm, the girl sliced downwards, drawing a red stream of blood.
The young woman hissed at the painful stinging before she looked down at the girl with confused eyes, "What is this for?"
"Your blood." the girl whispered as she dipped the blade into the growing pool of burgundy in the center of Charlotte's hand.
Frowning but not understanding, the young woman jerked her hand free while the girl, who looked no older than William then quickly walked over to the Tree of the Dead.
Paying no mind to her bleeding palm, ran over to William and took him by the hand.
"Come on, William. Let's get out of here!"
The two of them ran over to where the grey horse stood and in one swift motion, Charlotte lifted William up onto the saddle.
"She's a witch, Charlotte!" William cried fearfully pointing at the girl.
Charlotte glanced behind her shoulder at the young girl who was indeed performing some type of ritual as she was sprinkling Charlotte's blood from the knife onto the bark of the tree.
"But she's just a child..." the young woman murmured out loud.
Something was really wrong here.
The woods had become deathly cold and a bolt of lightning flashed angrily across the sky while the wind picked up and rustled the surrounding trees.
"What is going on?" Charlotte's eyes darted with uncertainty from the young girl to the monstrous looking Tree of the Dead beside her.
To her upmost disbelief, the tree actually began to move. Its roots that went deep into the ground pulled themselves up from out of the earth before waving menacingly in the air. An abyss like opening was then revealed in the tree.
Watching with wide eyes, Charlotte found herself holding her breath as something started to crawl out of from the tree itself. At first it looked like an animal on all fours but once it had immerged from the tree completely, Charlotte realized that the thing was actually a woman.
And she was laughing to herself.
Slowly, the woman's bowed head came up and met Charlotte's shocked gaze; she smirked disturbingly before she pushing herself off the ground to rise to her feet. Her dress was tattered and torn beyond repair. It's skirt was covered in mud, dirt and to Charlotte's disgust, blood;
"Charlotte White," the woman spoke; her skin was deathly pale and her hair was practically white., "...how anxious I have been waiting for you."
"Wh...who are you?" Charlotte asked; the woman laughed,
"I am known by many names but perhaps the most familiar one would be Mary Van Tessel." the woman replied sickly.
The young woman drew in a sharp breath, "The Witch of Sleepy Hallow?" she clarified. Mary gave a soft bow
"None other." she answered.
"And you've been waiting for me because...?" Charlotte questioned; her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"You were the key to my freedom, dear girl." Said Mary.
Charlotte glanced down at her still bleeding hand, not quiet understanding Mary's words. Mary saw her confusion and decided to fill her in, "I needed the blood of an innocent to complete my spell."
At the information, Charlotte raised her eyes to look back over at Mary. "So you had my hand sliced open?" she demanded.
Mary gave a soft shrug of her bony shoulders,
"I had what was needed to be done, done. Simple as that."
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the girl in the pale pink dress appeared again and walked over to where Mary stood. The witch Mary then reached a hand out and lightly placed it on the girl's head; then like in a dream, the girl melted from the touch and turned into a simple black rat on the ground before it scampered off out of sight. "Amazing what magic can do if one knows how to use it, huh?" Mary asked proudly.
Charlotte silently shook her head before she quickly swung herself up on the saddle behind William.
"Oh, leaving so soon? But don't you want to hang around to see the best part of my spell?" Mary evilly asked with a wicked smile on her face,
"And what could that possibly be?" Charlotte called to her as she took up the reins in her hands.
"Let's just say, come nightfall, you can expect a visit from...well," Mary paused to chuckle quickly, "...let's just call him an old friend of mine." Mary answered as she glanced over at the Tree of the Dead behind her.
Not wanting to listen to another word from the witch's mouth, Charlotte turned the horse around, and with William riding securely in the front, they took off at great speed back into the trees heading for the security of the town once more.
"You can run, but you can't hide Charlotte! Not from him!" Mary called after them before she went into a fit of hysterical laughter.