A/N: New fic alert...mOBSCENE...helix...check author's page.


( Volume: 1 Chapter: 11 )

Chapter 11 : a visit

Sarah abruptly stopped talking at the knock on the door. Julian and Laura were seated before her, back from a hunting trip. They had again brought home two fine
venison, and she was serving them sausages she'd made.

Frowning, she walked to the door and opened it slowly.

"Sarah!" A man's voice. Horribly familiar, to Laura. Now that her head was clear.

She shoved herself away from the table and ran to her mother's side.

"…" Sarah was frozen in horror.

Julian frowned. It was familiar to him too. But how? He peered around the women in curiosity. Oh…the Minister.

"And Laura. My, how you've grown." The Minister smiled. "How…odd."

"Get off my property, thou are a monster!" Sarah shouted, grabbing something long beside the doorway. A rifle. Julian got to his feet—if the Quakers were pulling out their firearms…

"Now, now, Sarah," he said, grinning. "No need for violence. I've come to ask for a donation to the church I'm building. Naturally, I thought of you first."

"The woman told you to go," Julian said, pushing Laura aside. "I think you'd better leave."

The Minister stared at Julian. "Have a good consummation?" he leered.

"…" Julian grabbed him by the collar. "Mister, you have some nerve there—oof!" He let go. The man had sucker punched him quite calmly—and quite forcefully.

He bent over double, holding his stomach.

"Come, Kimura," the man said.


"We must leave," Sarah said, sitting at the table again. Her face was pale, deathly white, and she had been shaking for the past ten minutes. "God's teeth. He was
dead. If anyone practices 'witchcraft', it's that man!"

"Who is he?" Julian asked, confused.

"That was Alexander Rice," Sarah said.

Everything fit now. Julian leaned his elbows on the table. It was his fault that Rice had found them.

"We must leave. Mr. Keller, Laura, you must help me gather everything of value. They will return, you can be sure of it."

By that evening, the cottage was nearly empty, and every animal that could bear a load was doing so, including most of the cattle and the horses—and the humans.

Julian was frustrated that he could not make his powers work. It would be a piece of cake to defend the Kinneys if he was functioning normally. But—accordingly with his luck—
they were not—and therefore they had to leave their home.

He felt like such an asshole.

"Do not feel bad, Mr. Keller," Sarah said, laying her hand on his shoulder. "It is not thy fault that the man is insane. We will simply start over." She smiled kindly at him, and Julian
wondered how someone could be so strong. He felt terrible—and it wasn't even his house.

"Come. Thy will ride Darley, with Laura. I'll take the pony. We must leave now. They will not expect us to ride by night."

"Oh really?" Sarah turned, startled. There was Rice—holding a torch. In the darkness behind him, Julian could see the same woman that he'd called Kimura.

"Rice." Sarah pulled her rifle from the saddlebag. "I warned thou to stay away. I do not easily forget the relief that thy death brought me."

Rice smiled. "Seize her," he told Kimura. The woman lunged forwards—fast as lightning—and her hands were around Sarah's neck, strangling her. "How dat feel, mon? Dey
gonna 'ang you too!"

"ARRRGH!" Laura catapulted from between two cows, a blur of motion. She rammed her fist into Kimura's back; the woman cried out and dropped her mother. Julian saw blood
fly—her claws must have gone in.

"Damn witch!" Kimura shouted, grabbing Laura by the wrist and dragging her around to her face. "You should 'ave stayed dead!"

Laura glared at the woman.

"You see what these witches have done?" Rice's voice boomed. He picked up the gun from the ground. "Not only did they try to sneak away…but the elder witch threatened
myself with bodily harm. Is that the action of an innocent woman, I wonder?"

Julian glanced behind Rice.

A lynch mob. Oh, boy.


"Come on, come on…" Julian made a fist, focusing as hard as he could on the stupid steel deadbolt. They were in a wooden wagon, hauling them back to town; Sarah was sitting,
pale and silent, alongside Laura, who glanced occasionally at Julian. She knew what he could do—and what he was trying.

It just wouldn't work. Julian gave himself a headache, trying so hard to access the part of his mind that controlled his TK; but he just couldn't use it. He tried all of the exercises
Jean Grey had taught him.

Something happened. He began to nod off, his mind relaxing; Laura crawled over to sit beside him. She tapped his shoulder; he opened his eyes—and started.

The lock was open.

"Run, as fast as you can," Sarah said.

"LAURA!" Julian ran back; the girl had caught her boot on a root and sprawled headlong. He took her hand and pulled her up, terrified, then started running again, still holding her
hand. The shouting was getting closer. He tried desperately to levitate them to safety, but again, his powers were not cooperating.

Bang.

"AHHH!"

Laura's head whipped around; Sarah was falling, a spray of blood in the airspace she'd just occupied.

"NO!" The horrible, screeching voice. Laura pulled herself free of Julian's hold and ran back, tears streaming down her face, to where her mother now lay. He ran
after her. "Laura! We have to…oh, god,"

Sarah was lying in the dirt, the front of her dress completely drenched in blood. It was seeping into the soil at Laura's feet. She sunk to her knees.

"my…Laura…" Sarah closed her eyes, exhaling. "NO!" Laura made that horrible noise again. Julian grabbed her shoulders. "We have to go!"

"NO!" Laura slapped him away; he grabbed her waist and flung her over his shoulder. He made a fist as he started running again, it sparked green.

Bang. "GRR!" He tripped and dropped the girl, his hand automatically finding his shoulder. The bullet had missed its target, but had still caught him in an excruciatingly
painful place. He felt the lights going out.

"RUN!" he shouted to Laura, but it was too late—they were surrounded. Julian passed out.